“The Good Deposit That Was Entrusted To You”
2 Timothy 1:1-14
This isn’t the text that I chose to preach on about six weeks ago when I was making my sermon plans for the month of October and I’ll tell you why. Last week, on the day of my dad’s Service of Ashes I purposely went to the cemetery a little early. Until recently, and I’m not sure what has changed, the cemetery was one of the places I visited every time I went home. I know, as a minister of the gospel, that there’s nobody there; but I went out of respect. Just like last Wednesday I would walk along the rows of the final resting place for my family and friends of my family. Sometimes, and I hope this doesn’t sound silly, but I would have conversations, especially at the grave of my grandfather.
Well, last Wednesday I was out there early, and I took my little walk but when I got to our little family plot, I noticed that there was some kind of moss or fungus growing on the headstone. And not just a little. It was a little embarrassing. I know my dad would have been offended by it. I thought about Justin Hardy and his cleaning service but knew that probably wasn’t an option. So, the next day, in the rain, armed with a sprayer, a bucket and some soap, and an assortment of brushes, I went to work. And I’m proud to say mission accomplished.
The reason I share that story and why I switched my scripture for this morning is what Paul said to young Timothy, “Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you.” I feel like that had to do a little with what I was doing in the cemetery last Wednesday.
Paul’s second letter to Timothy, a younger man who Paul treated like a son, was written about two to four years after his first letter. Timothy had been Paul’s traveling companion on his second and third missionary journeys, and Paul had left him in Ephesus to help the church there. Written in approximately 66 or 67, these words are the last words we have from Paul.
These words or this letter would have been written in a somber tone. Paul had been imprisoned for the last time, and he knew he would soon die. Unlike Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome, when he was in a house where he continued to teach, this time he was probably confined to a cold dungeon awaiting his death. We don’t know when Paul and Timothy last parted, but it was probably when Paul was arrested and taken to Rome.
I feel like it’s safe to say that we have all received good gifts in our lifetime. It would probably be hard to narrow them down to a top ten or even a top twenty. I remember my first big person bike I got for Christmas as a child. I remember, and this is going to sound weird, but as a teenager when I was starting to develop a passion for harness racing, I received a subscription for a harness racing news magazine. I was in heaven, I know, nerdy. I told someone just this week that the older I get I’m seeing every day as a gift. Just waking up and being able to move about.
Paul had a gift in young Timothy; and Timothy had a gift in his mentor Paul. Our families can be gifts and fertile fields for planting seeds for the gospel. Paul wrote, I am 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.”
This past week one of the “Wake-Up Call” entries had to do with one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible. It comes from Mark 2 where Jesus has returned to Capernaum and people heard that He had returned home and everyone was gathering in such a large number that there was no room left, even outside the door. And we have these four men who bring to Jesus their paralyzed friend on his mat. And when they couldn’t get into the house they went up on the roof, made a hole, and lowered their friend down in front of Jesus. What a scene this must have been. This paralyzed man had been gifted these four friends, and when Jesus saw their faith he said, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” This man was healed because of his friends.
Timothy may have been experiencing great opposition to his message and even to himself as a leader. In telling him to “fan into flame the gift of God” Paul was encouraging him to persevere in exercising his special gifts and growing in his understanding of how to use them to serve others. Timothy didn’t need new revelations or new gifts; he needed the courage and self-discipline to hang on to the truth and to use the gifts he had already received.
We remembered a gift given to us this morning. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). On this World Communion Sunday we have done as Jesus asked us to do: Do this in remembrance of me.”
The Prophet Isaiah said, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”
Oswald Chambers wrote, “This call has nothing to do with personal sanctification, but with being make broken bread and poured-out wine.”
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.
We’ve been given a gift. God loves us, He called us, and He sent Jesus to die for us. We can have eternal life through faith in Him because He broke the power of death with His resurrection. We do not deserve to be saved, but God offers us salvation anyway. “Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you.”
Eastman First Methodist Church 