A couple of years ago, I purchased a couple of washcloths to use in my office so that I could clean off dishes after eating lunch. Being cheap, I purchased them from the Dollar Tree. The first time I had the opportunity to use them, I discovered a problem: Thy didn’t retain water. The water simply ran over them and they didn’t really get wet. I thought, What use is a washcloth that doesn’t get wet? On the other hand, back in the late 90’s I had a number of pairs of cargo pants. I am not sure why they are not so popular today (something about looking dumb), but I found them tremendously useful with all the extra pockets and storage places. Even more useful, I have several pairs that could zip off at the knees and become shorts. Useful!! In life, we find somethings useful and some things terribly unuseful. In our last text, Paul challenged Timothy and all pastors on our role and duty in our position. But now as we end chapter two, Paul broadens out again and addresses the church as a whole. In this section, he instructs us how we can be useful Christians. 

What should you expect from your pastor? What is a pastor’s role? What is to be a pastor’s focus? What should you expect and demand from me? There are a variety of opinions on this matter in the church today. Some view the pastorate like a chief administrator. His priority is to ensure that the various ministries of the church are organized. Some view the pastorate like a visitation guru. His priority is to visit the hospitals, the members, and the community. Some view the pastorate like a jack of all trades. His priority is to maintain the church buildings and vehicles, clean the buildings, maintain the various church contracts, and entertain the members. Some view the pastorate like an events planner. He priority is to plan various events and programs. Some view the pastorate like an extended vacation. His priority is to do as little as possible. Yet, as we examine Scripture, we discover that none of these are accurate.  When considering the priority of the pastor, texts like 1 Peter 5 should come to mind. Peter instructs that the pastor is to shepherd the church by exercising oversight. In 2 Timothy, there are two important texts which present the priority of the pastor. One is found in chapter 4 and the other is the text we will look at today. Each of these texts reveal that the priority of the pastor is the discipleship of the church through the faithful preaching and teaching of the Word of God. As we work through the text today, the message should serve to be informative to you and convicting to me. It should help you know what you ought to demand from me and should convict me of what I ought to be doing. 

Today, as we celebrate the founding of this country, we do so, understanding that it is a country in trouble. Secularism has pervaded the culture and modern American Christianity has proved ineffective. With the advent of modern media, we have access to more preachers than ever before, but there are few powerful preachers. Churches abound across the country, but few are truly changing the culture around them for Christ. While “Christians” are all over the news and social media, the country continues to degrade. In short, American Christianity is ineffective. Last week we looked at the reasons for this and we discussed the marks of an effective Christian. Yet, even as we worked through the text, many of the marks seemed to be pie in the sky targets for us. While we were convicted of what we need to do, we often feel that we lack the strength to actually do it. Real life happens and is hard. Simply willing ourselves to be better is impossible. We want to be effective Christians. We want to see this nation impacted for God. But doing the everyday hard work of evangelism and discipleship, study of the Word and spiritual disciplines seems out of reach in real day to day living. In the next section we will cover today, God does not just call us to effectiveness, he also assists us in finding the strength to be an effective Christian. He does not just call us to do His work, he also gives us the power to accomplish His work. 

We live in an unusual time. I think that we can all agree on that. As secularism continues to gain hold in this country, the influence of Christianity continues to wane. But what is so unusual about this that the prevalence and availability of Christianity. Through modern media, there are more popular preachers today than at any time in church history, but few powerful ones. There also are more popular churches, but few powerful ones. There is much activity, but little spiritual fruit; much talk about Christianity, but little conviction; high moral proclamations, but little accountability; doctrinal creeds, but much compromise. (MacArthur, 36) A form of Christianity is still prevalent, but it is not effective. We are left to ask the question why? Today I am going to propose the reason for the ineffectiveness of Christianity is the failure of the church to stand on the Word. For decades, the church has moved away from the centrality of the Word. They have instead promoted a feel-good religion designed to attract the seeker. They have moved away from the Word and the tough teaching it provides and moved to modern psychology, entertainment methods, and self esteem models. Theology/Biblical teaching is viewed as boring and unhelpful. And so churches have moved away from the Word. But this misses the very purpose of the church. Ephesians 4:12-14 – to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.Hebrews 6:1 – Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,The Church and the Christian are called to live deep effective lives which impact the World around them. We are called to be strong in the Lord. This is the message to which Paul now turns. He calls for Timothy and us to be effective Christians. And in order to be effective Christians, we must be strong in the Lord. 

In the late 1800s Charles Spurgeon commented, "Everywhere there is apathy. Nobody cares whether that which is preached is true or false. A sermon is a sermon whatever the subject; only, the shorter it is the better." He went on to warn that the Church was drifting away from the purity of the Gospel. Instead of boldly proclaiming the truths of Scripture, Christians were candy-coating the Word, being careful not to offend anyone. As a result, Christianity's influence in nineteenth-century England was severely weakened. 100 years later, this is true of the United States. Churches have moved from centering on the Word and the Gospel to centering on the program and entertainment. Music is judged based on how it makes me feel, not on that it actually says. All for fear of offending the world in the name of Christ. I have often stated that a preacher need not worry about splitting a church over preaching heresy, no they need to be worried about splitting the church over the color of the drapes. The reason that our country is in the state it is in is not because sinners are acting like sinners, but because saints are ashamed of being saints. Our country is in the state it is in because our churches are in the state that they are in. And the reason that the churches are in the state that they are in is because the believers are ashamed of the gospel. We fear the persecution of the raised eyebrow. We are unwilling to share the gospel, we are unwilling to stand for truth, we are unwilling to call out the insane worldview of the world around us because we are afraid of feeling uncomfortable. In short, we are ashamed of the Gospel. God has called us here at Cambria to be a lighthouse of the gospel. God has called us to be willing to share the Gospel and stand on the truth of the Word, even and especially when it is not popular. This is of increasing importance as the word continues to degrade. June is Pride Month in which the world celebrates the depravity of the LGBTQ+++ movement. But no longer is this a fringe celebration. Just a few days ago, the children’s program Blue’s Clues featured program that sought to normalize polyamory (relations between multiple men and women), polyamorous parenting, and all varieties of sexual deviancy. Throughout the episode, the writers were sure to cover every aspect of the LGBTQ+ spectrum. The host of the show was an animated drag queen who celebrated “Ace, bi, and pan grownups” (a group which covers all imaginable aspects of sexual deviancy). The innocent children’s show is no longer an innocent children’s show. As this engine gains steam, do not be mistaken, they are coming for you and your children. Do not be confused, they will not allow the church to escape unscathed. The day has arrived in which you must decide, are you a cultural Christian or a true Christian. For cultural Christianity will soon cease to exist. It is time for us to decide, will we stand for the Gospel or will we be ashamed of the Gospel?This is not the first time in history that Christians have needed to make this choice. In fact, much of what we face is a mirror of what the early church faced in ancient Rome. As Paul sat in the prison cell awaiting martyrdom, he pled with Timothy not to be ashamed of the Gospel. In this plea, he gave Timothy some direction towards the power to stand for truth. 

We don’t like to think of death, but have you ever thought about what you would say if given the opportunity to utter your last words? What message would you convey? We think of final words that have been said over history. Some have been unfortunate. General John Sedgwick, a general in the union army during the civil war, said to his men who were ducking from a confederate sniper, “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.” And was promptly killed by the sniper. Some last words have been touching. Ludwig Wittgenstein, an Austrian Philosopher is said to have uttered, Tell them I’ve had a wonderful life.” What would yours be? Would you seek to pass on any wisdom you have gained? Perhaps give final instructions to your family. The book to which we will now turn our attention and spend the next few months in are the final words of the Apostle Paul. He knows that he is facing certain death. He understands that his time on earth is short. So he writes to Timothy some final words as he passes on his ministry to his protegee. Yet these final words are fascinating. As we work through this book, we will discover that the topic of the final message he sent to Timothy was to endure suffering through faithfulness to the Word of God. he sought once again to ground Timothy in the Word. He reminded Timothy that the Word is sufficient for everything that we face in life. In each chapter we find some combination of the idea that we must endure suffering through the Word of Truth. Endure suffering through faithfulness to the Word of GodAs we begin this study, we will do so with the first two verses. These will serve for us as an introduction. As is always the case when we begin a new book study, this first message will be a little different. This message serves to provide the background and theme of the book so that we can understand it rightly and handle it properly. The Bible cannot mean for us what it did not mean to the original author and audience. While the applications may change, the meaning does not change. So in order to understand the proper meaning intended by God, we must understand the background and purpose of the letter. So that is what we will attempt to do today. 

Whenever we finish a book, it is like saying goodbye to an old friend. We have spent almost seven months in 1 Timothy and today we bid it farewell. This epistle is a vital epistle for the church to understand. If we can understand this epistle, and obey it, we can avoid many of the challenges which split churches today. As we worked through the book, we learned that the church is the visible picture of Christ. As such the church is entrusted with the role of guarding and obeying the truth of Scripture. We observed this in … 1 Timothy 3:15 – if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.Our world today hates the concept of truth. We have arrived at a place in our post-modern world in which everyone can choose truth for themselves. Whatever makes life work for you can be your truth. There are only a couple of important caveats. First, love (at least the world’s concept of love) is the ultimate truth. The world’s concept of love trumps any truth claim you might make. Second, a religious statement of truth cannot be tolerated. And so, we live in an age of confusion. For, when everyone gets to determine their own truth, there is no truth. Yet, truth (real, dogmatic, unchanging, undeniable truth) does exist. God is truth. John 14:6 reveals to us that He is the truth. Not that he has the truth, but that he is the truth. Truth us bound up in his person and as such he is the determiner of truth. Second, God has revealed that truth to us in His Word (John 17:17). As a result, the church is charged with being the guardian of the truth. We have seen this reality over and over in the epistle. As Paul ends this letter to Timothy and the Ephesian church, he reminds them (and us) one last time to guard the faith from all that would destroy it.