Stay On Target Series

Stay on Target

Series: Fan the Flame (2 Timothy)

Brad Bailey – January 28, 2024

Intro

One of the most fascinating things in life… is that it seems that it is only at the end of life that we get a perspective on what really matters… on if our lives have meaning and purpose. If you want to understand what really matters… listen to someone who is facing their final stage… life is stripped and simplified…as to what really matters.

> And today we continue with the gift of hearing from such a life.

In the Biblical book we call 2 Timothy, we have the second letter which the Apostle Paul wrote to the younger Timothy.

Paul has been arrested in Rome once more.

He saw it coming….and this time it is different.

The Emperor is now Nero… infamous for his brutal rule….and known for losing his sanity.

And there was a prison… in the a new underground prison… which has been discovered near the Roman Colosseum and forum. [1]

> Paul knows these are likely his last days,

What we are reading are the last words of the man who helped change the world.

What we are reading are the last words a man is writing to his dear spiritual son…about finishing well.

And what we are reading are words meant to be heard by us. While this letter addresses Timothy… like Paul’s other letters… Paul clearly intended it to be shared with the whole community… and even ends with the second-person plural “you all”: “Grace be with you all” (1Tim 6:21; 2Tim 4:7; Titus 3:15). These words were read aloud with sacred respect to all the people.

Last week … we landed briefly with 2:8-9 where we pick up today.

2 Timothy 2:8-10

8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

Remember… Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.

In referring to Christ as descended from David…he was reminding Timothy and us… that God had said he was going to send a savior… a descendent of King David… and he would be a savior for all… … who would bear our shame… taking the consequences of death upon himself …but then be raised up and exalted.

Jesus…. descended from David…and raised from the dead, Christ is the one in which everything was pointing to.

And Christ rose and now lives….and has brought eternal salvation.

This is my gospel… which mean good news… ultimate news… the kind that interrupts everything else because it stands above everything else.

That is why I can endure everything… because… I know what God has done… and it fills me.

What matters most… is not the circumstances you are standing in…but where you stand in relationship to the purpose of God…which has now been set in motion.

The word of God cannot be chained. It is unchanging and unstoppable.

Verses 11-13…Adds a piece of liturgy as an example

2 Timothy 2:11-13

11 Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

Here is a trustworthy saying… and he draws upon what must have been a part of a liturgy at the times… something akin to a hymn that may have been sung.

Whenever you see such a reference to something like common

hymn… it’s helpful to realize that it is drawing from something

long held before Paul.

Today some people will say that these accounts must have

been developed later…not only are these accounts within the

lifetime of Jesus… but whenever the NT writings… such as

Pauls… refer to a hymn or creed of the time. An event has to

have been experienced widely to find a communal expression…

and then be given form… and then become widely familiar…and

then shared across spaces… so that Paul could refer to it when

writing to a wider audience.

In other words… it would have to be rooted in a shared reality

with early historic roots.

These beliefs didn’t grow out of the early church… the early church grew out of the beliefs… including the resurrection And here we hear what they first knew

What doesn’t change? God…the life that exists with God.

if we are faithless,… he remains faithful,

for he cannot disown himself.

God is God.

If we disown him, he will also disown us;