Keep the faith 2 Timothy 4:1-8 Introduction As we approach Lent and our new Lent series Fruitfulness on the Frontline I wanted to focus our attention this morning on the challenge of the Apostle Paul to his young partner in the faith; Timothy. I want to look at the instructions that Paul gives to Timothy and the challenge that he sets to keep the faith. I believe that this is a good message for us too as we move towards our series next week on how we can be fruitful on our frontlines. You see being fruitful is about keeping the faith and sharing the faith with those around us, which is exactly what Paul was expecting of Timothy and indeed of us all. Let s get into the text and see how this passage can inspire us. The first thing to understand about this passage is the relationship that existed between Paul and Timothy. Paul was the great apostle, the missionary, the man that took the good news of Jesus to parts of the world that had never been reached before. Along the way he had been beaten, arrested, insulted but still he had preached the good news. Paul had set up churches all over the place and had worked with various assistants along the way. One of these was Timothy. Timothy had journeyed with Paul, had worked with Paul and had been sent by Paul to oversee the church in Ephesus. Paul wrote two letters to Timothy; the first is encouraging him in his ministry, it warns against false teachers, gives guidance on church leadership and instructs Timothy on how to be a good servant of Christ. The second letter, the one we are looking at this morning, is basically a personal letter of advice and encouragement to Timothy, and Paul uses his own life and struggles to urge Timothy on. So Paul is writing to Timothy, based in Ephesus, to urge him to keep the faith, to keep going with the work of God. It was written by Paul as an old man, almost certainly he is sitting in a prison cell, quite probably in Rome, waiting to die! This is his second imprisonment and was certainly a lot harsher than his first. We read in Acts that Paul had been imprisoned and placed under house arrest (Acts 28). He had been released and had carried on his missionary work, teaming up with Titus and Timothy leaving Titus in Crete and Timothy in Ephesus before being arrested again - this time to be put to death. The passage we have heard read this morning comes towards the end of the letter and these are probably some of the last words ever written by Paul. It is thought that it could have been only a matter of weeks, days even, before he died! This letter is written as a challenge to Timothy to take up the fight for the gospel. Paul wanted to make sure that the baton that he had carried faithfully (verse 7) kept the faith would be carried on and that God s message of salvation and hope would continue to be spread across the world. There are similarities here between Timothy and our first reading from Joshua (1:1-9). In Joshua chapter one, we read that God is giving a challenge to his new chosen leader. God is telling Joshua to pick up the baton from Moses and keep moving forward. He tells Joshua to be determined and be confident. Paul is urging Timothy to do the same.
Main point In this letter to Timothy, and particularly here in chapter 4, Paul lays down a challenge for Timothy to take on.. listen again to verses 1&2: In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and because he is coming to rule as King, I solemnly urge you 2 to preach the message... This is a strong challenge. This is a solemn phrase, almost a legal phrase like swearing an oath, as in a court room: "I swear by... (according to religious belief) that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth." The challenge that Paul gave to Timothy is to promise to carry on his work and to make that promise before God. There was certainly no hiding place for Timothy. But the request from Paul was actually very simple: to preach the Gospel! All Timothy had to do was preach - to live out and speak out for God and his saving work through Jesus! In the words of a now-famous meerkat... simples! But Timothy was living in a difficult time and in a difficult city. Opposition to this kind of teaching was strong, how was he to live out this challenge to keep the faith... well Paul gave him some guidance there... In verses 2-5 Paul gives Timothy four pieces of guidance to help him... a) Preach with urgency! Firstly Paul tells Timothy to be ready to share, to take every opportunity that presents itself. When Paul wrote this his words would have implied a need to be urgent to be on standby, to be ready, to be on hand to share the gospel. But there was more to it than that. Paul did not want Timothy just to be alert and eager; he also wanted him to be insistent and urgent. Whenever the opportunity arose he was to share the gospel and he was to do it with urgency. It would be no good to be dull and boring. He was to have energy and passion in what he said, he should preach as if he meant it! He is preaching salvation, and there is nothing more important than that and that is where his urgency should come from. b) Preach with relevance! Secondly Paul tells Timothy to preach with relevance. Timothy must communicate in a way that engages those around. Paul tells Timothy that he should convince, reproach and encourage his congregation to get the message across. Paul is telling Timothy to use different methods depending on the group. Some groups will need to be convinced by sound argument; they will have doubts and concerns and will need to be convinced. Timothy should be ready to debate! Some groups will need to be challenged about lifestyle, behaviour, choices. They will be leading sinful lives and Timothy should be ready to rebuke such groups. Some groups will have all kinds of fears, questions and uncertainties, they may want to believe but feel unworthy. To these Timothy is called to bring encouragement. Timothy should have a message for all.
c) Preach with patience! Thirdly, Paul tells Timothy to have patience, people may not listen, they may have different ideas, but he is to be faithful and keep going! The first thing to point out is that this is not in conflict with Paul s earlier challenge for Timothy to be urgent. The urgency required is in the desire to preach and tell others. The patience Paul is asking for is the ability to play the long game, to be prepared to walk alongside, to be persistent but not pushy. Timothy should not put human pressure on to people in order to push them into a decision. He is to be patient and faithful and leave space for the Holy Spirit to work in the lives of those he is talking with. This could take years, that s fine, you see that is the long game that he is a part of. d) Preach with intelligence! Finally Paul tells Timothy to preach with intelligence. Now Paul is not telling Timothy that he must preach complicated sermons, use highly technical language and only ever use three points! Paul is not saying that Timothy must have a degree (or more) to be able to properly preach to his congregation. What Paul is saying is that Timothy must be prepared; he must know his subject and understand for himself what he is saying. If Timothy is to be effective, if he is going to be able to debate, to rebuke and to encourage then he must be clear in his own mind the message of salvation he is preaching. Timothy must take time to learn for himself so that he will be at ease with what he is preaching and will then be able to speak with confidence to those who question. Impact for us So how does this message from Paul to Timothy impact on our lives? What is there from this passage to encourage us over the coming months as we seek to work out together how we are going to be fruitful on our frontlines, as individuals and as a church? Well I want to suggest that the challenge to keep the faith and preach the word is as strong for us today as it was for Timothy. I don t think that the world we live in today is so very different to the world of Timothy. I think that there are still people searching for truth in their lives. There are still people searching for answers to their questions and purpose to their existence. It is clear from the passage that in Ephesus then, as in Chelmsford today, people were picking and choosing who they listened to, they mixed up religion with moral codes and took out the bits that worked for them and discarded the bits that didn t suit. They changed their attitudes and their principles depending on which teaching was the flavour of the month. You know I don t think things are so very different for us which makes the challenge to Timothy a challenge for us. We are called like Timothy to keep the faith, we are charged with the responsibility to pass on the gospel message, we are called by God to tell others his good news!
We must be: a) Urgent! We are to have the same attitude as Timothy; we must have a sense of urgency about us. What we have to share is important and we should be enthusiastic and excited about sharing it! This means that we should be ready to share in every circumstance and at every opportunity. We must be ready to proclaim whether the time is right or not. That doesn t mean that we push ourselves and our message on to people, it means that we make the most of the opportunities that present themselves. It is no good sitting down at the end of the day and having regrets about the things you did not say, or the opportunities that you let pass by just because you didn t feel ready or up to it, or because you were worried what people might think of you. Being urgent does not mean chasing people down the street telling them to repent; it doesn t even mean knocking on doors pushing for opportunities to preach on the doorstep. It means being open to Gods leading, being ready to share with those people around you as the opportunity presents itself. One of the things I heard a lot when I was training to be a youth worker was that we should earn the right to talk to the young people and share our stories with them. I agree with that to a point, yes we need to build relationships up that allow us to speak into the lives of others, but there are times and moments in life when we need to be bold and just go for it because the time is right whether we have earned the right or not. b) Relevant! The second challenge for us is to be relevant. We must be ready to communicate in a way that engages those around us. God s message is for all people and for all circumstances; just like Timothy we need to use different methods to engage with different audiences. We need to know when to debate, when to challenge and when to encourage. We need to know when and how to reach out with God s love and that won t always be with our words. It could well be in our actions in the way that we treat those around us. Perhaps by being the person at work ready to listen without passing judgment. Perhaps by being the person on the commute to work that is smiling, friendly, approachable. Perhaps it is the way that we welcome people into our church as they attend a conference or come in out of the cold looking for shelter or something to eat. There are many ways, with words and without that we are called to be relevant with those we meet. Be prepared to debate, challenge and encourage in whatever way works best for you and as the situation requires. c) Patient! Like Timothy we are called to be patient. We are to remember that we are in it for the long haul. There are no quick fixes, no shortcuts to salvation. We must be ready to be used by the Holy Spirit and be ready for the Holy Spirit to do things in the right time. It can be tempting to push people and try to get them to fit into our timescales and our programmes. These are our man made agendas and not the timescales of God.
We must be ready to be used and ready to leave it to the Holy Spirit, we must be ready to engage with those around us, and allow the Holy Spirit to work. d) Intelligent! Finally we must be intelligent. The first thing we need to do is understand what we preach. We have to be clear about what it is we are saying and we must know for ourselves what it is we believe. Our world is a mixed up place, Christianity is just one of many different religions that people can choose from, in today s world even the Jedi order is classed as a religion and that is something that has been made up on a film set! If we are truly to offer an alternative to the world and have something exciting to share then it is vital that we understand what it is we are sharing. We must be clear in what we believe and why. How do we do this? We read our bibles, we pray, we meet up with other to grow and share, to discuss and work out what we believe. When we do this we grow in our own understanding which makes us better equipped to reach out to the world around us. As we move into the season of Lent, as we begin to explore together how we can make an impact in the lives of the people around us I want to encourage you to be people of faith. Like Timothy and Paul, even like Joshua before them we are called to keep the faith, not just for ourselves, but to keep the faith alive by sharing it with those around! Are we ready for the challenge?