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HIGHLIGHT: 2 Timothy 4:6-8 6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time for my departure is close. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing.

EXPLAIN

Leaders: Feel free to use any of the “Explain” materials to guide discussion as it is needed or to expound on a certain area of the text as it comes up during your Life Group time, but the purpose of this section is to deepen your own personal understanding of the Word. Your members have access to all of this material as well.

How do you live a life with no regrets? Does it mean fulfilling every item on your bucket list? seeing the Seven Wonders of the world? Earning a mountain of money? As we come to the end of Paul’s final letter, he gives us the answer: A life of no regrets is a life committed to Christ.

v.6 Paul draws on two separate images in this verse: a Jewish one and a Roman one. We first see the idea of a drink offering in Scripture in Genesis 35:14, where Jacob pours a drink offering before God as a sacrifice. We later see that Mosaic Law allows drink offerings to be acceptable sacrifices before The Lord (Exodus 29:40-41; Leviticus 23:13). But Paul was also tapping into something deeply cultural. David Guzik explains, “Every Roman meal ended with a small sacrificial ritual to the gods—a cup of wine was taken and poured out before the gods. In this sense, Paul said, ‘The day is done, the meal is just about over, and I’m being poured out unto God.’”

In both of these instances, the drink offering was not something that was only given in part; a drink offering was the entirety of the cup’s contents. If we are to present ourselves as living sacrifices to God, it must be with our entire beings. We don’t hold anything back. Paul had dedicated his apostolic life to furthering God’s kingdom, so as the time for his departure drew nearer, he could reflect on his life without any hint of a regret.

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v.7 This is the final of Paul’s many comparisons between the Christian life and an athletic competition (Phil. 3:12-14; Acts 20:24; 1 Cor. 9:24, for example). He does not see the coming end of his race with dread, though; rather, he is comforted by the thought. Though Timothy (and others) may have looked at Paul’s lonely, painful end as something to be feared, Paul talks about it in glorious terms. The end of his life is a triumph—it has been difficult, but it is complete because he has kept the faith. Though extrabiblical literature (Josephus’ Jewish Wars 2.121 and 6.345 for example) uses this phrase to mean “remaining loyal to one’s trust,” Paul likely refers to an athlete’s pledge to compete according to the rules. Though he had ample opportunity to abandon the rules of the contest—throw his faith away—he didn’t. He kept it until the end.

v.8 Some might have looked at Paul’s life and said all that awaits him is the noose, so to speak, but Paul sees it differently. He looks straight past the method of the end of his life and sees what truly awaits him: his heavenly reward.

For those of us who aren’t necessarily staring directly at the end of our lives, we can still extract valuable information from Paul’s comments here. The key to running the race is keeping your eyes on the prize you aim for. For Paul, his eyes were on the Kingdom the entire time he was “running.” It made the adversity he encountered not just manageable, but worthwhile. So it can be with you, too.

APPLY Your Leader Guide will have material that the participant guides do not have. The bolded material is what the people in your group will have, the other material is only for you to help guide discussion.

This guide can be as strict a script or as general a resource as the leader needs it to be.

1. What stuck out to you or challenged you in what you heard in the sermon or read in the text?

2. Put yourself in Paul’s shoes. What kinds of things would you say about your life as you look back on it? How does it make you feel to think about your “departure”?

3. When do you feel most like dropping out of “the race”? What encourages you to keep going?

Paul details a few of his sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11:24-29 not to boast in his ability to persevere, but to expose the beauty of the Gospel and the power of God to sustain him. There had to have been countless times he could have thrown in the towel and considered the opposition to the Gospel too great to fight against, but he ran his race with excellence because he finished strong. Remember, Paul’s life was not perfect, Christ redeemed him. You are never too far gone to be used mightily by God for His purposes, and to run your race with faithfulness.

4. Paul wrote of receiving the “crown of righteousness.” What does it look like to pursue righteousness? How does that affect your thoughts, actions, and reactions?

Righteousness means being in right standing with God—something we are unable to achieve on our own. But that doesn’t mean that we can wake up each day girding ourselves with the tools necessary to pursue righteousness. We can put on the Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18)

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to not just protect us from the enemy’s attacks, but actively fight against them. As we saturate our minds with the things of God, we find that it will affect the things we think about, the deeds we do, the words we say, and the way we respond to tricky situations. And we can know that, as our race draws to a close, we will finally reach that thing we’ve been striving for—the Crown of Righteousness given by the only One worthy to give it.

5. Paul’s work was not finished once his life was over—it continued on in those he invested in. Who are the people you’re investing in? What “spiritual DNA” are you passing on?

RESPOND Challenge your group to respond either privately or corporately:

• Be honest with yourself—what are your eyes fixed on? In what ways do you need to realign your priorities this week?

Encourage one another through email, text messages, or coffee dates throughout the week to build up and encourage each other.

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