October 11, 2007 2 Timothy 2:8-13

⁸ Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, ⁹ for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained. ¹⁰ Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

¹¹ Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; ¹² if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; ¹³ if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. (NIV)

Why does a man go shopping with a woman, if he hates shopping? Why does a woman go to a football game with a man, if she hates football? Why do we do things if we don=t like doing them? I guess you could call it love. Love is that commitment which you have to your spouse or children, which will drive you to do things that you may not want to do. If you love your child, you will change his diaper, even though you don=t want to. If you love your spouse, you will go shopping for yarn, and go to football games, just so you can be with him or her. This is a part of love. Out of all of the people we are to love in the world, God wants us to love him more than anyone else. That means that we will be willing to endure all kinds of things for Him. People may make fun of you, friends may ridicule you, and you may stand out as an outcast. Out of love for Him, Paul says that we are to endure it. This is not easy. But as Paul says, we are to endure everything, no matter what happens to us. There is a reason for this.

Endure Everything!

I. For the gospel

When you stand up for a cause, when you are really convinced that what you believe is true, you will do whatever you can, to have other people hear the truth. Think of the measures that anti-abortion activists go through to get their message heard. They will pour thousands of dollars into billboards, television advertisements, and rallies, to get the message out, Aabortion kills babies.@ These people are willing to be thrown in jail because they have a firm conviction that abortion is murder. We agree with their conviction and some of their methods. Abortion is wrong.

What was Paul=s message, that he was so convinced of? It was a very simple message. It simply said that Jesus was crucified, nailed to a cross, as a punishment for the sins of the world. Paul was firmly convinced that this sacrifice on the cross did away with God=s anger over sin. God was appeased. Paul was convinced of it, because Jesus rose from the dead. He didn=t stay in the grave. If he had, then that would have shown that God did not accept Jesus= sacrifice. But since Jesus did rise from the grave, this shows us that Jesus= sacrifice was accepted by His Father. God was no longer angry with Jesus, and He is no longer angry with us. The whole world was declared not guilty of it=s sins, when Jesus rose from the dead. That was Paul=s message that he was so convinced of. He was convinced that he had eternal salvation waiting for him, because Jesus rose from the dead. This was a cure that could save the whole world from eternal hell. Paul had found a cure for eternal death. A miracle cure, a life saving message that could save the whole world from eternal hell. It was his number one priority to get everybody to know about what Jesus did for them.

Imagine if you found a miracle cure that could heal every sickness in the world. AIDS, cancer, the flu, the common cold. With the thousands of people dying, you would want everyone to know about this miracle cure. This is why Paul was so excited about his message. Thousands of people were dying and going to hell and he had a cure! When the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the religious leaders of the time tried to stop him, do you think that he listened? No way! He was willing to put up with jail, whippings, and stoning, especially if it would help spread his message more. The more people that heard about Jesus, the more that would be saved. He was willing to sacrifice his life, to spread the message. His endurance showed his love.

It was that same kind of love that led Jesus to stay on the cross. People were trying to stop His message of a free salvation as well. The Pharisees and Sadducees wanted people to remain under the bondage of the Law. So they took Jesus to the cross, to stop Him and His message. They didn=t realize that by taking Him to the cross, they were creating His message. The cross was the message, that would be sent throughout the world, to give a free salvation. They couldn=t stop Jesus, and they couldn=t stop His message. He gave up His life, and gained it back, to spread the message of the Gospel, a free forgiveness in Christ. It can=t be stopped.

Do you feel that the Gospel of Jesus is a worthy message to be spread? Or are you embarrassed to say the word AJesus@ even to your own friends and children? How come we can talk about the local football team so easily with each other, but we hardly ever talk about a recent Bible passage we read, or a lesson we learned? We can sing about Jesus in church, and speak about Him in a Bible class, but then we are too embarrassed to talk about the sermon or the lesson at home or at work. It=s as if we treat this message like it is chained to a church. When Jesus said, Ago and teach all nations,@ he did not confine the message to chains. So why are we? Is it because we are too embarrassed or too macho to bring up religion outside of church. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 10:33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. (NIV) Here Jesus says that if we have ever disowned Him before our friends - if we have ever acted like we don=t know Jesus, or been ashamed to talk about Him, then He will act like He doesn=t know us on Judgment Day. Jesus says that if you disown Him, he will send you to hell. Therefore if we have ever been too ashamed to talk about Christ, we will go to hell, according to what Jesus says here.

This puts a big lump in our throat. But then, to remove that lump, we must confess our sins and remember the Jesus that Paul remembered. The same Jesus who condemned us to hell, is the one who went through hell for us. He suffered on the cross because we have disowned Him at times. When we have that burden of sin on our shoulders, Jesus tells us, Acome to me, and I will give you rest.@ This is the Gospel, which tells us that Jesus left our sins in the grave, and rose victorious. You have a full pardon for your lack of commitment. Cling to Christ, who wipes your slate clean. Jesus gives you a new start. He will give you life once again.

Now we can work at changing our half-hearted commitment into the zeal of Paul. If you aren=t very good at talking about Jesus, start talking about Him on the way home. Talk about the sermon. Talk about the Bible readings. Talk about the theme of the service. Work on it. Finally, you may not have the ability to talk about Jesus like others do. But you can also do other things to show that you are committed to the spreading of the Gospel. You can give mission offerings, so that this message of Jesus can be spread. When you give tens to hundreds to thousands of dollars to spread that message every year, you are showing your commitment to what you believe in. You believe that the message of salvation is a worthy investment. That is why we have mission offerings in church. This shows your commitment to the Gospel and your love of Jesus. In this way, you show that you are willing to endure everything for the Gospel, in whatever way you can.

II. For the elect

It isn=t just our belief in a message that drives us to do mission work however. Anti-abortionists don=t just buy billboards because they believe in their message. Their ultimate goal is to save human lives. This was Paul=s ultimate objective as well. He didn=t go to jail just so people would feel sorry for him. He wasn=t whipped, stoned, and put into a dungeon just to become a folk hero. He was there so that his message could be spread. It was his message of Christ that would save souls. So Paul=s ultimate purpose was to save people from eternal hell. Paul wanted the elect to be by his side on resurrection day, so that they would enjoy eternal life with him. This is why Paul went to jail. He was loving his neighbor as himself.

This was the same objective that Jesus had as well. He didn=t become a human being to win a popularity contest, or be one of the guys. He didn=t have a crown of thorns put on his head, or get nailed to the cross just to be known as a martyr. Jesus went there to take the punishment of hell away from us. Jesus came to earth to save souls. As Luke 19:10 says, AFor the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Jesus came to save souls. That was his ultimate purpose.

Let=s keep Paul=s and Jesus= objective in mind as we endure everything. Don=t look at mission offerings as a Aduty that you must fulfill.@ Don=t look at mission work as a burden on your back. God didn=t have to use us as his missionaries. He could have used monkeys, or angels, or cows, or the grass of the field to spread the Gospel. But he didn=t. He chose to use us. Therefore we have an opportunity, not to fulfill our duty to God, but to save souls. We have an opportunity to be God=s tools, in bringing the message of salvation to those who don=t know about Jesus. Look at mission work as an opportunity to save souls.

Keep in mind that those without Jesus are going to hell. If you don=t give them the message, they will have no chance at changing their pathway to hell. But if you can tell them about Jesus, God may use that message to bring them to faith. Then you spend the rest of your life with your friend by your side, in eternal glory. In our loving our neighbor as our self, we will be willing to endure everything, because we want them to get to heaven. This means giving up some of our own personal time and talents, to tell everyone about Jesus. Our love for others will drive us to do this. We want all people to go to heaven. We want them to have Jesus.

III. For yourself

Endure everything! Up to this point I have been pointing you to exterior motives, as to why we endure everything. Finally, however, there is an interior motive. We are doing this for ourselves as well. We are finally accountable to God, for the way that we conduct ourselves in this life. That is why Paul says, Aif we died with him, we will also live with him. if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; ¹³ if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.@ We are personally accountable for God, if we disown Him or endure with Him in this life.

The Bible is full of examples of people who fell away from God, who did not endure to the end, and it is scary to think about it. King Saul had everything going for him. Good looks- at being a foot taller than anyone else - a whole kingdom to himself. But he let the power go to his head, as he tried to become a priest as well. He disowned God, and died in unbelief, as he consulted a witch for his future.

You think of other kings - Solomon, had the greatest wisdom, and more riches than any other king. But then he let his foreign wives lead him astray. King Asa, had a great start, but then he stopped relying on God for his help. God gave his feet a disease, to bring him back, and he still didn=t repent. He died in impenitence. Judas is another example. These men did not endure in the faith and seem to have died in unbelief (although Solomon may have come back to his senses as reflected in Ecclesiasties). God held them personally accountable for their lack of endurance in the faith.

Yet there are other examples of people who did endure with the help of the Holy Spirit. Stephen endured to the end as he was being stoned by Saul, and went to heaven. Paul endured through much persecution, to stand firm even through several jail terms, several beatings and stoning. Paul received a crown of life. The ultimate example of one who endured, was Jesus. He endured a lifetime under the humility of not using all of His powers. He remained as a weak human being, to obey the laws for us. He remained on the cross, and endured pure hell for us on the cross. He endured three days in the grave, to rise again to eternal life. He endured to the end. Now He is enjoying life, as a result of his endurance, as almighty God and man in heaven, ruling over all things.

Now God wants you to hold firm, to endure to the end. If you don=t you could go to hell, as Saul and Judas did. If you do, you will go to heaven like Paul and Stephen. If you can hold firm like they did through the worst of circumstances; that=s great. But all too often we don=t meet up to their examples. Therefore I would rather have you look at Peter and David. Peter disowned Jesus three times, yet God was faithful, even when he was not. David committed adultery and murdered Uriah. He was faithless, he fell from the faith. Yet God was faithful, he held to His promise in 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (NIV) God holds to His promise of forgiveness. Peter was forgiven, and reinstated into his ministry. David was forgiven as well. And so are you. You have a firm promise to hold to, when God says in John 3:16 ¹⁶ "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Hold to that promise, if there comes a time in your life that you disown Christ. Confess your sin and cling to Jesus. We have a promise of eternal life that we can cling to, when we don=t meet up to God=s standards. We have Jesus to hold on to. God remains faithful to his promise of forgiveness.

Sometimes it may not seem worth all of the hassle to be a Christian. It would be a lot easier for us if we didn=t have to worry about other people. It would be a lot easier to let somebody else spread the Gospel besides us. Yet God tells us that he wants us to endure everything; to put up with the aches and pains of life and cling to Him. This is not easy. But remember the encouragement that God gives us in Revelation 2:10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. Remember the crown of life that God will give to his children. It isn=t a Burger King crown that can be crumpled and thrown into the fire. It is an eternal crown that we will wear, as we reign forever with Jesus. Amen.