The Providence Podcast: True North

No Mere Myth

Chris Oswald — Sun, 31 Mar 2024 10:00:00 +0100

No Mere Myth

Series: True North

Speaker: Chris Oswald

Sunday Morning

Date: 31st March 2024

Passages:

Ephesians 2:1-10
2 Timothy 4:3-4

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We like to work through books of the Bible, studying one section after another until we reach the end. Over the past several months, we’ve been studying the books of 1st and 2nd Timothy. And today we conclude our time here by examining 2 Timothy 4:3-4 which reads…

3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

You might say, “Chris, that’s not an easter text.” Well hold on now. I can see at least one way that it is. Namely, when Paul says that people will leave Christianity and wander off into myths, he is implying that Christianity is not a myth. More than implying he nakedly states that Christianity is the truth.

Demonstrate that the basic claims of Christianity are true

Discuss why they are often doubted

Determine how they affect our lives

I want to show you three things this morning:

The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are historical facts. There is far greater evidence supporting these events than many other historical events that we all take for granted.

Why then is there not universal agreement and acceptance of these facts? It is my contention that the basic facts of the gospel are like germ theory was in the 17 and 1800s. Facts, extremely consequential facts, that almost nobody believed. I think our text explains why

How these facts change people.

Firstly, Christianity is not a myth.

It is a religion built on historical events - the most crucial of which is the death and resurrection of Jesus.

I was watching a debate between atheist Richard Dawkins and a Christian mathematician named John Lennox. In that debate Lennox states:

Blind faith can be very dangerous. Especially if it is coupled with a blind obedience. Especially when its coupled with a blind obedience to an evil authority. And that I would like to emphasize is true whether the blind obedience is that of religious or secular people. But not all faith is blind faith because faith itself carries with it the ideas of belief, trust, commitment and is therefore only as robust as the evidence for it. I can’t speak authoritatively for other religions, but faith in the Christian sense is not blind. And indeed I do not know a serious Christian who thinks it is. Indeed as I read it, blind faith in idols and figments of the human imagination, in other words delusional gods, is roundly condemned in the Bible. My faith in God and Christ as the son of God is no delusion. It is rational and evidence based. Part of the evidence is objective, some of it comes from science, some comes from history, and some is subjective — coming from experience.

Lennox referenced historical evidence. So let’s talk about that for a moment.

How do we know anything in the past actually happened? You can’t use the scientific method to prove the existence of history. Not really. So how do we know anything in the past is true?

How do historians differentiate between fact and fiction? I’m going to compare two historical claims. The assassination of Caesar and the resurrection of Jesus.

Interval (Caesar)

One method historians use involves evaluating the interval between the date of the reported event and the earliest record reporting the event.

The earliest written report of Caesar’s assassination was written 160 years after the event.

Now in terms of ancient history, that’s not so bad. Remember, back then, recorded history was very slow and tedious. All things being equal 160 year gap would be seen as credible to most historians.

And what about the resurrection of Jesus?

The earliest written reports of the resurrection of Jesus occurred within 20 years of the event.

In comparison, the New Testament was written by eyewitnesses to the resurrection and their close associates. While Plutarch wrote 160 years after Caesar’s death, the New Testament authors wrote within the lifetimes of eyewitnesses who could confirm or deny two central claims: the empty tomb and the appearances of the risen Christ. — Bateman

Records (Christ)

Another method used by historians to separate fact from fiction has to do with how many manuscripts exist reporting the original event. When it comes to the assassination of Caesar, we have 10 manuscripts of original report.

And what about reports of the resurrection? We have 23,986 manuscripts containing various portions of the New Testament.

New Testament scholar Dan Wallace estimates that a stack of all existing New Testament manuscripts would be taller than four Empire State Buildings. In contrast, a stack of existing manuscripts of all classical Greek works would be four feet tall.

In conclusion, New Testament Scholar Daniel Bock writes,

“The Gospels compare favorably to the classics in terms of what the sources say about Jesus and Caesar. If such sourcing works for the classics and the study of Caesar, it should work for Jesus as well.”

Now remember what we’re investigating. We’re investigating the claim made by Paul that Christianity is not myth. Based on the agreed upon way in which we know any history is true, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is not mere myth. It really happened.

Additionally, we have something known as the minimal facts argument. Something I present pretty much every year.

This only take a moment. In a world of deep fakes, fake news, artificial intelligence, catfishing, etc… I just want to be certain you see the bedrock of the Christian faith is a set of facts…

Jesus was a real historical person We have plenty of evidence that he was crucified. We now understand that crucifixion leads to death 100% of the time. Many people claimed to see and interact with Jesus after this death. Some of those people were themselves skeptics of Christ’s messianic claims (Paul, James). The message that Jesus was raised from the dead was taught immediately. It was not invented at some later date. We have plenty of evidence to verify this. Since this was first preached in the same city where it happened, the empty tomb was imminently verifiable. Paul was a real historical person who is considered, even by skeptics, to be a formidable intellect. His first letter to the Corinthians is believed, even by skeptics, to be authentic. Meaning he really wrote it. He tells us that Jesus appeared to many witnesses (most of whom were still alive when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians) and that he even appeared to a group of 500 people. The details of the resurrection, including the women finding him first, are not compatible with a conspiracy claim.

Secondly: Why then do so many treat these facts as something less than true?

The second issue I wanted to present takes the form of a question. Why then is there not universal agreement and acceptance of these facts? Why does everyone believe in the assassination of Caesar but only a relative few believe in the resurrection of Jesus?

Why doesn’t everyone believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus? As we have seen, it isn’t for lack of evidence. We have plenty of evidence — but here’s the rub — this is evidence that demands a verdict — a very personal and life changing verdict.

Look back with me at vs. 3

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

Broadly speaking, we see this text talking about a fundamental tension between the truths of Christianity and the passions of the flesh.

That’s what that phrase at the beginning of vs. 3 is talking about, “the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching.”

The word for sound means true, solid, built on facts.

Now look at that word “endure.” The time is coming when people won’t endure the sound teaching of Christianity. That's kind of an unusual statement.

There are plenty of facts that we don't have to endure. The truth of Caesar’s assassination requires no endurance on my part. It is what it is. I don’t have to endure the scientific principle of photosynthesis or thermodynamics. As far as I can see, these principles are fairly compatible with however I may choose to live my life.

But the resurrection of Jesus is a fact that demands something of us.

The main problem is our passions. See that in the text?

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. — 2 Timothy 4:3–4

What are we talking about when we talk about passions?

The greek word is used over 30 times in the New Testament and it usually refers to lusts, sinful desires, craving, etc…

Sometimes the passions are sexual in nature.

Sometimes they are materialistic. (Desire to be rich — 1 Timothy 6)

Sometimes the passions are related to power, or human approval.

All of these passions are directly challenged by the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The bible plainly teaches that we can either live for Christ or we can live for our passions — but we cannot do both.

And this is why we find such uneven belief in the resurrection. It isn’t for lack of evidence. Rather it is that the evidence — as convincing as it is — competes with our passions.

The famed American reporter Upton Sinclair once said, “'It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

We could rephrase it, “It is difficult to get a man to accept facts when his passions force him to deny them.”

Now look back at our text again:

What does it mean, “having itching ears.” Well, there are two possibilities.

One is that people want to hear things that will satisfy their urges. You ever get an itch right in the center of your back that you simply cannot reach? So maybe what Paul is saying is that these people want to feel endorsed in their urges. And the simple gospel message isn’t doing that.

The other possibility is that it is actually the gospel that is causing their ears to itch. Some of the greek uses for the word there seem to imply their ears are being irritated. So they go somewhere else that isn’t as irritating.

So one way of putting it would be — the gospel message isn’t satisfying to our passions. And the other way of saying it would be — the gospel message is irritating to our passions.

Basically potato tomato.

So the basic thrust of the text is something like this:

Christianity is based on a set of facts Our various passions are competing with these facts. We have to choose between our facts and our feelings.

The word passion has undergone quite a transformation over the last 2000 years. These days we use it to refer to anything we’re really excited about. Yoga is my passion.

Around the 14th century, the word was used to describe strong physical or emotional desires that competed with reason and logic.

But in the beginning, the word just meant “suffering.” And it was used primarily to describe the cross of Christ. That's why the film is called, “The Passion of Jesus Christ.” The ancient latin speaking church used the word passion (passio) — which to them meant suffering.

So in a sense, we are all forced to choose which definition of passion we will center our life around. The passion of Christ or the passions of the flesh?

Hedonic Treadmill

In the worlds of neuroscience and clinical psychology a new term has emerged to describe the wide variety of dopamine seeking behaviors reeking havoc on the lives of men and women everywhere.

They talk about something called the hedonic treadmill.

Hedonic - hedonism - pleasure seeking. Treadmill — a road to nowhere. Activity without accomplishment.

People stuck on the hedonic treadmill foolishly believe that true happiness lies just around the corner. The only problem is there are no corners, there is no horizon, there is no real progress.

The next time you’re at the gym, get on a treadmill next to a person and ask, “so where are you headed today?” And they’ll look at you’ve got a screw loose. A treadmill is a road to nowhere.

But ask someone stuck blindly on the hedonic treadmill where they are headed and they will confidently assert — toward happiness!

Friends, we cannot follow Jesus if we’re on the hedonic treadmill.

Thirdly: How this helps

This morning we have a wide variety of people, men and women, boys and girls, young adults, less young adults — and in spite of all this variance — we can safely divide everyone into one of two categories:

Those who are caught on the hedonic treadmill — And those who were caught on the hedonic treadmill —

What accounts for the difference?

Those who were caught on the hedonic treadmill woke up.

They did not wake up because they were smarter than others, more spiritual than others, more sensitive than others — they woke up because the risen Christ woke them up.

He rescued them from their slavery to sin. They had traded God for pleasure and now they thank God for pleasure — and try to honor him with their appetites.

Titus 2:11-14 11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

If the evidence I’ve shared has yet to convince you, I could easily call on dozens of people in this room right now to testify that this was their personal experience. He woke them up, took them off the hedonic treadmill and placed their feet on solid ground.

And what about those still churning out the miles, caught in the delusion that satisfying their passions is the purpose of life? Still fooled into believing that happiness lies just around the non-existent corner?

A pleasure centered life is, to coin an old phrase, “a myth of progress” where there is no progression. But the Christ centered, joy-filled life is no myth.

Here’s what is true…

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. — 1 Corinthians 15:3–7

Christ died for our sins. He was buried He was raised on the third day

The bible has another name for the hedonic treadmill. Death — the state of uninterrupted degeneration.

Ephesians 2

2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. — Ephesians 2:1–10.

Let’s Pray

Where are you? Are you standing on the solid ground of real history? Or are you still stuck on the treadmill? Jesus died to set you free and as surely as he has risen from the dead, so you can be taken out of the spiritual grave and raised with him to walk in abundant life.

Has the truth dawned on you? In 2 Corinthians 5:15 Paul says, “and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

In Acts 17, Paul addresses the intellectual pagans of Athens saying, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Are you ready to follow the risen Christ?

He is worthy of your worship. He is worthy of your life.

Successful Christian Parenting, Part 2

Chris Oswald — Sun, 24 Mar 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Successful Christian Parenting, Part 2

Series: True North

Speaker: Chris Oswald

Sunday Morning

Date: 24th March 2024

Passage: 2 Timothy 3:14-15

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We’re going to talk about the role of influence in raising up children who love the Lord. We get this concept by the inclusion of a little phrase in vs. 14 — “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it.”

I think parents intuitively understand this. So I don’t suspect I’ll show you anything new today. My aim is to merely highlight and reemphasize a principle you probably already understand.

I. Negative Influence

We’ve just moved through a section of the book where the negative influence of others has been discussed.

In chapter 2, we saw that irreverent conversations lead to more and more ungodliness. Paul compared this kind of thing to gangrene — spreading from one member of the body to another.

And then in chapter 3, (Logan Thune preached an excellent message on this topic) we see Paul say:

All of this fits with we are told in 1 Corinthians 15:33 — “Do not be deceived, bad company corrupts good morals.”

The danger of bad influence is a constant theme of the Old Testament. When Israel sinned (which they often did), they often did so by “learning the ways of the nations that surrounded them.” (Jeremiah 10:2)

And the book of Proverbs is full of fatherly counsel about who’s company to avoid:

Proverbs 22:24-25

Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

Proverbs 23:19-21

Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way. Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.

Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

We join with David who said in Psalm 119

Depart from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commandments of my God.

We need to say this for our children, on behalf of our children. We need to banish evil doers from their presence as well.

Last week I mentioned that 30 of young people leave the Christian faith. What happened? In many respects — influence.

As the spiritual father of Timothy, Paul was careful to curate the company Timothy kept. Likewise, mothers and fathers must do the same for their children.

So that’s a bit about the negative side. What about the positive?

II. Positive Influnce

Look back at vs. 13-14

“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it.” 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

There’s a phrase going around in theological circles right now. An old phrase, originating with Thomas Aquinas — grace perfects nature. That’s what Paul is doing. He isn’t trying to overcome the nature of man. Man is is going to be influenced. That is nature.

Here we see that while Timothy is surrounded by a sea of unfaithfulness, but his life has been built up on an island of godly influence. While so many others are bobbing in the sea, tossed to and fro by every wind and wave, Timothy has a faith built up on high ground.

That phrase, “from whom you have learned it” is in the plural. Paul isn’t pointing to himself alone. Rather he is pointing to the whole company of influences who played a role in passing on the faith.

We can delineate these influences in three categories:

His Household His Church His Mentor

IIA. The Role of the Church and Godly Mentors

I’m going to spend most of my time emphasizing the importance of godly parents in the successful transmission of the faith — but Timothy’s story provides us with an opportunity to mention the role the whole church plays in helping a young person continue in the faith.

So let me lump “Church” and “Mentor” into a single point and talk about that for a moment.

I never gave you a brief biographical sketch of Timothy. So let’s do that now.

Let’s start with his name.

Timotheo — literally means God honoring.

His name appears at least 25 times in the New Testament.

Five times in Acts Twice in 1 Corinthians Twice in 2 Corinthians Twice in Philippians Once in Colossians Twice in 1 Thessalonians Once in 2 Thessalonians Many times in 1 and 2 Timothy Once in Philemon Once in Hebrews

I did not do a comparative analysis of other prominent names. But it would be hard to imagine that amongst the non-apostles, there is any other name that appears as often. Timothy was a very prominent figure in the early church.

And there’s a point to be made about that. Parents, when we raise our kids for the Lord, we raise them for the Lord’s kingdom. Church history is full of men and women who had an outsized influence in the kingdom — the vast majority of them were consistently prayed over by at least one parent.

This reminds me of a cute little exchange between Spurgeon and his mother.

Spurgeon’s mom: “Ah, Charles! I often prayed the Lord to make you a Christian, but I never asked that you might become a Baptist.”

Spurgeon: “Ah, mother! The Lord has answered your prayer with his usual bounty, and given you exceedingly above what you asked or thought.”

The connection between Spurgeon’s influence and his mother’s prayers is not novel. This is the norm we see over and over again in church history. There are some outliers — men and women saved from raw paganism who ascended to prominence in the church. But generally speaking, the pattern we see in Timothy and in Spurgeon is the primary way God does things.

Now Spurgeon was not Spurgeon because of his mother alone. And neither was Timothy.

His name first appears in Acts 16. Paul was in the town of Lystra. There he meets a young Timothy who is described as “a disciple” — the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek and presumably not a believer.

Acts 16:2 says that. "He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium.

Now this little sentence reveals the role the local church plays in the development of godly young men and young women.

This tells us that Timothy was so enmeshed in the life of that local church that the brothers in both his own home church and even a neighboring church knew him. They had their eyes on him. They were able to say to Paul, “this young man Timothy really loves the Lord.”

Let me wrap this section up by sharing a vision or daydream I recently had.

I imagined a prominent visitor coming to a very beautiful and well run medieval city. When he arrived, the city’s mayor who was a very industrious and kind hearted leader was eager to show him around his quite large and well fortified town. The town was bustling with life, full of productivity, and a great wall surrounded the town to protect it from invaders.

The mayor said something to the effect of, “we have this huge wall and several dozen gates built into different parts of the wall so that goods can efficiently be brought in and sent out from nearly every part of the city.”

And the guest was duly impressed. He said, “Mr. Mayor, this is a beautiful town! Your diligence and love for this place is very obvious.” But then he asked a rather penetrating follow up question.

“You have how many gates — several dozen? Yes. How many gatekeepers do you have?”

The mayor looked down, somewhat embarrassed and sheepishly replied, “You’ve touched on a real problem we’re facing. We built all of these gates but have had trouble finding gatekeepers. We have dozens of gates but only two full time gatekeepers. And they are getting quite old! So these gates, which really are an asset, have become somewhat of a liability. We don’t have enough people willing to guard all of these gates.”

Friends, when your children are young, they only have a few gates. Mom and Dad can and should guard them. But as a child grows older, he, by necessity of age and the complexity of his own life will require many gates. Here’s the question. Who will help you guard all of these gates? The answer is the church, the living body of Christ, the people of God.

With all of the immediate demands of raising children, I want to encourage you to be very careful to not neglect the long game. While you are raising your children, you also need to be raising up allies within the church. Trust me, the day will come will you will need a whole community of faith to help stand guard over your child’s life and doctrine. The friendships you build in the church today will become gatekeepers in your child’s life tomorrow.

Pick a church and stick with it. If at all possible, put down roots. Plant relational seeds so that when they are older, your children find themselves in an environment teeming with godly influences.

Not only did Timothy grow up in a Christian home, but he also grew up in a wider Christian community.

No person lives a perfect Christian life. We all have blindspots and inconsistencies. Furthermore, our lives are very particular contexts. If we isolate our children from the church, we deprive them of the opportunity to see the Christian life lived out in a variety of contexts, articulated in a variety of voices, with a variety of burdens and blindspots.

By the time your child is 18, he or she should have seen the Christian life applied in a wide variety of careers, ages, and seasons of life.

He or she should have seen how the Christian life is applied in a wide variety of problems.

How does the single mother trust Jesus? How does the chronically ill person fight discouragement? How does the person struggling with substance abuse find deliverance? How does the marriage rocked by an affair get put back together again? How does the man who unexpectedly loses his job get back on his feet? How does the couple struggling with infertility walk in faith?

We want our kids to see how all of Christ applies to all of life. That’s too big of a job for one set of parents.

IIB: Positive Influence: The Role of Parents

But it certainly begins with the parents.

That’s probably the main idea in our text:

We see that Paul is thinking mostly of Timothy’s childhood. And he is pointing to the faith of his mother and also his grandmother.

You may remember that this is how Paul opened this letter. Way back in chapter 1 the apostle Paul writes,

3 I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 4 As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. (2 Ti 1:3–5).

The key ingredient to raising up godly children is that the faith of his parents be sincere. The greek literally means — non-hypocritical. The greek word for hypocrite is closely associated with actors. Not in the climate change private jet sense our modern day celebrities. But in the simple sense of acting or playing a part.

There should be no huge disparity between who you are in the home and who you present yourself to be in the church.

Time and time again, it is this problem that causes young men and women to stumble. They learn to think of Christianity is a set of projected behaviors and church as a kind of LARP.

Dad is angry at home but pleasant at church. Mom is sassy or worried at home but in church, she is abounding in faith.

We don’t want to teach our children that Christianity is an act to put on in certain company. We want them to see that by in large, we are the same person in every context. Let me conclude with something I think I received from the Lord to pass on to you.

Let’s wrap up by thinking of the story of the prodigal son.

Tell the story: Prideful punk who squanders his inheritance and only comes to his senses when he has no other options. The father sees him from a long way off and runs to him and eagerly bestows grace upon grace. The older brother who never left, is provoked by this. Because he is a stranger to grace.

Now how do we normally process this story? Especially when talking about parenting.

I have a friend that I see a couple of times a year. He is a little older than me and has five adult sons. One of those sons has completely abandoned the faith. And from time to time, I pray for this young man.

When I meet with my friend, I usually ask, “how’s the prodigal doing?” And he responds, “still prodigaling.” And so we keep praying and dreaming of restoration.

When we think of the prodigal son, we tend to think of situations like that. We pray in hope that these stayed sheep will come to their senses and return to the heavenly father. Fair enough.

But you know, the real message of that story is not to tell us about the nature of prodigals. It is to tell us the nature of God.

A God who, in spite of being seriously wronged, is eager to forgive and embrace his ruined son. So happy at his recovery, that he throws a feast (not sure if it was brunch themed).

Moms and dads of all ages and stages. When was the last time you felt the Father’s embrace?

The bible talks about Moses physically glowing after being in the presence of God. Are you glowing after experiencing the grace of God?

When was the last time you felt the forgiveness of God? When was the last time you went to him completely undone and and honestly repentant? When was the last time you felt the joy of the Father who secured our forgiveness in Christ?

I counted up the years I’ve been doing pastoral ministry. 27. In all that time, I’ve found that all Christian homes can be divided into two basic categories.

There are Christian homes led by parents who see themselves as restored prodigals.

And then there are Christian homes les by parents who have more in common with the older son. They are strangers to grace.

You see, I imagine these two men growing up and having children of their own. And I am certain that the prodigal son would make a much better parent than the older son.

Strangers to grace make terrible parents.

But the prodigal knew the grace of God intimately, presently, personally. Do you?

Friends, we all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way.

Some of us have very significant seasons of extreme prodigal behavior. Some of us spread out our prodigal behavior in “micro-aggressions” over a long period of time. All of us routinely turn aside from the Father.

We are all like sheep that have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

In the end, we want our children to say, mom and dad were people intimately familiar with grace. They were forgiven much, so they loved much.

COMMUNION

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. — 1 Co 11:23–26.

Successful Christian Parenting, Part 1

Chris Oswald — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Successful Christian Parenting, Part 1

Series: True North

Speaker: Chris Oswald

Sunday Morning

Date: 17th March 2024

Passage: 2 Timothy 3:14-17

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14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. — 2 Timothy 3:14–17

For the next two week’s we are going to talk about Christian Parenting. Many of you are parents and I have no doubt that if you pay attention, you will find much instruction from our time in this passage.

But what about those of you who are not parents?

All I’m going to talk about for the next two weeks pertains to how to help someone grow in godliness. So one way to listen to these sermons would be to apply all of it to yourself. Indeed, it is key for everyone listening to apply these truths to themselves even if they do have children.

And there’s a second way for those without children to listen to these messages. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the culture is in real trouble. 30% of young adults leaving a Christian home also leave Christianity. That number is deceptive. It is talking about people who self-identify as Christians. 30% walk away from the title completely. Many more walk about from the basic doctrines of the faith, accommodating the spirit of the age, while retaining the basic title of Christian. Our very national identity depends on a significant reversal of these trends.

In an address entitled “The Kind of Revival We Need,” Charles Spurgeon said,

We deeply want a revival of domestic religion. The Christian family was the bulwark of godliness in the days of the Puritans, but in these evil times hundreds of families of so-called Christians have no family worship, no restraint upon growing sons, and no wholesome instruction or discipline. How can we hope to see the kingdom of our Lord advance when His own disciples do not teach His gospel to their own children? “Oh, Christian men and women, be thorough in what you do and know and teach! Let your families be trained in the fear of God and be yourselves ‘holiness unto the Lord’; so shall you stand like a rock amid the surging waves of error and ungodliness which rage around us.

And if this was true in Spurgeon’s day, how much more is it true of ours?

So whether you are a parent or not, it is absolutely in our collective best interest to support any effort aimed at bringing about a revival of bible based Christian parenting.

Now as I alluded to a moment ago, our passage today is remarkable. I would say it belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Bible passages about parenting.

I would say we have at least three essential parenting texts in the scriptures:

Firstly, we have Deuteronomy 6:4-7

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Secondly, we have Ephesians 6:4

4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Thirdly, we have the whole book of Proverbs. Where we see parenting in action on every page.

And finally, we have this passage in 2 Timothy 3:14-17.

The Aim

One of the things I love about this passage is that it shows the aim of Christian parenting.

Look at vs. 14,

I don’t know of another bible verse that so clearly describes the basic goal of parenting. The goal is to be able to say to your adult children, “continue in what you have learned and firmly believed.”

It’d be pretty difficult to overstate how magnificent this little sentence is!

We have a young sister church in Bozeman Montana that has encountered some but pretty tough sledding. Namely because of property costs. They’ve lost several meeting spaces due to rent increases. Young families are having to move away because they can no longer afford to live there. A city official confided in one of our guys that about 50% of the young people in Bozeman are trust fund babies with millions and even billions of dollars at their disposal.

Timothy was a trust fund baby — only with the greatest treasure. Every parent listening to this message ought to have the aim to make their children trust fund babies.

Proverbs 13:22 says, A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children. And there is no greater inheritance than the gospel.

“Three bricklayers are asked: “What are you doing?” The first says, “I am laying bricks.” The second says, “I am building a church.” And the third says, “I am building the house of God.” The first bricklayer has a job. The second has a career. The third has a calling.”

It is essential that Christian parents see their work as a calling. You really are building up the household of God.

If we have kids, we have a high and holy calling. Or as Spurgeon also said, “Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work.”

And in addition to the aim, this text presents us with two key strategies.

“Tolstoy opens Anna Karenina by observing: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”All happy Christian homes are filled with the word of God.

God’s Word — which we will handle today Godly Influence — which we will handle next week as we conclude our series on this book.

The primary tool of effective Christian parenting is the word of God.

It is interesting to note, that perhaps the central verse related to the inerrancy and sufficiency of the scriptures is located within the context of child-rearing. We are free to apply this text to a wide variety of areas, but let us be sure to see that primary place of application.

The scriptures are provided to parents to teach, reproof, correct, and train their young men and young women so that they may be men and women of God, complete and equipped for every good work.

Every home has certain questions that get asked over and over agin.

What’s for dinner?  How was your day? What are we doing tonight? Has anyone seen my keys?

Great Christian homes ask one question over and over again.

“What does the Bible say?”

Not only does this passage commend the communication of scriptures. It tells us something even more specific. Look back at the beginning vs. 14, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed…”

Lock into that phrase, “have firmly believed.”

That’s the real trick isn’t it? We aren’t content with the mere communication of the faith, we want successful transmission. And admittedly, this is something only God can do. We can teach our children the scriptures, but we cannot will them into conversion. And yet, if we use the scriptures the way they intended to be used, we can prime their hearts to receive the gospel with joy.

Look back at verses 14-15 again,

If you have your bibles, underline the phrase, “which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

We can teach the Bible to our kids in a way that can make them wise for salvation.

What do you think that means? How is someone made wise for salvation?

Friends, this is speaking of the role the law plays in provoking a person’s conscience to see their need for the gospel. Remember, when Paul is talking about the sacred scriptures of Timothy’s youth — he is talking about the Old Testament.

Earlier I mentioned that 30% of young people leave Christianity all together. And again, I believe that number is even higher than that when you account for those who keep the name Christian but depart from orthodoxy.

Older generations would’ve assumed this statistic has developed from one particular problem.

“There is no point upon which men make greater mistakes than upon the relationship which exists between the Law and the gospel. Ignorance of the nature and design of the Law is at the bottom of most religious mistakes.” — John Newton

In short, the general recommendation of the text is to teach our kids the Bible. Let them be raised in bible saturated homes.

And the specific recommendation of the text is to teach them the law so that they may be wise unto salvation. Consider this from Martin Luther,

“Therefore learn, who can learn, and learn well, so that we may know, first the Ten Commandments, what we owe to God. For if we do not know this, then we know nothing and we will not inquire about Christ in the least. Just like we monks did who either held Christ to be an angry judge or despised him entirely in the face of our imaginary holiness. We fancied we were not in sin, which the Ten Commandments show and punish; but we had the natural light of reason and free will, and if we lived according to that, as much as we were able, then God would have to bestow upon us his grace, etc. But now, if we are to know Christ as our helper and Savior, then we must first know, out of what he can help us, not out of fire or water, or other bodily need and danger, but out of sin and the hatred of God. But whence do I know that I lie drowned in misery? From no other source than from the Law, that must show me what my loss and disease are, or I will never inquire for the physician and his help.”

Matthew Henry puts it this way,

“The commandments of the Lord are pure, holy, just, and good. By them we discover our need of a Savior; and then learn how to adorn his gospel. They are the means which the Holy Spirit uses in enlightening the eyes; they bring us to a sight and sense of our sin and misery, and direct us in the way of duty.”

Just so we’re all on the same page, we are seeing the great aim of Christian parenting, we want to be able to say to them —

“continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed” (14)

And the main supporting strategy given to accomplish this are bible saturated homes.

“and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings (15a)

And then within that broad strategy of bible saturation, we have an important point of emphasis. Teach them the law, the holy standards of God so that they can be made…

“…wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” (15b)

How to Teach the Law

Just so there’s no confusion, let me clear about what I mean by the law. God’s salvific work happens in two phases, most broadly labeled law and gospel.

The law highlights our need for salvation. The gospel provides the means of salvation.

It would be wrong to say that the law is located in the Old Testament and the gospel is located in the New Testament. There is plenty of gospel in the OT and plenty of law in the NT. The law is simply the righteous requirements of God designed to bring conviction to the conscience. The gospel is the righteous fulfillment of the law by Christ meant to produce relief and joy to the convicted conscience.

To be very specific, parents should, at minimum teach and talk about and use the 10 commandments as the law of their home.

And in addition to the 10 commandments, parents should teach their children the sermon on the mount. Which is found in Matthew 5-7.

These texts in particular make a person wise unto salvation.

I remember like yesterday, a night when the kids were very young. Wesley had just emerged on to the scene. Sarah and Brooke were very young. Sarah had gotten the chicken pox — and it was a bad case. And then Brooke got the chicken pox — and it was a very light case.

So Sarah was in her bed living the life of Job. Scratching herself with a piece of clay pot. And Brooke was running a light temperature with a barely any actual pox.

One night during this ordeal, Angela and I were asleep and we awoke to a sobbing Sarah standing by our bed. And we asked, “what is wrong?” And she said, “I sinned and I feel really bad about it.” And we said, “Ok, well what did you do?” I’m thinking to myself, you couldn’t have done much — all you’ve been doing is laying in bed watching Barney tapes. She said, “I hated Brookie in my heart.” And she just kept repeating that. So we asked, “what do you mean?” And she said, “I hated Brookie in my heart because she said the chicken pox were fun and not a big deal and I then I hated Brookie in my heart.”

So we told her that Jesus will forgive her because he died to forgive her and that she should trust him and go back to bed.

Now can you think through all of the instruction that had gone into making that moment possible? We were asleep, but the law was at work.

Somewhere along the way, Sarah had been taught Matthew 5:21-22 where Jesus says,

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

So while we were asleep, the law was making her wise for salvation. It was showing her her sin.

Friends, since at least the 1960s, Christian parents have been conditioned to believe that the primary reason young adults abandon the faith is due to their being brought up in an overly rigid and law based environment.

In contradiction to that, I would draw your attention to is that when these young people depart the faith, they typically run into more legalistic contexts. The unconverted young people of the west are some of the most legalistic people on the face of the earth.

Careful to use the proper pronouns. Eager to levy the law on the population — carbon taxes, mask and vaccine requirements. Often following strict diets. Eager participants of cancel culture.

So I would argue that legalism isn’t the problem it is made out to be. They aren’t running away from law — only God’s law. Rules are not the problem. They love rules. One of the best selling books to young women is entitled All the Rules, Time Tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mrs. Right. That book has sold millions of copies. One of the best selling books amongst young men is entitled 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.

We need to let go of the myth that rules are the problem.

In addition to being illogical, it is unbiblical.

The Bible teaches us very clearly that God’s rules make us wise for salvation. And we have to get rid of a very shallow understanding of the role of fear. The scriptures, in particular the law makes us wise for salvation. Does anyone remember what Proverbs teaches us about the root of wisdom?

Proverbs 9:10 — “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”

Listen to what Spurgeon says to a crowd before he presents them with the gospel:

“…there is war between you and God’s Law. The Ten Commandments are against you…The First one comes forward and says, “Let him be cursed, for he denies me. He has another god besides me; his god is his belly, he yields homage to his lust.” All the Ten Commandments, like ten great pieces of cannon, are pointed at you today, for you have broken all God’s statutes, and lived in the daily neglect of all His commands. Soul! You will find it a hard thing to go to war with the Law. When the Law came in peace, Sinai was altogether on a smoke, and even Moses said, “I do exceedingly fear and quake.” What will you do when the Law comes in terror, when the trumpet of the archangel shall tear you from your grave, when the eyes of God shall burn their way into your guilty soul, when the great books shall be opened, and all your sin and shame shall be published? Can you stand against an angry Law in that day?

Now I want to be very clear. God has given us the one two punch of law and gospel. You will not be able to raise up a Timothy if your home is only law. You will not be able to raise up a Timothy if your home is only gospel.

Conclusion:

Thought my study, I was reminded of the story of David, desiring to build the temple but being kept from doing so. He could not build the temple. But he could lay up all the materials needed so that when his son rose to power, Solomon could quickly finish the work of David’s heart.

Friends, we cannot convert our children. But we can carefully lay out all of the material needed. That material is found in the word of God. In both the law of God and the gospel of God.

Oh friends, I now speak a blessing over you — one of the richest blessings I could ever wish for you. May you have the joy of being able to say to your older children one day — “continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it.”

How to Thrive in Hard Times

Logan Thune — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 10:00:00 +0000

How to Thrive in Hard Times

Series: True North

Speaker: Logan Thune

Sunday Morning

Date: 5th March 2024

Passage: 2 Timothy 3:1-9

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3 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men. -- 2 Timothy 3:1–9.

Ready for Every Good Work

Dov Cohen — Sun, 25 Feb 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Ready for Every Good Work

Series: True North

Speaker: Dov Cohen

Sunday Morning

Date: 25th February 2024

Passage: 2 Timothy 2:20-26

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When I say the name Rudy Ruettiger, what do you think of?

Yep! Rudy, Rudy, Rudy…a cheering crowd…a hustling, hard working defensive end…the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. That final (and really only) play of his career where he rushes and sacks the opposing team’s quarterback…

What a movie - what a story. There is a lot we can think of when we think of Rudy. But I want to draw our attention this morning to Rudy the preparer - Rudy the competitor who was ready when his number was called - the guy who showed up to every practice and played with an intensity as if every play were championship level.

Rudy was a preparer. Rudy kept himself ready - at all times - to play competitively - more than competitively - to play football fiercely. So when his number was called, Rudy was ready.

This morning, we are going to be talking about how we can be ready - ready for every good work God calls us to in this life.

The passage we read is going to be a bit of a Christian fitness prescription - ways we can all be fit and ready for the works God has laid out for us to walk in - from eternity past - in the same way that Rudy Ruettiger was fit and ready when his number was called for that final play.

And my prayer is that the content of this sermon helps all of us as Providence Community Church - to be just that much more ready for whatever God may be calling us to do in the days and weeks ahead.

Now before we dive in - you may be thinking - “Dov, I’m just a normal person. What do I have to get ready for? Is God really calling me to something of grand importance - demanding preparation and readiness?”

To that, I would say - a resounding yes! Yes - we are all normal, ordinary people that live our lives in the mundane, day in day out choices of life.

At that same time I would say yes - God is calling us to prepare - to be in the spiritual shape where we are ready for what He has for us - because eternity - eternal souls, eternal joy, eternal rewards are at stake.

Everything we do in this life is being watched by the Lord Almighty. Not only that - but angels and a cloud of witnesses are watching and cheering us on…and the formation of our souls is dictated by the everyday choices we make.

Therefore, yes - this sermon is for all of us - as all of our thoughts, all of our words, and all of our choices matter - to God, to each other, and to ourselves. And this passage speaks to how we can be ready for and make the most of every good work - every work the Lord is calling us to - therefore, let’s anticipate that God has a Word for us today!

Let’s start by reading the passage:

2 Timothy 2:20–26

[20] Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. [21] Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

[22] So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. [23] Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. [24] And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, [25] correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, [26] and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (ESV)

May God bless the preaching of His Word.

OK - first, the context of 2 Timothy 2:20-26. Per Chris’ previous sermons, remember that 2 Timothy features Paul’s affection, reflection, and direction to Timothy - Paul’s young protege. This letter - written from prison, presumably before Paul’s coming execution, displays Paul’s deep care for Timothy - his emotional connection to Timothy and His fatherly guidance to him - especially to embrace suffering for the sake of the gospel.

And in this specific section of the letter, Paul has been using imagery to capture for Timothy a picture of a faithful minister of the gospel. Images like that of being a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer.

Well, in this portion of the letter, Paul will use a number of additional images to help instruct Timothy in his gospel ministry. And these are instructive for us as well as we consider how we can be fruitful and ready in our gospel ministries - whatever form they may take - within the church, within our families, our friends, in our workplaces - wherever!

So what is one of the images Paul uses to guide Timothy in this passage to strengthen him in his gospel ministry - to be ready for every good work?

Well - Paul first compares the church to a great House. And a house with vessels - some of use to the Lord for honorable things and some of use for dishonorable.

Look at verses 20-21:

Before diving into the vessel piece of this image, let’s first examine the image of the house in general - with a great Master of this house.

One way we can be ready for every good work in this house - the church - is to build our regard for this house - and especially its Master.

Consider first - who is the Master of the House - the church: well - it is Jesus!

The same Jesus who: Battled the devil Walked on Water Calmed the Storm Commanded demons Healed the sick Taught masterfully Suffered and died and rose again!

Consider also - who is this Jesus? Well - he is the one who knows you intimately - who thought of you in eternity past, who wrote every heartbeat of your life into existence, who has carried you your whole life long, and with whom you will spend eternity in personal fellowship enjoying fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore!

Jesus is the One who owns this house. Who rules over this house. Who is the master of this house. Don’t we want to be ready to do whatever He would call us to do?!

And what is this house? Well consider - it is: Christ’s body Christ’s bride A pillar and buttress of the truth Bought with Jesus’ blood (Acts 20)

Not only that, but this house, this church, well isn’t this the place where God meets you week in week out, where your soul is nourished, where you regularly connect with your dearest friends, where you get to encourage and build up others in the Lord?

Don’t you want to be ready to love this house, to love its members, and to build it up however the Lord may provide the opportunity?!

Church family, Jesus is worthy of being held in the highest of regards. We all know that. But it can be helpful at times to remember who this Jesus is and freshly marvel at the fact that He has chosen us and is calling us to do good works within His house - the house we should also regard to the highest degree - that He bought with His own precious blood.

Church - let us remember who Jesus is - and let us remember just what the church is - for when we have a high regard for Jesus and His church, we will be well-positioned, we will be fit to be ready for every good work in and on behalf of His Name and His Church!

So - how can we be ready for every good work? Well, build and maintain a high regard and deep affection for Jesus and His Church!

Second - we can be ready for every good work the Lord has for us when we have cleansed ourselves for honorable use.

Look again at verses 20-21

Paul’s intention here is to identify and contrast teachers within the church. These vessels Paul is speaking of - this additional image - well, most commentators align that the honorable vessels Paul is referring to are honorable, true teachers of the gospel. And their use is the glory of the Lord and the salvation, sanctification, and preservation of souls. The dishonorable vessels are false teachers - teachers that tempt us to think that it is our performance that matters in salvation, our following of the law - our performance of works like circumcision or really just anything that we put our trust in apart from Christ for our standing before God.

So then, the question becomes, how can we all become honorable vessels in the Great House of the Lord - and for the sake of our church today - maybe not all teachers from the pulpit, but teachers of one another, teachers of our spouses, our children, our friends - teachers through our lives and words and examples…

Well - we can do so by cleansing ourselves for honorable use.

Look at verse 22:

[22] So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. (ESV)

Two major verbs here in this verse: Flee and Pursue.

When you hear flee - remember back to Joseph with Potipher’s wife - when he fled from her presence as she tried to tempt him into an adulterous affair. Joseph fled - he ran - he didn’t even hold onto his clothes to get out of that situation. He just got out of there.

Well - it is with that intensity that we are to flee youthful passions.

Now what are these youthful passions? The language may have some sensual undertones - but most commentators agree that the youthful passions (in Greek Epithumea) are more so related to anything that we are not called to have at this moment - think in terms of position…power…possibly even riches. In this command, Paul is instructing Timothy to contentment with and faithfulness within his current state - without a striving for more worldly power and influence. He is to man his position, preach the word, embrace suffering - where he is - and to do so pursuing - again rather than position or power - instead he is to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace…

He is to pursue his sanctification.

He is to pursue:

Righteousness - dikaios - things deemed right by God. Living life in light of God’s eyes, under His constant gaze - and seeking to bring Him pleasure with the things he is doing.

He is to pursue:

Faith - peitho - like the faith of the Centurion in Matthew 8: trust, confidence in who the Lord is and what the Lord can do.

He is to pursue:

Love - agape - goodwill for others - desire and pursuit of the best for others. A joyful desire to see others flourish.

And finally, he is to pursue:

Peace - eirene - wholeness, not just the absence of conflict but the blessing of God.

And like Timothy, we are ourselves to pursue these things. Again, we are to flee - vigorously - the passions of youth and instead pursue like a hunter, like an army going after its enemy - righteousness, faith, love, and peace.

To cleanse ourselves for honorable use.

How can we do this? Well - I love the conversation that happened around a bonfire at Larson’s house recently. Where the gauntlet was thrown that if we are serious about our relationship with the Lord - if we want to be fit for Him - we will be in His Word every day.

Between being in the Word - in private - in addition to public fellowship - and then simply obeying what we have learned - we will cleanse ourselves for honorable use.

Ultimately, when we have cleansed ourselves for honorable use, we will be well positioned to be ready for every good work in and on behalf of Christ and His church.

So - how can we be ready for every good work? Well - cleanse yourself for honorable use.

A third way we can be ready for every good work: run the Christian life with faithful believers.

Look at verse 22 again:

[22] So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. (ESV)

Pay attention to the end of that verse: along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Brothers and sisters - for us to be ready for every good work the Lord has called us to - we must be running our Christian lives - our lives…with other believers - with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Now I know I’m preaching to the choir here - but just consider…

My sons Joseph and Gideon are playing on basketball teams right now. And they practice by themselves - but they practice and play so much harder when they are surrounded by their teams - in practice and especially at their games.

They run harder They dig deeper They set an example for their teammates Their teammates set an example for them Each of the players correct, strengthen, encourage, and sharpen one another.

Church - again, I know I’m speaking to a church that loves to run together - in community. Let’s just make sure we keep that intensity - that we keep our focus - that we all run together toward the Lord:

that we all press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)

May no one be left behind. May all of us run hard. And may all of us run together - each of us making it to the finish line together - fulfilling every good work God may have for us along the way!

Church - how can we all be ready for every good work? Well, let’s all run together - encouraging, exhorting, correcting, and spurring each other on…toward the love and good works God has prepared for each of us!

Fourth - how can we be ready for every good work based on 2 Timothy 2:20-26?

Well - we can cultivate godly character as we deal with our opponents.

Looks at verses 23-26:

[23] Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. [24] And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, [25] correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, [26] and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (ESV)

In these verses, it is clear what we - as the Lord’s servants - are to avoid and to embrace.

We are to avoid foolish, ignorant controversies that breed quarrels.

And we should embrace kindness, right teaching, patient endurance, and gentle correction.

We are to love our enemies. Yes - with a backbone that holds onto the eternal truths of our Master - but with kindness and gentleness - in a way that truly introduces our enemies to the character of the Lord.

And every time we are drawn into a discussion regarding Christ - a discussion with unbelieving friends, unbelieving family, and even unbelievers on social media - we have an opportunity - to cultivate this type of godly character. To consider - do we have a loving heart for our opponents - that wants to see them come to a knowledge of the truth, that longs to see their repentance, that desires to introduce them to our Lord, and that has faith that God can work through our kind, patient, right teaching and example and bring them back (or maybe for the first time) to a right knowledge of the Lord.

So - how can we be ready for every good work? Well especially in our conversations about the Lord - in particular with our opponents - we can cultivate godly character.

Finally, how can we be ready for every good work?

Well - we must acknowledge the fact that we have an enemy working against us in being ready.

Consider verses 24-26:

[24] And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, [25] correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, [26] and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (ESV)

Just look at what this enemy is doing - what he is up to: he is dedicated to capturing, ensnaring people in falsehood. He wants to prevent people from embracing a knowledge of the truth.

Church - test your thoughts - are they all righteous, faithful, loving, and peaceable - toward your brothers and sisters in the Lord, toward your family, toward your opponents. If you are anything like me - it is wise to acknowledge that not every thought that goes through your mind is from you or from the Lord. We must be watchful. We must test our thoughts. And we must listen to our great Shepherd, our great Master - only. We must be soaking ourselves in Scripture and prayer so we can recognize the lies we are being served up and potentially tricked by each and every day.

Brothers and sisters - we have an enemy. And he is out to ensnare, to capture, to confuse, to tempt, to lead astray - to keep us from being ready. We must acknowledge this - we must know this - and we must fight against this - if we are to be ready for every good work.

So - how can we be ready for every good work? Acknowledge and fight against our enemy!

Now that leads us to the why behind all of this. Why fight so hard - why remember who our great master is and what his House is, why cleanse ourselves, why run with others…?

Well - remember that the Lord’s honor is at stake. When we fulfill the good works he has set before us, we bring him the honor He deserves!

Not only that, but our joy is at stake. Like Eric Liddel in chariots of fires, we want to feel the pleasure of God when we run - when we fulfill the good purposes God has for us to fulfill!

And finally, we love others. And when we do good works, we are loving those in and outside the church. We long to see others flourish. Our good works - set out by God - are designed to bring about exactly that - to see others flourish!

So, in conclusion:

The Lord has good works for us to do.

Like Rudy Ruettiger - God is calling our name, our number. But for us - each and every day.

Let’s be ready for those moments, those works:

Let’s regard the Master and His house highly Let’s cleanse ourselves for honorable use Let’s run hard with other Christians Let’s oppose our opponents in a godly manner Let’s acknowledge and fight against our enemy

The more we do these things, the more faithful we will be in our everyday dealings and stewardship of the good works God has given us to do, may the Lord then entrust even more to us…

For His honor, our joy, and the good of others…

So - are you ready? More importantly, are you ready to get ready.

Let us prepare ourselves with diligence, with passion, with endurance, and with zeal - for the good works God has called us to perform.

Let’s pray.

Now I know that from a message like this one today - where the focus has very much been our call to fight to be ready for every good work - well, it can be tempting to think that now we have to muster up this strength and just go and do.

But for communion this morning, let’s take a moment and simply remember Jesus - and be thankful - that He is not just the Master of the House, but the one who was ready for every good work Himself - and especially ready to suffer and die for His household - for us the church.

Let’s remember Philippians 2:5–11:

[5] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [6] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7] but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. [8] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. [9] Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, [10] so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (ESV)

Jesus - though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped - and he took on human form, he was obedient to God, ultimately to suffer and die for us.

Thank God that Jesus was ready to be broken so we could be forgiven. Thank God that Jesus was ready to bleed and die so we could be washed clean. And thank God that Jesus was ready to rise from the dead so that all His resurrection power could be at work in us to grant us all the power we could need to walk in the works He has privileged us to fulfill.

So, let us come to the table this morning in full faith: With complete hope that He is our righteousness because He was ready for and fulfilled every good work With complete hope that there is no condemnation for us in Christ Jesus because again He was ready and willing to suffer and die and rise for us. And with complete hope that the Lord will strengthen us and help us to be ready for every good work that He has called us to walk in - because His Spirit now dwells in us and His resurrection power is at work within us!

1 Corinthians 11:23–26

[23] For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, [24] and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” [25] In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” [26] For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (ESV)

Come to the table now, thanking God and in full faith as we proclaim the Lord’s death together!

Toward Theological Endurance

Chris Oswald — Sun, 18 Feb 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Toward Theological Endurance

Series: True North

Speaker: Chris Oswald

Sunday Morning

Date: 18th February 2024

Passage: 2 Timothy 2:11-19

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February 18 2024 Sermon

Introduction: The Unkillable Soldier

Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian de Wiart, was a British Army officer born of Belgian and Irish parents. He was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" in various Commonwealth countries. He served in the Boer War, First World War, and Second World War. He was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip, and ear; was blinded in his left eye; survived two plane crashes; tunnelled out of a prisoner-of-war camp; and tore off his own fingers when a doctor declined to amputate them. Describing his experiences in the First World War, he wrote, "Frankly, I had enjoyed the war.”

Today I want to talk about how to develop theological endurance. What I mean by theological endurance is a commitment to biblical doesn’t change when the culture changes, when your circumstances change, etc…

Doctrine that can endure many battles over many years, doctrine that can take a bullet and keep on keeping on.

It was about this time of year, way back in 1974, that Charles Spurgeon wrote the following to his students:

We must be ready to give up anything and everything for the sake of the principles which we have espoused, and must be ready to offend our best supporters, to alienate our warmest friends, sooner than belie our consciences. We must be ready to be beggars in purse, and offscourings in reputation, rather than act treacherously. We can die, but we cannot deny the truth. The cost is already counted, and we are determined to buy the truth at any price, and sell it at no price.

That’s what I mean by theological or doctrinal endurance.

Now when I say doctrine, you might think of the biggies. The divinity of Christ. Justification by faith alone. Penal substitutionary atonement. And of course, I do mean these things. But we are living in an age where things we don’t even think of as doctrine are under attack:

Doctrine of marriage. Doctrine of gender. Doctrine of conflict resolution. Doctrine of biblical justice. So on and so forth.

It is very important to me that you build theological resilience. And that you live your whole life as faithfully as possible.

Endurance is a great theme of this little book. In vs. 1-3, we see that Timothy is to find faithful men who are able to teach others.

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

The word faithful is just another way of talking about endurance. Faithful not flakey.

And in vs. 11-13, the endurance theme appears again —

The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

And Paul tells Timothy to remind these faithful men about the importance of endurance.

Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Remind them of the importance of all kinds of endurance. Including theological endurance.

I. The Nature of Human Perception: Belief & Belonging

One way we can develop theological endurance is to understand there is always a connection between our beliefs and desire for belonging.

There is copious amounts of psychological data, especially following WW2, on the problem of groupthink. It is really shocking how quickly someone’s need to belong can twist their perception of reality. Those studies usually involve the perception of naked facts.

It only gets more complicated when discussing things like doctrines. Which are even more complex in some respect than naked facts. If our perception of color is that susceptible to our desire to belong, how much more our perception of spiritual things.

I actually don’t believe there is anything to be done about that. It is a fundamental to human nature. And it something God gave us for a very specific purpose. Our desire to be loved and accepted by him — works in favor of our theological fidelity. In God’s perfect design, there is no gap between our relational needs and our perceptual capacities. We were created to belong to God. To walk with him. To know him. To feel and seek his approval. And in that context, the human connection between our beliefs and longing to belong are suited for one another.

That’s what Paul is commending to Timothy in vs. 15

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

The image of an approved worker is tied into the principle of apprenticeship. The apprentice is doing his work for an audience of one. He is trying to please his teacher.

Paul is giving us a simple but powerful key to theological endurance. Remember who it is you’re trying to please. Remember who’s test you’re trying to pass.

Look at vs. 16-18

16 But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.

Now I plan on dropping a podcast on some of the theological stuff happening here related to the resurrection in particular. But I don’t think we need to get into all of that here. What I think it is most important to see is this link between beliefs and belonging.

There were many resurrection related heresies in that day. We aren’t given enough information to know the specifics of this situation. But let’s just quickly consider two possibilities.

We know there was Jewish heresy that taught a limited resurrection. Namely the patriarchs and a few other special people would be resurrected during the time of the Messiah.

Let’s suppose this was the idea going around in the Ephesian church. Let’s carry this idea of belonging motivated beliefs into that possibility.

If these so-called Christians were adopting a Jewish idea, we need to hasten to add that the Jews were at that time religious bullies. The majority of heat on the early church came from the Jews. Do you see what I’m getting at? One motivation to depart from sound doctrine would be to make your beliefs more like the people most likely to pounce on you for disagreeing with them. To appease those with the most cultural power.

Who are the bullies of this age? The rainbow mafia to be sure. The marxist guilt manipulators. There are areas of Christian doctrine that are simply incompatible with these perspectives. And our drive to belong is so strong that we can convince ourselves that we aren’t compromising — we’ve just arrived at a “new understanding.” And that new understanding just so happens to be less offensive to the bullies.

Now there’s another possibility with this resurrection heresy. Rather than being specifically Jewish, it could’ve been gnostic. The gnostics spiritualized everything. The resurrection wasn’t a physical thing but rather a purely ephemeral thing.

Now supposing this was an adoption of the gnostic principle. Then we can draw another important lesson. The gnostics were the intelligent ones. Their entire religion was built on intellectual pride. And so we have another motivation revealed. To be thought of as smart.

Who are the intellectual cool kids?

The point I am making is that when it comes to perception and epistemology, we are not mere computers. There are emotional, relational issues at play. These desires for acceptance and approval are an inescapable part of human cognition.

All we can do is choose who we’re trying to please. Who’s acceptance we’re going for. Etc….

I heard about a terrible thing done by a company’s IT department. Some of you know about Phishing. Emails sent to workers meant to entice them to click, provide confidential information, etc… And this has become such a problem that IT departments proactively send out phishing emails to their own employees to weed out the most gullible. Well, just last week, I heard about an IT department in what sounded like a decent sized company — send out a phishing email to its employees to the effect of — “you have a Valentines delivery waiting for you downstairs. Hit this button and then come pick it up.” So all of these people immediately felt like someone loved them and their hearts lifted a little bit thinking — wow, so and so remembered or wow, I have a secret admirer. They pranced down to the lobby of the business with anticipation in their hearts — only to find Kyle from IT waiting down there to give them a stern talking to.

The part of you that wants others to love you, appreciate you, etc… is going to affect your judgment. There’s no way around it.

It would be a shame to face God one day and realize that you failed the test. You bit the hook of worldly approval.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

II. The Nature of Ideas: They Bite

These ideas have power. Look back at vs. 14

Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.

The word for ruin is catastrophe.

And then in vs. 15-17

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

When someone in the hospital develops gangrene, or something less serious like MRSA (Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) — the whole medical staff treats that situation with the upmost seriousness and caution.

“…who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.”

Look for a moment at the word upset. I really wish the English translators had chosen a different word. To me, that sounds like a kind of pearl-clutching emotional thing. The word upset is the exact word used for Jesus’ turning over the tables. This is serious.

Let’s say a little more about this phrase in vs. 16 — “avoid irreverent babble”

The ancient world at this particular time was very similar to our world in this respect. There was a high view of cosmopolitanism. Projecting a high degree of openness to new ideas. We see in the book of acts, the Athenians gathered for the sole purpose of discussing anything new. The concern with this kind of culture is that it can create a kind of casualness and irreverence around issues that require a kind of humility and awe.

When it comes to thinking about theology, one should never be fully relaxed. We don’t need to be fearful. But we do need to be careful. People don’t seem to understand that the ideas they think about are kind of like powerful forces that capture an unsuspecting person. You ever see one of those videos of a person getting sucked into a jet engine? Ideas have power. You can’t just casually play around with stuff.

Let me put it this way. Thinking about theology is not like going to the zoo to look at lions. That whole thing is built for safety. That lion is well fed. He is not climbing that wall, etc. So that you can stand there in your flip flops with your overpriced slushy and just casually take it all in.

Thinking about theology is more like going to the African Savannah to look at lions. Whenever we think about theology, philosophy, metaphysics, etc… we need to understand — these ideas bite. They consume people. Be careful. Don’t be overly casual. You need to be respectful. You need to be sober-minded. You need a good guide.

III. The Korah Story

19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

These statements are almost certainly references to a story recorded in Numbers 16. A story usually referred to as Korah’s Rebellion. This story was used throughout Judaism and the early church to talk about theological schisms. Let me close our time together with that story.

This is all taking place when the people of Israel were in the wilderness with Moses. Korah was a levite, a priest who attended to the sacrifices and to the tabernacle, etc… And he fomented an acute sense of dissatisfaction amongst many people toward Moses. And when he felt like he had gathered enough malcontents, he rose up against Moses and Aaron saying, “They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” (Numbers 16)

So the usual charge goes out — Moses and Aaron are elitists. They are full of pride. It’s all projection of course. But it is all washed in the language of democracy and equality. This reminds me of an Edwin Friedman quote:

“It has been my impression that at any gathering, whether it be public or private, those who are quickest to inject words like sensitivity, empathy, consensus, trust, confidentiality, and togetherness into their arguments have perverted these humanitarian words into power tools to get others to adapt to them.”

Real abuses of power do occur. But from the very beginning (Garden), false accusations of power abuse are used by those who would 100% abuse their power if they got it.

Moses does what a good leader does. He says, “well, the Lord knows who are his.” Let’s all just go stand before the Lord and let him sort it all out.

So the whole congregation gathered and the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, stand back, I’m just going to destroy them all. And Moses and Aaron fall on their face and cry out to the Lord and beg him to spare the people. Only punish those directly responsible. So the Lord says, “well then you’d better tell the people to move away from Korah and his gang.” So Moses tells the people, stand with who you want to follow (this seems to be where the second line in vs. 19 comes from — Depart from the iniquitous ones — Numbers 16:26)

And then the ground splits open and consumes all of the Korah’s people. And then fire falls from heaven and destroys another 250 co-conspirators.

Now that whole thing went about as well as it could possibly go. It turned out to be a kind of surgical strike. It appears the gangrenous toe had been amputated just in time.

But that turns out not to be the case. The next day all the people arose and grumbled against Moses and Aaron — “You have killed the people of the LORD.” — the Korah bacteria had spread. The toe was amputated, but enough necrotizing bacteria had already gotten into the blood stream.

And so God sends a plague of judgment on them, and it seems to spread exactly like gangrene does. It moves over the people. Starting in one place and moving across the plain. Aaron runs into the middle of this. He’s described as standing in-between the dead (at his face) and the living (at his back). And he holds up a censer that is burning with fire that came from the altar — and he’s just holding back the plague with this thing. A real “You shall not pass” kind of moment.

And thankfully only about 12,000 people died.

So what is the point of this story?

Firstly, let’s just take a moment to appreciate the artfulness of Paul’s referencing this story.

People getting incepted/infected with an idea. Bad ideas working through a people like gangrene through a body. Plague. The only way to save the body is to cut off the disease. BTW, that’s what church discipline is for.

But I think Paul’s reason for citing this story goes deeper.

Some suggest Paul inserted this as a way of suggesting that people should be respectful of him — like they should of been of Moses. Ok. Fair enough.

But here’s another way to think about it. Moses is routinely a stand-in or personification of God’s word. I think that’s the best way to think about this. Moses = the Bible. Korah = you and your own understanding.

We become Korahs when we accuse the word. When we bring our own definitions of love, our own definitions of justice, etc… up against the Bible.

You could look at the word of God and think — well that’s just harsh and unloving, etc… You could lead your little rebellion or follow someone else’s. You could be a Korah.

But how exactly do you expect that to go?

The Lord knows who are his. Therefore let everyone steer clear of that iniquity.

Summary/Conclusion:

You are a relational perceiver — our beliefs are always mixed up with our need to belong. Who do you want to belong to? Friendship with the world is enmity with God.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Ideas have power. When you think about theology, you’re not at the zoo, your on the Savannah.

Avoid irreverent babble

You vs. the word — never a good idea.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

Communion:

The thing that cut off the plague was fire from the altar burning incense. This is a picture of the cross. What? Fire = judgment. Incense = pleasing to God.

Jesus Christ stops the plague of theological compromise. He says, “here and no farther…”

Romans 5:17-18

17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

Strengthened by Grace

Chris Oswald — Sun, 11 Feb 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Strengthened by Grace

Series: True North

Speaker: Chris Oswald

Sunday Morning

Date: 11th February 2024

Passage: 2 Timothy 2:1-10

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2 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.

Intro: First responders, firemen in particular are trained to use a Self Contained Breathing Apparatus — you’ve seen these — hopefully only in movies. The whole face glass shield which is sealed — and connected to an oxygen tank on their back.

Trainers help firefighters get used to this equipment and learn to rely on it because one day, those firefighters are going to be sent into a smokey place while breathing an whole different kind of air.

The Christian must learn to rely on God’s supply of strength. Otherwise they will cower in the face of potential suffering, or quit the first time smoke fills the room.

I. Be Strengthened

“Be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

The power of this prescription is hidden from us if we, like so many other Christian people, equate grace with forgiveness.

You were forgiven by grace. But grace is not the same as forgiveness. Grace is a much bigger thing than that.

I believe it was John Stott who once defined grace as God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. Forgiveness being just one of those riches. And this is relevant to our text because Paul is telling Timothy to be strengthened by grace.

If we tend to think of grace as mostly an eraser, we might wonder how someone is to be strengthened in it. But grace is far more like an engine than an eraser.

In fact let me take a minute just to present a larger picture of grace — some of which you know, some of which you might not know.

It is expensive yet extensive. Expensive — the grace of God is paid for by the blood of Christ. It is expensive — it could not be acquired by any other means but the cross of Jesus Christ — but counterintuitively, it is also extensive. It is if each drop of Christ’s blood has secured its own ocean of grace.

It is an undeserved prerogative The word prerogative means an exclusive privilege or right exercised by a person or group of people holding a particular office or hereditary rank. Grace is unmerited favor at God’s expense. We don’t deserve it. We can do nothing to earn it. And yet, we have unlimited access to it. The proper word to describe this idea is birthright. It is a right. But not a right which we have earned. Grace is our birthright. If we are in Christ, unlimited amounts of priceless grace is ours for the asking.

It is both expulsive and propulsive. By expulsive, I mean it pushes out other things. In an article on Desiring God, John Piper recalls once being asked a trick question. “If you had access to all the latest machinery in a sophisticated science lab, what would be the most effective way to get all the air out of a glass beaker? One ponders the possible ways to suck the air out and create a vacuum. Eventually, the answer is given: fill it with water.”

That article is about an old Scottish theologian named Thomas Chalmers who preached a sermon entitled, “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection” in which he talks about the way that love for God pushes out love for world comfort.

But how, Chalmers asks, can one displace the common human love for comfort? Or, as Piper asks, how does one get the air out of a glass beaker? The most straightforward answer being — fill it with something else. This is what Chalmers meant by the expulsive power of a new affection. And it is grace that can displace our lesser loves with something much grander.

This is what I mean when I say grace is expulsive. But grace is not a merely static substance. It doesn’t only displace lesser loves, it energizes and activates godly living. So in addition to being expulsive, grace is also propulsive. It moves you forward.

Commenting on this aspect of grace, Louis Berkoff states: “…there are clear indications of the fact that it is not a mere passive quality, but also an active force, a power, something that labours.” And he cites various proof texts including 2 Timothy 2:1 and also 1 Corinthians 15:10 in which Paul states: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

This propulsive power of grace seems to be key to Paul’s charge for Timothy to be strengthened by grace. Timothy has come to a fork in the road. He can choose the road of safety or he can choose the road less traveled — which is the road of Christ.

How can Paul help his friend Timothy? How can he stir him up to faith and good deeds? It is grace that can make him strong.

II. Why You Need Strength

I think we can see quite clearly, that Paul is seeking to stir Timothy up to zealous effort by the next section. Look at verse 3,

Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.

These three occupations have one thing in common — namely, productive discomfort. And this brings us to our second misconception. We must be clear at the outset that Christian life is no walk in the park.

As Jesus said, “if anyone wants to be my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” — Matthew 16:24

But Paul has provided three vocations when in theory one would do. So let’s take a moment and consider these in a little more detail.

The Soldier & Suffering as Second Nature (4) “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.”

When we say something is second nature, we mean they are good at it. They take to it like it was their natural environment. Something that is so familiar that it is done without having to think about it. Something you have gotten used to.

As Tertullian put it in his Address to Martyrs:

‘No soldier comes to the war surrounded by luxuries, nor goes into action from a comfortable bedroom, but from the makeshift and narrow tent, where every kind of hardness and severity and unpleasantness is to be found.’

Stott comments:

Similarly, the Christian should not expect an easy time. If he is loyal to the gospel, he is sure to experience opposition and ridicule. He must ‘share in suffering’ with his comrades-in-arms

And then when it says, “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” — I think all it means is that he isn’t looking over into the civilian world, wondering why his life is so much harder than theirs.

Now this text has been misinterpreted to suggest that Christians should not do things that normal people do. But of course this is impossible. A soldier eats, drinks, rests, fellowships with his friends, and so forth. He does many of the same things that the civilian does. The difference lies in the why and the how and the who for.

Take the word comfort for instance. Notice the "fort" in comfort. The Latin root of comfort means to fortify - to make stronger. The original sense of comfort was rest that readies you for war.

The Athlete & The Rejection of Shortcuts (5)

“An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.”

To the solider, Paul adds the athlete. And another aspect of the Christian life emerges. Namely, a rejection of shortcuts. See the text? An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. Why would he not? Why do athletes cheat? How do athletes cheat?

Probably the most famous kind of athlete in Paul’s age was the runner. Which brings to mind a set of stories you’ve probably heard before. I found an article titled: 9 of the most brazen marathon cheats of all time. And how did they cheat? Overwhelmingly, they cheated by skipping part of the course, some got in cars, some rode the subway, in various ways they skipped over part of the race. This would be especially tempting on circuitous courses where you could break free from the course and skip over to the next part.

When we talk about there not being any shortcuts in the Christian life, we mean that one cannot skip over the hard parts. One cannot skip over suffering.

The Farmer & Obscurity (6) — “It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.”

And then in addition to the soldier and the athlete, we have the farmer. Another trade added to the list — and yet another aspect of the Christian life emerges.

John Stott describes the of ‘the strenuous and prosaic toil’ of the farmer. Unlike the soldier and the athlete the farmer’s life is ‘totally devoid of excitement, remote from all glamour of peril and of applause’.

Before we move to the next section, we need to say one more thing. So far, everything we’ve said is negative. But we must not miss the positive. Each one of these vocations ends in glory.

The soldier — parade The athlete — podium The farmer — feast

III. How To Be Strengthened

Now so far, Paul has done two things:

He has told Timothy to be strengthened by grace. He has told Timothy why he needs strength (the three jobs) Christian life is like soldiering — a kind of second nature embracing of suffering Christian life is like running a race — no shortcuts allowed Christian life is like farming — obscurely sowing in tears in order to reap in joy.

We been told why we need strength. We’ve been told where to find it — strength is to be found in the grace of Jesus Christ.

But what Paul has yet to do is to explain how we are to be strengthened by grace.

I think the next section of our text accomplishes this. In verses 7-10,

7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. 8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

How does one become strengthened by grace? It involves mental self-discipline. See the word think in vs. 7 and the word remember in vs. 8.

7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. 8 Remember Jesus Christ…

Quiet the inner quitter:

What separates an endurance athlete from a regular person? Genetics plays relatively small role. What really separates an endurance athlete from a regular person is that the endurance athlete has learned to quiet the inner quitter.

I have seen this in my own life. When I take a walk, I think like a normal person. I look at the scenery, think about various issues going on in my life, so forth. But when I go for a run, the only thought I have is “why are you doing this!?!”

It is really one’s mind that must dealt with in matters of endurance. You have to quiet the inner quitter. If endurance is the aim, then it is the mind that needs, most of all, to be strengthened by grace.

And so Paul gives Timothy things to think about. One of them explicit and primary — Remember Jesus Christ. And others more implicit and secondary. Let me deal with them, not in textual order, but in order of importance.

Think of those who depend on your endurance

Look at vs. 10, “Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”

One of the ways we quiet the inner quitter is to think of those who depend on our endurance. “I endure everything for the sake of the elect.”

Remember how this little letter began? We just looked at it last week.

1 Timothy 1:3, “I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.”

It is probably no accident that Paul is remembering Timothy while in prison. By reading all of his prison letters, I propose the following. He had developed various mental tricks to get his mind off quitting. One involved thinking of those whom he is suffering for.

And before we get off vs. 10, we see another strategy for quieting the inner quitter. And it too involves the mind.

Think of eternal glory gained by earthly endurance.

Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

This way of thinking is built into the three illustrations Paul provided to Timothy.

The soldier is working for ultimate victory and commendation from his commanding officer.

The athlete is running to receive a crown.

The farmer is working toward the great day of harvest.

Paul is always working with the eternal aim in mind. We see this in his recounting of Oneisphorus’ faithfulness in chapter 1. “May the Lord reward him on that day.”

And it carries all the way through to the end of the letter. In 4:7-8 he says,

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

So far we have two lines of thinking that quiet the inner quitter and strengthen one in grace. Firstly, to think of those who depend on our endurance. Secondly, to think of the eternal glory that is gained by earthly endurance. And as we have seen in all of the texts we’ve examined, these two thoughts work quite well together.

Heaven will be a place of corporate victory where all who shared in suffering as good soldiers join King Jesus in triumphal procession as we count all the enemies made his footstool.

Heaven will be a kind of collective finish line. Where all who ran the race congratulate one another even as they praise the one who ordered and powered their steps.

Heaven will be a kind of communal feast. Where all who sowed the word dine together on the harvest of God.

One way to quiet the inner quitter is to think on these things. And the God of peace will be with us.

Now these are glorious lines of thinking. But the main idea is even greater. Not because the two I have already commended are small, but because the one I’m about to commend is just so big.

Look back at vs. 8 — specifically the first three words:

Remember Jesus Christ

In the book The Savior of the World, BB Warfield writes,

Amid all the surrounding temptations, all the encompassing dangers, Paul bids Timothy to bear in mind, as the sufficing source of abounding strength, the great central doctrine,—or rather, let us say, the great central fact—of his preaching, of his faith, of his life. And he enunciates this great fact, in these words: Jesus Christ raised from the dead, of the seed of David.

And this phrase, “raised from the dead, of the seed of David…” is meant to draw Timothy’s mind to very specific realities of Jesus Christ.

Modern pastors attempt to comfort a chronically anxious people with a gentle and lowly Jesus. But that is not the tact taken by Paul.

Again from Warfield,

Paul bids Timothy in the midst of all the besetting perplexities and dangers which encompassed him to strengthen his heart by bearing constantly in remembrance, not Jesus Christ simpliciter, but Jesus Christ conceived specifically as the Lord of the Universe, who has been dead, but now lives again and abides for ever in the power of an endless life; as the royal seed of David ascended in triumph to His eternal throne.

In verse 9 Paul says that while he is bound in chains, the word is not bound. Why not? The word is not restricted in any way because Jesus Christ, the living word, reigns.

This central reality has dominated the hearts and minds of countless men and women who endured to the end. And it was always intended to be our primary source of strength. For as Jesus gave his marching orders to the disciples to walk straight in the line of fire and take aim at the principalities and powers of this present darkness, he gave them one promise in particular.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (Matthew 28:18)

Go therefore into all the nations — share in suffering as a good soldier. Run the race to win the prize. Those who sow in tears will reap in joy.

And all God’s people said!

Christian Friendship

Chris Oswald — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Christian Friendship

Series: True North

Speaker: Chris Oswald

Sunday Morning

Date: 4th February 2024

Passage: 2 Timothy 1:2-15

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Introduction: I heard about a local church who sent out postcards to the neighborhood saying, “Come to church, we won’t lick you!”

Come to church, you won’t be lonely.

But is that true? It must be more and more true. And in order for that to become more and more true, we must teach about friendship.

This little letter is full of information about friendship. The letter itself is a function of a friendship. I want to explore that theme this whole week.

On Monday, Angela is going to speak with the ladies about friendship. On Tuesday, there will be a podcast On Wednesday, community group On Thursday and Friday, more podcasts!

As we will see, growing in the art of friendship is a leading indicator in one’s sanctification. And it is also a leading indicator of a healthy church.

Friendship Defined:

Firstly, let us take some time define our terms. Friendship is like marriage in the sense that it is a common grace that God extends to both regenerate and unregenerate humanity.

We will focus on Christian friendship because that’s what we see in 2 Timothy. But it is helpful to start with a broad definition that applies to all people.

We don’t have a bible verse that provides a neat definition of friendship. We do have a lot of verses that describe particular friendships and we also have a lot of verses that tell us the kinds of things that friends do for one another.

After reviewing that data, here’s my definition.

A friend is someone who is willing to invest himself in your good.

Investment of time, mental energy, resources, etc…

Now let’s differentiate Christian friendship from all other forms.

Broadly speaking, the distinction between Christian friendships and non-Christian friendships is spelled out in verse 7: “For God gave US a spirit.” And again in vs. 14, “By the Holy Spirit who dwells within US.”

Christian friendship is to be broadly distinguished from non-Christian friendship by the shared presence of the Holy Spirit.

Two forms of friendship: Friendship in the flesh and Friendship in the spirit

Three markers of Spiritual Friendship

Defined Goodness (as Godliness)

We’ve said that a friend is someone who is willing to invest himself in your good. What is our good? Is that left up to the individual? Do you define what is best for you and ask me to invest in that?

In non-Christian friendships, goodness is either individually or culturally defined. But in Christian friendships, there is an agreement on what is best for me and what is best for you.

Namely, godliness.

So in a Christian friendship, each one invests himself in the other's growth in godliness.

Delayed Gratification (and eye toward eternity)

A Christian friend looks out over the horizon of history and aims to invest himself in the other’s eternal good.

Dependence on God (to supply what we need to be a good friend).

A third distinction — non Christian friends have only their own immediate resources to invest in your happiness. A Christian has, in addition to their own immediate resources, the power of God and the promises of God (the word) all moving by the spirit to invest in you so that you can invest in your friend.

Last Wednesday, Kate Wilhoft share some thoughts on the book of Ruth. Which is a prime example of friendship. Ruth takes responsibility to care for Naomi. But basically has no resources to accomplish that responsibility. And what we see in that little book is God working through providence to give Ruth the resources she needs to care for Naomi.

At first, it is pretty hand to mouth. She is gleaning in the fields. But very soon, Boaz (the Christ figure) starts furnishing Ruth with more resources. And then of course, it all ends with Naomi being a wealthy grandmother type — all of that came through Ruth — but very little of it it involved Ruth’s resources.

I want you to remember that story when caring for a friend requires more of you than you have to offer. You serve the God of providence. He will help you and give you what you need.

Application of these principles:

Let us imagine that neither Paul or Timothy are Christians. But that we have a letter written from one non Christian friend to another non Christian friend. How would that letter differ from the letter we have?

Pagan Paul would still be investing himself in Timothy’s good. But the goodness in view would be something less than holiness or happiness in God.

And Pagan Paul would be aiming mostly at Timothy’s short-term or near term happiness.

And then of course the resources that pagan Paul has to invest would be less substantial. He might share his advice, his insights, etc… but that’d be it. He certainly wouldn’t have any kind of supernatural power to bring to the table when things got tough.

You would wind up with a letter heavy on self-esteem. On a pragmatic view of happiness. A lot of opinions. So forth.

Now, I think this is helpful for two reasons:

Firstly, because sometimes even Christian friendships walk in the flesh.

Even among two Christians, the friendship that actually happens can sometimes be rather worldly. Christians have the capacity for and the responsibility for a higher kind of friendship, but plenty of Christian friendships spend very little time doing explicitly Christian friendship.

Secondly, we can now understand why friendships fail.

We have introduced enough clarity to help explain why some of Paul’s friendships have failed and others have succeeded.

2 Timothy is a book littered with relational wreckage.

On the front end of the book: 1:15 — “You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.”

On the back end: 4:10 — “For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.”

4:16 — “At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!”

Everything we’ve stipulated up to this point provides us with some clarity about why these friendships have failed:

Generally, they failed because one of the parties stopped being willing to invest themselves in the other’s good.

More specifically, these folks likely abandoned their friendship with Paul because the price of that friendship was more than they could pay. In which case, they had a resource problem. They got to a point where they lacked the power of God, spiritual courage, etc…

Christian friendship is fueled by faith.

Both parties have to believe God exists and rewards those who seek him. They must believe that the highest good is godliness. And that the majority of human happiness will be harvested on “that day.” They must seek one another’s eternal good. And they must believe that God will supply them with what they need to be a friend to the other.

All of this requires faith.

If you marked the date when a Christian friendship failed, you could go further back in the timeline to see that well before the friendship failed, one of the friends faith had begun to falter.

If you want to be a Christian friend, you must seek to strengthen your faith in God. The stronger your faith in God, the better a friend you will be. The weaker your faith in God, the worse of a friend you will be.

When examine biblical history and indeed church history, it is no coincidence that men and women of great faith were also good friends.

Abraham was a man of great faith, and he was a great friend to Lot. Moses was a man of great faith, and he was a great friend to the people of Israel. Ruth was a woman of great faith, and she was a great friend to Naomi. Jonathan and David were men of great faith — and their friendship was great. Jesus had something we might even extend beyond faith — and he was a great friend to the disciples and others. Paul was a man of great faith — and he was also a great friend.

Pastor Tony Merida writes,

When surveying the life of the apostle Paul, we see his firm belief in the sufficiency of the gospel and his willingness to suffer for it. But there’s another, often overlooked, feature of the Pauline mission: friendship. As Paul planted churches throughout the Roman world, he didn’t do so as a one-man band.

Paul was relationally wealthy. He traveled with friends; he stayed with them; he visited them. He worked alongside them; he preached alongside them; he was beaten alongside them. He even sang in prison with friends. He encouraged them, and was encouraged by them. At times, Paul disagreed with his friends. And at times, he reconciled with them.

A quick read through Acts shows Paul’s commitment to, and genuine concern for, his friends: Barnabas, Titus, Silas, Luke, Priscilla, Aquilla, Lydia, Onesiphorus, Epapharoditus, John Mark, the Ephesian elders, and more.

In Romans 16, he mentions more than 30 names. The whole list oozes with affection; it also magnifies the gospel, demonstrates beautiful diversity (race, rank, gender), and contains moving expressions of honor.

A quick word about the diversity of Paul’s friendships.

People typically organize themselves in “affinity groups.” Hobbies, interests, seasons of life, etc… But when we look in the Bible, we see many of the greatest friendships were between people who had very little, humanly speaking, in common with one another.

One of the things we will see very often in the scriptures is that Christian friendships develop between older and younger.

What’s going on there is that faith magnifies the gospel in our eyes. It becomes very big, very central, etc…

And as such, a diversity of people find unity around the cross.

I wanted to mention that because I sometimes hear younger people thoughtlessly shrink the pool of potential friendships by looking primarily at lesser affinities — and thinking, I need a friend who understands this aspect of my life or that…

That’s a worldly way of thinking. If you are a Christian. The most important thing about you is that you were purchased by Christ. That is your central story. Therefore expand your pool of possible friendships to include all those who have that same thing as their central story.

Remember that even if they don’t have a particular situation in common with you, they have the resources of God at their disposal. God knows your situation perfectly. And he can and will easily work through a person who has not experienced what you are experiencing.

The particulars of your life are not as important as you think they are. Faith will help you see things in their proper perspective.

Now let’s turn to the text and see a number of ways Paul is investing himself in Timothy’s good.

He spent time thinking and praying for Timothy (2-5)

“To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.”

Attention is the currency of our culture. Our mental energy is being solicited constantly. There’s an economic theory called “Attention Economics.” Psychologist/Economist Herbert A. Simon was the first to propose this idea — all the way back in 1971.

[I]n an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.

Another thought leader in this field is Matthew Crawford. He summarized the problem quite simply: “Attention is a resource, we only have so much of it.”

Now if someone were to ask me for an explanation of the epidemic of loneliness that so many now recognize as a real problem, I would point to at least two things.

The lack of church attendance and sabbath keeping. You can actually see the data spell this out. As church attendance decreased, loneliness increased. But that doesn’t go far enough. Because as a pastor, I know it is possible to attend church faithfully and still be rather disconnected. So as a secondary explanation, I would point to the attention economy.

People simply aren’t investing enough of their mental energy into thinking about other people.

The solution to both of these is to obey the Bible! Specifically Hebrews 10:24-25

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Take time to think about others. And specifically how you might stir one another up to faith. And make time to be together. Do not neglect to meet together.

Now remember, “attention is a resource, you only have so much of it.” In order to devote some time to thinking and praying for your friends, you’re going to have to cut something out. Which means you’re going to have to unplug something.

1a. He affirmed what he could affirm

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.”

1b. He spoke into his temptations (6-8)

Now one of the things that will happen when you invest mental energy into thinking and praying about others is that God will give you his vision of the person in question. You will begin to see the other’s situation in a way they cannot. You’ll begin to see, not only the realities of their present situation, but also potential temptations that will arise out of their current situation.

That’s what Paul is doing for Timothy in the whole book really, and we see it first brought up in verses 6-8,

“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 gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

In previous sermons and podcasts, we discussed what Paul is doing here. He is seeing that in the midst of increasing hostilities toward the word of God, Timothy could be tempted to hide his light under a bushel. He might be tempted to fulfill his ministry in a half-hearted way with an eye to his own immediate comfort.

And so Paul speaks to this. Note again, the result of mental energy expended on Timothy. He is not merely reacting to his present situation, he is able to see the potentialities. Paul knows Timothy is at a crossroads. Timothy may not even realize it. But God has met Paul in his prayers and shown him, not only the realities of Timothy’s current situation, but the potentialities that lie in the next chapter of Timothy’s life.

There’s a great example of this in the letters of John Newton. He writes to a young pastor, taking his first church — mainly to congratulate him. But also adds something to the effect of, “I know your heart, and suspect you may find yourself wishing you had been appointed to a larger congregation. But trust me, on the day you stand before the Lord and give an account for the souls of your sheep, you will feel that this small number was more than enough.

Practically speaking, you’re going to do something like this: “I was thinking about your situation, if I were you, I might be tempted to feel/think…”

The Lord will help you do this.

Conclusion:

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations.

He Abolished Death

Chris Oswald — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 10:00:00 +0000

He Abolished Death

Series: True North

Speaker: Chris Oswald

Sunday Morning

Date: 28th January 2024

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Introduction:

We’ve been tracing through Paul’s efforts to literally encourage Timothy. To give him courage to fan into flame the gift of God — and share in suffering as a good soldier of the Lord.

Last week we saw two ingredients in our recipe for boldness. Namely reliance on the holy spirit coupled with rehearsing key truths related to the sovereignty of God.

Today we will see Paul adding a third ingredient. Namely the removal of the fear of death.

I was reminded of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who refused to worship Nebuchadnezzar and faced the fiery furnace as a result.

15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” — Daniel 3:15–18

In a very real sense, death stands as the ultimate and universal fiery furnace into which all people must enter. But as we will see, those who are in Christ have such assurances that make boldness in the face of our enemies a very real possibility. So let’s get into it.

8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 and which now has been manifested through 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 apostle and teacher, 12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. 13 Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Look back at vs. 8

The Curious Case of Caesar the Savior

I am sure you get tired of me telling you that every time you see the word Lord in the New Testament, the writer is engaging in political speech. That title was reserved for Caesar. But what is less understood, and what I don’t think I’ve mentioned is that the title Savior was likewise reserved for Caesar.

A gate into the city of Ephesus, a gate which Paul and Timothy would’ve walked, had something inscribed to the effect of Caesar Augustus is Lord and Savior of the world.

We might understand Lord, but why would Caesar be deemed savior? There’s another ancient inscription, dated around 9 B.C. gives the answer:

“Since the providence that has divinely ordered our existence has applied her energy and zeal and has brought to life the most perfect good in Augustus, who she filled with virtues for the benefit of mankind, bestowing him upon us and our descendants as savior– he who put an end to war and will order peace, Caesar who by his epiphany exceeded the hopes of those who prophesied good tidings [euaggelia]… and since the birthday of the god first brought to the world the good tidings [euaggelia] residing in him… For that reason, with good fortune and safety, the Greeks of Asia have decided that the New Year in all the cities should begin on 23rd September, the birthday of Augustus.”

N. T. Wright concludes that Augustus had done the sort of thing only gods can do. Rome had power to sweep aside all opposition; the power, in consequence, to create an extraordinary new world order. Rome claimed to have brought justice to the world. The accession of the emperor, and also his birthday, could therefore be hailed as euaggelion, good news.

Caesar was savior in this sense. He defeated the nation’s enemies and brought peace to the world.

Christ the Destroyer

Now look back at vs. 10 — “and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,”

Pretty crazy to realize that Paul wrote that while in Roman custody. His letter to Timothy in Ephesus may well have passed through the very gates that praised Caesar as lord and savior. And I want us to understand that the Caesarian meaning of savior very much applies to Jesus Christ — indeed far more so.

If Caesar was considered a savior because he dealt with the temporal, regional enemies.

How much more so is Jesus an even better savior — for he has defeated the enemy. Namely death. See that in vs. 10? “…our savior Jesus Christ who abolished death.”

The greek word for abolish is katareo. It is used four times in reference to Christ’s work. And each time it describes the use of force in establishment of peace.

It is used in 2 Thessalonians to refer to the man of lawlessness… “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.” (2:8)

A haughty man and violent man will appear — and then Jesus will kill him with the breath of his mouth and bring him to nothing.

It is used in Ephesians 2 to talk about Jesus’ destruction of the ordinances that separated Jew and Gentile — “that he might in himself one new man in the place of two, so making peace.”

It is used in Hebrews in a way similar to what we see in 2 Timothy. “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” (Hebrews 2:14-15)

Each time we see peace through power — through the destruction of something.

Now I’m glad Jesus took care of the man of lawlessness. And I’m glad Jesus made it ok for Jews and Gentiles to be friends. But I’m especially stoked about the whole death thing.

Let’s take the rest of our time thinking about what this means.

He abolished death. We need to think about death for a moment.

When we look at older preaching from centuries past, we see far more teaching and preaching on the subject of death. Now days we see very little of it. And this situation is exactly opposite as it should be. Death was far more visceral and visible in centuries past. In some sense, the reality of death was preaching its own sermon to everyone all the time. Now we have done a great deal to sanitize death and even worse, to sequester it. We keep death hidden from the regular person far more than we used to. As such, it is even more important to talk about it. The death rate hasn’t reduced whatsoever. It still maintains a perfect track record. And yet that reality is less visible to the average person than ever. So if anything, we need to talk about it more in these days than it used to be discussed in the past.

And there’s another reason… in order to appreciate the good news of the gospel, we have to think about things we don’t want to think about. But going back to the first sermon in this series, we cannot use comfort as our compass.

We must think about our sins. And we must think about our deaths.

Three Universals Concerning Death

Everybody Dies

Death is the most universal of experiences. There are very few problems that are shared equally by all human beings in all places, cultures, etc… across both genders… and all socioeconomic tiers.

Sometimes you will meet an unbeliever who seems to have gotten a lot of mileage out of common grace. They are financially secure, not given to any particularly destructed vices, and seem to have relatively healthy relationships. And we might think to ourselves, “how can I possibly share the gospel with this person who seems to be doing quite fine without Christ.”

And the answer is death.

Death Often Surprises

Three million people die in the US each year. The CDC states that accidents are the third leading cause of death in the United States. Heart disease being number one. Every year about 800,000 people have a heart attack. A very large portion of the 3 million people who die every year do so with little to no warning.

Our sin nature fills us with delusions of grandeur. We tend to think we are God. In this way, death is undeniable evidence that we are not God. At a certain age, we begin to realize how fragile our own lives really are.

Even those who die of other causes, tend to have one final season of mental clarity that at the time does not appear to be the final moments of mental clarity. Many people die in various states of confusion where they lack the mental acuity necessary to hear the gospel and believe.

As Jonathan Edwards puts it,

However strong, hale and healthy men may be, there is none strong enough to resist death; death will conquer them as easily as other men. However great they may be in the world, they must die: kings and emperors, czars and sultans must bow down before death, must give place to the king of terrors. (The king of terrors is from the book of Job).

“He is torn from the tent in which he trusted and is brought to the king of terrors.” — Job 18:14

Death is a one way door to divine judgment

Hebrews 9:27 says, “it is appointed for man to die once and then comes the judgment.”

There are some technical questions about the timing of God’s judgment on individuals. We don’t need to get into that. The point we want to make today is simply that death is coming, it may come unexpectedly, and it is a one way door to divine judgment.

Excepting for those who are alive during the return of Christ, every human on earth has these three things in common. And in a very real sense, these three factors have driven the development of every culture, every religion, etc…

Those Who Die Without Christ Will Go to Hell

We have talked about what all people have in common. Now we must talk about the difference Christ makes for those who are saved by him.

Those who die without Christ are driven into divine judgment. Thomas Boston said, “When the wicked die, they are driven out of this world, where they sinned, into the other world, where they must be judged (for their sin).”

That judgment leads to hell. What is hell?

From JI Packer’s Concise Theology

The sentimental secularism of modern Western culture, with its exalted optimism about human nature, its shrunken idea of God, and its skepticism as to whether personal morality really matters—in other words, its decay of conscience—makes it hard for Christians to take the reality of hell seriously. The revelation of hell in Scripture assumes a depth of insight into divine holiness and human and demonic sinfulness that most of us do not have. However, the doctrine of hell appears in the New Testament as a Christian essential, and we are called to try to understand it as Jesus and his apostles did.

The New Testament views hell (Gehenna, as Jesus calls it, the place of incineration, as the final abode of those consigned to eternal punishment at the Last Judgment. It is thought of as a place of fire and darkness, of weeping and grinding of teeth, of destruction, and of torment—in other words, of total distress and misery.

If, as it seems, these terms are symbolic rather than literal (fire and darkness would be mutually exclusive in literal terms), we may be sure that the reality, which is beyond our imagining, exceeds the symbol in dreadfulness. New Testament teaching about hell is meant to appall us and strike us dumb with horror, assuring us that, as heaven will be better than we could dream, so hell will be worse than we can conceive. Such are the issues of eternity, which need now to be realistically faced.

Scripture envisages hell as unending. Speculations about a “second chance” after death, or personal annihilation of the ungodly at some stage, have no biblical warrant.

Scripture sees hell as self-chosen; those in hell will realize that they sentenced themselves to it by loving darkness rather than light, choosing not to have their Creator as their Lord, preferring self-indulgent sin to self-denying righteousness, and (if they encountered the gospel) rejecting Jesus rather than coming to him. General revelation confronts all mankind with this issue, and from this standpoint hell appears as God’s gesture of respect for human choice. All receive what they actually chose, either to be with God forever, worshiping him, or without God forever, worshiping themselves. Those who are in hell will know not only that for their doings they deserve it but also that in their hearts they chose it.

Those Who Die In Christ Will Go to Heaven

Thomas Boston said, “When the wicked die, they are driven out of this world, where they sinned, into the other world, where they must be judged (for their sin).”

But the Bible tells us that when the righteous die, they are are escorted, they are carried, they are ushered from this life to the next sitting in the final climactic float of an angelic parade.

Here is John Flavel’s description

No sooner is the dividing stroke given by death, but they shall find themselves in the arms of angels, mounting them through the upper regions in a few moments, far above all the aspectable heavens,

They pass from the arms of mourning friends, into the welcome arms of officious and benevolent angels. From the sight and converses of men, to the sight of God, Christ, and the general assembly of blessed and sinless spirits.

Farewell vain world, with all the mixed and imperfect comforts of it, and welcome the more sweet, suitable, and satisfying company of Father, Son, and Spirit, holy angels, and perfected saints. From the bondage of corruption to perfect liberty and everlasting freedom.

From all fears, doubtings, and questionings of our conditions, and anxious debates of our title to Christ, to the clearest, fullest, and most satisfying assurance.

From all burdens of affliction, inward and outward, under which we have groaned all our days, to everlasting rest and ease. Oh what a blessed change to the righteous must this be!

Again from Packer

Scripture teaches us to form our notion of the life of heaven by (a) extrapolating from the less-than-perfect relationship that we now have with God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, with other Christians, and with created things to the thought of a perfect relationship, free from all limitation, frustration, and failure; (b) eliminating from our idea of a life lived for God all forms of pain, evil, conflict, and distress, such as we experience here on earth; and (c) enriching our imaginings of that happy future by adding in every conception of excellence and God-given enjoyment that we know. The visions of heaven’s life in Revelation 7:13–17 and 21:1–22:5 draw on all three of these ways of conceiving it.

According to Scripture, the constant joy of heaven’s life for the redeemed will stem from (a) their vision of God in the face of Jesus Christ (Rev. 22:4); (b) their ongoing experience of Christ’s love as he ministers to them (Rev. 7:17); (c) their fellowship with loved ones and the whole body of the redeemed; (d) the continued growth, maturing, learning, enrichment of abilities, and enlargement of powers that God has in store for them. The redeemed desire all these things, and without them their happiness could not be complete. But in heaven there will be no unfulfilled desires.

So the life of heavenly glory is a compound of seeing God in and through Christ and being loved by the Father and the Son, of rest and work, of praise and worship, and of fellowship with the Lamb and the saints.

Nor will it end (Rev. 22:5). Its eternity is part of its glory; endlessness, one might say, is the glory of glory. Hearts on earth say in the course of a joyful experience, “I don’t want this ever to end.” But it invariably does. The hearts of those in heaven say, “I want this to go on forever.” And it will. There can be no better news than this.

Conclusion

You will sometimes hear it said that the Jews missed Jesus’ messiahship because they were looking for a military hero and Jesus was not that. Wrong.

He was and is a military hero who waged war on the fundamental enemies that have enslaved humanity since the fall. He is a much better Caesar, and thus far superior savior, who fought the cosmic forces of sin and death and abolished their power over all who call Christ their King.

I am reminded of a quote from George Orwell who once said, “We sleep soundly in our beds, because rough men stand ready in the night to do violence on those who would harm us”

When the time comes; whether it is expected or unexpected, those in Christ may close their eyes and die in peace. They can sleep soundly in the death beds because, the strong man, Jesus Christ has removed the sting of death for them.

It is as if God has placed a banner over saint as he or she passes from this world — “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

And this is, I suppose you might say, an additional ingredient in our recipe for courage.

As John Flavel wrote, “If our souls be immortal, certainly our enemies are not so formidable as we are apt, by our sinful fears, to represent them.”

Comfort is Not a Compass

Chris Oswald — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Comfort is Not a Compass

Series: True North

Speaker: Chris Oswald

Sunday Morning

Date: 14th January 2024

Passage: 2 Timothy 1:1-14

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2 Timothy 1:1-8

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus, 2 To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Guard the Deposit Entrusted to You 3 I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 4 As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 6 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, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

I. This is Leadership

What we have here is a very useful display of Godly leadership. If you pay attention, not only to what is said, but how it is said — you’ll learn something about leadership.

Three elements I would encourage you to think about when leading someone:

Affection Reflection Direction

The direction starts in vs. 6

II. Sincere Faith is not Static

Now to make much progress in understanding, we’re going to need to identity the nature of the gift Paul is referring to. But before we do that, we can make one important generality. Namely that sincere faith is not static.

Let’s differentiate between sincere faith and insincere faith. The word for sincere is ‘anoupokritos’ — which related to our word hypocrite. This is what an actor was called in Ancient Greece. That is what hypocrisy means. It means someone who is playing a part. It doesn’t mean someone who has a standard and then fails to live up to it. That’s just a regular person. A hypocrite is someone pretending to be something they are not.

Paul is saying, “you aren’t just playing a part — you have a sincere faith.”

Now one key differentiator between someone who is playing a part (even to themselves) and someone who is really Christ’s is that they keep growing. We all have lulls. But overall, the sincere faith is not static. It grows. It expands. This is what Paul is getting at generally when he speaks of fanning the gift of God into flame.

Writing on a similar verse in 2 Peter, commentator Micheal Green puts it well…

“…because of our new birth and the precious promises and the divine power offered us in Christ we cannot sit back and rest content with ‘faith’ (cf. Jas 2:20). The grace of God demands, as it enables, effort in man. We are to bring into this relationship alongside what God has done every ounce of determination we can muster.”

III. What is the Gift?

So there’s a general truth worth considering. And now to go any further into the text, we need to know more about the gift Paul is referring to. See that in verse 6,

6 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, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

What gift is he to fan into flames? We can look back to Paul’s first letter to see. Look back at 1 Timothy 4:12-15

“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.”

The gift is his teaching ministry. Paul wants to ensure that Timothy is pressing into his teaching ministry.

God has given him a gift — a teaching gift. There are several lists in the New Testament of spiritual gifts — capacities enhanced or all together bestowed by the Spirit. And teaching is one of the gifts. Timothy has the gift of teaching or preaching or something along those lines.

And really the entire letter of 2 Timothy is aimed at getting Timothy to fan this gift into flame. What threatens the expansion and full of expression of this gift?

Paul is Suffering For Doing Exactly What He’s Telling Timothy to Do

Well, the great elephant in the room is simply this — Paul is writing this letter as someone who has put his all into his teaching ministry and it has landed him in prison awaiting execution.

Look back at the text and see if my explanation makes sense… (vs. 3)

“I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 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 gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,”

Do you see? This kind of language continues throughout the entire book.

Look back at vs. 8

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.

And again in chapter 2 —

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! — 2 Timothy 2:8

Do you see the idea? Paul is Timothy’s mentor, his father, he has followed in his footsteps, all the way down to his vocation. Paul was a preacher. Timothy is a preacher. But… there’s an elephant in the room. This line of work leads to suffering.

Illustration: Me sledding as a boy

Paul is writing this from prison — awaiting execution.

And he’s doing it virtually alone.

“Do your best to come to me soon. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.” — 2 Timothy 4:9–10

“At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!” — 2 Timothy 4:16

And Paul is telling Timothy, follow my example. Teach with boldness (power), love (agape), and self-control (wisdom). Don’t be afraid.

“…for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control”

There are many ways to apply this insight to our lives.

When C-Grade Obedience Keeps The Heart Off

There’s a way to do kind of “C-grade” obedience that does not draw the enemy’s fire. But you know full well that if you went hard and fanned the gift of God into a flame, you’d draw the eye of Sauron. Why are there so many lukewarm Christians? Why not more earnestness, zeal, relentless obedience, etc? Maybe because we know that C-grade Christian life can satisfy our conscience without drawing the ire of the enemy? Well anyway, that’d be something to think about.

Cowardice is Always a Temptation

I’m not sure there’s any accusation going on here. It isn’t clear to me that Timothy is wimping out. It seems very possible that Paul is simply anticipating the temptation to be cowardly. That’d be another point of application. Cowardice is a real temptation. When we foolishly presume we are above this or that temptation — we do so to our own peril. I was just reading Peter’s confident assertion to Jesus — “I will die for you.” Etc… Paul on the other hand asked his brothers and sisters to pray for him that he would have boldness.

Love & Hard Labor

But I think the main application probably involves reconciling two ideas which our culture continually holds as dichotomous.

I love you Join me in suffering

Paul is confident that if Timothy preaches the word like he ought to preach it — he will suffer. And yet, to one he loves, his beloved child — he is clear —

Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 2:3)

Yes Timothy, I am suffering. Yes I am imprisoned awaiting execution. Yes I have been abandoned. Join me!

Now on this basis, there are plenty of people who draw a big X through vs. 2 — “Timothy my beloved child.” This isn’t love. This certainly isn’t fatherly love. Love doesn’t look at its object and say, “join me in my entirely voluntary misery.”

Love doesn’t call, let alone charge and command someone to live a life of danger, hardship, loneliness.

You might’ve been listening to the first part thinking, “well, I’m not a preacher.” I’m not sure how relevant this is.

But hopefully you can now see how the entire idea of this little letter is speaking into one of the most pressing ideas in our culture. Namely, the tendency to use comfort at a compass.

Comfort As A Compass

Here’s what I mean.

Compasses are used to help you figure out which way you should go. They tell you which way is north. Because of indwelling sin, we all struggle with using comfort as a compass. When things are uncomfortable, we tend to assume we’re walking in the wrong direction. When things are comfortable, we tend to assume we’re walking in the right direction.

And this is something we all need to watch out for. But there’s another layer. We get married. We have children. We make close friends. We are, even as peers, put into position of helping others figure out their lives. And we tend to use their comfort as our compass. If they are comfortable, we tend to think we’re loving them well. If they are uncomfortable, we tend to think we are loving them poorly.

We tend to assume that loving them well will make them comfortable. If they are uncomfortable, we are not loving them well.

But that’s not what Paul is doing with his beloved Timothy. He is leading him into discomfort. Even kind’a pushing him.

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” — 2 Timothy 4:4-5

What gives?

Paul knows that disobedience to God is far worse for a person than discomfort. Sinning is worse than suffering. And that in the rarified air of suffering for the gospel — there is great joy to be found.

He isn’t a sadist. He is wanting Timothy to bring him his coat.

13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. — 2 Timothy 4:13

He might be executed soon. But he would like to be warm in the mean time.

He isn’t calling Timothy into pure Kamikaze mode.

14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15 Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. — 2 Timothy 4:14–15

But as he sits in his cell, he is filled with great assurance…

2 Timothy 1:12 — “…for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.”

2 Timothy 4:8 — “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”

Paul isn’t using his comfort or his son’s comfort as his compass. He’s using the Christ as his compass.

6 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, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 and which now has been manifested through 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 apostle and teacher, 12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. 13 Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Conclusion/Communion:

Illustration from the Spanish Civil War: On 23 July, Communist forces captured Moscardó's 24-year-old son, Luis. They called the Alcázar on the telephone and Moscardó himself picked up the receiver. The political officer of the Republican force informed him that unless he surrendered the Alcázar, Luis would be shot. Moscardó asked to speak to his son. He then told Luis, "Commend your soul to God and die like a patriot, shouting 'Long live Christ the King' and 'Long live Spain.'" "That," answered his son, "I can do.

Timothy died as an 80 year old man interrupting a festival for the local Ephesian goddess. He was beaten to death.

We are dealing with the deep end of the pool right now. I’m not sure any of us are anywhere near martyrdom. But the principle holds. It is indeed loving to call those you love to follow Christ with you. Even if it is hard.

Firstly, if you encourage someone to follow Jesus — you’ll be loving them rightly. Obedience is always the best option. Would that require them to break up with their girlfriend? Switch to a flip phone? Give generously? Confess a sin? Leave a group of friends? Keep a baby that threatens their career? Forgive? Or a million other uncomfortable choices…

We are just doing gospel here.

What kind of father would ask his son to suffer?

This is of course the very foundation of our faith.

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. — 1 John 4:14

Rely on God's Spirit, Rehearse God's Sovereignty

Chris Oswald — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Rely on God's Spirit, Rehearse God's Sovereignty

Series: True North

Speaker: Chris Oswald

Sunday Morning

Date: 21st January 2023

Passage: 2 Timothy 1:6-14

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Call to Worship:

Today we’re going to be thinking about the sovereignty of God and his providential working that brings his purposes to pass. And we’re going to consider how the Spirit of God uses the doctrine of God’s sovereignty to make us brave.

There’s a classic text in the book of Acts that shows us this very connection.

Specifically Acts 4. Peter and John had been arrested and beaten and then released. And when the disciples all gathered back together they prayed,

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. — Acts 4:29-31

There are certain prayers you should absolutely assume God will answer. Asking him for courage to obey is one of those prayers.

But upon more careful inspection, we see that before praying for boldness and receiving it from the Holy Spirit, the disciples rehearsed what God had revealed to them about the sovereignty of God.

You know earlier I mentioned Acts 4 and the disciple’s prayer for boldness. I only read the second half of the prayer. The first half of the prayer goes like this…

And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’— for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. — Acts 4:24-28

So what we have here is the not so secret recipe for bravery. By recalling what we know about the sovereignty of God and relying on his spirit — the Lord is faithful to make his people brave. Sermon Title: Relying on God’s Spirit, Remembering God’s Sovereignty Text: 2 Timothy 1:6-14

In January 2022, the Canadian government enacted Bill C-4, effectively criminalizing Christian preaching, teaching, and counseling that upholds Biblical morality for human sexuality. Many pastors in Canada determined to preach the truth that very next Sunday. That was celebrated last Sunday.

This Sunday is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Do you know how many women have found themselves with an unexpected and unwanted pregnancy and yet looked their fear in the eye and made it serve the Lord? There are probably plenty of us in this room right now who would not be here if our mothers were more fearful and less faithful.

This is precisely the kind of thing that the book of 2 Timothy is about. We saw last week that Paul is encouraging his beloved Timothy to fan his teaching gift into a flame — even though that increased zeal is likely to lead Timothy into certain trials he would not encounter if he’d just ease up on the gas a little bit.

So this little letter is for the purpose of encouragement in the most literal sense of the word. This is meant to impart courage.

That’s what Paul is doing for Timothy. And thanks be to God, he gave us this little letter so that we could be brought along for the ride.

Some of you might benefit from this series more than others because you have a specific action in mind that, if taken, will in the short term, may very well lead to hardship. I really think this sermon and this series can help some take the next step when you know the next step is going to be painful.

Others may be in the middle of something difficult. And you’re sorely tempted to hit the easy button, step outside of the will of God, disobey and bring this difficult season to end by leaning on your own understanding.

But you know, this kind of thing isn’t really uncommon. I bet there are probably things you’re doing… and things you have chosen not to do — that make life harder for you than it would be if you took a path of least resistance. And the only reason you’re doing things the hard way is because the Lord has made it clear to you.

So some of you need encouragement to endure the hard thing you’re already in. To give generously. To not give up on someone that is difficult to love. To press into community when it feels awkward.

In the section of text we will cover this morning, we will see Paul encourage Timothy with two interconnected things: The Spirit of God and the Sovereignty of God.

I. The Spirit of God

Look at vs. 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 gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

For God gave us a spirit— not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.

And these are three things you really need when staring down the barrel of a gun. When looking at the prospect of suffering.

A. Power

You need power — because you are, in the flesh, to match for the hardships which come your way. Paul emphasizes the power of God again in vs. 8 where he says, “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,”

God may ask you to suffer for his sake. But he will not ask you to suffer with your strength.

If you obey your way into hardship, then you can expect his help. You can expect his power, supplied by the Holy Spirit, to be fully supplied to help you endure.

B. Love

You need love because that’s the seat of courage. As Gilbert Keith Chesterton famously said, “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” Paul expresses this kind of thing in chapter 2 when he says, “I endure everything for the sake of the elect that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”

But Chesterton’s quote is not complete. The good soldier fights, not only for who is behind him but for who is above him — namely Jesus Christ. As Paul commands Timothy, also in chapter 2, “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”

C. Self-Control

If we are to be courageous. We must “get a hold of ourselves” when we are afraid. We must not allow the fear we will naturally feel to lead our hearts. We must lead our hearts. The ancient world understood that courage was not an absence of fear but rather a refusal to allow fear to take the lead or have the last word.

I was thinking the other day, “what would my life be like if I was totally unafraid of suffering?” This seemed like a good thing for a second until I realized, if I was totally unafraid of suffering, I would do so many dumb things. I do too many dumb things as it is. But the fear of suffering keeps me from being as dumb as I could be.

Fear is actually God’s gift to us. It keeps us from obeying the short term impulsiveness of the flesh. And when used in that way, it is great benefit. Fear is beneficial when it keeps us from obeying the flesh but is a real liability when it keeps us from obeying God.

And once again, we find the basic challenge of being a fallen human being in a fallen world. God gives us fear as a gift. It was employed by God to Adam and Eve — on the day you eat of it, you shall surely die. But after the fall, the gift of fear — just like all the other gifts of God — tends to be heeded over and above the giver of the gift.

So we don’t want to attempt to eliminate fear of suffering. Rather we merely want to subordinate it so that it never keeps us from obeying God. We want to take it captive. Make it serve us and our God and not the other way around.

And all of this comes by the Holy Spirit.

But I want to take a moment to clear up one key misconception about the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God should not be counted on to bring things into being in your soul - ex nihilio - out of nothing. The Holy Spirit does not work that way. In the believer the Holy Spirit does one thing mainly.

He illuminates the scriptures to us. That’s what Jesus tells us about the spirit in John 14.

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” — John 14:26

The Holy Spirit deals primarily in the promises of God.

If all believers have the Holy Spirit, why do some seem to be so much more under his influence than others? One key reason for that phenomenon, which I am sure we have all observed, is the amount of bible the Holy Spirit has to work with.

The Holy Spirit is not a replacement for knowing the Bible. He is fundamentally a teacher. And he teaches from the Bible.

Friends, let’s be honest that there are many churches that, either explicitly or implicitly elevate the holy spirit up here — while putting the scriptures down here. Not only is that unbiblical it is setting people up for disappointment. They’re going to be wondering why they lack victory, courage, etc…

The problem isn’t a lack of the holy spirit, but rather a lack of the holy scriptures — which serve as kindling for the fire of the spirit.

His primary work is to bring to mind all that Jesus has said to us in his word.

Let me give you an example and by way of this example, pivot into the second point.

Example: The Disciple’s Increased Boldness

People have long noted how much boldness was manifested in the lives of the disciples in the book of Acts and beyond. They have noted the incredible change that took place in the lives of men who just weeks prior, had abandoned Jesus when times got tough.

And they note the role of the Spirit. The disciples had received the Holy Spirit. And that this was the source of their increased boldness. To that I would say “yes and amen.”

But the Holy Spirit works in us by illuminating truth and making it real to us. The Holy Spirit does not normally produce feelings in us in a vacuum. Rather the Holy Spirit takes the information, ideas, doctrines of the scriptures and makes them real to us so that we act on the information.

So when we think about how the early disciples became so bold — when they were not bold before — we are only providing half an answer when we credit the Holy Spirit. The full answer is that the disciples in Acts had gained information they did not have beforehand. And the Spirit brought what they learned to life.

What information did they gain?

They began to see the providence of God, the unconquerable purposes of God — in clearer light.

Take for instance the famous story from the Emmaus Road — where the risen Christ walked with some disciples and explained to them that all of the thousands of years of biblical history had all been exquisitely orchestrated by the sovereign hand of God.

That even the cross — which at the time looked like the masterful orchestration of evil, turned out to be part of God’s definite plan. And that God had essentially tricked the darkness into destroying itself.

This was the information the disciples possessed after the resurrection that they did not have before. And it was this insight into the sovereignty of God — illuminated by the Spirit — that provided them with the boldness they needed to voluntarily share in suffering for the gospel.

And this is the next idea Paul presents to Timothy. He says, the spirit will give you power, and he will do so by illuminating the sovereignty of God — specifically in salvation.

II. The Sovereignty of God

Look at vs. 8-9

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

Paul is not content to leave Timothy with a reminder about the spirit’s work in the face of suffering. He wants to arm the Spirit within Timothy by filing Timothy’s mind with gospel truth — related, above all, to the sovereignty of God in salvation.

This is Paul is doing in vs. 8-10. And I want to take a moment to highlight some of the details…

God’s Sovereignty in Salvation Tells Us Four Things About Him: A. Power B. Independence C. Purpose D. Providence

A. Power

“…who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace.”

Jonathan Edwards once said that converting a sinner is a greater act for God than creating the world because in converting a sinner, God must overcome sin.

The basic math of Christian suffering is this. God has already done the hardest thing. He has already raised us from spiritual death. Anything we might need from him moving forward — hope, encouragement, endurance, words to say, financial provision, new friendships to replace those who desert us, etc… All of that is a much lesser act than what he has already done for us.

And he did the first thing when we are his enemies. How much more will he do for us now that we are his sons and daughters.

B. Independence

“…who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace.”

God did not save us by partnering with us. When it came to raising sinners out of their spiritual death, God did not have any assistance. We were, after all dead in our sins and trespasses. We could do nothing to help him help us. God did not have any assistance. God did not need any assistance.

God. Saves. Sinners. Each of those words is important for understanding what the Bible teaches about salvation. 1. God saves sinners. God, not man, saves. We do not save ourselves. Only God can save. 2. God saves sinners. He does not make us potentially savable. He does not enable us to save ourselves. He saves. 3. God saves sinners. He saves a multitude that no man can number out of a world of human beings who are dead in sin and in utter opposition to his kind and sovereign rule. He saves people who once hated him, ignored him and resisted him. In salvation, God does not help those who help themselves, because no sinner can help himself. We are not “basically good” and in a position to “get by with a little help from” God. We are “without hope save in his sovereign mercy.” — L. Duncan, July 2018

C. Purposes

“…who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace.”

That God loves us is good news. Why God loves is even better news. He loves us because he has decided to.

Let me say something that might seem odd. You don’t want to be God’s why. You want to be caught up in God’s why. But you do not want to be God’s why.

I was reminded of something that Catherine the Great is credited with saying,

I shall be an autocrat: that's my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that's his.

“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” — Isaiah 43:25,

D. Providence

This phrase, “before the ages began” is a very Pauline statement.

Ephesians 1:4 tells us that were chosen in him before the foundation of the world. Titus 1:2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began

This is simply referring to God’s skillfully working through countless means to bring you to himself as part of his commitment to bring glory to himself.

“I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes. That every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens. That the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence. The fall of leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.” — Spurgeon

And it is this God who worked your salvation from the foundation of the world.

Conclusion:

Josh read from Heidelberg.

Question 27. What dost thou mean by the providence of God?

Answer: The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but be his fatherly hand.

Let me read you the next question.

Question 28. What advantage is it to us to know that God has created, and by his providence does still uphold all things?

Answer: That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things, which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from his love; since all creatures are so in his hand, that without his will they cannot so much as move.

Now I want to suggest that in addition to giving us patience in adversity, a proper understanding of the providence of God helps us manage fear on the front end of suffering.

When we look at God’s sovereignty over salvation, the Holy Spirit provides us with power, love, and self-control and we are able to overcome fears that would like to keep us from obeying God.

So what do you individually need to do with these insights?