“Present Yourself to God as One Approved”
2 Timothy 2:8-15
A little house cleaning from last week before we move on to today. You know, God puts us in certain places at certain times for certain results. I spoke last Sunday about the opposition that Timothy was facing in the church at Ephesus, possibly because of his age and inexperience.
I’m currently reading a book titled, Beautiful Resistance, The Joy of Conviction in a Culture of Compromise by Jon Tyson. Jon is from Australia, came to the States to attend seminary in Texas, was hired as a Youth Pastor in Tennessee and is now a Pastor in New York City [Church of the City New York—talk about an interesting accent]. Jon is great; he was one of our presenters at the recent New Room Conference and I heard him speak at a conference for leaders a few years ago in North Carolina.
In this book he shares about how Deitrich Bonhoefer was one of Jesus’ exemplary disciples of the last century, despite his young age [sound familiar?]. One of the key Protestant theologians of his day, Bonhoeffer grew to become a significant figure in the resistance against Hitler and the broken German church.
Hitler not only wanted to rule Germany politically, but he also wanted to use the church to control the hearts and souls of its citizens. And the church was cooperating, handing the loyalties that belong to Christ to the Fuhrer.
Compare Hitler to Herod = Mark 6:17-28
Tyson writes: “I believe that what was true in the 1930’s is true now. We live in a time when the church is compromising with the culture left, right, and center, and we’re losing our influence. So, we must call our generation to loyalty to Christ. We must live with devotion and conviction regardless of what they cost us. This must be stronger than that. This is the time for our beautiful resistance.”
Timothy was in a time of transition. When you are facing difficult transitions, follow Paul’s advice to Timothy. Look back at your experience and review your resources with the help of the Holy Spirit. Then ask three questions: Who is the foundation of my faith? How can I build on that foundation? What gifts has the Holy Spirit given me? Next, ask for guidance from the Holy Spirit for how to use the gifts you have been given.
One of Timothy’s problems was the influence of “false teachers” in the Ephesian church which Paul alludes to in our opening verse: “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.” At the heart of false teaching is an incorrect view of Jesus Christ. In Timothy’s day, many were asserting that Christ was divine but not human—God but not man. These days, we often hear that Jesus was human but not divine—man but not God. Either view destroys the message that Jesus has taken our sins on Himself and has reconciled us to God. Paul firmly states that Jesus is fully man [“descended from David”] and fully God [“raised from the dead”]
See Philippians 2:5-11
When Paul said that Jesus was God, he angered the Jews who had condemned Jesus for blasphemy; many Jews, however, became followers of Christ [1 Corinthians 1:22-24]. He angered the Romans who worshipped the emperor as god; but even some in Caesar’s household turned to Jesus [Philippians 4:22]. When Paul said that Jesus was human, he angered the Greeks, who thought divinity was soiled if it had any contact with humanity; still, many Greeks accepted the faith [Acts 11:20-21].
Paul goes on to say, “This is my gospel.” Which begs the question, what is the gospel? We know that the word gospel means “Good News.” But once again, what is the gospel? Mark 1:15 – “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
There are some who believe that Mark 1:15 was Jesus’ one and only sermon, a 17-word manifesto. To compare, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address contained 272 words—John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address was 1,355 words—and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was 1,651 words.
So, the gospel is the good news that God is now here. Jesus came to find us, to save us, and He’s still doing so [Thank God]. The time has come—the time is NOW. The kingdom of God is at hand—it is HERE. That, my friends, is the gospel. Jesus is the gospel.
At one of my locations [stable that I worked for] back when I was training racehorses, we concentrated mostly on two and three-year-old stake horses. We had our own homebreds and we purchased other yearlings at different sales. We broke and developed them ourselves. One year we had this nice colt who competed in mostly stake races and he did okay but nothing to write home about. He just seemed to follow along if that makes any sense. That fall we shipped him and some others to Lexington, Ky for their two week fall meet. Everyone’s dream was to go to Lexington in the fall. We raced in the afternoon and went to the yearling sales at night looking for that next champion. All the top trainers brought their best horses to Lexington in the fall.
The meet was set up so you could race twice. The first week this particular horse was in a race that forced him to go in a faster time than he had ever gone before, and the next week not only did he go in that time again, but he actually won. He had been, as the old-timers used to say, “stretched out.” In other words, he learned that he could go that fast. He found a new confidence in himself. He had been challenged and realized his full potential. That horse came back as a three-year-old and ended up as a world champion in his age and gait category in winning a race at the Indiana State Fair.
Before entering the ministry, my preacher asked me to pray about leading a mission team to Donalsonville, Ga after a flood that they had experienced. I had been on other mission trips but wasn’t sure I was a leader. I stopped by the church the next day and on the table in the vestibule was a pamphlet introducing the Donalsonville mission trip and on the front cover I was listed as the team leader. I said to my preacher, “I haven’t received any answers to my prayer about this,” and he said, “that’s okay, I did.”
I led that mission team, we were very successful, and I learned that I was more capable than I thought. I had been stretched out. It’s amazing when you find what you have inside you that you hadn’t expected; when you challenge yourself or are challenged.
I was recently asked by the Conference Prayer Team to lead a class in their Prayer Conference. At first, I said no, but before our conversation was over, I agreed to give it a try. By the time I was done I had come up with an 8-page document consisting of 1900 words. I ended up with so much information I was going to need to cut some stuff to fit it into my time frame. I had stretched myself out.
Paul urged Timothy to remind the believers not to argue over unimportant details or have foolish discussions because such conversations are confusing, useless, and even harmful. False teachers love to cause strife and divisions by their meaningless quibbling over unimportant details. To handle the word of truth correctly, we must study what God’s Word says so we can understand what it means.
Because God will examine the kind of workers we have been for Him, we should build our lives on His Word and build His Word into our lives. The Bible alone tells us how to live for Him and serve Him. Consistently and diligently study God’s Word so that you will not be lulled into neglecting God and your true purpose for living.
Larry Bird – my Paul to me [Timothy]
Ben Hasty – my Timothy
Some of you are old enough to remember Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She arrived at the seat of power as a president’s wife, but her power was much more pronounced than that of any other First Lady. Mrs. Roosevelt was a one-woman war on poverty during the Depression. She visited coal mines, hospitals, and squatters’ camps all over the nation. She traveled around the world, speaking with kings, presidents, and the destitute with equal enthusiasm and compassion. During her husband’s presidency, she acted as unofficial ambassador to the world and devil’s advocate to his conscience and the conscience of a nation. She achieved all this in spite of the fact that she was painfully shy.
After her husband’s death, with no official capacity, Mrs. Roosevelt continued to be a spokesperson for dozens of causes. When President Truman appointed her to the newly formed League of Nations, Henry Cabot Lodge gave her what was considered an inconsequential committee concerned with human rights. Lodge didn’t realize that he gave Roosevelt a perfect platform from which to launch a worldwide fight for fairness and equality.
She was, at first, ignored and minimized. Every place she turned she encountered barriers that would have discouraged a less passionate person. She cajoled and compromised. She pleaded and demanded. Everyone she came into contact with felt the power of her convictions. Her work on the “Bill of Human Rights” for the newly formed United Nations came to fruition after four years of arduous effort. To date, this document has been used as the basis for the constitutions of sixty nations! Eleanor Roosevelt was on a mission, and she made a major difference in our world. If you and I aren’t as powerful as we ought to be, maybe it’s because we have no mission burning in our soul.
Eleanor Roosevelt had been stretched out. Despite her shyness she was able to do amazing things that even she was surprised by.
Paul wanted to stretch Timothy out, so he continued to not only challenge him but to uplift and encourage him. Paul wanted Timothy to hit his stride and to reach his full potential.
Timothy, and us for that matter, need to realize that we can’t save and sanctify ourselves; we can’t make atonement for sin; we can’t redeem the world; we can’t right what is wrong, purify what is impure, or make holy what is unholy. All this is the sovereign work of God. The greatest need we have is not to do things, but to believe things. We can’t do anything pleasing to God unless we deliberately build on the foundation of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.
The Apostle Paul was an old man and Timothy was a young man but neither one used their age as an excuse for not stretching themselves out; not challenge themselves to grow, to reach their full potential and present themselves to God as one approved.
Eastman First Methodist Church 