Are You All In? |

One Savior

Paul encouraged Timothy that if he was going to be an approved worker, he was to call the people to focus on One Savior. At the time of this writing, the church was divided by doctrine, by divisive members, by cliques.

We still deal with division in the church, it’s nothing new. In fact Jeremiah Burroughs in the early 1600s wrote this list of things that divide:

1. Associating with whisperers. “Many men of moderate spirits, if let alone, yet meeting with men who tell them stories, and speak ill of those men that heretofore they had a good opinion of, before they have examined what the truth is, there is a venom got in their spirits.”

2. Needless disputes. Unnecessary disputes are the necessary practice of those who only have gotten a little knowledge and want to make a name for themselves.

3. Not keeping within the bounds God hath set. Meddling with things that do not concern you. Trying to gain a higher standing for ourselves than God has designed will always come with worms.

4. Propagating evil reports. Let reports be raised, fomented, and spread: whether they be true or no, it makes no matter, something will stick. (Did Burroughs have Facebook and Fake News?)

5. An inordinate cleaving to some, so as denying due respect to others. “And ministers, and others in public places, should not entertain, much less seek for or rejoice in, any honour or respect given to them, which they see detracts from that esteem and countenance that are due to others.” When we divide ourselves into party and weigh the words of our chiefs as more prominent than others.

6. Because men cannot join in all things with others, they will join in nothing. Because you disagree with somebody on one thing you dismiss everything he says. (This would be similar to our cancel culture).

7. To commend and countenance what we care not for, in opposition to what we dislike. When we join with those who are wicked men because they help us defeat our enemies.

8. Revenge. Practicing revenge is the way to continue divisions to the end of the world.

So if this is a common problem, what was Paul’s solution? Remember Jesus.

There are a lot of things that divide us. Economics, backgrounds, race, politics. Disagreements over a whole host of issues can divide, and have divided us.

But we must remember “Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.”

We serve one savior and this year that savior should be what unites us.

Galatians 3:27–28 ESV

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

One Purpose

But how are we to remember Jesus? Do we do it merely by saying, “Hey, that Jesus was a great guy?” No.

Following Jesus isn’t just about saying you agree with Jesus or think Jesus is swell. Jesus said that being his servants demanded something.

Matthew 16:24–25 ESV

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Jesus commands that we do what he did. That we value what he valued. That live as he lived. That we take up our cross and follow him.

We have a purpose as a church. It’s one purpose. It’s the Great Commission.

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus’ purpose for us is simple: Know God, Grow with Christ, Go and make Disciples in the Spirit.

That’s our purpose. This year, we are going to be radically committed to these three things. We are need to be brutal about getting rid of things that don’t help us accomplish this purpose while at the same time seeking to accomplish it.

Everything that we do that does not help us know him, grow in Christ, and Go and make disciples is a distraction. It’s not that they are bad things, theyre just not PURPOSEFUL things.

We are called to one purpose and we need to be focused on accomplishing that. This is what Paul commended the church to do in our text.

2 Timothy 2:11–13 ESV

The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

One Church

Paul ends his commands to Timothy with this truth

2 Timothy 2:14–15 ESV

Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

We must radically guard our unity. Paul encourages them not to quarrel but to be laser focused on the gospel. He calls them to

2 Timothy 2:15 ESV

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

As believer we do this when we love God and love what he loves. This requires three things:

Radical Grace

We need to deal with each other graciously and patiently.

Radical Truth

We need to be faithful in guarding the truth. We don’t quarrel over empty things, but we handle the truth rightly.

Radical Love

Finally we must love each other and love others with the good news. We will talk about what that looks like in the next three weeks, but we must be serious about loving God and loving others.