Final Instructions.
So, first of all, welcome to everyone. It is an honor to stand before you, to teach
a message that God has laid on my heart to those entrusted to my teaching one
final time. It is with mixed emotions I
stand here – some sadness (and I will try my best not to cry), some joy
(although I will also try not to let that show), some worry and anxiety, as
well as excitement for the future, mixed with relief that these weeks have
finally come. My mind has truly been a
strange place these last few weeks.
And yet, I am encouraged by these words from Paul to
Timothy. For Paul, this was the end of a
very powerful letter and who knew what the future would hold? Paul, when he wrote this letter, had already
been imprisoned once. For all Paul knew,
the Lord would receive him in glory within hours of sending this letter. He had no idea that there was to be at least
one more that we know of… so what do you say to someone when it might be the
last time you see them?
I can tell that for most of us, we have things we would have
said to people the last time we saw them.
Words of love… words of forgiveness… for some of us, we have angry words
that we’ve held onto… I’ve personally
never been so good at goodbyes. Paul,
however, seems to have them mastered. In
many of his letters, he would take the pen from the writer and write out his
final blessing by himself, which was apparently a much larger handwriting
style, according to Galatians 6:11. Most
of his final thoughts were personal notes and words or blessings of encouragement
– grace and peace, peace and grace.
Some, like 1st Timothy, were opportunities for a recap. Let’s take a look at his final instructions
to Timothy after the first letter.
11: But
you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
When our story picks up, Paul had just
gotten done teaching Timothy about false teachers and the love of money. How those two go together is another story
for another time, but Paul calls Timothy a man of God and tells him to flee
from this. How many of us do or want to
call ourselves men or women of God? It’s
okay to raise your hand.
So, let’s recap from what we’ve been taught
or what we’ve been teaching these last few years. Recap
#1 - Flee from those things. Flee from
false teachers and the love of money. You
don’t need them. False teachers are hard
to identify, but the love of money has a strong grip on all of us. If you want to be a man or a woman of God,
turn the other way. It’s okay to have
money. It’s okay to make money. It’s okay to set money aside for your
children to use when they go to college.
But to make money our main pursuit in life is not okay. Instead, Paul tells us to pursue other
things: righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
Do you remember the hunt for the Egg of
Lasting Life? Mr. Kraig’s character
battled stuffed snakes and inflated alligators only to find a giant egg filled
with nothing inside. This pursuit is
like that – it’s not for something physical in any sense of the word. Righteousness is not something I can hold in
the palm of my hand. I can’t put
godliness into my suitcase. These are
private pursuits regarding the way we live our lives in reflection of our
Savior. They are not easy pursuits and
they are things on which we can always improve.
I’ve yet to meet anyone that said “I have achieved righteousness” or “I
could not pursue love or love others more.”
No, while we try to be gentle, we could probably look back on things we
did THIS MORNING that weren’t so gentle.
Verse 12 has 2 commands in it.
First, fight the good fight of faith.
Recap #2 – You will
have trouble, but fight the good fight of faith. Jesus told us in John 16:33 “in this
world you WILL have trouble.” Jesus knew
about it, how much more must Paul have known about trouble? Trouble leads us to have to fight for our
faith or fight to hold on to our faith.
Many of us here today know what it’s like to fight against the
Devil. We’ve experienced that with the
loss of loved ones. We’ve experienced
that with addictions. We’ve experienced
that with the inability to find stable work.
We’ve experienced that when the teachers challenge our beliefs in front
of the class. We also know that we will
continue to face difficulties. Paul is
urging Timothy to not give up. Keep
fighting. Don’t give up. Fight for your faith. You were chosen. You are called. God sent His Son to die for YOU. If that’s not enough to fight for, I don’t
know what is. Don’t give up.
The second command in verse 12 is to take hold of the
eternal life. When God chose us, He
offered us the gift of eternal life.
Why, then, do we spend our lives in search of other stuff? Why do we chase after money? After success?
After fame? After the world’s definition of beauty? Why do we follow our own “Holy Grails?”
It’s as if Paul’s reiterating his first command: Don’t give
up. Don’t become weary in your struggle
and turn your eyes away from what really matters. The Devil rarely tempts us with things that
other people don’t like… nor does he use things that I like. I mean, he never really tempted me to do
homework instead of my devotions. He
didn’t tempt me to brush my cat’s teeth instead of volunteering at a homeless
shelter. Instead, he uses things that
would make us happy – things we like. He
uses money, fame and worldly praise, power, temporary highs, etc. to distract
us or even cause us to fall away completely.
Don’t give up. Keep fighting.
Proverbs 4:26-27 --- Give careful thought
to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep
your foot from evil.
All it takes in one step to go in the wrong
direction, or in the right direction.
Remember that when things get hard – all it takes is one step to go in
the right direction. You don’t have to
go fast, just keep going.
The next few verses makes the editor in me
wish that Paul had stopped to take a breath and realized that periods are his
friend. However, as best I can interpret
it, Paul is urging Timothy to remember that command. Remember to take hold of the eternal life
that he was given and to uphold that pursuit to the best of his ability until
the returning of Christ. He points out
that God – the One who allowed water to flow from a rock, the One who tore the
curtain of the temple, the One who showed up in a whisper, the One who put
bones together to form a great army – the God of the Universe, is watching
us. Paul also reminds us that God’s Son,
Jesus Christ, gave the good confession before Pontius Pilate. In three of the gospels, Jesus remains silent
in Pilate’s questioning, but for The Gospel according to John there were a
greater number of words exchanged. Jesus
responds that His kingdom is not of this world and that He was born and came
into this world only to testify to the Truth.
The same Jesus who made this confession before Pilate, had His sight on
Timothy and has His sights on us today.
If you ever feel like you’re a “nobody” or that nobody notices you – recap #3: You are in God’s sight. You are in Jesus’ sight. You are not alone.
Now, I never went to school for
sermon-writing, but someone once told me that a good sermon has 3 points. I’m sorry, but I’m going outside the box
here. 4 recaps are a good number for me.
Recap
#4 – place your hope in God, do good, be generous and truly live.
Verses 17 through 19 say, “Command those who are rich in this present
world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so
uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything
for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up
treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they
may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
We have seen the uncertainty of
wealth. There are some in this
congregation who lived through the Great Depression. There are many in this congregation who were
hit by the Great Recession starting in 2007, when the unemployment rate peaked
at 10% in 2009 and the US GDP dropped by more than 5%. Many who were putting their hopes in their
wealth, or were arrogant in their stability learned what Paul meant when he
said that those things are uncertain.
And yes, some of us faced sad reminders in our own lives and the economy
rocked our boats… maybe even more than a little. Some of us, learned what it meant to rely on
God in new ways.
Instead, be rich in good deeds. Be generous.
Share what God has given. This
will not only lay a foundation for the financial future, but also for your
faith, for your children’s faiths, for your life. God has called us to live. I have a love-hate relationship with the
phrase “YOLO.” I mean, honestly, it’s so
2012, but I can’t help but reference it here.
God has called us to truly live the life to which He has called us.
...
Benediction.
OH hey, and as some of you might be
wondering, today is Pentecost, why didn’t you talk about Pentecost? Well, this is the day the church celebrates
the coming of the Holy Spirit. Honestly,
how fitting, because in Acts 1 Jesus’ final words were telling the disciples
about the coming Holy Spirit. And since
His final words were instruction telling them that with the power of the Holy
Spirit, they would be witnesses to the ends of the earth… so too, will
you. Through the recaps that we talked
about, with the Holy Spirit within you, may YOU be witnesses to those you come
in contact with each and every day.
Grace be with you.
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