The Final Words of a Good Disciple

Sermon for October 24, 2004

1. Good Morning. Let’s Pray. O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to You O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

2. Opening Comments: What does our Lord want to reveal to us this morning? That’s the question that has echoed through my mind from last Monday until this very moment.

What does God want to say to me and to you?

Over the last few weeks God has been teaching us about the cardinal virtues of the good disciple and among them are the cardinal virtues of – humility, endurance and persistence.

This morning, it’s clear to me, that He wants to give us the words that we will all be able to say at the end.

Let’s think together about this for a moment this morning shall we?

Let’s assume that you and I are going to grow with each day into truly great disciples – we’re going to become all that we were meant to be. Now “fast-forward” to the end of your life. Your body is tired and you and those around you know that it’s time to go home to Glory.

How are you feeling about this? It’s time to die! Yes . . . but it’s also time to be born into Glory!

Let’s assume again that you’re more than ready to go home but you still have a few words to say – your closing words!

What words do you want to leave your family and those whom you have loved and discipled throughout the years?

Really think about it . . . what WILL BE YOUR FINAL WORDS JUST BEFORE YOU PASS INTO GLORY?

We find St. Paul’s FINAL WORDS IN HIS FINAL LETTER TO HIS BELOVED DISCIPLE TIMOTHY:

Let me first give us some important background information:

The following excerpt is taken from The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, First Edition, article "Paul the Apostle." :

"When Paul writes again to Timothy he has had a winter in prison, and has suffered greatly from the cold and does not wish to spend another winter in the prison ( 2Ti 4:13, 21). We don’t know what the charges are. They may have been connected with the burning of Rome. There were plenty of informers eager to win favor with Nero. Proof was not now necessary. Christianity is no longer a religion under the shelter of Judaism. It’s now a crime to be a Christian. It’s dangerous to be seen with Paul now, and he feels the desertion keenly ( 2Ti 1:15ff; 4:10). Only Luke, the beloved physician, is with Paul ( 2Ti 4:11), and such faithful ones as live in Rome still in hiding ( 2Ti 4:21). Paul hopes that Timothy may come and bring Mark also ( 2Ti 4:11). Apparently Timothy did come and was put into prison ( Heb 13:23). Paul is not afraid. He knows that he will die. He has escaped the mouth of the lion ( 2Ti 4:17), but he will die ( 2Ti 4:18). The Lord Jesus stood by him, perhaps in visible presence ( 2Ti 4:17).

Tradition has it that Paul, as a Roman citizen, was beheaded on the Ostian Road just outside of Rome. Nero died June, 68 AD, so that Paul was executed before that date, perhaps in the late spring of that year (or 67). Perhaps Luke and Timothy were with him. It is fitting, as Findlay suggests, to let Paul's words in 2Ti 4:6-8 serve for his own epitaph. He was ready to go to be with Jesus, as he had long wished to be ( Php 1:23)"

3. Digging deeper: So let’s dig into these closing words of this great saint in Second Timothy chapter 4 verses 6 through 8 and verses 16 through 18: Remember now Paul, the aged warrior, is laying down his arms that Timothy may take them up.

Please turn with me now to Second Timothy chapter 4 beginning at verse 6:

2Tim. 4: 6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.

Let’s stop for a second. What’s Paul really saying in this verse? . . . 6 For I’m already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.

“My life,” says St. Paul, “has reached the point where it must be sacrificed.” The word he uses for drink offering is the verb “spendesthai” which literally means to pour out as a libation to the gods. Every Roman meal ended with a kind of sacrifice. A cup of wine was taken and was poured out to the gods. It’s as if Paul were saying, “The day is ended; it’s time to rise and go; and my life must be poured out as a sacrifice to God.” He didn’t think of himself as going to be executed; he thought of himself as going to offer his life to God.

How do you and I think about our lives? How generous are we with our lives?

Paul goes on to say: “The time for my departure has already come.” The word “analusis” he uses for departure is a vivid one.

It tells something about leaving life. It’s the word used for unyoking an animal from the shafts of the cart or the plough. Death to Paul was a release! He was going to exchange the confines of a Roman prison for the glorious liberty of the courts of heaven!

It’s also a word used for loosening the ropes of a tent. For Paul it was time to strike camp again. Many a journey he had made across the roads of Asia Minor and of Europe. Now he was setting out on this last and greatest journey; he was taking the road that led to God.

And finally it’s a word for loosening the mooring-ropes of a ship. Many a time Paul had felt his ship leave the harbor for the deep waters. Now he’s to launch out into the greatest deep of all, setting sail to cross the waters of death to arrive in the haven of eternity!

So then, for the Christian, death is:

· laying down the burden in order to rest;

· it’s laying aside the shackles in order to be free;

· it’s striking camp in order to take up residence in heavenly places;

· it’s casting off the ropes which bind us to this world in order to set sail on the voyage which ends in the presence of God.

Do you think Paul feared death? I don’t!

Let’s keep reading – look with me now at verse 7:

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Ah! Victory!!!! Paul has finished the race and kept the faith!

And now for the grand reward for a noble disciple – His coronation – Crowned with righteousness by God Himself! What must that look like I wonder?

The crown of a good life lived as a good disciple of Jesus Christ – the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords!

Paul says “I have fought the good fight!” The word he uses for fight is “agonizomai” and it means “to engage in intense struggle, involving physical or nonphysical force against strong opposition — ‘to struggle, to fight.’”

Literally the words, “I have fought the good fight” are “I have agonized the good agony.”

Have you and I “agonized the good agony?

Have we “fought the good fight?” Have you?

At the end of your life will you be able to say “Truly, I have fought the good fight!”

What Paul is getting at here is have you given life “your all” or are you coasting?

Have you withdrawn from life in some sense and simply are waiting for “something” – something that will rescue you from all of this?

How many people are just living – with no vision or mission? Life has lost for them it’s mythic quality – it’s sense of adventure and for them life is just getting through the day.

Life lived this way will end in deep deep sadness for at the end you won’t be able to say, “I have fought the good fight!”

Reading on now: Paul then said, “I have kept the faith!” Paul has been obedient to the faith and has transmitted it in tact!

He has continually urged Timothy to “keep the faith” as he has and now Paul begins to lay back his worn out old body and release it to God’s gentle embrace.

Have you and I kept the faith?

And now let’s turn to verses 16 through 18. Listen to the heart of a great and true disciple of Jesus Christ:

16 At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. What grace! What generosity! O Lord don’t count their desertion of me against them. In Your mercy Lord – forgive them as I already have. Let’s read on and listen to where his strength comes from:

17 But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, and why did the Lord give him strength? . . . so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

This great old warrior’s last words are “To him be glory for ever and ever!”

Will these be our last words?

O Lord may they be mine “To You be all glory honor and praise! May my life be fully spent at the end to establish Your reign in the lives of those whom you have allowed me to touch. May those who have been touched and discipled by me be able to say these words ‘My life has been spent in the grand mission of drawing others into Your Kingdom – Amen and Amen!

4. Paul’s challenge to us: Now think with me for a moment what effect do you think these words must have had on Timothy?

I’m sure he felt sad but I’m absolutely certain that he felt challenged and encouraged to end his life just like his grand old mentor!

But the real question here is what effect have they had upon you and me?

How do you want the rest of your life to go?

How much time are you and I going to spend in the wasteland of our fears or our failures?

How much more time are you and I going to remain stuck in the shadowlands of our obsessions, our addictions - in our arrogance and our peevishness?

God has a plan for you and me and it’s noble and grand. It’s mythic in proportions.

We’re being called to the side of our Lord into the thick of His ongoing battle to establish His Kingdom here on earth! To the magnificent battle lines of God’s cause.

Will we join Him? Paul, in these his last words, is calling to us to join him in this grand adventure. Will be heed his words or will be turn away sadly and live out a sad and pathetic life focused on our fears and our dreams?

That’s always the challenge isn’t it?

Oh St. Paul, pray for us that we may hear you and one day be able to say with you . . .

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. Amen and Amen!

Let’s pray: