II Tim 2:8-15; Remembering and Reminding

"Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. 10 Therefore 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. 11 The saying is sure:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

14 Remind 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. 15 Do 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. Introduction

This passage continues the final exhortations given by the Apostle to Timothy which I began to exposit last week. In those essays I focused on three phrases: rekindling the gift, don't be ashamed, and guarding the treasure. Here we have more phrases, but they focus primarily on the mindfulness of the disciple. The disciples is to remember certain things and then remind others of certain things. Memory, then, is at the heart of the epistle's moral exhortation.

The exhortation to remember and remind comes in the context of three word-pictures at the beginning of II Tim 2, pictures which capture how we are to orient ourselves to faith. Though they aren't in our passage this morning, it might be helpful to mention them. We are exhorted to be a singleminded as a soldier (v. 4), as rule-abiding as an athlete (v. 5--though that may have lost some of its significance for us these days!), as diligent as a farmer (v. 6). These three pictures deserve an entire exposition, but not today...

Then, as we turn to our passage, the author wants to kindle memory. We are to remember three things: (1) The Savior, (2) the Suffering, and (3) the Song; we are then to remind others of one primary thing--the proper use of words. Let's turn to each point briefly, though I will emphasize the latter more heavily in this exposition.

II. Remember...the Three "S's"

It doesn't take us long as drivers to realize that one of the essentials of good driving is frequent glances into the rear-view mirror. Why would we want to check where we have been? Well, to see what is behind us and also to keep our orientation for what is ahead of us. We look backwards to get perspective, to get the "whole picture."

So it is with faith. We look back to the foundational experiences of faith, which means that we re-examine Christ. One of the reasons I love the Revised Common Lectionary is that, with all its faults, it keeps us expositing Jesus' life and words. So here we are exhorted to do that. Two things about the Savior are mentioned: his descent and his death. His descent from David emphasizes the glory of the Christ, his regal origin, his historic connections with royalty; his death stresses his lowliness, his humiliation, his mingling with the common suffering of humankind. Keep both in mind, and you will be able to orient yourself and your people for the future.

Then, there is the Suffering of the Apostle. Our transitional concept is the phrase "my Gospel" (v. 8). It is the apostolic Gospel because it is filtered through the experience, study and revelation that came through the "firsts" (Apostles; The Twelve) in faith. But it is, above all, the Gospel, which means that it is a message that transcends personality and speaks its same and true words to every generation of hearers. But here that message is filtered through the suffering of the Apostle or the stories of his suffering. He portrays himself as a person in chains only to emphasize the unfettered nature of the Gospel. In this regard, the picture of the Apostle is similar to that in Acts 28. Paul has come through harrowing journeys in ch. 27, interrogations before high Roman officials in ch. 26, near ship-wrecks and imprisonments, but the last words in the Book of Acts is that he preaches the Gospel "open and unhindered." That is the flavor of II Tim. 2. One may chain the limbs but not the heart; limit the mobility but not the vocality. But the hearers are to remember the suffering of the Apostle,because it is suffering on behalf of the community and for the sake of the message, the treasure that is being guarded (1:14).

Finally, is the presence of a Song. The author of II Timothy used another song in ch. 1 (vv. 9-10), even though the text isn't "indented" as a song/psalm would be in the English. Most Greek texts I have used, however, have it versified. But we definitely have the quotation of an early Christian hymn here, and I have done my part to make that known by indenting it above. It really is a moving little hymn that shows the mutuality involved in discipleship--our infidelity cannot efface his fidelity, but our wilingness to give ourselves to him will be met with a corresponding realization that he has first given himself to us.

The quotation of a hymn here in the middle of an exhortation is food for thought for us. Why not link music to our expositions? Don't just quote the words of favorite hymns or poetry--why not engage the choir or others to sing while you are making your points? For example, in my congregation last week, the pastor, my friend Fr. Tony Petrotta, was speaking on the Psalm for the day, which emphasized singing to God a "new song." And so he had the choir, at various points in his sermon, "sing" what he had just said, or "sing" a familiar chorus or prayer in different ways. Each of the musical offerings was in a different spirit and different tone; each one helped us see the newness of the song we are to sing from a different "angle." Thus, incorporate not just the message of the Savior, the Suffering, and the Song into what you say, but bring the tone of the Song to make your point more thoroughly. Your people will love you for it, and you will learn things you haven't already learned through patiently listening to others.

But my really important point is the next one, in the next essay.

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