"In Christ, We Suffer ... and Endure" (2 Timothy 2:1-13)

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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, St. Paul wrote to Timothy: “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3).

 

As I preached last week, it would be so easy to just feel sorry for yourself while chained in a damp room. It would be so easy to begin the blame game or just complain about circumstances. But St. Paul does not do that. Instead, he is strengthened through his suffering in Christ. He encourages Timothy to share in his suffering in Christ.

 

Contrary to popular belief, the Christian life is marked by suffering. Christians endure misfortune and persecution. Christians endure all kinds of trials. Christians must endure the evil from the devil, the fallen world, and our own sinful flesh.

 

Christians suffer because suffering is the pattern of the life of Jesus Christ. So, if your life is in Christ, you must share the same pattern. If the world hated Christ, so naturally, the world hates His followers – Christians. 

 

St. Paul suffered mightily for the Gospel. He wasn’t just ridiculed by society. Paul wasn’t just called insulting names; he was imprisoned for the sake of the Gospel. And Paul believed this current imprisonment would likely end with his death. This is why he is writing to Timothy. He is writing to Timothy to give him courage in the faith for when he would face suffering.

 

Timothy would face suffering. He would be imprisoned as recorded in Hebrews 13:23. Later Timothy would be stoned to death in Ephesus for preaching the Gospel in opposition to the pagan false god Diana.

 

As a follower of Christ, we should not expect anything less than suffering for the sake of Christ. Just weeks ago, Jesus evangelized us in Luke 14 saying, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. … Anyone of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26-27, 33).

 

Jesus evangelized us by saying if you want to follow Him, then you must first count the cost. One of those costs is bearing your own cross, which means we must be ready to die for the sake of the truth. We must all be prepared to be a martyr for Christ in a fallen world that murdered its Maker and its Redeemer.

 

The prophets and apostles faced opposition from a world that wants nothing to do with God, so the fallen world killed them. We join them in this train.

 

You see, Christian suffering is our vocation. Suffering is our calling. Paul’s and Timothy’s sufferings were specifically because of their callings as apostle and pastor. But they didn’t suffer for themselves, for their own sake. No, Paul and Timothy suffered for the sake of the gospel. They endured everything for the sake of the elect – the Christians of all time, you, as well as your relatives of the past and your relatives of the future.

 

So, today, Paul writes to Timothy and to you and me of what it means to be a Christian, a follower of Christ. A Christian isn’t to have mixed allegiances. A Christian is to have a whole-hearted and single-minded faith in Jesus Christ.

 

So, Paul writes of three illustrations to encourage Timothy as well as us here today.

 

The first illustration is that of a soldier. And to be more precise, a combat soldier. A good soldier serves his commanding officer with a singleness of purpose. A good soldier doesn’t question his commanding officer. A good soldier follows orders. A good soldier makes it his intent to please his commanding officer.

 

As a good soldier, he cannot have divided loyalties. Paul writes, “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him” (2 Timothy 2:4). So, whether under an officer in the military or a boss in the office, we in the Lord’s service accept suffering by trusting that Jesus will not forsake us. Jesus is our commanding officer and so we are to be 100 percent loyal to Him by renouncing all our self-interests.

 

The second illustration is that of a competing athlete. Paul writes, “An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules” (2 Timothy 2:5). As it is in the Olympics, amateur or professional sports, the athlete must compete by the rules. Doctrine matters. The rules of the Christian faith is doctrine as it is bound in the Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments. 

As Christians, we cannot change the rules. We cannot change doctrine. God’s Word says: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19).

 

So, we can’t change the rules and say that salvation is through works. We can’t change the rules and say that all people are saved no matter what you believe. We can’t change the rules and say that same-sex and polyamorous marriage is not a sin. We can’t change the rules by saying evil is good. We can’t change the rules just so that we would be praised by the fallen world. You see, God’s Word does not change even if we change it, for we are all ultimately judged by Him.

 

Likewise, “an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules” (2 Timothy 2:5). And what is this crown that Paul writes? It is the crown of everlasting life, the imperishable wreath (1 Corinthians 9:25). So, any pastor, teacher or layperson who fails to compete lawfully cannot receive the crown, the crown of everlasting life. Paul’s point is this: any Christian who fails faithfully to hand down those things “you have heard from me” (2 Timothy 2:2), the apostolic teaching, is disqualified from receiving the crown of everlasting life.

 

The third illustration is that of a hardworking farmer. Here, Paul is not telling us what we are to do, but rather the blessings we can expect from our hard and difficult work. St. Paul writes, “It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops” (2 Timothy 2:6). Here, Paul is giving additional assurance to Timothy in his faithful preaching and teaching, since it is not in vain for the one who toils is bound to receive his reward.

 

So, what is the reward? What is the share of the crops? Well, our fruits are always spiritual. For it is our work to sow the seed of God’s Word. For me, I receive spiritual fruits from faithful preaching. You and I grow in the one true Christian faith through preaching. As I prepare sermons, my faith is strengthened. I receive comfort and joy through Christ. In fact, the sermons I prepare for you, I first preach to myself.

 

The Holy Spirit grows spiritual fruits for you, too. He does this through inwardly digesting His Word through preaching, Bible Study and your devotional life. And when you confess your faith publicly – the sure hope you have in Christ, you may face suffering, but you will also reap God’s blessing.

Paul concludes his illustrations with these words: “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (2 Timothy 2:7). Here, Paul is calling on us to ponder, to reflect on what he has written. For when we do reflect on God’s Word, the Lord gives us proper understanding through the Holy Spirit. This “understanding” is the reward of being drenched in God’s Word by holding it sacred as we gladly hear and learn it (Luther’s Explanation to the Third Commandment).

So, always remember that suffering is our lot in Christ. And being chained as a criminal, Paul sees this as a blessed identification with Jesus. Afterall, Jesus was bound and led away to His execution to be nailed to a cross.

 

Paul calls on Timothy, as well as you and me, to remember what Jesus went through. To the world, Jesus looked pitiful; Jesus looked disgraced. The world saw a man chained, beaten, crucified, dead, and buried. The world wanted that to be the end.

 

But it wasn’t the end. Jesus rose from the dead! The Word of God is not bound! We preach Christ crucified and risen for sinners! God’s Word is not chained! His preaching continues through sound preaching!

 

Because Christ is raised from the dead, we are filled with hope! Yes, we will suffer for the sake of Christ. Suffering is our lot; our vocation; our calling. But just as the chains of death could not keep Jesus in the tomb, we, too, will be raised from the dead. Jesus’ resurrection is our resurrection. 

 

So, we endure! We endure through Jesus. We endure through repentance and faith. We endure this cycle of repentance and faith. When you sin – when you aren’t loyal to your commanding officer Jesus and when we think you can change the rules – repent, turn to Jesus and receive His forgiveness that He won for you upon the cross! For this saying is true: “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” (2 Timothy 2:11-13).

 

Jesus endured everything for you and me. He faced every trial. He faced every evil. Through His innocent suffering and death, Jesus forgave all sins. Through repentance and faith in Him, your sins are forgiven through His blood and merit. He endured so that we can endure. And He gives us the tools for endurance: His Means of Grace, Word and Sacrament. So, let us endure through Him, as we share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus, who always remains faithful to you and me! Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

"From Fear to Courage" (2 Timothy 1:1-14)

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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

The Holy Spirit inspired St. Paul to write to Timothy the following: “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 Timothy 1:5).

 

While in prison for proclaiming the one true Christian faith, St. Paul had much time to think. He had much time to pray. It would be so easy to feel sorry for yourself while chained in a damp room. It would be so easy to begin the blame game or just complain about circumstances. But St. Paul does not do that. Instead, he thanks God.

 

St. Paul remembers his forefathers who brought him up as he would grow up into becoming a Pharisee and later through Christ’s intervention, an apostle of Christ. Paul went from a persecutor of Christ into a courageous witness and missionary of Christ. 

 

Paul remembers Timothy’s tears. He remembers that day when he parted from Timothy. Could Timothy had known that Rome had a bounty on Paul, his father of the faith? We don’t know. But we do know that final time brought tears upon Timothy. And any separation does bring sorrow.

 

As Paul thinks of Timothy, he is reminded of Timothy’s family. He tells of the faith that first dwelt in Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. Paul speaks of their sincere faith. He says that same faith also dwells in Timothy.

 

You see, the Holy Spirit had worked a sincere faith in their hearts, one that showed itself also in the way Eunice and Lois instructed Timothy in the Old Testament when he was still a child. Through the Holy Spirit working in the hearts of his mother and grandmother, we can see how the godly examples of faithful parents and grandparents can bring eternal blessings to children and children’s children.

 

But did you notice what’s not mentioned by Paul? It is kind of striking. Paul never mentions Timothy’s father or grandfather. And when men are not mentioned in the Scriptures, it is usually for the better. 

You see, if Timothy was to know the Scriptures, he wasn’t going to get that from his father. For Acts 16:1 tells us that his father was a Greek, a heathen, an unbeliever. Timothy grew up in a home with divided loyalties, much like so many homes today.

 

And when the head of the household will not lead the home, who ends up doing it? The mother. This is the case for Timothy. This is the case for so many households today.

 

But the good news is that Timothy was taught the faith from his mother, who learned it from her mother. Through the working of the Holy Spirit in his mother and indwelling in him, Timothy learned the sound words of Christian doctrine. Timothy became a disciple of Christ. Timothy received the laying on of hands. He was ordained to the holy calling of pastor.

 

But something happened to Timothy after he became a pastor. He changed. He became timid. 

 

Something happens to us as we grow older. At some point in our lives, we all develop the virtue of hesitancy. Now, certainly the faith given to us through the Holy Spirit is still there, but that faith does not flow so smoothly through the mouth. We become timid. We hesitate to speak of the hope we have in Christ with others. We shut our mouths at family gatherings. We shut our mouths among our friends. We learned the virtue of hesitating. We have learned how to keep our mouths quiet. 

 

Now, certainly a major part of why we hesitate and become timid is the hostile world around us. We desire to live in this hostile world, so we hesitate to speak of the good news we have in Christ with our friends, our family, our neighbor. We don’t want to cause a scene, so we keep our mouths quiet.

 

One person who did not keep his mouth quiet speaking of the sure and certain hope he had in Jesus Christ was Charlie Kirk. He spoke in some of the most un-Christian places: college campuses. He conversed with people who disagreed with him. He would have those who disagreed with him come to the front of the line to argue their opinions. Sometimes Charlie changed their mind. Other times he did not. Sometimes Charlie would change his own mind. But each conversation was rooted in God’s Word and for that Charlie was hated by many. He was called a bigot. He was called a Nazi, a fascist. He was called a white supremacist. He was called a homophobe, a transphobe. But for those who called Charlie names, did they truly know why? I tend to doubt they even knew why. They just heard it said by someone else and believed the lie.

In John 15, Jesus said to His disciples: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” … But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated Me without a cause’” (John 15:18-20a, 25).

 

Charlie was hated by many because he was faithful to God’s Word as he spoke on college campuses. And for being faithful to his Lord and Savior, he was assassinated last month. May we have the same courage of Charlie Kirk.

 

This is exactly what St. Paul was saying to Timothy. With a clear and gentle rebuke, St. Paul wrote to Timothy that God has not given Christians a spirit of fear.

 

Maybe Timothy was fearful because he went from an innocent and naïve faith and has now encountered a world that has killed its Maker. We all know of Christians who have walked away from the faith. We all know Christians who have chosen to leave Bible-centered churches to churches that are praised by the fallen world.

 

Timothy has learned to keep his mouth shut. He has learned to be ashamed of the testimony of God’s Word. And so have we.

 

We, too, have been confronted by a world that has rejected its Maker. We have all heard those false teachers in the world – on television and social media, in our places of learning. We know how persuasive those false teachers have been. We have all seen brothers and sisters depart from the one true faith. Despite our prolonged and gut-wrenching efforts to draw them back, we have watched them walk away. And we know faithful Christians suffer. We have learned how to keep our mouths shut. We have learned how to keep our mouths quiet. We have learned to conceal the deep love and the utter dependance we have on Jesus. We have learned how to conceal that hope when we chat with our friends and neighbors. 

 

We all need St. Paul’s encouragement that he gave to this young pastor named Timothy. Did you notice how he encourages Timothy? He encourages him by summoning the little boy he once was. He says, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, … dwells in you” (2 Timothy 1:5).

The Holy Spirit dwells in Timothy. The Spirit of the One who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light dwells in Timothy.

 

And He dwells in you, too. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, how could anyone of us be ashamed of Jesus? Afterall, He “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” (2 Timothy 1:9).

 

In other words, Jesus has “redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.” (Second Article)

 

We received God’s grace not because of anything you and I have done, but by what God has done for us. We cannot even take responsibility for coming to faith. Eunice and Lois and your parents and grandparents certainly played a role, but it was the Holy Spirit who brought them and you to faith. For “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” (Third Article)

 

This is how God does it. This is God’s way. You have faith “because of His own purpose and grace” (2 Timothy 1:9). Yours and my faith is all because of God’s grace from beginning to end. And He keeps us strong in faith through His Means of Grace as “He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth” through the preaching of His Word and the receiving of His Sacraments. 

 

So, “follow the pattern of the sound words” that you have been taught “in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:13). Pay close attention to what God has said and done in Christ. Guard the good deposit. Read the Word, Hear the Word, live His Word. For there is nothing more important than God’s Word. Don’t be ashamed. Don’t be timid. But be courageous. Be childlike in the faith and look for opportunities to share with your loved ones, your neighbors, of the faith you have. For the One who destroyed death has also “brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10). Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +