| Text: | 2 Timothy 1:1-14 |
| Lectionary: | Proper 22 |
| Date: | October 3, 2010 |
Introduction: It was a time of heating by wood and coal. A time when fires had to be tended or darkness and cold would soon fill the room. It was a time when fire was precious – when to let it die out meant having to seek an ember from a neighbor or else find a flint and start a new one.
Ol Suit.
An old man sits below ground-level, in a dank, dark cell. The flickering light of a small fire, perhaps, his only illumination. Before him is the precious parchment upon which he is composing a final letter to a dear, young friend. His task is to write this letter – and then death.
There was a time when those who knew this man had such high hopes for him. Back in his youth, he was educated at the feet of the most celebrated of teachers. His was the equivalent of an Ivy League education. He was a student of Gamaliel, he was a high officer in his religious society, a young man from the right sort of family…who had power, prestige, and promise.
Outside the Mamertine Prison
But long ago he turned his back on all of that to spread the message of a penniless Jewish rabbi who had not ended well. You would have thought anyone so highly trained, so well-bred, so seemingly intelligent, and passionate to succeed would have chosen better. But this man chose to follow a rabbi so utterly ignorant of worldly ways that he ended up crucified on a Roman cross.
In choosing to follow that ill-fated rabbi, the man had turned his back on a good and prosperous life to drift around the Mediterranean region, preaching, teaching, testifying . . . and running for his life, in between. One of his letters told of the life he had found in exchange for the life of privilege and comfort he had given up. Accused of not being a real minister, of being not good enough to minister, and being compared to other, “better” preachers, he wrote:
23 Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. 24 Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.
26 I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. 27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.
28 Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger? 30 If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am. 31 God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, who is worthy of eternal praise, knows I am not lying.
32 When I was in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas kept guards at the city gates to catch me. 33 I had to be lowered in a basket through a window in the city wall to escape from him. (2 Cor. 11:23-33 NLT)
And now he is coming to the end. The entrance to his small cell is no bigger than a manhole cover above his head. The ceiling here is so low that he cannot stand fully upright. No sunlight reaches this place. He must keep the fire going or sit in total darkness. Thus he writes by the firelight.
Man standing in Paul's cell.
Time is short and not much life remains. Of all the churches he has planted not one sends a word or a friend to stand with him now. But he is not bitter. Nor is he afraid. He only longs to impart to his young friend the value of all that he has gained in following that so-called failed Jewish rabbi, Jesus. And he wants to communicate to Timothy the importance of keeping that inner-fire going – of not letting your spiritual passion die.
I. The Greeting
A. A Personal Greeting
1. Written to his young friend and protégé, Timothy.
2. Paul describes himself as one sent by God with the message of Christ.
a. Thus he sees himself in terms of his participation in the mission of God to redeem the world.
B. A Passionate Greeting
1. Note the “tears” of young Timothy.
2. No doubt this may have something to do with the fact that Timothy looks to Paul as a “father figure” (see 1 Timothy 1:2, 2 Timothy 1:2) – his father not having been a believer (see Acts 16:1, 3).
II. The Gospel
A. Paul an “apostle”
1. “One who is sent” with a special mission or message.
2. The Message he carried, was the Gospel.
a. The word “Gospel” means “good news”
3. Yet Paul had “suffered” much (v. 8 ) to carry the “good news”.
4. Still, it continued to be authentically “good news” because through it we become aware that Jesus Christ has:
a. “abolished death” (made death of no significance) because He counteracted it completely since He also…
b. “brought life” . . .
c. . . . and “brought . . . immortality”.
5. This, then, is the good news . . . that Jesus Christ, God’s Son and Savior for the World, has come as promised and has robbed sin and death of their power and the grave of its grip by the offer of real and endless life!
III. the Goal
A. Paul envisions an end.
1. He is not ignorant of how things will end.
a. In 4:6-8, at the close of this letter to Timothy, Paul speaks of how he envisions his impending death. He knows that it is near.
2. But death is not the end for Paul. Like a boy about to have his school photo taken or waiting before his first date’s front door might spit on his hand and slick his hair down, so Paul is prepared to meet the Master at the end of his life! Death was not the end!
B. Paul entrusts his eternity to Christ.
1. (v. 12) “…I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”
a. Here is a trust that is rock-solid and unshakeable!
IV. The Gift
A. A Gift accompanied by “Laying on of Hands”.
1. This is a very specific term and one that tells us that Paul is talking about one of two “gifts”.
a. Although the early church laid hands on people for their healing, no “gift” was then given. Rather…
b. In Acts 8:17 and several other places this phrase is used to describe the way in which the Apostles prayed for people to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
b. The second way in which “laying on of hands” was used to impart a gift was in the act of ordaining someone to a particular ministry.
i. In Acts 6:6, the apostles laid hands on 7 men as they ordained them to be deacons.
ii. In 1 Timothy 5:22 (and several other places) it is used in this way. It is this – Timothy’s ordination and the particular gift he received then to fulfill God’s call on his life – that Paul is referring to.
B. A Gift that must be keep fresh and passionate.
1. This world is spiritually cold. It will gradually numb the heart and deaden our spiritual senses. Unless we keep “stirring up the gift” we will surely develop lukewarm hearts and cold, dead faith.
2. So we are told not to “quench the Spirit” – not to put out the Spirit’s fire (NIV) – in 1 Thessalonians 5:19. We must guard against everything that would draw our souls away from God’s will and God’s plans and God’s desires.
3. The world and the devil are always conspiring to damn our souls. Only by the most faithful obedience and diligent pursuit of God’s will can we escape their ruinous power!
a. As the writer of Hebrews so fearfully asks, (Hebrews 2:3) “…how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation..?”
C. To “stir up” means to…
1. “rekindle, to ignite, to inflame”
D. We are in desperate need of such a rekindling now.
1. Who is to stir up the gift? (We are. This echoes the Old Testament promise found in 2 Chronicles 7:14.)
2. God will meet us as we fast and pray, as we search our hearts and God’s Word, as we are faithful to our biblical Christian duties.
3. 2 Chronicles 7:14 still stands as His promise to revive and renew!
