Paul and Timothy, and ...us.

No matter where Paul and Timothy go in their separate ways, Paul wants Timothy to remember securely that Paul has the office of herald, apostle, and teacher; and he is urging Timothy to realize that Timothy shares in these tasks also.

(1) He is apostle, a sent-out one. He does not stay in a comfortable corner but is sent out armed only with the promise from the Lord Jesus.

(2) He is a herald, sent out with a message to proclaim, a message not his own but one given to him.

“On behalf of the Lord God, I say to you...”

(3) He is a teacher, with worthy things to say and convey to others.

Paul wants it to be clearly understood that this standard of sound teaching has been entrusted to Timothy also, with the charge to make it known and effective to the people around him.

Paul and Timothy are this charged with three functional tasks: apostle, herald, and teacher.

They are in contrast with three jobs of Jesus: prophet, priest, and king, but not in competition with them

Paul is not insisting that he himself is of central importance; what is vital is the Lord Jesus to whom he points with all of his words and actions.

Paul and Timothy are not in competition with each other.

When they are at their best, they both are pointing to the Lord Jesus.

It doesn't matter that one is older and the other is from the third generation of Christians, because the tasks are the same.

In our video library we have a videotape of this little book of Second Timothy, in which Paul is pictured lying in prison, chained to a wall on filthy straw,

and yet he is dictating this letter with passion and in a firm and clear voice.

How can this be?

Why isn't he complaining about mistreatment by the system, his miserable personal situation, etc.?

Because he keeps his eye on the larger picture.

As he says in Romans [8:18ff]: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.

...we, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

And he also then says how this is carried out: ...the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.

So it is not with complaint about his problems, nor with bragging about his own strength and accomplishments that Paul writes to his friend Timothy.

He keeps his focus in the right place.

It is easy for us to fall away from that.

Nobody knows the trouble I've seen;

we echo the old spiritual.

But we forget that the essence of the spiritual is much more than complaint.

Nobody knows the trouble I've seen;

nobody knows but Jesus.

Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down

Sometimes I'm almost to the ground.

I have my trials here below

Oh, yes, Lord

The spiritual focuses on more than a list of the current troubles.

It ends with a reference to the promise of the Lord Jesus, a word of hope, expectation, and anticipation: Tell all-a my friends I'm coming too.

The troubles, the separations are not forever; the promise is!

The troubles are All threatening to devour us, Luther sings, but

We tremble not, unmoved we stand;

They cannot overpower us.

God's judgment must prevail... [LBW#229.3]

How can Paul speak and act in this confident way?

We've been dancing all around without using the good church word faith.

The writer of Hebrews says: [11:1-3]

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

Faith is hanging on in spite of appearances.

Faith is knowing that the answer to our prayers may not be “Yes”, but “wait and look for something better.”!

Says Paul: I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. [2Tim1:12]

Now I see as in a mirror dimly, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, ...but then, face to face.

May our prayer regularly be that despite the separations of time, distance, field of work, age, areas of interest, differences of approach, or any other divisions brought about by circumstance or willfulness of our own or imposed on us from outside, that our trust in the Lord Jesus and calmness in his spirit may continue straight ahead, as it did with Paul and Timothy.

The Victorian era hymn that we sing next carries this mood of quiet confidence.

Let's turn to Hymn 492.

[The author of this text was born down the road in Pottsgrove, and he wrote it when he was serving a congregation in Mass. in 1879.]

Before we sing it today, I invite you to read this prayer together with me, as we remember Paul, Timothy, and ourselves, and our life together in faith:

O Master, let me walk with you

In lowly paths of service true;

Tell me your secret; help me bear

The strain of toil, the fret of care.

Help me the slow of heart to move

By some clear, winning word of love;

Teach me the wayward feet to stay,

And guide them in the homeward way.

Teach me your patience; share with me

A closer, dearer company,

In work that keeps faith sweet and strong,

In trust that triumphs over wrong.

In hope that sends a shining ray

Far down the future's broadening way,

In peace that only you can give;

With you, O Master, let me live.

Let all say Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.