MEMORY AND ENDURANCE (October 13, 2019)
Text: II Timothy 2:8 -15
2Ti 2:8-15 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, (9) for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. (10) Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. (11) The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; (12) if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; (13) if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself. (14) Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. (15) Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth. (NRSV)
Years ago, I used to be a volunteer chaplain. At the time, I lived in St. Stephen and served as a pastor of two churches there in the Charleston District. Although my badge was with Berkeley county, most of the work I did as a chaplain was with the St. Stephen Police Department.
One night I was doing a ride along as we passed a car going the wrong way down a one way street. The officer I was riding with pulled that car over. What they discovered was a minor driving grandmama’s car without her knowledge. He was taken to the station where they started paper work and gave him two options---county jail or call grandma. He chose grandma. His grandma reminded me of Tyler Perry’s fictional character Madea. Before grandma showed up, I offered counsel to the this young man and told him he might want to change his ways. I described the sound of the prison door closing and told him that that sound had different meanings for visitors and prisoners. For prisoners the sound of the door means you can’t leave.
Sin holds people in the prison of guilt. Although they might be physically, spiritually they are prisoners to what John Wesley once referred to as “the power and guilt of sin”.
As we know, Paul was a prisoner because those who incarcerated him treated his preaching of the Gospel a sin Paul’s message to Timothy and those in the church was that disciples can be detained for spreading the Gospel but they can never hold the Gospel in prison! We are here to liberate those who are imprisoned by sin because sin is their master.
Paul’s message is about memory, endurance and the word.
MEMORY
How does God want us to use our memory?
1) Recall: God wants us to use our memory to recall the truth. God wants us to remember how our spiritual ancestors made God angry in the wilderness because of their rebellion (Deuteronomy 9:7).
2) Time: God wants us to use our memory to remember how short time is (Psalm 89:7) because our days are numbered (Psalm 90:12).
3) Avoid the road to Babylon: Gods wants us to use our memory to help us remember that unless we build according to His plans we build in vain (Psalm 127:1).
4) Grace: God wants to remember that we have been saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8) because we were bought with a price (I Corinthians 6:20; 7:23).
5) Sacred duty: God wants us to remember to be holy as He is holy (Leviticus 19:2; I Peter 1:16).
6) Our marching orders for the lost: God wants us to “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (Hebrews 13:3 ESV).
7) This is not our home: God wants us to remember all of these things so that we can remember where we are going because God’s plans for us for a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11) are to make it to our home in heaven.
"Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the tickets of every passenger. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket. He couldn’t find his ticket, so he reached in his trouser pockets. It wasn’t there, so he looked in his briefcase but couldn’t find it. Then he looked in the seat beside him. He still couldn’t find it. >>> The conductor said, “Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. We all know who you are. I’m sure you bought a ticket. Don’t worry about it”. >>> Einstein nodded appreciatively. The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets. As he was ready to move to the next car, he turned around and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his seat for his ticket. >>> The conductor rushed back and said, “Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don’t worry, I know who you are. No problem. You don’t need a ticket. I’m sure you bought one”. >>> Einstein looked at him and said, “Young man, I too, know who I am. What I don’t know is where I’m going”." https://talesbyjames.com/2016/05/07/einsteins-lost-ticket/ Having Jesus our our Savior is the only way we will ever make it to heaven!
How does Satan want us to use our memory? Satan’s mission runs counter to God’s mission to save us. Satan’s mission is to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10).
1 ) Father of lies: Satan wants us to forget that He is the father of lies (John 8:44).
2) Masquerader: Satan wants to reprogram our memory as the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4) while he masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) working through those who have already been deceived to be agents of deception.
3) Bait: Satan wants to distract us by tempting with new and alluring temptations.
4) Guilt: Satan our accuser wants to us fall and then whip us with guilt because we fell. Consider this exercise when you get home, read Zechariah 3:1-10 and then fast forward to Revelation 12:10.
5) Defeat: Satan wants us to forget that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (I John 3:8). Satan wants us to forget that Jesus defeated him on the cross (John 3:16) where Jesus defeated sin, death and the fear of death. Satan wants us to forget that Jesus is greater in us than the devil is in the world (I John 4:4).
ENDURANCE
How much did Paul endure for his faith? Listen to Paul’s answer.
1) Paul’s endurance: Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure (2 Corinthians 11:24-27).
2) Paul’s writings: Paul wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon at times when he was in prison.
3) Paul’s chains: Although we don’t call it one of his prison letters, it seems that one again Paul was in prison as he wrote 2 Timothy. Consider 2 Timothy 2: 8 “... I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal” (ESV).
5) Paul’s race: Paul knew that he would be executed because of his faith. Paul points out how he knows its the end of the road for him. In 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (ESV).
How will we endure? We usually have one or two responses to a crisis---fight or flight. Do we fight passively and peacefully? Or, are we more aggressive like our enemies? How many times do we hear stories about how people have been slighted for their faith as a Christian?
Is it becoming increasingly harder to be a Christian?
“The Christian persecution we read about in Scripture and history books is not a thing of the past. It still exists. Today, in the 21st century, we are living in a time when persecution against Christian believers is the highest in modern history. According to Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List—an in-depth investigative report focusing on global Christian persecution—persecution is increasing at an alarming rate. Research for the List indicates that each day, a staggering 11 Christians are killed for their faith in the top 50 countries ranked on the World Watch List.
… look at the world’s 10 most dangerous places to be a Christian—countries where saying “yes” to following Jesus is truly a life-or-death decision”.
In North Korea… Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Sudan, Eritrea, Yemen, Iran, India the stories for Christians are very similar or the same. The conditions for Christians in these countries are persecution, food deprivation, excommunication, imprisonment, and in many cases death. (Paraphrased and condensed).
https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/stories/11-christians-killed-every-day-for-their-decision-to-follow-jesus/
The Chinese government “… is destroying crosses, burning bibles, closing churches and forcing Christian believers to sign papers renouncing their faith as the crackdown on religious congregations in Beijing and several provinces intensifies. [They are] “… demanding loyalty to the atheist Communist party and removing any potential challenge to the party’s power in the country”. https://www.foxnews.com/world/chinese-officials-burn-bibles-close-churches-force-christian-to-denounce-faith-amid-escalating-crackdown
How has it become harder to be a Christian in the United States in the last fifty years? Prayer has been successfully removed from schools. In 1975, Gideons could come into the classroom and place a bible on your desk. Now they have to stand at the of the school property. Don Mclean’s song American Pie once described the early seventies as a generation lost in space. In many ways that song was prophetic in the way that it reflects our world today. We have seen the rise and hostility of atheists against Christians. How much harder is it going to get?
THE WORD
What does the God’s Word do for us? 1) Lamp and light: God’s word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path (Psalm 119:105). 2) Guide: God’s word tells us how to live, love, serve, give and consecrate our lives in all that we do and say. 3)The Word: We have the Bible and we also have the Word made flesh who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is our Immanuel our God with us (Matthew 1:23). 4) Separation: Apart from Jesus we can do nothing because we will be like branches that are cut off from the vine that gives them life (John 15:5). Jesus is the Vine---the way, the truth, the life (John 14:6) Apart from Jesus and His word, there is separation, deviation, deception and death.
Is your Bible dusty from lack of use or tattered and worn from lots of use? The story is told about the preacher who came by to visit a grandmother and her grandson. While the preacher was visiting the grandmother told the grandson to go and get that book that grandma likes to look at. When the boy came back into the room he was carrying the Sears catalogue. Naturally, the grandmother felt embarrassed.
I once read about pilots who were told to study the Bible during the days of Vietnam. What was the purpose for that? The purpose was to help them if they ever got shot down because probably the only Bible they would have access to would be scripture that they had learned if they got shot down. What would happen to us if we were taken prisoner by a hostile enemy who opposed Christianity? Would our memory scripture help us?
Is the Word of God chained down? I have heard of Gideon Bibles being stolen from hotels. In fact, we talked about that in Sunday School just recently. We might chain benches in the park. We might chain our bicycles. But, we will never be able to chain the word of God. Paul was living proof of that.
Isaiah_55:11 says “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (KJV). God sends us into places where people are in prisons of their own making whether they are behind bars or not. Paul Bunyan, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr., Corrie Ten Boom were all Christians held captive by enemies of the Gospel. Yet, their faith in God gave them freedom that only God can give. They were able to do all things through Jesus Christ the Word made flesh who strengthened them (Philippians 4:13). Do you have that freedom? We need God’s word daily.
In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
