If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.
Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy
and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but
set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council
of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Over the years we have all seen how the church and her ministers get distracted…things other than God’s Word take priority for a time, or at least seem to rival God’s plan of
Word and sacrament. There have been fads, granted not Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtles, but things like WWJD, Prayer of Jabez, Promise Keepers…and any number of things that pop up as “answers”.
Christians get overly hopeful with political agendas, putting the right person in office, or the right piece of legislation…that will bring the kingdom, that is our hope.
Listen to this, I read some months ago: For some Christians, numerology took on immense importance and they scoured the Bible for the secret codes that it was supposed to contain.
Perhaps you’ve heard that the World Trade Center towers looked like an eleven. They had 110 stories, a multiple of eleven. The first flight to hit them on 9-11 was Flight 11. There are Christians who think this is significant and many through the ages who
have looked in the Bible for secret clues to the present and the future.
All of this is genuinely silly and is nothing but a distraction from the Bible’s great message. Christian people, who should have known better, concentrated on all of this
to a degree they did not concentrate on training in good doctrine or godliness.
Some years ago, a college student told me that because we live in a visually based culture, not a word-based culture, and who can argue with that observation…it is absolutely
true that the visual has captivated the culture…so her conclusion was that the church must give up the antiquated practice of preaching and turn to more effective means, such as drama and multimedia communications. The student concluded with, “preaching
simply doesn’t work.”
These simple things, that you have grown accustomed to, that you come to church expecting…to hear God speak to you through His word, to take in your hands the body and
blood of Christ Jesus, to be nourished on the Savior and all of this before the heavenly throne of God and the Lamb…
…these simple things, brothers and sisters…these are life…this is what you need that you might know the kind- mercy and love of our Father in Heaven. This is what Timothy
is told to not neglect, this is what he was to devote himself to, for his sake and for the sake of the congregation there in Ephesus.
I know that we could do more innovative things, perhaps some would say, more interesting things. We could try and get some professional athletes that are known to be
Christians to come and speak instead of you having to listen to me yet another week.
These famous people could give their testimony, or better yet, we could interview them and take questions from the audience, I mean the congregation, and if we advertised
it in the right way, we could get more people to come to our church. We could do that.
We could give a free TV to whoever brought the most guests to church over a one-month period and we could cancel church on Super Bowl Sunday and have a big party with
a big screen, or better yet, project it on all three of our walls.
Or a really popular move…we could have a late Saturday night service,
we would have to ignore the fact that God actually set a part a day when heaven and earth intersect at His divine command…and that he didn’t leave it up to us to choose when the Sabbath day should be observed…but hey, at least that way we wouldn’t ruin anyone’s
Sunday plans.
You realize of course how vastly unpopular it is to say what God has said about all of this? But what are we to do? The Lord has gifted us the Lord’s Day, and He has
filled it with Himself…and He has ordained His ways; word, sacrament, confession, praise and prayer for His people to be assured of His love and mercy and to train themselves for godliness.
It doesn’t seem to me that the question for us is, are we popular, or, are we doing what folks want…don’t get me wrong, our goal is not to be unpopular…but what we are
to desire are God’s ways and Hehas laid out the path to godliness…it is ours to find ourselves upon it.
To be continued
Prayer: Father, give my faith a sight and a holy remembrance of all that You have planned for Your people and all that Jesus willing took upon Himself that You may
be glorified and Your people rescued from sin, death and hell. I am ashamed at how easily I forget these holy truths and how callously I can live my life as though none of them were true. Forgive me, and lead me this day to rejoice in the salvation that You
have given me and the continued work of Your Spirit, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: O Light than Knew No Dawn