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Pleasing God Through Perseverance
28 Plays1 month ago
2 Tim. 2:1-13
Transcript
00:00:02
Speaker
Nothing of any real value is ever gained without dedication and discipline and suffering. Why don't you think about that for just a second? Think about in your life, anything of real value that you've accomplished. Maybe it was a degree in school. Maybe it was a teaching certificate. Maybe it was trying to get on the cheer team or the volleyball team.
00:00:32
Speaker
Maybe it was that job promotion that you have struggled for so long to get. All of those things, friends, took hard work and it took focus and it took perseverance. And if you're like me, that path, that journey was not a straight path. Had a lot of ups and downs. Why is that? I thought about that this week a lot.
00:00:59
Speaker
Why is our journey, when we really want something badly and we're willing to suffer for it, why is it not just this straight shot? It's because, friends, we are easily distracted.
00:01:17
Speaker
Everybody repeat after me. We are easily distracted. How do I know that? Because not everybody's looking up here right now. You knew that's where I was going.
00:01:30
Speaker
We could have the best of motivations and still get distracted. For those of you who spend quality time in the morning with the Lord, I've heard that there are people who do in the evenings, I don't know how you do that. But your quality time that you spend with the Lord, you could have the best motivation. If you're like me, you find that really comfy chair, you get your cup of coffee, you get your Bible, you get your journal, maybe you have a blanket with you,
00:02:00
Speaker
And you sit down with the full intent to study God's Word, to hear from the Lord first thing in the morning before a crazy, busy day begins. But friends, just as you do that, what happens? The text message goes off. The computer beeps. The television has breaking news, which by the way, if I can just take a side note, they just use that breaking news too much, don't they now? Everything is breaking news.
00:02:31
Speaker
But it's this little distraction even with the best of motivations and what started off with I really want to study God's Word has now become something else in the back of my mind. Oh yeah, I have to get that at the grocery store. Oh yeah, I got to do that today at work. And then slowly our minds are distracted and we lose focus And friends, at that moment we become ineffective. We become ineffective for God's kingdom. In very few places in God's word does it specifically tell us this pleases God. And so when we get to that type of scripture that we'll see today, we really want to be focused on what pleases God.
00:03:16
Speaker
Friends, our Christian life demands endurance. It demands discipline and it demands focus. and oftentimes we can just get distracted. So what do we do with that? That's what we're going to look at today in our scripture. We're going to look at three examples, Christ's work, we're going to look at Paul's work, and we're going to look at our own work. And we're going to answer this question as believers, how do we persevere in our Christian walk undistracted? You're going to hear this word undistracted a lot today. We're in 2 Timothy
00:03:48
Speaker
starting in chapter 2, and I'm only going to read the first 13 verses, so if you have your Bible, please open up there. Second Timothy, New Testament, chapter 2. I'm reading from the New Living Translation. If you don't have your Bible, it should be up there on your screen. Paul starts this letter saying, Timothy, my dear son, be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus.
00:04:15
Speaker
You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. Endure suffering along with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Soldiers don't get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them.
00:04:41
Speaker
And athletes cannot win the prize unless they follow the rules. And hardworking farmers should be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor. Think about what I'm saying. The Lord will help you understand all these things. He goes on in verse eight and says, always remember that Jesus Christ, a descendant of King David, was raised from the dead. This is the good news I preach. And because I preach this good news, I am suffering.
00:05:11
Speaker
And I have been chained like a criminal, but the word of God cannot be chained." So I'm willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen. This is a trustworthy saying. If we die with Him, we will also live with Him. If we endure hardship, we will reign with Him.
00:05:37
Speaker
If we deny Him, He will deny us. If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny who He is." Friends, this is the Word of the Lord.
00:05:51
Speaker
This chapter, and for those of you who are taking notes, can be summed up in two words. And there's always a risk as a preacher of giving these two words right at the very beginning because the rest of the sermon you may very well become distracted. oh There are a few of you listening. Thank you. This whole chapter can be summed up in these two words, devotion and motivation. It gives us the strongest call as believers to be devoted to this, the Bible, to God's Word, to the skillful understanding and the practice
00:06:33
Speaker
But friends, it gives us a motivation for that devotion, and it tells us here that it's the one in whom we serve, the risen Christ. He starts here in chapter 2. Look with me real quick.
00:06:49
Speaker
Verse 1, he begins and he says to Timothy, I urge you, Timothy, or we use this word exhortation, biblical term for a strong urging. Paul's saying, Timothy, I urge you then, my son, be strong. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Friends, the difference between the gospel message and a self-help book, if you will,
00:07:20
Speaker
is the motivation, the reason why we strive hard, the reason why we are devoted. A self-help book will tell you, you just need to strive harder. Where the gospel message says, you strive harder because of who Jesus is and what he's done. You'll notice he doesn't say, Timothy I want you to just be strong in yourself. He says I want you to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
00:07:49
Speaker
Timothy himself may be weak and timid, but he has defined his strength and his power, not in himself, but in the grace that God supplies. God's grace saves us and it keeps us, it also provides us with this inward inward motivation and strength. It's that motivation, it's that strength which helps us endure. Let me give you a cliff note version of the Christian walk.
00:08:17
Speaker
If you're trying to do it in your own strength, you will fail.
00:08:23
Speaker
It's by design, folks. God requires us to be dependent on Him in His strength. I was reading this past week the biography of John Wesley. and Those of you who who love John Wesley, I know a couple heads are bobbing right now. John Wesley, itinerant preacher, traveled 50 years on horseback to preach.
00:08:47
Speaker
to which on on the average every day he would preach five to six times a day. Can you imagine that? I can. But he goes from place to place and on his journey he experiences danger, robbery, attacked by angry mobs, but at least he was poor. So he didn't have any money. Not only was he poor,
00:09:18
Speaker
Once the word got out that he was trying to spread the gospel, pretty much every pulpit he went to was close to him. But he kept pushing on. He was a small man and in stature, meaning height. He was probably my height. He was weak. But what carried him through all this struggling and suffering was God's power.
00:09:46
Speaker
And I just thought to myself this week, how often are we trying to just battle things on our own and our own strength? It's not, the Christian walk is not designed to to do that. Not only are we supposed to find his strength, verse eight, if you'll look here, he says, the motivation in what we do and why we do it is Christ Jesus. He says, always remember that christ jesus Jesus Christ, who was a descendant of King David, was raised from the dead.
00:10:16
Speaker
This is the good news. This is the gospel message, by the way, and in its a very abbreviated form. Jesus, the human name that was given, points you to somebody who in all of history actually existed. There was really a person named Jesus. And he was also a descendant of King David.
00:10:47
Speaker
That's his name, Jesus. His last name is not Christ, by the way, for some of you who just think Jesus Christ. Christ is his title. right This is k Christos in the Greek, or Mashiach in the Hebrew, in the Old Testament.
00:11:04
Speaker
This is his title, Jesus who was Christ, Christ who was raised from the dead, meaning he lived this earthly life and he died this death, the substitution death for you and for me, for our sin. And in the proof in why this was acceptable, this sacrifice was acceptable to God, is that he was raised from the dead. And in his dying and in his raising, we too have this new life.
00:11:36
Speaker
This, my friends, is the good news. This is his victory. This is our victory. This is what we we picture when we do baptism up here, for those of you who've gone through baptism, right? You're buried unto death, and we submerge them into the water, and you're risen unto newness of life. It's this picture of what Jesus undertook. It's what we are to undertake. It says here, remember him, Paul is saying, remember Jesus Christ.
00:12:02
Speaker
He was raised from the dead. This is the new hope. This is why he was raised, to prove the gospel message, to prove that he had victory over sin and death. And he says, friends, that we too have victory because Jesus had victory. But the best part, I think, is if you if you're one to to circle in your Bible or make an annotation in your Bible, go to verse 11, if you will.
00:12:30
Speaker
He says the picture that we have here is if if we die with Him, meaning if we die with Jesus, we will also live with Him, meaning when He is raised, we too will experience resurrected life. It's as if we endure hardship because He endured hardship. we We too will reign with Him as He reigns. If we deny Him, He'll deny us.
00:12:56
Speaker
Isn't this what what Peter said, right? if you know If you deny me, what? In front of... I'm gonna wait. If you deny me in front of men, I'll deny you in front of the Father. But verse 13, if you wanna put an asterisk, if we're reading this, I would read it and say, if we're unfaithful, it should say what?
00:13:25
Speaker
God would be unfaithful, but it doesn't say that, does it? For instance, it says if we're unfaithful, He remains faithful. It's an unconditional covenant that He has with us. It's not relying on our faithfulness. He's still faithful. Why is that? Well, it says because, ah like I like the the message translation on this, it is because who He is.
00:13:53
Speaker
It's in his character. He can't deny himself. So when he says he's going to remain faithful, he will remain faithful. It's the essential gospel message, and if we are to reach those who are lost, and I know you think to yourself, I would never be able to evangelize to somebody like that. Pastor, you've gone through five years of seminary training. That's how you know the gospel message. Well, if that's you, if you're not confident in reciting the gospel message,
00:14:22
Speaker
or or confident how you want to deliver that, guess what? Wednesday nights we're having an evangelism class here. It starts this Wednesday, six o'clock. Don't be late. The beauty of this class and the way it's structured is it's both parts what we believe and why we believe it and then how you tell somebody else. That's kind of how I'm divvied it up. And I'm going to make it real simple because if we were to reach the lost, it's not by And I know some people will argue with me on this. It's not just simply by quoting scripture, because the unregenerate person, the person who's lost out there, when they're hurting and they're in need of a solution to their problem, if you simply go, let me take you to Romans 8.3,
00:15:09
Speaker
you're gonna lose 90% of them.
00:15:12
Speaker
But friends, if you know the gospel message and the core of the gospel message and you can relate to somebody, as I will show you hopefully in this class over the next several weeks, it'll give you a certain level of confidence to reach people like you've never reached them before. And it'll help you firm up what you believe and why you believe it. So, that's this Wednesday.
00:15:36
Speaker
So that's Christ's work. Paul's work, he says, I've been charged, verse 2, with two things. He says, you've heard me teach these things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now, Timothy, your job is to go and teach. Teach teach what you've been taught, basically. It's the some summarization here, verse 2.
00:16:01
Speaker
I've been charged with two things. I'm going to guard the the good depositle the good deposit, which is the gospel, and it's been entrusted to me, Paul, saying, Timothy, I'm entrusting it to you, now you, Timothy, are to go deposit it with other good men who can carry that on. I put a note this week for me, personally, if we don't do that latter step, meaning if What Paul heard, and he transferred it to Timothy, if Timothy doesn't transfer it to anybody else, guess what happens? The gospel message dies. But friends, the gospel message has been on fire for many, many, many years. Why is that, do you think?
00:16:47
Speaker
It's because good men and good women have taken the time, who've been disciplined, who've studied the Word, and not simply studied it for themselves, but then they take that and teach it to somebody else. If you have the benefit, which many of you do, to sit under the tutelage of these fine Bible teachers that we have here,
00:17:09
Speaker
as I look out. If you're a Bible teacher, will you stand just for a second? Oh, I know. I see this. don't Don't point me out. Please, if you're a Bible teacher, will you stand for just a second?
00:17:21
Speaker
Martha Henry, that's you. Kathy, that's you. Friends, what these people have been entrusted with is the teaching, the apostolic instruction to take what they've been taught and to teach you guys. But if it simply stopped with them, what would happen?
00:17:39
Speaker
The gospel message would die. Thank you, you guys may sit. So while you're learning, and I do encourage you to come to Bible study class each and every Sunday, because you don't want to miss out. Every every part fits into this much larger picture of what God is doing as he fixes the problem of everything that's broken.
00:18:02
Speaker
But simply sitting in that class and learning is only part of the solution. You are called here then to take that out. and to pass it on to the next reliable person.
00:18:15
Speaker
Scott Stout, who is a theologian, I like this what he said about Timothy, and I just think this is so relatable to you and I and today, he said, can you imagine being Timothy in the Ephesian church? He said, this church was chock full of theological wild hairs.
00:18:36
Speaker
Meaning people who were just willing to throw a wrench into Timothy's program. He says, can you imagine being opposed on a regular basis but still showing up? How many of you would like to show up to work every single day if all you encountered was opposition? He says, however, Timothy persevered because Paul persevered. Paul persevered because Christ persevered.
00:19:04
Speaker
It's this model, friends, of what's being taught and being entrusted must be passed down. It can no longer just simply be preached from the pulpit or taught in the classroom. It must go on. And friends, it will go on. And I believe when we do that in the power of the Holy Spirit that there's far-reaching implications. That not just lives here in First Baptist, Cameron will change, but lives in Cameron will change.
00:19:33
Speaker
not just lives in Cameron but as your kids move out and they go to far ends of the earth like California or Seattle or any of these other godless places that are in this country that that message will go out too and that message will have far reaching implications it's by design that's how God designed it but we must guard it. We must guard our deposit. We must teach it to other people who are well-trained. And I like this. He just says, I'm going to be completely real in verse 9. He says, friends, this is the gospel message, but I want you to understand this is the same gospel message that I'm suffering for. I'm in jail. I'm suffering. You too can expect suffering. Remember, we talked about this last week if you were here.
00:20:29
Speaker
Jesus suffered, Paul suffered, Timothy suffered, and if you're a Christ-father, you too will suffer. He says, although I'm a criminal, really this word criminal, not he' not even like I got thrown in jail, this is like a violent criminal, this word. Paul, who's done nothing but preach the gospel, is now on social media being blasted as a murderer and a traitor.
00:20:57
Speaker
and everybody who he really cared about has left him. And he's in this situation, and friends, he doesn't say, woe is me, look at me, I'm chained. He says, look at me, I'm chained. It's this badge of honor. Look at me, I'm chained. Even though in the physical sense, I'm chained, guess what's not chained? The word of God. The word of God will continue.
00:21:24
Speaker
because there are faithful men and women who take the word of God and teach it.
00:21:33
Speaker
That's Christ's work. That's Paul's work. What about you and I? Well, you and I too will endure hardship. That's what we talked about last week. We should expect it. And in doing so, we will receive reward because we remain faithful and we persevered.
00:21:52
Speaker
Just like Paul and Timothy who suffered for the sake of Christ, we too could expect to suffer for the sake of Christ. Just because Paul and Timothy were also trusted with the mission to carry on the gospel, guess what? You and I are entrusted to carry on that same mission. And I'm sure Paul and I'm sure Timothy at some point thought, that's it. I'm done. I can't take any more. How am I ever going to push on?
00:22:19
Speaker
But it's the power of the Holy Spirit, friends, which carries them on. It's the same power that's available to you and I today to endure. So when you go into work and you have to deal with that boss that is unpleasant and condemning, that you go, I don't know if I can make it back in on Monday, it's the power of the Holy Spirit that enables you to persevere through that.
00:22:45
Speaker
He gives three examples here in verses four through six. He says, if we are to fight the good fight, he says verse four, he gives soldiers as an illustration, he gives an athlete as an illustration and a farmer. He says, soldiers don't get tied up in the affairs of civilian life. Because if they do, they cannot please the person who's their master.
00:23:14
Speaker
Right? What pleases God? Not getting tangled up in the things of the world. Doesn't mean you don't navigate the things of the world. It means don't get tangled in them. The best picture I can give you here, if you remember your old World War I, World War II movies,
00:23:32
Speaker
When they're storming the beach, the command is go and go and get victory. Go win over the enemy. Go take the gospel and and proclaim it to the lost. But as they storm the beach, what do they experience? All these barricades, all these big things of razor wire that's on the beach, all meant to entangle them so that they can't reach their goal, so that they can't reach victory.
00:24:00
Speaker
He says, friends, if you and I are to do the work of the kingdom, gotta be real careful not to get entangled. Entangled in the worldly things.
00:24:13
Speaker
He says the soldier is courageous, he's loyal, he's willing to sacrifice, and he is undistracted. And so I just put a note to myself, how easily this week have I been distracted? How easily have I been entangled in things I have no business getting tangled up in?
00:24:31
Speaker
That's derailing me from what God would want me to do. He says, similarly here, the athlete. The athlete cannot win the prize unless they follow the rules. The rules here he's given in the ancient world would be the athlete that competes in the Olympiad, like the Olympics back then, right? They would have to train 10 months straight and then they'd have to sign an oath that they did that before they could even compete.
00:25:01
Speaker
He's saying, that athlete who does that, they're dedicated. They're willing to suffer. They're willing to put in the time just so that they can go compete. He said, you have to have that type of dedication. And then he says, there's the farmer. He should be the first one to receive his share of crops. And I don't need to tell some of you guys who are farmers, right? That's hard work.
00:25:28
Speaker
Early in the morning, all day long, plowing, sowing, weeding. Boy, don't you just love weeding.
00:25:41
Speaker
And at the very end of that process, you know, what I realized this week as I studied this, what happens at the very end of farming? Then you get to reap. You don't plow, plant, and then the next morning you wake up, whoo, look at all this corn.
00:25:58
Speaker
No, you wait a really long time and you experience disappointment because frost came or heat came or bugs came or disease came. The reward is always in the future and I realize it this week as I studied this, all three of these examples, the soldier, the athlete, the farmer, all three of these suffer now and they get glory later.
00:26:28
Speaker
Who's ready to sign up for that banner? Let's suffer now and the payoff will be much later. No, we can't even put something in the Amazon shopping cart and then check out. They have to put a buy now button. Instant gratification.
00:26:48
Speaker
Because they know that's the mind of how we work. I got to have it now. You want it now? I want it now too. We went and visited this really cool car club or car place down here in Caldwell. And I was with another guy. He was a Christian guy. And and we were looking at these cars. He goes, wouldn't that be so great, Pastor, to have something like that? And I actually said, yeah, it would be great to have something like that. Oh, that's so pretty. He said, yeah, but you and I, we can't do that because we're Christians.
00:27:14
Speaker
our reward is much later. And I thought, oh, thank you, Lord, for that reminder right there. He really said that. I said, I'm probably going to use that in my sermon. Because it's so easy to fall in, isn't it? Like something like that. Get so distracted about having this nice new 1956 Chevy truck that I couldn't afford even if I sold three of my children. But the thought crossed my mind. We want it now. We want to get it now. But friends, of the Christian life is about suffering now. Get it later.
00:27:44
Speaker
suffer now and the glory comes later." That's a call to persevere, now undistracted. So how do we do that? That's what we're going to close today. Just a few observations from the text.
00:28:02
Speaker
I put, first off, if we get distracted regularly, and I'm not talking about every once in a while. I'm talking about if there's something that is distracting in your life, if it's that cell phone, if it's that computer, if it's that relationship that you shouldn't be having, whatever that is that's distracting you, if it keeps coming up, you need to take note because that distraction tells something about our heart. It reveals what we love.
00:28:37
Speaker
We often put lesser things in a greater position. Do you realize that? You know how I know this? Those have been married a long time. If you're ever out on a dinner date with your wife and you're sitting there and you just can't wait to connect and you just want to talk about this week's work and then bing, right? What do you see? It's like we're attached to that thing for some reason. Stuck to the hand like you can't get rid of that bone.
00:29:03
Speaker
Like whatever that beeping is, is so life critical that it's willing to break that now connection that I'm willing to make with my wife or my spouse. But we do it all the time. It shows, friends, what we what we love. It's an unhealthy love. but it's ah It's a heart revealer.
00:29:23
Speaker
This happened to Jesus' friend Martha, if you'll remember. You remember this story? Martha was busy in the kitchen while Jesus taunted her home. Martha complained that her sister Mary wasn't helping because she was sitting at Jesus' feet, to which Jesus replied, Martha, Martha, you're anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which has not been taken away from her. Martha was distracted. She was distracted, right?
00:29:53
Speaker
because she was doing all the what? Food prep. She was doing all the food prep, she was making sure everybody else was taken care of. Was there anything wrong with doing that stuff? No, there's nothing wrong with doing that stuff, but there was something greater that needed to be done. It was sitting at the feet of Jesus.
00:30:13
Speaker
Martha didn't recognize that her distraction was as bad as it was until Jesus pointed it out to her. She thought she was doing the right thing by serving everybody else, but he said, Martha, your values are disordered. I like this word. Because it doesn't mean it's necessarily a bad thing to have your cell phone. It just means that if you're looking at your cell phone all the time, all day long, friends, that's a distraction.
00:30:39
Speaker
It's getting tangled in the worldly things. He says there's a greater important thing that we're supposed to be focused on. Don't get distracted. So I just put a note to myself, which is also a note to you. In our busyness of everyday life, we must ask ourselves, what is the real distraction? What am I getting distracted from? Second, distractions can build faith. The distractions in your life can build faith. It's a constant reminder that you are not
00:31:14
Speaker
God.
00:31:18
Speaker
See, that distraction you have lets you know that you're human and that you're frail, kind of like Timothy, and that you're weak like Timothy. And God has never designed you to function properly without Him, without His strength. He doesn't expect you to charge of the field, run out and evangelize everybody if you're trying to do it in your own strength.
00:31:46
Speaker
It's that battle that he allows you to go through with this distraction that builds faith. It's like the guys who lift the muscle. You lift the weights to build their muscles, right? You're not just going to get better muscles without some tension on the muscle. He's saying the same thing. You've got to battle that.
00:32:05
Speaker
Desire, if you will, that desire to let go of that distraction, to recognize what the core of what that distraction is, it's pulling you away from what God really wants you to do. And in doing that, it'll allow you to grow in your faith.
00:32:24
Speaker
And the last thing I put, because I put a note to myself in my Bible, I often do this when I go back and review what I've taught before many, many years ago. And I just put one word and it put self-control and I have a question mark next to it. So there's a note to me to say at that time, whenever I first prepared a lesson many, many years ago, I had some problem with self-control.
00:32:48
Speaker
Thankfully I want to let you know I still have that problem with self-control today because it was just as relevant when I read it today.
00:32:58
Speaker
He uses these distractions to to strengthen our self-control. Self-control is the fruit of the spirit.
00:33:09
Speaker
if you want to If you want to get better at self-control, every self-help book will just say, well, you need to get all those distractions out of your life. You just need to charge better yourself. You can do it in your own strength. ah that friends That's what every self-help book will do. And unfortunately, that some pastors will teach that same message. But why do we do what we do? The motivation is because of who Jesus is and what he did for us.
00:33:37
Speaker
that undergirds everything that we do. So we want to be more self-controlled because we realize we can't do it in our own power and we have to rely on the Holy Spirit.
00:33:59
Speaker
I put here, there's just no getting around the hard work of applying ourselves and figuring out what works best for us when it comes to self-control. But the important thing is you can't do it yourself. You have to rely on the grace of God. That is the Christian walk, is it not?
00:34:24
Speaker
I'll just close with this.
00:34:27
Speaker
I think sometimes when we get so distracted with life, when we can be, it almost becomes paralyzing. You ever been that way? Like there's so many things I have to think about, and I get so distracted that I almost shut down, like I almost can't do any of it.
00:34:45
Speaker
That's not what God our Father wants. He doesn't want you to live a life like that, full of distractions, almost parallels to the point where you can't make any decisions. He wants you to grow.
00:34:59
Speaker
in reliance on him to let him handle that stuff. And he will.
00:35:07
Speaker
And I just put, like a good soldier, like a strong athlete, and like a patient farmer, may you and I persevere this week. And may we do it undistracted. Amen.