2 Timothy
(Tuesday September 2 Summary)
The Olympics have recently ended. This means we can finally get in bed at a decent hour, and actually have meals around the table again instead of the TV! But what fun they were! I found myself cheering, sometimes quite loudly, for the swimmers, the track stars, the gymnasts - passionately urging them to run faster, jump higher, or throw longer! I mean, really, who couldn’t help but cheer for Michael Phelps as he fought to win his eight races, or anxiously hope that Shawn Johnson would finally get her gold?!? And which of you didn’t fight back the tears as the weeping German weightlifter dedicated his victory to his wife, who died in a car accident a few months before Beijing?
Ah, the stories. Stories of enduring dreams and intense desires. Of devastating injuries and surprising comebacks. Of abject poverty and lavish affluence. Of opportunities seized and chances missed. Stories of tragedy. Stories of triumph. Stories that resonate within us and echo our own hopes, dreams, and fears. The stories of life.
And so here we are today. The stories of our lives as diverse as the stories of the many Olympic athletes. But just as they came together in a certain place at a specific time for the same purpose, so have we. They came to show off. We’ve done well to just show up! They came to be the best. We want to be our best, so we’ve come to get some help! Some help as we run this race of life.
This year we’re going to take a look at the book of 2 Timothy. We call it a book, but it’s really just a letter. A letter an old coach who was retiring wrote to his favorite athlete who had miles to go before his sleep! The wise coach knew his young protégé was frequently fearful, often weak, and in need of much encouragement and instruction. And so Paul, confined in the musty, dank cell of a Roman prison, penned these words to Timothy, who was ministering in Ephesus.
The verses in 2 Timothy are the last recorded words of Paul. He wrote this letter somewhere around 67 AD and was martyred only a short time later. Paul knew his time on earth was short. He knew his race was almost over. He knew he wouldn’t be there in person to offer help and support. So he wrote it down. I guess we could say that 2 Timothy is a condensed training manual from Paul to Timothy, now divinely passed on to us as Christ-followers. It’s a book about TRIUMPH – about living a winning life in a losing world.
But before we jump into the “How To,” let’s take a look at the “Who’s Who?” We have Paul – the fellow-runner and experienced coach. What a story lies behind his triumph! NBC would love to shoot a bio clip about him! Paul was born in the Tarsus, a rather distinguished city in southern Turkey, probably around the same time Jesus was born. His Hebrew name was Saul – Paul his Gentile (non-Jewish) name. Both have the same meaning – small. Maybe Paul was a preemie or just a wee little baby. Maybe his Mama (or his Daddy) simply liked the name! That we don’t know. What we do know is that they had big plans for their little boy. Paul’s father was a Pharisee – a member of the strictest, straightest, follow-all-the-rules-and-then-some group of Jews that were around. Little Paul would become one too. As a young boy he went to “elementary school” to memorize the Torah – the first five books of the Old Testament. And as all good lads his age, he learned a trade. Paul was taught to make tents out of goat’s hair cloth. He then headed off as a teenager to Jerusalem to study under the famous teacher Rabbi Gamaliel. Paul memorized the entire Old Testament and diligently studied not only what God had said but also what many others had said about what God had said and possibly exactly what God might have meant! Paul describes his own life at that time as zealous against what he thought was wrong and faultless in what he felt was right. (Philippians 3:6)
But everything changed as the clock neared noon one dusty day on the road to Damascus. A few years before man named Jesus had arrived on the scene. He had not been as educated as Paul was. He had not followed all the rules Paul obeyed. He had not taught all the things Paul had learned. But he had turned the world upside down. He said he was God’s Son – actually claiming to be God Himself. He said he was the Way, the Truth, the Life. That no one could come to God except through him. He said that God loved – loved so much that he gave. He gave himself as our sacrifice. He said that whoever believed would receive life. LIFE! Everlasting, never-ending, abundant life!
People had flocked to hear him. Some had even left everything to follow him! But not everyone had been fooled. No, maybe those unlearned commoners but not the members of Paul’s club. They weren’t fooled. They were furious. They tried to silence him with their threats, but he never stopped talking. They tried to trap him with their questions, but he turned the answers back on them. They fussed. They fumed. They listened and loathed. He kept right on healing, and teaching, and listening, and loving. Finally they had had enough. A greedy bribe. A garden betrayal. A sham of a trial. The shame of a crucifixion. And this Jesus was finally done with.
Or was he? Around Jerusalem there was talk. “He is risen! He is risen indeed!” Some were claiming to have seen him in person. Saying that He was no longer in the grave but had come back to life victorious over sin and death. Proclaiming that he had gone back to heaven and had promised to return to take those who were his to be with him forever!! Now these were the ones healing, teaching, praying, praising. And people were listening. This could not be!
So they killed Stephen – his bold words of truth were more than they could stand. And Paul was there, giving his approval, keeping an eye on the coats of the ones who hurled the lies and cast the stones. He now knew his mission. These disciples must be destroyed. And he was the man for the job. He went from house to house, dragging off men and women and putting them in prison. The Christians ran for their lives – moving to new towns but still sharing the same message. Jesus is life!
Paul heard fugitives were daring to live in Damascus, a Syrian town about 130 miles north of Jerusalem. Armed with the authority of the Jewish high priest, he traveled the six day journey with venomous passion, “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.”
He almost made it.
His own words say it best. “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth!’”
Paul had seen Jesus. But he couldn’t see anything else. He was blind. The man who with crazed ardor violently hauled Christians off to prison was now slowly led by his own trembling hand to a simple house on Straight Street.
For three days Paul ate nothing, drank nothing, saw nothing. Then he heard a voice, the apprehensive but obedient voice of a believer named Ananias. “Brother Saul, Jesus - who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here - has sent me to you so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. God has chosen you to know his will and to see Jesus and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. Now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.” (Acts 9:17, 22:14-16)
Paul stood up a changed man. His eyes were healed. His heart was whole. God’s grace captured and captivated him. And Paul never forgot. He lived out the next three decades of his life as a thank you to the One who mercifully had rescued him from eternal death and given him everlasting life. He began to share the truth of Jesus with anyone and everyone. He traveled to many cities in Turkey and Greece, sharing Jesus and starting churches. He supported himself by making tents out of goat’s hair cloth! (His dad probably told him that would come in handy one day!) The letters of encouragement and instruction he wrote to believers in cities like Corinth, Philippi, and Ephesus, and his correspondence with his friends Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, we treasure today in the New Testament. Luke, one of his traveling companions, recorded much of “Paul’s Excellent Adventure” in the book of Acts.
Paul’s life was great, but that doesn’t mean things were always good. He continually found himself at odds with Roman authorities and on the outs with the Jewish leaders. He spent many nights in dungeons and many days in danger. He was beaten with 39 lashes five different times and beaten with rods three times. He was stoned, shipwrecked, and snake-bitten. He spent a night and a day treading water in the ocean and many more traveling quickly to escape the current peril. Paul said he had been truly hungry, thirsty, exhausted, and afflicted. He had been cold, naked, abandoned, and burdened. But through the all tragedies and the triumphs, Paul said the best in this life could never compare with knowing Jesus and the worst in this life was worth it all.
And so as we begin 2 Timothy, we find our weary warrior interned in Rome, knowing that one day soon, his race on earth would be over, but fully confident that as he broke through that final finish line, he would run straight into the arms of his precious Savior. Paul said, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”
So where does this leave us and to what does this lead us? I’ll be honest, it leaves me saying, “Wow! I really do need to heed Paul’s word to follow his example as he followed Jesus.” It leaves me saying, “Whoa! Do I truly recognize the grace God has given me in Jesus and am I responding with a life of gratitude?’
And to what does this lead us? Hopefully to worship. To absolute praise for the One who somewhere along the journey of life - as we were dead-set focused on doing our own thing (good or bad) - stopped us in our tracks, called us by name, and made us His own.
To what else does this lead us? To devotion and desire. Devotion to God – passionately loving Him with all that we are and purposefully listening to Him through His word and His works. And to desire to love others with His love and to share with them His life.
It’s time to run. Unlike the Olympians, we didn’t have to succeed in the trials to make the team. Jesus qualified us on the cross. By grace He’s placed us on the right track, heading in the right direction. He surrounds us. He supports us. He strengthens us. And He says to us, “Run! I’ve already won the victory for you, so run your race in TRIUMPH!”
On your mark. Get set. Go!
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