8Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, 9for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. 10Therefore 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. 11The saying is sure:
If we have died with him,
we will also live with him;
12if we endure,
we will also reign with him;
if we deny him,
he will also deny us;
13if we are faithless,
he remains faithful
—for he cannot deny himself.
14Remind 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. 15Do 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.
I pulled out this old, tattered, dusty box that has been stored in my garage on the highest shelf. I brought it, because, well, we haven’t been doing children’s sermons for a while now (sad!), and part of the charm of those moments is that there is often an object, a “Show and Tell,” that is the basis for the message. I miss object lessons, don’t you?
I only brought this one box, but there are 3 such boxes on that shelf. Each box contains the same kind of stuff, letters from Judy and from my daughters and my letters back to them. We sent them to each other while I was deployed on a ship or encamped in a southwest Asian desert. Now, I haven’t read them since the first time. I guess I was saving them to show the box for today’s sermon!
Can you guess what kind of things are in these letters, what news, what information? You are going to have to guess, because I am not going to share anything from them, especially the ones from Judy and the ones I sent to her. I mean, I am a man of the cloth. I am not allowed to think those thoughts and feel those feelings!
On second thought, maybe I did read some of those letters more than once before they went into permanent storage. I am thinking I might have read a few sections more than once while I was deployed – at night just before I’d “lay me down to sleep…” (sigh!)
I don’t think I need to tell you that these letters kept the ones I valued alive for me in a setting that didn’t allow us to be together, and instead of pondering my deep feelings that I won’t share (!), I hope you are taking a little excursion of your own to a comparable time when you were away from loved ones, and you treasured the hopeful walk to the mailbox or the call on the phone.
Of course, the segment of the letter we read today from Scripture – Paul’s 2nd Letter to Timothy – was not the least bit… um… racy! Yet the value of the letter is similar to ones of a more romantic nature. The letter asserts to the writer as well as the reader that which they both value. The very reason for a letter such as this one – such as a letter during deployments or separation – is the sender and receiver are in a place where they must carry on without the one they hold dear, and they must carry on in a new way that fits the troublesome setting in which they find themselves. Letters between loved ones are almost always the result of some challenge to keeping a relationship going. Geographic separation is just the start of the challenge, but it is easy to identify. It’s a prime time for us to write letters. We seldom write letters to those who are dwelling under the same roof at the time of the writing. So, geographic separation is a key motivation to write, but geography is not the only challenge, in these circumstances, is it? In the case of deployment letters, there is the challenge of keeping a household while the other one is gone, and he is not holding up his end of the duties. Accompanying this separation is worry, worry about the danger faced by one or both. It can be a dangerous, life-or-death situation or even a less terrifying imposition upon “normal” life that brings a writer or reader to ask the question, “What do we do now?” How do we keep together, how do we keep the faith, in such a time as this?
In my time in the Navy I was never in grave danger – not that I knew of anyway – but my life was slightly more at risk; the potential was there, made real when I started drawing an allowance for being in a designated “Combat Zone.” It led me to think about whether I would see my family again and sort out what and who I valued and why. All of that was juggled with playing my role faithfully with shipmates on the same mission. They are a temporary family of sorts to which I must devote my immediate attention to keep us all safe and accomplish the objectives set before us. Oh yes, there was lots to think about and sort out besides going to sleep at night alone. The letters in this box are precious to me, precious even if I never read them again. I look at them and recognize how they kept me grounded.
The context of this letter to Timothy carries similar concern. In that little snippet that we read this morning, Paul makes reference to his circumstance of suffering, which was caused by the very principles they both – Timothy and Paul – held dear. Acting thus put Paul at odds with the powerful. Hence, he was in prison. Timothy, if you do some exploration, was a protégé in the faith, brought up in a household where his mother and grandmother introduced him to the Christian faith. Timothy was Paul’s long-time companion and likely part of the next generation to carry the Christian message after Paul. The letter is intended to answer Timothy’s “What do I do now?” “What do I do, now that my teacher, my mentor and friend is imprisoned, and I cannot be with him, and I can’t help him?” “Does his imprisonment prove him wrong on everything he has taught me?” “If not, how do I keep faith in such a time as this?”
I have two intentions behind my interpretation here: message and messaging. The message itself is powerful enough, but I want you to think about the importance of messaging, of letter writing.
The message is beautifully captured in the poem embedded within our reading. We could have Oliver play this if we had the tune! Surely this could be – or could have been – an ancient lyric sung in worship!
| The first four lines identify the faith that our suffering for the Gospel will be rewarded just as Jesus was rewarded for being faithful despite dying
Lines 5 and 6 – if we deny, God will deny – confirm that our response in faith will be respected. We have the choice to give in to pressure from earthly powers. We are not coerced into pledging loyalty to God. Regardless, the hymn ends that no matter how faithless we might be, God remains faithful. |
- If we have died with him,
- We will 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
This morning’s reading finishes up with the advice to value this simple faith commitment without quibbling over semantics and small differences between fellow followers. It’s just not of any value to get in the weeds about petty differences. Good message. Think on that this week!
But my “Aha!” from ruminating on this Scripture for the past few weeks is to encourage you to write, especially if you know someone who needs reassurance. It is to encourage you to read what has been written for you; read when your spirit needs bolstering. Write. You need not quibble about getting everything right – just write! It is so important to write!
Pastor Leanne noted when we started our discussion of the letters to Timothy, that some stuff Paul wrote here needs some work. For example, many have interpreted passages in the letters to Timothy to be justification for keeping women out of leadership in the church. I could argue with anyone holding this view that their interpretation might be flawed, and if it is not flawed, then Paul is simply mistaken on that finer point! (GASP!) What is important about Paul is that he wrote, and the overriding message was to keep the faith, even in the face of strong adversity. Paul, like us, are inspired by God, and his heart is in the right place, generally(!). He may write or say things that are worthy of debate, but he wrote; and he helped his readers, and us, keep the faith.
When you write a letter, you may not get everything right, but I can tell you from experience that writing, and risking getting something wrong and writing still, makes all of the difference!
My friends, I had such a time with this text as I considered what we need to hear from it to help us in our time and place. I want to impress upon you the genius strategy that we have employed in our society, in our faith and in our personal lives. What has been written for us and what we have written for others is key to being our better selves, no matter what crisis of conscience or danger we may face. Without paying heed to the things that have been written, we will be like squawking magpies. We will succumb to reactionary responses, acting on a whim or based upon whatever emotion arises from the challenges we face.
In the category of faith, as Christians we are characterized with Jews and Muslims as “People of the Book.” It’s why we gather each week to sort out the decisions we must make in our present time. As a nation our leaders have sworn an oath, not to a king or a person, but to the Constitution. As persons with ties to other persons, we don’t just to react to whatever life deals us. We remember what those who love us have told us or written to us. That dusty box that I hadn’t opened in years remains precious to me. The written word is not perfect. It doesn’t always address the particular circumstance we face. It will require adjustment and tweaking to inform our present, but it will deliver us from responding to trouble only with the attitude that the moment brings. Remembering what is written gives us context and a far better chance of responding in the mindset of our better selves.
Face the challenges of the day, then, people of faith, people of value, people who are loved, by including what is written to inform your prayerful response. Paul should get the last word here. He wrote to Timothy: “Do your best to present yourself(ves) to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.” Amen.