The book or letter we call Second Timothy, a verse of which provides the theme for our weekend together, has been described as both an “official” and deeply “personal" letter.
The writer, of course, is the apostle Paul, then sitting in a prison in about 65 to 67 AD. All of Paul’s appeals that might save him from execution have been exhausted.
Paul wants to see his protege Timothy; he has fatherly feelings for the young pastor. That’s the personal part.
But he also wants to see Timothy in order to impart a kind of official “last will and testament” to him, so that he can plead that Timothy will stay true to the pure Gospel Word that we are saved by God’s grace through the faith in Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit gives through God’s Word, including the Gospel Word of forgiveness and new life we receive in the sacraments. Paul wants to remind Timothy to, paraphrasing the apostle’s words in Romans, not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, “...for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” (Romans 1:16-17)
But Paul knows that he might die at any time and that, for the Christian, there is no time like the present to share Christ and His Gospel with others, whether those others are Christians or unbelievers.
There is no time like the present to share Christ with Christians because, as Martin Luther said, “We need to hear the gospel every day because we forget it every day.” We easily forget that we are sinners in need of a Savior and we forget just as easily that in Jesus Christ, we have a Savior and that in Him–listen, friends–all your sins are already completely and totally forgiven and so you can trust in Him, you can take refuge in Him, right now.
And, of course, unbelievers need to hear the Gospel for their reconciliation with God and their eternal salvation. Without Christ, we remain dead in our sin and separated from God. The apostles knew all of this when they said, “...there is salvation [salvation, that is, from sin, death, and condemnation] in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among [people] by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
In the opening verses of his letter to Timothy, Paul has a three-part message. First, he tells Timothy to rekindle the gift of God within him and so, second, by the power of the Holy Spirit Who lives in believers, display the power, love, and self-control that God manifests in those who trust in Christ. We rekindle the Gospel within us when, as repentant sinners, we return again and again to partake of the means of God’s grace in Word and Sacrament. Finally, Paul tells Timothy to be ready to share in suffering for the Gospel. Many people in our world are antinomians–that is, anything goers, who think that God doesn’t care what we do as long as we enjoy ourselves. Others are rigid legalists who are weighed under by or want to weigh others under by the idea that God will only love us if we’re perfect. Good luck with that.
The world, the Church, our individual congregations, and our neighbors then, need to know Jesus. We, as the Church, need to hear Paul’s inspired word for us today: “By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” (2 Timothy 1:14) At our Baptism, a good deposit was given to each and every one of us. That deposit is the good news, the gospel. We guard or keep the Gospel, the verb in the original Greek is phylaxon, not when we hide it under a bushel–NO!, but when we let the others see that, imperfect though we are, sinners though we are, vulnerable we are, through Jesus Christ, we have everlasting life with God that can never be taken from us. And our neighbors can have that same life with God!
I spent roughly the first eight-and-a-half years of my life living on Thomas Avenue, just a few miles up the Three C Highway from here in the Bottoms of Columbus. My great-grandmother lived across the street from us. Her door was always open to me, no matter the time of day. Often, I would sit with her as she read her Bible and waited for her to tell me what she had read. One day, we sat in her living room when spring rain fell. After the rain had stopped, we went out to inspect her flowers. I remember her pointing to the sky over Jet Stadium on Mound Street, where there was a rainbow. She told me about Noah and his ark and how God puts the rainbow in the sky as a sign of His promise to never destroy the world by flood, a promise God made despite humanity being just as sinful after the flood as before, a promise born of grace. My great-grandmother died when I was just eight. In the succeeding years, I would be an atheist but God and His gospel promise would find me. (I kept dating Lutheran women and ended up marrying one of them!) When I heard the Gospel at the now-deceased Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Columbus, I recognized it. I knew Jesus and His Gospel because my great-grandmother, Elva Henry, among others, had guarded the good deposit entrusted to her and knew that it wasn’t for hoarding but for investing…in our families, our communities, our world.
Sisters and brothers in Christ: Jesus Christ has set you free from sin, death, and condemnation. This is the good deposit He has placed in your life. I urge you to keep it by gladly hearing, learning, and receiving it and then, giving it away.
Amen
