CWC Pent 20 - Epistle - - Kieth Bernard Kuschel
2 Timothy 1:3-14
(3) I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. {4} Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. {5} I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. {6} For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. {7} For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of selfdiscipline. {8} So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, {9} who has saved us and called us to a holy lifenot because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, {10} but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. {11} And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. {12} That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. {13} What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. {14} Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you, guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
1 When he was in prison in Rome the second time, Paul wrote this letter to Timothy, a younger fellow worker. The first time he had been let out. He had done more work for the Lord. Now it looked as if he wasn’t going to be let out again. He was ready to be put to death for the Lord. Timothy had remained active in the congregations founded throughout the Mediterranean world, spreading the message of Jesus Christ as Paul had done.
2 “I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy.” {4}What does that tell you about Paul and Timothy? They were very close. “{4} Recalling your tears.” Maybe that happened when they parted last. {5} “Faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice.” What does that tell you about Paul and Timothy? Their connection goes back to the previous generation. {3}“Night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.” What does that tell you about Paul? He was thinking about Timothy a lot.
3 What did Paul do when he prayed about Timothy? (3) I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Why? Because of Timothy’s {5}“sincere faith.” Because Timothy believed that Jesus is the Savior of the world and his Savior. That’s why Paul and Timothy were so close. They were brothers in Christ. Members of God’s family through Christ. You can’t get closer than that.
1 As God’s people we pray for each other. We pray that brothers and sisters get healed when they are sick. Why? Because we live by faith. We believe God can do that. We pray that God would comfort them when they have lost loved ones. Why? Because we live by faith. We believe God can do that. We pray that God would give them success when they try to accomplish things in life. Why? Because we live by faith. We believe God can do that.
2 As God’s people we also give thanks for each other as Paul did for Timothy. We thank God that He brought our brothers and sisters to trust that Jesus lived and died to give them forgiveness and holiness. We thank God that He is going to take us to be in heaven with Him and them forever because of Jesus’ resurrection. How can we do that? Because we live by faith. We believe God can do that. We thank God that He is going to use these people to keep us close to Jesus and vice versa. How can we do that? Because we live by faith. We believe God can do that.
1 Timothy was shy, young, had some physical problems, and wasn’t respected by some people. He was facing opposition from the Ephesian false teachers. Christians were just starting to be persecuted by the Roman government. Many reasons to be sort of down at the time of this letter.
2 So, Paul wanted to get Timothy fired up again about his work of sharing Jesus with others. He did that by reminding Timothy of his commission from the Lord which came through the laying on of Paul’s hands. God’s grace had enabled Timothy to become an understudy with Paul, and that same grace would motivate him to continue on with the work. . {6} For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
3 Paul encouraged Timothy in another way. He reminded Timothy:{7} For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of selfdiscipline. God gives boldness. He gives strength. He gives the ability to love so we can overcome our selfishness. He gives self-discipline to overcome lack of focus. “God has done all this for you Timothy. So, go ahead. Continue with the Lord’s work.”
1 When we look at how life is right now, many of us have health problems. Some are young, some are shy, some are not respected. American society ridicules Christians. Other societies, some of which are expanding rapidly, kill Christians. Things haven’t changed.
2 What do we do about that? We encourage each other. We remind each other that our job hasn’t changed. We are in this world to share Jesus with others. We gather together here once a week or more to encourage each other to go back out into the world and live our lives as thank-you’s to the Lord for giving us forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life through Jesus. Why can we be encouraging with each other? Because we can remind each other that God gives boldness, power, love and self-discipline to us. How do we know that God will do that? Because we live by faith.
1 Paul, the most visible proclaimer of the Gospel, the most public representative of Jesus was in prison. If Timothy his understudy, his closest fellow worker was shy before, now he had a good reason to be totally quiet about the Gospel. Paul writes: {8} “So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner.”
2 No. “But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.” Keep on testifying about Jesus. Even if it means you too will become a prisoner. Why testify about Jesus even if it means suffering? Because He {9} has saved us and called us to a holy lifenot because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, {10} but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. God has rescued us from death and hell as punishment for sin. Not because we have done anything to deserve it. But because it is His purpose to give us eternal life. And because He loves us so much that He did what was necessary to give us eternal life. This eternal life was planned for us from eternity and accomplished through Jesus who lived and died and rose to destroy death’s ability to punish us for our sins and to give us the opportunity to live forever with Him.
3 Then Paul wrote:{12} “ I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.” Paul was convinced that the same Jesus who was His Savior would guard his soul, would guard the relationship that He had created with Paul so that at the time of his death, he would enter into the eternal presence of the Lord, to begin an eternal life of perfection with Him. That is living by faith.
1 It’s very easy to be less and less excited about pointing people to Jesus with our lives and speaking about Jesus with our words. Fewer and fewer people are even thinking about God. Fewer and fewer are interested in finding out about Him. Fewer and fewer are concerned about God’s will, living a godly life. We might feel as down as Timothy did and remain silent about Jesus.
2 But testifying about Jesus is the only thing that can change that. It won’t do to talk about being spiritual. It won’t do to talk about religion. We must get specific as Paul did. We must testify about Jesus. Jesus died to take away my sins. I would be damned without Him. Jesus lived a holy life to give me His holiness. I am unacceptable to God without that. Jesus rose from the dead. Without that I would go into the grave at death and that would be the end of it.
3 Testifying about Jesus is the same as being confident about the future. He will guard my soul. He will guard our relationship. I have eternal life. I will live forever. All because of Jesus. That is living by faith.
1 One more issue. Paul had always been there for Timothy. He could give Timothy direction and advice when needed. That made them even closer. If Paul was for sure going to be put to death, he wouldn’t be there for Timothy any more.
2 {13} What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Just as Jesus had prepared men to be teachers to take over for Him when He ascended into heaven, so Paul had taught men like Timothy and thus prepared them with that teaching to be able to take over for him. What Timothy needed to do was to hang onto the content and the method of the teaching.
3 Big order. But Timothy didn’t have to do it alone. {14} Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to youguard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” The Holy Spirit living and working in his heart and life would help him to keep on holding on to the truth which Paul had given. Timothy was to use the Word of God, confident that the Holy Spirit would carry out His work of helping him to guard the truth about Jesus. That is living by faith.
1 When we get together as God’s people, we use God’s Word. We do that so that we are kept close to Jesus by the Holy Spirit. But we also do that so that we keep what we have heard from the prophets, apostles and Jesus. We do that so that we guard the good deposit that God and the people who have gone before us have entrusted to us. We do that so that we don’t lose the truth. We do that so that future generations have the truth.
2 We do that confident that Jesus will keep His promise: {Mt 24:35}My Word shall not pass away. We do that confident that the Holy Spirit will do His work of helping us guard the truth. That is living by faith. Lord, please help us to keep living by faith.