Set Apart, Useful, and Ready
Paul’s Paradigm for Joyful Christian Living
Written by David W. Hegg | Senior Pastor
Imagine being installed as a church leader at a young age in an idolatrous, pagan city. That was Timothy—Paul’s disciple, traveling partner, and dear friend. After a few years with the Apostle, Timothy was left in Ephesus to organize, educate, and pastor a group of new Gentile Christ-followers. And at first, things went well.
But a few years later, when Paul writes 2 Timothy, it’s a different story. Paul writes to a young man whose ministerial fire is almost out. He is back on his heels, seemingly ashamed of Paul and the Gospel and, mostly, afraid to suffer for the cause of Christ. (1)
So what does the great Apostle do? He gives him a short course on the Gospel (2), exhorts him to find strength in the grace of Christ (3), and commands him to get back to the work of making disciples.(4) Specifically, Paul calls Timothy to learn from the courage and focus of a good soldier, the integrity and drive of a winning athlete, and the perseverance and patience of a hard-working farmer. (5)
But Paul knows that living joyfully as a Christ-follower among those whose eyes and minds are blind to the glories of God requires more than some sound counsel. What Timothy needs is a specific strategy – a practical paradigm – that can help him follow his shepherd “down the paths of righteousness.” (6)
“Any dish can be “honorable” as long as it is clean, as long as it is not stained by impurities”
First, Paul gives Timothy a simple illustration about the various dishes found in a prominent house. (7) Some dishes are expensive, special, and reserved for the “honor” of serving guests while others are common, expendable, and used for “dishonorable” tasks like feeding the animals. In all likelihood at that point in his ministry, Timothy was discouraged, even despairing, and may have considered himself common, expendable and, perhaps, even useless.
But in verse 21, Paul speaks directly to the real point of the illustration. What is most important is not the dish, but what it carries! Any dish can be “honorable” as long as it is clean, as long as it is not stained by impurities. (8)
Don’t miss what Paul is saying here. God uses all kinds of vessels to shine the light of truth, carry his Gospel, and share his love in this dark, sin-drenched, and dangerous world. But to do so, Christ-followers must cleanse their lives daily from all that would pollute their lives, dim his light, obscure his truth, or distort their display of his love.
Paul offers a three-part paradigm for God’s children to use as they strive to be vessels for honorable use. Here it is in 2 Timothy 2:21:
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
Paul’s paradigm is simple:
Personal Preparation: Set apart as holy
Personal Motivation: Useful to the Master
Personal Action: Ready for every good work
As Christ-followers, we are first to be “set apart as holy.” This speaks to our daily personal preparation. If we are going to be vessels God can use in honorable ways, our first responsibility is to be holy.
“Holiness is an attitude that is so focused on God’s glory that we naturally become more and more averse to sin.”
The call to holiness demands that we turn away from sin in all its forms, every day, as a testimony to our growing love for God. At its core, holiness is more than not sinning. It is primarily about being “for God.” That is, we are set apart from sin and for God. Holiness is an attitude that is so focused on God’s glory that we naturally become more and more averse to sin. This determination to be set apart as holy is to be our daily preoccupation, our daily preparation for being a vessel for honorable use.
And this idea of being useful is next in Paul’s paradigm. Those who are set apart as holy are prepared to be useful to the Master of the house. Our Lord Jesus Christ is our Master, and it is our greatest honor to be useful to him.
This desire to be useful is a Christ-follower’s most godly motivation. But sadly, too often we see our obedience to Christ, our turning away from sin and any number of other things we do “for God”, as our way of gaining more of his blessings. In this way, we think we can get more from God by doing more things for God. But the truth is, God doesn’t pay on commission! We must realize that we already possess “every spiritual blessing in Christ.” (9)
What Paul says here is actually to be our personal motivation. Why obey? To be useful! Why turn from sin? To be useful! Why study God’s Word, learn his ways, develop a passionate prayer life, and be a consistent and joyful partner in the mission of Christ through a local church? There is only one godly motivation for us as Christ-followers, and that is to be an honorable vessel useful to the Master!
And just what does it look like to be useful? Paul, having defined our Personal Preparation: set apart as holy and Personal Motivation: to be useful to the Master, now calls us to Personal Action: ready for every good work!
As useful vessels, we are now to be ready for every good work. That means we enter each day, each situation, each circumstance ready, willing, and prepared to do good in the Name of Jesus! This simply means we have eyes open to every opportunity to help others, offer comfort, love, or words of truth.
I remember the day I got my permit to begin learning to drive an automobile. Dad took me to the church parking lot for my first lesson. I also remember him saying, “David, when you are driving, you need to be prepared for anything to happen. You need to be ready to respond to whatever happens around you.”
Christ-follower, we need to be ready for every good work, ready to be Christ’s representatives in big and small ways, whenever the opportunity presents itself. And to be ready, we need to be useful, and that will mean first being set apart as holy.
End Notes:
(1) 2 Timothy 1:6-8
(2) 2 Timothy 1:9,10
(3) 2 Timothy 2:1
(4) 2 Timothy 2:2
(5) 2 Timothy 2:3-6
(6) Psalm 23:3
(7) 2 Timothy 2:20
(8) Paul uses the same concept in 2 Corinthians 4:7 speaking about the “treasure” of the Gospel being ours to carry as
Christ-followers. The vessel is a “jar of clay”, expendable, common, but what it carries makes all the difference.
(9) Ephesians 1:3