Rev. David Holwick Y 2 Timothy series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
July 18, 2010
2 Timothy 2:8-13
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I. There is something about Jarheads.
A. A little bit of military psychology from an Army brat.
1) Number 1 - the Army does not like the Marines.
a) My father, Col. Holwick, called Marines "Jarheads."
b) It has to do with the funny way a Marine will twist
his cap on their head in a screwing fashion.
2) Number 2 - the Marines think they are better than anyone else.
a) I won't comment on this, but I do believe the Marines
have the best motto of any military branch - Semper
Fidelis, often shortened to "Semper Fi."
b) It is Latin for, "Always faithful."
B. It is a pretty good motto for Christians, too.
1) We should always keep a focus on our relationship with God.
2) Last week - focus on your eternal goal, just as a soldier
focuses on obeying his commander, an athlete focuses on
their training, and a farmer focuses on the expected crop.
3) Today's passage: consider Jesus, Paul, and yourself.
a) The first two knew what their mission was.
b) Do you know what you are supposed to be about?
II. Consider the experience of Jesus.
A. Remember Jesus Christ.
1) It is a very simple statement, but necessary.
2) Churches (and Christians) can easily forget about him.
3) We get wrapped up in our weekly routine and lose sight of
the one we are working for.
B. Jesus was raised, and descended.
1) The first part focuses on the miracle of his resurrection.
a) God the Father raised him to give the ultimate
testimonial to the validity of the mission Jesus had.
b) Jesus wasn't just a nice guy - he represented God.
2) The second part looks to the human aspect of Jesus.
a) Jesus fulfilled the ancient prophecies of a Messiah
that were given to the Jews.
b) He is the king who will rule the earth forever.
III. Consider the experience of Paul.
A. He focused on exalting Jesus, at a steep cost.
1) Paul is suffering because of the gospel.
a) He is chained like a criminal.
b) (Only other use of word "criminal" is to describe those
who were crucified with Jesus.)
2) But God's word was not chained.
a) Humans could not stop it.
b) They still can't.
In the 1940s a rich Chinese woman named Mabel lived in a
a large house in the center of Beijing.
Following the Communist takeover in 1949, she was branded a
'rich landowner', and was forced to leave her villa and live
in a garden hut.
Following the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, she lost her
job as a doctor.
She was sent to a labor gang, where she had to shovel sand.
The Red Guard severely humiliated her, beating her, parading her
through the streets with a sign listing all her 'crimes'.
They put a sign outside her house as well, labeling her as an
outcast for distributing 'imperialistic literature' (the
Bible).
Mabel went through hell.
Beaten and humiliated, she returned to her hut one day and told
God, "I can't go on any more".
She took a large chopping knife and held it over her wrist.
Before she struck, she prayed "Lord, if this is wrong, help me!"
Apparently he did, because she put the knife down and broke out
in tears.
She endured the beatings and scorn for eight more years.
"Somehow, God gave me the strength to go on," she says.
She only understood God's reason behind it many years later.
At the end of the 1970s, China stopped the Cultural Revolution
and disbanded the Red Guard.
Many intellectuals were rehabilitated and given their property
back.
Not Mabel.
Instead, people sought her out; to her astonishment, many of
them were high-ranking Communist officials.
Even more astonishingly, they all asked for Bibles.
"Why do you come to me? Of all of Beijing's population, why
come to the house of a 70-year-old woman?"
The answer was always the same: "During the Cultural Revolution,
there was a sign in front of your house listing everything
you did wrong.
One of them was distributing Bibles.
I came in the hope you might still have one."
It was wonderfully poetic justice that the very sign which made
her life a living hell was the key to her missionary work.
Mabel opened the first Bible smuggling channel into the Chinese
capital.
Some of the Christians among the high-ranking Communist Party
officials have Mabel to thank for their faith.
Mabel recalls, "Every day was a battle, and it was hard.
But it was good to see the reason for the suffering.
That strengthens my faith."
#26688
B. Paul endured the suffering because of others. 2:10
1) He wanted people to become Christians.
2) He could look beyond the suffering to the glory.
3) So, in the meantime, he grits his teeth at the tough stuff.
IV. Consider the experience of Christians.
A. Paul quotes what is probably an early Christian hymn or poem.
1) The Pastoral Epistles contain several of these.
2) Even in English, the stanzas have a poetic flow.
3) The poem lays out the options that face each of us.
B. If we die, we live.
1) Paul is probably not talking about martyrdom, or even
physical death, but the act of becoming a Christian.
a) Paradoxically, when we are born again, we die to our
old self.
2) He expresses a similar idea in Romans 6:3 and following.
"Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into
death in order that, just as Christ was raised from
the dead through the glory of the Father, we too
may live a new life."
3) The promise - we will live with him.
a) Once again, this probably focuses on the present
Christian life.
b) Heaven is just gravy on top of it.
C. If we endure, we reign.
1) Some want to limit this to select Christians.
a) Some Christians endure and overcome, while others
just exist without any effort.
b) The promise of reigning with Jesus is limited to
the hardworking ones.
2) I believe it applies to all Christians.
a) Jesus said, all who endure to the end will be saved.
b) Endurance is the mark of a genuine Christian.
1> Real Christians go the distance.
2> The book of Revelation says all Christians will
become kings with Jesus.
D. If we disown him, we are disowned.
1) This is a troublesome phrase.
a) It suggests Christians can lose their salvation.
2) But Jesus says something similar in Matthew 10:33 -
"Whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before
my father in heaven."
E. If we are faithless, he remains faithful.
1) On the surface, this seems similar to the previous stanza.
a) But the previous person is disowned, and this one seems
to be accepted by Christ (a positive).
2) Some scholars I read said this one is negative too - Jesus
remains faithful in following through on his warnings.
a) He cannot deny his righteous character.
3) I see a parallel with Judas and Peter.
a) Judas disowned Jesus and never truly repented of it.
1> He was sorry for what he did, but he took his life
instead of bowing before God.
b) Peter, on the other hand, wavered in his faith.
1> He denied Christ three times at the trial.
2> Yet he wept over his sin, and returned to the
fellowship of other Christians, and Jesus.
A> His return, even after failure, showed his
genuineness.
B> Therefore he was accepted back while Judas was
rejected.
3> Jesus cannot disown those who really belong to him.
V. Are you fidelis?
A. Real faith deals with the hard realities of life.
1) It is not always victory and fun and smiles.
2) Sometimes you feel like you are chained and it will never
be unlocked.
a) You do not enjoy it, but you endure.
b) When we stumble, we crawl back.
B. God's faithfulness will always trump ours.
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SOURCE FOR ILLUSTRATION USED IN THIS SERMON:
#26688 "The Sign Outside Her Door," from Mr. Mom's Mailing List newsletter,
http://mrmom.amaonline.com/; found in Wit And Wisdom by
Richard G. Wimer, May 28, 2004.
This 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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