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Remember (Sermon October 9, 2016)
2 Timothy 2:8–15 (NRSV) 
8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 The saying is sure:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.
A Worker Approved by God
14 Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.
Remember. There is a constant theme in the life of the people of God, whether those of Hebrew heritage or those who have been grafted into the promise, of remember. Remember who brought the tribes out of Egypt, do this in remembrance of Me, Remember. There is a reason that we should take time to remember, because it is all too easy to forget. We must actively discipline ourselves to remember because every day is filled with distractions that take our attention away from what is truly important.
Remember, Paul encourages us. This is a present active verb meaning continuously direct your attention to this. Remember, Jesus Christ. This term Christ has been used to such a degree that we almost see this as being Jesus’ last name instead of a title to his position. Jesus would have been known on earth as Yeshua Bar Yoseph, but Christ was the anointed one or chosen one of God. Do we remember this distinction or do we rush over this title due to repetition? I mention this at this point because all too often we as followers of Jesus fail to recognize the importance of what it means. This is a theological argument which is important to recognize before we move forward or we might be distracted from what is important. Remember Jesus is the anointed and chosen one, this means that it is through Jesus that Father chose to fulfill the promise through. It is not us as individuals, it is not the saints, it is not the nation of Israel, or any political entity, but Jesus. The entire hope and promise first given to Abraham and extended through Moses and the prophets culminates in and is directed toward the person of Jesus. Everything, all of creation, and all of humanity according to this title which was given to Jesus, must be interpreted and understood through the one who bears it. And our lives are judged according to this Person as well.
Paul continues, “Remember, Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendent of David.” The second phrase in this reminder to the young pastor Timothy, says to remember that Jesus is raised from the dead. Keep in mind the order of the words here, Jesus Christ the anointed and chosen one, raised from the dead. Jesus the one through which everything is and is interpreted and known rose from the dead. The greatest fear of most people in our world is death, and if you are not afraid of death itself you are probably afraid that the other things you are afraid of will kill you, so you are afraid of death. What would happen if that fear was taken away? What would happen if in one moment our greatest fear was revealed to be an empty threat with no power? That is what Paul is telling Timothy. “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead.” Everything that you have ever feared is rendered powerless in Jesus. Let that soak in for a moment, because if you are like me there is something in your life entrapping you in fear. That little fear is keeping us from experiencing the victorious life that God intended for us to have in Jesus. That fear is placing a wedge of separation between us and God that is just as harmful to our participation in the Kingdom of God as any other sin that we might participate in. Because that fear is one area of our life where we are looking at our life’s journey and saying to God, “Yes I know you are the chosen and anointed one that conquered death and all, but I do not trust that you will protect or sustain me and my family in this area so I will not follow you there.”
Paul says, “Remember not only is Jesus the anointed and chosen one through which everything of life is to be interpreted, conquered your greatest fears.” The third part, “a descendent of David,” connects Jesus to a promise made to one family, in one tribe, in one nation of the world that this light and hope of all mankind would come through them. So remember that this is not just a person that was claiming to be anointed and garnered up enough signatures on a petition to put their name in the running of Christ, but he was promised in ancient times and this promise could be traced through the linage of history. Our hope is not only placed in a person who conquered our greatest fear but it is the person promised for centuries through whom all things will be made complete. Remember, and keep on remembering. Do not let this get far from your mind.
Why is this important? Because that is the Gospel. When Jesus began his ministry he said, “The kingdom of God is at hand.” Which means the influence and reign of God is all around us if we allow it to enter our awareness. It almost seems as if Paul has taken the message that Jesus taught and changed it to remove the aspect of the reign of God out, and instead focused it on the resurrection, but that is not really the case. Paul was the apostle that was sent to those that were not connected to the family or nation, or if they were distantly connected to the nation of Israel they were among those that were dispersed throughout the empires so were just as influenced by other cultures as they were their own heritage. So when Paul says that this is the gospel that he taught he is not teaching a gospel contrary to that of Jesus but he is explaining that the good news offered by Jesus is proven because he rose from the dead. This means that because Jesus rose from the grave and was victorious over our deepest fears we have hope that even when we are not always aware of it the kingdom of God is all around us. So we need to remember and not forget.
Paul lived in a time and place where the influence of God could often seem to be lacking. At the moment of writing Paul was chained as a criminal and potentially facing execution, which was a fate that was realized. It would be easy to hear about the gospel and get excited about it and then when the situation turned a bit tense, our attention could drift and our awareness of hope could begin to wane. So Paul encourages us to remember once more. As the struggle intensifies we need to remember all the more, even when we endure chains of persecution. Paul continued to preach and encourage those to continue the journey through life with Christ even though he face death, because the hope in Christ was even greater. And he joyfully faced it to bring hope to the elect so they might receive the very hope provided through Christ. But what is the elect? This is where theologians can really get excited. Some might say that it is people chosen by God from the beginning of time, where others might have a different view. The danger with focusing too much on the semantics of one word is that even when there is a religious focus is that this narrowing attention can become a distraction from the larger awareness of what God is doing around us. To stay true to the larger awareness the elect is the church or those that are walking the pathways of life with Christ. These people are elect not because of who they are, but because of who Jesus is.
“The saying is sure:
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.”
It is Jesus who is the elect one and we are heirs to the promise through him. Because He is the anointed one, who conquered our fears and was promised for ages. And he is faithful because he cannot deny himself.
Paul again urges Timothy to remember and to remind. Our jobs as followers of Christ is not to be the judge, or the jury, we are to remember and remind, to encourage and to walk along side. Paul is very practical in his advice when it comes to this task. “Avoid the wrangling of words, which does no good, but only ruins those who are listening.” This is about as straight forward as one can get. He is saying do not debate over semantics, but stay focused and remember. We can get trapped in words. We can stew over something that we perceived to be said when it was not intended that way. And we can become diverted from the truth by taking things out of context. This can be seen throughout history especially when we look at the church. Leading up to the civil war churches used the same books of scripture to support vastly different ideologies. One side used verses to promote the abolition of slavery, while another used verses to support the continuation of the custom. Our nation at that time was caught in a political and spiritual word wrangle that led to a schism in the nation as well as the church, which led to war. This wrangling of words in many ways distracted the church from the truth, and they began to forget that even though the ancients tolerated slavery they did not promote it, instead they condemned those that regarded their slaves as less than human.
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David, and remind the church of this. The kingdom of God is at hand. It is all around us and expanding its influence, but are we distracted? Are we listening to the Spirit’s call? Are we allowing the worries of the world to entrap us and place chains on our ability to encourage? Are we living lives consumed by fears? Remember, and keep remembering! Jesus came to earth as a baby, he lived a full human life, and began to teach us how to live life with God. He gathered a group of common people from all walks of life and encouraged them to walk, watch and learn and then he sent them out to the world. He trained them in a holy rhythm of life, a life of worship, prayer, and ministry to others. He was the anointed one, the one through whom all creation would be redeemed and perfected, he is the elect one through whom all people receive the promise that was passed down through the generations. His power an influence expanded over the nation, and those who felt threatened by the words nailed him to a cross, where he died. They placed his dead body into a grave and on the third day that body was restored and glorified. Jesus Christ rose from the grave conquering our greatest fears and giving us hope.
We have hope because He lives. We face struggles in life that seem to push us down, locking us in, but the word of God will not be chained. There is hope. What seems unbearable today, what threatens to kill our spirit and lives will not be the end of the story because if he rose we will rise with him. Remember and keep remembering because if we lose faith he will have faith for us because he cannot deny himself. Remember and keep remembering, because you need hope in your fear. Remember and keep remembering because the world also needs hope that Christ really can overcome the world. Remember and keep remembering and remind them because our hope cannot be chain, it cannot be buried and it cannot be killed because Jesus Christ rose from the dead, descended from David and is the good news that we need today. Remember and keep remembering, open yourselves up to the Spirit of God and become aware of what He is doing and would like us to join Him in. Remember who you were and who you are. And let us all be instruments of the grace that gives hope for a kingdom not of this world, one that is here today and will be to the end of ages to come.
The Good Fight (Sermon September 25, 2016)
1 Timothy 6:6–19 (NRSV) 
6 Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; 7 for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; 8 but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
The Good Fight of Faith
11 But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. 16 It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
17 As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 19 thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.
The life of a Christian is not always an easy one. So often we are caught in a struggle between what scripture says and what makes sense in the world. In many cases our faith can seem like foolishness to those outside these walls. This is the very reason why it is nearly impossible to argue someone into a life of faith. To those outside of the faith things like loving your enemies, the meek will inherit the earth, and blessed are the poor not only sound crazy they are contrary to everything the world stands for.
Working for a larger corporation I meet many of these struggles daily, particularly the concept of the meek will inherit the earth. In our business culture we are told to be confident, even arrogant. It is even acceptable to lie as long as the untruth gets the sales. This poses a problem for many people of faith. When I worked for a different company my manager was upset with me at one time because I would not promise to things that were not possible to deliver because the delivery time would be too great.
These concepts are not new, these business concepts have been around since business has been around. But there has also been an opposing perspective as well. When Jesus taught us that the meek will inherit the earth, he is not saying that we need to be weak, instead he is saying that we need to be honest and to live with integrity.
These are the same concepts that Paul is encouraging his apprentice Timothy to consider. In religious communities there have always been people that sought to exploit the faithful for personal gains. This is the main reason that the people of Israel wanted a king to rule over them after the Prophet Samuel died. Samuel was a very godly man, but his sons used their positon as priests for profit. Samuel made his living serving God in the tabernacle but there was a difference. Samuel’s sons were not content. The same could be said about those priests from various polytheistic religions, often the priest would withhold the blessings of their cult until they were sufficiently paid. These ideas were also factors that prompted the protestant reformation. Paul tells Timothy, there is gain but this should be tempered with contentment. Meaning that those that serve God and are godly in their dealing will be blessed, or God will take care of them, but through this we as participants both in pastoral ministry and those whose vocation may be outside the church, should be content as long as our basic needs are met.
Have we ever really considered what this is actually saying? The early Quakers made a point to live a simple life. To live this way they looked for goods that would not need to be replaced frequently, they also did not spend extra on luxury items because they were content with little. They chose this lifestyle so that through their simple living they were free to help those in need as they were led to do so, and they were not tied down by the things of this world if they were led to minister in other areas. This lifestyle put many early Friends in unique positions, for some their simple lifestyle allowed them to invest in business, for others it allowed them to take or finance journeys for the Gospel. But in whatever the case might have been for them personally, they kept one thing in mind. I will live simply so that others can simply live. Those Friends in business, would run their businesses with great integrity making sure that they were not taking advantage of their customers. And for those that found it necessary to hire laborers they took on the responsibility to provide wages so that person would be able to satisfy their basic needs. I have mentioned before that Cadbury the famous Quaker chocolatier not only included housing as a benefit of employment, but made sure these structures and lots were adequate for families and even guaranteed enough space outside for a garden. Several Quaker businesses followed similar ideas, and Friends became leaders in several industries.
Wealth is not sinful, profit is not sinful, a salary is not sinful, but when these things become the focus of our lives there is the temptation that these things will become a distraction to our faith. This is what Paul means when he says, “The love of money is the root of many kinds of evils.” When we are too focused on money to participate in the things that God calls us to do, we become worthless to the kingdom. This happen at any income level, those that cannot afford to finance their basic needs become so focused on how they are going to afford to live that they often neglect their spiritual conditions, and those with great financial holdings are often so busy managing their investments that they fail to listen to the voice of God urging them to be generous and enable the continuation of Christ’s mission.
I do not like speaking about money in a Meeting for Worship, because often we are on one side of the other, we feel as if we can barely make the ends meet or we might be fairly comfortable in our income and actually have investments that allow that comfort to continue. But this is important because money is a large distraction of faith. It is also one of the primary focuses of those outside in the world. So Paul urges Timothy to learn to be content, to not complain if he might not have enough in his own mind and to continue to walk in faith. He goes as far as to say shun this lifestyle of financial pursuit, and instead focus on a spiritually disciplined life.
Shun the pursuit of worldly standards and instead pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Let us consider this list for a moment. Righteousness. This word is loaded with religious overtones, but at times our understanding of this word might be slightly skewed. When thinking of the word righteousness I challenge you to think of it as right relationship. To be righteous in this sense is to be honest with God and mankind. To pursue justice and confront injustice wherever it might rear it’s head. To live a lifestyle of righteousness it requires that we take a step outside ourselves and look at things from a different perspective and consider what would be best in as many cases as we can imagine and responding accordingly. Righteousness is not about being right, it is about being relational.
Godliness is similar to that of righteousness, but often righteousness pertains to the right relationship or just dealings with humanity. Godliness deals primarily with a right relationship with God. To be Godly our objective is to respond to the divine properly. The whole premise of the “What Would Jesus Do” movement dealt with righteousness and Godliness, but to be Godly is to contemplate or to consider a response based on our understanding of God. These first two concepts that Paul mentions to Timothy deal with listening to those outside ourselves. They take into consideration the perspective of those within our community as well as considering the perspective of God. In both cases we must stop what we are doing and listen.
To be righteous and Godly we must make it our custom to study scripture and to meditate on them, to let the words that we read sink into the very core of our being. These first two aspects of the life that Paul encourages Timothy to pursue firmly fit within the realm of Prayer. Faith is a bit different. Faith is a response of trust. As we consider our relationship with God, we then step out entrusting that God will provide the way forward in a given situation. It also means that we become the trustworthy ones to those outside our community of faith. Again it is based on our relationships between God and mankind. Letting our yes be yes, and our no’s be no’s. Saying yes to God, and living firmly planted in that yes. And ensuring that when we say yes to those around us we follow through to the end, even if it cost us.
Love. What does it mean to pursue love? This form of love is Agape. This type of love is the active bestowing esteem to the undeserving in the face of disappointment and rejection. This is the type of love that God has for us. They type of love that provided Jesus joy even when He face the pain of the cross for us, even while we still lived lives rejecting him. If we are to pursue a life with Christ, walking in his pathways this is the type of love that we should have for those around us. Giving them esteem thinking of their welfare even though they reject what we do for them. Honoring other even when they despise our positions and our way of life.
Paul speaks to Timothy through the idea of training as if for an athletic competition when he says fight the good fight. Endurance to me always has an athletic feel, this is probably because I ran. (Ran is in the past tense, I no longer run because I no longer have endurance). Endurance is long suffering, steadfastness, and patience. To pursue endurance is to stay. To love as God love we need this to withstand constant rejection. This requires strength that is beyond our own ability, if we pray for patience we better start seeking God because we are about to enter into a time of trial. And to love as God loves we will need His strength to continue honoring those around us who constantly reject our efforts.
Paul concludes this list with gentleness. Gentleness is meekness, it is humility, and right relationship with ourselves and others. This list like the holy rhythm of life that Jesus taught us cycles back to the beginning. Gentleness like righteousness encourages us to take into consideration those around us, looking at things from their perspective as we encourage them to take steps toward Christ.
Paul tells Timothy to fight the good fight, take on the lifestyle of Jesus and live that out in view of others. Continually cycling through righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. One step at a time. Moment by moment encouraging. This lifestyle is contrary to that of the world. The world seeks oneself, the world seeks their own desires, the world seeks to reject those that reject them, and the world does not wait and is not humble. Everything about the Christian life is opposed to the ways of the world, even within a nation that claims to be a Christian nation. But if Timothy and if we are going to encourage our community to live for Christ, we need to fight the good fight. Just as Christ fought that fight for us. He left His throne in glory to live among mankind. He lived a full life from a fetus in the womb of Mary to an adult. He ate with his family and with his friends, he worshiped in the sacred places of His culture, He withdrew often to pray, and he taught his disciples to do the same. He came into a community and he ministered to their needs; healing those needing healing, teaching those that needed understanding, encouraging those who needed encouragement, feeding those that needed fed. He endured the rejection, and shame, he even endured the Cross of a criminal for us. He did this all not because we deserve it but because he loved us. He did this all because he does not wish anyone to be left out but wants us all to be saved and reconciled to God and know the truth. What is that truth? God loves us, he created this world for his and our pleasure, but in our selfishness in our pursuits of money, power, fame, and glory we have rejected all the goodness of God and have turned our back on him. Yet He loves. We can continue to pursue the things of this world or we can repent and turn back to God through Jesus Christ. We can either continue to pursue our own ways which lead to destruction, or we can pursue God which leads to glorification.
Paul urges Timothy to shun the things of this world, and to pursue the things of God. As we enter into this time of open worship and communion as Friends, I ask and encourage us all to consider where we are; Are we discouraged like Timothy or are we confident in Christ? Are we distracted by the world or are we focused on Christ? Are we simply living so other can simply live or are we pursuing our own desires? Do we trust God?
First of all Pray (Sermon September 18, 2016)
1 Timothy 2:1–7 (NRSV) 
Instructions concerning Prayer
2 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For
there is one God;
there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
Christ Jesus, himself human,
6 who gave himself a ransom for all
—this was attested at the right time. 7 For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
Reading through the books of the New Testament, we are exposed to many letters. Most of these are written to churches, but there are a few that were written to individuals. I find this interesting because it shows the intimacy and friendship of the early church leaders and members. A couple of weeks ago we discussed the letter to a man by the name of Philemon, and now we are looking into the letter written to Timothy. Timothy traveled with Paul on his missionary journey for several years, he worked directly with this Apostle and saw many things. Eventually Paul made his way to the city of Ephesus where he went about the work of planting a church. When Paul left this city he encouraged the young disciple named Timothy to stay, to continue the work that was started. This young man was a gifted individual who stayed to encourage the believers to continue their walk deeper in Christ.
Like Philemon, who was from the city of Colossae, Timothy received this personal letter but the general church also received a letter. So many of the things mentioned in the general letter to the church are similar, but the difference in these personal letters are that they give advice to the people that Paul sees as being weighty individuals within the community of faith. There are differences in these personal letters as well, they are not necessarily things that pertain to the greater community of the church, but an encouragement to the leader in how to bring about the ideas mentioned in the larger letter. In the case of Philemon, the letter dealt with the return of a fugitive slave, not only to the house he ran from but as an equal in the church community. This is a personal issue, but it is also an issue that Paul encouraged within the larger church because he does mention how the wealthy within the community should treat those whose lives and livelihoods depended on them.
Timothy received a letter from the apostle to give him encouragement. I am sure like many leaders within a church Timothy felt greatly discouraged; rightly so Ephesus was a tough town to be a Christian in. During the Roman rule this city was the third largest of Asia Minor. This city was also contained the largest temple to the goddess Diana. This particular goddess in mythology was one that refused marriage and sought companionship among men as an equal. Only one man caught her greater attention, Orion. She was often seen as the goddess of light (moon goddess), the hunt, and nature. The actual cult practices of Diana are not really known, but she is most commonly attached to the succession of kings and issues surrounding childbirth. What we do know about this cult is that it was part of a celebration circuit meaning people would make pilgrimages to this city to participate in celebrations to this goddess, so the cult was very important to the city.
This city was also home to a large Jewish population, and many of which came from the tradition that drew a great deal from the teachings of the Essenes. And some believe that the opening portion of the letter to the church of Ephesus was actually written to the Jewish faction of the church to remind them that according to their own teachings all people are equal until they are brought into the family of God, so they should be more accepting of the gentiles among the faithful.
But this clash of cultures does prove to have tension. The gentile population was one that offered great freedoms to people. Ephesus was seen as one of the most liberal places in the empire for women. Because there was such a high honor given to Diana, women were often found among the artisans. It was also the site of a major theater that could house 25,000 people at one time, a great library, and several roman bathhouses. Since there was a great emphasis on hygiene it is not surprising that the Essene tradition of Jewish faith took off in the community, since their practices primarily revolved around ritualistic bathing. But many of the Jewish people were also artisans so there were cultural clashes within their business dealing that posed issues especially in regard to gender roles.
This is why it is important to know as much as we can about the background of the communities that the letters were written to. If we read through both Ephesians and Timothy we begin to see that many of the things that Paul speaks with such passion are not necessarily hard rules for the church in general but are localized issues where certain cultural norms are causing distraction from the core of the gospel. It also gives us some understanding as to why Paul uses certain wording to illustrate ideas.
As we walked through the book of Ephesians last year, I said that Paul was writing to a church that was advancing to a spilt between the Jewish and gentile factions of the faith. I believe that this was also why Timothy received the letters that he received because as a leader within the church community he was given the charge to encourage unity among the faithful as he encouraged them all toward Christ.
In the first chapter of this letter Paul give is testimony, saying that he is the foremost of sinners, but due to the grace and mercy of Christ he was given a place and ministry in the kingdom. He then connects that to the person of Timothy, saying that Jesus gave him a task as well that was confirmed by prophetic words and the commissioning of the elders. These are the sorts of things that is always important for people to hear, especially from those we respect. I have failed and am not perfect yet God saw it fit to use me, and He wants to us you as well. Those words encourage us all who feel like we should just give up because God cannot use a broken person like me.
Then Paul gives practical advice. Timothy you are given the task to unite this divided church. Unite this group of believers that come from extreme Jewish faith and liberal Gentile traditions and mold them into children of God. If this was my charge, I think I would hand in my resignation, it is a task that is not possible in our own strength. To unite people under one banner that have radical views and encourage them to love one another. It would take a miracle. Which is exactly what Paul is getting at. You cannot do it in your own strength. So you must rely of the strength of God. So first of all, Paul, urges you to pray. He urges us along with Timothy to pray for all people, all kings, and all leaders of prominence.
I want us to consider this for a moment. The first and probably greatest missionary of Christian history encourages us to begin with one thing. Prayer. He does not start with theology, he does not start with a program or even ministry to the poor within the community. He says that before you do anything else pray. Pray for everyone, pray for the king, pray for the leaders within the community. Why should we begin there?
There is something about prayer. Prayer is the place where intimacy with God begins. It is where we converse and commune with the creator of the universe and the one who fashioned our bodies in our mother’s womb. Prayer is where we connect with the God, who loved us so much that He through Jesus came down from heaven to dwell among mankind, to teach us how to live lives in communion with the Father, and who provided the way and means of that communion through His sacrifice on the cross. Prayer is where we begin.
Jesus, Himself, began his ministry in prayer. After his baptism by John in the Jordon, he withdrew for forty days to fast in the wilderness. During that time he was tempted by the devil but that was not the only thing that happened in the desert. There was also prayers being lifted up. How was Jesus going to do the work that He was sent to accomplish. If you think about it, the temptations of Christ are very much connected to the work he was about to pursue. As Jesus prayed, Satan tempted him to focus on his own physical needs, a show of power at the busiest place of worship, and a kingdom without end. Satan tempted Jesus with His own mission, because Jesus was praying and discerning how to accomplish the mission before him.
Timothy is also facing a great mission. The only way to start is through prayer, so that we can live quiet peaceable lives in all godliness and dignity so that through us everyone can be saved and come to true knowledge of God.
God is calling us to the very same mission. We live in a city of great wealth and diversity. How can we bring the gospel to this city? How can we unite everyone and bring everyone into the kingdom of God? The first thing that comes to my mind is not how, but why me. I am a simple man from the middle of nowhere, why am I even here in a city to begin with. I do not know what city people do, think, need or even care about. How can I relate let alone encourage anyone to come into the kingdom of God? The truth of this is, I can’t. I can’t and neither can anyone else. There is no argument that is perfect enough that will convince anyone to change their ways. There is no service I can provide that would so touch the lives of anyone that they would leave the life that they have been comfortable living and pursue a life with God. There is nothing I can do, without the Grace of God. Because like Paul, I have failed. Like Timothy I am discouraged. Like every other person in this city and in this world, I am broken, tired, poor, wore out, and stretched to the limits. Yet God called me to be here. He called me to live here. He called me to live a life and lifestyle of faith. He called me here to live among you to encourage you and everyone else I encounter that maybe the lifestyle of God is worth entrusting their life to.
We are called first to pray. When we look at the life of Jesus we find that He lived a rhythmic life; he made it his custom to worship in the synagogues, He withdrew often to pray in the isolated places, and he ministered to those around Him. He loved God, He embraced the Holy Spirit and He loved those around Him. This is our mission. This is who we say that we are, and like Jesus that begins with prayer. It is through prayer that we commune with God. When I say prayer, I mean our devotional life. The reading of scripture and the reflection on scripture. Just as David says in the psalms he delights in the law of God, meditating on them day and night. This is prayer, it is allowing God to speak to us often through scripture as we consider how we should encounter the world around us. In those times of prayer we begin to feel and sense the where God will lead us and we meet Him there in the community, ministering to the needs of others. It is through prayer that we find the words to say to those around us that need encouragement, and often those words are simply our story of how God has been with us in our own journey. It is through prayer for the kings and leaders where we might see where many of the people around us have become marginalized by our society and how we might be able to encourage them and bring them to a place of glory with Christ. It all begins with prayer. And it continues with the humbling ourselves to respond according to the spirit’s leading. Entrusting our lives to God, so that we are able to go where He leads.
We often look at the world around us and we fear the future. We see corruption, we see terrorism, and we see war and natural disasters. It is easy to become overwhelmed and say come lord and take us out of this place. Yet He waits. Imagine Timothy in Ephesus. Imagine Jews on one side demanding that all the people conform to their ideas and the gentiles on the other side demanding that everyone live lives of liberty. Imagine the place he was trying to unite these people, many of whom believed that Jesus was truly the chosen one of God, and the salvation of mankind. As we consider that transpose that image to our world today, we can see that things are not all that different. There are culture clashes all around us, yet God continues to call us to live lives for Him, so all might be saved. Paul still tells us to begin with prayer. Pray for everyone that you encounter, you might even pray with them. Pray for our leaders and you might even let them know how you are holding them up to God and encourage them. Pray for the kings and leaders around the world and support the ministries and missions of those that travel to those areas so that they too will have people to encourage them to encounter the true knowledge of God. Then move from that prayer into the world and live the love of Christ with those we meet. Extending to them the very same grace and love that Jesus gave to us, because in His mind that person at the register or at the desk, that person cleaning your room or fixing your computer is worth dying for in the mind of Christ.