5.10.26 2 T 1:8-12
Happy Mother’s Day!
Rodney took the opportunity afforded by the passage last week to celebrate mothers…as Paul celebrated Timothy’s mother and grandmother and their impact on his faith.
Mother’s day evokes many different emotions.
My mom is in heaven and so is Christy’s…her’s passed just one year ago…so for us, today is about those twin tracks of joy and sorrow as we remember our moms with gratitude and miss our moms with sadness.
For some, today is all joy, for others it is all or mostly all, sadness.
For some, it is a deep and maybe bitter, longing to be a mother, or to have had a good mother in your life.
For some, it’s the joy of being a new or expectant mother, or the joy of having a good mother who is still in your life…maybe she is sitting next to you.
We are, Scripture says, to weep with those who weep, and to rejoice with those who rejoice.
We must not try to drag people into our own joy or our own sorrow.
At the same time…we are not compelled to let others drag us into their joy or sorrow either.
No dragging, no being dragged…just Spirit-empowered choosing.
We choose, for the good of others and the glory of God…to rejoice with others, even in our sorrow.
We also choose to weep with those who weep, even while retaining our own joy.
This is all possible because of the work of God through his Spirit in us.
So…Happy Mother’s day to us all…let’s pray.
*Kids Kamp announcement*
I took this picture from the doorway of Carmen’s hospital room in one of his final days.
I asked Norma if it would be okay for me to show it to you.
Carmen was in a lot of pain on this day, but nevertheless, he was very intentionally and very specifically casting vision for one of his beloved grandsons from his deathbed.
It was compelling and it was powerful…I hesitated to take the picture; it was a sacred moment.
But I decided it was something to be seen and to be remembered.
Because not everyone gets the chance to cast vision from their deathbed…or to see it done.
I’ve led many funerals over the years where death came suddenly and unexpectedly.
We say “unexpectedly” but in truth…shouldn’t we all be expecting death all the time?
Not fearing death…but expecting it.
Ps 90:12, “Teach us to number our days aright so we will gain a heart of wisdom.”
Part of living with that expectant wisdom is…is to make sure we cast “deathbed vision” now, for those we love…because we may not make to a deathbed…or have the chance even if we do, to cast vision from there.
AND
Another part of that expectant wisdom is that we live with a deathbed vision now, ourselves.
2 Timothy is a letter from Paul, written, essentially, from his deathbed…actually his death cell.
In it, he casts vision for his beloved young friend, Timothy…his son in faith
Last week we heard this compelling truth:
V. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
That leads directly into the next verse that begins with “so”
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline SO do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner.
Let’s read the entire passage for today: 2 Timothy 1:8-12
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 life—not 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.
God did not give us a spirit of timidity… SO do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord.
Paul wrote elsewhere, “I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16)
What does this look like in actual practice?
This “not being ashamed.”
*In college I became friends, through FCA, with an FCA supporter, a much older guy…I mean he was ancient to me; he was probably fifty.
He had come to Christ as an adult, and he was loud and bold about his faith.
This was in line with his personality before and after he became a Christian…he was a salesman by trade and by temperament.
He was naturally loud and bold about pretty much everything…so of course, this now included his faith.
*I remember sitting in a restaurant with him as a college student wondering, as he spoke loud enough for everyone around us to hear, …”Is he bold or is he just loud and preachy?”
I was both challenged and annoyed at the same time.
I was trying to figure this whole Christian, “don’t be ashamed thing, “out.
I knew one thing…I couldn’t be me and do it like he did.
I knew another thing…God wanted me to be more bold in my faith…like he was.
So, I needed to change but I also needed to be me…because I couldn’t be him.
Paul is not trying to get Timothy to become more self-confident…he doesn’t need us to become louder.
If you are by nature, loud and bold…that’s fine.
If you are by nature, quiet and reserved…also fine.
This isn’t about who we are by nature, it’s who God wants to be by his power.
This isn’t about more self-reliance, or “boldness” in that sense.
It is about courage based on confidence in the power of God in us.
If you feel confident, bold, sufficient, ready to take on the world…it is largely illusion that life will “diss” you of sooner or later…disi-llusionment comes to all of the strong, self-sufficient.
Doc Holliday was a famous gunfighter, with a cool nick name (actual name was “John”)
He lived a bold, adventurous life…he was gunfighter who killed at least several men…troublemaker, gambler, law enforcer.
He was known to never back down from a fight.
He spent his entire life in dangerous situations, and he fully expected to die with his boots on…to go out with a bold bang.
Instead, he died with barely a whimper in a hospital bed at the age of 36 from tuberculous.
According to historical accounts his last words as his looked as his feet sticking out from under the sheets, with no boots, was “this is funny.”
Human self-confidence is largely a temporary illusion, and it is the opposite of Paul’s challenge here.
If you are seeking to find your confidence in the power of God…if you are learning to distrust self-reliance and go where God leads you…whether you feel confident or competent or not…you are line with Paul’s challenge here.
We don’t try to feel confident; we don’t try to feel humble…we seek to be found faithful.
So, Paul writes, don’t be ashamed of Jesus or of me…instead share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.
When I first decided to follow Christ…whenever I have read passages like this…”suffer for the gospel”…I didn’t like them at all…or I just sort of blew past them.
I was largely naive to what it might look like to actually suffer…for Christ or just because of life.
Now all these years later…I’m not as naive about suffering…but when I read this, I still don’t like it.
I’ve secretly hoped for option C.
A is don’t follow Christ, and don’t suffer.
B is follow Christ, and suffer.
C is follow Christ, and don’t suffer.
I wanted C…I still do.
But A and C are both illusions aren’t they?
If I don’t follow Christ, won’t I still suffer?
Of course I will…but I will suffer without hope or purpose.
The great myth is: I can save my life…I can life self-protectively…and it will actually work!
The great truth is: I can spend my life and not waste it
You cannot save your life…it will be spent or it will be wasted…no option A or C.
How do I spend it and not waste it?
I must train to trust…to rely on God not on myself.
These 5 verses are one long sentence in the Greek
They form a single flowing line of thought.
They begin, in verse 8 with “Don’t be ashamed”
They end, in verse 12 with “I am not ashamed”
The bookends of this long sentence are about not being ashamed of the gospel.
He begins with: Don’t be ashamed of the gospel OR of me.
Many had deserted Paul in his time of need…they had become ashamed of him.
Partly because he wasn’t cool…he was a beaten down, old prisoner.
Mostly because it was risky business to be Paul’s friend when he was in the crosshairs of the Roman government.
*Side application for you students: If you have the chance to stand up for or stand with, a not so popular kid at school, who maybe is taking a righteous positio…or maybe just the crowd has turned against him or her…as crowds are prone to do.
This happens at public and good old Christian schools as well.
To not be ashamed of Christ would mean to not be ashamed to befriend that kid in that moment…even if it cost you…think about it.
I doubt anyone is going to put a gun to your head and say, “Deny Christ or die.”
It is very likely, though, that you will have the chance sometime in your life to “be embarrassed for Christ.”
-Not a life-threatening type of suffering…but it is still a kind of suffering…if that opportunity comes, I encourage you to take it, grab it.
It will be really good if you do.
Paul knows that support for him will be difficult and risky.
But he still he challenges Timothy, “join with me in suffering.”
These five words in English are just one word in Greek.
They could be translated “co-suffer!”
So, he is inviting Timothy to join him in suffering…what kind of friend and mentor would want this?
Well, he is actually inviting Timothy to join him a well-spent life…to not waste his life.
V. 8: Do not be ashamed
V. 12: I am not ashamed
Co-suffer!
How:! “Well by the Power of God of course”
God has saved us
AND
God has called us to a holy life
*Holy is “set apart for a purpose”
Ephesians 2:8-10, Rod read last week.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith…we are his workmanship, created in Christ to do good works.”
We have a holy purpose.
Paul is not telling Timothy to become miserable like he was.
Paul wasn’t miserable, but he would prefer to not be in chains in prison…he would prefer to be roaming around the empire sharing the gospel, enjoying church, and meals with his friends.
But what he wanted the most…was to be found faithful.
In Acts, just before Paul is taken to Rome, he was before King Agrippa, the local ruler over Judea.
He preached the gospel to Agrippa who said, “Do you really think in this short time you are going to persuade me to become a Christian?”
Paul’s response was, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.”
Paul isn’t inviting people to join him in his chains; he doesn’t want Timothy to suffer.
But Paul knows there is no option C…”Follow Christ and don’t suffer.”
He knows there is only one way to live a life full of joy, meaning and ultimate purpose…follow Christ, no matter what the cost…and he knows that it will cost.
But Paul’s life focus was not on the cost of the gospel but rather on the gain of the gospel.
He tells Timothy…”co-suffer” by the power of God…then he launches into the gain not the pain of the gospel.
God has saved us, called us to a holy calling, he has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light, appointed me a preacher, and apostle and teacher.
Verse 12…all this is why I suffer as I do.
It’s like where Jesus, for the joy set before endured the cross.
When I read verses like Philippians 1:29, “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.”
I can look for option C, because I am focused on avoiding suffering rather than pursuing purpose in Christ.
Avoiding suffering is normal for humans…and we should, as much as we can and still remain faithful…avoid and eliminate suffering in our lives and in the lives of those around us.
But we must not throw away our lives in the vain pursuit of a life free of trouble and pain.
Paul is not telling Timothy, “Suck it up, live in denial, don’t worry about suffering.”
Buddhism seeks to eliminate suffering by eliminating desire.
Christianity seeks to put suffering in eternal perspective by focusing on our ultimate desire…we are made by God and for God.
In 1 Timothy Paul didn’t trivialize physical fitness and health, he relativized it.
-Physical training has some value, training in godliness has much more.
In 1 Timothy Paul didn’t trivialize wealth, he relativized it.
-Have wealth, use it for the good of others, don’t let wealth have you…it is nothing compared to eternal life.
Here in 2 Timothy, he isn’t trivializing suffering…he is relativizing it.
-Elsewhere he says our suffering in this life are lightweight compared to the immense weight of eternity’s glory.
-Paul doesn’t like to suffer, he asked God to take it from him.
-Jesus, asked that if there was another way, he would take it.
-Paul knows that Timothy, like all normal people, won’t like suffering…but suffering in this life must be held in its proper perspective.
Listen to Philippians 3, Paul relativizes suffering
“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”
Look, if Paul thought all this was easy for him or for Tim…he would not be making such a big deal about it.
If you hear this and think, “This may be easy for Paul but it’s not for me…maybe in here, it’s easy to talk about suffering for Jesus, but out there…in the real world…this stuff is not easy.”
Nobody is saying it is…the exact opposite is what is going on here.
Paul is acknowledging this is hard…really, really hard.
We all have the same choice, Paul did, Timothy did…to trust God or not…to waste our lives or not.
I don’t say anything in here, that I don’t believe is real and true out there.
I say things I don’t feel sometimes…but I always know the gospel is true.
I go to hospitals, and funerals and I get sad and I get sick…just like you.
I have seen dark days and nights…like you.
This isn’t easy for anyone, not Paul, or Timothy, or me or you…but it’s true for everyone.
Back then and now
In here and out there.
suffer with gospel hope and purpose, or suffer without them…there is no option C
it seems every week, I hear of or talk to someone who is confused by suffering…as if it were a surprise to them.
First…I understand this…because suffering in actual practice is almost always more surprising, more shocking than we could have planned for.
But it ought not be a surprise that following Christ will in fact bring suffering, it will not protect us from it…Scripture goes out its way to make this clear to us.
Verse 12 again…”all this is why I am suffering as I am.”
All what?
The gain…a focus on the gain, not just the pain.
God called him to proclaim the gospel (preacher), to represent him to the world (apostle), and to teach the truth no matter the cost.
Because of this, Paul said, I am suffering in this prison, in these chains.
Paul, from his death cell writes:
Timothy…I know this can be terrifying…but God did not give you a spirit of fear but of power, love and self-control…so don’t be ashamed, because I am not!
Here’s why I am not…. I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard what he has entrusted to me.
In 1 Timothy 4:7, Paul told Timothy to train for godliness.
There is a fair amount of plain old grit in Scripture…making choices, exercising discipline, practicing self-control.
Paul’s letters to Timothy are full of imperatives…about 70 of them…do this, don’t do that.
But here, Paul’s emphasis, as he tells Timothy to not be ashamed, as he tells him to co-suffer, is on God’s grace, not on human grit.
Here, his focus is on God’s enabling, and free grace.
“But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.”
He doesn’t say, “I am not ashamed because I am Paul…I don’t do shame!”
But rather, “I am not ashamed because I know the one in whom I place my confidence, and I am absolutely convinced that HE is able to guard to the very end, what he has entrusted to me today.”
I will be faithful…because he is faithful.
Here we have the 20/20 vision of a man at the end.
He sees with clarity not only what matters the most at the end…relationship with God
He also sees with clarity the only way we will be able to live faithfully all the way to the end ..relationship with God.
“Timothy…what you are facing is daunting…I get it.”
“You don’t like suffering…who does?”
“You don’t think you have what it takes…I understand.”
Stop paying so much attention to your own limitations…admit it, you are weak and timid and fearful.
Don’t pretend otherwise.
Don’t pretend you don’t sometimes fear man, or act like a people pleaser…you can, you do.
You don’t, in yourself…have what it takes…your best will sometimes not be enough.
But God gave you a spirit of power, love and self-control.
God will guard until the end, this faith that he has entrusted to you.
Not don’t act with timidity, don’t act in fear…feel what you feel…DO what is real.
Stop paying so much attention to yourself…start paying more attention to God.
The Human Potential Movement that took off in the 1960s–1970s was based on humanistic/atheistic psychology.
It’s thought leaders taught that we possess vast, untapped potential for growth, creativity, and self-fulfillment.
A leader in this movement was Abraham Maslow, famous for his hierarchy of needs, with the very top being what he called…Self-actualization.
It is the process of becoming the best version of yourself by fulfilling your unique potential, talents, and capabilities
It wasn’t all bad…humans are image bearers with vast potential…but it had a rotten core, so it led to cultural sickness…the rotten core was man, not God was at the center
What happened to this movement? Did it die out?
Nope it dissolved into the bloodstream of our culture…it infected everything.
Now we don’t need psychologists and thought leaders teaching us…it’s assumed, its in our songs and shows and our idioms…it’s has fully infected people’s minds.
You are the center of all things…and this is a set up for great disappointment.
This human potential movement was only able to take off because of Western prosperity.
Even for Maslow…you don’t think much about Self-actualization if you are trying to find enough to eat today or running from something that wants to kill you.
The Human Potential Movement says…your goal is to self-actualize…which no one can tell you exactly what that means…but essentially it means… think mostly about yourself and you will find meaning and purpose.
To all this, Paul says, “nonsense.”
Back in 1 Timothy…he turned Maslow on his head.
But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
1 Tim. 6:6-8
You don’t need self-actualization…you can be content with God, in fact, that is the only way you ever will be…and if you have food and clothes, even better…but God plus contentment…is great gain.
None of this comes naturally…humanistically…it all comes super-naturally.
Supernatural doesn’t just mean “miracles, seas parting, dead raising.”
By definition it means “beyond or above the natural.”
So, the way we live a life of godliness with contentment, of not being ashamed of co-suffering is not through human potential or being strong or smart or good or bold…but it is by God’s power at work in us.
This power, love, self-control…comes from God…it is “super” from outside the “natural.”
We don’t access it by trying to feel or become more bold and disciplined.
We experience it by recognizing our own great need…and continually putting our faith in God not in ourselves.
We experience it when we are at the end of ourselves and still we trust and remain faithful.
We experience it by feeling timid, or fearful, or not powerful…by dreading suffering…and yet, we obey.
Still, we stay faithful.