Celebrating God’s Truth Even in Difficult Times

Who’s ready for the last Sunday in 2020?

I think there are some of you – possibly many of you – who have been counting down these days more than in any other year since approaching the new millennium in 2000. Of course 1999 was a year that we remember for our troops fighting in Kosovo, we were shocked by the mass shooting at Columbine High School, Napster debuted as a music downloading service and of course we were all waiting for the world to collapse in the uncertainty of what might happen when the date rolled over from 1999 to 2000 on our computers.

At the time, 2000 was a year some people feared while it provided hope for others.

Are we looking at 2021 with that type of lens today? When I am looking for a source for my hope, does it rest in a view of the world that says it just can’t get any worse? You might have found that same type of thinking a century ago as we emerged from two years of the Spanish flu pandemic. 500 million people had died of the Spanish flu worldwide, clearly it could not get any worse right? Well, sure the nation got a reprieve for a few years until the Great Depression struck in 1929.

My point is that we need to look at where we place our hope and what are we looking to in order to sustain that hope? Are we looking to our circumstances hoping that it will get better simply because it could not possibly get any worse?

Are we looking to the changes in our national leadership to drive the change that we believe will bring the hope that we need?

Are we holding out to see changes in health trends that only a vaccine can possibly provide?

When our eyes and our hearts are holding out for change in these ways, history will tell us that we should brace ourselves for the next wave of trials, the next war, the next health crisis, the next financial downturn or the social issue to divide us.

When we began 2020 – I don’t think any of us could honestly say that we would be able to predict all the things that would impacts us. You might have been ready to say there would be a hotly contested election with polarizing positions, but would you have predicted the quarantines and the protests reaching every corner of the nation? We certainly did not have all of that in view when we chose our annual theme for our church for 2020, but I di pray and hope that through it, you have been able to celebrate God’s Truth as we walked through this year.

In celebrating God’s Truth, I hope that you have been challenged by the book of Romans to see the truth about our selves and the truth about man with the hope that comes in celebrating the truth about Jesus Christ and his atoning work to graciously restore our relationship with our heavenly Father. I pray that you were comforted in celebrating God’s Truth in regards to worry and fear by hearing the testimonies of how his truth has impacted lives in our church and community and receiving the practical steps to walk through the circumstances with the burden of worry lifted from your hearts.

Today, we want to wrap up our annual theme. I would not say that we are ending the celebration of God’s truth as that will continue, but we are going to wrap up our annual theme by Celebrating God’s Truth even in Hard Times as we know that our circumstances will not magically change when the calendar rolls over.

I want to invite you to open your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 3. I find it fascinating that phrase in quotes describing chapter 3 reads “difficult times will come.” Not the happiest of messages that we would gravitate towards when we are looking for hope in challenging times, but if we are going to celebrate God’s word, we have to celebrate even when the message may not appear to be something we want to hear, but I hope that you will find as I did when I studied this chapter that it leads to a celebration in how it points us to a truth that can truly transform the way that we think.

Consider Paul’s circumstances at the time he is writing his second letter to Timothy, Paul is contemplating his own death, we see that in chapter 4. He is encouraging Timothy to not be ashamed of Paul because Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. There were false teachers opposing the true gospel of Jesus Christ in ways that sought to discredit Paul and thus Timothy as well. Paul encouraged Timothy to preach the word both in season and out of season for he said that “For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled.” Leading up to our passage today, Paul told Timothy how he wanted him to respond in 2:24-26

24 The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, 25 with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”

His teaching then was to point his church to the truth, God’s Word, so that they may come to their senses. Maybe that is what we all need today as well. With the chaos that has swirled around us for the past year, I am thankful that we can Celebrate God’s Truth today even in Difficult Times.

So let’s go to the source together – please read with me starting with verse 1 of Chapter 3.

[READ 2 TIM 3:1-17]

With the time that we have today, let’s look at how this passage can bring us to our senses and help us celebrate by looking at 3 Choices to make during difficult days.

Paul did not pull any punches in how he began this portion of his letter to Timothy. He knows that our tendency is to want to forget the things that we do not want to hear, or that we might not like hearing.

So He starts “But realize this.” In other words, As Paul is encouraging Timothy in his ministry, he is not attempting to sugar coat things and paint a rosy picture for Timothy – No he says “Remember.” “In the last days difficult times will come.” Timothy had a choice of how he would see the days ahead – we do as well. We can choose what we are going to remember and what we are going to neglect in our thinking.

Our first choice today is that we are to choose to

Remember that hard times come to all people (vv.1–5a)

It would be easy to take the first verse, nod our heads in agreement and then set it aside. I don’t want to think about or deal with difficult times. I want to hold on to the promises of hope. I would rather just remember what God said in Jeremiah that he has plans to prosper us and not to destroy us, not that in the last days difficult times will come.

(NASB) 2 Timothy 3:1 - But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

(ESV) 2 Timothy 3:1 – But understand this…

(NIV) 2 Timothy 3:1 – But mark this…

God’s answer to us – I know what you want, but I know what is best, so remember. Remember that difficult days will come. God knows that we will struggle with wanting to believe that difficult times will come.

Even when we read the list of wickedness in verses 2 and 3, it may be simple to nod our heads and agree – yup, there are wicked people out there that are making life difficult, but I am thinking God might have something more for us when he calls us to remember because this is not the only time that he points out this truth.

In the gospel of John, right before Jesus was betrayed, he was preparing his disciples for what they would experience in the world…

John 15:18–19 18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

1 Peter 4:12–13 12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; 13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.

You might also ask, are we in the last days? In this case, we are not talking revelation type eschatology, but rather for Paul, the phrase “last days” in v.1 is referring to the time period between the ascension of Jesus Christ and when he will return at his second coming. So we are living in the last days, so we must remember that there will be difficult days.

And Paul goes on to explain why that will be the case.

We can summarize his point in vv.2–5 like this…there will be difficult days and times of trouble

because of the wickedness of humanity.

The list that Paul lays out is lengthy but is still not intended to be all encompassing. Rather we are called to see the hearts of men and to understand the impact on the days ahead.

2 Timothy 3:2–5 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power…

Each of these attributes could be a sermon in and of themselves, but you really don’t want me to get started there…We would have to extend 2020, so let’s not do that.

Instead let’s just look at a couple, because we need to remember that the wickedness of humanity exists not just in the hearts of others, but that it also exists in our own hearts.

How about when Paul says men will be ungrateful? Could you agree that ungratefulness could be considered an epidemic within the pandemic.

Have you found yourself to be grateful for the guidelines and restrictions that have limited your family, your work, your business this year? Why hasn’t congress gotten the next stimulus deal done yet? Is it possible, that maybe I don’t have all the information that someone higher up the food chain has and that I should consider that they are doing their best to help the most people. Am I able to be grateful for what I have as compared to being focused on what I do not have.

What about irreconcilable, are there people in your life that you have simply said “talk to the hand” because they voted the opposite of what you did? Or they stood on the opposite of the debate over social justice.

An interesting focus comes from how Paul orders his list. Did you see how misplaced love both begins and ends the list.

“lovers of self, and lovers of money…and then in v.5 you have lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…”

The wickedness of this world can be summed up by misplaced love.

When love is focused on self, money and pleasure, we can see the impact on our culture.

When we look at the trials, the suffering, the difficult times that will come, we remember that hard times come to all people because all trials and suffering ultimately come from sin as described in verses 2-5.

First, we have to acknowledge that some of our suffering, some of our hard days comes as a result of our own sin. Our relationships are broken because of malicious gossip, or our finances have been drained because we have lacked self-control. Remember, that hard days may come because of our own evil hearts.

Some of our hard days come as results of the sin of others, the actions of an unloving husband, a child who is disobedient to his parents, a person in our lives who has been brutal with their words or even physically. Hard days may come because of the evil hearts of those around us.

Hard days may also simply be the result of living in a sin-cursed world. I cannot look at anyone specific to say that they sinned and that is why we have a pandemic on our hands. Rather we deal with cancer, disease and death because we live in a world not yet restored to God’s perfection.

Paul points out another reasons why we should remember that hard times may come

Because of godly living.

Yes, you can live rightly, you can live in accordance with God’s commands, you can live in a way that points to Christ each and every day, but that does not mean that you will not see difficult times

2 Timothy 3:12 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

It is important to keep remembering there are difficult days because of the wickedness of people, including you and me, but that there are also difficult days when you area serious about pursuing a godly life.

If you choose to live a godly life upholding what God teaches about marriage and sexuality, you may find difficult days as some will disagree and even persecute you for believing differently than they feel.

If you choose to live as a godly parent, you may find hard days as the world seeks to teach your children that there is something better than the life of obedience you want your kids to be blessed by.

If you want to live a godly life, a sober life free of alcohol and drugs, you may find heavy opposition in the world telling you that you are out of touch with the times and you deserve what you used to think alcohol or drugs could give you.

God’s word tell us that difficult times will come, even for those seeking a godly life, but we need to remember and know that it is worth it to go through difficult times for the purpose of godly living. It is worth it for Jesus Christ. Consider

2 Corinthians 5:15 says “ 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”

Or

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

So remember, you were purchased with the precious blood of Jesus…redeemed from living in vv.2–5 so that you could live upright and godly lives in the present age for his glory!

Remember – hard time swill come to all people. And when we know this to be true, it will help us with our second choice

We are called to choose to

Pursue right relationships.

There two parts to the pursuing of right relationships. Not only must we pursue the right ones, but we must also

Avoid sinful, destructive relationships (v.5b–9)

This is what we see in verses 5-9

2 Timothy 3:5b–9 5 …Avoid such men as these. 6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.

Let’s make sure we think this one through clearly, because if we take the phrase to Avoid such men as these as a call to separate from anyone on the list above, well, one - we would have any friends and two we would have anyone to share the gospel with, so maybe there is a more thoughtful way to read this verse. When we honestly look at the list, we can see that even those who follow Christ can be characterized by more than one of those terms.

Recall the lead-in verse that I mentioned from chapter 2. We are called as The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, 25 with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth…

But notice that for all who CLAIM Christ, the fruit of repentance may not be there. Some hold to a form of godliness and yet deny the power of the gospel. It is almost haunting to think about being considered “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

We should be growing steadfast in the truth of God’s word, not bouncing from teaching to teaching based on that which tickles our ears. We are not called to follow the Culver’s flavor of the day Christianity, we are called to follow the sufficient, finished Word of God which is where our passage ends today so I promise, we will come back to that.

But that was what false teachers were doing ion Paul’s day, and that is what false teachers are doing today. With an appearance of godliness, defining good in man’s image, they deny the power of the gospel. They may even talk about Jesus, but they care a whole lot more about what is on their agenda than they do about God’s and they seek to find their way into the church in order to oppose the truth, knowingly or unknowingly.

Looking at the opposition to the truth, Verses 8 and 9 give an interesting picture that is worth a few minutes on.

2 Timothy 3:8–9 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.

You see, neither of these names, Jannes and Jambres come up elsewhere in Scripture, but clearly Paul expected Timothy and his readers to know who they were.

Manipulation – meaning of ‘Jannes’

Rebellion – meaning of ‘Jambres’

In his commentary on 2 Timothy, John MacArthur states that though they are not mentioned by name in the OT, based on other writings and Jewish tradition, they may have been magicians in Pharaoh’s court who opposed Moses by attempting to duplicate God’s miracles and who later pretended to convert to Judaism in order to subvert Moses’s divine assignment and possibly leading the crowds to make the golden calf while Moses was on Mt. Sinai. Simply put, they were an example of false teachers who sought to manipulate and oppose the truth.

Today You may hear teaching that changes what God’s Word says about marriage by saying that we are all called to love another and we need to see the gospel as more inclusive or you may hear a social gospel being taught focused on justice alone. Each of these and others are false teaching based on man’s view seeking a solution based on our ideas rather than seeing to truth revealed in the gospel that we need to acknowledge our sin and place our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ alone.

We must avoid such men as these and we must choose to pursue right relationships and

Follow Faithful Examples (vv.10–13)

We cannot just look at the negative choose who to avoid, but we must also choose to pursue the right relationships that will walk with us in difficult times.

2 Timothy 3:10–13 10 Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, 11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

We can summarize the two types of examples we should follow – first it shows in their teaching and then it shows in their life

Paul’s Teaching

We see Timothy’s example that he followed Paul’s teaching. He did not follow him based on style of his speech or clothes that he wore. No it was the source and authority of his teaching that Timothy followed.

For each of us, this principle has to go further that what Pastor do you listen to. Your friends and others who influence your life – Do you follow them because they are successful and popular, or do you follow their example because it is grounded on the rock that is God’s Word for our lives?

Paul’s Life

A second test to consider in who we should follow is to view the fruit in their lives. Timothy followed Paul based on his conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love and perseverance and even in the face of the persecution that he endured

Timothy, knowing who Paul had been, a persecutor of Christians, could see the fruit of a changed life

From this we can find two clear applications for us

First - We are called to follow those who live a life based on God’s commands as seen through their changed life and as seen in their teaching based on the sufficient Word of God.

Next we are called to grow to be a man or woman who is one whom others might follow based on our changed life and steadfastness to teaching God’s Word.

This is one of the reasons I am so very thankful this year. Choosing to seek a role as a Pastor here at Faith was easy for me to choose because I knew that I would have many Faithful examples of other Pastors to follow and that I would be blessed with the opportunity to serve alongside many other faithful examples of men and women.

So when we are called to Follow Faithful examples, I recommend that the first place you will look is right here in the church.

SO I want to encourage everyone in this room that as part of your goals for 2021, that you would choose to pursue at least one additional right relationship and if appropriate, to seek to avoid any sinful and destructive relationships.

So again as we celebrate God’s Truth in difficult days, we need to choose to

Remember that hard times come to all people and we should also choose to

pursue right relationships

But there is one more critical choice to make. We must choose to

Hold Fast to God

These last two verses are especially familiar and are at the core of why we do what we do at Faith Church. Verses 16 and 17 are foundational to our commitment to Biblical Counseling and could easily be a whole sermon on their own. But when we read them in their context you can see the key to why we are choosing to close out 2020 by looking at the whole chapter and not just these verses

Seeing the truth that “In the last days difficult times will come,” In the context of a world turning itself upside down and swaying with the moving waves of changing cultural and a belief that truth is relative to the person. IN the context of attacks on the church from the world outside and false teachers inside, we must know that the answer remains to cling to the sufficient and unchanging Scriptures.

Do you remember 9 months ago, in our first virtual services, Pastor Viars recommended a couple things. Limit your news intake and get a lot of time in the Bible. That is what Paul is telling us too – limit your intake from false teachers and the world and cling to the sacred writings that give you wisdom that leads to salvation

Instead of being malicious gossips, like v.3 says—can you say news outlets and media?

Or like v.7 always learning and never able to arrive at the knowledge of the truth—can any say Corona Virus???

Instead of that, we should KNOW OUR BIBLE!

A. Know the Bible (vv.14–15)

2 Timothy 3:14–15 14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Even though there are difficult days ahead – No, actually, BECAUSE there are difficult days ahead. And I know that we all want to say that 2021 will be better – but God’s word says that Evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. That doesn’t sound like a recipe for “getting better.”

So when Timothy first read this, what was he supposed to do? Paul told him to continue in what he learned, which is the sacred writings, which is the Holy Scriptures inspired by God, he was to continue in the Word of God.

As we all look at the chaos that swirls around us – what are we supposed to do? Continue in what we have learned, from the sacred writings, from the Holy Scriptures that are the very Word of God. This is the anchor which we can hold onto so that we are not drawn astray by false teaching and the deceptions of other worldviews.

When you are looking for answers for how we are called to live in the face of difficult times – this is not a time to google it. Do not search the wisdom of the world – Search the unchanging Word of God which is wisdom that leads to salvation through a faith in Jesus Christ.

But these words, these scriptures, knowing the bible will not only lead you to wisdom leading to salvation, they will also lead you to

B. LIVE THE BIBLE

2 Timothy 3:16–17 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

You see God’s Word isn’t just about saving your soul, it’s also about helping you live differently right now, in this present age.

We rightly look around at our culture and are shocked by the wickedness and confusion. We are shocked by the violence, we are shocked by the greed, we are shocked by the division. Well, would you agree that we might need some teaching? How about some reproof and correction? How about training in righteousness!

Friends, I love how freeing this chapter is…when things are out of control what do you cling to? The Word of God!

When you’re not sure what to do, or how to think, or how to respond where do you turn? To the Word of God!

If struggling, and failing in living righteously, where do you turn? To the sufficient Word of God!

Sadly, inside the church and out, there are examples of people looking to others sources to look for truth.

So maybe you’re a Christian businessman, but business is business and you’ve put your trust in secular strategies that aren’t rooted in Scripture? I need to run my business, God’s too busy with other problems - That would be a way to deny the power of God…

Or maybe you’re a parent and you’re looking to parenting strategies for raising your kids, rather than the one book, that was given by the one good father.

Maybe you identify yourself based personality tests more than you do how God describes you in his Word.

I could go on, but my point is, don’t fall into the category of claiming to follow God and trust in Christ and then choose to live the majority of your life apart from Scripture.

All of us struggle with that. So I hope that 2021 will be a year, not when we hope to go back to normal…but a year that we can hope to grow in knowing and living out the Bible for God’s glory and other’s good!

Let’s pray to that end.