Our Father may you fill us this morning with your spirit that we would hear your word that it would go deep down into our hearts and change us, help us to serve you with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, for we give this to you in Christening. Amen. Please be seated.
It's nearing the end of Paul's life. Paul has learned much in his roughly 60 years on this earth. He's seen much, he's experienced much. He's felt the lash of the whip. He's felt the crushing stones. But the joys by now, Paul has seen so much of the Lord working in amazing ways. Still, their images that haunt him, they're the lives that he was responsible for. There's the stoning of Stephen. There's, how could it have been so wrong? But then there was that fateful day that the Lord met him on the road to Damascus and spoke to him personally in that day changed everything. Everything that he's faced in the subsequent years, all the prisons, the beatings, the nights of hunger, it was all worth it. He would go back and do it all again in a heartbeat. You know, there's a lot running around in your head when you reach the end of your life. Paul's in Rome. He's in prison for the second time, and this time he's not getting out. And writing Timothy, he knew there's a good chance that this was going to be his last letter. And so better make it good. Paul's grateful for Timothy. Timothy's better a good student. Well, he's not a student anymore. The Timothy is one of Paul's most trusted elders in the church. But it's his protege. There's a lot writing on Timothy. Many have left the faith. But please, God, not Timothy. And so Paul opens up his letter to Timothy, giving thanks for him personally, but for all that the Lord has done through him. And he reminds Timothy of his sacred calling, a calling that came from God himself, and he charges him to be bold. Be bold, Timothy. And don't be ashamed. Don't be ashamed of me in prison. And definitely don't be ashamed of the gospel. For Paul, the gospel of Christ was the most important, the most precious thing in the entire world. And just as the, just as the gospel had led Paul to be in suffering, in prison at this very moment, so too it's going to lead Timothy down this path. It's all Paul bids Timothy to join him. Join me. Join me in embracing suffering for the sake of the gospel. What is it about the gospel that makes Paul and Timothy give everything for it? Well, in one word, it's grace. It's grace. You can see here's here's Paul, the chief of sinners, he calls himself this chief of sinners has been made holy. He's been given the opportunity to suffer and die for Christ. And none of this, none of it depended upon him being perfect or even close to perfect. It was this gospel of grace that called him. The gospel is a gospel of purpose. See, God's calling had nothing to do with Paul's works. It had nothing to do with who he was as an individual, but it had everything to do with this mysterious purpose of God. From the beginning of time, God meant to call Paul. God had a plan that included Paul specifically spreading this gospel message and it was his holy calling. Through this, Paul's own life had been changed and been given meaning in purpose. It's not just that God's purpose was in this calling. Paul now had a purpose for his life. I mean, the simple fact that he was a follower of Christ, little loon and apostle was enough to bobble the mind of Paul. See, before Christ, Paul was on this path of destruction and now he's fulfilling God's plan for his life to gospel of purpose. It's also gospel of life and immortality because grace saved Paul and Timothy from the wrath of God. See, the appearance of Christ meant that he was no longer a slave to sins, curse, death no longer ruled over Paul. The more than simply just avoiding death, it now meant that he had life and he could look forward to a life that was immortal. Salvation is more than just some restart of this brokenness that we face today. We are made infinitely better, incorruptible without the chance of sin, without the chance of any further death. And so physical death today is no longer meant to be feared because it leads to something incredibly greater. And then the gospel also meant a life of joy, a service. Here's Paul sitting in prison facing his own death and he writes the words, I am grateful to God. Grateful. He has worn himself out for the service of God and for the church. He has poured himself out, given everything. He's reached the end of his life. He faced certain death at the hands of Rome and he's okay. He's okay. I knew it more. He would do it all again every last bit of it. Only a gospel transformed life can meet life's end with such certainty and courage. All of this came, according to Paul in his text. All of this came through this mystery that was revealed in Christ. It was always there in Moses and the prophets but not until Jesus came that a final make sense. Paul hadn't seen it when Jesus was on this earth preaching but that didn't matter because Jesus came to him one-on-one and called him and everything changed. This is the gospel that calls each one of us. We are sinners desperately in need of this grace. Our only hope is that God calls us not because of our works and not because of who we are but because of his purpose because of his grace. Some here may not have responded to this gospel because see there are other little gospels in the world. See there are other gospels. There are other messages that say you are enough that you do deserve God saving you or there are gospels that say that yours is a partnership between God and you and each one of you are working together to save your soul. Well I'm here to tell you that none of that is true. Not a wit. There's only one gospel of Jesus Christ and it's that he saves us through a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. There are no shortcuts with God. There's no back door into heaven and there's no deal you can cut. This is it. When we come to this gospel, when we come to the one that Paul confesses in 2 Timothy, then we're called alongside Timothy and Paul and all those who have gone before to join in suffering just as Paul has joined Christ. There's many ways we can do that. But ultimately it's this. Like Paul, we are to give him everything. We're supposed to pour ourselves out. Our time, our talent, our treasure. It all belongs to him. And again, we talked about perspective. It's a matter of perspective because when we see our lives in the context of grace as Paul did, we can go to the grave offering ourselves to the very last drop. So my question to all of us is this. In what way is God challenging us to suffer for the gospel?