Endurance—Essential to Stay in the Truth

 Joel Dellinger: Endurance—Essential to Stay in the Truth (2 Tim. 4:7, 8)

I’d like to invite you to open up your Bible with me, please, to 2 Timothy chapter 4, as we’ll read verses 7 and 8, which gives us a little context around our day’s text. As you may recall, at the time Paul was writing to Timothy, around the year 65 C.E., Paul was in a Roman prison, he was in chains, and he was facing an imminent death. The question we could ask, Was Paul enduring his trials successfully? Well, let’s read together 2 Timothy chapter 4 beginning in verse 7.

Paul says: “I have fought the fine fight, I have run the race to the finish, I have observed the faith. From this time on, there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me as a reward in that day, yet not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his manifestation.”

Well, what a courageous, positive outlook for a man who knew he was about to die! Paul was convinced that his endurance in Jehovah’s service had been well worth the effort. He knew the truthfulness of what Jesus had earlier said at Matthew 24:13, that “the one who has endured to the end [whether it be the end of his life or the end of the system of things] will be saved.”

Well, like Paul, each of us has a race we need to finish. So we might ask the question, How are we doing? Well, all of us are running. We’re closer to the finish line than when we started. That’s great news. But are we getting tired—tired of this pandemic, tired of bad news, tired of seeing our friends and family members suffer in various ways as this wicked system of things comes to a close?

This morning, to strengthen us to not give up or give out, I thought it would be good for us to first consider the meaning of Scriptural “endurance,” and then we’ll discuss a comforting assurance from our God of loyal love, Jehovah.

First, in the Scriptures, what is endurance? Well, the Greek noun denotes “courageous, steadfast, or patient ‘endurance’ that does not lose hope in the face of obstacles, persecutions, trials, or temptations.” It’s a beautiful quality. The related verb often has the sense of remaining instead of fleeing, standing one’s ground, persevering. Organized to Do Jehovah’s Will in chapter 17 gives a beautiful description of this quality. You may wish to read it later, but it pointedly states this in one sentence: “Without endurance, we cannot stay in the truth.”

Well, why is endurance—this beautiful, precious quality that we need to continue cultivating—so important for all of us, regardless of how many years we’ve been running in the race? Well, think of an illustration. Think of literal runners in a marathon. At the start, all of the runners worked hard to qualify. That’s excellent. But what happens to a runner who gives up anywhere before crossing the finish line? Is he any better than a person who gave up much earlier in the race or a person who didn’t even try to join the race? No. The results for tiring out or giving up are the same—disqualification. We would lose out on the reward.

Well, what’s the point? All of us—regardless of how long we’ve been running, regardless of how tired we may be right now—need to be determined to run to the finish with Jehovah’s help. You know, this thought reminded me of a comment that I heard from Brother Mancoca. If you’ve read the theocratic history of Angola in the Yearbook, then you’ve read about Brother João Mancoca. His faithfulness during periods of intense persecution is something we all wish to imitate. Brother Mancoca is still alive. He’s 95 years of age. He’s a faithful and energetic brother supporting the Branch Committee there in Angola. Several years ago, we had the privilege of meeting him when he was 88 years of age. I was giving him an encouraging visit, but it turned out to be much more encouraging for me, I’m sure, than it was for him.

In discussing his past faithfulness, it was interesting his comment. He said this. He said, “It’s not what I was that matters; it’s who I am that matters.” Yes, Brother Mancoca and you dear elderly brothers and sisters who are in the race and who have been in the race, you understand endurance. You know that it means striving forward, moving forward, maintaining a strong hope and a positive view, no matter how many the trials or how difficult they are. Well, that’s our goal—isn’t it?—all of us, to endure to the end.

I invite you now to open up your Bible with me to 1 Corinthians 10:13. Here we find a very comforting assurance. We’ve read it before. But as we discuss it and analyze it for just a few moments, I’d like you to think about it not only for yourself, but think about someone in your family or in your congregation who would benefit by having this reminder shared with them. And perhaps during the weeks to come, we can think about others who need the encouragement that this scripture provides.

First Corinthians 10:13—it reads: “No temptation has come upon you except what is common to men. But God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but along with the temptation he will also make the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”

Well, how would you summarize the assurance given in God’s inspired Word? It’s this: No matter what trials may yet arise in our life before we get to the finish line, Jehovah will sustain us if we trust in him.

We might notice in the reading two fundamental truths that serve as the foundation for this comfort. First, did you notice in the beginning part of verse 13, it says that the trials we face are “common to men”? What does that mean? Well, that means that anything we’re going through now—stresses, anxieties, difficulties—is common to the human experience. As a result, they’re not beyond our capacity to bear up as long as we rely on Jehovah God.

In the context of these words in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, particularly in verses 6 to 11, we note that Paul refers to the tests that the Israelites faced in the wilderness. Now, think of the tests they faced. None of those trials while walking in a wilderness for 40 years were beyond human experience or, in other words, beyond the ability of faithful Israelites to bear up under. Interestingly, Paul says four times that some of them disobeyed. Yes, sadly, some Israelites gave in to wrong desires, not because their trials were just too much for their weak human souls to bear; nor was it because Jehovah had failed them. No, it was because some of them failed to rely on God.

What’s the second fundamental truth in this verse? Well, we read that “God is faithful.” Well, we know that to be true, don’t we? Our experience with Jehovah has proven him to be faithful in supporting us in all previous tests we’ve faced. Indeed, the record of God’s dealings with his people demonstrates that he’s abundant in loyal love (as we discussed last evening), abundant in loyal love to those who obey him. Like Joshua, we look back at the record that we’ve experienced with Jehovah and the record that his people since the time of Israel have experienced with Jehovah, and what do we know? We know with all our heart, with all our soul, that “not one word out of all the good promises that Jehovah . . . has [made] . . . has failed.”

What does that mean?

Jehovah will be faithful to us today and tomorrow as we face tests and temptations.

So two points we can take away:

First, Jehovah will not allow any trial to develop to a point where it would make it impossible for us to bear, and second, he will make the way out for us.

Yes, Jehovah, in various ways, can either remove trials or help us to endure trials with joy, with hope, with determination, so that all of us can, with his help, cross that finish line.

Well, may these thoughts today move us to run with endurance another day in Jehovah’s service, and may we be determined to help others to do the same as we encourage and upbuild one another.

https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/VODPgmEvtMorningWorship/pub-jwb-116_3_VIDEO