Welcome to Day 21 of The Challenge! Our verse to memorize is II Timothy 2:21:
~
"If a man therefore purge himself from these,
he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified,
and meet for the master’s use, and
prepared unto every good work."
~
Word Meanings:
Purge: to cleanse out, clean thoroughly, to cleanse - Vessel: a man of quality, a chosen instrument
- Honor: a valuing by which the price is fixed, an estimation of the value of a thing
- Sanctified: to set apart for the worship and service of God
- Meet: easy to make use of, useful, usable
Prepared: to make ready, equipped
An Expanded Translation of II Timothy 2:21
"If, therefore, a person separates himself from these, he shall be an instrument highly prized, in a state of permanent separation, useful to the master, for every good work 
equipped." ~ Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek
New Testament
"Vessel of Honor"
A vessel of honor represents one who has separated himself from those that harbor corrupt thinking. A corrupt belief system will destroy the believer’s ultimate purpose. When a believer separates himself from unrighteousness he will be an instrument highly prized, useful to the Master, and equipped for great work.
Cross References for II Timothy 2:21
- II Corinthians 9:8: "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work."
- Ephesians 2:10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
- II Timothy 6:11: "But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness."
- II Timothy 2:16: "But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness."
- II Timothy 3:17: "That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."
~ Laurie Jalbert
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January 21st, 2009 at 7:02 am
Thank you, Laurie!
I love you, sister! That was very good. God has been speaking to me along those lines, so to be further encouraged is wonderful! We do need to continually separate ourselves from the world, the flesh, and the devil. In God, there is no darkness! (1 John 1). Praise the Lord for His holiness, how it calls us out of darkness into His marvelous light!
January 21st, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Wow! Great study. After meditating on this, who wouldn’t be motivated to become an “instrument highly prized,” “equipped for great work,” and ready to be used by the Master!
The requirement is not so easy, though. I must be “thoroughly cleansed” and “completely separated” from the dishonorable vessels of wood and earth. The only other place that the Greek word for purge is used in the Bible is I Corinthians 5:7: “Purge out therefore the old leaven [a picture of sin], that ye may be a new lump.”
January 21st, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Wow! That kiln looks quite hot! But what a lovely vessel after all the “trials”! Excellent reminder and motivation to “endure hardness” (II Tim. 2:3)! Through trials, we are purified and made more ready for the Master’s use. How useful am I being to the Lord? If I want to be ready for God’s service, I had better not waste time responding wrongly to or resisting His purifying trials!
Nice study on this verse, Laurie! Thanks for blessing us with it!
January 22nd, 2009 at 7:42 pm
That’s what I desire to be…a vessel of honor. Emptied of self and all competing affections. Usable, clean and set apart for the specific purpose that God, the Master Potter, has for me. May we all be fit for HIS purpose and plan. Thanks for sharing…=)
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:19 am
Beneficial and excellent study, Laurie! Thank you! Those word meanings were a great help to me.
As I was out with my family today, I came across a couple of situations where I found that I had forgotten to bring something (or, so I thought!) and regretted not having it, knowing they would have been of help and benefit to me. Lo and behold, however, I later found that I did have them. They were hiding! The Lord brought to mind this verse from yesterday. Besides the definition of “useful”, I found that “meet” also means “easy to make use of.” The Lord brought this insight: just as those hiding items were not useful to me, so I will not be useful to the Him when I hide under the bushel of fear. It will not be easy for Him to make good use of me. He so clearly revealed to me the seriousness of my fear back on my own Journey, and I have seen the truth of how useless I was in so many ways when fear was in the way! Praise the Lord I am now more “meet for the Master’s use!”
As I was contemplating what “these” might be referring to, I thought of all the bad hearts we went through on the Journey, and how vital it is that these be purged from my life. Did anyone else have any specific things that “these” was referring to? What did that word mean to you?
January 24th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Thank you, Laurie! There were so few of your own words in there, so much of the Scripture, it made it incredibly easy for the Lord to speak to me through the word meanings and cross references.
This is perhaps one of the most difficult concepts for Christians to understand – that though “all things are lawful for me, not all things are HELPFUL”. I struggled a lot in my teens with wanting to be more “normal” and less “perfect” (really, they were Godly standards that the Lord had placed on my parents’ hearts.)
It wasn’t really until the Journey that I fully yielded to being DIFFERENT for the Lord, HOLY, SANCTIFIED for His perfect use! And this decicion filled me with a joy and peace that struggling Christians trying to “fit in” and toe the line cannot have.
Our PURPOSE in life is so important – what do we want, really? Oh to be considered VALUABLE for the Lord’s use!
January 24th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
In reference to Sarah Espineda’s question:
The word “these” is referring to the different vessels listed in verse 20.
“But in the great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor.”
You might then ask what the vessels listed in verse 20 represent. First we back up to verse 15. There we find Paul touching on the topic on being firmly planted in the Word of truth.
“Bend your every effort to present yourself to God, approved, a workman unashamed, expounding soundly the word of the truth.” (Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek)
Then verses 16-18 go on to caution against false teachers who have deviated from the truth. Verse 19 points to the firm, immovable foundation of God.
This leads back to the original question you asked about what “these” mean in verse 21. By giving the overall picture of this passage we see that there are some that do err from the truth and ultimately destroying the faith of others with their false teaching. It is also important to remember that the ultimate false teacher of all time is Satan himself. But God’s Word is Truth and His Word will stand firm forever! As a Christian we should separate ourselves from false teaching that will lead us down a destructive path.
So verse 21 could read like this:
“If a man purge himself from these (the vessels of dishonor, ones who have erred from the truth, false teaching, corrupt believes), he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.”
Thank you for sharing Sarah. I hope this helps!
January 27th, 2009 at 12:30 am
Thank you, Laurie
I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question. I knew that one of the things “these” was referring to was the vessels of wood and earth, but I was trying to think of specific things that wood and earth would represent in my life.