In Times Like These - A Donelson Fellowship Pocket Paper

In Times Like These

A Pocket Paper
from
The Donelson Fellowship

June 8, 2008

______________________

Message by Robert J. Morgan, Senior Pastor

The Donelson Fellowship

3210 McGavock Pike

Nashville, TN 37214

615/871-4769

www.donelson.org

Last week, we ended our Sunday morning studies into the book of James, the theme of which was Faith in Action. Today I’d like to begin a new set of four messages entitled Keeping the Faith, from the book of 2 Timothy. This little book has four chapters, and so we’ll devote four Sundays to it—one chapter per week, beginning today with chapter 1.

The most important thing to remember about 2 Timothy is that it represents the last extant writing of the great Apostle Paul. It’s been called his last will and testament. It was written as he was facing trial and awaiting execution in Rome. I recently finished reading a biography of President John F. Kennedy, and the writer said that following his assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963, for months afterward his aids and his staff would share their various stories of their last conversation with him. Everyone remembered the last time they had spoken with him. Everyone remembered the last thing he had said to them.

Well, think of this book of 2 Timothy as the last time the Apostle Paul speaks to us. He was writing to his younger associate, Timothy, and in chapter 4 he instructed Timothy to come to him quickly in Rome; but we don’t know if Timothy made it in time. As far as we know, these are Paul’s final instructions about living for Christ in what he describes in chapter 3 as “perilous times.” So let’s read chapter one—it has eighteen verses—and then we’ll unfold it and try it on for size.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.

So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the Gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. And of this Gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me in my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.

In the time of the Apostle Paul, Christianity was under assault. This letter was written against the backdrop of persecution.

Look at verse 8: So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me His prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the Gospel.

Look at chapter 2, verse 8: This is my Gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal.

Look at chapter 3, verse 1: But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days….

And verse 12: In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

And in chapter 4, verse 6: I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith….

Now, in a future message I want to give a glimpse of what is going on in the world today, in terms of persecution against Christians. If the church in America really knew what was going on, and if the world media really cared about the basic human rights of Christians, there would be a far greater outcry than there is. But even here in America today, there is a growing consensus in society that Christians are dangerous idiots. Some of you are familiar with the writings of Richard Dawkins, who represents a new and fundamentalist form of atheism. Let me share with you a couple of his quotes: The virgin birth, the resurrection, the raising of Lazarus, even the Old Testament miracles, are all freely used for religious propaganda, and they are very effective with an audience of the unsophisticated and children.

He said: It should be seen as child abuse to teach children about Jesus.

Another of the new atheists is George H. Smith, who wrote: Christian theism must be rejected by any person with even a shred of respect for reason.

This kind of thinking has taken hold of America’s academic institutions and much of our media, and it’s creating an environment in which some people are even warning about the coming criminalizing of Christianity. Well, when the Apostle Paul wrote 2 Timothy, Christianity was criminalized. Christians faced arrest, conviction, imprisonment, and martyrdom. Christianity is criminalized in much of the world today. And when we read 2 Timothy, we’re eavesdropping on a conversation between an older, imprisoned Christian and a younger one who was feeling a sense of threat and intimidation by a hostile society, and the message is incredibly relevant. The apostle Paul tells him to keep the faith.

It seems to me that if you think of this chapter—2 Timothy 1—as a piano, Paul struck four chords that represented the attitude he wanted to convey into Timothy, and it gives you and me a sense of what our attitude should.

Be Thankful (vv. 3-5)

First, let’s be thankful. As incredible as it seems, this letter—which is all about peril and persecution—opens with a note of thanksgiving. Look at verses 3-5: I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

Sitting in that dungeon in Rome and looking back over his dramatic life, the old apostle thought of the time (recorded in Acts chapter 16) when he had showed up in the little town of Lystra. There he found a little home—a grandmother, a mother, and a 16-year-old young man (we don’t really know his age, but I view him as a teenager) named Timothy. His father was apparently unsympathetic to the Christian faith, but his mother and grandmother were ardent believers. Paul wanted to take the young man with him on his second missionary journey, and somehow the women had agreed to it. I can just picture the scene in that home—young Timothy suddenly deciding to take off with this unusual evangelist, the women scurrying around helping him pack, all of it happening so quickly. And now, years had passed, and the apostle Paul was writing one last letter to this young fellow who was going to soon be his successor. And he was thankful to God for the fact that his pathway had led through the town of Lystra, that God had placed these two women there, that he had met a teenager with a heart for the Lord, and that through the years there had been unbroken fellowship and partnership with this little group of friends.

I’ve said many times that thanksgiving is the most therapeutic attitude we can cultivate. And on any given day, we can complain or we can praise. Now, I’m sure Paul had many specific complaints as he wrote this letter, and he alludes to some of them. But his opening statements here are positive and thankful.

Last fall, I read a story in the newspapers that was deeply moving. It was about the Medal of Honor, which is presented by the United States government to military heroes who distinguish themselves conspicuously in combat by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life and beyond the call of duty. Last fall, the first Medal of Honor awarded for combat in Afghanistan was presented to the family of Lt. Michael Murphy, a Navy SEAL who gave his life to make a radio call for help for his team. Murphy and three other SEALS went sent on a mission in June of 2005 into the rugged, 10,000-feet Afghan mountains, searching for a known terrorist. They were apparently spotted by local tribesmen who reported them to the Taliban. Murphy’s team was trapped by fifty enemy troops who surrounded them on three sides and forced them into a ravine. Soon all four men had sustained wounds and were out of ammunition.

“We were hurtin’ bad,” said the team’s sole survivor, Petty Officer 2nd Class Marcus Luttrell. “We were out of ammo, and… it was bad, it was real bad.” Murphy moved from man to man to keep his team together, though he had to expose himself to enemy fire to do so. Then, because the mountainous terrain blocked communications, he had to move into an open area to call for help. Despite incoming fire, he calmly provided his unit’s location and information about opposing force. While making the call, he took two rounds in the back and dropped the handset, but he managed to retrieve it and complete the call. He even said “thank you” at the end of the transmission.

His dad, speaking to reporters later, said, “Here is a man who had been shot in the stomach, and been fighting with this wound, gets shot in the back… and then still has the presence of mind to say ‘thank you.’”

That’s what the apostle Paul teaches us to do here. We’re in a combat situation on this earth, and Paul was about to become a causality, but he opens his final book on a note of thanksgiving. In times like these, we must be thankful.

Be Zealous (vv. 6-7)

Second, in times like these we must be zealous. We’ve got to fan into flame the gift God has given us and get to work. Look at verses 6-7: For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.

When Paul used the phrase “the laying on of my hands,” that was apparently a reference to Timothy’s ordination into the ministry. They had evidently had some kind of worship service in which Timothy acknowledge that God had called him to a special ministry as pastor or evangelist, and he had been set aside for that purpose. I’m sure that Paul had some things to say on that occasion, and then in prayer Paul had placed his hands on the young man as a symbol of the hand of God resting on him with power. We have the same traditions today in a service of ordination.

But we get the feeling here that Paul was concerned about Timothy, maybe worried that Timothy was feeling discouraged and intimidated. We can all feel that way sometimes. I had a letter several months ago from a pastor in another state who felt like quitting. It’s hard to keep on going when you get discouraged. We have to keep fanning into flame the gift that God has given to each of us. We have to remain fervent. We have to stay excited and joyful.

How can we do that? We do it through the power of the Holy Spirit. Verse 7 is one of the Bible’s great verses about the Holy Spirit: For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.

The older translations say—a spirit power, love, and of a sound mind.

The actual Greek word for sound mind or self-discipline comes from two Greek terms that have been put together. The first is the word sodzo, which means saved or delivered. The second term is phroneo, which means a person’s mind, intelligence, or way of thinking. When you put these words together, it really means having a mind that has been delivered and rescued and is now safe and secure.

I think Paul was saying to Timothy (and this is what the passage is saying to us): You might be tempted to lose your nerve, to be timid and afraid, to fall apart, to collapse, to succumb to fear. But God has given you a gift to use in your service for Him, and you’ve got to stay encouraged as the Holy Spirit infuses you with power and with love and with the ability to keep your head in all situations. Be zealous.

Be Unashamed (vv. 8-12)

The third chord that Paul strikes here is the idea of being unashamed. In times like these, be thankful, be zealous, and be unashamed. Look at verses 8-12:

So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me His prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the Gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. And of this Gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.

I love this part of the chapter, because right in the middle of it Paul gives one of his many periodic summaries of the Gospel. What is the message that is so important that prison and death can’t stop us? It’s this message. From the beginning of time, God has ordained saving grace, and it has now been revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, our Savior, who by His death and resurrection destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. The problem is that for some reason that isn’t a well-received message in this world. “It’s why I’m suffering as I am,” said Paul, “yet I am not ashamed, and you must not be ashamed either. For we know whom we have believed and are persuaded that He is able to keep what we have committed to Him against that day.”

I read about a woman who had once known much of the Bible by heart, but as she grew older her memory failed. Her favorite verse in the Bible was 2 Timothy 1:12: I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.

In time, she forgot the first part of the verse, but she remembered the part that said: I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.

Then she forgot some more of the verse, but she could be heard repeated the phrase: He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him…

Finally, she only had one word of the verse, and it was the word Him. She would say: Him… Him… Him…. She had forgotten all the Bible except for that one word, but in that one word she had all of the Bible. (A story related by Dr. S. D. Gordon of “Quiet Talks” fame, and retold in Knight’s Master Book of New Illustrations by Walter B. Knight (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdman’s Publishing House, 1956), 14.)

It’s our crown and glory and joy.

Jesus, and shall it ever be

A mortal man ashamed of Thee?

Ashamed of Thee, whom angels praise,

Whose glories shine through endless days?

In times like these, we must be thankful, zealous, unashamed, and finally vigilant.

Be Vigilant (vv. 13-14)

Notice these two words—keep and guard. This is a remarkable passage. As we just saw up in verse 12, we have entrusted some things to the Lord Jesus—our lives and our work for Him—and He is able to keep and to guard it. But in the next verse—verse 13—He has entrusted some things into our care—specifically His Gospel and His message—and we must vigilantly keep and guard it.

When Paul talks about the “pattern of sound teaching,” he is talking about our doctrine and theology. It’s very easy to adjust our theology according to the winds of whatever is culturally relevant or politically correct. But that we cannot do. Our doctrine and our Biblical teachings may have different applications, but our Bibles remain infallible and inerrant, and our doctrine isn’t subject to blowing winds of change.

Now, Paul ended this chapter by giving us two examples of men who had caved into cultural pressure—Phygelus and Hermogenes. We don’t know anything more about these men; this is the only time they are mentioned in the Bible. But apparently they were two Christians in the city of Ephesus whom Paul had relied on, and to his amazement they had deserted him in the current crisis.

On the other hand, there was one very bold believer who surprised Paul by his courage—Onesiphorus: May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me in my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.

So there you have chapters 1 of 2 Timothy, and the lessons are so very relevant to our own day, when so many Christian young people go off to college and are influenced by liberal professors, when so many American church attenders become distracted by the things of this world and drift away, when so much persecution and intimidation is facing us as Christian believers. In the last days, said Paul, perilous times will come. But in times like these, we need to stay thankful, zealous, unashamed, and vigilant. In times like these we need a Savior; in times like these we need an anchor. Let’s be very sure our anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!

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