[SLIDE] I’d like to start today’s talk by showing you a picture. There is a crowd, going one way, and there is a man going the opposite way. The crowd aren’t giving him a hard time; it’s all quite peaceful. In the Christian life, we sometimes have to go against the majority. Quite often, in fact. That was the case when Paul wrote his letter to Timothy, it has been the case through most of the past two thousand years and it’s the case today.
TWO WEEKS AGO we started a short series on Paul’s second letter to Timothy. We started by looking at chapter 1 and I focused on verse 8. Paul tells Timothy, “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God…” I think this is Paul’s central message to Timothy. If I was to put it in my own words it would be, ‘Hold fast to the Christian message! Don’t be ashamed or embarrassed of it. Doing that WILL get you into trouble. But take it on the chin. Hold fast. Don’t go off course.’ I looked at why Christians might be ashamed of the Christian message in our society today. And we looked at some of Paul’s advice to Timothy why he shouldn't be - and nor should we. Let's do a quick review.
[SLIDE] "8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but SHARE IN SUFFERING for the gospel BY THE POWER OF GOD, 9 who saved us AND CALLED US TO A HOLY CALLING, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, WHO ABOLISHED DEATH AND BROUGHT LIFE AND IMMORTALITY TO LIGHT through the gospel…"
1. Paul acknowledges that there will be SUFFERING. He doesn’t sweep that fact under the carpet.
2. Second, Paul told Timothy to ‘share in suffering for the gospel BY THE POWER OF GOD.’ God gives us POWER to endure.
3. Third, Paul told Timothy that God ‘saved us AND CALLED US.’ If God calls us to do something we can be sure it’s good and righteous and worth doing; it isn’t some dodgy task that we might be ashamed of. And if God calls then we need to persevere at it.
4. Fourth, Paul reminds Timothy that Jesus ‘abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.’ We have A WONDERFUL MESSAGE! Why should we be ashamed?
LAST WEEK we looked at chapter 2 and went off on a slightly different tack. I said that, surprising as it may seem, in the Christian life it’s sometimes necessary to go against people in church. We looked at the story of three men who did just that in the time of the Reformation. They made a stand for their faith. They were Hugh Latimer, Thomas Cranmer and Nicholas Ridley. Their dispute wasn’t with people outside the church; it was with people in the church. At one level their dispute with the church was over the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation: that the bread and the wine at Communion become literally Christ’s body and blood. But at a deeper level their dispute was about where authority lies. If the Catholic church had the right to tell them what to believe then the Catholic church has authority. But if only scripture - which we accept as God’s word - can tell them what to believe, then God has authority. Latimer, Cranmer and Ridley were not willing to change course and it ended up costing them their lives: they were burned at the stake. In 2 Timothy 2 we saw two reasons TO ENDURE, to stand firm. Paul wrote:
[SLIDE] "10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, THAT THEY ALSO MAY OBTAIN THE SALVATION THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS with eternal glory. 11 The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12 IF WE ENDURE, WE WILL ALSO REIGN WITH HIM…"
1. If we endure, we help people find salvation. Paul told Timothy: ‘I endure everything for the sake of the elect, THAT THEY ALSO MAY OBTAIN THE SALVATION THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS.’ We all struggle with communicating our faith. But people come to faith and find salvation because someone tells them about Jesus. We want people to find salvation so it’s really important that we endure, we put up with anything!
2. If we endure, what’s the result? WE REIGN WITH JESUS! I don’t know exactly what reigning with Jesus means, but it sounds pretty good to me. In the book of Revelation, Jesus writes to the church in Philadelphia and tells them: ‘Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.’ There’s a crown in store for us. But we need to endure, to not quit when life gets hard.
TODAY, we're moving on to chapter 3. Paul has more to say about what to do life when life hard. Until now, Paul has mostly been asking the 'why?' question. Now he gives his attention more to the 'how?' How can we stand firm?
LAST DAYS?
Paul starts by saying, ‘But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.’ Again, Paul isn’t sweeping anything under the carpet. What are the ‘last days’ Paul is talking about? Paul is certainly thinking of the time that he and Timothy are living in, because he tells Timothy to avoid such people. But Paul may also be writing about the last days before Christ comes again. The commentator I looked at [Liefeld] thought that this was the case. He wrote, ‘assuming that the downward spiral will not reverse itself, the final “last” days will become increasingly intense in their horror, right on to the end of history.’
So, when Paul used the phrase ‘the last days’ he was certainly thinking of the time he and Timothy were in and perhaps he also had the last days before Christ comes again in mind too. I don’t know. But there are many other places in the Bible which tell us that the last days before Christ comes again WILL be extremely tough for Christians. Let me give you just one example. On one occasion Jesus’ disciples asked him about the close of the age. Let’s look at that. It’s Matthew 24:3-13.
[SLIDE] "3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “SEE THAT NO ONE LEADS YOU ASTRAY. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ AND THEY WILL LEAD MANY ASTRAY. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
9 “THEN THEY WILL DELIVER YOU UP TO TRIBULATION AND PUT YOU TO DEATH, AND YOU WILL BE HATED BY ALL NATIONS FOR MY NAME'S SAKE. 10 AND THEN MANY WILL FALL AWAY and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 AND BECAUSE LAWLESSNESS WILL BE INCREASED, THE LOVE OF MANY WILL GROW COLD. 13 BUT THE ONE WHO ENDURES TO THE END WILL BE SAVED."
Jesus is saying that this period at the close of the age will be tough. Perhaps Paul has this period of time in mind, as well as his own time.
What Paul describes in the following verses isn’t really persecution. He is describing a massive loss of morality in society. The commentator I looked at wrote: ‘Verses 1–5 can compete for one of the most pessimistic descriptions in print.’ How are Christians to stand firm in such a time? 2 Timothy 3 is only about 300 words long. It contains three verbs. The three verbs are understand, avoid, and continue. These three verbs give us three key principles about HOW he should stand firm.
UNDERSTAND [ESV]
The first verb is UNDERSTAND. What does Timothy need to understand? I said that Paul was using ‘last days’ to refer to his and Timothy’s time and maybe he was also thinking of the last days before Christ comes again. I don’t know. But his statement is certainly true of those days. I don’t know if we’re approaching that time or perhaps we’re already in it. But regardless of when we enter it, we need to be ready for it. We need to ‘UNDERSTAND’, to ‘get it’ that in the last days, things WILL be difficult. When you know an exam will be tough, you prepare for it! Then you have a chance of passing. Forewarned is forearmed.
But who are these people with such terrible morals? Are they people inside the church or people outside the church? Look at verse 5. Paul tells us that these people have the appearance of godliness, but deny its power. It looks very much as though Paul is talking about people who are in the church!
AVOID
Paul’s second verb is ‘AVOID’. ‘Avoid such people’, Paul tells Timothy in verse 5. ‘Avoid’ means don’t hang out with people like this. In another letter, Paul wrote, ‘bad company corrupts good character.’
At first sight this is rather puzzling. Jesus didn’t avoid ‘tax collectors and sinners.’ He did hang out with them. So how do we make sense of that?
Paul gave some advice to the church in Corinth which I think helps us make sense of it. He wrote this:
[SLIDE] "9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one" [1 Corinthians 5:9]
Paul tells the Christians in Corinth, ‘I’m not telling you to avoid people OUTSIDE the church who are sexually immoral or greedy or swindlers.’ You can’t! You’d have to leave the world to do that! ‘I’m telling you to avoid people INSIDE the church who are like this.’ So, assuming that Paul is consistent in his thinking, his message is the same here. If you see people IN the church behaving in a way that’s inconsistent with our Christian faith, avoid them! Simple practical instruction. Step out of such people’s away. Don’t go over for a friendly chat. Later in his letter to the Corinthians Paul warns them, ‘Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”’
CONTINUE
Paul’s third verb is CONTINUE: it comes in verse 14. ‘Continue in what you have learned’, Paul writes. What is Paul talking about? Let’s look at the context. It starts in verse 14 and goes on to verse 16.
[SLIDE] 12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…
Verse 12, there will be persecution. Verse 13, there will be evil people and impostors. They deceive others and are themselves deceived.
So, what’s the solution? In verse 14, Paul tells Timothy, ‘Continue!’ ‘Hold your course!’ You were set on that course by people you know – and Paul is probably thinking of Timothy’s mother and him. Then in verse 15 and 16 Paul mentions ‘the sacred writings’ and scripture. In verse 16 we have this famous verse, ‘All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…’ Scripture is the plumb line for Christians. Scripture enables us to distinguish truth from falsehood. Of course, we have to be like Timothy; we have to be acquainted with it! We have to read it, regularly and carefully.
So there we are. In the last days before Jesus comes again there will be times of extreme difficulty. In those last morality will degenerate and, as we know from Jesus’ words, many people will be deceived, led astray and fall away. Paul tells Timothy first, to understand, to grasp that this is going to happen. Then he’ll be prepared for it. Second, to avoid, and I believe he means avoid people in church who do not live according to the basic truths of the Christian. Third, continue, and Paul means, continue with scripture as the plumb line. It will keep us on course. So, let's keep these fundamentals in place. Then we will stand firm.
