Unashamed 2 Timothy 2:8

Have you ever been tempted to be ashamed of something that you shouldn’t

I remember when I was younger

embarrassed by my parents

it’s become a cultural thing

but it’s wrong

they gave you

Life

A place to live

Food

Love

Taught you

Sustained you

A faith

What about the gospel

His truth

do you waiver because you are ashamed of what others might think

Here in this section of scripture Paul is worried about Timothy being ashamed.

2 Timothy 1:8–14 “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, 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, 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, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, 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. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.”

Prayer

Lord may we know you more

Becoming like your son

By sharing in suffering

When we are thrown into the fires of persecution make us like steel

When our head wants to hang low let us look to the cross

never backing down

always remembering that our salvation is in you and the sacrifice of your son

Give us your spirit of power, love , and self-control

Ashamed

Do not be Ashamed

Sense of loss of status

Or humiliated

Things are upside down

No shame in living for yourself no matter how detestable your lifestyle

Shame in the Lord

In living a certain lifestyle that says we are bound by our existence to the will of our creator

Two things in the immediate context Paul wanted Timothy to not be ashamed of

Do not be ashamed of the Gospel (testimony of our Lord)

Do not be ashamed of the preacher of the Gospel

Two things repeated in this letter

Persecution will come

Endure the persecution

Endure suffering?

Why do I have to endure?

when those who don’t believe…

The cross tells us all we need to know

Jesus has called us to pick-up a cross

Testimony about our Lord

Gospel

Here is a command for the preacher

This book is not just for preachers

For all believers because where the Gospel is not preached

there is a weakness

Don’t shave off the parts we don’t like

Where is our devotion and love for the Gospel and it’s truth

Loving People

For the sake of the Gospel?

People

Are why Paul was in prison

What do people do?

Sin

Deserted him

Caused him the most heartache

Mark 8:36–38 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.””

I will relax or skip that

I won’t get too personal

I don’t want to be too bold

I’ll just tone it down

I’m not one of those christians I’m a cool christian

I’m just like you

accept the things you do

speak like you

I love everybody?

More than the gospel

Will the preacher be a Stephen

stoned to death

For a promotion

to fit in?

to avoid a stigma?

Jesus in John 6:60–61 “When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?”

John 6:67–68 “So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,”

Luke 19:42–44 “saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.””

Could he have just shaved off some of the difficult parts that the Jews hated?

told them that they were doing pretty good actually

Paul knows that there is a temptation to fit in with the world

To not appear to different

to agree with popular opinion

The church in Corinth had this struggle

1 Corinthians 1:26–30 “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,”

This preacher

The gospel

2 Timothy 1:9–12 “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, 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, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do.

Me A Prisoner

Evidence of those who don’t love the gospel is they are ashamed of those who preach it

Perhaps they were expecting someone not Paul

1 Corinthians 2:1–5 “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Why does this not attract the big crowds

Why is the growth slow

Why do some leave the truth?

We are not consumers in the market of commercial Christianity

We are called to be those who will suffer for the sake of Christ

We’ve already established that Paul wants Timothy to know he doesn’t need Paul but the Lord

However, Paul has set the pattern for Timothy

Running story

2 Timothy 1:12–13 “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. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”

1 Corinthians 4:7–13 “For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.”

Guard the Good Deposit

2 Timothy 1:14 “By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.”

The gospel unchanged

What we have in the Gospel is our life

more precious than this physical life we have here on earth

We will suffer for it but it is guarded in us by

The power of God 9

Through Jesus Christ 10

With the dwelling of the Holy Spirit 14