Cambria Pulpit

What is the gospel? How would you answer that question?

As we walk through this book, we will continually be confronted with the Gospel! We will be forced to clearly define the Gospel. We will be challenged to live the gospel in our everyday life. And we will be encouraged to share the gospel. So I invite you to join me on this journey by turning to Romans 1. 

As we begin, we begin with the main idea of the book. The Gospel is powerful. 

Today we begin a new adventure together as we walk through the book of Romans. This is a fantastic book of the Bible. Many have called this Paul’s Mangum Opus (great work). It is considered this because of its amazing depth of theology while maintaining an incredible practicality. In this book, Paul presents one of the clearest presentations of the gospel. And then presents what this means for everyday life. 

As we walk through this book, we will continually be confronted with the Gospel! We will be forced to clearly define the Gospel. We will be challenged to live the gospel in our everyday life. And we will be encouraged to share the gospel. So I invite you to join me on this journey by turning to Romans 1. 

As we begin, we begin with the main idea of the book. The Gospel is powerful. 

Today we reach the end of another journey. For the past several months we have worked through Paul’s final letter: 2 Timothy. We chose to work through this letter because it presents for us the measurement of a faithful ministry. As Paul faced the end of his time on earth and looked back over his ministry, he sought to convey to Timothy and to us the most important things the church and pastor must do in ministry. With all that he could have covered, it is vital and interesting to note what he stated. We could summarize what Paul stated with one phrase: a faithful ministry requires total commitment to the Word of God. 

As we finish the series today, I would like to do so by looking at the final 4 verses in the letter and then a quick review of the themes in the letter. From these two steps, we will see two very important lessons regarding the measurement of a faithful ministry. 

First, let’s look at the last four verses of 1 Timothy. From these four verses, we see examples of faithful ministry and we are reminded that God uses ordinary people to accomplish His work.

Many feel worn down. The challenges life brings cause us to become weary and faint. Sometimes, these struggles cause us to question our calling to follow God and even our faith in God. As God’s children, we expect that life should be a little easier. We expect that the struggles should be less. However, it is not long into our Christian lives when we discover that this is not the case. Life is hard. Even harder is the fact that the Christian life brings with it its own struggles. So how can we continue to serve God in the middle of intense struggle and conflict? As we contemplate all that we face, how can we remain at peace? 

As Paul concludes his final letter, he invites us to view a picture of his life. From this picture, we learn of the intense struggles of the Christian life. But we also learn of the everlasting faithfulness of God. As you listen today and consider the ongoing challenges of your life, the lesson is that God will hold you fast. 

A few weeks ago, we spent time looking at the reality that all Scripture is inspired by God. Because that is true, all Scripture is therefore profitable. Yet, as we read through the Bible, we quickly come across texts that don’t seem to be very profitable. We come to the fourth fifth chapter of Genesis, or the first nine chapters of Chronicles, or the first chapter of Matthew. All of which contain lists of family trees. Or we come to the end of Paul’s letters like we do today which consist of a bunch of thank yous, names, and seemingly inconsequential instructions. As a result, we tend to simply skim over these texts and move on to the “more important parts.”

As we being to conclude our study in 2 Timothy, we arrive at the seemingly inconsequential section of the letter. Yet, over the next few weeks, we will discover that there are some important lessons to learn from these sections. They too are inspired by God and profitable for our spiritual growth. I would encourage you today to engage with me in this text and resist the temptation to see this as an inconsequential portion of Scripture. 

A reality of life that we all must face is the reality of death. Death will come for us all. We don’t like to think about death. We spend much of our lives ignoring death. But death is coming. One reality I have observed is that as a person comes closer to death, they begin to evaluate the life they lived a little differently. We can see this in the final statements of several people. 

As Napoleon lay on his deathbed, he is reported as saying, “I die before my time; and my body will be given back to the earth, to become the food of the worms. Such is the fate which so soon awaits the great Napoleon.” Gandhi, the world-renowned Hindu religious leader, confessed, “my days are numbered. I am not likely to live very long – perhaps a year or a little more. For the first time in 50 years, I find myself in a slough of despond. All about me is darkness. I am praying for light.” 19th-century French statement Talleyrand wrote a note which he left on the nightstand beside his deathbed: “behold, 83 years passed away! What cares! What agitation! What anxieties! what ill well! What sad complications! And all without other results, except great fatigue of mind and body, and a profound sentiment of discouragement with regard to the future end of disquiet with regard to the past!” (MacArthur, 187)

Each of these men has lived their lives for certain things began to reevaluate those things on their deathbed. Each seemed to be marked by regret. Is this going to be our response when our time comes? Will we be marked by regret? Or will we be like the Apostle Paul and be marked by satisfaction with a life well lived for God? in our text this morning, we observe a different attitude from Paul. As the steps of the executioner draw near, Paul does an evaluation of his life. And comes to the conclusion of satisfaction. 

Churches across America are doing a lot of different things today. Some have inspiring dramas. Some have amazing concerts complete with the lights and fog. Some even have circus flying trapeze artists flying across the stage. But many, like this one, take a massive amount of time every Sunday to have a guy get up and talk about a passage in the Bible. Why would a church do that? Isn’t that kind of old fashioned and out of date? We are told that preaching doesn’t work anymore. So why would the church continue to hold on to this relic?

The last two weeks we spent significant time looking at the power and importance of the Bible. We observed that we must anchor ourselves to it if we are going to live impactful lives in this wicked world. We observed that it is the message written by God for us. As such, it is sufficient to give us everything we need for the work God has called us to accomplish. If this is true, and it is, this the reason for the preaching of the Word of God. It is vitally important. As we begin chapter four of 2 Timothy, the challenge is presented that the preaching of the Word is vitally important. As a result, we must demand, seek out, and value the proper preaching of the word. 

You don’t’ have to be around here very long to figure out that we make a big deal out of the Bible. Even today as you sat in the pew: you sang some songs that came from the Bible, you listen to the Bible read twice already, and you heard prayers with the Bible in them. Perhaps you have wondered why do Christians make such a big deal out of the Bible? Maybe even as a Christian you have wondered, what is the big deal? As you read the Bible, perhaps you have come across the confusing or frankly boring parts of the Bible and thought, It just can’t be as important as the church tries to make it.

Today I am going to attempt to answer these questions and to change your mind regarding the Bible. I will answer why the church makes such a big deal out of the Bible and I will attempt to convince you that this is the most important book you will ever read. And to those who don’t read at all, I will attempt to convince you that you must read this book. Your life depends on it. 

While the two verses we will look at today are technically part of the section we covered in 2 Timothy last week, I set them apart for a week for themselves because of the importance of these verses.