2 Timothy 2: 1- 13
God’s faithfulness
Introduction:
When was a time that you have had to trust the process?
When I hear the phrase trust the process, I think about jobs. You are working hard and waiting for that promotion but it hasn’t come yet. And maybe your boss tells you to trust the process.
I also think about someone on a new diet. They are following the rules of this diet and it’s hard, they are hungry but it hasn’t yet started giving you the results that you hoped for.
I think about relationships. Maybe there is a conflict that you are going through and you are hoping it will be resolved soon. You have to trust the process.
There are all these situations where we are told to trust the process.
And our culture tells us to trust the process. What we most often mean by that is that if you follow a certain set of steps you will most certainly achieve the results that you desire.
But it doesn’t take long for you to realize that is not always the case.
Most of us have probably had times where we followed the steps trusted the process and things still didn’t turn out the way that we were hoping.
That’s exactly where our friend Timothy is at.
He’s in a bit of a rough patch and he is following the process and it’s still not working.
And so his friend and mentor Paul writes him a letter to encourage him to keep trusting the faithfulness of God even when it doesn’t seem to be working.
You see Timothy is tired of doing the right thing and working hard and still not getting the results that he should. Maybe you feel the same way.
Background:
This morning, we’re going to be in 2 Timothy chapter 2 if you want to follow along in your Bibles.
As you turn there, I want to give a little bit of background and context to what is going on before we jump in.
Timothy is a young man who has been mentored by the Apostle Paul for many years. We’re actually going to meet him for the first time in the book of Acts. Paul and Timothy do tons of ministry together and when Paul gets released from prison in Rome he takes Timothy and installs him as the Senior Pastor of Ephesus. Ephesus was a mess at that time. It had been pastored by a group of false teachers who were pushing a religion that was a mix of Greek Philosophy and Judaism. Paul leaves Timothy there to sort things out but he writes him a letter to encourage him which we call first Timothy. Then about 5 or 6 years later, Paul has been imprisoned once again and it awaiting execution by Nero. As he waits in jail, he hears that things are not going well in Ephesus and that his personal friend and protégé Timothy is wearing out. So Paul writes one final letter to Timothy and in the letter he appeals to Timothy to trust in God’s faithfulness when things get tough.
There’s a ton that we can apply for our lives from this so let’s get started by reading what Paul has to say to Timothy.
Point One: Trusting God’s faithfulness means we don’t try to force the results
Read 2 Timothy 2: 1-7
Paul challenges Timothy to be strengthened, be strong, hang in there, and keep fighting.
Timothy is mostly doing the right things. He is following the steps that Paul laid out for him in 1 Timothy. But he’s not getting the results that he desires. So Timothy is in danger here because he’s about to start to try and force the results he wants. And we see that in some of the examples that Paul gives.
Paul gives him 3 examples of what trusting God actually looks in real life.
All three of these examples that Paul give Timothy are examples where people have to trust a process and trust in something that is bigger than themselves.
Soldier
Stay focused on what’s going on.
Just like a soldier is hyper focused on his mission and doesn’t worry about the details of everyday life, so Timothy needs to stay focused.
Timothy could easily forget that he is in a spiritual battle and get focused on the wrong things.
The false teachers were using the church as a platform to build their own personal wealth.
Paul has already told Timothy about this.
Soldiers have to trust the process even in their training. They basically give up everything to follow order and to trust a process that is much bigger than themselves.
Part of trusting the process is staying focused and seeing the big picture.
Beyond that, the soldier is responsible for following orders…regardless of the results.
Timothy could lose sight of the big picture and end up questioning God’s faithfulness.
Athlete
Paul then talks about athletes.
He mentions that athletes want to win but there are rules to the competition.
So he’s referencing the fact that in athletics, everyone wants to win.
But not everyone is going to win. Some athletes are so desperate to get that win that they will try to force the results. They can either trust the process or trust their training or they can cheat.
How do Athletes try to force the results?
Steroids, other performance enhancing drugs, rigging their athletic equipment to perform better. The classic example other than steroids is if you’ve been watching the NFL for any length of time you’ve probably heard about this football that wasn’t properly inflated.
Athletes like to bend the rules of the competition to force the results that they want.
When are we tempted to compromise to get what we want?
Let’s talk about Timothy for a second and then we’ll get personal.
Timothy’s first task as senior pastor is to confront false teachers. Can you force someone to believe what you believe? His second task as Senior pastor is to figure out which widows in the church actually qualify for financial assistance. The problem here is that some have remarried or have other means of providing for themselves. So Timothy has to go around and tell some of these dear ladies that they are no longer going to be receiving financial assistance. How do you think that went over? Imagine a new pastor comes to your church and the first thing he does is tell your Grandma the church isn’t going to help her financially anymore. Can you force people to respond well to conflict?
Timothy has to have these hard conversations and then trust the faithfulness of God.
When are we tempted to compromise to get what we want?
How do we bend the rules to force the results?
Timothy is tired of doing the right thing and not getting the results that he wants.
But Paul reminds him that bending the rules is not the way to solve it.
Marriage
In scripture we are told that believers should marry other believers.
But depending on where you live and who you know, if you narrow you spouse search down to only other believers that can really reduce the number of potentials. So what do we do? We bend the rules. We choose not to trust the faithfulness of God and we try to force the results. Now it seems to work, you can change the rules and get the results you want, but there are consequences.
Sex
In the Bible we are told that we are to find Sexual pleasure in the context of marriage. But marriage is a ton of work and it’s expensive and painful. Don’t get me wrong, marriage is wonderful but it’s hard. And sex takes work. You have to be nice and bring home flowers and that’s just too hard. And sometimes your spouse says not tonight. But I want what I want and I want it right now. And so something like pornography seems like a great solution. It’s there, it provides sexual pleasure without me having to do any of the work, but there are consequences.
Finances
We are told in scripture to work hard, pay our taxes and give generously. But we often worry that God will not provide. And so we take matters into our own hands. And we can end up doing things that are unethical and even illegal and certainly don’t please God because we feel we must force the results.
So this is Timothy. He’s a young man with hormones flowing through his veins. He’s concerned about his financial stability as a pastor. He has outstanding conflicts in his life. And he’s getting tired of waiting for God to show up. So he’s about to try to start forcing the results. Which definitely has consequences.
Where are you in this? As I struggle to trust God’s faithfulness, I want to manipulate the situation and force the results I desire.
Farmer
Following God is really hard work but it is worth it.
A lot of people think being a farmer is this ideal, picturesque life but it’s not.
It’s so hard because you have to wait. Plants can only grow so fast. And you have to do a ton of work before you ever get to see and results.
(Ex. Planting trees and wanting them to grow faster)
“Someone told me recently something to the effect of Levi, I know you want an instant tree but you’re going to have to wait.”
What a great analogy for the Christian life.
All of this brings us to another truth which is that we trust in the faithfulness of God no matter what because God’s faithfulness is not dependent upon our circumstances.
Point Two: God’s faithfulness is not dependent on our circumstances
Read 2 Timothy 2: 8-13
Paul transitions from the analogies about trying to force the results and reminds Timothy of this powerful truth.
God is always faithful. Even when we don’t get the results we desire.
Paul points us to Christ and he ends this little section with a powerful statement about God’s faithfulness.
This is thought to be a poem or hymn about God’s faithfulness that the early church was familiar with.
Paul sees his own upcoming death and the death of Jesus as examples of God’s faithfulness.
Paul says in essence, if you want to know that God is faithful, then look at me and look at Jesus Christ.
Paul and Jesus have something in common. They both get killed for doing the will of God.
And then Paul throws in this powerful quote about God’s faithfulness.
And ironically people like to get all hung up on this quote thinking that it’s teaching that people can lose their salvation.
What makes these words so powerful is the fact that human failure is built into the reality of God’s faithfulness. We respond to God in a variety of ways. Some people accept him, some people reject him. How people respond to God doesn’t threaten his faithfulness. It’s part of who He is and so His faithfulness cannot change.
Hebrews – the Hall of faith.
They all had amazing faith and they all got different results.
Hebrews 11: 32-38
Why would anyone choose to trust in the process of God’s faithfulness if they are not guaranteed to receive the results that they want?
Pain and hardship are as sure as death and taxes. They will happen to you regardless.
We tend to read our circumstances to see if God is holding up His end of the deal.
(Ex. the old man lost his horse story)
-we are fickle and we read God’s faithfulness based on our circumstances.
Thankfully that’s not the way it works.
The Bible tells us that we are supposed to give generously to God.
The Bible tells us to pursue sexual purity.
The Bible tells us to love our enemies and do good to those who persecute us.
All of these things are commands that can bring about good results. But they don’t come with a guarantee that things will then turn out exactly how we want.
For Timothy he has to ask himself what if the worst should come.
What if these people leave his church?
What if the false teachers continue to lead people astray despite his solid Biblical teaching?
What if his health should continue to deteriorate?
What if his finances worsen?
The Faithfulness of God is never on trial
Trusting in the faithfulness of God is the only way to really deal with all the hardship that life can bring.
Can God open the womb and provide children? Yes.
Can He bring along that Godly spouse? Yes.
Can He bless you financially? Yes.
What if He doesn’t? Is He still good? Can He still be trusted? Is He still faithful?
I have a friend whose catch phrase is “Praise the Lord”. And if you have spent any time with this person then you have definitely heard them say this phrase. If you know, then you know. And it used to catch me off guard when they would say this because they would say it at the most interesting times. Something bad would happen and they would say praise the Lord…and it really made me start to think. I use that phrase cheaply. What I mean by that is I typically reserve that phrase for when good things happen.
It gets much harder to say that when things aren’t turning out the way you want them to. And although it gets harder to say it, it has more meaning the more we apply it to the hard situations in life.
My car just broke down…praise the Lord.
I just found out that my spouse has been unfaithful…praise the Lord.
We are going to lose the house…praise the Lord.
The kids are not coming for Christmas…praise the Lord.
My boyfriend just broke up with me…praise the Lord.
My best friend said they never want to talk to me again…praise the Lord.
My kids just told me they hate me and I’m the worse Dad ever…praise the Lord.
If we trust in the faithfulness of God, we can say these things even though it sounds crazy. The faithfulness of God is not about our circumstances but about His character. And last time I checked, that’s not changing.
Similarly, there was a woman named Corrie Ten Boom who was a holocaust survivor. She wrote and spoke extensively about her experiences and about forgiveness and about Christ. Here’s what she has to say about God’s goodness.
“Often I have heard people say, 'How good God is! We prayed that it would not rain for our church picnic, and look at the lovely weather!' Yes, God is good when He sends good weather. But God was also good when He allowed my sister, Betsie, to starve to death before my eyes in a German concentration camp….”
-Corrie Ten Boom
In a room this big, how many have lost a baby or a child or a spouse? How many have prayed for healing and not received it? How many have lost their home in a market crash? How many have had a spouse be unfaithful? How many have an outstanding conflict that is still unresolved? It’s Memorial Day. How many around the room have friends or family who lost their lives protecting others?
If you are trusting in the faithfulness of God then you will continue to love and serve your spouse even when it’s not easy. If you are trusting in the faithfulness of God then you will initiate restored relationship by having a one on one face to face conversation and not trying to force the person to reconcile. If you are trusting the faithfulness of God then you will pursue sexual purity, trusting that God really does know best. If we are trusting the faithfulness of God then we can love our enemies because it’s not our job to fix it. It’s our job to be obedient to what God has called us to do and trust Him for the results, whatever they may be.
Trusting in the faithfulness of God isn’t this abstract random thing that only matters on Sunday morning. It has massive ramifications.
Because trusting God’s faithfulness means we don’t have to fix it. We don’t have to manipulate the people and circumstances in our lives to try to force the results we want.
It influences what we buy, how we talk about someone when they aren’t there, how we treat our spouse when they hurt us. Whether or not we pursue restored relationship. What we look at on our phone or computer. How careful we are when we file our taxes.
Either we are trusting God’s faithfulness through the good and the bad no matter what the results or we are scheming a way to force the results. But that doesn’t even work most of the time and it causes consequences that are painful.
We don’t know hardly anything about Timothy from scripture.
Did he find that special someone?
If he found that special someone did they have kids? If they had kids how many? Were there kids healthy?
Did all those broken relationships and hard conversations turn out well?
Did his finances improve?
Did his chronic health issue ever get resolved or did is worsen?
Did the false teachers ever stop harassing him and his church?
And the Bible doesn’t tell us because the answers to these questions still do not affect the faithfulness of God.
As Christians, we want to develop that kind of no matter what faith.
One of the greatest example of this kind of faith is Horatio Spafford. He was a wonderful Christian Lawyer who owned a ton of real estate in Chicago. In 1871 his only son died. A few months later, the great Chicago fire broke out and much of the real estate he owned was either destroyed or damaged. He lost his life savings. Two years later, He and his family were to set sail to Europe. Spafford was delayed because of business. So he sent his wife and four daughters on ahead. On that voyage their ship collided with another vessel at 2am. The passengers we awakened and rushed to the deck. They soon realized the ship was sinking and tried to put out the life boats. But the lifeboats had just been painted and then set back on the deck to dry. As the paint cured, the lifeboats became glued to the deck. They were only able to break a few loose before the ship sank. It sank in 12 minutes and 226 people perished. Among them were Spafford’s 4 daughters ages 12, 7, 4 and 18 months. Anna Spafford survived after she was found floating unconscious in the water. When Horatio heard about the tragedy he boarded a ship to be reunited with his wife. One night, the captain of his ship called Spafford into his office to tell him that they were passing over the place where his four little girls had gone down with the ship. It was on this voyage that Spafford wrote the hymn it is well. In the wake of his grief and tragedy, he fixed his eyes on Jesus and trusted in the faithfulness of God.
He wrote these words that you know so well:
When peace like a river attendeth my way When sorrows like sea billows roll Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say It is well, it is well with my soul
Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023 will be exactly 150 years from this event.
I’m not mature enough yet to respond like Horatio Spafford… But many of you are.
Because I talk to you and you are following Christ through the hardship.
You are still here after death, divorce, abuse and financial hardship. You haven’t left the faith. You still trust God.
You are still loving your spouse even though they have done nothing to deserve it and have hurt you beyond what words will ever say.
You are giving generously even though you lost money in the market.
You are working hard for the lord even though you are physically in pain just sitting here in church.
You are still pursuing a restored relationship with that person who has hurt you and offended you and said those nasty things. And you still offer forgiveness.
You are still coming to church even though the people who have hurt you most call themselves Christians and sit next to you in this room.
So where are you at in the process of trusting God’s faithfulness?
When we trust His faithfulness we don’t have to try and force the results and we can accept whatever comes our way and still say, “It is well”
So what’s the punchline?
Trusting the faithfulness of God will motivate us to action. It will look different for all of us but it means we will do what God has called us to do and trust Him with the results. Maybe you want to do that but don’t know how. If that’s you we would love to speak with you at the close of the service.
As always, If you would like to speak with someone at the close of the service you can find us at the round tables.
For now, let’s pray.
Benediction:
May you be blessed as you remember the faithfulness of God which cannot change!
