Month: July 2013

The MTS Oceanos was a Greek-owned cruise ship that sank off South Africa’s eastern coast on 4 August 1991. According to investigators, the vessel had completed a successful cruise season in South Africa, and was now contracted on an eight-month charter from a cruise company out of Johannesburg. The inquiry into her loss revealed the MTS Oceanos was operating unsafely, with loose hull plating, faulty check valves that had been stripped for repair parts and a 10 cm. hole in the “watertight” bulkhead between the generator and sewage tank. These parts were partially responsible for her failure at sea. The vessel only left port the day before she sank. Setting out from the port of East London on the Eastern Cape of South Africa, she was headed north and east toward Durban in Kwazulu-natal, facing into 40-knot winds and 30-foot swelling seas. The normal “sail-away” party on deck was moved indoors due to the rough sea conditions, but most passengers chose to stay in their cabins. The storm worsened and dinner service was all but impossible. By about 9:30 PM local time, the power failed due to a leak in a faulty valve that allowed sea water to back pressure its way into the sewage system. Adrift without power, the crew apparently abandoned ship, but according to the passengers didn’t make the announcement to the people on board. As the water steadily rose, the main drainage system backed sea water throughout the ship, spilling out of showers, toilets, and any other sewer connection. Listing to one side and without a crew to assist, British entertainer Moss Hills recognized something was terribly wrong and went to the bridge, only to discover the whole place abandoned. He used the radio to signal an SOS and nearby vessels responded with the South African Navy launching a seven-hour mission airlifting people who could not get to the remaining lifeboats. All 571 people on board were saved – in a rescue organized by an on-board entertainer. Moss Hills, in an interview by ABC News said that he only realized how close they were to perishing when he was lifted off the deck in a harness and brought up to the helicopter. He recalled the sheer relief when he first saw the helicopters coming toward the deck, lowering down rescue personnel to those trapped on the sinking vessel. Everyone loves a good rescue story – after they are safely at home. The problem is, we live with a certain amount of daily danger, and the expectation that people will respond to challenges in the best possible way. Sometimes, that is not the case – the Oceanos is case and point.

In the past few lessons from 2 Timothy, we have been following the encouragement of the condemned prisoner, the Apostle Paul, written to a middle aged Pastor who needed to be rescued. He seemed like he was sinking, and the water was rising. Paul wanted to offer him a view of help by setting down the help of seasoned veterans of troubled spiritual seas. Paul’s sandals had been wet before – and he knew how to encourage. Yet, any reading of 2 Timothy 3 is liable to get hung up in negative territory. The most cursory reading of the text, at least the first thirteen verses of the seventeen, seem deeply negative. Here is the truth: they aren’t. Paul set up the point of his lesson strongly in front of Timothy. He made clear that rough seas were ahead – but that isn’t the whole story. There was a fixed point of hope. There was assurance in the rough sea – it was the steadiness and security of the Scriptures that were tethered to an unchanging God.

Key Principle: Our hope is not in historic moral victories or popular majorities but in timeless truths.

The passage is painfully simple in construction – it has two parts. The first thirteen verses talk about the conditions of the rough seas of humanity ahead. The last few verses shift to Paul’s command for Timothy to respond properly in the face of it all. We can cut the descriptions into two simple words: “them” and “us”.

Rough Seas Ahead: A Description of the Non-believer (“THEM” in 2 Timothy 3:1-5a)

2 Timothy 3:1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

Four truths about the sailing ahead:

First, Paul established the timing he made reference to:

He says the “last days”. Although Paul never wavered in the prison cell, he expressed that he was deeply concerned about the coming trends he observed on the horizon. He knew Tim needed to be made ready, or the current would hit him fiercely and displace his resolve.

What time is Paul referring to when he says, “last days?” Is that the “end of time”? That phrase is pregnant with varied meanings.

In one sense, it can generally be applied to the whole period of the church age – which is most of the period between the first and second comings of Christ. In the Biblical story, the economy of the “last days” as defined by the prophet Joel could be that broad. It depends on how far away from the chart of time you are looking as to what constitutes “last days”. Acts 2 and the coming of the Spirit reminded that the gift of tongues acted as a signal of punishment to the Jewish people in preparation to their serious tribulation and eventual repentance and restoration. The period of “last days” in that view is not the end of time, but the last great economy before God draws Israel back to Himself. It began with the BEGINNING of shame (the tongues experience that followed Christ’s departure) and ends with the END of shame (at the return of the Son).

Second, there is a sort of metaphoric use – a picture image. In this way, it can also apply to specific periods of spiritual testing within the church age in specific settings. In other words, some times of persecution and trouble will ebb and flow in history like the waves at the seashore.

Third, it may specifically more intensely apply to the last years preceding our Lord’s return to the earth – and certainly does – because the time of “Jacob’s trouble” or Great Tribulation will be worse than any previous time.

Jesus reminded us (as recorded by Matthew) that the beginning of that time is like “ labor pains” that signal the time to follow.

The bottom line is that we are in the “last days” of the church age, and they will not be completed until the Son of Man steps onto the earth. My optimism concerning my destiny, then, must be in viewing toward Heaven – not in the eventual overtaking of the world by the Gospel. The Kingdom will be brought in by the violent turmoil of rebellion and the overpowering of the Savior from His horse of war – not the gentle sweeping of the message to all parts of the earth.

We need to be aware that theological approaches have consequences. If I were to accept St. Augustine’s vision of the “City of God”, I would believe that no specific time called the “Great Tribulation” will exist in the future, and the rise of the Kingdom of God is coming through the successful movement of the Gospel bringing peace and truth to the world. I would believe that the so-called “Millennial Kingdom” was the metaphor for the culmination of the great acceptance of the work of Jesus as King. That sounds like a great future – but I do not believe that is the one set forth in the Bible at all. That optimism is based on the church’s forward movement and victory – and is very earth centered. It is held by most Christians in North America today, and it has grown in my lifetime. It is a major feature of the eschatology called “Amillennialism”. It sees things getting better and then the Kingdom wins. It sees the difficulties and details in metaphors, and symbols – it refuses the literal reading of the Word as naïve.

From time to time people say to me, “I don’t care about eschatology, or ‘end times’ teaching. It seems far too speculative. I want to be more practical. I am more worried about evangelism.” Though I commend them on the desire to reach people – theological underpinning shows in practical work. If I believed that things were going to get better, I would prepare people for trouble with the simple understanding that “in the long run of history” the Kingdom will come by the Gospel’s victory. Because I am a literalist, I think it will cyclically grow darker and take a battle with the Son from Heaven to break the darkness. I cannot simply prepare you for small waves of reversals – I must prepare the church under my care for a rising tide of anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-Bible thinking that will eventually be the world system used to displace RIGHT with WRONG. That may not seem as optimistic – but it IS. It places my hope in ANOTHER WORLD not this one. It places my desire to save the planet as one to save the inhabitants, recognizing the terrain will eventually be taken by a literal FIRE and reshaping. It helps inform the priorities of our work – making us less philanthropic ecologists and more ready evangelists. That view is shrinking, as more and more churches try to bring in the Kingdom of God here and now – and speak less of Heaven. I will not join them – even though I will love them as brothers.

Second, Paul offered words about the character of those days:

He said they will be “difficult days” ahead (khal-ep-os’ is hard, harsh, fierce, troublesome, fierce). It is important to note that not everyone will consider them DIFFICULT. Athiests will have their fifteen minutes of national fame, and agnostics will grow in strength as well. They have seized our schools and made faith look stupid and uneducated, and are now working avidly to seize the hearts of American youth. They have taken control of the airwaves, and much of the government initiatives – and are working to push the church and its influence aside. In our town they are doing it by offering through our tax money a powerful machine that is sweeping even daycare aside into the care of the State. We are systematically being “nannied” into a sheepish population, indoctrinated into political correctness, and having simple terms like “right” and “wrong” redefined just under our noses. The outcome of this will be difficult and harsh on those who believe God has spoken, and that is the condition to which Paul was referring.

Third, Paul referenced the certainty of the coming trouble:

He made clear it will come. Bible teacher Ray Prichard tells the story: “You’ve probably heard the old joke about the fellow who was told, “Cheer up. Things could be worse.” So he said, “I did as I was told. I cheered up, and sure enough, things got worse.”

Fourth, Paul offered the underlying human reason it was coming:

Men will be fully overtaken in redirected inordinate self-interest. Look at the words that define the current beneath the surface, and think of the dozens of news items we could apply to each one of them. They will become:

a. Lovers of self: phil-autos or love self. Don’t lose track of what he is saying here – men have always been deeply selfish. The difference in this time is that such thinking will NOT be considered immature and wrong – but RIGHT and LOGICAL.

b. Lovers of money: Phil-arguros or love shining (as in coins). The term is not only a lover of COINAGE, but a lover of the “flashy things”. In other words, the day will increasingly yield to the fleeting attraction of whatever is flashing at the moment. The term has within it the notion that people will increasingly lose enduring affection for the LONG TERM VALUES and see the temporal ones as entirely the goal. They will easily trade the savings account for the lottery – because they will LOSE the notion that DELAYED GRATIFICATION is valuable. It has happened with SEX in our culture – where few young people seem to grasp what is LOST in premarital sex – and few adults seem to WANT them to remember that sexual gratification comes at a PRICE.

c. Boastful: Aladzon – empty braggard. Remember, we are referencing what Paul said will replace the Biblcial world view’s value system. Humility will be seen as a weak force before the “dog eat dog” world of brutes formed by a system that teaches that only the strongest will rise.

d. Arrogant: huperephanos – hoop-er-ay’-fan-os: appearing above others (conspicuous), i.e. (figuratively) haughty — proud. If you read management books of today, one special piece of advice rises to the surface over and over – you must STICK OUT. Promote the brand of self – that is the essence of this term.

e. Revilers: Blasphemos – slanderous. People who don’t think they will answer to a higher power will be emboldened to use the name of the Holy One in blatant profanity. Even more, the vitriol of selfish men will look like the comments section on any “religion” blog by CNN. Read it and you will meet a whole team of the revilers – they are alive a well. Wikipedia reports that the articles on Jesus must constantly be reset because of “contributions” from revilers that seek to demean His life and work.

f. Disobedient to parents: Apeithes – non compliant and unbending. The word for parent is “Goneus” which is from the word “to become”! The term isn’t just “disobedient” – that is the tip of the iceberg. It is the word for “apathetic” – totally unmoved by any care for them – as in UNBONDED. They don’t think parents should have any special right to shape them – they choose who they will listen to and follow. They will “become” without regard to their parents.

g. Ungrateful: Acharistos – ungracious; both unpleased and unpleasing. The term “without charity” only touches the surface. The simple idea is ENTITLEMENT. They believe they DESERVE something because they are on the planet. Life is not about making right choices for them – it is about being victimized by the choices of others before them – when they were deserving of so much more!

h. Unholy: Anosios – not walking in an undefiled state from sinful practices and regarding nothing as holy. They won’t see LIFE as sacred. They won’t see FAMILY as sacred. They won’t think RESPECT as sacred. They won’t think GOD is sacred – so they will be bold in their decision making on “RIGHT” and “WRONG”.

I. Unloving: Astorgos – literally “not cherishing”; without natural affection, unsociable (Rom 1:31), inhuman (2 Tim. 3:3 RSV), unloving (2Ti. 3:3 NKJV). The term means “broken from the God-given bonds of love that once held people together.” This will allow them to redefine LUST as LOVE.

j. Irreconcilable: Aspondos – not with contract; unwilling to remain in things not mutually agreed upon; cannot be persuaded to enter into a covenant. The word is so full of modern thinking it is hard to know where to begin. It’s simplest meaning is ‘doesn’t respond to contract obligations.’ In business, this is a rampaging truth. I sat with a business man last week who has contracts where people literally renegotiate shamelessly on the basis that a court case would cost more than settling for less than agreed upon to complete the job! The easy divorce started when Governor Ronald Reagan introduced it in 1969 in California has swept the nation, and now a generation had arisen that simply sees no point to marriage. For the record, former President Reagan later said it was perhaps his worst mistake in office – ever.

k. Malicious gossips: Diabolos – used of Devil; false accuser, slanderer. See the news – where we offer a trial of public opinion based on half-truths and non-facts that conform to our preconceived notions of the events – without real knowledge of the events. Much of what is called NEWS today is actually a form of GOSSIP – without sufficient verification and based on bias.

l. Without self-control: Akrates – not operating with dominion. Don’t get lost in this! Paul is saying the day will come when people will not think SELF CONTROL is the answer to problems of indulgence. They will argue that abstinence doesn’t work and drop that expectation – then begin the process of legalizing things that aid self-control, on the basis that other things are “just as bad” – but missing the point that we are simply reinforcing the value of immediate gratification and the right to always “feel good”.

m. Brutal: Anemeros – not tame, savage, fierce. There is a brutish and savage sound that comes from someone who is uncaring about the feelings of those around them.

n. Haters of good: Aphilagathos – not loving good, and despising those who uphold it. Read for one hour the website of Atheist 411, and you will hear how God and His followers are responsible for all the evils of the world. Of course, they make little reference to the regimes of pagans in the recent social past that brutalized populations and needed no god to blame.

o. Treacherous: Prodotes – a betrayer, traitor. The term simply reflected the destruction of loyalty. People will become so self-consumed they will lie, cheat, steal – all because the value of “being instantly and constantly happy” will be their birthright.

p. Reckless: Propetes – to fall forwards, headlong, to be rash, reckless. The term revealed that selfishness and immature thinking will yield the inability to PLAN WELL – since life will be all about TODAY.

q. Conceited: Tuphoo – to raise a smoke, to wrap in a mist; to be puffed up with haughtiness or pride. This idea was that people would grow in SELF IMAGE and see themselves as completing things they haven’t actually done. They will have an inordinate ability to see themselves as qualified and deserving, even when they have done little to build a resume of accomplishments.

r. Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God: fil-ay’-don-os – love (hedonistic) pleasures. This one isn’t tough – they worship feeling good – all the time, any time and any expense. There is no price too high in society for what will make me explode with pleasure right now! Some will simply call them “addicted to happy”, but caution us “don’t worry – they can govern well” in spite of this lack of any control in some areas.

s. Holding (echo: possessing) a form (Morphosis: shape, resemblance) of godliness – denied (ar-neh’-om-ahee: act entirely unlike himself) power (Dunamis: inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature) – Some will continue to do the things that look like they work, but will not act consistent with the value of those things! God rejectors will not stop religious practices – just take a consistent position against those who will pose a relationship with God is possible!

We spent a long time looking at that list – because Paul spent a long time making clear what replacing a Biblical world view with its competing world system morality will look like. It isn’t a reason to despair – because the world’s end isn’t OUR END. It isn’t GOD’S END. It is MUTINY’S END.

Still the question remains: “What can I do in the face of the obvious trend to make wrong into right?”

Right Responses Needed: The Responses of the Believer (“US” in 2 Timothy 3:5b-17)

Mark lines around those who want it both ways

Don’t miss the major thing Paul said in the beginning of this section: The most important thing when entering a mine field is to learn how to AVOID them. That sounds as though Paul is saying NOT TO ENGAGE them, but that is not the truth. The word AVOID is a specific term that means to SHUN (apotrepo), i.e. “turn away from the mutation they are making” (3:5b).

We don’t try to just keep away. We stand up and call false what it is and “connect the dots” between wrong belief and reprehensible practices. We do it to stand for truth. We do it to point out the dangers to those who follow us! During the times of low regard for the truth, we will be forced to RECOGNIZE those who are pulling apart the pattern of Godliness and CALL OUT the truth. We cannot simply let themselves be called the same as we are – because their mutation is to be quarantined.

Let me offer an example: Recently, the belief blog of CNN again featured the “evangelical” view by Rachel Held Evans. Here was a part of her report that I think gives the flavor without betraying her understanding. The article was called: “Not all religious convictions are written in stone“

(CNN) – There’s a misconception among many faithful folks that religious convictions, by their very nature, are set in stone. People who change their minds are called flip-floppers or backsliders, accused of capitulating to culture and “conforming to the world.” … In my own life, questions and doubts have served as refining fires that keep my faith hot and alive and bubbling where certainty would only freeze it on the spot. I’ve changed my mind about a lot of things—the age of the Earth, the reality of climate change, the value of women in church leadership… Like a lot of evangelicals, I grew up in a religious environment that vilified LGBT people. … Today, I am honored to be the friend of many LGBT people, and I celebrated along with them as Exodus International closed its doors and as the Supreme Court ruled the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. …In his book “Velvet Elvis,” Rob Bell writes:

“Times change. God doesn’t, but times do. We learn and grow, and the world around us shifts, and the Christian faith is alive only when it is listening, morphing, innovating, letting go of whatever has gotten in the way of Jesus and embracing whatever will help us be more and more the people God wants us to be.”

A person of conviction is not one who is unyielding to change, but one whose beliefs evolve based on new information, new movements of the Spirit, new biblical insights and, yes, new friends. There’s a story in the New Testament about a Roman centurion named Cornelius, whose fear of God and care for the poor was widely known among the people. After receiving a vision from God, Cornelius sends for the apostle Peter, who agrees to meet with him, even though it was forbidden for a Jew to associate with a Gentile. Peter, an observant Jew, had been wrestling with the idea of including Gentiles in the church. But when he encounters the sincere faith of Cornelius, he is moved to declare, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right!” He tells the skeptical people who have gathered outside, “God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.” Peter changed his mind, and the church would never be the same. Despite deeply held religious convictions regarding circumcision and dietary restrictions, he led the way in opening the doors of the church to all who would enter, regardless of ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status or religious background. We can learn a lot from Peter — not only from his inclusiveness, but also from his willingness to change his mind. Like Peter, God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. And that I should not think so highly of myself as to assume I’ve got this faith thing all figured out.

Let me be clear: Rachel just took the Scriptures about God revealing truth in visions from Heaven and turned them into “convictions” that should be re-framed by “new friendships” that offer reasons to deny what God has clearly said in no uncertain terms in His Word. She is in error in her interpretative method – and she is NOT correct about her conclusions from Scripture – but has misused it to teach the opposite of what it said. Her trusted reference to Rob Bell was a step on her journey to torquing the Word of God into a different message. Rob has done it by denying hell as the destination of unbelievers, and now she is doing it to allow lifestyle choices that God has clearly defined as abhorrent to Him. I mention it because it is a good illustration of the seriousness of the problem. She represented the EVANGELICAL WORLD on CNN. I cannot offer more potent evidence: Not teaching the proper interpretive devices of Scripture will increasingly allow the Bible to be used to wound itself – even if by well-meaning youths.

Identify those who OPPOSE the truth:

Some of you may be uncomfortable with my naming of Rachel just now. The problem is, I have to name her, and I have to challenge her. When the Bible’s clarity is at stake – it is the right thing to do. Look at how Paul handled it:

3:6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these [men] also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.

The ploy will be to convince the ignorant (and that is most prominently being done among high school and college students today) and allow their voices to challenge the leadership and message of God in a brazen but uninformed way. They have been taught to oppose the truth. They have often unwittingly adopted depravity and rejected God’s stated view of right and wrong in favor of another system to evaluate it. If Tim would do his job, people would know the obvious violation. If he compromised, God would have to raise up another to do that work, so that the violation would become more obvious. We must identify where the truth battle lines are being set.

Commit to follow the EXAMPLE of the best who went before us:

3:10 Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, 11 persecutions, [and] sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium [and] at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But evil men and impostors will proceed [from bad] to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Paul made the case that Tim watched what God did in and through his ministry as a disciple. He saw Paul handle the brazen and the arrogant. He knew what a mob scene looked like, and knew that rocks and anger wouldn’t stop Paul from teaching the truth to a lost world. He saw Paul get pushed around, beat up and persecuted. Now he heard that WORSE THINGS were ahead. In my view the worse things are brought in by a post-Christian culture. There is a special anger among lost men and women about the moral system we represent. The notions of family, respect, and humility are not only being ignored – they are being vilified in the public forum.

Continue unabated to the COMMITMENT to the Word:

Paul’s straightforward words to the flagging commitment of his weakened disciple were unmistakable: Get back to the commitment to God’s Word.

2 Timothy 2:14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned [them], 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Being convinced of the Scriptures is not an embarrassment or weakness – it is the source of my strength – as it was for Presidents, Prime Ministers, preachers and peasants for generations.

Knowing something is true because the Bible says it is not small minded or dull – it is taking what my spiritual fathers have known and intentionally applying it yet again to another generation of lost men. It is offering spiritual food to a world starved of truth. In the absence of truth, a starved world will eat garbage. We must give them a choice – because God has already prepared one.

Don’t miss that one who soaks in the Word will not be ill prepared – but equipped for the work ahead!

Our hope is not in historic moral victories or popular majorities but in timeless truths.

Have you ever found yourself on a sloped surface that was impossible to stand upright and not slide down? Several years ago I was cleaning off a slope of some saplings that were growing along the edge of a steep and muddy embankment during in a service project. The idea was to cut out all the little saplings, seed the ground with grass seed and spread a type of straw over the muddy banks to give the seed time to take root without being washed away. I first tried moving horizontally on the slope, but the mud and the slope pulled me down uncontrollably. After a few wide rides downhill, I finally tied myself to a larger tree and moved along the embankment with the anchoring effect of being tied to a fixed station. That seemed to work well.

What about when your life is sliding down a steep embankment of truly depressing issues? How do we anchor to a truly positive and hopeful outlook on life when things appear to be crumbling? Haven’t you ever felt like “Grumpy the Dwarf” and you know you aren’t right, but you can’t seem to find enough to grab onto to keep you from sliding downward? Long ago, God opened the door in pictures to an anchoring rope of hope that was fixed to the steady tree of spiritual guides – offered in the form of “people pictures”.

Key Principle: When you cannot figure out how to gain perspective and godly attitude, fix your heart on some of the steadying examples that God provided around you, and anchor your hope by following their pattern.

When you are in trouble and being pulled downward, you need to pattern as an anchor to a fixed hope – and often that is easier to see in pictures than long descriptions. Paul went into the daily imagery of the Roman home and told Timothy to gain comfort by following the path that people have cut and groomed before him – and it was a great way to help him see truth. Why? If you have ever gone tromping through woods, lost and unsure of where your campsite was located, you know the comfort of rediscovering the worn trail. New paths are adventuresome, but old paths bring comfort in the knowledge we are on the right track and can expect to find the place others found before us.

Think back with me for a moment about a guy who was sunk into a cave filled with the stench of human waste and rotting flesh. The time was the first century, and the occupants of the “Mammertine Prison in Roman” were likely joined by an Apostle of Jesus Christ, who had been greatly used by God. Facing death, it would be logical to assume the letter we have today about HOPE was an encouragement note written by friends of the condemned man facing death – but the very opposite was true. The letter of Second Timothy is an encouragement note BY THE CONDEMNED to his younger and less experienced friend who was depressed and indecisive. Tim needed hope and inspiration from Paul, who was running out of time to help get Tim back on his feet in ministry. Paul may have lost his freedom, but Tim lost his HOPE – and that is a much worse situation.

Men and women, we simply cannot survive without hope – it is as essential over time as food and water. Hopeless people dry up inside and cannot continue the journey. Yet I submit to you that our enemy is wounding many a believer today. We again need to grab the pattern – the proven path – seen in seven examples of workers who were known to Timothy. Fortunately, God doesn’t just post expectations – He offers patterns.

First, a word about the Goal

The text opens with an instruction that is the point of the rest of the reading. Tim’s goal was to grow to be strong – not in himself – but in the rich and undeserved supply of God’s strength and mercy best pictured in the UNMERITED FAVOR God placed on Tim’s life. Paul said it this way:

2 Timothy 2:1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

It was the unmistakable goal of God instructed through Paul that Tim grow to full strength, and set aside the weakening influence that shame and fear had on his life. His strength was not to be physical, but spiritual, and it was not to be earned, but bestowed. Tim was a dry man that needed to stand under the torrential, drenching rains of God’s grace. Favor was freely available, but required abandoning self-trust and works, and deliberately repositioning himself under the constantly renewed deluge of God’s love.

Grace is unmerited favor.

We cannot earn it – we have it when we accept it. It is grasping that I do not deserve God’s goodness and favor – but in His love He has decided to give it. It is humbling and de-throning, while at the same time exhilarating… I have a personal beloved relationship with God! It is a gift, but still requires some deliberate action on my part to acknowledge and accept it.

This Greek verb here is actually in the passive voice, so it’s more accurately translated, “Let yourself be strengthened” or “be empowered by” God’s grace.

Paul tells Timothy that “You won’t get strong by drawing from your own strength and working harder at ministry for God!” Don’t grit your teeth and push, but open yourself to God’s strength, from the grace found in Jesus Christ.

One Pastor shared: “Your life for God is like a power tool with an electrical plug. When your plugged in God’s grace flows through our lives to empower us to do that which we could not do on our own. The love we need to care about people, the patience we need when we’re frustrated, the courage we need in the face of fear…all these things come from being plugged into God’s grace. Lives that don’t plug into God’s grace won’t have the resources to leave a very significant mark.”

Before we look at the people pictures – we need to know there are some GRACE KILLERS.

Clinging to guilt kills the shower of grace. It is still transfixed on our ability and performance to “earn” God’s tenderness – and it hasn’t really grasped the gift nature of grace. Some people cannot accept God’s grace because they do not think themselves worthy – and they are right – but that isn’t relevant. Grace isn’t given to the worthy – it is given to those who place themselves in God’s hands and believe His Word knowing they don’t deserve it.

Our desire to earn favor equally kills the shower of grace. Years ago I heard of a professor who taught this in a practical way. I believe it was Charles Stanley that I took this clip from:

One of my more memorable seminary professors had a practical way of illustrating to his students the concept of grace. At the end of his evangelism course he would distribute the exam with the caution to read it all the way through before beginning to answer it. This caution was written on the exam as well. As we read the test, it became unquestionably clear to each of us that we had not studied nearly enough. The further we read, the worse it became. About halfway through, audible groans could be heard throughout the lecture hall. On the last page, however, was a note that read, “You have a choice. You can either complete the exam as given or sign your name at the bottom and in so doing receive an A for this assignment.” Wow? We sat there stunned. “Was he serious? Just sign it and get an A?” Slowly, the point dawned on us, and one by one we turned in our tests and silently filed out of the room. When I talked with the professor about it afterward, he shared some of the reactions he had received through the years. Some students began to take the exam without reading it all the way through, and they would sweat it out for the entire two hours of class time before reaching the last page. Others read the first two pages, became angry, turned the test in blank, and stormed out of the room without signing it. They never realized what was available, and as a result, they lost out totally. One fellow, however, read the entire test, including the note at the end, but decided to take the exam anyway. He did not want any gifts; he wanted to earn his grade. And he did. He made a C+, but he could easily have had an A.

Accepting God’s favor is part of surrendering our own ability to be good enough. It is never an excuse to become lazy in our walk – only a demand to become realistic in what WE can and cannot do…When we DO RIGHT DEEDS, it is not to be loved by God – it is to honor His undying love for us that was already obtained by grace through faith.

How do we walk in surrender and obedience, all the while basking in the joy of receiving God’s grace and growing in His favor? In short, we look at some patterns that make the method clearer:

Seven “People Picture” Patterns to Follow:

Paul showed Tim how people in his everyday life experience exhibited aspects of growing in grace:

1. A Steward (“entrust” is par-at-ith’-ay-mee or “to place beside or near or set before as in food” – the word for work of “house master” of apprentices; “teach” is didasko – 2:2). This was the most trusted household manager, normally a slave himself, who kept a fine house running smoothly and could be entrusted to take the directives of the owner and see them through. In the later English manor, this position was more that of the butler, or chief steward.

2. A Soldier (“Stratiotes”: common foot soldier, “soldier in active service” is from “Strateuomai or soldier on active campaign – 2:3-4). Roman life intersected soldiers of the Empire all the time, and their singularity offered a picture of onen aspect of growing in grace.

3. An Athlete (Athleo – 2:5) was also a common person, many of whom had become celebrities in the time of Paul and Timothy. Roman baths had gymnasia, and amphitheaters had practice fields adjacent to them in Rome and Pompeii – along with other places.

4. A Farmer (Georgos – gheh-ore-gos’ is a tiller of the soil, or a vine dresser – 2:6) was also vital to the wine stores and vegetable markets of the ancient Roman city. It is likely Paul had in mind the work of the vine dresser, who was also the mine maker – and avid tester of each cask during preparations.

5. A Workman (Ergates: household or general laborer – 2:14-19) was a part of every large household. Senators at the time of the first century had them by the hundreds, but many Romans had a few. The work done in our homes by machines were performed by household workers – everything from a doorman who allowed people entrance, to the servants that kept the laundry services, etc.

6. A Vessel for God’s Glory (Skeuos: household utensils, domestic containers- 2:20-23). Romans loved stuff. Great homes possessed storerooms of vessels. In every sleeping quarter there was one particular pot that was of vital importance – a chamber pot. Urine was transported to the nearby collection vats for the fullers to use as part of their cleaning ammonia at the local laundry, but it had to be carried in the designated pots that could not be used for other purposes.

7. A Servant (Doulos: household slave, i.e. devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interests – 2:24-26). Slaves abounded in Roman life – but many lived for the promise of getting out from under servitude by buying their way into freedom. The manumission or freeing was common. The household slave was more domestic and clean than the household laborer – who often worked behind the scenes in the gardens and on infrastructure of the home. The doulos was the slave most often seen in the home, directed by the householder.

Seven simple snapshots teach how to grow in grace and walk in hope. No single snapshot tells the whole story – but collectively they offer a great set of values and practices.

Picture One: Steward or Householder (2:2):

2 Timothy 2:2 The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

The Roman world had artisans, but most of them were trained in apprentice relationships in the home slave system. If the householder you served under believed you were ready to showcase your ability, he assigned to you a “masterpiece” – the one work that would show you were ready to be a journeyman and lead others in work for your master. In Timothy’s case, he had as a starting place in training for the world of ministry in the pattern of life he observed in the Apostle Paul himself.

NEVER underestimate the powerful work of quietly walking with God over a long season of life. The example is a blessing to those who see it – whether they admit it or not! When NO marriages last, one quickly believes the institution is unrealistic. When no one walks in sexual purity, it starts to look impossible to do. One of the power trax for teens at the conference I was teaching in was led by a young woman for teenage girls. It was entitled: “Twenty-eight year old virgin!” The point was that it can be done, and there are incredible benefits to following God’s Word in purity. How encouraging to a young person whose very education system has largely given up on self-discipline and moral restraint in that area!

At the same time, note that equipping of an apprentice was an understood relationship and an intentional act. This was MORE than just being a good example – this was forming a life intentionally! It had specific parameters and was a defined connection. Where can we see this? Note what Paul told Tim.

First, you heard me teach things – so this wasn’t just playing basketball with youth – it included intentional instruction and intense observation.

Second, the lessons were not private – but in front of many other witnesses. There may be others in the room at differing stages of development watching the same example of “how to do it”.

Third, they were meant to be passed on. Old practices had value, and new technology would never replace knowing how the whole procedure worked.

Finally, Tim needed to be selective about who he should, as the rising leader, dedicate passing truth off to. That means Paul offered four important thoughts:

• Mentoring is intentional and includes Biblical content.
• Mentoring can be in private or group settings.
• Mentoring has as its goal the equipping of the one being mentored so that they would pass it forward to the next generation.
• Mentoring was to be passed to both faithful and able people. The disciple must expect to tailor their schedule to receive – and not expect the mentor to change their schedule to conform to the followers.

Equipping the next generation isn’t simply a program. It is a mindset before it is a practice. It is intentional time spent both in example and instruction that will grow young believers to maturity – and mature believers ought to be taking time to be involved doing it on every level of ministry. Disciples should show themselves to be faithful, and seek someone to pattern them, so they can learn and pass on the things God teaches them!

How exciting that God would shower us with grace and then use us to pour out that grace on others! Paul overtly mentioned at least four generations mentioned here – Paul as the Church Planter, Timothy as the younger Pastor, the disciples of Timothy, those future disciples of that group that Tim would reach….

Imagine the joy this past week of watching HUNDREDS of young men and women approach an altar to receive Christ. This was not at some powerful band led worship time. It was not a high emotion packed speaking. The greatest response in size was the night a very meticulous presentation of the substitutional atonement of Jesus Christ was spelled out. No fanfare, just truth and prayer – and more than one hundred poured forward to receive the Lord. It was like being in a Wesley revival of long ago. God’s grace and the hope of life in Jesus is still drawing young lives by the score!

It wasn’t JUST exciting for the students who received Christ. It was exciting to watch many of them who knew Jesus learn how to prayerfully and carefully communicate Christ to others of their generation. Some were learning about Christ in the room – others were learning about SHARING CHRIST by watching someone who really knew how to present the case.

An Enlisted Soldier in Active Service (2:3-4):

2 Timothy 2:3 Suffer hardship with [me], as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

Paul turned his attention to the Roman soldier – and that was a very common image since they were everywhere in the Empire. The point of Paul’s words to Timothy was simple – determine the expectation you have as a follower of Jesus. In short: Endure hardness (2:3). Paul overtly called on Tim to stop asking for a lighter load and work hard for a stronger back!

Soldiering is an extremely demanding way of life that is designed to discipline every aspect of a soldier’s character. They are exposed to the elements, to danger, to times without food or shelter. U.S. Air Force Captain Scott O’Grady, whose F-16 fighter jet was shot down in Bosnia some years back evaded Bosnian Serb soldiers for six days until his rescue by a Marine Corps search and rescue team – entirely based on his trained of depriving and disciplining himself. He lived by eating bugs and licking the dew from plants. Being a soldier is demanding. Paul’s focus in this passage is not so much on fighting, but on the single minded, self-discipline that remains un-entangled from all but that which would please his commander – Jesus.

One of the most encouraging parts of the coming darkness is that it will separate out the sunshine followers of Jesus. No more will the selfishness of the prosperity doctrine or the compromise of the “positive thinking” doctrine drive the church. The times ahead will force us choose carefully to stand with Jesus in truth and toughen up. Departure from the Word is making our culture into the most victimized, bullied and powerless generation. Jesus will call us to toughness.

The chief interruption to standing tough in troubling times was not FEAR, but rather DISTRACTION OF DAILY LIFE. Paul reminded Tim that a Roman soldier could not entangle himself in all the affairs of life as a civilian – but lived to please his general. In the patronage system of the period, Tim knew that men counted on their general for salary, retirement and every benefit. They were not to work on the side – but to place their full trust in their general to meet their every need – both then and in the future.

An Athlete (2:5)

2 Timothy 2:5 Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.

If being an athlete meant anything in the text, it was the picture of one who learned to discipline their lifestyle AND FOLLOW THE RULES of the contest (2:5). The victorious results come to those who train themselves to walk correctly – both in the game and out of it. An ancient athlete knew that in order to compete in the better games, they had to meet certain requirements – i.e. train for two years before you could qualify to compete.

Apparently, that is still the case. In the magazine “Scientific American” they describe some of the kinds of training Olympic athletes go through: “Training the Olympic Athlete” (6/96).

“1,000 hours of intense training will only achieve an improvement of a single percentage point in an athlete’s performance. Yet often a single percentage point is the margin of victory in today’s Olympic events.”

The single greatest point that Paul made to Timothy was this: “Tim, there are rules, and they apply to you as a leader just as much as any other part of the team. You aren’t above the rules, and you aren’t exempt from them. You will never be what you were called to be making up what is right and wrong by yourself. Ask God – He has a whole book of answers to what He believes is right!

Growing in grace is not an exemption from walking well – grace is embraced when responsibility to obey is enjoyed and celebrated.

A Tiller of the Soil (2:6-13)

2 Timothy 2:6 The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops. 7 Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

Paul moved to the farm – many of which were vineyards tilled by skilled vintners. He pleaded with Tim to see the need for consistent diligence and put every effort into joining the work! Tim needed to gain ownership of the work (2:6). He needed to face the fact that the work may well cost him – it is serious work (2:7-13) and he needed to “own” it day after day.

The words “hard working” refer to work that involves anticipated difficulties, toil and focus of daily attention. Rising at the crack of dawn and working in the blistering heat until your fingers bleed was not abnormal for one committed to his product. Staggering into your bed at nightfall, only to do the same thing the next day – wasn’t light work – ask anyone who does it daily. Farmers from cheese producers to vintners were daily testing their product, adding and changing conditions to meet the demands of the taste, etc.

Everything great work comes with a price. Keeping a marriage together through years comes with a price. Graduating with your college degree comes with a price. Starting your own business and building it into a successful business comes with a price.

Right in the middle of the metaphors of the work, Paul stopped for a little hymn – an anthem of the Person and work of our Savior!

2:8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. 10 For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus [and] with [it] eternal glory. 11 It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; 12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; 13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

“Look carefully at the message of 2:8-13 – Picture your life as being like a wagon wheel. Each spoke on the wheel represents something in your life: your spouse if you’re married, your job, your kids, your church, your house and possessions, how you spend your time, and so forth. Where does Jesus fit on the wheel? Is He just another spoke? This text is encouraging us to make Jesus the hub, the source from which all the spokes meet.” (adapted from sermon central illustrations).

Here we confront a repeated phrase for the first time in this second letter: “trustworthy saying” we’ve found in 2 Timothy, but we encountered two “trustworthy sayings” in 1 Timothy. Most Bible scholars believe these trustworthy sayings were songs that were popular in the church at the time. Perhaps some of them were lyrics from worship songs they sang in their worship. This trustworthy saying is a series of four conditional statements (2:11-13):

a. The first conditional statement is that if we died with Jesus, we will also live with Jesus. We died when we gave Jesus our life – and the promise to live with Him is one we are more and more focused on with each year of following Him!

b. The second conditional statement promises that we will reign with Jesus if we endure. The word “endure” is “hupmeno” (the ability to remain under) and described Paul’s attitude toward his suffering in 2:10. Endurance is remaining under pressure without slipping out. He didn’t say if we failed to endure we would lose salvation – but he did imply we would lose reward – and that is something to consider!

c. The third conditional statement warns us that Jesus will disown (arneomai: to deny) us if we disown him. No true follower of Jesus Christ would betray Jesus. The idea is “to repudiate,” and it refers elsewhere in the New Testament to apostasy, or walking in complete denial of things people thought I believed.

d. The last conditional statement is a promise of God’s faithfulness even when we are unfaithful (Apisteo: not walking in God’s view). Now clearly “faithless” doesn’t mean “having no faith in Jesus” but rather lacking trust to walk practically in faith’s view, even though we still believe.

The promises of following a RISEN SAVIOR are sweet. We should recognize that the days ahead will take work – but not grow long faces about it. Jesus is Alive! He is at work! The culture’s darkness will help us see the difference between followers and occasional fans of Jesus! Why the long faces?

John Bisagno former Pastor of Houston’s First Baptist Church tells the story of his coming there to candidate for the position of pastor many years ago. He said that as he entered the auditorium it was dimly lit, with just a few people huddled together. They were singing some old slow funeral type song that was depressing. Later that day he took a walk in downtown Houston and came upon a jewelry store. It was some sort of grand opening and there were bright lights and a greeter at the door to welcome you in with a smile. Inside there was a celebration going on. There were refreshments and people having a good time talking and laughing with each other. They welcomed him and offered him some punch. He said that after attending both the church and the jewelry store, if the jewelry store had offered an invitation, he would have joined the jewelry store! (sermon central illustrations).

A Household Laborer (2:14-19)

14 Remind [them] of these things, and solemnly charge [them] in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless [and leads] to the ruin of the hearers. 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. 16 But avoid worldly [and] empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 [men] who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some. 19 Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.”

Paul told Tim that he would need to see the example of the “Workman” (Ergates: household laborer – 2:14-18). This image may be less familiar to those of us that didn’t grow up in a culture where half of our town consisted of slaves and household servants – but the Roman system survived on them.

Household servants bought and brought every item of food into the domus, or house. They were ordered by the domestic householder who knew the schedules of each of the house’s occupants, and had clothing, food and transportation ready for the master and mistress of the house. Their diligence in every task set reinforced the status of the home – and Romans were VERY CONSCIOUS of status. They were kept on task and hushed from gossip and wasting time as the householder pushed them to keep busy getting tasks accomplished.

Tim was warned to focus on the task of discerning and instructing God’s Word – not the enticing rabbit trails of the enemy (2:14-23). Paul knew the enemy would most often use very natural tendencies to sidetrack a worker’s enthusiasm. These tendencies include:

a. Lazy misinterpretations or understudied inaccurate handling of the Word (2:15).

b. Intruding distraction of divisive opinions that must be spotted and avoided in teaching (2:16).

c. Jumping on board with the latest “wave” or “craze” that isn’t rooted in systematic and thorough teaching of God’s Word and leads people to conclusions that either aren’t in the Word or openly contradict it (2:17-18). In the case he was dealing with it was the explorations of allegorical teachings concerning the Resurrection.

d. Opening the doors to wicked practices would also be prevalent among poor teachers of God’s truth (2:19). Instead of teaching people about the lines of God’s desire – they would draw new lines in wickedness that God would not have sanctioned.

Domestic Vessels (2:20-23)

20 Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these [things], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. 22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love [and] peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23 But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.

There are no nice ways to describe this section of Scripture but to offer this pointed image. In every home there were cooking pots and chamber pots. Each had their purpose. You couldn’t use a cooking pot in a “pinch” for a chamber pot and expect it to be still useful as a cooking utensil – it was dirty. If we want our Master to be able to use us for proper things, we need to withhold our vessel from being used for lusts that defile. If we found ourselves in sin – cleaning was needed for usefulness to be restored.

A Household Slave (2:24-26)

24 The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, 25 with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses [and escape] from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

A servant that won’t listen to the householder will be delivered to the paterfamilias – the male head of the Roman home. If they won’t listen to him, they can be lashed, beaten, starved or even – in extreme cases – executed. One story from the time of Augustus told of a man who wanted to feed his slave to lampreys in a lake out back for breaking a goblet on the floor by accident.

There was little or no protection for a slave and this word bondservant is exactly that. Yet, many did passively argue, drag their feet, spit in the soup and fight the charge of their position. God’s servant cannot act in this way – they must stand for truth, but not fight in ego. They must be gentle in correction of those in their care – but not overlook sin.

Here is the point of the lesson in growing in grace and living in HOPE:

• If we follow the pattern of the believers before us who did it well.
• If we adjust our expectation to hardship- we will grow in discipline.
• If we will know the rules and play in them, we will have significant victories.
• If we will be diligent to work consistently and hard, we will taste some good fruits of the labor!
• If we will order our priorities, we will be able to set aside distraction for true blessing!
• If we will recall what we are made for, and keep ourselves from defilement, the Master will chose to use us!
• If we won’t fight the Master’s command – we will be helpful to His cause!

When you cannot figure out how to gain perspective and godly attitude, fix your heart on some of the steadying examples that God provided around you, and anchor your steps by following their pattern.

To truly embrace Christ, to truly have become a Christian, to believe all that the truth of Jesus’ coming, His death and His promises of the future – is to become an unstoppable optimist. There are many voices of people who have claimed Christ as Savior that sound ever pessimistic. I challenge you to see through a flawed logic. If Jesus is King, and if He died for me – if He rose from the dead and broke the power of death, and if He is, in fact, right now preparing a place for me as He promised – life is only getting better. As each moment ticks by on the clock above, my full redemption draws nearer. The earth around me grows closer to a judgment followed by a purging that will yield a new and wondrous place. The assailing of my flesh by corruption and illness is nearing its end. The railing of rebellion is reaching toward its final breath. My Savior is fashioning my next home, my next experience in joyful delight. As Ted Dekker wrote in The Slumber of Christianity: Awakening a Passion for Heaven on Earth: “The world’s bumper sticker reads: Life sucks, and then you die. Perhaps Christian bumper stickers should read: Life sucks, but then you find hope and you can’t wait to die.”

Deeply rooted in the physical life around us and its happiness, many Christians appear to have “left the reservation” to the land of the pessimists. The subtle adoption of a pagan world view has caused them to measure life by the short stick – the here and now. Yet, on closer inspection to the Word of God, Jesus called us to measure life by the longer view – His eventual triumph over all things. The New Testament doesn’t close with the instructional epistles that show the flaws of men – even those who love Jesus. It doesn’t close with warnings of the doom of the earth, a Zombie apocalypse in waiting, but rather it closes with a warning not to carve off a single words of the true end of all things from the story – Jesus shall reign. The Creator shall stand vindicated for His plan, and finally understood and acknowledged by all His Creation. The scene ends with knees bowed and confessing tongues.

Key Principle: To mature to a grown follower of Jesus, I must learn to see the future through the Word of God – the long view that restores hope when life is hard.

I am not saying things are looking rosy in the short term. The so-called “Age of Enlightenment” (also called the ”Age of Reason”) promised the world the opposite of the Bible – a world solved of its ills by the enthroned human will standing above the dullard mythologists who believed in a “God”. This cultural movement of intellectuals in the 17th and 18th centuries rose with the purpose to reform society using reason, but at the same time pushing society from a framework of ideas grounded in tradition and faith. It sought to advance knowledge solely through the scientific method – because the human brain replaced the revelation of any Divine source. It was deeply embedded in the worldview as a struggle for human development in opposition to faith. This is not a history lesson. This godless ideology is on the march through our universities again, with renewed vigor, and has found voice in our modern American courts and media outlets. Think carefully about the words of this author:

“How beautiful it all seemed at the time of the Enlightenment, that man triumphant would bring to pass that earthly paradise whose groves of academe would ensure the realization forever of peace, plenty, and beatitude in practice. But what a nightmare of wars, famines, and folly was to result therefrom.” ― Malcolm Muggeridge, The End of Christendom

It has produced a world that believes saving whales is intrinsically more moral and more essential than saving unborn humans, and delivering people from hearing a message about the sting of judgment more vital than doing what is moral as defined by their Creator. It was deeply rooted into the plan of the “Great Society” that is now yielding its fruits – an amoral individualist with little rationale for standing on any absolute “truth”. They called for greater assistance for the needy and got generations of people who have believe public assistance is both a guaranteed right and equal in all respect to their “job”. They constructed a world view that redefines inconvenient as wrong and statement of truth as intolerant judgment. All this they offered with great hopeful optimism in the alternative view of man’s origin, purpose and destiny.

Yet the Christian view of life is not primarily fixed in the here and now. Ours is a message that man CANNOT fix himself – for what is broken is within, just as our Savior clearly said. Ours is a message that BROKEN MEN need not reform themselves by some religious work or radical self-deprivation. Ours is message that Jesus saves. He died in our place, and offers us new life when we give our lives to Him. His life then flows within us – and His message of truth carefully begins its transforming work in us. It is not our work – it is His. At the same time, the destination of my life was dramatically altered by the grasp of Jesus on my heart. I have Heaven in the future and transformation in the present. I am a child of God, and I am learning to act like it, while I anticipate a soon coming journey to my Father’s house! What a life is mine!

Now, I admit that even some believers will object and claim there are pessimists and there are optimists in life – it is a personality thing. I do not agree. I believe that salvation brings new life, and new life brings a new narrative of my end. I am not optimistic because men are getting better. I am optimistic because I believe the end story of the Bible – the Creator shall stand unopposed and victorious – and I have committed my days and my future in this life and beyond to Him. I believe, therefore, the message of William Ralph Inge when he said: “No Christian can be a pessimist, for Christianity is a system of radical optimism.”

Christian optimism doesn’t believe men will get better, but rather that there rebellion will continue, and in fact grow in strength and audacity. It accepts the Biblical idea that such a growing darkness will come with that overt rebellion that God will clearly make His point: Man cannot fix himself. Let me say it unmistakably: I truly believe that rationalism, humanism and enlightenment will eventually be exposed for more deceptions of the same voice – Lucifer’s song of mutiny and self-love. Science will scoff at the notion that they are beset by the same flaws of any philosophy – but they will prove unable to reform the broken nature of man. They will prove unable to bring real HOPE when terrible tragedies strike, for their power ends at the last breath of physical life. There is nothing beyond but in the memories of those who remain. Bonhoeffer was right: “If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction.” Our world is destined to move in a direction so anti-god, that hope in this earth will drain.

Yet, we are optimists. We smile and look up, for redemption draws near. Not only that, but I stand in a world accompanied by the Author of hope. Look back at 2 Timothy 1 and listen to the words of an Apostle calling from a prison cell, facing a sword to the neck. He is none other than the Apostle Paul, and his message is bathed in sweat, stench and a sad state of companions. At the same time, it is a message of TRUE HOPE.

In the last study we learned that Paul recalled for Tim a series of things that should have helped restore hope:

• First, Tim had in Paul a godly friend that believed in him (2 Tim 1:1-3a).

If ever there was a good example of a Godly friend that could point upward, Paul was that guy in Tim’s life. If you have such a friend, breathe a prayer of thanks for them right now!

• Second, Tim had strong prayer support. (2 Tim. 1:3b).

The battles we fight are not merely in the flesh – but spiritual ones that show up in the physical world. They cannot be addressed by mere force of will to follow a list of resolutions – that doesn’t account for the spiritual world. Prayer is the effective tool to remind us that we are not alone, and that our God is able to supply when things look too difficult to see that.

• Third, Tim could look back at God’s blessings in his past. (2 Tim. 1:5-6) he had a great family heritage.

Paul called on Tim to recall that God was at work in him before Tim was even aware of it – and that is true of all of us!

• Fourth, Tim should inventory the ingredients driving your life choices (2 Tim. 1:7) – he was to remove fear and recognize the deliberate ingredients God put in him as power, love and a sound mind.

It is easy to be driven by FEAR, but it is not GODLY BEHAVIOR. Our Master gave us the power to stand against sin, the sensitivity to reckon the hurting around us, and the sound reasoning to grab the truths of His Word and live them out.

How could Paul, who was facing the end of his life, exude hope and offer encouragement? Because he measure life by the longer stick found in the Word of God.

Paul knew Jesus wasn’t done when the Empire ruled against his life. He knew that His Savior wasn’t losing His grip on the world when his body was tossed into a dungeon… and he urged Tim to see life that way as well. He told Timothy – as his mentor and his friend – to do seven things to move ahead in HOPE:

Practical Commands to Show Restored Hope

First, stop fearing opposition. (2 Tim. 1:8-9)

2 Tim. 1:8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,

Because God didn’t give Tim the fear that he had – he needed to boot it out of his life! He needed to deliberately and consciously coach his own heart to recognize his God-given power to deny his flesh, while growing in sensitivity to hurting people and acute awareness of the principles of God’s Word. On that basis, as recorded in 1:7, Tim was to put aside any sense of SHAME that he felt because his mentor shared a cell with murderers and wretched men. He was to shed any DISGRACE over following a Crucified Criminal – for that was merely the arrogant evaluation of the Creator by the broken creation.

Paul called Tim back to the foundational truth – Jesus saved him by suffering on his behalf. He was NOT supposed to shrink away from the public connection to Jesus and to Paul. He was, rather, supposed to recall that his salvation came with a HOLY CALLING – a mark of separation from the world. That calling wasn’t given to him on the basis of his accomplishments, nor was it based on any life goal that Tim may have felt before Jesus changed his life. Tim was to stop fearing the opposition Jesus faced before, and Paul was facing at the time of the writing. He was to see that he had a call from Jesus that was to dominate his actions and reactions – no matter what course the world took.

Second, grab the eternal perspective to see real life! (2 Tim. 1:10-11)

2 Tim. 1:10 “…but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.”

Paul faced the loss of his head, but he did not face death. His body they would kill – but he was more than a body. That is at the heart of the Christian message. We are not just physical beings – we are primarily spiritual beings with a short stint of physical life. At the end of all the educational and intellectual posturing of our day – man without a Savior still has no real solution for the six foot hole he is facing at the end – but Jesus does. He has been there and back, and He holds the keys to death and true life.

The Apostle recognized that he was appointed to teach that very truth – Jesus conquered death. When John wrote from Patmos that he had seen the Risen Christ, he reported Jesus’ words:

Revelation 1:17b “…Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

“Do not be afraid”, Jesus said. I control life and death, and I control the end of the story! That is either the truth or a bold faced lie. If it is true – we need not fear if we KNOW JESUS.

Check the internet and it is flooded with skeptics and cynics over this claim of the New Testament. They are sure they have so advanced in technical civilization, having gone “all the way to the moon” to land their feet and “touch the face of God” they can now pull down the Creator to answer to them, and force Him to show Himself in terms they can accept. In arrogance, they fail to look out into space and see how little of it they have actually traversed.

They sit in certainty that such things as recorded in the Bible cannot happen for such a Creator does not exist. Yet the Heavens declare exquisite design. The human body screams that it is a product of intricate enterprise. “Millions of years!” they shout. “With millions of years, we can see the great emergence of evolving design!” For that belief, in lab coats they ask men to place faith in their conclusions, while mocking the very notion of the metaphysical as primitive mythology. This begs the question… “Why? Why should there be design with no intentional designer working behind it? Why should there be growth and expansion of good characteristics? Cui bono (to what end or purpose?)”.

If that isn’t enough, there is even a greater question: “Why should I care? If there is no purpose, no forethought, no destiny, nothing beyond my decades walking on the planet – where is the hope at the grave of a child? How can I lift the soul of a friend who has lost the love of their life? Robbed of purpose and destiny, how can I not sink into despair at the sight of the cemetery as I drive by?

If the design that I see in the world about me has not an intentional hand, and man stands in the light of no judge but himself, his peers and posterity – how compelling is the case for me to deny earthly pleasures and learn self-control for some temporary version of the ‘common good’?” If no personal God exists, and no judgment follows this life… if it is true that the fittest survive, and that is the way of the ages, let us cease this nonsense of good behavior and simply seek to become the strongest of all in order that we may reap the benefits of that strength in the short life we have on the planet. Why deny the urge to take food from the weak that I may be full? Would reputation or memory stop me? Achilles knew that fame has no meaning beyond this life – and the memorial of posterity is an empty promise. The fact is, most Americans don’t know one quarter of the names of the men who led their country, though it is not all that old a place. Memories are short, and it isn’t worth denying myself to be remembered as a good man.

There is something else I know about people: Without a judge man will not behave any better than he drives when he thinks no one is watching the highway. Without a purpose to human history, man will slowly move downward to feed his baser instincts and sensual pleasures. Things won’t get better. With every freedom and right, someone else will suffer. Divorce will become easy, but children will suffer from increased lack of parental tender bonding. Marriage will be redefined, but family will be a word so overused and under-defined it will cease to have certain meaning. Children will be allowed to be born when it is convenient, and elderly will be ended when their life no longer makes economic sense. This is the bright new world of the enlightened heart.

Let me say it with unmistakable clarity: Jesus rendered death inoperable to those who know Him. That is the term ABOLISH in 2 Timothy 1:10. The Bible openly proclaims there is a PURPOSE, there is a DESIGNER, I have a DESTINY. Bill and Gloria Gaither said it well: “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future, life is worth the living, just because He lives!”

Third, trust that Jesus knows how to handle your future (since He made you! – 2 Tim. 1:12)

2 Tim. 1:12 “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

I mentioned last time the Greek word, “paratheke” the “treasure or a deposit left with someone you trust completely.”

Here was Paul’s point to Tim: “Trust Jesus with all you have. He won’t let you down, Tim… I have. I know He will care for me, and it is my neck about to go on the chopping block”. Conquering fear is not just about quelling an emotion – it is about exchanging it with the confidence that comes from depending of God in the most practical ways. Maybe someone here wants to ask what I am certain Tim wanted to ask so long ago…”How do you do replace FEAR with TRUST like that?” Keep reading the text, Paul wasn’t done…

What is clear in verse 12 is that it starts with understanding what the Scripture teaches about the Person of God. You do it by recognizing that God does not place you in pain without purpose. That isn’t His nature. Trouble doesn’t come because God is cruel toward His children… that isn’t it.

Dr. David Osborn at Denver Seminary said a few years ago: “Too often we try to use God to change our circumstances, while He is using our circumstances to change us.” You see, God is right now in the process of making us like Christ. Think of the process of refining maple syrup. Maple trees are tapped with buckets hung under the taps, and out drips a sap which is thin and clear, like water. On a good day, 50 trees will yield 30-40 gallons of sap, but it is essentially useless at this point with only a hint of sweetness. Then as the buckets fill, they are emptied into large bins that sit over an open fire. The sap comes to a slow boil; and as it boils, its water content is reduced and its sugars are concentrated. Hours later, it has developed a rich flavor and golden-brown color, but it must be strained several times to remove impurities before being reheated, bottled, and graded for quality. In the end, those 30-40 gallons of sap are reduced to one gallon of pure, delicious maple syrup, which is far better than the cheap, imitation, colored sugar-water that passes for maple syrup in the grocery store. So it is when we come to faith in Christ. We start like raw, unfinished sap, which could have been tossed aside as worthless. But God knew what he could make of us. He sought and found us, and his skillful hands are transforming us into something precious, sweet and useful. The long and often painful refining process brings forth a pure, genuine disciple easily distinguished from cheap imitations. – (Michele Straubel, Red Lake, Minnesota. From a sermon by C. Philip Green, Our Living Hope, 4/26/2011)

Fourth, recognize the treasure of the Word of God (2 Tim. 1:13).

2 Tim. 1:13 “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”

If trust begins with understanding what God’s Word says about God’s Person, the issue of the Word’s truthfulness comes to the fore. Timothy was to see the words taught him by Paul as the precious treasure of God’s Holy Truth, and he was to highly prize each one. He was to learn the Word, trust the Word, and keep the Word ever close. As the world’s darkness pressed in, Tim would need a lamp for his feet and light for his path.

How long will it take us to learn that time away from God’s Word is time away from understanding life from God’s perspective. How we perceive the world is a product of what we see – and God’s Word is a lamp to the heart to show the dangerous obstacles to walking well, as well as a beacon to help others be drawn to God through our testimony. We must learn that the Bible is precious, as essential a part of our daily regimen as our tooth brush and our deodorant. If you can go away for a week and don’t think you’ll need a Bible with you – it is likely that others can tell in your life. Just because you passed the “sniff test” on your own – doesn’t mean your life isn’t truly offensive.

Fifth, we must guard by the Spirit’s power the timeless truths placed in our hands (2 Tim. 1:14).

2 Tim. 1:14 “Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”

The idea here is that each generation of believers will need to protect the legacy of the text, and rightly reflect the principles of God’s truth. Compromise may bring short term popularity and likeability – but long term devastation. There is no time like now that this has been more important. Any forum discussing God’s view of marriage and sexuality is now filled with people who claim to be believers but utterly misquote and improperly frame key principles of God’s Word on the vital issues facing the American home. We must be sharp on truth and loving in delivery. The church is sending mixed messages, because the Scriptures have not been carefully learned, studied and applied.

How do we reflect TRUTH but still show LOVE? That is a good question.

First, we need to understand that LOVE is not the wholesale nod of approval to anyone who wants to feel included and accepted. My love for my wife has an unspoken and never violated rule that she remain separate for me alone. I am not open to redefining that term for the sake of love.

Second, we must remember the ultimate objective of our teaching is not to tell people what we think about all the issues of our day, but to help connect them with Biblical truth on the way to connecting to God Himself. We would do well to separate ideas into three important categories: absolutes (unchanging principles of God’s Word), convictions (culturally sensitive applications of principle that are not universally agreed upon even by brothers and sisters in the faith), and preferences (traditional methods that we like). If we spend our energies on the last two, we will not address the first one – and that is where the power for God’s Word can move effectively into the hardened heart – just as it did for all of us who believe.

We must recognize many of us have been duped into distraction inside our own respective worship communities. Some are caught up in peripheral struggles of stylistic issues in the church while the mammoth battle of changing worldviews is not being addressed – let alone strategically fought. Scores of churches are losing their children, but they fail to see why, claiming an issue like drums or hymnbooks – when this is far from the real problem. Make note: When a church ignores the grave issues of worldview but rages about lesser issues of style, preference and tradition it is setting itself up to grey first, close later. Spiritual bloodletting on preference leaves little energy to fight the real battles of our day.

Third, we must awaken to the reality that we live in a culture largely committed to relativism, unreceptive toward all-embracing, unchanging and ultimate truth. That makes the Bible as understood and presented by Christians in the public square an offense of its own, regardless of the content and irrespective of our quality of presentation. Some of this offensiveness simply can’t be avoided without compromising the spirit of the text. We need to simply accept that fact, and at the same time not grow angry or withdraw from our society because of the hardness toward truth. As God said long ago to the Prophet Samuel, they aren’t rejecting the messenger, but the Master and His mastery. They are responding to a very choreographed entertainment industry and a carefully sculpted educational system designed by pagan and post-modern minds.

Nil desperandum – don’t despair. It is still very possible to gain a hearing for the Gospel in a relativistic setting, and our cause is not dead and neither is our God now helpless. The Author is still the Finisher. There are things we can and must do and the Gospel will find its mark in some. We must guard truth for the sake of coming generations – even if they have little place for it in their lives right now. Nothing is made better or stronger by whining – but the fervent and effectual prayer of one who walks with God pierces the armor of the enemy with the power and principles of God.

Sixth, we must face the struggles and troubles that come from working among weak men (1:15).

2 Tim. 1:15 “You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.”

Discouragement will feed fear, and fear will block faith. How we handle trouble is a key point for the world to see our testimony. We must expect men to defect. We must anticipate that some will invite embrace sin and call it love, others will strike parts from their Bible they perceive are not palatable to the post-modern mind. They will speak of blessing, love and tolerance – but know little of surrender, repentance and mourning over sin.

When it happens, remember this: It isn’t new – this has always been around. Misuse of the Word accompanied proper instruction from the first century. As God poured out healing power through an Apostle, a huckster tried to buy the power for self-benefit. As God communicated through His Spirit, others tried to mimic the conditions. We can trace their path all the way back to Moses and Aaron throwing down a rod and picking up a snake. The problem of fakery isn’t new, and it isn’t more sly than before – if you know the Lord, walk by His Spirit and study carefully His Word.

Don’t judge too harshly those who feel forced to point out the names of ministries and teachers that aren’t walking in truth. It sounds “judgy” but Paul found it necessary to make his point to Tim – and we may, on occasion, need to do it as well. We reserve it for the most egregious cases of violation- but we do it when it is needful.

Seventh, (and finally!) we must “bathe often” in praise for the blessings God has put in our life (1:16).

2 Tim. 1:16 “The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains; 17 but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me— 18 the Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day—and you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus.”

Paul’s hope was in the deliverance that JESUS would give him in his death, but his endurance in the physical torment was boosted by the little reprieves he got from Onesiphorus.

The man whose name means “profit bringer” is mentioned only two times in the New Testament (see also 2 Timothy 4:19). God used this man to become a friend of Paul when desperately in need of one. Onesiphorus took a profound risk seeking out the imprisoned Apostle who brought the Word to the people Asia – his hometown crowd. Paul met him and believed God has sent him a very special relief in the midst of the hard time he faced. How he celebrated a godly and bold friends in the midst of his deprivations! God hadn’t forgotten to send a small cup of water to his parched and pained soul.

What did Paul do? He praised. He thanked God. He acknowledged the diligence of the man who sought him out. He kept his focus, not on the encroachment of evil, but on the actions of Godly helpers. Let me deliberately ask you to do something before we close this lesson: Make sure that as much of your effort is found in praising God and trumpeting good as preaching warning and pinpointing evil. The world will notice a positive voice – they truly will.

Beloved, we are a people made for the hope that is found in Jesus Christ.

God created us, bought us, indwelt us, instructed us and is transforming us… but we are making a mistake when we move to playing defense instead of working from a victorious HOPE.In his book Winning Life’s Toughest Battles, psychologist Julius Segal wrote about the 25,000 soldiers who were held by the Japanese in POW camps during World War II.

“Forced to exist under inhumane conditions, many of them died. Others, however, survived and eventually returned home. There was no reason to believe there was a difference in the stamina of these two groups of soldiers. The survivors, however, were different in one major respect: They confidently expected to be released someday. As described by Robins Readers in Holding On to Hope, ‘They talked about the kinds of homes they would have, the jobs they would choose, and even described the kind of person they would marry. They drew pictures on the walls to illustrate their dreams. Some even found ways to study subjects related to the kind of career they wanted to pursue.'” -(Quoted in Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson’s complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic ed.) (450). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers. From a sermon by Matthew Kratz, Hoping Against Hope, 9/3/2011)

For many of us, the difference between life and death – is HOPE.

To offer help in sharing it – Paul didn’t only attack what TIM was DOING, he attacked the ROOT of the problem – Tim’s THINKING. Remember, What you know affects what you do. We must KNOW the right things to DO the right things! That is why it is important to remember:

To mature to a grown follower of Jesus, I must learn to see the future through the Word of God – the long view that restores hope when life is hard.

Paul told him clearly: Face your fears. Look long and get perspective. Take a GOOD LOOK at Jesus – and you will find Him trustworthy. Hold tightly on the treasure of God’s Word. Defend its truth. Don’t get knocked off course by unfaithful men around you. Bathe often in the sweet water of praise.