“When it’s All Been Said and Done”
July 27, 2008
”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. 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. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store 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 longed for his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:1-8
The “fireball” of the New Testament is getting old. God has used him in wonderful ways. How many people came to the Lord because of his ministry we will only know when we get to heaven. He has given up everything for Jesus. He was a successful, up-and-coming young religious leader before he committed his life to Jesus. He was trained by the best teacher in the land. Some say he was a part of the ruling body of the country. He had influence of life and death over people. He had taken part in the stoning of the first martyr – Steven.
Then came that day on the road to Damascus. He was intent on doing his duty and on his way to arrest some more of those pesky ‘Christians’ when God struck him off his donkey. Listen to Paul’s account of what happened.
"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as also the high priest and all the Council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.
"About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ’Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’
" ’Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.
" ’I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.
"’What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.
"’Get up,’ the Lord said, ’and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ Acts 22: 3-10
Everything changed for Paul after he saw the light. His world was turned upside down when he heart the Master’s voice. Instead of persecuting Christians – he, himself, was persecuted. Listen to an accounting of his experiences.
“I have worked much harder(than other evangelists), been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” 2 Corinthians 11:22-28
I begin with all that to let you know that persecution and hard times are not new to the Christian. Maybe I should say that they are even ‘normal’. And if that’s true, and I believe it is, because Paul said,
“…everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” 2 Timothy 3:12
If it is true that we will be persecuted if we want to live a godly life, how can we go on? How could Paul continue? What enabled him to lose everything for Jesus? What gave him the strength to endure all those persecutions? What caused him to lose his fear of death?
The answer is simple. He saw the light. He heard the Master’s voice. And he ‘believed’. He put his complete faith in Jesus. He had experienced a little taste of ‘Glory”. He had seen a glimpse of heaven – and, consequently, he had lost all fear of death. He said,
“Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:54-56
In another place he said, ”We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:8
What a wonderful place to be. Confident. Fearless. Filled with hope and anticipation of better things to come. He knew there was a crown of righteousness waiting for him. He knew Jesus would say, “Well done good and faithful servant!” But Paul didn’t sit back and wait for the next elevator up. He had given his whole life for Jesus. He had fought the good fight. He had lived a life of excellence. And before his departure he wanted to share a few things with us. Let’s take a look at them again.
First, ‘preach the Word’. We have a mandate to share God’s word. That word ‘preach’ means to ‘declare’ or make known. There are so many ways to do this – and you don’t even have to be ‘preachy’ to do it. But somehow we all have to declare God’s Word. It’s a part of the salvation process. Paul wrote:
“That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10
I think declaring the Word starts with our own families and extends to our neighbors and those we work with. Some of you may have read about a guy by the name of Brother Andrew that used to smuggle bibles into communist countries. Some have a tract ministry and plant these little seeds all over the place. Of course there are many wonderful evangelistic crusades all over the world. I think this command applies first to our homes, tho. We need to share the Bible with the family. We need to do bible stories and studies with them.
Sharing God’s Word doesn’t just happen. You have to be prepared. You have to be ready for those open doors. Sometimes opportunity is presented for just a moment or two. We have to be prepared to take advantage of those opportunities. There are a lot of self- helps today – as well as church helps.
Are you preparing yourself? Are you reading, learning, studying? Are you striving to grow? Are you in a Bible Study? Are you in a small group? If you aren’t preparing yourself – you are outside God’s will. It is God’s will that we study. We are ‘approved’ as we study. Paul wrote to Timothy:
“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.” 2 Timothy 2:15
I believe Paul is talking to every Christian. Every one of us needs to handle the Word of Truth correctly. In this day and age of confusion of what truth is – we need to know and be convinced that the Bible is the word of God and is true. People choose to believe truth is found in everything from science to religious leaders to not believing there is absolute truth. Our Scripture says that a day is coming when people will turn away from the truth. They will gather around themselves preachers or teachers to say the things they want to hear. As for me – I choose to believe the bible is God’s word and the only source of absolute truth. I choose to base my life on the 66 books of the Bible – don’t you?
A second thing we get from this Scripture is the reminder that ‘judgment day is coming.” Paul says,
”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…”
Paul was confident that God would make everything right one day. In every generation there have been great crimes and injustices done. If you aren’t a believer it can eat you up. It can’t make you angry and bitter and disillusioned. I’ve noticed that a lot of the movies today deal with this problem. They think they need to right injustice and take revenge themselves. We don’t have to do that. Jesus told us that we need to forgive and pray for our enemies. Why? It keeps us from being eaten up by the cancer of anger and bitterness. God doesn’t want us to live this way. He wants us to live in love and joy and peace. He wants us to know that a Judgment day is coming. And HE will judge the living and the dead. John talks about it in the book of Revelation. He says,
“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and everyone was judged according to what they had done.” Revelation 20:11-13
We can be confident that no one will get away with anything. Judgment day is coming. We don’t have to worry about injustices. On the hand, everything we do and say is recorded. Jesus said,
”There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” Luke 12:2-3
”And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward." Matthew 10:42-43
Since we know that the Lord is coming soon – shouldn’t that change our lives? It changed Paul’s lives. He left home and family. He gave up security and career. He sacrificed his life for the One who sacrificed his life for him. Can we do any less?
Thirdly, we are to keep our heads. In other words – we are to be in control of ourselves. I’ve talked before about how our choices and decisions are based largely on four things. Peer pressure. The crowd persuades us to do certain things – sometimes against our better judgment. Secondly, we make emotional choices because we ‘feel’ like it at the moment. Thirdly, we use our heads and weigh the situation out and make the best intellectual choice we can. Fourthly, is the spiritually choices. “God said it. I believe it. That settles it!” Paul doesn’t want us to base our lives on the crowd or on emotion. He says to ‘keep our heads’. In other words, think about it. Consider things. Go to God for direction.
There are a lot of scary things happening right now. Things may get worse. We may be tempted to give up or go along with the crowd. But we need to set our hearts and heads on the spiritual things. That may mean we have to endure hardship. That may mean we may be persecuted. In spite of what is going on around us – Paul says to keep your heads and try to get people saved. Do all the work God has given you to do. If He has called you to teach – TEACH! If He has called you to preach – PREACH! If He has called you to serve – SERVE!
Whatever your gift is – keep using it until the day God calls you home. In others words – be faithful to the end. It will pay off one day.
Paul knew his time was about over. And he was looking for a crown and glory and awards. I don’t know what God has in store for you – but I know it will be worth it. Keep on keeping on. Grow and continue to produce more and more fruit. When the chaos is over – and the dust has settled – may God find us faithful.
