“The Word of God Is Not Chained”

a sermon on 2 Timothy 2.8-15
by David C. Mauldin
Westminster Presbyterian Church, Mobile, Alabama


When I was a boy, I looked up to a lot of men at church. Some were my Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, or on staff. They impressed me. They had careers, homes, families, and an active, mature faith. They seemed to understand the Bible, and they knew how to live its teachings. One sidelined as a college football referee for the Atlantic Coast Conference. Another had a very beautiful wife. All of them seemed able to do whatever they wanted to do, and all had a confident trust in God. I wanted to be like them. Yet there was always uncertainty in my mind. Could I do it? Could I find my calling in life and get a good job? Would I ever find the right woman to marry? And if I managed to make my way in the world, how would I live my faith? From time to time missionaries came to the church and spoke. They impressed me even more. One missionary family in Kenya was from my church, and every time they came back and told us about their work there, I dreamed of being a missionary. What did God want me to do? I knew he wanted me to do something—but what? Would I be able to do it?

Children and young people always have heroes—people they admire and want to be like. Some adults still do as well, although most of us tend to get disillusioned. Or maybe we figure out who we are somewhere along the way and we settle comfortably into our identity. We still admire certain people, but we see no need to be like them because we are able to be ourselves. Children, though, and young people want to be like their heroes. Now, I could simply ask: “What are you doing to give them someone worth admiring?” and end the sermon here. Little eyes are looking to you. But this sermon is about more than being a good role model.

Our scripture reading this morning is part of a letter. When you read 2 Timothy, you are reading someone else’s mail, which always gives the thrill of guilty pleasure, even if it is also God’s Word to you. The author is Paul. When he wrote the letter he was old, in prison because of his preaching, and near the end of his life. The recipient is Timothy, a young pastor—so young, in fact, that Paul has to tell him not to let people look down on him because of it. Timothy knows Paul’s circumstances. He knows all that Paul has suffered over the course of his missionary career: the harassment, the beatings, the nights and weeks and months and years spent in prison, the hardships and privations. He knows Paul is chained up right now, on trial for his life. And all this troubles Timothy. It bothers him because Paul is his friend, obviously. He hates to see him suffer. But I expect that Timothy also worried whether he could follow in the footsteps of Paul. He looked at Paul and wondered, “Can I do that? Am I made of strong enough stuff to pay the price of answering God’s call?” Paul, at any rate, seems to address this concern. He writes to instruct, but mainly to encourage Timothy.

Timothy is in a tight spot. On one hand, he looks up to Paul. Anyone who chose Paul as a role model had to feel self-doubt. Paul was so energetic and bold, so successful. Paul was also proof that God does not exempt his servants from suffering. On the other hand, Timothy knows other people are looking up to him. This letter is what one scholar has termed “third generation” Christian writing. Timothy grew up in a Christian home. His mother and grandmother taught him the faith. Not so long before, no one had been born into a Christian home. Everyone came into the church as adults because the church was just getting started. Timothy represented a new generation, with new problems. The challenges of passing the faith on from one generation to another were beginning to be understood. Paul never had to worry much about that. The people he brought into his churches had grown up either Jewish or pagan. Timothy faced the challenge of evangelism in a pagan world, along with this new task of bringing up children in the faith, as he had been.

The basis for my interpretation of scripture this morning is the identification of each of us with Timothy. Like him, we are caught between trying to live our faith in the footsteps of our heroes and role models, and the awareness that fresh, young eyes are looking at us, and trying to live our faith in a way they find compelling. Like him, we are called to the twin task of bearing faithful witness in an increasingly pagan culture and also raising our children to be different from what they see around them—to be Christian. And by the way, when I say “our children,” I am talking to everyone, because the vows we all take whenever a child is baptized make us all responsible. Every child who is a part of this church is ours in the collective sense. God has given parents primary responsibility to teach them to love and trust him, but the church is supposed to help—not by doing the parents’ job for them but by training and equipping and encouraging them to do their job, and to do what they cannot do. The children we baptize will look beyond their parents as they try to figure out what faith in Jesus Christ is all about. They will look to you. If you think that’s a bit of a burden, then you may have some idea how Timothy felt.

So what did Paul tell him to help him get on with the job? The most important point comes first, “Remember Jesus Christ.” When you worry you may not be up to the task of being a Christian … When you feel the pressure from so many directions to give in, to compromise, to water down or give up your faith … When you feel the pressure of little eyes looking to you … When you get tired of the struggle and the hard work with limited results … “remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David.”

What does this mean? Jesus is, of course, the most perfect example of doing God’s will despite the cost. Paul had that in mind because it meant something to him. He discovered that his personal sufferings drew him closer to Christ. If Christ suffered, why not Paul? Why not Timothy? Why not you? And me? Paul learned the hard way that suffering as Christ did—suffering for the sake of God’s kingdom and the Good News—unites you with him. This goes beyond the way anyone who has ever been flooded out of a home knows how it feels for someone else, even beyond the way shared suffering can bring people together, such as soldiers who see combat together. When Paul says to “remember Jesus Christ,” then, he means much more than to reflect on his example. Let me read you something J.I. Packer wrote about Nehemiah that I believe illuminates Paul’s use of the word remember:

“There is a secret source of strength on which leaders, like their followers, may draw, both to stabilize and re-encourage themselves and to equip themselves to re-encourage others. What source is this? Nehemiah’s admonition—‘Remember the Lord’—has already pointed us to it. The source of strength is the knowledge of God, recalled, reviewed, refocused, thought through, and applied to matters at hand. The God we serve is, as Nehemiah declared, ‘great and awesome;’ ‘great’ in his wisdom, grace, faithfulness, and power, and ‘awesome’ in his habit of exposing his servants to difficulties, dangers, toils, and snares out of which he then delivers them. To be a fellow-laborer with this God and share in his works of love, blessing, and redemption in this world is a marvelous privilege, the greatest that life affords. The work may be tougher than we bargained for, but we should still feel the awe and the glory of being God’s colleague.” [A Passion to Faithfulness, p. 109].

Jesus is not just an example. By his Spirit he lives in us and strengthens us. This is the most important thing. By the way, this business about the resurrection and Jesus being a descendant of David: these are two quick ways to make the same point, that Jesus is the Messiah and the world’s true Lord. The powers that arrested Paul and kept him in chains, the powers that might threaten Timothy, the powers that threaten and pressure us—all these are pretenders. They pretend to be in charge, but Jesus alone is the world’s true Lord. He is in charge, and he holds the world in his hands.

Knowing this, Paul goes on to point out the bright side of his personal circumstances. Yes, he is chained up in prison. That he may soon die went without saying. On the plus side, however, the word of God is not chained.

There are certain things in the New Testament that a person’s experiences help make plain or obscure. This business about suffering is one of them. Christians in places such as China, India, Indonesia, and the Middle East instantly grasp what Paul is saying in a way that we who have never really been persecuted for our faith cannot. Nevertheless, this has meaning for us. We are acutely aware of our limitations. When we think of our church, we are aware of limitations due to size, budget, and all those kinds of things. There is no way we can do everything we might want to do or everything that we might think is a good idea. When we look at ourselves as individuals, we factor in considerations such as our age and energy, health, our busy schedules, finances, and all the rest. If we look to ourselves and our resources, we see nothing but limitations. God, however, is not limited. Whatever our circumstances might be, we never know what God might do. He asks for our faithfulness, even to the point of great sacrifice. Then he does whatever seems good to him. Paul sat chained in prison, but he was not overcome. He found the strength to endure patiently. His suffering was worth it because even in prison he could share the Good News. And people were turning to Christ. Obviously they were. Otherwise the authorities would have had no reason to pay attention to Paul. Yet even when he was chained, God was not limited.

I take pride in being a pessimist. It’s wonderful. You should try it sometime. While other people wonder why the world can be so bad, I marvel how it can be so good. I show up every Sunday amazed that people have gathered to worship God. Every day delighted that my car starts and the church building is still standing. I find children fascinating. What a miracle each one is! For the hardened pessimist, God’s mercy is visible everywhere. However, I can’t stand a defeatist attitude that says, “It can’t be done. There’s no use trying.” “I just can’t do it.” “I can’t handle it.” That kind of attitude drives me crazy. Why? You don’t know that. You do not know what God might do. What you do know is that his Word is not chained and his power is not limited. It is fair to say, “I don’t know if I can do it or not, but I am going to give it my best.” God gives you ministry to do. Maybe you are a teacher or a deacon or working on our renewal weekend. The job feels big, too big for you. It would be easy to say “no,” easy to say it is too hard. Or you are a parent, tempted to hope the church will give your children all the instruction and example they need, so you don’t have to teach them to pray, read the Bible to them, and try to answer their questions about God. It is easy to say, “Let someone else do it who is more comfortable doing it.” I think Paul may have been worried Timothy would buckle under. Apparently many others already had. That’s why he encourages Timothy to give his all, trusting God to work things out.

This leads into the last part of our reading, a little something Paul probably borrowed from the worship service that he calls a trustworthy saying:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.

“If we have died with him” refers to baptism. Baptism means death to the old way of life and the beginning of a new life. Death to living for one’s self; the beginning of living for God. Reward is promised to those who endure. Then comes a warning: if we deny Christ, he will deny us. It is the same warning Jesus gives in the gospels [e.g. Mt 10.32-33]. But, if we are faithless, he remains faithful. Think here of Peter, who denied Christ, but repented and got a second chance.

These things Paul wrote to encourage Timothy, because the road was hard and little eyes were watching. By God’s grace, they encourage us too. When you are not sure you can make it, remember Jesus Christ; know that the word of God is not chained and God is not limited; and consider the warning and the promises of the gospel. Then live in such a way that our little ones do not have to look far to find people they want to be like. Amen.

rev_mauldin@yahoo.com
August 12, 2007