It is increasingly the case that Britain is not an easy country within which to be a Christian. Now, sure, I realise there are far harder countries to be a Christian. I would rather be a Christian in Britain than in North Korea, for example. I’m aware of that. But compare us to some countries where it is the expected thing to do that you would go to church. If you’re anywhere else on a Sunday morning, people will start to wonder why were they not in church that day. Is something wrong with this person’s life? And they might even start to treat you as a slightly suspicious character if your churchgoing has lapsed.
And even within Britain, it may not have been expected that you would go to church. But there was an age not that long ago when it was the respectable thing to do, and if someone went to church, then good on them — that makes them a thoroughly good pillar of society and probably a trustworthy fellow. No longer. Now, if you go to church, you are more likely to be seen as slightly weird or possibly eccentric. Indeed, it’s even the case that sometimes Christians are seen as being a little bit of a safeguarding risk to wider society. Here’s this person. They’re offering to foster some children. We love that. We need more people to be foster parents today. Oh, you go to church. We might need to scrutinise you a little extra carefully just to make sure that there’s nothing wrong here. That’s the world we’re in.
And the question is: how do you navigate life in a world like that? What many people do is simply keep their head down. Your neighbours and your friends might know that you disappear to church every Sunday, but you don’t talk about it too much. You definitely don’t want to talk about what you believe, because that might really start to scare people if they knew what you thought on various topics. That’s the way that many people handle the pressure. Being a Christian is just slightly awkward at best today.
What do you do? None of these pressures are completely new. We’re just beginning a preaching series working our way through Paul’s second letter to Timothy. Paul left Timothy in the city of Ephesus. This was a hostile city to Christians for various cultural reasons. But in addition to that, within the church itself, false teachers had begun to arise, teaching a different version of Christianity from the true one. And this was beginning to gain some traction. To make things even worse, Paul the Apostle was now in prison in Rome.
Now, there is an element of stigma and shame today if someone’s done some time inside — you slightly struggle to move on from your reputation as a convict. But believe me, that’s nothing compared to what it was like in the ancient Roman Empire. Prison really was the ultimate shameful place to be. And therefore, people in Ephesus were beginning to reject Paul, to abandon his teaching, and to decide that he was just too much of an embarrassment. And Timothy, bless him, was given the task of keeping the church on track. Not an easy job. But as we listen to Paul’s teaching to Timothy, we will hear how we can navigate a society of the kind that we live in today.
Let’s just orient ourselves correctly in how we listen to this scripture, because Timothy was a leader, a senior leader in Ephesus. So how does that speak to us in our situation? Well, many in this church are in leadership roles of one kind or another. One of the things we love to do in this church is give people an opportunity to serve, but within that to take on real positions of leadership and responsibility. So more of us here than you might think are leaders. Or it may be that some of us find ourselves either now or in the future contemplating a calling to some kind of full-time pastoral ministry. In which case this will help you learn what ministry is like and what’s required of those who go down that path. But for all of us, this will tell us how we can pray for those who are in leadership.
But actually, every Christian faces the pressures that Timothy was facing. And therefore, this is a word for every single one of us this morning. And even if you’re here as someone who is not yet a Christian, still looking into the claims of Jesus — what you’ll hear this morning is what God calls you to do if you become a Christian. But you’ll also hear the promises of God. And my hope is that you will discover that the promises of God are such that the calling he gives you to embrace a hard path through life is just so worthwhile.
So in this paragraph that we’ve just had read, Paul gives Timothy two instructions as to how to live, and then a barrage of reasons why that is a good way to live.
Instruction number one: not cowardice but fire
Verse 6: ‘For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline.’
Timothy, we’re told, has a gift that was given to him by God when the Apostle Paul laid his hands on him. My take is that this was Timothy’s commissioning to full-time pastoral ministry in some way. Paul laid his hands on Timothy, and God gave Timothy the gift of responsibility and leadership within the church of God, but also the equipping that he would need to discharge that responsibility. And Timothy is told to fan that gift into flame. The picture is not of a fire that is dying away and the embers are about to go out. No — this is a reminder. Timothy is reminded to do this. This is something that Timothy needs to do constantly. It’s a continuous instruction: keep on fanning.
The alternative would be cowardice. ‘For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid.’ Timid is a very insipid, weak word to translate what’s going on there. That’s why I say cowardice. That’s what’s really going on. This word is used in Deuteronomy as God gave his people instructions as to what would happen if they turned against God and rebelled against him. And we are told that the smallest of armies would come out and attack them and the people would just be terrified and run away. That’s the picture here of this cowardice.
We’ll come back to that picture of the army in a moment. But Paul says that God gives Christians his Holy Spirit. If you’re a Christian, God himself lives in you by his Spirit. And that Spirit does not make us want to run away — run away from ministry, run away from the call that every Christian has to speak for Jesus. No. The Spirit gives you power — power to keep going in life and in ministry. God’s Spirit gives you love — love for others, so that amongst other things you want to care for them and speak to them about Jesus. And God’s Spirit gives you self-discipline, so that you can keep doing what matters even when it’s tough. You just keep doing the right thing.
Let’s go back to that picture of warfare. Just imagine in the modern day there is a town in a war zone being assaulted by troops and in serious danger, and a squad of soldiers is sent in to attack the attacking forces and liberate the city. What do you want that squad of soldiers to do when they arrive at the outskirts of the town? You don’t want them to see that the troops on the other side actually do have some weapons, and so this is hugely scary, so I’m just going to run away. You don’t want that. What you want is them to be strong and well equipped — powerful. You want them to love the people that they’re rescuing enough that they’re willing to take the risks and seek to free them. And you want them to be a disciplined army that has had its training and knows how to do the job they’re trained to do. Life and ministry is like that. God sometimes takes us to some really scary places. There can be real opposition to being a Christian, but we don’t run away. Instead, we are equipped by God. We love those around us and we keep on at what matters.
Now, how is Timothy to fan the flames? What does he have to do? Well, we’re not told. But let me suggest a couple of things that I think must be included. Surely praying is included — praying for God’s Spirit to make us like Jesus. You see, Jesus was the ultimate one who didn’t run away. The disciples ran away, but he didn’t. Instead, he is the one who loved his disciples and, with a great show of strength, allowed himself to be arrested and to be killed. He kept on at the task that mattered. Surely praying is part of how we fan the flames.
But also, we use the gifts that God has given us. If you have gifts that you don’t use, they just kind of fall away and cease to exist. They lose their strength. I was thinking of the Artemis 2 astronauts. You see them on the deck of that ship where the helicopters have just dropped them off, and they need help to walk, because for ten days they’ve not put weight on their legs. If we use the gifts that God has given us, then that helps them to grow strong — to fan them into flame.
So: not cowardice but fire.
Instruction number two: not shame but suffering
Verse 8: ‘So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.’
Timothy, don’t be embarrassed to speak about Jesus. Don’t be embarrassed by your association with Paul, even though he’s in a Roman prison. Instead, be willing to suffer for Jesus and for the gospel. And in all of this, Paul is Timothy’s example. Verse 11: ‘Of this gospel I was appointed a herald, an apostle, and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed.’
Paul is suffering and Paul is not ashamed. So Timothy can suffer without being ashamed. But notice why Paul is suffering. Why is Paul in prison? Well, verse 11 says, ‘Of this gospel I was appointed a herald, an apostle, and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am.’ Paul suffers because Paul speaks. If Paul did not speak for Jesus, Paul would not suffer for Jesus. The real danger for Paul and for Timothy is not that they cease to be Christians. It’s that they remain Christians but become silent Christians. Do that and all your problems go away.
Timothy is told not to be ashamed not just of Jesus. He’s also told not to be ashamed of Paul. In a hostile world, the easiest path through life of all is just to stay silent. Slightly harder is to tell people that you go to church. A bit harder still is to tell them you don’t just go to church — you belong here. Of all the networks, all the social circles you move in, this is your family. This is your tribe. This is where you really belong. That’s harder. Harder still: tell people about Jesus. Not just God — Jesus. Even harder. The hardest thing of all is to get into specifics — the kind of things you find in Paul’s letters. What did Jesus stand for? How is it that we are powerless to help ourselves? In what ways are we called to live that is radical and countercultural? Do that and you are on a collision course with the culture around you, and you risk being put into the doghouse in other people’s minds.
I don’t know whether you have children, have had children, or know others who have children. You probably know that very young children are adorable, adoring things — not flawless, but they cling to their parents with absolute devotion and admiration. But then something happens, usually about the age of ten or eleven, and something flips, and suddenly mum and dad are not the ultimate source of affection but the ultimate source of embarrassment. ‘No, no, no, don’t walk me onto the playground. Just stop around the corner. I know the way from here. Please don’t come and pick me up. Do I have to come to parents’ evening with you?’
Paul is saying: don’t be a Year 6 child with Jesus. Be proud to be associated with him, whatever it does to your street cred, your vibe, your reputation.
Now, this message of Paul is radical for our ears. It is uncomfortable. We live in a society that is obsessed with comfort and with the approval of others. We like to see our likes on social media, not people going, ‘That made me cross. Don’t like you’ — or the ghosting and the unfriending. This is hard to hear, but it’s what he says. Don’t be ashamed of Jesus. Don’t be ashamed of the message about Jesus. Don’t be ashamed of Paul. Join with Paul on the road of suffering for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Why would anyone do this?
Which just raises the question: why on earth would anybody do this? Why would someone knowingly set out on a path that they know will be painful? Well, actually, we do this all the time, don’t we? People train to run a marathon. They’re not naïve. They know it will hurt, but they think it’s worth it. Some people get tattoos — let me reassure you, in case you’re wondering, not my thing — but some people do, in spite of the fact that I’m told it’s extremely painful. People do things that they know will hurt if they decide it’s worth it.
So just ask the question: why would a Christian choose to speak up without shame about Jesus, whatever the cost? Why would a young man or woman give up a promising career to pursue a calling to some kind of full-time pastoral leadership and ministry? Why would someone become a Christian if they’re not one? These things hurt. So why would you do it? You’ll do it if you think it’s worthwhile.
So Paul now gives us a load of reasons why it’s worthwhile. I’m going to give us four.
The first reason: God’s power
Verse 8: ‘Join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace.’
People today want to see God powerfully at work. Let me tell you where you can see God powerfully at work. There are in this church hundreds of Christians who are still following Jesus years after they started. Pastor Lee and Pastor James were both ordained to full-time Christian ministry in 2005. We haven’t given up and gone to do something else. We’re still going. And neither have we chosen the option just to stay quiet and avoid difficulty. Many of you find ways to speak to your friends about Jesus. Maybe it’s a bit faltering. It doesn’t quite come out right. You don’t say it as clearly as maybe somebody else might, but you get the words out. These are miracles. This is the power of God at work. You would not do any of those things otherwise, without God’s power.
And notice as well who it is that gives us this power. ‘Join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God who has saved us.’ So the God who saved us is the same God whose power keeps us going through all the suffering.
Let’s talk about delegation — this is not from a book, although it may sound like it. This is just me thinking about life observations. There are different kinds of delegation, different ways that someone might give you a task to do. There’s what I call desperate delegation, where someone is just panicking about something that needs to be done and they drop it into your lap: ‘Please do this.’ ‘But I can’t.’ Or there’s impossible delegation, where someone gives you a task that you just haven’t got the time to do, it’s far too complicated, you lack the skills — they’re just setting you up to fail by giving you that task. Both of those are deeply demoralising. But there’s a third kind that I call empowering delegation. That’s where somebody gives you a task to do, but they get alongside you and they walk with you and they slowly show you how it’s done. They give you any equipment that you need. They give you the time, the skills, and whatever is needed, with them alongside, to be able to do it. When God calls us to suffer for the gospel, he empowers us. The same God who saved you because he loved you, is committed to you, is on your side, is with you.
The second reason: God’s eternal plan
Look how verse 9 goes on: ‘God’s own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus.’
So God saved you by his grace — that’s something we say often. When did God give you that grace? Before the beginning of time. That means before God created time. That means before the word ‘before’ means anything, God gave you his grace. And then what happens when Jesus arrives on the scene is that you see it. It becomes visible. The grace you were given before time began is now visible grace.
Now, some Christians puzzle over these things. ‘Oh, the doctrine of predestination and election — don’t know what to make of that.’ Let’s not get stuck on that today. If that’s a big question for you, I’d be happy to talk to you. But for today, this is not here as a puzzle. It’s here as a source of delight. How do you keep living for Jesus faithfully and publicly when it’s tough? You remember that this is not just some path that you have chosen for yourself — like waking up one day and thinking, ‘I think I’m going to play the tuba. I think I’m going to be a Christian.’ No. God chose you to be a Christian before the world was made. More than that, God gave you his grace before you even existed.
When I grew up in East Africa, some of the roads that we took our little two-wheel-drive Toyota on were just extraordinary. Your heart just goes into your mouth every time. I still cold-sweat thinking about it. You just think, if we get to the end of this stretch of road and we are either completely stuck or the car has just rattled itself to bits, then it is a miracle. This car was simply not designed for this road. In the footwell of the back seat, there was a lump where you would put your feet, exactly the size and shape of a large rock. There was a reason why the floor of the car had a lump at that point. That’s a two-wheel-drive Toyota. If instead you have a modern four-wheel drive with huge tyres, large ground clearance, snorkel, and six exhaust pipes — what’s to worry? This car was built for this road. In we go.
Well, God gave you his grace before the dawn of time. And that is a breathtaking truth. It means you’re not just on some whim that you could just give up one day. You are part of something that was planned before you were born. You were built for this. And when you find yourself asking, ‘Why am I suffering for following Jesus?’ — remember, God made you with this calling in life in mind, with this ministry in mind, with this moment in your life in mind. Everything is according to plan.
The third reason: God’s gift of immortality
Nothing excites the Apostle Paul like God’s grace. He mentions in verse 9 the grace of God, and he’s off: ‘The grace given to us before time has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.’
He loves it. But this is not just Paul’s little hobby horse — ‘Oh, someone mentioned grace, great, I get to talk about my favourite topic.’ No, Paul is giving us precisely the blessings he needs us to know about at this moment in his argument.
Now, I hope this isn’t radical news. I hope it’s not insensitive to tell you that one day every single one of us will die. All Christians will die, unless you’re still alive when Jesus returns. Death and taxes are not the two inevitable things. Taxes are inevitable; death is not inevitable, because there’ll be people alive when Jesus comes back. But unless you’re one of those, we will all die one day.
So when he says death is destroyed, he doesn’t mean that you won’t die. No. He means that the power of death is destroyed. In 1 Corinthians, he likens it to a bee that no longer has a sting in its abdomen — it can’t harm you. Death could kill you, but death can’t harm you. Think about that.
Now, Jesus brought life to light because he rose from the dead. But he also brought immortality to light. Jesus raised a number of people to life while he was on earth. There are three recorded in the Gospels that we have. One was the daughter of Jairus, a synagogue ruler. One was a man called Lazarus. And the third was the only son of a widow in a town called Nain. All three of those people that Jesus raised to life later went on to die again. But Jesus was different. When Jesus was raised, he was raised to immortal life. He will never die again. You cannot find his grave.
I told some of you a while ago that I’ve been listening to a series of podcasts about the land of Israel and Palestine, just trying to fill in some of the background and the history — how did we get to the point where this small parcel of land has such a complex backstory that different people with a claim to it cannot solve it? Where did this all come from? And at the start of each episode, the presenter has a little spiel that he gives to introduce what the series is about. And he’s describing at one point why this land means so much to so many people, and it’s beautifully poetic, but it’s totally wrong. Just listen to this:
‘On the shores of the Mediterranean, there is a land of sparkling beauty bathed in sunshine, bounded by a shimmering sea.’ (So far, we’re doing okay!) ‘Here are lush fields, the gentle hills and plunging valleys of the Bible, the place names of antiquity. Here is Jerusalem, what remains of the Jewish temple, the place where Muhammad is said to have ascended to heaven.’
We’re still doing alright — ‘said to have ascended’, still doing all right.
‘The last resting place of Jesus.’
Oh no — blown it. There’s no last resting place of Jesus. He’s not dead. You won’t find his grave or his bones anywhere. Light and immortality came to light when Jesus rose.
But what you see in Jesus is what he gives to everyone who follows him. Jesus said to Martha, the sister of the dead man Lazarus: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die.’ John 11, verses 25 and 26. If you know Jesus, he will raise you to life. And if you know Jesus, you are immortal, because you have a relationship with God that not even death can end.
Where we lived twenty years ago, there was an all-you-can-eat restaurant. The idea was that you go in, pay your fee — which varies depending on how old you are and what time of the week — and then you can just help yourself. It wasn’t just a Chinese or an Indian; it was food from all over the world. So if you fancied a small helping of fish and chips followed by some lasagne followed by some spring rolls followed by a chicken tikka, you could just go up, get another plate, and get something else. Now, this wasn’t a particularly highbrow restaurant, but imagine if it were. And above the door, they displayed a sign that said, ‘All customers found holding their fork in the wrong hand will have their plate of food taken away.’ So what? Take your plate away. What do you do? Another plate. Go and get some more. That punishment does not hurt you.
Paul is in prison. What is the worst that could happen to him? They could kill him for preaching the gospel. But that gospel is that Jesus destroyed death and gives people immortality. This puts any suffering we may have for the gospel in a whole new light. The worst anyone can do to you is accelerate your promotion to glory.
And the fourth reason: God’s faithful guarding
Verse 12: ‘That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.’
So God has entrusted his gospel to Paul — that means Paul must guard the gospel. We’ll meet that next week in verse 14: ‘Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you.’ But verse 12 looks like it may be saying the other way around — the grammar is slightly ambiguous, but it looks as though Paul is saying: ‘I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him.’ Paul doesn’t say what he’s left with God to keep safe. Maybe his life, maybe his ministry, maybe the churches that he’s invested his life caring for. We don’t know. But the point is that God is faithful and God won’t fail him. God will keep him safe. God will look after the churches he cares about. God will control how people respond to his message. Paul can leave all of this with God and know that it’s in the safest place. And because of this, he can suffer.
Verse 12: ‘That is why I am suffering as I am’ — because I am convinced he is able to guard it — ‘guard it until that day.’ Until the day when Jesus returns.
I don’t know about you, but I hate spoilers. There’s a football match on, you haven’t watched it — don’t tell me the score. Or there’s a series of novels; you’ve not read the first one, the second one comes out and all the publicity starts giving away hints as to what happened in the first — no, don’t tell me, I want to read it first. Well, that’s because we’re observers from the outside. That’s why we don’t like a spoiler. If you’re in the story, you love a spoiler.
Imagine it’s the World Cup final this coming summer, and someone hands the final score to the players on the pitch before they start to play. It changes things a bit. Or imagine it’s The Lord of the Rings. Gandalf knocks on Frodo Baggins’s door. ‘Got to go on a dangerous journey. Destroy this ring. And I’ve got a document here that will help you.’ It’s not a map of Middle-earth. No — he has got for Frodo Baggins the last chapter of The Lord of the Rings. Wouldn’t that be nice? ‘I need to go and fight some orcs. They look scary and dangerous. I can do that. I know how the story ends. I know it’ll be okay. I’ll be all right. Middle-earth will be at peace. Fine.’
The outcome of history is not hanging on Paul. Paul is guarded by Roman jailers. But God is the one guarding what really matters. And those who cause you suffering will not have the last word. The gospel will survive. The church will survive. God will win in the end.
Conclusion
Now, the world we live in may not think it’s a good thing that you’re a Christian. So we need to get our expectations right. If we speak for Jesus, we will suffer for it. This is normal. Jesus was crucified. Paul was put in prison. Timothy was called to join Paul in suffering for the gospel. So what do we do? Keep our head down? Hope that nobody notices that you’re a Christian? No. By God’s power, we resist the temptation to be a coward, and we keep fanning the flames of God’s call to speak for Jesus. We are not ashamed of Jesus. We are not ashamed of his message. We are willing to suffer for the gospel.
God is powerful. God has a plan that stretches into eternity past. God has given us immortality through his risen, conquering Son. And God will guard everything faithfully until he wins in the end.
So pray for your pastors. Please pray for all who have leadership roles in this church and in the church worldwide. We are as tempted as everyone to give up, or more likely just to stay out of trouble, keep our head down, and avoid causing any upset. The pressure is strong, but God’s grace is stronger. And for all of us, we keep living faithfully for Jesus and speaking for him, even when the heat is on.
But if you’re here this morning and you’re not yet a Christian, still thinking about this — my message to you is: join us. Join us. You would be following a Jesus who suffered. A message brought to you by ministers who suffered to pass it on. But this is the Jesus who saves his people, who gives us his Holy Spirit, who had a plan for you before the beginning of time, who has solved the problem of death, and who wins in the end. What’s to lose?