Series C 20th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 23) Rev. Ron Brauer
Text: 2 Timothy
2:1-13 October 14, 2007
“Strengthened in Order to Endure”
Almighty God, Your Son willingly endured the agony and shame of the cross for our redemption. Grant us courage to take up our cross daily and follow Him wherever He leads; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
There he is. He sits in the dim shadows and musty smell of this prison. You see him through the bars of his jail cell as he is chained like a common criminal. But does he behave like the rest of those put in this prison? Does he cry out in despair? No. Who is this man who has seen prison time before and has been beaten and left for dead?
It’s Paul, Paul of Tarsus. Once consumed by zeal as a Pharisee in defending the law, now he is a prisoner of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. He’s been in this cell for some time now, waiting his appearance and hearing before the emperor. He knows his fate—death. He knows his faith—in Jesus Christ alone. He knows his future—the crown of life in heaven. He knows the urgency of his writing this last letter of encouragement to a man who would be leader of God’s people back in Ephesus.
Again this week we peek over Paul’s shoulder and see what he writes to young Timothy to encourage him and strengthen him in order to endure the hardships he will certainly face as he serves his Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. Yet those words are not just meant for this fledgling pastor; these words are meant for you and me today as well, especially as we are united in this Christian Church. We, too, will be strengthened in order to endure the testing of our faith as Christian stewards.
“You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” Amen. We could conclude the sermon with those words. Those words point to the source of our strength in our times of need. Previous to this Paul has told how he was suffering for the sake of the Gospel. He repeats this when he says later that he is chained up like a common criminal. But his captivity in that dark, musty smelling, prison cell will not prevent him from relying on the source of his strength and blessings, namely the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit.
Paul reminds Timothy of the work he is to do in Ephesus, that of entrusting the teachings to faithful men who will teach others these same biblical truths. This instruction and commissioning to teach continues in the church today with our synodical schools, universities, and seminaries, bringing qualified candidates to the Church for their being called into the ministry of preaching and teaching of the Gospel.
But the mechanics of setting up a system of instruction is secondary to what Paul then tells Timothy, “Share in the suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Then, typical of Paul, he uses a teachable moment, applying images that are used as object lessons. ‘Consider the soldier, the athlete, and the farmer,’ Paul would say in effect.
Look at that soldier. Certainly by now, with all of his jail time, Paul has had opportunity to look at the soldiers guarding him. He probably conversed with them, finding out what the life of a soldier was like. “No soldier,” Paul has learned, “gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlists him.” No soldier gets wrapped up in the worries of this world, what he should eat, or what he should drink, or what he should wear. He trusts his commanding officer to have provided all that for him even before he reaches the battlefield. A soldier easily distracted by those thorns of worry would be choked and ineffective in battle.
Or consider the athlete. He learns the rules of competition; he knows the course he is to run. To set aside the rules and take a short cut or fail to get the proper equipment or fail to get physically fit would disqualify him.
And consider the hard-working farmer, who in the spring plants his seeds, expecting a harvest in the fall, and when the harvest comes, is the first to stand in line to get his share of the crops.
What unites the soldier and athlete and farmer is that they must suffer the bad. The soldier faces the bad with injury or even death, and even more damaging are the entanglements of earthly pleasure and passion. The athlete suffers the bad when his body is not physically fit to endure the race due to illness or lack of training and practice. He also suffers when other competitors cheat or use unlawful means to get the prize. The farmer suffers the bad with drought conditions, or when there is too much rain, damaging wind, and hail.
Paul then tells Timothy and us to think over what he has said, and the Lord will send His Holy Spirit to enlighten our hearts and minds to that true understanding.
Then Paul gives this imperative: Remember Jesus Christ! He’s risen from the dead. He is the true Messiah and King, having descended from David. And just as Jesus is no longer held by death, so to the Word of God is not bound. It is that Word of God, that Gospel in Jesus Christ, which strengthens the believer to endure suffering for the sake of all those who would hear the Gospel. It is the elect, those in the world who would be granted the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. No one is to be excluded from hearing the Gospel.
Paul then calls to mind all that he has written in his previous letters, and in a poetic sense, summarizes some important truths regarding the Christian faith: If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him. That’s baptismal language. Paul wrote about that in Romans 6, where he says, “Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”
Next, Paul says, “If we endure, we will also reign with Him.” Translating from the Greek this would say, “If we continue to endure.” Paul recalls what he wrote to these Romans regarding enduring the sufferings and how the believer comes out victorious: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:25-27)
None of the earthly ways of suffering can defeat the faithful! The faithful come out on top; they reign over suffering because they endure in Christ. They can do all things in Christ who strengthens them (Philippians 4:13). Matthew 10:22 gives the Savior’s own words, “And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”
A future condition follows, “If we deny Him, He will also deny us.” Paul almost quotes our Lord when He says in Matthew 10:33, “But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” That denial can come as bold as Peter’s when he said in the courtyard after Jesus’ arrest, “I do not know the man.” Or it can come as subtle as simply failing to obey our Lord’s will to hallow His name, our let Him reign in our lives, or let His will be done.
If throughout anytime in our life we are faithless, God remains faithful. He cannot deny Himself and the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His faithfulness endures forever, for which we give thanks unto the Lord.
These are faithful sayings, and all that Paul writes to Timothy is equally important to the believer today. It applies to you and me, not only as fellow members of the Body of Christ, but especially as our roll of Christian stewards—caretakers and managers of all that God has given us. And it is particularly important for us today, here at St. John’s Lutheran Church and School as we consider how God’s grace strengthens us to endure the hardships we face, not only as individuals, but also as the Church. For we know the difficulties and challenges that our personal faith encounters each day, even more so as we consider the dire needs of our congregation.
The Christian steward is like that soldier, that athlete, that farmer. We encounter the bad in our walk of faith. Like the soldier we will be tempted to become worldly, getting entangled in the things of this world, and fail to count the one thing needful. Like an athlete, we will be tempted to give up and quit running the race. We will be tempted to run off the path of faith and love, and will use unlawful means to get the prize through self-righteous acts. We will support our pet sin rather than support the church, thus harming our bodies and failing to bring our flesh into submission to God’s will.
Like the farmer we will be tempted to keep all the harvest to ourselves, and failing even to return that tithe to the Lord. We will be tempted to tear down our barns and build bigger, failing to see that our very soul is required of us.
All these temptations lead to sin, and we stand outside at a distance, just like those lepers, plagued by deadly uncleanness. Our sin condemns us to be cast away, where our only cry is “Unclean! Unclean!” We can do nothing to cleanse ourselves. Our only desire is to be like Orpah and return to the land of our false gods.
But Jesus calls us to repentance. He puts into our hearts and mouths those words that confess Him as Lord and Master. We can only cry, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” By His death on the cross and His glorious resurrection from the dead, Jesus shows us that mercy. He rescues us from the dim shadows and musty smells of our prisons, those prisons of fear, and self-centeredness, and death, those prisons of hate, and doubt, and sin. Christ burst the bars holding Him, and thus frees us, the captive, releasing us, the prisoners, and announcing to us the time of God’s favor, of His grace, that grace that strengthens us to endure the hardships and the bad in our life. We receive that faith as Ruth did, leaving the land of sin, and confessing the God of Israel.
The Christian steward is like a soldier, trusting his commanding officer to provide all that he needs on the battlefield: his food, clothing, shelter, and all that is needed to support his body in life. He trusts the commander, his Lord and Savior, to have a battle plan that will win the victory, and will train him to use the weapons placed in his hand, that weapon of the Sword of the Word of God, to beat down Satan and crush him underfoot.
The Christian steward is like that athlete, running his course, having trained for the race. Thereby we are encouraged, “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:1-3).
The Christian steward is like the farmer, trusting that there will be a harvest, either of 30 or 60 or 100 times what is planted. And even if the harvest is 20, he still rejoices, for he knows that greed will cause him to grumble that his crop wasn’t greater. He knows his labor in the Lord is never in vain. In reading the rest of the Book of Ruth, we see how Boaz could trust the Lord in leaving a little extra grain in the field for Ruth to glean.
The Christian steward recognizes the faithfulness of God. It is purely out of fatherly divine goodness and mercy that we are given any of the blessings in this life, without any merit or worthiness in us.
“Remember Jesus Christ!” Paul would shout from that jail cell. And you come, cleansed of your uncleanness having bowed before your High Priest Jesus and receiving His forgiveness, and by His bidding, taking and eating His very body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. This we do, “in remembrance of Me.”
What is it that holds you, the Christian steward, in the musty jail cell of your fear? Is it sickness or pain or death? Remember Jesus Christ—He abolished death forever, and brings life and immortality to light. Do the fears of the future for employment or retirement keep you awake or trouble your spirit? Remember Jesus Christ! Our Lord and Master and Commander-in-Chief provides all that is needed for our body and soul in this life and the life eternal. Do financial worries rob you of the joy of doing God’s work? Remember Jesus Christ! “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
“You then, my fellow redeemed, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” Amen.
Almighty God, grant to Your Church Your Holy Spirit and the wisdom that comes down from above, that Your Word may not be bound but have free course and be preached to the joy and edifying of Christ’s holy people, that in steadfast faith we may serve You and, in the confession of Your name, abide [and be strengthened] unto the end, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.