It’s that time of year again – the beginning of another school year. College campuses will soon be flooded with wide-eyed freshman and teary-eyed parents. High schools will be filled with the sounds of locker doors slamming, three-ring binders clicking, and the quiet hum of Google Chromebooks. Elementary and middle schools welcome back eager learners along with the not-so-eager learners who drag their feet in defiance of the end of summer vacation. Even if you no longer have a school-aged child, the reminders of the beginning of another school year are all around us – big yellow buses holding up traffic and the barrage of back-to-school sales. Compared to how much time, money and effort that goes into preparing children for a single school year, how much do we put into preparing children for what they will face throughout and after those school years, and most importantly preparing them for what happens after this life?
This morning we meet the final person in our summer sermon series – a mother who left a lasting legacy that truly prepared her for whatever he would face in life. But more importantly it fully prepared him for after this life. The name of this woman was Eunice, the mother of a young man named Timothy.
We first hear of Eunice and her mother Lois in 2 Timothy 1:5 as the Apostle Paul begins his letter to his good friend and fellow-pastor named Timothy. Paul writes to Timothy, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5). As Paul thought of Timothy, he couldn’t help but remember the two women who were extremely influential in Timothy’s life – his mother and grandmother. When and where did Paul first meet them? Around the year 50 AD Paul began his second missionary journey by returning to a number of cities he had been to on his first missionary journey. The Bible tells us in Acts 16, “Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Paul wanted to take him along on the journey” (Acts 16:1-3a).
There are two things that I want you to take note of in those verses. First is Timothy’s hometown of Lystra. Paul had been to Lystra three years earlier on his first missionary journey. Things started off well and then got really ugly really fast when a group of jealous Jews showed up. In Acts 14 we read, “Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city” (Acts 14:19,20). That was in Timothy’s hometown of Lystra. Were his mother and grandmother some of those disciples who helped Paul? We don’t know. But we can be sure that Timothy’s family was well aware of what had happened to Paul.
The second thing you may have noticed is that it does not seem that Timothy’s father was a Christian. He is called “a Greek” and is not named by Paul as someone who was influential in Timothy’s Christian training. However, that lack of support from her husband did not deter Timothy’s mother from making sure that as Paul puts it, “from infancy” Timothy was taught the truths of God’s Word. Timothy’s mother and grandmother made sure that Timothy knew God’s promise to send a Savior to rescue him and all people from the eternal condemnation of sin. Together they looked forward to the day when the promised Savior would arrive and through his perfect life, sacrificial death and glorious resurrection would secure salvation. When the Apostle Paul arrived in Lystra, he announced that what they were looking forward to had happened. Jesus had come and fulfilled the Scriptures which Timothy had learned from infancy. Jesus had come and now it was time for them to go, to go and tell of the salvation Jesus had won for all.
The Christians living in Lystra could not think of a better prepared person to accompany Paul in his mission work than young Timothy. He knew the Scriptures and believed that Jesus was the promised Savior. And so his mother sent off her son, confident that he was ready because as Paul reminded Timothy years later, “Continue in what you have learned and become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:14,15). For the next nearly 15 years, Paul and Timothy travelled with one another throughout the Roman Empire, proclaiming the message of Christ Jesus as Savior to people of every nationality, social status, race and gender, teaching and training Christians, and preparing people to teach and train still others.
These words in 2 Timothy 3 were written as Paul sat in a dark dungeon in Rome likely waiting execution. He wrote because he was concerned for Timothy who he loved like a son. In fact, he was concerned about all the Christians he had gotten to know during his 25+ years of mission work. These Christian were facing intense persecution. But this time the persecution did not come from jealous Jews, but from a slightly crazy Roman Emperor named Nero. Nero took great pleasure in torturing and killing Christians. Paul knew that Jesus had said that things were not going to get easier for Christians. In the verses leading up to the ones we read Paul wrote, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:12,13). How would Timothy or his fellow Christians make it through, hold onto their faith, and recognize the deceptions and lies of this world? Paul reminded Timothy that he was well-prepared because of what his mother had taught him. He knew the Scriptures, the timeless and saving truths of God’s Word. This was the lasting legacy that Timothy’s mother had left for Timothy, one that prepared him not only for this life, but more importantly, for eternal life.
How about you? What legacy are you leaving? People debate the legacies of presidents, CEOs, athletes, coaches, actors. How or for what that person will be remembered? But each of us in one way or another is creating a legacy. What will you be remembered for? Diehard Packer or Vikings fan? Hard working? Making it to every one of your child’s games or recitals? Kindness or generosity? Those can all be good things, but when it comes down to it, are they eternally impactful? Are we leaving a legacy that truly prepares children for the world in which they live now and more importantly, for what happens after this life?
While we may not live in a country where an emperor is torturing Christians, Christian faith is under attack especially among our teens and young adults. Go to a secular college campus for orientation day and see the different clubs and organizations that are vying for their membership. There’s the atheist society that boasts freedom without god, and the humanists society that claims that mankind is god. There is the encouragement to explore your sexuality, to question your gender, to rebel against authority. College professors target Christians, attempting to embarrass and belittle them until they break, calling Christianity out-of- date, repressive and dangerous. The deception and danger is clearly present and is not only contained to college campuses, but spills over into high schools and grade schools, is pumped into our homes through TVs, computers and phones. Like Paul concerned for Timothy, we might wonder about our kids how are they ever going to make it, hold onto their Christian faith?
One word – Scripture. The Scriptures reveal the truth of who we are and who our God is. The Scriptures do not paint an unrealistic picture of humanity, but recognizes the depth of our sin and its effects on us and our world. Scripture provides answers to the pain, suffering, disappointment and death that we see in the world around us. Scripture acknowledges the guilt that we feel when we do something that it not God’s will for us. The Scriptures show us a God who provides a real solution to the guilt of our sin – a God who is personally interested in your peace. The Scriptures show us Christ Jesus who came to earth for no other reason than for you – to live perfectly in your place – to take sin’s punishment in your place. Jesus has risen from the dead for you to demonstrate that the God we trust in for our salvation can absolutely deliver on what he has promised to us. These are the timeless truths of God’s Word that do not shift according to the latest fads or trends. God has chosen to have these truths written down so that we could clearly know what is right and wrong, good and dangerous. The Scriptures show us a God who has made us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Can there be any greater legacy to leave than one that demonstrates the importance of the Scriptures in our lives and those of our children? Taking every opportunity to hear, read, learn and study the Scriptures? That as fervently as we rearrange our schedules to watch a football game, we strive even more to make time to be at worship, Bible study, Sunday school and Catechism classes? That the usefulness of Scripture does not stop on our Confirmation day or any other point in our life, but continues throughout life?
As I again read 2 Timothy this past week, I was reminded how strongly Paul encouraged Timothy not merely to continue in the Scriptures, but to be sure to train others in the Scriptures so that they might teach others. Why such an emphasis? Because Paul understood that there was nothing of greater value than knowing the Scriptures – because the Scriptures made and continue to make people wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. We all have a role to play in that legacy. May the Lord lead us to boldly and gratefully take it up, so that future generations may know the Scriptures and share in the salvation that God proclaims through Scriptures is ours. Amen.
