Burning Out AND Left Out? - 2 Timothy 2:14-26

Sermon Series: Burning Out?

We had some friends of ours get married not too long ago.  It was a day that we as a family were really looking forward to.  My wife and I had seen this young couple growing together and had the opportunity to do some pre-marital counseling with them, so we were really excited for them on their wedding day.  Our kids were also really excited because this couple had always made time to play with them and had made a big impression on their young lives.  So they were anxious to be there to see them become husband and wife.  But this young couples’ wedding day quickly changed from a much anticipated day to a terribly disastrous day for my oldest daughter.  You see, on their wedding day my oldest daughter woke up sick and throwing up.  We’ve all been there before, so we can relate to the physical discomfort that she was experiencing at the time.  But for my daughter, the pain and discomfort that she was experiencing wasn’t just physical discomfort.  She was old enough to know that her sickness on that particular day meant she wasn’t going to get to go to this wedding that she had been excited about for several weeks.  She knew that her sickness meant she wasn’t going to get to see this young lady she looked up to so much dressed up like a princess.  She knew that her sickness meant that she wasn’t going to get to go to the reception where there would be cake and dancing.  For my oldest daughter she was suffering physically from nausea, but she was also suffering emotionally because she was feeling left out.  And those discomforts made that particular day an excruciating one for our daughter.

In the portion of Paul’s letter to Timothy that we are going to look at this week, the people whom Timothy was ministering among were experiencing a very similar feeling.  In addition to the suffering that they had endured for the sake of the gospel, these individuals were also beginning to feel like they had been left out.  So their feelings of discouragement and lack of hope were continuing to escalate.  They needed a reminder of their true hope to help them continue to put the glory of God on display in their lives.  The question we have to ask then is, “What was the true hope of these doubting disciples and how would it encourage them to continue to put the glory of God on display in their lives?”  As we examine this portion of Paul’s letter to Timothy we’ll see that the reader will be reminded of what an individual’s true hope should be (what Christ has already accomplished) and how that should impact the way we live.

The first set of verses that we are going to examine this week were written to Timothy to address a very specific heresy (or false teaching) that was going around and that was discouraging many of the genuine disciples of Christ.  [Read vs. 14-19]  Now typically we walk through the text a verse or two at a time, but with this particular passage I want us to begin by examining verse 18, which describes the particular heresy that was being taught, and then take note of how the verses preceding verse 18 would have been an encouragement to both Timothy and those he was ministering to.  The second part of verse 18 describes the particular heresy that the false teachers of the time were spreading among the churches and the cities, “saying that the resurrection has already happened.”  You can imagine the effects that this was having on disciples of Christ who believed that these men were proclaiming truth.  The rest of verse 18 tells us that “they were upsetting the faith of some.”  If you had put your faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior and were completely convinced that one day you would experience a bodily resurrection just as Jesus had, but then heard teachers proclaiming that the resurrection had already taken place, you might begin to doubt the genuineness of your faith.  After all, if your faith had been genuine you would have been a part of that resurrection.  This was the teaching that was seeping into these Church communities and this was the effect it was beginning to have on many of the genuine believers in Christ.  Paul had observed that it was a growing problem and so he gave Timothy some instructions on how he could help serve the Church and help these genuine believers continue to live in the hope that Christ had provided for them.

Now that we have some background concerning the heresy that was being taught and the effect that it was having on some of the genuine believers, let’s go back to verse 14 and start working our way through the text.  Paul says to Timothy beginning in verse 14, “Remind them of these things . . .”  What things?  The certain and true promises that he had introduced to Timothy beginning in verse 11, “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, if we deny Him, He also will deny us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful – for He cannot deny Himself.”  These promises were incredibly important for those who had heard the claims of the false teachers and were doubting the genuineness of their faith.  They needed to know and be sure that they would in fact live with Jesus if they had truly repented of their sin and ‘crucified’ their old sinful self (Romans 6:5-11).  Those who had recognized their sin, who had believed in the atoning work of Jesus on the cross for their sin, and who had repented of their sin and who had turned control of their lives over to Jesus, would live with Him!  That was a certain and true promise.  Those who had made that decision could have confidence that the resurrection had not yet taken place and that when it did, they would be a part of it.  These doubting disciples needed to know that they would in fact reign with Jesus if they had endured suffering for His sake.  A willingness to suffer for one’s faith is one of the greatest demonstrations of the genuineness of one’s faith that you can have.  Many of these doubting disciples had endured hardships and trials for their faith, proving that their faith wasn’t a fair-weather faith, but rather a steadfast commitment which they had made to their Savior and God.  Paul reminded Timothy, and Timothy was to remind these doubting disciples that God’s promise to those who endure is that they will also reign with Him.  This should have served as further evidence to those who had endured that the resurrection had not yet taken place and that when it did, they would be a part of it.  These doubting disciples needed to know that the only thing that would cause them to be denied by Jesus and to miss out on being a part of the resurrection was a recanting of their faith and a denial of Jesus.  A recanting of their faith in Jesus would serve as evidence that a genuine faith never did in fact exist.  Any perceived faith of the past would have simply been a fictitious faith rather than a true faith in Jesus, a cleverly disguised denial of Him.  The promise of God is that those who deny Jesus and His saving work on their behalf will in fact suffer the consequences of their sin and will not be recognized by God as one of His children.  If these doubting disciples had not recanted their faith and denied Christ there was no reason for them to believe that Jesus had denied them and that they had missed the resurrection.  Lastly, these doubting disciples needed to know that even if they had at times missed the mark and lived unfaithfully, that their salvation and eternal security was not dependent upon their performance.  Their salvation and their eternal security was dependent solely upon the work that Jesus had accomplished for them in His perfect life, His atoning death, and His victorious resurrection.  While we are still in this body and while we are still a part of this fallen world, we will continue to wrestle with sin and our flesh.  There will be times when we fail to live in complete obedience and faithfulness.  But even if we are faithless, God remains faithful.  These doubting disciples had not missed the resurrection because they had sinned.  They had not lost their salvation because they were imperfect and acted in unrighteousness at some time.  Their salvation was wrapped up in and dependent upon the faithfulness of God, and so they did not need to worry that failures in their faithfulness had caused them to miss the resurrection.     

The promises of God are certain and true!  Make sure you understand that this week.  The promises of God are certain and true because they originate from a faithful and true God.  So after Paul tells Timothy to remind the believers of these promises, he also tells Timothy to charge them not to quarrel over words.  Because the promises of God are sure it makes no sense for us to quarrel over them.  It doesn’t matter if we disagree with the promises, if we think there should be different conditions that go along with the promises, or if we think the promises should be stated differently.  Our opinions don’t impact the promises of God  – so continually being a part of quarrels over words only leads to the ruin of those who get involved in these pointless quarrels.

Verse 15 tells us that the purpose of being a disciple of Christ isn’t to be a part of some big debate team with the purpose of winning arguments.  “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”  As disciples of Christ we ought to be living with the goal of working, serving, and laboring for the glory of God (which includes rightly understanding and teaching God’s word) so that when the resurrection does occur, we can stand unashamed before God.  So for that reason we need to do our best to not allow ourselves to spend all of our time debating points which God’s word has already clearly spoken to because it doesn’t produce healthy growth, but rather the spread of ungodliness (vs. 16-17).

Paul gives one last word affirming the promises of God in verse 19.  “God’s firm foundation stands . . .”  God’s promises are certain and sure!  Regardless of who is debating them, how often they are debating them, or what they say – those things have no impact on the promises of God.  And Paul encourages Timothy and those who Timothy will instruct that (1) God knows those who belong to Him, and that (2) the lives of those who are in Christ should not be marked by constant debates and arguments, but rather by their departure from sin.

The prosperity gospel taught today by so many is one example of heresy in our time that causes many genuine believers to doubt their salvation.  They hear men like Joel Osteen and TD Jakes on TV and they see their books in our Christian bookstores.  And the message they hear them proclaiming is that God wants His people to be healthy and wealthy.  In fact, if your faith in God is genuine and sincere you will experience both health and wealth.  The problem is they’re proclaiming a false gospel.  We don’t find anywhere in Scripture that teaches that God’s greatest desire is to make much of His people.  Nor do we find anywhere in Scripture that promises that if we have a sincere and genuine faith that we will prosper both financially and physically.  That kind of ‘gospel’ sounds good to us in one sense because we live in a culture where financial and physical prosperity is highly sought after.  But this false gospel creates some really big problems.  The first and greatest problem is that it elevates created men over and above the Creator God.  In the prosperity gospel the Creator’s purpose is to make much of the creation.  God becomes nothing more than a resource and a tool for making our lives better.  But that’s an incredibly backwards way of thinking.  The second problem with the prosperity gospel is that it causes those who do have a genuine faith, but who have encountered hardships and sufferings on account of their faith, to doubt the genuineness of their belief and faith in Christ.  They hear this so called ‘gospel’ proclaimed by men who bear the title ‘pastor’ and they read their books and become troubled with the difference in the teaching they are hearing and the reality they are experiencing.  When we find ourselves or other believers in Christ discouraged by these kinds of false teachings and manipulations of the promises of God, we need to be able to remind ourselves of the promises of God that are ours because of Christ and what He has already perfectly accomplished for us in His death and resurrection.

Verse 19 serves as a transitional verse.  In verses 14-19 the focus was on arguing and debating over issues which God’s promises have already clearly spoken to.  At the end of verse 19 though there is a shift in focus to a focus on right living, which will be the theme carried out through the remainder of chapter 2.  In verses 20 and 21 Paul begins this new focus with an illustration.  [Read verses 20-21]  In his illustration he says that a house contains different kinds of vessels.  There are vessels of gold and silver which are used for honorable things and there are vessels of wood and clay which are used for dishonorable things.  In the illustration Paul suggests that the dishonorable vessels can be transformed into honorable vessels – suggesting that individuals who are not believers in Christ, whose lives are enslaved to sin, can receive salvation from Christ and have their lives transformed and made new.  (“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17).  Paul says in his illustration that once a dishonorable vessel is transformed into a honorable vessel that it becomes “set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.”  And this description of the newly transformed vessel becomes a description of what takes place in our lives when we place our faith in Jesus and become followers of Him.  Our lives become, “set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” 

How often do you think about your life in those terms?  Do you think about your life being set apart as holy, or are you more often passively allowing our culture and our surroundings to shape your life?  Do you think about your life as being a resource or tool for God which He can put into use whenever He needs it, or do you more often view your life as a personal resource useful for doing whatever it is you want?  Do you start each day preparing yourself for every good work that God would have you to do, or do you hold back from serving until you can find those occasional acts of good work that meet your criteria of convenience and ease before you get involved?  When you become a believer in Christ you become a new creation with a new purpose and a new master.  Things are going to change radically.  So what does that look like fleshed out?    

As disciples of Jesus, transformed from vessels for dishonorable use to vessels for honorable use, Paul says we need to flee those old sinful pursuits and start pursuing honorable things.  “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (vs. 22).  Paul knew what it was like to be held captive.  He understood what it meant to be imprisoned and chained.  So he knew well that a person who was held captive and imprisoned could not simply flee whenever he or she wanted to.  Before an individual could flee that individual had to first be set-free.  But Paul also understood that in Jesus’ death and resurrection Jesus had broken sin’s power and made a way for each person to experience God’s forgiveness and freedom from the sin that held them captive.  He knew that freedom from sin was now a reality, and so he encouraged those who had believed in Jesus as their Lord and Savior and who had been set free from sin’s captivity to flee from it.  A couple of weeks ago we talked about the difference between managing our sin and putting our sin to death.  We said that probably more often then not we are guilty of managing our sin.  We tuck it into corners where it’s less likely to be noticed and where it will do the least amount of damage.  But that’s never been God’s desire or God’s instruction to us.  God instructs us here to flee from those sinful desires.  In other places He tells us to crucify the flesh, “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24).  The language that God uses in regards to believers in Christ and their relationship to sin is never ambiguous or unclear.  God’s intention is that sin should be done away with in our lives – not managed, not tucked away into corners or hidden out of view.  When we are transformed into honorable vessels we are set apart as holy, meaning there is no longer any place for sin.  So we flee from and put to death the sin and old passions that once enslaved us and then we give our all to pursing righteousness, faith, love, and peace.  Then notice the context in which we are to pursue these things – “along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”  We see here the necessity of community and doing life together.  God’s intention wasn’t for Paul, Timothy, those who Timothy would instruct, or readers of Paul’s letter to Timothy in the generations to come to attempt to do life and ministry on their own.  We were created for community and when we are attempting to isolate ourselves from regular involvement in the lives of other believers we are living outside of God’s intended design for us. 

In addition to fleeing old sinful passions and pursuing righteousness, faith, love and peace in its place, believers in Christ are also instructed not to have anything to do with foolish controversies and quarrels (like the one Paul addresses in verses 14 through 19).  Believers in Christ have been given a new spirit according to 1:7 (“for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”)  So we are no longer to be marked by a quarrelsome and contentious spirit that so often comes to light when individuals engage in these kinds of quarrels.  Instead, our given course of action is to patiently, kindly, and gently teach and correct those who are in error.  Our job isn’t to win an argument or to prove our intellectual dominance. Our job is to put the truth before them and the love of Christ on display, so that – if it is God’s will – He can grant to them repentance and an understanding of the truth.

Small Group Questions for Discussion

1. What are some 'hot' topics in our culture that people like to 'debate' or 'argue' about?  Why do some people enjoy debating those hot topics and what typically is their goal in debating those topics?  When two individuals who are both passionate about a certain topic, but who take two completely opposite stances on the topic, find themselves in a highly contentious debate, what is the typical outcome - is it more often that one is usually won over or are the two typically driven further apart?  

2. Do individuals who are perceived to have a contentious spirit often have a positive impact on others?  Why or why not?  If not, what type of impact do they typically have on others?  

3. In light of the answers that we have already discussed from the questions above and in light of the portion of 2 Timothy we studied Sunday, if the Bible makes certain truths or promises clear and we encounter someone who thinks wrongly about them, is there any value in getting into a contentious debate or argument over those issues?  Why or why not?  What does Paul encourage Timothy to do instead (vs. 14-16, 24-25)?

4. What do we need to remember about the truths and promises that God makes clear in the Bible?  And what must we always remember about the salvation that God extends towards us (vs. 13)?

5. Why is there more value in doing our best to present ourselves to God as one approved (vs. 15) and fleeing youthful passions to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart (vs. 22), than attempting to win arguments with those who think differently than we do?