Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

We have but one azalea bush, now blooming its heart out. I tried to capture one blossom that reveals the exuberance of the plant.

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.  2 Timothy 4:1 – 5.

Giving a charge is rare in the Bible.  Paul is nearing the end of his life ministry, he seems to be able to discern that.  He also knows that building the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is in its early stages.  So much depends on the next generation of disciples who are settled on the central message of the Gospel.  Almost gone are the original Disciples who lived with Jesus for up to three years. John is probably alive in Turkey. The next generation includes Paul to whom Jesus appeared as he traveled to Damascus, a visitation quite unique.  Now, the third generation is on the front lines, including young Timothy to whom Paul is writing.  Timothy, as far as we know, had no visitation from Jesus as Paul had.  Will this generation be faithful?  This must have been on Paul’s mind when he deliberately charged Timothy.

So, what is the charge?  1. To preach the word. That lively, culturally diverse church in Ephesus was already experiencing heresies, from legalism to doubting bodily resurrection.  The word is clear, Jesus taught, died, rose from the dead, appeared to many and then took his place in heaven at the right hand of his Father. Any erosion of that bed-rock faith will lead to heresy.  2.  Be prepared to preach that Gospel in all situations.  3.  Correct, rebuke and encourage fellow believers. With great patience and careful instruction.  4.  Keep your head in all situations.  Temptations will come to enter the fray. Stay clear of that.  Stand on the truth of the simple Gospel. 5. Endure hardship.  This is a subjective duty and requires a strong defense against the enemy of the souls of mankind. 6.  Do the work of an evangelist.  I think this means to preach the positive message of God’s grace, encouraging others to believe and to place Jesus first in life.  Stay on the offensive. 7.  Discharge all of the duties of your ministry.  We have no idea of Timothy’s spiritual gifts. Paul was convinced that God will enable Timothy to endure all kinds of testing.

The work goes on.  I am 87 years old. My calling is to encourage the “Timothies” that God brings into my life.  I am blessed to have quite a few.  Praise God.  May I be faithful.

Our first yellow rose.  For some reason, firsts are often the best.  This lovely rose produced it first blossom yesterday, May 24.  It is a heart-warming bloom, don’t you think?  After many months without our roses, this beauty is a new reminder of the ever-new grace of God. I like to make that connection.  Anyway, I adore its fresh beauty.

You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 2 Timothy 3:10 -13

How does one believer encourage another?  Paul is doing that here.  He reflects on his recent experiences, most unhappy ones.  Having been released from Roman imprisonment he revisited some of the churches he had a hand in planting in Turkey.  He does not go into detail but he obviously suffered a great deal.  Why?  He does not say. He lumps all his distress into the statement, You know…what kinds of things happened to me…the persecutions I endured.  He goes on to share deeply with Timothy, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 

I have counseled many people in my lifetime.  I must admit that I did not focus very often on what believers should be prepared to suffer.  I turned on my happy face and encouraged them to look up and push on, all will be fine!  Should I have, rather, been more straightforward in dealing with the suffering for Christ issue? I suppose there is a time for both encouragement and warning. We need to be wise in sharing our own life experience.

Paul had a deep and intimate relationship with this young follower of Jesus, Timothy.  He felt free to share some of the deepest lessons he is learning as an Apostle.  So, what did he talk about?  SUFFERING!  I believe that is significant. I know it for myself. At some point, a newborn child of God will meet suffering whether warned about it or not.  Indeed we need to be made aware of God’s blessings that are ours as sons and daughters of the Lord – great good news.  We should be aware of that but life in Christ is not eating the sweetest fruit only, it includes some excruciating suffering. They go together.

Paul does not speak of physical suffering at this point, but of emotional and spiritual suffering that he endured as he visited fellowships that were losing their focus on Jesus Christ and the Gospel.  Paul calls those he had to confront, evildoers and impostors.  

Hello!!  Three years ago I bought four such frogs.  Now they have multiplied and dominate our little ponds.  They croak their distinctive croaks and make the place sound like some primitive swamp. Now what?  Will they simply multiply until they fill the place!  Oh, my, I hope they survive.  If they double in numbers, then what?  A mystery of life.  I will try to remember to keep you informed. In the meanwhile, let the croaking continue!

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

2 Timothy 3:1 – 5

Have you ever seen a list like this before?  Who is Paul describing?  He goes on, almost endlessly, people will love themselves.  They will be lovers of money. They will enjoy boasting.  They will be proud, looking down on others, abusive in language and attitude. They do not respect the wisdom of their parents, but disobey with sadistic delight!

They will be blessed but not satisfied, always wanting more for themselves.  They will hardly ever utter the word, “holiness,” because they have not the slightest notion about what the word means, much less how it may apply to them.  They may sing the word in a song but it has no real meaning for them. Holiness is not in their vocabulary at all.

As to simple virtues, they distort the meaning of love and make it self-centered.  They hold grudges and refuse to forgive one another, least of all, themselves. They slander or gossip about one another as murderers slowly murder their victims.

All of this to be expected because they have no self-control, they simply get swept along by what is the current trigger for delight. Even dumb animals live with more regard for one another than they do.

They twist the meaning of good, and turn all ethics into fantasy.  To them, what is good to do is what pleases them most, regardless of how it might affect others or their Creator God.

All of this seeking after pleasure and self-interest leads to treacherous, rash, conceited behavior.  In summary they love pleasure more than they love God and they must, above all things, despise those who are humbly trying to obey God.

They try to put on the appearance of serving God when, all the while, they are simply serving self. They want to appear to be lovers of God but are in fact godless.

Have nothing to do with such people.  But, Paul, we are surrounded by such people, and in all honesty, now and again catch ourselves siding with them!  At times, “they” describes “us.”

Lord, sweep our hearts clean of all that displeases you and restore a right mind and heart to us by the power of your Holy Spirit.

Morning roses are among my favorites. I am struck with the humility of this rose, and its purity. Today I should be a bit more like the rose in our garden!

Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. ²³ Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

2 Timothy 2:22 – 26

Paul who was once a young man himself encourages Timothy to flee evil desires that are typical of youth, desires that are normal to this period of life when we are trying to make a place for ourselves in the world.  Those are solid virtues that mark every stage in life. Paul lists them.  Righteousness (or right living.)  Faith that believes in spite of all reasons not to do so. Love that enables a person to include those who are quarreling. With these virtues operating in us, we live in peace and become peace-makers.

So in dealing with controversies within the body, Paul makes it clear that all, especially the gifted peace-makers, should practice these bed-rock virtues.  Young Timothy is one of them, of course. Paul advises him not be quarrelsome or resentful because people do at times get caught up in foolish and stupid arguments. That they are sincere does not make them right, I might add. The problem is, those who are quarreling do not recognize that their arguments are in fact, foolish and stupid.  The peace-makers understand that.

I find it interesting that quarrels that arise among the church of Christ Jesus are most often of little consequence, in the end.  We agree on the basics and split on peripheral issues.  Unfortunately, holding ferociously to a peripheral issue is exactly what rejoices Satan because he can use those feelings to divide and weaken the church. The denomination to which I belong has a long history of splits.  We began in 1525 with one heart.  Today that movement has broken into dozens of groups, all agreeing on the core faith but disagreeing on some peripheral issues.  That is where the virtues of righteousness, faith, love and peace must be practiced, virtues that flow from a pure heart.

Lord, teach us this kind of sincere charity to all.

Our first roses are especially beautiful and precious. Still sporting the dews of the night this lovely rose delights my soul as I go out to pick up the morning paper..

In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.  2 Timothy 2:20 – 21

In this text, Paul does not make his point obvious.  He is probably encouraging Timothy to be aware of the way God works.  He notes that in a great house there are many common things, uncountable in number, and unnoticed.  But God uses some common people to do some very special things, according to his purposes. A wooden coat hanger, for example, is privileged to hold the vestments of a king. I think I am seeing this argument correctly.

First, if this is the case, we should never despise the importance of common people in the growth of the Kingdom of God.  Each serves a purpose, often hidden or just expected to be there doing their common tasks.

Secondly, when God needs someone to do a special task he enables common people to do extraordinary things.

Thirdly, as common people cleanse themselves of all self-importance, they become eligible for the great things that moves the family of God forward.

Fourth, the vessels themselves do not seek to do special things, but they realize that God uses such common people to surprise themselves and others as they are called to do special things in the Kingdom.  Useful to the Master

What is Paul touching on?  I am not sure but a theme of the letter to Timothy is to step up and do some very special things in the vibrant, growing church in Ephesus. It means loving all in the flock.  It also means confronting those in the flock who are teaching heresy.  In light of that task, poor Timothy must have felt himself absolutely inadequate.  For that reason, he can take comfort that it is God who has called him to this special ministry, a ministry that will set the tone for all intercultural churches for all time.  If there ever was a high calling, and a difficult one, this is it.  Common Timothy becomes a defender of the faith!

Paul adds, it is God who sets apart for special tasks, tasks that are useful to the Master.