The Making of a Saint

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, October 31, 2010.  The text for this week's message is Luke 19:1-10.

Today is a very special day in the life of the church.  Not because Halloween happened to fall on a Sunday this year, but because we have the opportunity today to remember those who have gone on to the promises that we have in Christ Jesus.  It’s not as commonly celebrated in contemporary American culture, but November 1^st is known as All Saints Day on the Christian calendar.  It stands in stark contrast to Halloween, which we usually associate with goblins and candy and hayrides and bonfires.  All Saints Day is a day to remember why it is that we do what we do as a congregation.  It’s a day to remember and celebrate the saints who have moved on to glory.

Perhaps the story of Zacchaeus is an odd story for us to examine on All Saints Day, but I can guarantee you that it’s not going to be the only Scripture passage over the next several weeks that may seem out of place at first.  The story of Zacchaeus doesn’t have anything to do with the saints who have left us to meet the Lord.  In fact, it’s quite the opposite.  Zacchaeus is not a saint in this story.  He is a tax collector, which, according to Jewish thought in the first century, was even worse that being a sinner.

Tax collectors were so despised by the Jewish people that when we read through the gospels, they are often given their own category.  Many times you’ll read about the tax collectors and the sinners.  They were so despised that to lump them together with sinners was not good enough.  Even sinners deserved more consideration than the tax collectors.  Why is that?  Why is it that tax collectors were so despised by the Jewish people in the first century?  We may grumble about the IRS today, but we don’t go out of our way to identify them as worse than any other group of people.  A lot of the hatred towards tax collectors had to do with the way they went about their business.

On the most basic level, a tax collector was an agent of the Roman Empire.  A tax collector was given a particular area, and a particular amount of money that they had to raise for taxes.  Anything above that amount would be their pay.  As you can imagine, corruption is built into this tax system.  Let’s say that Zacchaeus had to raise $100 for taxes this month.  He could go around to every person in his district and demand payment for taxes with the full backing of the Roman Empire meaning, in this case, the Roman military.  If Zacchaeus shows up at your door with a handful of soldiers and demands payment for taxes, the chances of you fighting him on his demand are pretty slim, unless you happened to like fighting professional soldiers.

Tax collectors often abused their power for the sake of their own gain.  If Zacchaeus went out and collected $200 dollars in this scenario, then he just made $100.  Put this on a much grander scale, and you can see how tax collectors were often wealthy, but at the expense of the people with whom they lived.  It had to be hard living in the same town as Zacchaeus knowing that the reason why he has a 63” flat screen and a Cadillac was because he cheated you out of your hard-earned money.  Suddenly it makes sense that the people hated tax collectors so much.

Notice what Luke tells us in verse 2.  Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector.  He was a supervisor.  He had responsibility over a larger area and had people working for him to collect taxes.  He’s the guy in charge in this area as far as collecting taxes was concerned.  This is the background as Jesus enters the city of Jericho at the beginning of today’s reading.

When we get to Luke 19, we are at the tail end of Jesus’ journey towards Jerusalem in Luke’s gospel.  Shortly after this encounter with Zacchaeus, Jesus enters into Jerusalem in what we have come to call the Triumphal Entry, which we celebrate on Palm Sunday every year.  In Luke’s narrative, we are coming down to the end.  We are almost at Jesus’ ultimate purpose here on earth.

As so often happens in the gospel stories, there is a crowd.  We are told that when Jesus enters Jericho, a crowd comes to see him.  Stories of Jesus had spread all over the territory.  People knew his name, they knew the things that he had done, and they wanted to catch a glimpse of this person who some were calling the Messiah.  But in the midst of this crowd was Zacchaeus, the despised chief tax collector.  Even Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus.

And perhaps this is the first lesson that we can learn from today’s Scripture: people need to see Jesus.  It’s so simple, but I don’t want you to miss it.  People need to see Jesus, especially those who have not seen him before, especially those are despised because their sins, especially those who are despised because of their betrayals.  Zacchaeus was despised because he was a tax collector.  He was hated because he betrayed his people in order to profit alongside the enemy.  On the outside, it may have looked like Zacchaeus had everything, but in fact, he was missing something.

We know that he was missing something because he went out of his way to see Jesus.  This man of high position risked embarrassment and ridicule because he was too short to see Jesus with the crowd standing in the way, so he climbed a tree.  He climbed a sycamore tree so he could get a better look at the man they called Jesus.

One of the neat things about the Magic Kingdom at Disney World is that every night, twice a night, they have a parade.  People will line up along the route over an hour before it starts just so they can have a good seat to see the Parade of Lights.  And as I was thinking about the position that Zacchaeus found himself in today’s Scripture, I couldn’t help but think of all the little children who were sitting on their parents’ shoulders just so they could see some of their favorite Disney characters in this Parade of Lights.  Children, little people who were too short to see everything unfold had to be helped so they take in the wonder of this experience.  But there was nobody there to help Zacchaeus see Jesus.  So, he climbed a sycamore tree.

As I thought more and more about this story, I started to wonder: what are the things that we do that prevent people from seeing Jesus?  How are we like the crowd that gets in Zacchaeus’ way so that he cannot see the Savior?  What are the things that we hold onto, the rituals that we take for granted, the traditions that we place above allowing people like Zacchaeus to see Jesus for the first time? 

There are things that we place above allowing others to see Jesus.  Whether we know it or not, and whether we do it intentionally or not, it doesn’t really matter.  Some people insist on a particular type of worship.  Others may insist on a particular translation of Scripture.  Still others may have their personal list of theological or political opinions with which you must agree or you risk being on the outside.  What are the ways that we are just like the crowd? 

Take a moment to think about your life and about the things that we do as a congregation that may seem perfectly normal to us, but in reality, to somebody who has not seen Jesus, these things would simply be a crowd that stands in the way of seeing the Savior.  It is a fairly difficult task for us to examine everything that we take for granted, but that is exactly what Jesus has us do in this passage.

After Zacchaeus climbs the tree, Jesus walks by that spot, stops, looks up at him and says, “Zacchaeus, hurry up and get down here.  I must stay at your place today.”  What is amazing here is that Zacchaeus doesn’t start waving his arms and crying out for Jesus to pay attention to him.  Zacchaeus doesn’t yell down, “Hey Jesus, I’m grilling out tonight, do you want to come by for a while?”  He just wanted to see Jesus, and next thing you know, Jesus calls him out of the crowd and says, “I must stay with you today.”

Jesus takes the initiative here.  Jesus calls upon Zacchaeus.  Jesus invites himself over for dinner.  Jesus chooses somebody who the rest of the crowd thinks is unworthy of such an honor.  It’s all Jesus.  The reason why you are probably here this morning is because at some point in your life, Jesus looked to you and said, “Get down here; let’s go have dinner.”  God’s grace works in our lives and brings us closer to him before we ever decide to follow Jesus.  He may have used all sorts of people and events to bring you to that point, but don’t doubt for a second that Jesus was the person bringing it all together in the first place.

Zacchaeus immediately responds in a radical way to Jesus’ call.  He doesn’t just say, “Okay, fire up the grill!  Let’s go!”  He says, “Lord, I’m going to give half of all that I have to the poor.”  I imagine the people weren’t all that impressed because they know how he got his money.  He is a tax collector after all.  But then Zacchaeus says, “If I’ve defrauded anybody, I’m going to give them back four times what I took from them.”  Suddenly, this isn’t just a rich man offering to give away half of what he had so he can look good but still be rich.  It is a man who so believes in the message of Jesus that he is willing to give up everything.  I imagine a few people probably took Zacchaeus up on his offer, and he ended up worse off than anybody.  That is what the grace of God will do to a person.

The grace of God will make a person realize the selfish, hurtful ways that he or she has lived life, and suddenly, everything comes into perspective.  What we have in this world doesn’t matter if it comes at the expense of other people.  God gives so freely that when we are faced with it, we cannot help but give freely as well.  Now, inevitably, the question of worth comes up.  Am I really worthy of the redemption that is possible through Jesus?  Well, no.  We’re not worthy.  But neither was Zacchaeus and Jesus still called him.  That is the beauty of grace – we aren’t called because of our worth, we are called because of our lack of worth.

What we see in the story of Zacchaeus is the making of a saint.  We see the awesome grace of God at work.  We see salvation as it happens, in spite of what the crowd may have wanted.  Jesus picks the worst of the worst in Zacchaeus, and salvation is still waiting for him.

On All Saints Sunday, we remember the saints who have gone before.  We remember and we celebrate their witness in our lives.  But let us also remember – they weren’t always saints.  At some point in their life, Jesus looked to them and said, “Hurry up and get down here.  I must be with you today.”  If we remember their flawed roots, we begin to remember ours.  And in doing so, we remember that we need to stop being the crowd in this story.  We need to stop preventing others from seeing Jesus, and we need to start making a way for those who are small of stature, those like Zacchaeus, to see the Savior.

Final Words

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, October 24, 2010.  The text for this week's message is 2 Timothy 4:1-8.

As we enter our final week in Paul’s second letter to Timothy, I think it’s fair to say that there are a lot of lessons that we can pull from Paul’s final letter.  When we read 2 Timothy, we are reading the final words that Paul has to share with Timothy and with us.  Shortly after writing this letter, Paul was executed for his faith in Jesus Christ.

Today’s section is really Paul’s final words of advice to Timothy.  After this section, he asks Timothy to come see him as soon as he can and to bring another with him.  He sends greetings to the fellow leaders of the churches around the area, and that’s all we hear from Paul in this world.  Much like how the prophet’s mantle was passed from Elijah to Elisha, Paul passes the torch to Timothy.

There are several things that we can pull from this passage, but I want to look at Paul’s final charges to Timothy.  He lists seven things that he wants Timothy to do as he leads the church.  We are going to look at some of those things, and see what it is that Paul may be saying to us today.

Paul begins by charging Timothy “in the presence of God and Jesus Christ.”  This is reminiscent of what Jesus said to the disciples at the beginning of the Great Commission in Matthew 28.  Jesus begins his final instructions there by saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore…”  What Jesus does there is remind them of his ultimate authority, and then gives them their instructions to go, evangelize and disciple the world.

In the same way, Paul is reminding Timothy of the ultimate authority.  Not the authority that Paul has, but the authority of God.  He reminds Timothy that, ultimately, he stands before God.  This charge doesn’t come just from Paul, but from the Almighty, from the Lord, from Jesus Christ himself.  When Paul charges Timothy in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, he is reminding Timothy of his position before the Lord.

Once we realize our standing before God, it helps put everything else in perspective.  What Paul is about to tell Timothy is some pretty important stuff.  If Timothy ever forgets his standing before the Lord, then suddenly this stuff doesn’t become a call in his life, but a skill that he tries to develop.  There is a definite difference between a developed skill and a call from God.

As individuals and as a church, we must remember our standing before God lest we treat the church like a business.  There is business that needs to be taken care of in a local congregation, but the church is not a business.  The church needs to be a place where people come into contact with the Almighty God and draw closer to Him and one another in Christian fellowship.  As a congregation, we have a call to reach others with the good news of Jesus Christ.  If we approach this call as strictly business, we are going to miss out on a deeper, and much more important, spiritual development in the lives of the people we come into contact with.  In the Great Commission, Jesus tells the disciples to reach out to others and disciple them.  It’s not just enough to reach others with the good news of Jesus Christ, but we also have to be intentional about faith development.

If we just want to get more people in the building, then there are things that we can do to draw a crowd.  But we don’t want to just fill the pews; we want to reach people with a message of salvation.  That is very different than simply filling up the space.  As we improve the quality of our spiritual lives, we realize that there is so much more to our call as followers of Jesus Christ.  It is on this foundation that Paul charges Timothy.

Paul’s first instruction to Timothy is to “preach the word.”  Timothy’s primary responsibility as a person who stands under the authority of Jesus Christ is to share the gospel.  He is to tell others of Jesus.  He is to offer salvation through Jesus Christ.  So, how does this apply to us today?  Well, I don’t think it take a genius to make the connection on this one.  Preach the word.

That doesn’t mean that every person here should expect to preach on a Sunday morning.  In fact, I can guarantee you that not every person who preaches should do so.  I have heard a lot of people preach on a Sunday morning, and I have heard a few people that shouldn’t preach from the pulpit on a Sunday morning.  Perhaps the most famous quote on this subject is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi who reportedly said, “Preach the gospel at all times.  If necessary, use words.”

You preach the word by how you live it out in your life.  Are you wasting your life away in sinful living, all the while thinking that it’s okay because you go to church on a Sunday morning?  What kind of gospel are you preaching when you do that?  Do you talk poorly about other people behind their back, but put on a happy face around them?  What kind of gospel are you preaching?  Does your life match your words?  Do your actions backup how you say that God has been working in your heart?  Preach the gospel not just by what you say, but by how you live.

Second, be ready.  In season and out of season, be ready.  Be ready for what?  Be ready for anything.  God can call us when we least expect it.  God can speak to us when we are least ready to hear what it is that He has to say.  In 1 Peter 3:15, Peter tells us to always be “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.”  Be ready at any and all times to be a representative of Christ; wherever you are.

When we decide to follow Christ, we aren’t dedicating a couple of hours of our week to him.  We are dedicating our entire lives to him.  That is a significant difference.  When you commit to being the sports coach or music teacher, you are committing a portion of your time to accomplish particular tasks.  It’s not like that when it comes to our faith.  When we decide to follow Jesus, he isn’t asking for a few hours of our time every week.  He is asking for our weeks.

Because of this, we must be ready at all times to be obedient to what it is that he is calling us to do.  We can’t just be Christians when it is convenient for us.  A partial disciple is no disciple.  And if you’re thinking, “Preacher, that might be easy for you.  You don’t have a real job.  Your job is to do this kind of stuff.”  Then maybe you’re missing the point. 

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, he doesn’t just suddenly appear, sit down with a calendar and schedule a monthly meeting.  It’s not easy to be a disciple.  It’s not convenient to be a disciple.  It doesn’t fit into our schedule to be a disciple.  But the truth is, Jesus doesn’t want just a part of our lives; he doesn’t want us to fit him into our schedule.  And for that reason, we must be ready at all times to follow his call for us.

Third, Paul tells Timothy to reprove, rebuke and exhort.  What do these things mean?  The word “reprove” has to do with bringing others into a conviction of the sin in their lives.  It is the same word that is used in John 16:8, when Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.  This doesn’t mean that we suddenly become judgmental and start pointing out all the flaws in other people.  In Matthew 7, Jesus says that we are to remove the log from our eye before we tell our brothers and sisters to remove the specks from their eyes.

Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that we’ve got it all figured out, and the rest of the people around us need to straighten up.  Convicting people of particular sins in their lives is not our place – that is the work of the Holy Spirit.  But creating relationships and environments where people can allow the convicting work of the Spirit to be present in their lives is certainly something that we can do.  People don’t want to be judged by other people, but they are open to self-reflection, even when it shines some light in the dark corners.

The word “rebuke” is a stern word very similar to “reprove’” however, in this instance, it doesn’t necessarily result in a deeply rooted conviction of the sin.  Rebuking another person is something that has to come from a mutual relationship of love and respect.  We don’t need to go up to just anybody and tell them that what they are doing is wrong.  Again, it is the Holy Spirit’s job to do that.

However, when we are in relationship with fellow believers – a relationship with a foundation of mutual love in Christ Jesus – then we can allow one another that type of access into our lives.  Another way of putting this would be “accountability.”  We all need accountability in our lives, especially in our spiritual lives.  We need to give others permission to let us know when we’ve gone off track, but this can only be done when each person loves and trusts the other.

The third word in this part of the charge is “exhort.”  To exhort somebody means that one is encouraging, comforting, and strengthening another person.  Paul is telling Timothy to encourage and motivate fellow believers.  While the first two words in this charge – reprove and rebuke – may seem like Timothy is supposed to be sharing difficult words all the time, this lets us know that there is a lot of positive things that we can do with how we speak to another as well.  Exhortation is a way to build up another and encourage that person to press on in spite of the difficulties that surround him/her at this present time.

As we look back over the charge that Paul gives Timothy in the opening verses of chapter 4, we notice that a lot of what he is talking about has to do with sharing the Word.  Preach the gospel. Be ready in and out of season.  Reprove, rebuke and exhort.  These all have to do with how Timothy interacts with other people regarding the Word of God.  Paul is very heavily pointing to the need to teach and preach with patience and sound doctrine.

When we get to verse 3, we start to see just why it is that Paul is giving Timothy this charge.  He says, “The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but because they have itching ears, they will seek out teachers to suit their passions.”  In other words, there will come a time when people no longer listen to what Timothy is saying because they will not like what it is that he has to say.  Instead, they will seek after teachers who say things with which they agree.

One thing that we have to be careful about in our own lives is that we don’t often like to listen to teaching that challenges us.  Often times, if somebody is teaching something that doesn’t agree with our preconceived notions, we tend to stop listening to them.  We don’t like to be challenged, but we have to be from time to time.  Sound doctrine is not always an easy thing to hear.  If we listen to the media, we hear all sorts of messages that we may like to hear, messages with which may agree on some level, but to call them sound doctrine would be a stretch.

We have to be careful about blindly agreeing with everything that we read or hear.  We have to be willing to question things from time to time.  Above all, we have to be able to compare the teachings that we hear with what has been revealed to us in Scripture.  If somebody is teaching something that is not consistent with what we read in Scripture, and we find ourselves agreeing with this teaching, then we need to take a step back and reevaluate our position on certain topics.  Our task, as followers of Jesus Christ is to be familiar with Scripture, and to teach sound doctrine, even if the world around us would rather hear a different message.

Even though we may be surrounded by a world that teaches doctrines different than Scripture, we must maintain our commitment to teaching the Word of God.  Paul reminds Timothy of this in verse 5, where he says, “As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

It will always be important for us to be of sound mind when it comes to sharing the gospel with others.  We are to be focused and determined when it comes to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we have to realize that often this comes at a price.

Paul tells Timothy to enduring suffering because suffering is an inevitable part of the Christian life.  For Timothy and countless other believers, it is physical suffering.  For us in this day and age, we may not be openly persecuted for the faith, but that doesn’t mean we are free from the suffering that follows those who follow Christ.

As followers of Christ, we are charged to remain focused on the mission at hand.  We need to not be distracted by the peripherals, even the ones that whisper in our ears that we may face some unwelcome times because of our faith.  We need to draw strength from what Paul is saying here.  Remember, Paul was in his final days.  We can read through Acts and see that he was well acquainted with suffering for the gospel.  He is speaking from experience here.  This is not idle advice that he is giving, but it comes in the midst of his own personal experience.

Paul’s advice to “do the work of an evangelist” does not mean that we are to stand on the street corner proclaiming that all are sinners and are in need of repentance.  While there is a measure of truth to that message, evangelism is not about condemning sinners, but sharing the joy of a new life in Jesus Christ.

Above all, we are to fulfill our ministry.  What that looks like when we get to the specifics is going to be different for every person, but as followers of Christ, we are charged to make disciples, and that involves sharing the word of God, and being intentional about our personal faith development and the faith development of those around us.

Final words are always difficult.  We want to impart so much wisdom to those who will be left behind, but it’s hard to keep it to the point and memorable.  Ultimately, we just have to hope that we have taught enough along to way that our final words are merely a culmination of what we have been teaching all along.

Paul’s final words are words of encouragement; words of hope; words of purpose; words of mission.  If we hold these words in our hearts as we move forward as followers of Jesus Christ, I have no doubt that we will hear the same message that Paul heard as he met the Lord.  “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  Go from this place today, remembering Paul’s final words, and taking them to heart, so that all may come to know Jesus Christ.

Minors Into Majors

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, October 10, 2010.  The text for this week's message comes from 2 Timothy 2:8-15.

As we continue in 2 Timothy today, we come across a concept that is very important for us as followers of Jesus Christ. I think by this point in life, every person here has had some kind of disagreement. Disagreements aren’t always a bad thing, and we need to be able to handle them in a manner that reflects the love of Christ. What we see as we approach this passage today is that there were some disagreements going on in the church where Timothy was serving. What we also see is how Paul tells Timothy to handle these disagreements, and what we walk away with is a better idea of what needs to be done in such instances.

In verse 14, where Paul really addresses this issue head-on, he writes, “Remind them of these things.” If we want to be good students of Scripture, then something we need to learn to ask is, “Why?” Why does Paul say what he says here? Remind who of what things? What is he telling Timothy to do? To get an idea of what he is talking about, we actually have to go a little further back in the letter.

In 2 Timothy 1:15-18, Paul mentions three people. Two of them turned away from him, while a third sought him out while he was imprisoned in Rome. Apparently, some took issue with Paul being in prison, and they used as an opportunity to walk away from him. They deserted him. Certainly, they weren’t the only ones. These are people who could have supported Paul in this difficult time, but instead choose to go their own way.

This appears to have caused some dissention in the church. There were some who turned their backs on Paul, but there were also some who were there to help him in the midst of his suffering and imprisonment. Paul goes on to talk about how Timothy and other followers of Jesus should remember the example that was set by Jesus Christ.

He begins chapter 2 by telling Timothy to be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ, and to continue in his task to teach the message of the gospel to others. Instead of running away when things get tough, Paul encourages Timothy to share in the sufferings as a soldier in Christ Jesus. Don’t lose focus, don’t turn away when things get difficult, but press on. Move forward knowing that what he is doing is right. Then we get to today’s reading.

Paul tells Timothy to remember Jesus Christ who rose from the dead. What he is doing here is not only reminding Timothy of the sufferings of Christ, but also of the ultimate victory that is in Christ. We know the story of Easter. Even those who never attend worship know the claims of Christians that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. Unfortunately, we miss the rest of the story.

The way our calendar is set up, we have Palm Sunday, which is a celebration of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, and then the next Sunday, we have Easter, which is a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. Monday through Saturday of that week, we often get caught up in our typical week, and we don’t get as many opportunities to look at the story of Jesus’ suffering and death.

When Paul tells Timothy to remember Jesus Christ who rose from the dead, Timothy would remember why it is that Jesus rose from the dead. There is no resurrection without death. To remind Timothy of the resurrection is to remind him of the need for resurrection. The same is true for us.

When we talk about the risen Christ, we need to remember that to be raised necessitates a burial. We cannot forget about the sufferings of Christ. And what Paul is doing is reminding Timothy and the congregation that suffering is not new to the Christian faith. In fact, that’s how it was founded. People were abandoning Paul because of his suffering and imprisonment, and he points to the example of Jesus to remind them that, at times, suffering is a part of the faith.

Notice what he says in verses 8-9. He says that his suffering comes from preaching the gospel. It is for the sake of the gospel that Paul is in chains as though he were some kind of criminal. But in spite of his chains, Paul recognizes that the word of God is not bound.

The word of God is too powerful to be bound up by chains. As you look through the history of the Christian faith, you’ll see that often when the church is persecuted, it thrives. In the first century, the Church grew exponentially, even though there were intense periods of persecution. Paul knew that fact very well. He knew it because he was one of the first to persecute the early church, and several Roman Emperors followed him in this.

Nero was getting blamed for the great fire in Rome in 64 A.D., and as a means of deflecting the blame, he started a persecution of the Christians, blaming them for the fire. Late in the first century, Domitian heavily persecuted Christians. Persecutions happened under Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, Diocletian, and many other emperors until Constantine took control of the Empire. There have been numerous persecutions since the time of Constantine as well. In fact, I have heard it said that more people were killed for their faith in Christ in the 20th century than all the other centuries combined.

Suffering and persecution are a part of the Christian story. We shouldn’t expect it to be easy to be a follower of a person who was wrongfully deemed a criminal and crucified. But it should bring us a measure of strength knowing that this same person was raised from the dead and is active in this world through the work of the Holy Spirit. So when the difficult times come, it is important that we remember the sufferings of Jesus as a way to be encouraged and strengthened for the journey ahead. This is what Paul wants Timothy to remind the people.

In verse 14, Paul tells Timothy to charge the people not to “quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.” The fact that they will have to deal with persecution is not the problem here. The problem is they are caught up in insignificant issues. We can reasonably assume that these are not significant issues because Paul does not shy away from addressing significant issues when it comes to writing his letters – just read his letters to the Corinthians. That was a church with major issues that Paul addresses very heavily. These must be insignificant issues because Paul doesn’t even take the time to address them specifically. All he says is, “Don’t quarrel over words.” They are issues that have no bearing on their faith, but can end up damaging those who are caught in the middle.

Unfortunately, churches get caught up in this type of arguing over insignificant matters even today. Issues like: what color are we going to paint the sanctuary; what type of carpet are we going to put in the education wing; what style of music are we going to use doing the worship service. Fill in the blank; there are always minors that turn into majors. So, what do we do when that time comes? What do we do when people start turning minors into majors?

We look back to Paul. We have to remember the words of Paul in this passage. And, again, what does he tell Timothy to do here? He tells him to remind them of Jesus. When we remember Jesus, we remember his teachings, his life, his death and his resurrection. We remember that there is a purpose for our call. We are reminded to come back to the important issues.

There always have been differences of opinion between individuals. That is just a simple fact of life. But as followers of Christ, we have to be willing to set the example of how to deal with those differences. By focusing on the larger, more important issues.

In his sermon “On a Catholic Spirit,” John Wesley reflects on the question that Jehu asks Jehonadab in 2 Kings 10:15, “Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?” Where are people’s hearts in the matter? What are the bigger issues of which we need to be mindful?

In John 13, we read these words. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Jesus is telling his disciples that the world will come to know them as his followers if they merely love one another.

When we have differences with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to intentionally decide to love that person. We do so not because we want to appear like we are above the petty things that people argue about in this world, but because the love of Christ reigns in our hearts. We can’t help but love one another when the love of Christ overflows from within us, and it is that love that helps us move past the minor things in this life that get us caught up and distracted from our more important tasks.

As a congregation, we have an important call that cannot be undermined by minor issues. We have a call to reach others with the good news of Jesus Christ. We have been entrusted to share the Word of God with a world that is in desperate need of salvation. We must do exactly what Paul says here. We must remember Jesus Christ who has been raised from the dead. In doing so, we refocus ourselves on the most important objectives that he has laid before us.

Is there someone with whom you have a disagreement concerning issues that are not central to the faith? Are there issues between you and another person that prevents the two of you from being focused on the goal of reaching others with the message of Jesus Christ? If so, are they majors or are they minors?

If they are indeed majors, then we need to approach those issues with the love of Christ and look for ways to settle them. If people are unable to experience Christ through your life because of these issues, then they need to be dealt with right away. If they are minors, then we need to address the issue, keeping in mind our call to reach others with the message of Jesus Christ.

We will never be able to agree on everything; that’s part of the human condition, but we do need to make sure we put things in the proper perspective. However, when we are focused on our purpose, when we are focused on the call that God has for us, we can do our best to avoid turning minors into majors.

The Value of Remembering

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, October 3, 2010.  The text for this week's message is 2 Timothy 1:3-7.

We are continuing our walk through 1 and 2 Timothy today with the opening of Paul’s second letter to Timothy.  Some time has passed since Paul’s last letter to Timothy, and the circumstances in which he and Timothy find themselves is drastically different.  Paul is in prison, as we see from verse 8 of the first chapter, and most likely, he is awaiting his trial and execution.  2 Timothy is the last of Paul’s letters.  In some sense, it is his last piece of advice to his spiritual son Timothy, and it stands as an encouragement for today’s Church.

For a guy that’s awaiting his execution, we may think that Paul begins this letter in a very unusual manner.  He says, “I thank God, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers.”  Even in the face of certain death, Paul is giving thanks to God.  It is odd to us because when we look at the world around us, we tend to forget to give thanks.  It seems like when even the slightest hint of trouble comes our way, we cry out to God and wonder why this is happening to us.  We start to question whether or not God even loves us.  But one thing that we learn over and over again as we read through Scripture is that there will be suffering; there will be pain in this life.  The presence of pain and suffering in this life is not proof that God doesn’t care about us.  It’s proof that we live in a fallen world.

Ever since Genesis 3, when sin entered into the world, we have been dealing with the results of a fallen creation.  Bad stuff happens.  It is a simple, yet unwelcome truth in a fallen world.  But, if we are to learn from the example of Paul, then we need to step back and give thanks in the midst of the troubling times.  We need to praise God for what He is doing all around us, even when the darkness is hiding it.

Notice what else he says here.  He thanks God “with a clear conscience” as he remembers Timothy in his prayers.  There is nothing between Paul and God as he prays.  He comes to God with a clear conscience, knowing that he is free from sin in his life.  Paul comprehends his standing before God, and it is one in which Paul has been faithful and obedient to who it is that God has called him to be – blameless because of the blood of Jesus Christ.

One question we must ask ourselves, when we come to God in prayer, is, “Do we have a clear conscience?”  Can we say that there is no sin in our lives that we haven’t already confessed before the Lord?  In Matthew 5, Jesus tells us that when we come to the altar, we are to be reconciled with our brothers and sisters before offering our gift.  Because we can’t have hatred in our heart, we can’t be unreconciled people, when we come before the Lord.  Remember the line in the Lord’s Prayer: forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.  “As we forgive.”  That’s a dangerous prayer.  If we don’t forgive others, we are asking that we not be forgiven.

Paul prays with a clear conscience because he has forgiven others.  There may be some who held grudges against Paul, but his conscience was clean.  He had no animosity towards them.  Forgiveness is not about making sure we tell somebody that they have been forgiven by us.  Forgiveness is about letting go of the things that can make us bitter towards another.  Forgiveness is about a clear conscience, and we can have that because of Jesus Christ.

In verses 4-7, Paul takes us on a little trip down memory lane.  He has already told Timothy that he has been remembering him in prayer.  And now, in verse 4, he says that he remembers Timothy’s tears.  While there is no specific reference as to what he is talking about, one thing it shows us is the depth of the relationship between the two.

Paul spoke very highly of Timothy.  He refers to Timothy as his son, which shows level of their relationship.  It’s clear that this relationship was crucial for both of them.  Paul was a mentor and a father in the faith for Timothy, whose own father is not really mentioned, outside of Luke telling us that his father was Greek in Acts 16.

It is important for each one of us to have mentors in the faith.  It’s important that we have somebody we can look up to and learn from.  It is equally important that we mentor those whose faith is younger than ours.  I’ve talked before about faith being a journey, and that some are further along the road than others.  It’s important for us to learn from those who are ahead of us on their journey, and to help those who may not be as far along in their journey.  There is mutual joy in this type of relationship.  Paul says that he longs to see Timothy so that he would be filled with joy, and I think it’s fair to say that Timothy would like to see his mentor one more time as well.

The next remembrance to which Paul points is Timothy’s sincere faith.  Notice the adjective here, “sincere” faith.  One of the things I get to do as somebody going through the process of ordination in the United Methodist Church is psychological exams.  Let me tell you, they are a treat.  There have been three different times that I have had to do them, most recently just a couple of months ago.

One particular test looks for psychological disorders that would require a special type of hospitalization.  In my follow-up interview, one of the things the evaluator said was, “You are either perfectly fine, or you want us to think you are.”  Apparently 85% of the people who take this particular exam answer in a similar fashion.  Now, I can guarantee you that I was not faking my way through that test.  I was sincere about my answers.

I think this is a good metaphor for our faith.  It’s hard to tell on the surface if somebody is sincere about their faith.  Are they putting on a front so people will think they are fine?  Or are they really who they appear to be?  Sometimes people seem sincere about their faith, but they really just want you to think that they are all right.

Paul knew that Timothy was sincere about his faith.  He knew about Timothy’s sincerity because he knew about his mother’s and his grandmother’s sincerity.  Faith is something that we can pass on from generation to generation.  There are no guarantees that your children will follow in your footsteps when it comes to faith, but there certainly are things that can be done to increase their chances.

Parents must be active in faith development of their children.  When I was in youth ministry, the most important message that I had to stress to parents was their role in their child’s faith development.  Because it didn’t matter how many activities a youth attended during the week, they typically came from home and went back home.  On a good week, I might see some youth for 4-5 hours.  That still left another 163 hours in the week.  Faith development begins in the home.

Timothy’s sincere faith began by listening to his mother and grandmother as they tell him about Jesus.  It continued when he saw it modeled in their lives each and every day.  We may buy into the popular sentiment that faith is personal and private, but the truth is, it’s not.  Our faith is shown to the world each and every day by how we live it out.

Finally, after remembering the relationship he has with Timothy and remembering Timothy’s sincere faith, Paul flips the remembering around on Timothy. Paul takes the opportunity to remind Timothy of something else in his own life.  Paul says, “For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you.”  When you start a fire, it’s important that the spark gets plenty of oxygen.  It is only then that the fire really begins to catch.  When you fan a flame, you bring a small spark into something significantly larger.

Timothy had a small spark in the gift of God within him.  Paul was encouraging him to fan the flame; to bring it to full fire.  We can’t give up when it comes to our faith and our gifts in ministry.  We have to press on, and carefully fan the flames so that they can grow into something significant.  How do we fan the flame of our faith in this life?  By attending to our spiritual lives.

I truly hope that you have been working your way through the Bible this year.  Reading Scripture is one of the best ways to fan the flame in your faith journey.  Spending time in the Word allows you to hear from God in ways that are not possible if you aren’t reading Scripture.  Fan the flame.  Nobody can do it for you; you have to make the decision to do it yourself.  When you do that, you will find that the Holy Spirit is working in some mighty ways in your life.  You don’t do it alone, but you can’t do it at all if you don’t make the decision to do something.

Paul closes out this section of the letter by addressing an issue that was probably plaguing Timothy, as well as many other Christians at this time in history; and he does so by reminding Timothy of something else that is critical to his faith.  Paul says that we haven’t been given a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control.

During this time in the Roman Empire, Nero was leading a persecution against Christians.  It was the same persecution that claimed the life of Peter, and would soon claim the life of Paul.  There was reason to be afraid for one’s life at this time, but Paul encourages Timothy to not have a spirit of fear.

The word that is used for “fear” was often used in reference to soldiers who fled from battle.  Paul recognizes that this is a battle of sorts.  It is not a battle against the Roman Empire.  It is not a physical war against one’s enemies.  It is a spiritual battle.  It is a battle that centers around the soul.  Perhaps the most important thing for us to realize in this instance is that it is a battle in a war that is already won.  Through his resurrection, Jesus Christ has defeated death and the forces of evil.  The battles rage on in our personal lives, but we need to realize that the war has already been decided, and it is not evil that gets the final say.

The power of the Holy Spirit dwells within us when we decide to give our lives to Christ.  In 1 John 4, John tells us that the one who dwells within us is greater than the one who is in the world.  There is no need to fear when we realize the power of God resides in us.

The love of God is another reason why we should not fear, even in difficult times.  This same love is what caused Jesus to come and die for our sins on the cross.  This same love is the reason why we have an opportunity to have a renewed relationship with God, even though we are dead in our sins without Jesus.  God does not owe us anything, and yet, He has given us everything.  It is because of His love for us.

Finally, self-control.  In some translations, the word that is used here is translated “sound mind.”  It has to do with discipline and self-control.  It has to do with how we guard our minds against the things that have no worth to our spiritual life.  We must mentally prepare ourselves in the midst of difficult times.  We get worn down and beat up by the things of this world, and in doing so, we make ourselves vulnerable to spiritual attacks.  We make ourselves vulnerable to weaknesses that can hurt our faith.

When we face things in this life that bring us fear, we need to remember exactly what Paul is reminding Timothy of in this passage.  We need to remember the power of the Holy Spirit, the love of God and to lead a disciplined life.  When these three things remain the focus as we fan the flame of our faith, we can live our lives confident that the grace of God will carry us through anything.

We get the sense in the opening portion of Paul’s second letter to Timothy that something is going to happen, and it is probably going to happen soon.  Persecution is on the horizon for Timothy and the Church of the first century.  Paul is writing so that they will be encouraged and prepared for what lies ahead.  Today, as we look at this passage, it would do us some good as well to remember.  Remember the story of Jesus.  Remember how it is that you came to know him.  Remember that your faith is not just about you.  We are called to reach others with the good news of Jesus Christ.  Remember that and live it out in your own life.