2 Timothy begins with a sweeping, grace filled look at the work of God in Christ on our behalf. Paul says that God, saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
Paul’s aim is to help Timothy lead his church in keeping the main thing the main thing. In other words. The gospel is worth fighting for, for without it, we have no hope.
But other things are not worth fighting for. This is Paul’s point in 2 Timothy 2:14:
Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.
So many of us need these words today. Too many churches spend too much time fighting about “words”. Words include everything from semantic arguments to music choices to even minor theological issues. We need to stop fighting about that which is not the main thing. We must contend for the gospel with all of our being, but that’s pretty much where our fighting should stop.
We have to show the world that what unites us, the good news of our salvation through Christ by God’s grace alone, is more powerful than our minor differences. When we quarrel over words, we prove that Christ is not first in our hearts and in our churches. We must pray that we would be as Jesus prays in John 17. That we would be one as the Son and the Father are One.
Christ is that powerful, and He is that unifying. Fight for the gospel and fight to remain in unity. This the way that God is most honored in us, when we see Christ as sufficient to unite us in the face of our sinful tendency to divide and quarrel.
Unoriginal Observations 