Video to come.
Morning Message Text: 2 Timothy 2: 8-15
8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel,
9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.
10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
11 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
Dealing With False Teachers
14 Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen.
15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
Morning Message:
“I will extol the Lord with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.” As I read that verse in Psalms, I was reminded of exactly what my work is. It is so easy to get caught up in what is going on in the world around us. Things are truly spinning out of control to a point that I don’t believe I have seen in my lifetime. I hear some compare it to the riots of the 1960s, but I lived through all of that, and it doesn’t seem to come close to what we see across this nation today. People openly trying to kill law enforcement officers for enforcing the law. Depending on who you talk to there are many excuses given for why this is happening, a lot of finger pointing as to who’s to blame, but none of that should matter. In a civilized society there is never an excuse that would make attacking someone, especially a police officer. I must remind myself that none of that matters when we are here assembled. “I will extol the Lord with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.”
I believe that God has a sense of humor, at least it feels that way sometimes. I say that jokingly because I know that God always has a plan for each one of us. I am a very opinionated person, or so my wife tells me. No, seriously, I know that my strong opinions can get the best of me. I study everything so that my opinions are well informed, and for a big part of my life I told everyone exactly what my opinion was about everything. Some might say that’s obnoxious, and at times it probably was. Here is the funny part. God called me to the work of a pastor. A position where the only way to do your work properly is to keep your opinions to yourself. Sitting in the pews as a part of a congregation you can express your opinion, and if someone disagrees, they can express their opinion. I am called to a position of neutrality with one exception: I can freely, with God’s help, proclaim God’s Word and how it should affect the life of the congregation that God has called me to.
“I will extol the Lord with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.” Paul says, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s Word is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.” I feel what Paul is saying here. When God calls you to his work there is always a sacrifice to be made. Suffering is often God’s springboard for accomplishing what could not be done otherwise through a person’s life. I pray that none of us will be called to suffer as Paul did in prison, but look at what he accomplished through his suffering. He evangelized the Roman Empire, proving that God’s Word is not—and cannot ever be chained. This kind of goes along with last week’s message where we were encouraged to think of ourselves as unworthy servants. We are all just workers. The sacrifice that you must make in order to do what God has called you to do is different from my sacrifice, but we are all just workers.
Quoting an early Christian hymn, Paul reminded Timothy that God is faithful to fulfill his promises. Repeat this after me. “If we died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown Him, He will also disown us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot disown himself.” Maybe we should make it part of our daily discipline to repeat those verses.
From God’s perspective, there are two kinds of workers. The approved worker rigorously studies and applies God’s Word, eager to find its truths and unfold them to others in the pursuit of godliness. Let’s make sure we understand that today. Giving your all to the task before you. When you are completely committed to something, nothing else matters. You don’t look for excuses and try to find ways to get out of the work because the work is what you are living for. An old song comes to mind. Honestly as I am writing this it just popped into my head. I have probably quoted this line to you before, “What am I living for, if not for you?” This is a serious question.
The unapproved worker reads the Bible in pursuit of their own interests instead of real understanding. This yields discord and increasing ungodly behavior. Why do we have discord in the church? Why do we even have time to disagree about the world around us? I know that I am guilty of this. I allow politics, political discord, every evil thing that the world throws at me, to take my eye off the ball, to take my attention from the work. We are not called to solve the problems of the world or this nation; we are called to pray for all of it and do the work.
Shallow sermons lead to shallow saints, and mistaken preaching leads to misguided lives. “Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen.” Ruins in the Greek within this context means “turning upside down.” In other words, bad doctrine demolishes faith, causing people to think and live wrongly, while good doctrine, based on a right understanding of the Word of truth builds up and fortifies faith. Let me put that into simpler terms. I can stand up here and never say anything that causes you to think about the work that God has called you to. That would be a total disregard for the work that God has called me to. I am just a worker just like you, but the work that God calls us to is serious and life changing.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
Views: 0
