Welcome to round four of 20 days in 2 Timothy. we’re going to wrap up chapter one today. So take a deep breath, let’s say a little prayer, and let’s read the word of God together and jump into 2 Timothy 1:13. Follow the pattern of sound words that you heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. You’re aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus. For he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. But when he arrived in Rome, he searched for me earnestly and he found me. May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day. And you well know all the service he rendered in Ephesus.
If you recall from last time Paul gave two commands: don’t be ashamed, but suffer for the gospel.That the reality is that for the people who have associated with Jesus, there will be context where you will face rejection. And that’s hard to deal with. I remember for me, right out of college when I became a youth pastor. I went to London and while I was on this trip, people kept asking me, what do you do for a living? And when I said, I’m a pastor. I tell people about Jesus, I got rejected over and over again, and it got so discouraging. I was tempted to just not bring him up. Not that I was hitting everyone with Bibles, but it was just the association with Jesus was costing me. And here we get Timothy in that kind of situation.
Being associated with Jesus can be difficult on certain days, and I know some of you feel that too. What do you do when it’s hard? And here in this passage, we get two commands: follow the pattern, guard the good deposit.
That follow the pattern is the words, hold fast. Grip. Back in the day in sailing, that was a popular term. Hold fast. When a storm comes and you’re out on a sailboat, you don’t want to let go of the rope. The sail may bend. You may collapse into the sea. That in the midst of the difficulty with the rain falling, don’t let go. Grip tighter. And here Paul looks at Timothy and says, Timothy, you’re taking some hits. This is a hard day, but hold fast to the healthy words. As the world’s going crazy, as your context gets more chaotic, Timothy, you make the decision to grip onto the words you heard me preach. Grab this Word of truth. It’ll stabilize you in a difficult day.
How do we hold fast? I mean, we grip the word of God. That I’m not ashamed, but I suffer. Why? By grabbing this word even when it’s not popular. But he says to do it. Notice how he says to do it. In the faith and the love that are in Christ Jesus. Grip it. How? In faith and in love that’s housed in the sphere of Christ Jesus. And then, he says in verse 14 and by the Holy Spirit that dwells in us, guard that good deposit entrusted to you. Again, he’s telling Timothy in a difficult day, grip onto the word. Protect it.
It’s fascinating. I was teaching my son how to catch a football the other day, and I told him, son, reach out and grab the ball and then tuck it into your arm. And that’s what he’s saying to you here. Grip on to the word of truth, get this Bible into you, Timothy. Do what we’re doing now and then tuck it in. Guard this good deposit that’s been entrusted to you. Don’t lose your grip on the word in the midst of a chaotic world. And it’s fascinating to look at how he says to do it. He said earlier, do you remember, to do it by the power of God. And now he tells us to do it in the faith and in the love that’s in Christ Jesus. And by the Holy Spirit, it’s hard sometimes to be associated with God in the midst of a chaotic world. And notice what Paul does here. He doesn’t shame Timothy, but he says the power of God is with you. The love of Jesus is with you. The presence of the Holy Spirit is with you. You’re not alone, Timothy. You’re surrounded by the Trinity.
Timothy wasn’t with his mentor. He was maybe threatened to feel isolated. But Paul comforts him here. I’m telling you to do something hard, but I’m not shaming you. I’m not telling you to get out there and suck it up. I’m telling you that, hey, your God will empower you. Christ, Jesus loves you. The spirit of God is in you. So knowing you’re surrounded by the trinity, Timothy, grip on to the word of God, don’t lose your hold on it. This will stabilize you in a difficult day.
And then he gives him some illustrations. You know that some people haven’t done that. You know, some guys let go. They were ashamed of me. Phygelus, Hermogenes, everyone in Asia. Which sounds like a crazy story. Hey, there’s some people that when life got hard, they just punted the gospel. And some of you have seen that in your friendship groups. When it got inconvenient, they dropped Jesus. And here he says, hey, there’s people doing that. But then he says, but remember, Onesiphorus. And may the Lord grant mercy to his household.
Why his household? Well you get the sense that maybe Onesiphorus died? And so here he’s saying, Man, God bless the House of Onesiphorus. Why? Because he wasn’t ashamed of my chains. He wasn’t ashamed, Timothy. But when I got imprisoned, he came towards me, not away. He searched for me, found me, helped me. When it became difficult to associate with Jesus, he leaned in, not out. He gripped harder, didn’t release. And said, do you notice what he’s doing here? If you take in this section, we did last time. Paul said, don’t be ashamed but suffer for the gospel. And then he gives them some illustrations. Timothy, I suffer, and I’m not ashamed. Guys like Phygelus, when they started to suffer, they were ashamed. Guys like Onesiphorus? They weren’t ashamed, and they took on suffering. And he says that the Lord grant him mercy on that day. What’s that day? It’s the day when history comes to a close. We will see Jesus face to face in Timothy. You want to be Onesiphorus. Not a Phygelus. You want to be with us.
And so one of the encouragements he gives us is, hey, God is empowering you, God is with you, and a community of God surrounds you.
So think about your mentors. I’ll be honest with you, in the midst of COVID, it was hard to be a pastor. Pastors everywhere were taking hits. But let me tell you how I survived it in a difficult day. I would take walks with God and just remember, as I read his word, what I love about him and how much he loves me. And then I would call friends, mentors, pastors, and we would encourage each other. And being surrounded by the community of faith, in the words of our faith strengthened me in a difficult day, and it’s gonna be the same with you. Do what you’re doing now, dive deep into the word of God and then dive deep into the community of faith and let that strengthen you so you can step out into a lost and hurting world and present to them what’s been entrusted to you. The words of life. That’s a wonderful purpose.
Paul’s calling Timothy to a beautiful thing and God’s calling you to it in me, as well. Don’t be ashamed. Suffer. Hold fast and guard this good deposit. It’s a treasure worth preserving, and it’s been entrusted to us. And so ask the Lord what it might look like for you in the days ahead. To not just interact with this world a little bit, but to grip it tight to let it sink in deeply to you to guard this treasure inside because you’re going to need it. And those God’s put you around, are going to need it, too. So talk to him about it. Pray, and I’ll see you here next time.
