On this day 493 years ago, Lutheran princes gathered in south-central Germany, in a town 50 miles outside of Munich and presented a confession of faith to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. This presentation of the Augsburg Confession on June 25, 1530 is generally recognized as the birth of the Lutheran Church. It’s fitting for us to consider the Apostle Paul’s final words to his co-worker Timothy on this day, for the Lutherans of 1530 took seriously Paul’s encouragement and so should we: “Remain steadfast in God’s Word and work.” (Read text.)
Paul was imprisoned in Rome when he wrote the words of our text. He had been imprisoned there before, but this time it didn’t look like he would be released. If these were the last words he was going to write to his fellow pastor Timothy, he wanted them to count. And so he said: “I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching.” (2 Timothy 4:1-2, HCSB)
If a non-member asked you what your pastor does, what would you tell them? I hope you wouldn’t say, “Oh, he runs the church.” That makes it sound like the pastor’s job is not much different than the manager’s job at Safeway. I hope you would agree with the Apostle Paul that the primary work of the pastor is this: to proclaim God’s Word. He is to proclaim God’s Word with “great patience” and with courage as he “rebukes” and “corrects” those who do not agree with the Word.
Can you pray for me in this regard—that I would patiently yet courageously proclaim God’s Word? I need your prayers and I need the Holy Spirit’s power to do this because of what Paul said next in our text. “For the time will come when people 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. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
What kind of myths are prevalent today? Many have been celebrating Pride Month during June. They rally around a rainbow flag and say that their desire for a same-sex relationship, or their feeling to want to live as a female even though God gave them the biology of a male is their business and their right. And would God really judge them? Surely not the God who sent Jesus to teach us to love one another!
But those attitudes twist God’s Word. Since God designed and made us, he knows what it best for us. Same-sex relationships, and the desire to be something God has not made you to be are sins. They are just as deserving of God’s judgment as the sins we commit when we go through the motions of worship, or speak about others behind their back. It’s true, if you don’t like what God has to say in his Word about sexuality or about the origins of this world, you can always find a YouTube video that will confirm your mistaken beliefs. That sort of thing was already happening in Paul’s day, and he warned Timothy that it would just get worse as the history of the world progressed.
Dear Friends, remain steadfast in God’s Word—even if it is unpopular. Remain steadfast because only God can tell us how things really are and ought to be. God is the only one to tell us that sin is a problem—a problem that we can’t fix. And this is the same God who provided the fix in the person of his Son who died in your place. Can you imagine a doctor doing that for you—somehow absorbing your cancer into her body so that she dies while you live? This is what Jesus has done for everyone one of us. And the only way to know about it and come to believe in it is through the Word of God. So stand steadfast in the Word so that your faith continues to remain strong. Stand steadfast even though you’ll be accused of being narrowminded for doing so.
The danger with a sermon about standing steadfast in God’s Word is to give the impression that all we need to do is to circle the wagons and to unplug from society so that we stay safe. But listen to what else Paul encouraged Timothy. “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:5) According to Paul, God doesn’t just want us to stand steadfast in his Word, he also wants us to be steadfast in doing his work—including the work of an evangelist.
I need your encouragement in this regard too. I feel safe and comfortable sitting in my office behind my computer and working on sermons and Bible classes. But God has called me (and you) to be out in the community as well where we can rub shoulders with people who do not share the hope of salvation that we have.
This is why I am so thankful for our Early Learning Center. I have a built-in way every weekday morning to rub shoulders with the community as parents and grandparents drop off their children to our care. Let’s keep building on this opportunity. For example, next month we will be hosting a BBQ for our school families, so that we can continue to build bridges through which we can share Jesus. Come out and work the grill. Organize games for the children. Ask the families what brought them to our Early Learning Center. Share with them why you’re a member here. No, it doesn’t always feel “natural” to have these kinds of conversations, but perhaps that’s why Paul called it “work.” But he didn’t use a word that means laborious work, like making sure all the weeds are gone from your yard so they HOA doesn’t get after you. Rather, Paul used a Greek word for “work” from which we get the English word “energy.” Sharing God’s Word with others can be intimidating but it is also energizing. Let’s encourage each other to keep after it!
The early Lutherans took the words of our text seriously. They guarded the truths of God’s Word and would not tolerate those who wanted to add to or subtract from it. But they also realized that this was a treasure they couldn’t keep to themselves. They spread the truth of God’s Word north into Scandinavia and then eventually into the New World—even making it all the way here to Flagstaff. May we remain steadfast in guarding that Word and sharing it with others. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
What important event happened on June 25, 1530?
If a non-member asked you what your pastor does, what would you tell them?
Paul said next in our text: “For the time will come when people 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. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4) What kind of myths prevalent today do you think are most dangerous to believers?
The Apostle Paul urges us to remain steadfast in God’s Word because it’s the only place we can learn about eternal salvation. What illustration did the sermon provide for how Jesus gives us this salvation?
(2 questions) The danger with a sermon about remaining steadfast in God’s Word may give the impression that all we need to do is to circle the wagons and unplug from society so that we stay safe. But what else does Paul encourage believers to do? How can you engage in this work in the coming weeks?
