The “E” word
I am not sure that any of you have noticed something about me. I don’t necessarily think it is weird but you might.
I spend a little time each week thinking about stuff that seem like it should not matter to anyone. My thought this week; I wonder, as you are heading to church on any given Sunday morning, do you worry about what I might preach about?
Are there subjects and scriptures that you hope I will Not be speaking on….? Boy, I hope Tom does not talk about X, Y or Z today.
If you do have a fear like that, don’t tell me. It would be just too tempting to go there.
The thing is I could probably already name at least 5 of your top ten without trying too hard. Tithing, gossiping, persecution, failure, using your gifts, any of the sins that you might be guilty of ….
Maybe we will come back to that topic in a little while; for right now lets talk about the scripture we read this morning. As I mentioned it seems to be in the middle of a book that is sharing personal wisdom.
It sounds like Timothy is some kid. But it is very likely that he is at least 36 years old. In Acts 16:1 Timothy is call a disciple and that would normally indicate that he is considered an adult which would make him at least 20 years old. Scholars say that this letter was written at least 16 years after the event in Acts 16. So while he may be considered young. He is not a teenager.
It seems that Paul has taken him under his wing and given him fatherly advice. The only mention of a father is that he was a Greek. We don’t know if Timothy’s father is alive or not. – If he is around is a non believer and this is evident because Timothy is not circumcised.
And his mother was a Hebrew. earlier in the letter Paul praises timothy because of the faith of his mother and Grandmother. Generally, has says that theses ladies raised him right. The took him to synagogue (Church ) and taught him the scriptures.
Our reading started with a quick overview of some of the things that happened to Paul and how God was faithful even in his times of trouble. Antioch, Iconium and Lystra are cities where Paul was mistreated on the first Missionary Journey documented in Acts. Timothy was from Lystra and met Paul when he pass through on the first missionary Journey and joined him on the second journey.
Timothy receives this letter as the leader of the church in Ephesus.
Lets run down a quick list of what we know about Timothy.
• He quickly agreed to join Paul and Silas on the second missionary journey and stayed on as Paul’s traveling companion for years.
• He was respected Christian in his hometown.
• He was Paul’s special representative on several occasions.
• He spent a lot of time with Paul and probably knew him better than most people of the day.
All that sounds pretty good.
But we also know that he has some weaknesses:
• He struggled with a timid nature.
• He was self conscious about his age and allowed others to look down on him.
• He failed to correct the problems in the church in Corinth when Paul sent him.
And yet Timothy is still in ministry, he is serving a pretty big and active church.
In our reading to day Paul speaks of what Timothy knows about Paul.
He knows all that Paul has been through.
He knows what Paul knows about God and Jesus Christ.
And he knows that Paul is a trust worthy source of information about God.
Then Paul makes a statement that probably is something that none of us wants to hear.
“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
EVERYONE who wants to live Godly lives WILL be persecuted.
Ok, first, I don’t like that. I don’t want to be persecuted for my faith. And so far in our country it is not really common for Christians to be persecuted in the way that Paul is warning. In China and other foreign places, yes it is very real and deadly and terrible.
It is pretty easy for us to complain as our culture feels the need to exclude or attempt to exclude Christians from the political process. But I don’t think we are very persecuted right now, I know that there are exceptions.
But, in general we face very little physical persecution. But Paul says that EVERY person living godly lives Will be persecuted.
He adds something else I don really like, evil men and imposters will will go from bad to worse, I believe that he means move farther from faith and not situations. They will deceive and be deceive. I really believe that he is talking about people within the church. People that will lead the church astray because they will actually put their faith in themselves as teachers and preachers and will succeed in leading people away from a proper relationship with God.
We have seen that kind of thing in the past, David Koresh, Jones town. Are tow that ended in horrible tragedy.
Then Paul offers an exception, “But as for you,” of course we assume that Paul us talking to Timothy. But if you consider yourself to be a Christian, if you have a similar background and even weaknesses, he is talking to you also.
Paul encourages Timothy to continue in his faith not being influenced by the imposters. Depend on what he had learned from credible sources and knows in his hart is true. That means the scripture he learned as a child from family. And what he has learned form Paul.
Think for a second, does any of that description match your back ground?
If you are a person that has spent time in Sunday School or perhaps even your family, read scripture together as a child, then the letter is also speaking to you.
In fact I will go a little farther, as Christians we are all considered priest and that means that we are all in ministry to each other and to the world …so we can and should listen to the advice from this old preacher.
Next Paul states that all scripture is God breathed, “inspired.” He is speaking of what we call the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible and not the NT.
The NT did not exist as yet. And before you go there, the NT is inspired as well.
And he tells timothy that scripture is useful for teaching, rebuke (expressing disapproval), correcting and training in righteousness. So that a man or woman of God can be equipped for EVERY good work.
Do you consider yourselves as men and women of God? Christians….
Then according to Paul, scripture is your tool to help you and others live the right kind of life.
I am not sure that that is any kind of surprise for you.
I doubt that any of you would argue against the important role of scripture.
Next we hear the charge, What Paul wants Timothy to do:
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
As God is his witness he gives the authority to preach to Timothy…But, why would Paul need to give authority to Timothy?
Isn’t he already serving as the pastor of a church? The answer is yes.
There are two thoughts on this. First, this is a simple encouragement in ministry with a special reminder that he is called by God and God will help him to endure hardship and persecutions in the same way that Paul was helped.
Second, if you keep reading on in this book you will find that Paul is expecting to die soon. He will be asking Timothy to come to him and bring a coat and some parchments. Some believe that Paul is passing the leadership of the church over to Timothy with this letter. He has identified his qualifications and Paul is clearly documenting his approval of his qualifications.
Then Paul says something else that sounds a bit uncomfortable.
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
Yea, we know how those pagans are. Just listening to the stuff they want to hear. Just doing what makes them feel good.
I don’t think that Paul is talking about people outside the church. He is talking about people that claim to be believers. And he warns Timothy that people have inching ears. They want a preacher that will scratch their itch. They want a preacher that will only tell them what they want to hear.
Things like if you give God $10, God will give you $100 back. They want to skip over the hard parts of the Christian life where we are to read the Bible and serve the poor and help people without expecting thanks or recognition.
They don’t want to hear the details of doctrine or have God place any expectations on them. They love to hear about GRACE but not the works. They want heaven without true repentance.
They will leave one church and go to a place that serves them and scratches their itch instead of really learning what God expects in a relationship.
He adds again that real believers are different:
But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
Being a minister, being a child of God, being a part of the body of Christ means that we do just what Paul has described.
But Paul has added one more thing that the majority of Christians don’t like to hear. He has used the E word. The E word here is evangelist. It has a similar discomfort when said as evangelism.
At this moment some of you have a little uncomfortable feeling in your soul.
You want to squirm in your seat but you dare not move or change your facial expression. Because you think I might point you out or ask you something.
Others are already wearing their doctrinal protection vest and helmet protecting their heart and mind from expected damage.
The E word scares even the most committed Christians. But, if you are living the life of a man or woman of God you are already an evangelist.
You have an obligation to God to Jesus to share the Good news of Jesus Christ.
I am not talking about the special gift of evangelism. That special gift should be present in our church and has special responsibilities and abilities.
I am talking about evangelism of the common everyday Christian. I am talking about evangelism that happens just because the Holy Spirit lives in you and speaks to you and encourages you.
If you live the life of a real Christian you will be open to and often make opportunities to be able to speak about your faith.
I had a wild idea this week that I tested once already. Let’s take just a minute for the ushers and my youth helpers to hand out some candy.
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Most of you know that I serve as the Wesley Fellowship director for Shorter College. I meet with students, mostly Methodist, each week and we have a Bible study and I encourage them to step up to the ministry that God has called them to on their campus.
This week I we used this same set of scriptures. At the end of the lesson I asked how they felt about evangelism and they were timid and felt like they would have trouble approaching people.
I suggested that what they needed was a little experience.
Ya’ll know what I mean when I say, “the deer in the headlight look?”
Sort of a surprised and scared stare. Not even a blink.
I told these girls that I wanted them to go to each table in chick-fel-a and tell the people that Jesus loves them.
Uh UH, no way, even bigger stares. I reminded them that they had all claimed to be Christians and that Christians share their faith. So I wanted them to do what Christians say that they should do. To witness to people.
I had more resistance and nobody moved.
So I brought our a bag of candy and I said, can you go to all the tables and put candy bars down on the table and say, Jesus loves you.
They were not real excided about it but agreed that they could do that and off they went. I watched from our table and they went to every person in sight and then went out of sight to talk to all the tables in the other part of the restaurant and then to the people in line.
They retuned to the table giggling and smiling and saying that was fun.
Folks, the E word is often scary because we don’t know how people will react. So because we are afraid we often ignore opportunities to share our faith. We ignore opportunities to help people in pain and act as the presence of God.
I ask the girls what happened as they approached people.
They said that most smiled and said thanks. Some had a deer in the headlight look as they did not know how to respond. A few asked, why are you doing this and they briefly told them that they were members of the Wesley group and wanted to tell them about Jesus.
One said, I was told that I am that person’s new best friend.
Here is the main thing that you need to take away this morning. You have received the gift of salvation. The gift of a relationship with God the creator of the universe and you got it absolutely free. According to Paul you are an evangelist.
You should be living in such a way that you have opportunities to share your faith. Perhaps you see opportunities where you ask someone if you can pray for and maybe even with them. You live in such a way that people know you are a Christian and they ask you questions about your experience.
Folks, I hope your faith is as sweet as the candy we handed out this morning. I hope that you will actively be aware of opportunities to give away the good news.
Then share what you received.
Today you have a choice, you can personally eat the gift you have received or you can give it away to someone you meet today. You can give it to a server at lunch or a person in the dollar store saying, Jesus lives you and so do I. And wait for a response. If there is none or only a quick thank you move on….If the person wants to know more take the time to share what ever they ask. Share where you go to church. Maybe even share that we are a little church that is big on Jesus.
Evangelism is something Christians actively do. It does not have to require an amazing boldness but, it does require living like a Christians that have an eternal gift worth sharing.
All Glory be to God!
