Final Words

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, October 24, 2010.  The text for this week's message is 2 Timothy 4:1-8.

As we enter our final week in Paul’s second letter to Timothy, I think it’s fair to say that there are a lot of lessons that we can pull from Paul’s final letter.  When we read 2 Timothy, we are reading the final words that Paul has to share with Timothy and with us.  Shortly after writing this letter, Paul was executed for his faith in Jesus Christ.

Today’s section is really Paul’s final words of advice to Timothy.  After this section, he asks Timothy to come see him as soon as he can and to bring another with him.  He sends greetings to the fellow leaders of the churches around the area, and that’s all we hear from Paul in this world.  Much like how the prophet’s mantle was passed from Elijah to Elisha, Paul passes the torch to Timothy.

There are several things that we can pull from this passage, but I want to look at Paul’s final charges to Timothy.  He lists seven things that he wants Timothy to do as he leads the church.  We are going to look at some of those things, and see what it is that Paul may be saying to us today.

Paul begins by charging Timothy “in the presence of God and Jesus Christ.”  This is reminiscent of what Jesus said to the disciples at the beginning of the Great Commission in Matthew 28.  Jesus begins his final instructions there by saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore…”  What Jesus does there is remind them of his ultimate authority, and then gives them their instructions to go, evangelize and disciple the world.

In the same way, Paul is reminding Timothy of the ultimate authority.  Not the authority that Paul has, but the authority of God.  He reminds Timothy that, ultimately, he stands before God.  This charge doesn’t come just from Paul, but from the Almighty, from the Lord, from Jesus Christ himself.  When Paul charges Timothy in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, he is reminding Timothy of his position before the Lord.

Once we realize our standing before God, it helps put everything else in perspective.  What Paul is about to tell Timothy is some pretty important stuff.  If Timothy ever forgets his standing before the Lord, then suddenly this stuff doesn’t become a call in his life, but a skill that he tries to develop.  There is a definite difference between a developed skill and a call from God.

As individuals and as a church, we must remember our standing before God lest we treat the church like a business.  There is business that needs to be taken care of in a local congregation, but the church is not a business.  The church needs to be a place where people come into contact with the Almighty God and draw closer to Him and one another in Christian fellowship.  As a congregation, we have a call to reach others with the good news of Jesus Christ.  If we approach this call as strictly business, we are going to miss out on a deeper, and much more important, spiritual development in the lives of the people we come into contact with.  In the Great Commission, Jesus tells the disciples to reach out to others and disciple them.  It’s not just enough to reach others with the good news of Jesus Christ, but we also have to be intentional about faith development.

If we just want to get more people in the building, then there are things that we can do to draw a crowd.  But we don’t want to just fill the pews; we want to reach people with a message of salvation.  That is very different than simply filling up the space.  As we improve the quality of our spiritual lives, we realize that there is so much more to our call as followers of Jesus Christ.  It is on this foundation that Paul charges Timothy.

Paul’s first instruction to Timothy is to “preach the word.”  Timothy’s primary responsibility as a person who stands under the authority of Jesus Christ is to share the gospel.  He is to tell others of Jesus.  He is to offer salvation through Jesus Christ.  So, how does this apply to us today?  Well, I don’t think it take a genius to make the connection on this one.  Preach the word.

That doesn’t mean that every person here should expect to preach on a Sunday morning.  In fact, I can guarantee you that not every person who preaches should do so.  I have heard a lot of people preach on a Sunday morning, and I have heard a few people that shouldn’t preach from the pulpit on a Sunday morning.  Perhaps the most famous quote on this subject is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi who reportedly said, “Preach the gospel at all times.  If necessary, use words.”

You preach the word by how you live it out in your life.  Are you wasting your life away in sinful living, all the while thinking that it’s okay because you go to church on a Sunday morning?  What kind of gospel are you preaching when you do that?  Do you talk poorly about other people behind their back, but put on a happy face around them?  What kind of gospel are you preaching?  Does your life match your words?  Do your actions backup how you say that God has been working in your heart?  Preach the gospel not just by what you say, but by how you live.

Second, be ready.  In season and out of season, be ready.  Be ready for what?  Be ready for anything.  God can call us when we least expect it.  God can speak to us when we are least ready to hear what it is that He has to say.  In 1 Peter 3:15, Peter tells us to always be “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.”  Be ready at any and all times to be a representative of Christ; wherever you are.

When we decide to follow Christ, we aren’t dedicating a couple of hours of our week to him.  We are dedicating our entire lives to him.  That is a significant difference.  When you commit to being the sports coach or music teacher, you are committing a portion of your time to accomplish particular tasks.  It’s not like that when it comes to our faith.  When we decide to follow Jesus, he isn’t asking for a few hours of our time every week.  He is asking for our weeks.

Because of this, we must be ready at all times to be obedient to what it is that he is calling us to do.  We can’t just be Christians when it is convenient for us.  A partial disciple is no disciple.  And if you’re thinking, “Preacher, that might be easy for you.  You don’t have a real job.  Your job is to do this kind of stuff.”  Then maybe you’re missing the point. 

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, he doesn’t just suddenly appear, sit down with a calendar and schedule a monthly meeting.  It’s not easy to be a disciple.  It’s not convenient to be a disciple.  It doesn’t fit into our schedule to be a disciple.  But the truth is, Jesus doesn’t want just a part of our lives; he doesn’t want us to fit him into our schedule.  And for that reason, we must be ready at all times to follow his call for us.

Third, Paul tells Timothy to reprove, rebuke and exhort.  What do these things mean?  The word “reprove” has to do with bringing others into a conviction of the sin in their lives.  It is the same word that is used in John 16:8, when Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.  This doesn’t mean that we suddenly become judgmental and start pointing out all the flaws in other people.  In Matthew 7, Jesus says that we are to remove the log from our eye before we tell our brothers and sisters to remove the specks from their eyes.

Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that we’ve got it all figured out, and the rest of the people around us need to straighten up.  Convicting people of particular sins in their lives is not our place – that is the work of the Holy Spirit.  But creating relationships and environments where people can allow the convicting work of the Spirit to be present in their lives is certainly something that we can do.  People don’t want to be judged by other people, but they are open to self-reflection, even when it shines some light in the dark corners.

The word “rebuke” is a stern word very similar to “reprove’” however, in this instance, it doesn’t necessarily result in a deeply rooted conviction of the sin.  Rebuking another person is something that has to come from a mutual relationship of love and respect.  We don’t need to go up to just anybody and tell them that what they are doing is wrong.  Again, it is the Holy Spirit’s job to do that.

However, when we are in relationship with fellow believers – a relationship with a foundation of mutual love in Christ Jesus – then we can allow one another that type of access into our lives.  Another way of putting this would be “accountability.”  We all need accountability in our lives, especially in our spiritual lives.  We need to give others permission to let us know when we’ve gone off track, but this can only be done when each person loves and trusts the other.

The third word in this part of the charge is “exhort.”  To exhort somebody means that one is encouraging, comforting, and strengthening another person.  Paul is telling Timothy to encourage and motivate fellow believers.  While the first two words in this charge – reprove and rebuke – may seem like Timothy is supposed to be sharing difficult words all the time, this lets us know that there is a lot of positive things that we can do with how we speak to another as well.  Exhortation is a way to build up another and encourage that person to press on in spite of the difficulties that surround him/her at this present time.

As we look back over the charge that Paul gives Timothy in the opening verses of chapter 4, we notice that a lot of what he is talking about has to do with sharing the Word.  Preach the gospel. Be ready in and out of season.  Reprove, rebuke and exhort.  These all have to do with how Timothy interacts with other people regarding the Word of God.  Paul is very heavily pointing to the need to teach and preach with patience and sound doctrine.

When we get to verse 3, we start to see just why it is that Paul is giving Timothy this charge.  He says, “The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but because they have itching ears, they will seek out teachers to suit their passions.”  In other words, there will come a time when people no longer listen to what Timothy is saying because they will not like what it is that he has to say.  Instead, they will seek after teachers who say things with which they agree.

One thing that we have to be careful about in our own lives is that we don’t often like to listen to teaching that challenges us.  Often times, if somebody is teaching something that doesn’t agree with our preconceived notions, we tend to stop listening to them.  We don’t like to be challenged, but we have to be from time to time.  Sound doctrine is not always an easy thing to hear.  If we listen to the media, we hear all sorts of messages that we may like to hear, messages with which may agree on some level, but to call them sound doctrine would be a stretch.

We have to be careful about blindly agreeing with everything that we read or hear.  We have to be willing to question things from time to time.  Above all, we have to be able to compare the teachings that we hear with what has been revealed to us in Scripture.  If somebody is teaching something that is not consistent with what we read in Scripture, and we find ourselves agreeing with this teaching, then we need to take a step back and reevaluate our position on certain topics.  Our task, as followers of Jesus Christ is to be familiar with Scripture, and to teach sound doctrine, even if the world around us would rather hear a different message.

Even though we may be surrounded by a world that teaches doctrines different than Scripture, we must maintain our commitment to teaching the Word of God.  Paul reminds Timothy of this in verse 5, where he says, “As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

It will always be important for us to be of sound mind when it comes to sharing the gospel with others.  We are to be focused and determined when it comes to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we have to realize that often this comes at a price.

Paul tells Timothy to enduring suffering because suffering is an inevitable part of the Christian life.  For Timothy and countless other believers, it is physical suffering.  For us in this day and age, we may not be openly persecuted for the faith, but that doesn’t mean we are free from the suffering that follows those who follow Christ.

As followers of Christ, we are charged to remain focused on the mission at hand.  We need to not be distracted by the peripherals, even the ones that whisper in our ears that we may face some unwelcome times because of our faith.  We need to draw strength from what Paul is saying here.  Remember, Paul was in his final days.  We can read through Acts and see that he was well acquainted with suffering for the gospel.  He is speaking from experience here.  This is not idle advice that he is giving, but it comes in the midst of his own personal experience.

Paul’s advice to “do the work of an evangelist” does not mean that we are to stand on the street corner proclaiming that all are sinners and are in need of repentance.  While there is a measure of truth to that message, evangelism is not about condemning sinners, but sharing the joy of a new life in Jesus Christ.

Above all, we are to fulfill our ministry.  What that looks like when we get to the specifics is going to be different for every person, but as followers of Christ, we are charged to make disciples, and that involves sharing the word of God, and being intentional about our personal faith development and the faith development of those around us.

Final words are always difficult.  We want to impart so much wisdom to those who will be left behind, but it’s hard to keep it to the point and memorable.  Ultimately, we just have to hope that we have taught enough along to way that our final words are merely a culmination of what we have been teaching all along.

Paul’s final words are words of encouragement; words of hope; words of purpose; words of mission.  If we hold these words in our hearts as we move forward as followers of Jesus Christ, I have no doubt that we will hear the same message that Paul heard as he met the Lord.  “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  Go from this place today, remembering Paul’s final words, and taking them to heart, so that all may come to know Jesus Christ.