Sermon by Pastor Robert Green, July 19, 2009 Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, B, No. 758, Ascension Evangelical Lutheran Church, W.E.L.S., Harrisburg, PA, based 2 Timothy 3:10—4:5
This is the last of what are called Paul’s “Pastoral Letters,” letters written to encourage and instruct pastors in their work. This Second Letter to Timothy carries with it the thoughts of Paul as he waited in a dungeon in Rome for what he believed would be an order of execution. Paul had been arrested for proclaiming Christ in Rome and though he believed the end was near, he writes this beautiful letter of encouragement to young Timothy, a Christian pastor he had trained and who had become like a son to him. But do not think that because Paul wrote to a pastor these letters are not equally addressed to you, for they are God’s Word, spoken to the heart of every believer. May God’s Word spoken to Timothy so long ago encourage you take to heart that God calls you to serve him faithfully by continuing in you what you have learned from the Scriptures; to be prepared at all times to proclaim the Word!
God calls you to serve him faithfully
I. By continuing in you what you have learned from the Scriptures;
Paul set up a great contrast between godly living and worldly living. In the words before the reading, Paul told Timothy that many would were “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.” They would always be learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.
This is where the words for this reading begin in which Paul lays forth how a Christian is to live. Paul went on to tell Timothy, “You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” When Paul says “you know” he uses a word that means to closely follow. It is the same word Jesus used in telling us to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow him.
Timothy had closely followed in the sense of knowing intently Paul’s teaching, way of life, purpose, faith, and so on. Timothy knew about Paul’s persecutions and hardships and so was not a stranger to the hardships of being a servant of God. With these words, Paul reminded Timothy to remain faithful though he knew the hardships that would come his way. He says the same thing to you for he reminds every believer that whoever wants to lead a godly life in following Christ Jesus can expect persecution. This will be difficult for while the faithful Christian struggles to follow God evil men, imposters of servants of God, will come onto the scene, having an outward success but going from bad to worse by deceiving their hearers and then in turn being deceived of the truth of God. Their evil teaching will turn believers away from the teachers teaching the truth. They will go from bad to worse for teaching bad doctrine always leads to more bad doctrine, often all the worse.
Now Paul makes a critical point in telling Timothy and all who believe in Christ Jesus, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” If you do not want to lose the truth and become deceived, and in turn deceive others, then remain in and continue in what you have learned as a Christian.
You too have known from whom you were taught and you know you have had teachers faithful to the Word of God and so have reason to continue in what you have been taught. This is true because of the great blessing our church body has had in its pastoral and teacher training programs. The standard for a faithful teacher is to proclaim the Word of God. The test to see if your pastor or teacher is doing so is to test what they say against the Scriptures. Where there is agreement, you have faithful preaching.
Some people, like Timothy, have been blessed in being taught the Scriptures since infancy. Is it not a miracle that infants can believe? It is for faith is not a matter of human reason, it is the gift of God and it comes from hearing the message of Christ and from infant baptism. Share the Word with the little ones at home, in Sunday school, at all times, for they can learn and know.
The reason the Scriptures are able to make someone wise for salvation is because the Scriptures are from God, not from man. The Scriptures are able to make us wise for they teach us what God wants us to believe to be saved. We can trust this for the Scriptures are God-breathed. This gives us the doctrine of the Inspiration of the Scriptures. The concept of inspiration is not the idea of how a poet might be inspired by a beautiful sunset to write. Rather, the word inspiration comes from Latin and means to breathe in, as when you take a breath. The concept is that God breathed in or inspired the writers of the Holy Scriptures in such a way that the words they recorded were not of themselves, but from God.
Inspiration has tremendous meaning for your life. Paul shows this in 1 Thessalonians 2:13 (NIV) “And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.” Peter makes the point in 2 Peter 1:20-23 (NIV), “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” This means every Word of Scripture is God’s own Word and no one has the right to declare a single Word unworthy of belief. No one dare tell God he got it wrong and take it upon him or her self to give God’s Word a make over changing it in the slightest way.
No wonder Paul says the Scripture, God’s Word, is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” for it is the absolute truth of God. Thus, it is the standard of truth of what we are to believe. As such a standard, we use it to correct our errant thinking and doctrine, we rebuke sin and false doctrine, and we use it to know how to live a righteous life. Thus, the Scripture is God-breathed for the express purpose “so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Dear Christian, are you continuing in what you have learned? Are you drifting away? Are you willing to be rebuked and corrected by the Word of God? Are you willing to rebuke and correct others who have fallen into sin? If not, why not, for God has called us all to serve him and to do so faithfully. How can we claim faithful service if we do not follow his Word?
II. to be prepared at all times to proclaim the Word!
Paul goes on to say, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” To discharge your duties as a Christian pastor or as a Christian layperson is no small matter. The solemn charge before God is real for all of us, for we are all called to serve.
In saying “be prepared” Paul literally says “take your stand” that is make up your mind what you believe, base it on Scripture, stick to it and then to preach the Word. The word for to preach means to proclaim or share which God also calls you to do. He wants you to be prepared to do this “in season and out of season” in other words, to be prepared at all times, when it seems like a good opportunity or not. You, dear Christian, are prepared by the Word which is useful for training and equipping the believer,
God wants us to be prepared to use the Word, to convict; rebuke; admonish; in with patient endurance and teaching in all things. “correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” God wants us to do this with patience, for it takes time for his Word to act on sinful hearts. He wants us to use his Word carefully, realizing that proper correction, rebukes and encouragement or admonitions come from the correct use of the Word to teach.
God wants you to know why this is so important saying, “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” Doctrine is sound or healthy only when it comes from God’s Word and not from the imaginations of man or human reason. The only way to make sure this happens as humanly possible is to make sure that whatever doctrine we have is in full agreement with all that the Word of God says.
It is easy to hear how some will not put up with sound doctrine; it is much harder to realize we have the same sinful nature that begs us not to put up with any doctrine of God. What is hard is to be willing to examine the heart within to expose any bad doctrine or beliefs and then to correct such with the Word. Our sinful nature screams for us to listen to what our ears what to hear and to shut out what God has to say. This is a call to watch what we believe and to be willing to recognize in others when there ears are itching to hear whatever pleases the sinful nature, instead of to hear what God says. The question for you to ask yourself is “Do I believe what God teaches in the Scriptures, or am I following what my itchy ears want to hear?”
Paul closes telling Timothy and us, “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” In other word, be faithful to do your duties as a Christian even in the face of hardship. After all, God calls you to serve him faithfully by continuing in you what you have learned from the Scriptures; to be prepared at all times to proclaim the Word! To God be all glory, amen!