Seven Characteristics of a Faithful Minister

There is an exhortation of each characteristic given in this second chapter of II Timothy. The number seven, people, is the number of perfection, and this is the only place in the Bible where all the seven characteristics of a faithful minister are put together in one chapter. So all you need to do is understand this chapter, and you’ll always be able to judge from the Word of God (let the Word of God do the judging) of whether the ministry of a twig coordinator or any other individual is according to the Word of God. It is these seven characteristics that I listed on your paper, because I thought you might be able to write in other things, but these seven are: 1. Son, be strong in grace. 2. Son, be strong in service. 3. Son, be a strong athlete. 4. Son, be a strong husbandman, a cultivator. 5. Son, be a strong workman. 6. Be a strong vessel. 7. Be a strong servant, a doulos. Those are the seven characteristics given in II Timothy, chapter 2, with an exhortation on each one of the characteristics. Tonight I want to go through this second chapter with you, verse by verse. II Timothy 2:1: Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in [whom?] Christ Jesus.

Timothy was not Paul’s physical son, but he was his spiritual son. Paul was the one who had taught him the greatness of God’s Word and led him to the Lord Jesus Christ and the great truths of God’s Word. The first chapter of I Timothy gives a real great insight on this word “son.” II Timothy 1:2: Unto Timothy, my [what?] own son [true child]:... The literal of those words “own son” are “true child.” “Unto Timothy my true child in the faith.” That is basically the meaning of chapter 2, verse 1. II Timothy 2:1: Thou therefore, my [true] son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. True son be strong in the grace. Grace is God’s divine favor, perpendicular from God to man, unmerited and that grace is in what Christ Jesus accomplished for us. (1). The first requirement of a faithful minister is that he is to be strong in grace, divine favor, perpendicular. He is not to be strong in his own mental acumens or the seminaries he graduated from; that’s all secondary. The primary is that he remembers to be strong in what? Grace, divine favor. That’s why a true minister of God is never critical in a negative sense. He’s not raising hell with people. The only people who ever raise hell with people are people who forget the grace of God and the love of God and forgiveness of God. A true son is one who remembers that it’s by grace that he is a minister of the Word, and that he is to be strong in that grace. And if he remembers that, and, verse 2: II Timothy 2:2: The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses,… In other words, a true son stands faithful with the one who taught it to him. Paul taught Timothy, and Paul said, “The things that thou hast heard of me [Paul] among many witnesses [other people heard the same thing]...”A true minister, a faithful minister, a son strong in the grace, is concerned about “committing to faithful men” that same truth: II Timothy 2:2 continued: ...who shall be able to teach others also. So that is the exhortation about a son who is strong in grace.