2 Timothy 1:1-14
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Pastor Bill called me yesterday to let me know that he had something come up and that he was not available today, so I am pinch-hitting today. Hopefully, this will be useful to you all.
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus,
2 To Timothy, my beloved child:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3 I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 4 As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, 12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. 13 Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
I want to look at this scripture as we think about a couple of things.
First, I want you to see how your legacy matters.
Second, I want to point to the absolute importance of shepherding your family.
So, let’s look at the first point: Your Legacy Matters.
Today, when we think of legacy, we think of monetary accomplishments, of notoriety, or of passing on what we have acquired to our children and grandchildren.
And I think there is some merit to those definitions, in the main. I think of people who have left their legacy as a name on a building, or the name of an institution. In our day, we might think of legacy in terms of: The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, or (before the corporate buyouts) something like Paul Brown Stadium.
If you are a football fan, you know that every year a player who has shown his worth in the world of charity and service is named the “Walter Payton Man of the Year,” because Walter Payton was a man who embodied those things.
So a lot of the time, that is how we think.
But I want you to set that aside, because while the world does look at legacy in those terms, we should think more scripturally than the world. The essence of the idea is right, but the execution many times is not as good.
Look at the legacy here that Paul mentions with Timothy.
Specifically, the legacy of faith. We see Paul here approaching the end of his life, and he desires to impart some final wisdom to Timothy, a man that has been as a son to him.
If we look at verse 2, we see exactly that: “Timothy, my beloved child.” Paul had invested much of his ministry in Timothy.
We first meet Timothy in Acts 16, where we learn that he was a disciple, his father was a Greek, and his mother was a Jew. We see that Paul began to pour into him early on.
And sometimes we just write Timothy off as another of Paul’s less-famous helpers. We concentrate on Paul, and just kinda, occasionally think about guys like Timothy.
But I think that does an injustice to Timothy.
Timothy's name appears as the co-author on 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, and Philemon. In Philippians, Paul says:
19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. 20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.
Even when Paul was at the end of his life, we see here that he desires Timothy by his side:
9 Do your best to come to me soon.
21 Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers.
And again, I think that we don’t think of Timothy as a person as important as Paul, but scripture paints a picture of a man who followed closely in Paul’s steps.
Hebrews 13:23 seems to indicate that Timothy had been imprisoned, and had been released.
Paul would send Timothy places he couldn’t go himself, because he trusted Timothy so:
1 Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, 2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith,
Paul, in his teaching and training of Timothy, raised up a disciple of Christ who was just as fervent in his zeal for sharing the Gospel.
In fact, history seems to indicate that Timothy died a martyr in the year 97 AD, when the then 80-year-old bishop tried to halt a procession in honor of the goddess Diana by preaching the Gospel. The angry pagans beat him, dragged him through the streets, and stoned him to death.
This is a man who didn’t waste the legacy of faith that had been poured into him.
So my question is, who are you pouring into?
Many of you have kids that you can pour into. Some of you don’t. Some of you don’t have the ability or relationship to pour that legacy of faith into your family. But there are others. There are people in this church who need someone to pour into them. Someone to carry the torch when the time comes.
Who are you pouring into? What will your legacy be?
Secondly, we see that shepherding your family is important.
Look at this scripture again. What the scriptures seem to indicate, pretty clearly, is that the main spiritual force in Timothy’s life prior to meeting Paul, and even after he begins ministry with Paul, was his mother and grandmother.
We see Paul commend their faith by commending Timothy’s. He notes that Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice had been faithful to God, and that this legacy of faith had been passed down to Timothy.
See how Paul puts it:
5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Look also at 2 Tim 3:10-17
10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. 12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Timothy’s mother Eunice made sure that Timothy was raised with knowledge of the scriptures. Timothy’s grandmother Lois poured into Eunice and probably Timothy as well.
Albert Barnes, in his commentary on 2 Timothy, notes this: "The mother of Timothy was a pious Hebrewess, and regarded it as one of the duties of her religion to train her son in the careful knowledge of the word of God."
Timothy was able to be Paul’s right hand man and spiritual son because his mother had trained him in the scriptures early on.
Now, I understand that some of you may read verses like this and have a twinge of pain in your soul, because I know some of you hurt for your children or grandchildren that may not be in church, that may not follow Christ.
We cannot change the past. And we must work every day to pursue personal holiness and become more Christ-like. But in doing that, those of you who have family still around, use those times that God has given you to pour into your family. As matriarchs and patriarchs, during the holidays coming up, take time to call your family’s minds to scripture. Use the time you have to pour into your kids, your grandkids, your great-grandkids.
What if we stopped looking at legacy as a way to pass down our 401k and started looking at it as a way of passing down the truths of scripture, the knowledge of scripture, and the joy and admonition of the Lord, in such a way that you, even at this stage of life, can make a difference in your family’s life.
It isn’t too late until you are dead. Don’t wait. It may be awkward. It may be uncomfortable. But you still have the chance to pour into your family, into your church, into your friends. You still have the opportunity to invest in something that is so much more substantial than a mutual fund. You can invest in the kingdom of God, which will never have to worry about a recession. You can invest in people who need to know that Jesus is real and that He is the only way.
As Paul says here,
13 Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
Are you looking to guard the good deposit that has been entrusted to you?