Be Different!

Identity and Purpose

Sometimes I sit back, thinking about all of the evil in the world around us and I look for a reason, a central cause for it all and I say if only . . .

Maybe this is something you do too. I’ll look at how thoughtlessly people act when they’re so concerned with their own plans and goals. I’ll think to myself, “if only people were less self-centered, if only people were genuinely concerned for their neighbors, that would solve so many of our problems.” And that one single thing changes, I’ll think that if only people were wiser or better educated or more honest or more responsible, that would solve so many of our world’s problems. In reality, it wouldn’t. Each one of these changes might solve some problems, sure, but they are each just a different face of the real central issue - sinful broken people.

Our reading for today from 2 Timothy 2:14-3:9 says

2 Timothy 2:14–3:9 (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.

But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness,

and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.

But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.

And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,

correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,

and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,

treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions,

always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.

But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

It contrasts two different identities, one in line with God’s will for living and one in opposition to it, a saint and a sinner. One rests in the identity of God’s firm foundation, of His love for us, a worker who has no need to be ashamed. The other rests in the things of this broken world, of self-interest, of wickedness that must be avoided. One has a purpose to be useful to God and ready for every good work, the other seeks only to serve his own interest and loves to do what shouldn’t be done. We want to be the former, to be good and righteous and accepted by God. In reality, on our own we are the later, evil and wicked, deserving to be rejected by God.

Faith Shown by Works

But we stand on God’s firm foundation, we know and trust that Jesus died for our sins and in His death and resurrection we are forgiven. That knowledge shouldn’t just impact our eternal reality though, being a Christian and having this faith should make us look different from the world around us in how we think, speak, and act. The characteristics of someone who knows what Christ has done for them should be different from someone who doesn’t know. The Son of God died for us, that should change how we go about our lives! In James we are challenged to demonstrate our faith by the works the result from it.

Our reading contrasts the characteristics of these two different identities. One one hand, the saint is described as someone who pursues righteousness, with faith, love, and peace, someone who doesn’t get dragged into meaningless arguments. What does that look like? What does it look like to pursue righteousness? It means you constantly try to do the right thing. It means when you’re making a decision, you think about what direction God would take you. It means that you put others first, it means that you speak kindly to other people, it means that you get up every day and ask “what would God have me do?” What does it look like to live with faith? It means you trust that God will take care of you and let go of the stress and anxiety that threatens to creep in. It means you do what you should, even if it looks like you’re going to suffer for it. What does it look like to live with love? It means that you will seek what is best for the people around you, not what feels good or makes you or them happy, but what is genuinely best for them. What does it look like to be at peace? It means not arguing about things that don’t matter, it means living with an attitude of forgiveness, it means seeking out reconciliation with other people in the face of conflict.

And that looks different from our sinful nature, from the sinner that loves only himself, from the love of money, from pride, from arrogance, from abuse, from disobedience, from ingratitude, from unholiness. The sinner is described as “heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” Brothers and sisters, avoid these things and people who would lead you into them.

We are not called to act like everybody else. If you speak and behave exactly like someone outside the faith would, this text is challenging you to be different! Challenging you to be better!

Be Different

But our hope is not in our actions, it’s never in our actions. It is in God’s firm foundation for us in the sacrifice of our Savior and Lord Jesus. We are saints, not because we do all of those things perfectly, we are saints because Jesus has said we are saints. And in response to that, because of that new identity He gives us, we respond.

It’s not just the identity, purpose, and characteristics that separate the saint and the sinner. It’s also the eternal result. The Bible uses this metaphor a handful of times. A farmer gathers up wheat from his fields. When he takes it in, he separates the wheat from everything else, from the useless parts of the plant, from the weeds that snuck in with the harvest, from everything that got caught up that wasn’t wheat. The wheat is stored and used, the chaff is put outside and burned.

Or maybe for a more modern example, for those of us who aren’t farmers. A few months back, Chris and I went through the storage container and we sorted stuff into two piles. One pile was stuff that we need for church or for events we do or for something else, the other pile was trash - broken cords, unusable materials, and ruined pieces. At the end of the day, all the useful stuff was put back into storage and all of the trash was put into the dumpster. In Jesus, through His sacrifice, not one of us is trash. Each and every one of us is useful and valuable to Him and to His body, the church, you are loved and you are saved - just don’t forget to act like it. Amen.