Rev. David Holwick X 2 Timothy series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
July 11, 2010
2 Timothy 2:1-7
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I. How tough are you?
A. Popular chain email from the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
1) Soldiers in muddy foxholes, sleeping under trucks, enduring
sandstorms.
2) The implied message is: they are suffering for your freedom;
what are you doing for them?
B. Being a Christian is not easy, either.
1) Although it is as easy as cake, if you live it that way.
2) The Bible sets a higher standard than we tend to, however.
a) In today's passage, Paul challenges Timothy to be tough.
b) God doesn't call us to be wimps.
II. Be strong.
A. Timothy had to overcome his tendency to be weak.
1) Paul was giving Tim a big task, taking back the churches.
2) It was something he had to be strong for, but his own
strength would not be enough.
B. The strength has to come from above.
1) That is why Paul says he must be strong in Christ's grace.
a) Jesus is willing to freely give us salvation, but much
more.
b) He can give us the resources to stand firm in a
messed-up world.
2) Preacher Ray Stedman notes that the only way you can keep
your inner life strong is by a relationship with the
Living God.
3) As the old hymn puts it, "On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand."
C. Many of you can testify to this.
1) A recent example.
At Caitlyn Brunner's 8th grade graduation party yesterday,
I had a conversation with Becky Pruitt's brother, Bobby.
Bobby has been through an awful lot in his life, with
severe medical problems and a rocky marriage and
financial turmoil.
He told me that Christ had helped him to overcome every
obstacle.
But he had to get deeper with Jesus first.
He grew up believing in Jesus and attending church.
But he says it was more like "playing church."
He went through the motions but his heart wasn't in it.
Through the influence of his wife, he made a new commitment
and put God first.
It was only then that he found the strength he needed.
2) How strong is your reliance on God?
III. Delegate your faith.
A. Strong faith is just a start - will it reproduce?
1) Every generation has to be reached for Christ.
2) If you don't pass on your faith, it will soon die out.
a) There are plenty of New Jersey Baptist churches that
were filled to the brim in the 1950s and 60s.
b) Now they are practically empty.
B. What discipleship entails.
1) Our message goes back to the apostles.
a) Paul's message, supported by other Christian witnesses.
A few years back, Massey H. Shepherd, Jr., wrote:
The Gospel is not presented to mankind as an argument
about religious principles.
Nor is it offered as a philosophy of life.
Christianity is a witness to certain facts --
to events that have happened,
to hopes that have been fulfilled,
to realities that have been experienced,
to a Person who has lived and died and been
raised from the dead to reign for ever.
#4224
b) This message is the essence of the New Testament.
2) Entrust it to reliable and qualified people.
a) You might think, this sounds like experts, not me.
b) Certainly some are better at it than others, but every
Christian is called to reproduce their faith.
c) If you are not qualified, study to get that way.
3) They must teach others.
a) True reproduction is more than getting people to agree
with the gospel.
b) It involves discipleship, helping people become
committed believers who follow Jesus on a daily basis.
C. What is the lineage of your faith?
IV. The Christian faith is hard.
A. Paul says we must endure hardship like soldiers.
In the 1992 movie, "A Few Good Men," Jack Nicholson plays
Col. Jessep, a hardened Marine.
In the courtroom he says:
Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls
have to be guarded by men with guns.
Who's gonna do it?
I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly
fathom.
You don't want the truth because deep down in places you
don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall,
you need me on that wall.
We use words like honor, code, loyalty.
We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending
something.
You use them as a punchline.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain
myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of
the very freedom that I provide, and then questions
the manner in which I provide it.
I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way.
Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. [1]
B. What is hard about being a soldier.
1) Their physical pain is legendary:
a) In Revolutionary War, many soldiers trudged through
snow without boots.
b) World War II, soldiers stayed in combat until the war
was over - it wasn't just a 12-month hitch.
c) Iraq and Afghanistan - some soldiers are on their
fourth tours of duty.
2) Their mission is more important than their comfort.
3) They have to obey orders, even if it takes them to the other
side of the world.
a) As Paul puts it, soldiers have to keep a focus.
b) Pleasing your commander is all that matters.
C. The hardship of being a Christian is more inner than outer.
1) There are missionaries who face physical stress similar
to soldiers, but they are the exception.
2) For most of us, the stress is spiritual pressure from
living in a hostile world.
3) But we still have a Commanding Officer, God.
a) Are you pleasing him?
V. The discipline of an athlete.
A. Their mission is to win and get a crown.
B. They don't just show up - they must condition their bodies.
1) Competing according to the rules probably refers to the
training that the ancient Olympics required.
2) Athletes had to swear an oath that they had trained for
ten months.
3) It's not that different today - think of Lance Armstrong
and the tour de France.
a) That guy has so much discipline he seems other-worldly.
4) In the same way, Christian faith requires conditioning.
VI. The perseverance of a farmer.
A. Farming is tougher than it looks.
1) We may picture them sitting under a tree with a piece of
grass stuck in their mouth, but the reality is harder.
2) They must get up before dawn and work until sunset.
B. Christianity isn't easy.
1) Much effort went into our VBS this week.
a) Some was physical - putting up tents, storing up snacks.
b) The lessons were put together over six months.
c) Was it worth it?
2) Comment this week on how events are conflicting.
a) A crowded schedule is a good sign, though.
b) We don't want weeds in our parking lot.
3) Is our effort doing what needs to be done?
a) Honoring Christ must always be the goal.
C. There is a payoff.
1) This is something that all three metaphors have in common.
2) The hardship and discipline and work are for a higher
purpose, whether a military mission or crown or crop.
3) Our payoff is even better - eternal life.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] Dialogue taken from movie "A Few Good Men" (1992), screenwriter
Aaron Sorkin
#4224 "Christianity Is a Witness To Facts," by Massey H. Shepherd, Jr.,
Far And Near; retrieved from Christian Quotation Of The Day;
editor Robert McAnally Adams, http://www.gospelcom.net/cqod/;
November 24, 1997.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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