I want to first review the overall theme of this first chapter before we consider the details of this last couple of paragraphs at the end. Sometimes, I think that in attempting to exposit the word, verse by verse, we fall victim to the old adage that we can’t see the forest for the trees. We have spent weeks now going verse by verse through this chapter, and it’s good if we remind ourselves of the main thought and purpose that Paul is trying to convey.
So to begin with, we need to remember that Paul is in prison as he writes this letter, and the Lord has revealed to him that he will not get out of there alive. The time of his death is imminent. He says in chapter 4 vs 6 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.” There is no greater gravitas in a man’s life than realizing that your death is imminent. I don’t think that I would want to know my life was soon to be over. Perhaps it would be easier to go in your sleep.
But the Psalmist said there was a benefit in knowing that your days are numbered. Psalm 90:12 says, “So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” We should live each day like it was to be our last. If we lived like that, then I am sure we would live life quite differently. I am sometimes amazed to see people that look as though they might not make it much past dinner, and yet they are involved in activities that seem to defy any sense of their mortality. And contrarily, it is almost just as disheartening to see young people waste so much of their invaluable time and resources, as if they thought that their youth would never end.
Irregardless, Paul recognizes his time is close, and so he writes this last letter to his son in the faith, to make sure that he passes on all that he possibly can in order to strengthen and encourage Timothy in his faith. It would seem that Timothy was feeling a little of what a lot of Christians must have been feeling at that time. They were fearing for their lives. Nero was emperor. He had burned Rome and blamed it on the Christians. And as a result, Christians were being rounded up and exterminated. It was said that Nero illuminated his garden by the burning bodies of Christians who were tied to poles placed around the palace grounds. Christians were public enemy number one, and Paul was personally suffering from that national purge, at this point rotting in a dungeon, which was probably not more than a hole in the ground with a metal grate over it. And furthermore, he knew by the Spirit that he was going to be executed.
So in light of this persecution against Christians, Paul writes to Timothy to be courageous, to not be fearful, but to continue his ministry by the power of the Holy Spirit and be bold in the proclamation of the gospel. He reminds him of the faith of their forefathers, and the faith of Timothy’s mother Eunice and grandmother Lois. All those saints, though dead, had persevered in the faith. He reminds him that he himself had persevered in the faith in spite of persecutions, imprisonments, and abandonment by associates. And so he tells Timothy to rekindle the fire of his faith, not let it grow cold or even be hidden, but to join with Paul in suffering for the gospel.
We must not skim over that exhortation of Paul. In effect, he is telling young Timothy that he needs to prepare to possibly lose his own life for the sake of the gospel. A lot of preachers and Bible commentators make much over the timidity of Timothy, as if he is some sort of sissy, or lightweight. But I wouldn’t be surprised to find out in heaven that Timothy was quite a man, in every sense of the word. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that he was bold and courageous, far beyond what we might be in similar circumstances. But he is facing possible torture and death and Paul is saying don’t shy away from it. Some ancient non biblical writings say that Timothy did eventually die around 80 years old as a martyr by stoning for preaching the gospel.
But here is the thing that is behind Paul’s exhortation. What’s behind this urgency is Paul’s assertion that the gospel is the antidote for death. The whole world is condemned to death and to eternal separation from God. The whole world lies in the power of darkness and are dead in their trespasses and sins. And only the gospel can save them. Only the power of the gospel can deliver men and women from eternal damnation and destruction. And Paul and Timothy were the men that God had chosen to bring the gospel to a dying world. They were on an urgent mission of mercy to save souls. Their mission was so important that it was well worth risking or even sacrificing their lives for it.
In our society today we see some people who are convinced that the world is being destroyed by climate change or some environmental concern. These people are called eco warriors, or environmental activists. These people are so concerned for the safety of the planet that they are willing to make great sacrifices in their own lives in order to do what they think will preserve the planet. I don’t necessarily agree with their agenda, but I must say I admire their zeal and passion for what they believe in. Some of them I’m sure really believe they are doing what is essential for the preservation of humanity.
But I wonder if Christians have an equal zeal and passion for the saving of humanity. If we really believed the gospel then we might have a different attitude towards reaching the lost with the truth. I said last week that there are two sides to the gospel. Paul said in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Paul goes on in the next verses of that passage that in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, and the wrath of God is revealed against unrighteousness. Both aspects need to be revealed, both God’s gift of righteousness and God’s wrath against unrighteousness. That is the full gospel that leads to salvation. It’s a matter of life or death. And we need to understand that we have in the gospel the only answer to death, the only way to life.
The English Puritan pastor Richard Baxter once famously wrote of preaching the gospel as a dying man to dying men. He was emphasizing the urgency of the gospel. But I think that it is more accurate to think of it as a living man preaching to dying men with the message of life.
The gospel is worth sacrificing for. It’s worth dying for. We need not fear dying, because we that have believed the gospel have been given immortality. Paul said as much in vs 10, “[the gospel] now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” So Timothy should not be ashamed of it, should not be fearful of the consequences of preaching it, because he is immortal, and the gospel is the only means by which the world can be saved from death.
Now as Paul concludes this section of his exhortation, he goes on to add another concern that he has for Timothy, and that is that Timothy guard the gospel. That he holds fast the sound doctrine which comprises the gospel. He says in vs 13, “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” I don’t think the NASB does the word rendered “retain” justice. The KJV says “hold fast.” Don’t let the gospel, or what he calls sound words, slip away. The ESV says “follow the pattern.” I kind of like that one; in other words, follow the blueprint I laid down for you. Follow the pattern of sound doctrine that was given to you and don’t deviate from it.
We speak a lot about doctrine in this church, especially sound doctrine as opposed to false doctrine. But what does doctrine mean? It simply means teaching. Principles and precepts laid out in the word of God. Soundness means you can trust it. We talk about a banking institution being sound. Sound doctrine then is principles that arise from the word of God, the pure milk of the word, the truth of God.
Listen, if the gospel is the antidote for death, then it’s important that the antidote is not watered down, it is not adulterated, it is not added to, it is not based on false premises or worldly knowledge or the world’s wisdom. If, as Paul says in Romans 1:16, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for all the world, then it must retain the sound doctrine that God gave it. Christ gave the gospel to Paul. It wasn’t some concoction of Paul’s, or Peters, or anyone else. Paul said in 1 Corinthians, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you…”. Paul was faithful to retain the sound words of Christ, and pass them on in his epistles to the church, and particularly to entrust their keeping to Timothy. Now Timothy was to be responsible for preserving the soundness of the gospel.
The gospel was under attack then, and it is under attack today. The gospel is under attack from within the church and from without the church. Paul describes the attacks from within the church in chapter 4 vs 3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but [wanting] to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”
Why would professing Christians do such a thing? Because they were ashamed of the gospel. The gospel is offensive. People think that if the message isn’t all about love, then it isn’t going to be accepted, and they aren’t going to be accepted or liked by the world. And so they water down the gospel. I will give you the acid test for you to take back to your church to see if they have watered down the gospel. I suggest that you to keep track of how often the pastor speaks about sin. How often does he call out certain things as sin, and how often does he call for repentance from sin? I would suggest to you that if the calling out of sin as sin is a rarity in your church, then they have already capitulated to the world.
So Timothy, and by extension, we here today, must follow the pattern of sound doctrine. Don’t deviate from it to try to conciliate or accommodate the world. Only in it’s purity is the gospel effectual. And then notice he adds, “in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” In the faith means an unswerving belief, a deep seated belief. It’s assurance that these things are so. It’s not a type of thinking which says, “well, as long as you believe in something that is all that matters.” It’s a firm conviction that the truth of God is absolutely true, that it’s just as relevant today as it was 2000 years ago, and that the word of God endures forever and is unchanging.
Paul spoke earlier of the fatih of his forefathers. Did you know that some of our forefathers in the faith died for the word of God? For the privilege of reading the word of God? William Tyndale was such a man, a man to whom we owe most of our translation of the Bible. He was the first to translate the Bible into English from the original Greek and Hebrew languages and he was eventually executed for that crime. Wikipedia says “In 1535, Tyndale was arrested, and jailed in the castle of Vilvoorde outside Brussels for over a year. In 1536, he was convicted of heresy and executed by strangulation, after which his body was burnt at the stake. His dying prayer was that the King of England's eyes would be opened; this seemed to find its fulfillment just one year later with Henry's authorization of the Matthew Bible, which was largely Tyndale's work.” That’s an example of not being ashamed of the gospel. That’s an example of the faith of a man that knew that the only hope for the world was the gospel, which is contained in the word of God, and that it was worth the greatest sacrifice in order to see that men had the opportunity to hear the gospel.
And that’s an illustration of the love that Paul speaks of at the end of vs 13. The love the Bible speaks of is not sentimentality. It’s not just an emotion. But it’s a sacrificial concern for the well being of others above your own needs. That is love. Jesus said, no greater love has any man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends. William Tyndale had a love for others that caused him to give his life so that they might have the gospel in written form.
Paul goes on to give further instructions to Timothy in regards to the gospel in vs 14. “Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to [you.]”. Paul speaks of the gospel as a treasure, which Timothy must guard against attacks from the enemies from without and within. This is not an idle exhortation. Timothy is to keep watch over the gospel as a sentinel would keep watch over camp, or over a garrison. A watchman, a sentinel must call out when danger approaches. He must be on guard against subterfuge. He must be vigilant night or day.
Listen, the gospel is a treasure beyond our comprehension. When the crowds left Jesus because of the offensiveness of His gospel, Jesus asked the disciples, will you leave me now also? And Peter responded, “Where are we to go? For you have the words of life.” Peter got it. There is no greater treasure than the words of life, the sound words of Christ, the doctrine of salvation, the truth of God.
The apostle John wrote in 1John 1:1-3 “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life-- and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us-- what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” What a treasure is this word of life, and we must guard it, that it’s power may not be diminished, and that souls might be saved.
And Paul adds that Timothy must guard it by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. That power of the Holy Spirit would be what would make Timothy triumph over the enemies attacks. The Spirit gave him discernment when the enemy tried to confuse, or to question. The Spirit gave him insight, when the false teachers tried to undermine the gospel. The number one tactic of the devil is to lie, and his second tactic is to deceive. But in the power of the Holy Spirit, we are given discernment and sound judgment so that we may disarm him.
In the last paragraph of this chapter, Paul gives two examples of other Christians as illustrations of either being ashamed of the gospel, or not being ashamed of the gospel. These two examples are likely people that Timothy knew well from his ministry in Ephesus. He first gives the negative example in vs 15 “You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.”
We don’t know who Phygelus and Hermogenes are, or their background. This is the only place in scripture they are mentioned. We have no record of their activities, but we do have their names engraved on the hall of shame. Certainly though Timothy knew these men. It is suggested by some scholars that they may have been neighboring pastors. And it would seem that somehow they had an opportunity to help Paul, either in his legal defense, or in some sort of assistance to him while he was in prison. And yet Paul says that they turned away from him. Others also had turned away from him in his hour of need, but these men perhaps were the leaders.
Undoubtedly, they thought that to be considered as associates of Paul was not a healthy thing in that political climate. Paul had captured a lot of attention, and was obviously a man who had spent a lot of time in prison, in beatings, had fought with the lions, had even been stoned and left for dead. Common sense would tell you that if you hung around Paul, or were an associate of Paul, then you could expect a similar fate. And so when the going got tough, they abandoned ship. They deserted Paul and tried to get as much distance from him and his gospel as possible.
The other example is a good example of a man who is not ashamed of the gospel. Paul speaks of him in vs 16, “The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains; but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me-- the Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day--and you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus.”
Onesiphorus is another person of whom we know very little. He is mentioned only here in 2 Timothy. His name may give us some insight into his character though. It means “bringing profit.” It’s obvious from Paul’s statement that he brought profit to Paul, he often refreshed Paul and was not ashamed of his chains. Perhaps he brought food to Paul, or clothing. These things were not always prohibited when someone was in prison. In fact, Paul asks Timothy at the end of this letter to bring some things such as his cloak and the parchments.
But it’s likely that Onesiphorus went out of his way to serve Paul in his imprisonment. First, Paul says that he had to search all over the city of Rome for Paul. That in and of itself would have been a dangerous thing, especially since Paul was such a persona non grata to the Roman authorities. It seems that he had traveled there from Ephesus in order to look for Paul in Rome. That journey would also have not been without great danger and expense.
But what one commentator at least suggested that is really telling about the character of Onesiphorus, was he suggested that he might have ended up losing his life as a result of this desire to serve Paul. And that is indicated by the fact that Paul says he sends greetings to the house of Onesiphorus. And then in the last chapter, he says give his greetings to the household of Oneshiphorus. It’s possible that Paul wished them well, and asked for God’s mercies upon them because Onesiphorus had lost his life in the service of the gospel. Now that is conjecture, but the wording does make it seem as though Paul is blessing his family, but the man himself has passed away.
Whether that is true or not we will have to wait until we get to heaven to know for sure. But one thing we do know for sure is that the name of Onesiphorus is written on the hall of fame of the faithful. Paul says, he was not ashamed of my chains. He made a tremendous sacrifice for the sake of the gospel, and possibly even made the ultimate sacrifice. But either way, Paul wishes for Onesiphorus, that the the Lord would grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day. That day refers to the day of judgment, the judgement seat of the Lord which everyone will one day stand in front of.
Paul said of his own faith and the fate which he was to face in chapter 4 vs 7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future 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.”
It is daunting to be sure to endure criticism and judgment from your peers or from your community. It would be frightening to be judged by a court of law here on earth because of your faith as a Christian, or to have to bear the punishment for such a crime as did William Tyndale. But there is one tribunal that everyman and woman on earth will one day be judged by. If needs be we suffer judgement here on earth by the world’s courts then so be it. But I can guarantee that the reward of the faithful at the judgment seat of the Lord will make all those trials here on earth seem insignificant in comparison.
I trust that you will follow the example of Paul and Timothy and Onesiphorus, and not be ashamed of the gospel, but because of your love for God and your love for your fellow man, sacrifice whatever you have to give in order to share the good news of salvation to a lost and dying world. There is no greater love than this. There is no more noble purpose in life.
No comments:
Post a Comment