If you only had fifteen minutes to live, who would you want to speak to and what would you say? Would you, perhaps, call up your mom and tell her how much you love her for all that she did for you? Or would you sit down with the grandchildren and impress upon them again those things that are important in life? Let me tell you what my last words were to a dear friend named Timothy. My name is Paul and I was a follower of Jesus 2,000 years ago. I want to speak to you about my last words because the Holy Spirit intended them to serve as words of encouragement for you 21st century Christians as well. I had a lot to say to Timothy. In fact I wrote him a four-chapter-long letter. Had I been forced to communicate on Twitter, you know, with 40 characters or less, I simply would have said: “Stand firm!” Can you give me some of your time now to explain why this message is fitting for you to consider on this Reformation Sunday?
“Stand firm!” That’s something that my Lord and yours, Jesus, often encouraged during my ministry. I remember the time I was in the Greek city of Corinth. I had just finished telling my fellow Jews that Jesus is the only way to heaven. Well, they didn’t like it. In fact they were so angry I could tell that they wanted to hurt me or at least run me out of town. That night, however, Jesus told me to stand firm and to keep preaching there because he was going to bring many people to faith through my sermons (Acts 18). Years later I was arrested by Roman soldiers in Jerusalem because they thought I had caused a riot. Actually it was those same Jewish leaders who had demanded Jesus’ crucifixion that had whipped up the crowd to oppose my message. Some of them had even vowed not to eat a thing until they had assassinated me. Has anyone ever sworn to kill you? It’s unnerving to say the least but again Jesus appeared to me and said, “Stand firm!” This time he promised that I would take his message of salvation to Rome (Acts 23).
Well, I made it to Rome alright after getting shipwrecked on the island of Malta. And even though I was under arrest, I was given the freedom to serve my sentence in a house. There I received many visitors and was able to tell them about Jesus. After a time I was released only to be arrested again and brought back to Rome. This time I was locked away in a cold dungeon. It was then that I wrote my last words to Timothy who had once been my sidekick. I wanted him to know my situation. I wanted him to understand, as if he didn’t know already, that being a Christian isn’t easy. For one, there will always be enemies of the faith. Alexander the metalworker was one such enemy. I know that I haven’t told you anything about Alexander in my letters but it’s enough for you to know that he didn’t just ignore my message from God as many had done, he actively worked to discredit me so that others wouldn’t take my preaching seriously.
Have you run into people like that – people who tell lies about you? Sometimes those lies can really hurt. I’m not just talking about the emotional damage that they do. It’s hard when someone you thought was your friend is speaking about you behind your back, but it’s dangerous when someone in the workplace is spreading lies about you. You could lose your job or worse. Think of Joseph in the Old Testament. He ended up in prison because of false accusations his boss’s wife leveled against him. If someone is doing this to you right now, let me encourage you to stand firm. Stand firm in God’s promise to deal with those liars in his own time and in his own way. Don’t plot revenge. Don’t start spreading lies about that person or telling everyone all the little things this individual has done wrong – even if they are true. Stand firm in God’s love for you and reflect that love back to the person who is hurting you. This is, after all, the kind of love that our Savior Jesus showed us isn’t it? I should know because I had once spread lies about Jesus and actively sought to destroy his followers but Jesus had mercy on me. He appeared to me in a blinding light – not to punish but to forgive and to make me into one of his messengers. So don’t stand in your anger or self-pity at how others are treating you. This is a fact of life: you’re surrounded by sinners. They’re going to treat you like trash. But just keep reminding yourself how you are God’s treasure. He’s not going to let anything happen to you that he won’t somehow work out for your eternal good.
Another reason that you’ll want to be patient with the people around you is because they can change. A man named Mark is an example. Mark had come with me on my first missionary journey but soon bailed. Because of that I refused to take him with on the second journey even though my partner Barnabas wanted to give him another chance. It turns out that Mark had matured. He later became a valuable helper to me - so much so that I begged Timothy to bring Mark with him when he came to visit me in prison.
Yes, the people who have failed you today may be those who offer you your best support tomorrow. But you’ll never find that out if you continue to hold a grudge and look down on those individuals. Who are these people in your life right now? There are probably a few family members that you can think of and maybe even a fellow congregational member. Don’t be quick to dismiss them as people you don’t have to show love to. If that was the case, Jesus never should have loved us. I mean even now we continue to disappoint our Savior! For example we promise to put him first with our offerings but keep finding reasons to buy stuff we don’t need to impress people who could care less about us. Or we’ve promised to deny ourselves and put other people’s needs first but have somehow gotten ourselves to believe that that’s not necessary when we’re tired or hungry. At those times we expect everyone else to take up our cross and serve us. Still, doesn’t Jesus continue to extend his hand of forgiveness to us? Stand firm in this patient love and you too will become more loving and forgiving of others.
While Mark turned out for the better, I did have some friends that were major disappointments. Demas is one of them. I thought Demas would be a great leader in the church. After all, he hung out with me during my first imprisonment in Rome. The second time I was imprisoned, however, he left and went to the Greek city of Thessalonica. Demas didn’t just leave me, he left Jesus because he loved the world.
Love for the world and its pleasures remains a big hole that continues to suck once faithful Christians into hell. The sad part is that they often don’t even know they’ve gone down the drain. Rarely will you find someone who leaves the faith because they wake up one morning and say, “I don’t love Jesus anymore.” Seriously, do you know anyone like that? But what you do find is that Christians end up loving the world more than they love their Savior. It may be the confirmand who wants to keep up with the conversations at school so that she doesn’t have time anymore to read her Bible and to review her catechism; she’s too busy watching Glee and Jersey Shore. It may be the young adult who is desperate to be successful in life and thinks this means getting a good job so he can buy his own place before he turns 25. Before you know it, weekly worship attendance becomes monthly, then quarterly, and then rarely if at all.
Loving the world, that is, wanting to be comfortable, popular, and entertained at any price is short-sighted. Perhaps you remember how the Apostle John once wrote: “Do not love the world or anything in the world... 16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:15-17). Do you see why my final words to Timothy and my encouragement to you are to stand firm? Stand firm in God’s Word or you’ll end up trading a few years of shallow happiness for eternal pain and separation from God’s love.
Thankfully standing firm isn’t something that we have to do on our own. Demas may have ditched me but God continued to stand by my side – like a metal rod that’s lashed to a young sapling to help it keep from toppling over in stormy winds. But God wasn’t standing by my side just for my benefit. No! He wanted me to stand firm in his Word so that when I was put on trial I would boldly witness about Jesus and share salvation with more people. That’s exactly what happened. I got to speak to a packed court room about how God sent his Son to pay for our sins. Romans soldiers, lawyers, slaves - all sorts of people heard about Jesus for the first time that day.
And of course I’m not the only Christian who stood firm in the face of difficulty. On this Reformation Day you’re remembering how Martin Luther stood firm when the truth of God’s Word was threatened. And you too will be tested. Many will ask why you bother with this little congregation and church body. But stand firm. You know that the value of a congregation isn’t measured by the kind of building it worships in or how much hair the pastor has. Compare the message you hear in this church to the one you find in the Bible. If it matches, then that’s where you’ll want to plant your feet every Sunday.
I could say more but I’ll just encourage you to read the entire second letter I wrote to Timothy. For now I’ll leave you with the closing words from that letter: “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you” (2 Timothy 4:22). Yes, God and his grace are with you. So stand firm. Amen.
