Proper 23 C
The Battle for You
2 Timothy 2:1-13
9 October 2016 – Redeemer
Timothy was having a rough time of it. It wasn’t easy being a pastor in Ephesus. There were over 50 gods worshipped in Ephesus and Timothy preached, “Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” In Ephesus evil was called good and good was called evil. The pagan worship that filled the temples is what we would euphemistically call “adult entertainment” and Timothy preached, “Jesus said, ‘For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.” Matthew 15:19–20 (ESV) In Ephesus, the gods were pleased by the works and worship of their followers. The more you did for the gods the better the gods treated you. Timothy preached that the true God could not be pleased by your works or worship. He was pleased only with the saving work of His Son and gave His favor to those who believed in Jesus alone. The temple of Artemis (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world) stood for 600 years in Ephesus and Timothy was preaching Christ who had risen from the dead and sent out His preachers just a mere 30 years before. So how do you think Timothy’s peaching went over in Ephesus?
When you hear Saint Paul’s words to him in today’s text you know the answer. “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” (3) Soldiers in battle endure hardship. Soldiers suffer. Timothy was a soldier in battle and so are you.
Sometimes we forget that when we are brought to faith in Christ Jesus we are also brought into a battle. Perhaps the best way to understand this battle is to consider the phrase used by Jesus Himself, “The Kingdom of God.” Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus began many parables “The Kingdom of God is like…” In a Kingdom there is a King who rules and reigns – in the Kingdom of God the King is Jesus Christ Himself, God’s only begotten Son.
Jesus wants you in His Kingdom. He wants to rule over your life. How does He do that? He brings you into His Kingdom, under His rule, by taking you away from His enemies. According to God’s Word you are born enslaved, subject to three wicked tyrants who rule your life. Sin rules you because you are born sinful, an inherited condition you received from your parents. If you doubt this, try to stop sinning. Death rules your life because sinners are bound to die. If you doubt this, try to avoid the cemetery. Satan rules you because he can accuse you of sin before God and rightly demand the damnation of your soul. Many people do not believe they are subject to sin or Satan, but every one of us knows there is no escaping death.
God sent His Son into this world to deliver you, to bring you out from under the tyranny of sin, death, and hell, and into the Kingdom of God. Jesus is the Kingdom of God. When He walked this earth He immediately spread His reign of peace, and life, and health. Jesus freed people from death by healing them, restoring sight to the blind, making the lame walk, even raising the dead. He freed people from Satan’s hold by casting out demons at His command. Finally, Jesus set the world free from sin by bearing the world’s sin to the cross, where God’s anger and rejection of sinners was poured out on His Son who hung in our place. The crowning moment to the Kingdom of God was the cross where our King was anointed with the wrath of God over our sins. Our King, God’s King, God’s Son, dies to make us His subjects, dies to free us from our enemies. He pays the price of our freedom with His own flesh and blood. Not one of the 50 gods of Ephesus ever did that. No other god in all the world, not Allah, not Vishnu, no other god establishes His Kingdom by His death for His people.
Believing in Christ Jesus’ death for your sins – you’re free. Your sin is forgiven. Christ’s work covers you. You are in God’s good graces. You are inside the protective wall of His forgiveness. Free from sin you are free from death. Even though you die, yet you will live, that’s the King’s promise. You have His Word on it. Free from sin you are also free from Satan. He has nothing on you. He can’t accuse you of a single sin, because Christ’s blood atoned for all sin and all includes yours. Once again you have His Word on it. He said, “It is finished” and that means your sin is finished, death is finished, Satan’s rule finished. As proof your King’s Word He rose from the dead.
Now there is one more thing to remember about this Kingdom before we return to Timothy in Ephesus. This reign and rule of Christ comes by His Word. Christ enlisted Timothy to preach the Word and Paul stationed him in Ephesus to preach the Word. So also you came into this Kingdom of God by the Word of God, the Word with water at your baptism, the Word of forgiveness spoken over you, the Word preached in your ears, the Word in your mouth with the body and blood of Christ.
So what do you think your enemies, your former tyrants and rulers will attack? God’s Word. They are sore losers. They want you back. They will try to pick you off or breach the walls of God’s Kingdom by going after God’s Word. In many ways you and I face the same suffering and attacks that Timothy did. The History Channel or the Discovery Channel have specials on God or the Bible or Jesus and with the help of experts they erode and discredit God’s Word. If you call for the worship of the One True God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the world will call you a bigot. If you call evil evil and good good you will be called a hater. The temples of our day (think sport’s stadiums and medical plazas) do a much better and bigger business than Jesus and you will be tempted to look for life at the big and “lasting” temples that promise entertainment, adult and otherwise.
To all of that Saint Paul says to Timothy and to you, “My child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses.” Hear God’s Word of grace for you – the Word of your Baptism, the Word of your forgiveness, the Word of Christ’s body and blood for your life, and know you are forgiven, you are God’s child, you are under Christ’s reign and rule. Hold to that Word. Remember the truth of that Word, those events of the life of Christ. That isn’t Paul’s Word or Matthew’s word or Luke’s Word, it is God’s Word, and the facts recorded there were witnessed by many.
“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel,” (2 Timothy 2:8, ESV). Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead – this is the Gospel, the Good News Paul preached and every faithful pastor still preaches. Jesus Christ rose from the dead, over 500 people saw Him alive, after at least that many saw Him most certainly dead, after His friends buried Him, after Roman soldiers set a seal on the stone and set a guard at His tomb. Jesus Christ rose from the dead and that is God’s Word to you, confirmed by witnesses, and that is the good news that His Word is true, His work is finished, and your sins are forgiven. Jesus Christ risen from the dead means death has lost its hold on you and Satan has lost his claim on you.
You are with Christ and Christ is with you. You have His Word on it. “The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. Like Timothy you might feel all alone in a world that worships every god and pleasure that comes along. Like Paul you might even end up in chains for this Gospel, but hold to His Word. For as Saint Paul warns; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:11–13, ESV) In those last words the Apostle Paul holds the Gospel before Timothy and us. It is hard to be faithful. God’s Word is spoken against in our land. As hearers of God’s Word we are spoken against. We will be tempted to deny God’s Word, to be faithless, to surrender, but remember this, He is faithful. Christ is faithful. What He says He does. What He promises He finishes. My dear children, be strengthened for the battle, by the grace that comes in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
8 October 2016 anno Domini