Memory And Endurance

MEMORY AND ENDURANCE (October 13, 2019)

Text: II Timothy 2:8 -15

2Ti 2:8-15  Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel,  (9)  for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained.  (10)  Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.  (11)  The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him;  (12)  if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us;  (13)  if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.  (14)  Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening.  (15)  Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth. (NRSV)

Years ago, I used to be a volunteer chaplain. At the time, I lived in St. Stephen and served as a pastor of two churches there in the Charleston District. Although my badge was with Berkeley county, most of the work I did as a chaplain was with the St. Stephen Police Department.

One night I was doing a ride along as we passed a car going the wrong way down a one way street. The officer I was riding with pulled that car over. What they discovered was a minor driving grandmama’s car without her knowledge. He was taken to the station where they started paper work and gave him two options---county jail or call grandma. He chose grandma. His grandma reminded me of Tyler Perry’s fictional character Madea. Before grandma showed up, I offered counsel to the this young man and told him he might want to change his ways. I described the sound of the prison door closing and told him that that sound had different meanings for visitors and prisoners. For prisoners the sound of the door means you can’t leave.

Sin holds people in the prison of guilt. Although they might be physically, spiritually they are prisoners to what John Wesley once referred to as “the power and guilt of sin”.

As we know, Paul was a prisoner because those who incarcerated him treated his preaching of the Gospel a sin Paul’s message to Timothy and those in the church was that disciples can be detained for spreading the Gospel but they can never hold the Gospel in prison! We are here to liberate those who are imprisoned by sin because sin is their master.

Paul’s message is about memory, endurance and the word.

MEMORY

How does God want us to use our memory?

1) Recall: God wants us to use our memory to recall the truth. God wants us to remember how our spiritual ancestors made God angry in the wilderness because of their rebellion (Deuteronomy 9:7).

2) Time: God wants us to use our memory to remember how short time is (Psalm 89:7) because our days are numbered (Psalm 90:12).

3) Avoid the road to Babylon: Gods wants us to use our memory to help us remember that unless we build according to His plans we build in vain (Psalm 127:1).

4) Grace: God wants to remember that we have been saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8) because we were bought with a price (I Corinthians 6:20; 7:23).

5) Sacred duty: God wants us to remember to be holy as He is holy (Leviticus 19:2; I Peter 1:16).

6) Our marching orders for the lost: God wants us to “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (Hebrews 13:3 ESV).

7) This is not our home: God wants us to remember all of these things so that we can remember where we are going because God’s plans for us for a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11) are to make it to our home in heaven.

"Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the tickets of every passenger. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket. He couldn’t find his ticket, so he reached in his trouser pockets. It wasn’t there, so he looked in his briefcase but couldn’t find it. Then he looked in the seat beside him. He still couldn’t find it. >>> The conductor said, “Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. We all know who you are. I’m sure you bought a ticket. Don’t worry about it”. >>> Einstein nodded appreciatively. The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets. As he was ready to move to the next car, he turned around and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his seat for his ticket. >>> The conductor rushed back and said, “Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don’t worry, I know who you are. No problem. You don’t need a ticket. I’m sure you bought one”. >>> Einstein looked at him and said, “Young man, I too, know who I am. What I don’t know is where I’m going”." https://talesbyjames.com/2016/05/07/einsteins-lost-ticket/ Having Jesus our our Savior is the only way we will ever make it to heaven!