2 Tim 1:13-18 – What does Faithfulness Look Like?
There is a story about a boat that was wrecked during a dark stormy winter’s night. As the dawn came, many were seen out in the icy waters, holding on to anything that would prevent them from sinking. Now Ed and Will Spencer came to the scene and Ed was a good swimmer. He swam out and out again until he had rescued many, and was almost exhausted. But just then he saw another woman holding on to a piece of board and crying for help. They said, "Ed, you’d better not go, you’re too weak." But it didn’t stop him. He swam out into the icy waters once again and brought her to shore. Then he collapsed unconscious and was taken to the hospital with those that he had rescued. After several hours, he became conscious again and said to his brother Will, "How many were drowned?" Will replied, "I do not know." Then he said, "How many did I save?" Will replied enthusiastically, "Ed, you saved seventeen." But Ed looked down and asked, "Did I do my best?" He slipped into unconsciousness several more times that day and each time he awoke, he would ask the same question - "Did I do my best?"
Have you ever asked that question? Wondered whether you have done your best for God. Have you followed Him to the best of your ability. Have you been faithful to the best of your ability? What does being faithful involve anyway?
This morning, I want us to briefly open up our Bibles and look at a passage which gives us a few hints as to what being faithful is all about. I want to try to answer the question – What does faithfulness look like for us this morning? If you’ve got your bibles, open them up to 2 Tim 1:13-18. Paul is writing a letter to his apprentice – Timothy. The setting for his letter is that Paul is in a Roman prison. It is his last letter that we have and as he faces death, he writes to Timothy encouraging him to be a Faithful minister of Jesus Christ.
If you glance back over the preceding verses you can see that Paul speaks of Timothy’s faith with thanks (vs 5). He urges Timothy to live life in God’s power, love and self-discipline (vs 7). He encourages Timothy to not be ashamed of his faith (vs 8) but to testify faithfully what Christ has done for us. Why can we live in faith? Because of God’s grace – He sent his son who died for us, yet rose again, defeating death itself. That is why Paul says he himself is not ashamed of the gospel.
So let’s read what Paul goes onto tell Timothy about living out that faith without shame. And then let’s try to figure out what living a faithful life means for each of us.
Read 2 Tim 1: 13-18 & Pray
1) Faithful living is guarding the truth
There are 2 things in this passage which show us what faithful living looks like. The first thing in this passage that Paul says that a Faithful person or a person who is not ashamed of the gospel does is that they guard the truth that they have learned. Paul says that Timothy is to keep what you heard from me, as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. The word for pattern here is typically used of an outline sketch. It is an overview, a broad brush stroke painting which lacks the detail. Paul is saying, I have laid out before you the framework you have to follow. I have given you boundaries in which to stay. I have given you the bones. I have lived an example, now hold onto that as your example and go and apply it to your life situations. And apply it says Paul with faith and love. This is what faithful living is all about
There is no way that Paul could teach Timothy all there was to know about the Christian faith or about Christian belief which could be applied to any and every situation. That was just not possible. But what Paul did pass on, what the structure. It was sound teaching. It was the core facts, the central tenants which under girded every decision that Timothy would or could have to make. Paul was saying here, hold onto these as sound teaching. Guard them as something valuable that is entrusted to you. Don’t lose them. Don’t abuse them, but protect them and care for them. And what was the purpose of this guarding? It was to pass it on - accurately. Timothy, like Paul, was a minister of the gospel and he was charged in vs 8 to testify about our Lord.
Paul was under no illusions that this was not going to be an easy task. There would be all manner of false prophets coming who would seek to distort the truth of the gospel entrusted to Timothy. He, like us, would also be often tempted to use the authority of Scripture and just twist it’s meaning ever so slightly to support his side of an argument or debate. Paul says. Guard that which is entrusted to you with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in you.
So the first thing that a faithful person has to do is guard the truth that they have been taught. This must be one of the hardest things to do? Why do I say that? You only have to look around at the number of cults and distortions of orthodox Christian belief around in our world today to show that it is hard to maintain the pattern of sound teaching that has been handed down to us. We are a society for whom truth is relative only to me – the individual. I decide what is my truth and I decide where I get it from – usually it is from a great number of sources.
But as faithful followers of Christ we need to guard the pattern of sound teaching that has been handed to us. What is core – is core. It can not change and we must be careful not to push boundaries. Let’s be faithful in our handling of the teaching we receive.
2) Faithful living is supporting others in times of need
The second thing in this passage that a Faithful person or a person who is not ashamed of the gospel does - is that they support other believers in time of need. Remember that Paul writes from a Prison cell. He is awaiting execution and writes that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me. Paul is referring to the region of Asia Minor in which he spent most of his time ministering. Ephesus was the main center here and Paul spent 3 years with them. But now they had deserted him and in his time of need, there is no support coming from them.
But in contrast to those from Asia Minor, Onesiphorus was not ashamed of Paul’s chains or his suffering. Paul writes that he searched long and hard for him. Paul was a prisoner of Rome, you see, but was allowed to live in a house, chained to a guard. He was not to be found in any of the prisons and no doubt Onesiphorus had to ask many people before he perhaps found a guard who knew of Paul and his where abouts. Onesiphorus was a brother in Christ and did not desert Paul in his hour of need. Instead he searched for him and when he found him, he ministered to him. I can just imagine him bringing fresh bread and fruit to Paul. Sitting down and talking with him. Encouraging and praying with him. Running errands, helping with the daily chores of life. Even possibly nursing Paul when he was sick.
All these things, Onesiphorus did, because he was a faithful servant. He was not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ or His suffering servants. He ministered to Paul because of his Love for God and the grace and forgiveness that he himself had been shown.
As a Christian here this morning, how faithful are you? Does your faith look like that of Onesiphorus. It is too easy for us to abandon those who are going through tough times.
• We sometimes try to help others, but are thankful of the slightest excuse why we just couldn’t get it to work. Onesiphorus searched hard for Paul. He didn’t let a few obstacles get in his way.
• We find that our schedules don’t have enough room to support those in crisis – we have a job to do and with that and the kids, we just don’t have time. Onesiphorus dropped everything and headed to Rome to find Paul.
• We find that people in need are very draining. They sap our energies and our enthusiasm with their demands. Paul couldn’t do anything for himself, yet Onesiphorus was willing to humbly serve him during his imprisonment.
• We often only are willing to help others for what we ultimately will get out of it. Onesiphorus was not motivated by what he could gain. He was ministering to a person who would soon die. No future benefit to be gained from that. And it was in another city far off. Onesiphorus lived as a servant to Philemon in Colosse. No-one that he knew would even see what he was doing for Paul in Rome. There was no recognition at all to be had here, yet Onesiphorus ministered.
If we are faithful to God, it will work itself out in faith and love to minister to other people like Onesiphorus did. His is an example to us.
So here Paul exhorts Timothy to be faithful. He firstly, exhorts him to hold to the pattern of the sound teaching. To guard the truth that he has learnt and not let distortions for the sake of convenience water down the message of the gospel. Then he exhorts him to live out his faithfulness in service. Service of others. Service of those in need. Service not for what we can get out of it, but for the love of God.
This is what faithfulness looks like. How does our faithfulness line up? What do we have to do to become more faithful?
