I want to begin by telling you something really strange – I have gone without preaching since February 23rd of this year. That is the longest I have gone without preaching, probably since 2005. That is a really long time. So it was truly refreshing to have that time away on sabbatical to relax, rest, and fish. We did a lot of fishing as a family. And some of us might have even been inspired to make fishing a new career path. I wouldn’t doubt we went fishing 50 times in the span of 90 days. Yes, that is what we did. Went fishing, rested, and relaxed.
So I say all that to say thank you to you as a congregation to allow us to have this time away. And thank you to Meg McBride for filling in for me while away. While I was on sabbatical I truly felt at ease with her leadership and while I was away had no worries.
In light of all of that, our scripture reading is II Timothy 4.1-18 – please go ahead and turn there with me in your bibles. Last week Darlene Montouri preached and she said something that really stuck out to me – she said that holy scripture is there for training in righteousness. That comes from 3.16. DeAnne and I spoke about that right after the service while sharing a cup of coffee at Hardee’s. We both felt like that was a word for us. And you will hear more about this throughout the sermon. We really feel like we are to be people that help folks in the engaging with holy scripture so that they may be trained in righteousness.
So let’s hear from the last portion of II Timothy today. I will be reading II Timothy 4.1-18.
Notice right at the beginning – the Apostle Paul has a solemn message for Timothy. He urges him as a leader to proclaim the message, to be persistent and constant and earnest in this message. And he was to proclaim this message – the message of the gospel even when it is not convenient and when it is not favorable – nevertheless he was to proclaim it. And in this calling of Timothy – Paul goes on to say that as a leader Timothy is to convince, rebuke, encourage, and have the utmost patience in teaching.
I feel like I have received this message many times over the years. I remember serving a church where there was a discussion about a choir loft. And folks wanted to be heard and it seemed to me like they couldn’t figure out what to do. I was talking to my father-in-law about this and he said: “You preach the Gospel, and everything else will fall into place.” Just recently I went to my doctor and was telling about some stuff that was stressful about my job since coming back from sabbatical – and he said to me “Well you got to stick with the Word of God.” And recently I was talking to a friend of mine and he said: “We need to hear you preach.” So today, June 28th, 2020 I want to say something to you all – I am here – in this little plot of ground – that happens to be floating on water – and I am here to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I really don’t have much else to say other then that – I have to say that Jesus Christ is Lord. And if I am the only one who is willing to say it – then so be it. But today – that is what I am saying. And I am saying it boldly, persistently, and with every fiber of my being.
The reason this is important to say today is that Paul gives a warning to Timothy – he says that this message that is entrusted to him has to be lived out because there is a judgment and the Lord will ask about this message. You can see that in v1 where Paul says: “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you….” I know it isn’t fun to talk about the end – but I do think a proper understanding of what the end will be should have influence on how we live our lives now. Because we know there will be a judgment. And I have always imagined that God would ask all of us a question kind of like this: “what did you do with the life I entrusted to you?” And each of us have to answer that question – and how we answer it is in the here-and-now. What do we do with the life God has entrusted to us?
Paul continues by saying that there will be folks that squander this message. In v3 it says there will be people that turn from sound doctrine, because they have itching ears, and they will accumulate teachers that suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth, and wander away to myths. I was intrigued by this phrase – itching ears. I found a commentator on II Timothy named James Dunn who wrote: “’itching ears’ (is a well known image for the curiosity that can be relieved only by scratching them with interesting and spicy bits of information).” Haven’t we seen this over and over in our own lives when we miss the best of what God is calling us to. We begin to seek people that will always say yes to us – or we seek out gossip with itching ears – or we turn away from sound doctrine that is rooted in Jesus – or we wander into the quagmire of he said, she said – and then finally we start using language like “us” and “them”.
In many ways this is truly the artful work of the devil. If we can just divide ourselves and take sides and just seek out people that agree with us – then we become isolated and we are not truly living into the body of Christ. Our isolation causes us to look at “the other” as the enemy. When we have a true enemy – and the way to take on that enemy is on our knees. I will never forget a friend of mine had a vision one time – I know, I hang out with some weird folks. She had this vision of a demon making his way into the front doors of a church. She felt like it meant that the devil had been exposed – but I knew what God was saying to me. God was saying to me “you big dummy, this isn’t a character assassination – this isn’t about you – hurting people oftentimes hurt others. Instead do battle where it really matters – our battle is against the powers and principalities of darkness.” So that next Sunday I remember getting up and saying – I feel like the devil is wanting to come right in these doors – and today I welcome him – because I laugh at the devil – for I have been purchased with a price and I trust in Christ’s righteousness and not my own.
In v5 Paul gives one last bit of advice: always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, and carry out your ministry fully. With that in mind I want to share something with you. Back in March I got a little stir crazy – and DeAnne told me I had to go and do something. Well there wasn’t much to do. So I decided to go for a 29 mile hike through the swamps. I started in Hampstead at the Holly Shelter game preserve entrance. And I hiked all the way to the NE Cape Fear River – and then hitch-hiked into Burgaw. I camped one night in the swamp and one night along the River. While I was in the swamps – I got myself into a pickle one day. I was trying to take a short cut and found myself in the biggest bunch of briers and thicket I have ever experienced. So thick I got turned around and had to use my compass. I have been in some pretty hairy spots when it comes to hiking – but never that hairy. I could see where I needed to go finally – but just couldn’t get there. So exhausted I laid on the ground and cried out to God to help me. And this is what I feel like the Lord said to me – I had blood all over me, scratches all over my arms from the thorns and the Lord said: “You have scars from the journey”. And then I noticed that I lost this pen that I had brought with me – I brought it with me to journal and it was special because Sue Marmion had given it to me the week before she died. And the Lord said: “You have lost things that you didn’t mean to lose – but you didn’t need them.” And finally I was laying there on my pack – and I noticed this emblem on my pack that said you could put this water bladder in there and use the straw to drink from – and I have used this pack for thousands of hours of hiking and had never noticed that before – and I felt like God said to me: “and you have things that you never knew you had.”
In so many ways I feel like I have completed my journey – I have been able to pass this torch of missional discipleship to so many people now and I have seen them pass it to others as well. I take great pride in the pictures I have on my wall of the many associate ministers that I have worked with over the years – and the great work they do and they have done. So in many ways I feel like Paul when he says in v7: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” I have seen this passed on. That doesn’t mean I want to die – but it means that I am ready to die and I feel at peace about that.
What I do want to share is this though, with the rest our life together – DeAnne and I have become convinced of something. We have become convinced that we would like to cultivate a place and a culture of training and equipping the next generation of ministers and missionaries. No matter their socio-economic class – the color of their skin – male or female – it doesn’t matter what they look like, smell like, eat for dinner, the kind of bicycle they have – even if they are UNC-Chapel Hill fans. We have become convinced that is what we are really good at – and we want to do that for the rest of our lives – with a paycheck or without a paycheck. That is what DeAnne and I want to do with the rest of our lives – and for us – this is what it means to embody hope. This is what it means to pass the torch. This is what it means to have something you are part of that is bigger then our personality. For it is about Jesus – and it is about pointing to him. And then helping others to go and do the same. In many ways this is being disciples that make disciples that make disciples.
A famous preacher named Reinhold Niebuhr once said: “Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in the immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.”
I ask you to forgive me for any wrong that I have ever done to you all. I am sometimes not the most sensitive person and I shoot really straight sometimes. That is at times really good, but also a really bad thing. But I want to say this. None of you have to do what DeAnne and I are going to do. But I am going to say that we will need a lot of help – as we live out this message of embodying hope – so that we might train and equip ministers and missionaries that can carry this message that Jesus Christ is Lord. At this time, we really do not know any details – but if you would like to get together with us and learn about what is on our hearts concerning this – give us a call. And we would love to get a cup of coffee and share – but that would only be after truly hearing your story and getting to know what the Lord is saying to you.