At the very heart and center of Christian faith is Christian Scripture.  Scripture itself is not the end of Christian faith – that is our personal relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit.  But it is the means of Christian faith – apart from which any true and meaningful relationship with him is impossible.  Given that, you would assume that our scriptures would occupy front and center in our lives and in our worship, both personally and corporately.  But both scripture and history tell us otherwise.  There is good reason why Paul’s principle charge to Timothy centered on his faithfulness to scripture: “keep the pattern of sound teaching…guard the good deposit…present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not be ashamed who correctly handles the word of truth…you know how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation…preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 1:13-14; 2:15; 3:15; 4:2).  It was Paul’s principle charge because it would be Timothy’s principle challenge – just as it is has been ever since.  Today we’re taking a close at that challenge in 2 Timothy 2:14-26, in a message entitled, “Keeping to Scripture…Plain and Simple”.

For most of the younger years of his ministry Timothy had been shielded from the worst of the suffering. As the primary face and principle spokesman of the Christian faith, Paul had been the primary object of the hostility that the gospel frequently elicited. Paul had borne the attacks, Paul had endured the stoning’s, Paul had suffered the imprisonments. It wasn’t until things were well established and flourishing that Timothy was usually left to tend the work, and even then only under Paul’s constant guidance, care and protection. But all of that was about to change. Not only would Timothy assume the mantle of Paul’s leadership, he would take on the lion’s share of Paul’s sufferings. In the example of the soldier, the athlete and the hard working farmer, there would be no gain without pain, no crown without a cross. If Timothy was to prove faithful, he would have to learn to endure suffering. In the second part of his charge Paul set out to prepare him mentally, emotionally and spiritually for that reality and responsibility, as we’ll see this morning in 2 Timothy 2:8-13, in a message entitled, “A Profile in Courage: Part 2”.

As young Christian leader, Timothy faced a daunting task in an uncertain world.  Dark clouds were on the horizon.  Not only was official anti-Christian sentiment on a sudden and steep rise throughout the Roman empire, but the clear and present danger to anyone associated with the Christian movement had already begun to take a toll in widespread defections on the part of many who had once professed undying faith and devotion to Jesus Christ.  In such a world it was hard to imagine maintaining the gains that the gospel had already made, let alone the notion of somehow advancing them.  Which makes Paul’s words all the more important and significant.  His charge to Timothy was summarized in a single line, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2:3).  It is not an image of the Christina life that we often think of today, but it ought to be.  We’ll consider the entirety of that specific charge and its important lesson to us in a two part sermon beginning this morning with 2 Timothy 1:15 – 2:7, in  a message entitled, “A Profile in Courage: Part I”.

As a very young man, Timothy had joined Paul in the earliest days of his ministry and had spent the better part of fifteen of his most formative years right at the Apostle’ side.  It would be hard to place an estimate on the value of that experience.  There was no one Paul knew better and no one he trusted more.  In his own words, “I have no one else like him” (Phil. 2:20).   And yet, when it came time for Timothy to assume the mantle of pastoral leadership, it is clear that Paul took nothing for granted.  In spite of his overwhelming confidence in Timothy, he knew that the most precarious moment of a race is in the passing of the baton.  That the church is ever only one pastoral change away from the fidelity on which the life changing power of the gospel truly depends.  And that in that, Timothy was no exception.  His passionate and stirring charge begins right out of the gate with his introduction to the letter, as we’ll see this morning in 2 Timothy 1:1-14, in a message entitled, “Unafraid…Unashamed…Undeterred”.

It is was arguably the most momentous occasion since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The apostle Paul,  the principal figure in the world-changing spread of the Christian gospel throughout the Roman empire, was about to pass off the scene.  In chains in a Roman dungeon, his fate had already been sealed by none less than Nero himself.  In his own words, “the time for my departure is near”.  These were his last words, and as someone has said, last words are lasting words.  As Paul passed the torch to his young associate and much loved son in the faith, Timothy.  Those were no small shoes to fill, this was no easy responsibility to assume, and these were no gentle times in which to assume them.  In the coming weeks we’ll sit beside Timothy to hear and to heed the final charge of the aging apostle, in words that are every bit as important to our day as the day they were first written.  This morning we will begin with an introduction and overview of this urgent and timely letter, in a message entitled, “The Times They Were A-Changin”.
(From an expositional series of messages on “In Times Like These: The Message of 2 Timothy”)