21st
PENTECOST Sunday
Rev. Norman F. Seeger
2 Timothy 2:8-13
8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
11 Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him.
If we disown him, he will also disown us;
13 if we are faithless, he will
remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
2 Timothy 2:8-13
"PATIENCE, PERSISTENCE, PERSEVERANCE”
1. Jesus Rose
2. Jesus Raised Us
3. Jesus Will Glorify Us
Dear faithful followers of Christ
crucified, but risen,
Improvised explosive
devices & suicide bombers reported almost daily remind us our soldiers are
not living an easy life but are regularly waging war against our enemies as
they single-mindedly follow their commander’s orders. So Paul, setting the background for today’s
text, tells Timothy to ‘endure hardship with us like a good soldier
of Christ Jesus.’ Is public
ministry easy, a life of leisure, celebrating one success after another? Not necessarily, not all the time. A young pastor like Timothy or experienced
pastor like Paul – a LES teacher or Sunday school teacher – any church council
member probably remembers criticism received or opposition encountered when people
unexpectedly & perhaps unintentionally appear to work against God’s plan for
his people to share his saving truth with every soul Jesus already redeemed.
Public ministry may be frustrating
as Satan wages war & involves us in less than spiritual struggles. Nor is personal ministry exempt from
opposition. Christian parents can grow discouraged
struggling to train children who appear to delight in doing the opposite of what
Christ commands. As we talk about our
Savior in private conversations, sadness or pessimism tries to replace our
optimistic attitude if laughter or ridicule tells us no one will listen to
Jesus’ instructions nor rely on his forgiveness for our eternal life. If friends refuse to follow godly advice we
offer from God’s Word, rejection threatens to drag us down & drown us with
the devil.
So, when we run into
opposition, will saints suddenly go silent?
Facing spiritual battles, will we set aside our weapn – set aside God’s
Word – will we surrender to Satan as we walk away from Christ? Does a soldier set down his gun to throw up
his hands in surrender as soon as battles begin? No, following the commander’s orders, soldiers
endure unspeakable hardships in innumerable battles as they fiercely fight to
win our war. Adding a picture of an
athlete who knows training’s aches & pains ultimately enable him to compete
more effectively, Paul also shows us a patient farmer working hard to plow,
plant, weed & water in the spring & summer so he can harvest a crop in
the fall.
Will I become discouraged
if my ministry or my Christian life runs into opposition? Will I think about giving up God’s Word if my
Christian life or ministry appears to produce more problems & bring less
blessings than I first anticipated? Relying
on the Holy Spirit to lift our souls & carry us through our spiritually
“down” days, Paul urges a soldier’s, athlete’s; a farmer’s patience,
persistence; perseverance. In troubled
times, Paul would remind us: Jesus rose
from the dead…Jesus raised us from the dead…Jesus will finally glorify us.
How could I as a
Christian ever let any of life’s little disappointments replace Jesus’ joy with
devilish despair? “Remember Jesus Christ, raised
from the dead, descended from David.” Paul’s instruction seems unnecessary for a
believer whose very existence depends upon my faith’s connection to Christ, but
Paul knows disappointments or defeats we suffer in our daily life sometimes
distract our attention. Stress – even if
our stress comes from being ‘too busy’ working our Lord’s works – stress can
cause us Christians to forget, to turn our eyes away from Jesus rising from the
dead as our sinless Substitute to focus our attention on our earthly troubles.
Friends, let’s not be
foolish, let’s not drop down into Judas’s despair. When whatever forces believers battle appear
to be overpowering or deceitfully destroying us, let’s focus on the fact we are
indestructible – our eternal life in Christ cannot be lost -- because “Jesus
descended from David.” Do you
catch the comfort this phrase offers? “Descended
from David,” Jesus is a human being, “born under the law…born to
redeem us.”[GAL 4] Born “to redeem us from the empty way of life
handed down to us from our ancestors”[1 PT 1] – to redeem us from
original sin we inherit & also redeem us from sins I myself commit or omit in
my daily life -- Jesus first obeys the law perfectly, enabling God to credit us
with his holiness. “Descended from David,” born
a human being – Jesus was then be able to “die for our sins, once for all, the
righteous for the unrighteous,”[1
PT 3] Not simply suffering sin’s
death as our Substitute, Jesus rose from the dead the third day to justify us –
to guarantee us God the Father accepted his own Son’s innocent sacrifice as
full payment for our sins.
When I see Jesus rising
from the dead – as I remember Jesus redeeming my sins – this life’s “little”
troubles fade into relative insignificance. Earthly opposition is no longer too
distressing to tolerate for our risen Savior assures us forgiveness. Our risen Savior produces for us an eternal
life we will enjoy in a heavenly home of righteousness where evil opposition
will no longer exist. Preaching the
gospel in this world -- preaching the good news about Jesus dying to redeem our
sins & rising from his grave to declare us free from sin’s punishment –
Paul admits he is “suffering to the point of being chained like a criminal.” Gospel preacher Paul is a prisoner in
Paul’s imprisonment --
any opposition I encounter today – cannot change the fact Jesus rose from the
dead to forgive Paul’s sins, to promise & preview Paul also rising from
death to life; ultimately rising from earth into heaven. “For the sake of the elect, that they too
may obtain salvation” Paul will not stop battling evil enemies, but
will keep stepping over every spiritual hurdle – powered & guided by God --
to continue preaching Jesus Christ…crucified for our sins but risen to life to
faithfully raise us & to raise other souls from sin’s death to eternal life
in Christ.
Why should anyone allow
earthly opposition to produce disappointment or despair when I can trust the
fact a risen Jesus already raised us to thankfully live in Christ on earth
before we will live with him in heavenly glory?
“If we died with Christ, we will also live with him,” Paul
promises, pointing us back to our baptism to assure our ascension. What happened when I was baptized? “I was buried with Christ by baptism into
death, in order that, just as Jesus was raised from the dead through the glory
of the Father, I too may live a new life.”[ROM 6] When my ‘Old Adam’
was drowned, the Holy Spirit brought my ‘New Man’ to life. “If we died with Christ, we will also live
with Christ.” Paul speaks for
every believer, examinig & explaining how we are still able to rejoice rather than despair if life’s
troubles trickle into or seemingly flood our earthly life, explaining how we
are able to graciously love rather than humanly hate even our enemies: “I have been crucified with Christ,” Paul
notes;
“I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
This life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who
loved me & gave himself for me.”[GAL
2]
Living in Christ, who
raised us from spiritual death to eternal life, raised us from our naturally
ignorant unbelief to Spirit-stirred faith in Jesus our Lord & Savior, we
can confidently face the future knowing, no matter what troubles we Christians
will ever face in the present, “If we endure” – if I patiently live
in Christ day after day, like a hard-working farmer anticipating a harvest he
will reap in the fall – if I persistently speak Jesus’ true & loving words;
if I tirelessly imitate Jesus’ unselfish actions, like an athlete regularly &
rigorously training his body & mind for upcoming competitions – if I
persevere, if I never surrender to evil but keep wielding the gospel weapons
God gives us to battle one spiritual enemy after another, like soldiers who never
surrender, but tenaciously battle one enemay after another, as their commander
orders – “if we endure,” Paul promises, “we will also reign with Christ.”
“Remember Jesus Christ!” Could our Lord’s inspired apostle offer a
better antidote to despair? Could anyone
offer us more effective advice when earthly opposition or worldly disappointments
try to turn your eyes away from the home our Savior has reserved for us in
heaven? “Remember Jesus Christ! Remember”… Jesus, who rose from the
dead to certify our salvation – Jesus, who also raised us to life, using
baptism, using God’s gospel truth to give us faith & eternal life in Christ
– Jesus will glorify us. When Jesus
comes again for his final judgment, when Jesus comes again in all his glory,
our Lord Jesus will glorify each & every one of his faithful followers by
inviting us to come, to live with him forever in the heavenly kingdom he has
prepared for us since the creation of the world.
“If we disown him, he will also
disown us,” “Paul warns our sinful self, yet notes, “If
we are faithless, Christ will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” Jesus’ promises will never change. Christ’s forgiveness is unable to be erased
or altered by any earthly or evil opponent.
Just as Jesus overpowered every opponent while walking to a cross where
his death would redeem our sins before rising from his grave to raise us from
death to life, Jesus will put all his promises for our undending glory into
effect. Faithful friends, faithful
followers of Christ, in troubled times, as well as in triumphant times,
remember Jesus Christ! Despair will
disappear. Human disappointments will dissolve
into joy as we “remember Jesus Christ,
descended from David, raised from the dead.”
Amen.