Tue Feb 11

Listen up, little ones

Especially for the littles in your household.

Listen for the word judge

Reading

2 Timothy 4:1-8—Jesus Is the Righteous Judge We Need

Optional Reading

Optional Reading Judges 2:16–23

Keys for kids

Also for the littles. Young households might choose, after Keys for Kids, to go directly to praise and prayer.

Questions

(some read these before notes, then ask them after)
  1. Who will Jesus judge?
  2. What was Timothy to do in light of this righteous judge?
  3. How can we escape Jesus’s righteous judgment?

Notes

God sent judge after judge to his people in the book named Judges. They repeatedly rescued Israel from bondage to their enemies—a bondage God had given them because of their sin. For a while there was peace. For a while there seemed to be a little bit of obedience. But again and again they sank deeper into sin.

They needed a better judge—one who could break this cycle of sin. Jesus is the Righteous Judge that we need! He will judge the living and the dead—bad news, as we often find in the Bible, before good news (see Jonah 3:1-2,4). It’s as if Paul says, because of this righteous judge, Timothy, you need to carry out what I am giving you today as a solemn charge. Timothy would be judged as to his faithfulness in carrying out this commission to preach the Word. Calvin says that the Apostle fixes attention on the judgment of Christ; because, as we [ministers of the gospel] are his representatives, so he will demand a stricter account.

Because Timothy is still pastoring at Ephesus, there is an implication for the church as well. Jesus is going to judge you, too. The church will be judged as in how they respond to the preached Word.

But not only is Jesus the judge. He is also the King we need. The only hope to escape the penalty of His coming judgment is to receive His salvation and submit to His kingship now, as do all who do look forward to Jesus’s coming again!

Swedish Method questions

See the Sunday reading for meaning of the symbols.

Praise

Psalm 98b, 119r

Prayer

  1. Give thanks if you have been saved from the coming judgment.
  2. Give thanks for something from last Lord’s Day’s sermons.
  3. Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.
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