Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

We have one azalea plant.  Would love to have more.  But this one is a dazzler. It is delicate, demure yet super attractive. The morning dew bespangles its beauty and vitality.

 Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.  Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.  Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”

2 Timothy 3:14 – 18

The Apostle Paul and his little team, including young Timothy, spent over two years establishing the church in Ephesus. The fellowships there seem to have succeeded in bringing Jewish and Greek believers in Jesus together.

The fellowships there were now facing new challenges – heresies among themselves.  The most damaging one held to the fact that Jesus did not rise from the dead physically but spiritually.  These people found it difficult to believe that Jesus actually rose from the dead and appeared among people for forty days, even at times, eating with them.

I do not know why some believers were pulled away from the doctrine that Jesus was raised from the dead and appeared as Jesus Christ of Nazareth, just like he always was! It could be that in their evangelism these people soft-pedaled this doctrine to win more Greeks to Christ because the view that Jesus had a physical body after his resurrection was philosophically unbelievable by rational Greeks. Or maybe they themselves reinterpreted the post-resurrections of Jesus in such a way that they did not have to deal with the issue.

Whatever, Paul encouraged Timothy to deal with this heresy that was dangerous, indeed. He even mentioned the names of the leading promoters of the heresy.

To be a leader of Jesus’ flock is demanding. I know that quite well. There are always ideas swirling about that, if believed, will produce a “different” Gospel than that handed down to us through the ages.  Paul’s advice to Timothy was to live like Jesus and testify to the truth of the doctrines that lift him up in all his glory.

I might add that we believe that Paul wrote this letter about AD 68, just two years before the Romans bit the bullet, so to speak, and destroyed the Temple, bringing to a halt Jewish aspiration to have their own nation.

Speaking of beauty, symmetry, color and fine, delicate line, our small but exuberant spirea bursts with life.  I love to absorb its beauty.

Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.  2 Timothy 2: 11 – 13

I understand that this was a hymn that the believers were singing, or a chant that they were repeating, at this time.  Whatever the case it summarizes marvelously the life of believers who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.

Let’s learn from it.

We died with him. This is not easy to grasp. Surely it means that when we gave our hearts to Christ we gave up our rights to ourselves and cast ourselves on the mercy of God, not knowing what it will mean but fully trusting Him to show the way. All of us who testify that we died with Christ in conversion also quickly respond, We live with him.  So that death is life!

We endure.  This is difficult to do.  Endurance requires full trust in the one who controls our lives, God himself. When is our trust ever complete?  Hardly ever but we surely know the way. Then what?  We will also reign with him.  Our part is to endure as we reign with Christ.

If we disown him, he will also disown us. When we come to Christ we give up ownership of ourselves, and exalt him as our new, eternal owner.  If, perish the thought, we take back our lives and run them on our own, we give up our rights in Christ.

If we are faithless, and here comes the divine surprise, GOD REMAINS FAITHFUL. This is the mystery, or at least one of them, of our life with the Lord.  When we give our lives to him and then along the way turn our backs on him for some reason or the other and try to struggle on our own, we would expect the Lord to drop us, but he will never do that.  When we give ourselves to the Lord his promise is sure, we are his and he will look after us.  He is absolutely committed to us and he cannot disown himself, he is faithful and will fulfill his promise to us.

Assuming that this was a hymn sung in the early fellowships, what they sang is exactly what we sing today, or should!

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.  Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

2 Timothy 2:8 – 10

This morning I am reminded of something I too often forget – Remember Jesus Christ.  Paul is writing this in the context of understanding suffering for the sake of the Gospel.  When we encounter one obstacle after another, we have the tendency to ask a heap of questions. Why me?  Is it worth it? Is there not an easier way?  Why doesn’t God make life easier for me?  Will suffering never end?  Then, in an instant I hear a voice behind me, “Look, again, at Jesus Christ, suffering in the Garden before his Crucifixion, sweating blood!”

Then, we are on the top of a mountain of joy and peace. Praise God, that is a special gift. But it is important that we recognize that the Giver, God himself, is to be worshiped and praised. We do well to remember that Jesus walked this way. It got to the point that he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” That is not the kind of sentiment we are used to in our walk with God. We expect nice, comfortable things from him, like making everything in our lives sweet and cozy.  Is this not our right?

Here is Paul, the great evangelist and church planter who was admired and appreciated, for instance in his successful work of bringing a new fellowship of believers together in Ephesus, a three-year endeavor, days that Timothy remembers well.  Now that great saint is chained like a criminal in a Roman jail.  The contrast is almost too much to handle.  However, it does not drive Paul into self-pity.  Rather, it set off a note of praise because Paul realized that even though he is chained, the Gospel that he preached constantly is not chained!  Jesus Christ is still lose in the world!

“Therefore,” he wrote, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. Note – salvation and eternal glory.  That is what buoyed Paul’s heart. He did not dwell at all on his sad state. I need to learn that.

Our first iris of the season, a salmon background with bright orange frizzlies for bees to land on to get the nectar and to pollinate at the same time.  We love irises.

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. The hard-working farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.  2 Timothy 2:1 – 7

A temptation that all leaders face is to insist on obedience.  Paul counsels young Timothy to resist that temptation, but to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”  Jesus offered grace, but never forced his point. We should do the same.  I sometimes find myself tempted to use my power as a parent, teacher, writer to almost compel people to do what I say.  After all, I am called of God to help others. I see that Paul is not encouraging young Timothy to be a stronger teacher or a stronger disciplinarian, but to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  Grace does not compel, it invites and blesses.  Lord, teach me this every day!

I notice that Paul does not invite Timothy to join him in slaying the enemy!  No, he encourages him to learn suffering!  I do not find that a pleasant thought, but as I look back on my own walk with the Lord, that is the call, to suffer with and for Him. For in suffering with and for Christ we lose ourselves in his love.

I hear the Spirit say, “Serve Jesus and no other.”  “Obey the rules.”  “Work hard.” Then the Lord leaves us with the offer to be with us as we reflect on these words and word pictures.  “The Lord will give you insight into all this.” We embrace these truths as the Spirit enables us.  This world cannot believe this is true.  I know that the teaching of the Apostle is true. I live it every day by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  I stumble but I know the way.

We are super privileged to have Evan and Elizabeth spend time with us over some weekends.  Here Evan, laying aside his computer for a moment, cuts the grass at our place.

Elizabeth, in the meanwhile pores over her computer.

He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.  2 Timothy 2:9 – 12

It is hard for me to imagine what Paul went through on that final swing around the churches he helped to plant in Turkey.  When he describes that journey he points to intense suffering that he endured.  He had suffered on his earlier journeys with his team of Timothy, Silas and Luke, but it seems like his suffering then was soon caught up in the exaltation of seeing men and women coming to Christ in Greek settings.   Not so on his most recent visit.  We know very little detail.  Paul is not one bit interested in defending himself or even explaining what happened.  Rather, all of that pushed him to deal with the issue of suffering for Christ’s sake.  This comes out in this final letter to Timothy.

Look into Paul’s heart.  He never forgot that he was saved by Jesus Christ and was called to live a life of holiness that is a gift of God, not something that we work out or conjure up.  God’s grace is the constant.  Even before time that grace compelled God.  We see it pushing in the Old Testament.  Now, Paul says, that grace of God is revealed through the appearing of Jesus Christ.  He destroyed death, brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. All of this was of God and all was the result of his active grace.  Paul owed everything to that grace, the same grace that Jesus displayed.

As Paul received that grace, he realized that he, himself, was called to proclaim this Gospel, serve as an apostle of Jesus Christ and to teach all who would listen about the offer of free salvation to all. That sounds nice.  But Paul hastens to say, That is why I am suffering as I am. He goes on to explain to Timothy, Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

We can all bathe in that truth even today.