Foes, Friends, and Foundations: Who are your influences?

Introduction

When I was 13, my parents would drive me friends to punk rock shows. One of the bands we saw was Anti-Flag. We listened to their albums a lot, and had a pretty good understanding that it was good to overthrow the government.

Needless to say, the show in Denver was alright. One of my friends got head butted pretty good and had a pretty good cut above his eyebrow. When my mom picked us up in her minivan she asked, “how’d it go? did you guys have a good time?” In hindsight, it was kind of surreal.

How did we get to that point? What drives a 13 year old to go to protest shows and want to overthrow the government? The most succinct answer I can give is his influences.

I had a large hole in my life when my parents divorced as a kid. It only took some mild affirmation from a weird group of kids to draw me into their circle.

Who do you follow? When do you know who to unfollow, unsubscribe, unfriend, unlike, and generally stop being around?

One of the most difficult things for people to do is to make relationships with people that they shouldn’t be around in the first place, only to realize how they aren’t a good influence and need to leave those friendships. It hurts! Sometimes, we make an idol out of our friendships. “We need to have them!,” or, “It’s a part of my identity to associate with these people!”

That last one is kinda scary. There’s some truth to it. Who you associate with becomes part of your identity. Who your friends are is an indicator of what you believe.

The last letter the Apostle Paul wrote is 2 Timothy.

In the first two chapters, Paul is urging Timothy to stay true to the gospel. To not be ashamed of it, and even to suffer for it. He wants him to stay away from false teaching, even as he needs to confront people who are telling falsehoods about the gospel.

In chapter 3, Paul is talking about how being opposed to Christ and His teaching defines the last days. It’s a really long last days.

Read 2 Timothy 3:1-9 – Those to Avoid

2 Timothy 3:1–9 ESV

1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

Ask about which of the traits in this list stand out to the students. Compare this list to Galatians 5:22-23.

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

2 Timothy 3:5 says to “avoid such people.” We can’t leave this world behind, because there’s no way to not be around these people completely. Rather, we shouldn’t allow these people to get close enough to us to influence us. We should love them with the gospel, but we shouldn’t give in to their beliefs.

How can we practice endurance in what we believe for when we encounter these people?

That’s where Paul goes next.

Read 2 Timothy 3:10-15 – Those to Trust

2 Timothy 3:10–15 ESV

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.

Ask about what traits Paul is asking Timothy to remember. Emphasize his teaching, conduct, aim in life, faith, patience, love, steadfastness, persecutions, sufferings, endurance, and how he always points to the Lord.

Ask the students about what those traits mean.

How can you continue in what you have learned?

Paul is making the case here that Timothy shouldn’t follow the people he listed before. He should remember what he has learned. He should embrace persecution.

Persecution is a badge of honor in our culture. The LGBT community believes it is persecuted because of its behavior. They don’t even justify their behavior in “I was born this way” anymore. The Mormon’s believe they’re persecuted. The government came after them because they had multiple wives, but now that their teaching has changed, they are ok.

The truth is, it’s not persecution our church loves. It’s being a victim. Victim’s always win the hearts of people. The truth though is that while we are all victims of sin, we are really perpetrators of sin. We want to justify our behavior no matter the cost. What we fail to realize is that we will never be justified in sin, even when it’s presented to us. We need God to work in our lives to change our hearts.

Once our hearts are changed, why would we go back to surrounding ourselves with wicked people? Instead we should turn to those who faithfully live and endure hardships while promoting the gospel of Jesus Christ and living as God wants us to live.

How do we become equipped to do that? What has God given us? His Word.

Read 2 Timothy 3:16-17 – Equipped to be Whole

The first and last time I tried jiu jitsu I was wholly unprepared. I had an intense 2-hour cross-fit style workout that included running, cycling, pushups, and burpees. I discovered some muscles I didn’t realize I had, and wish that I never knew about them in the first place because they hurt so bad.

Pro-tip: Don’t eat a giant piece of lemon meringue pie before you work out. I was retching in the parking lot of the local grocery store after and let me tell you it was not pretty.

It’s foolish to think you’re prepared to fight someone in jiujitsu when you can’t even keep your stomach. We need to be trained.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

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.

This means the Old Testament and the New Testament are profitable for us. We use them to teach about God, His Story, His Character, how He wants us to live, and His Gospel.

We use this book to reprove one another. That means, we use it like the bumper rails when you go bowling. We don’t beat someone up with it, but when someone hits the rails we redirect them to the pins.

We correct one another with the Word. That means that when someone says something that isn’t according to God, we use the Word to show where they are mistaken.

We also use it to train for righteousness. Athletes train for a competition. Computer coders and programmers know their code before they hit git.hub. Songwriters know how songs are made before they just start hitting the strings on a guitar or keys on a keyboard. Christians need to know God’s Word as the way they train for what they are supposed to be.

What are they supposed to be? Complete.

“Equipped” means “mended.” That implies that something is broken. It means “to be made perfect.” That means you are imperfect. It means “to set a broken bone.” That means you are wounded. To be complete one day means you aren’t now.

That’s why you need God’s Word. You train with it to be complete because God wants you to be whole and healed as a person.

If you follow those who live like wicked people, don’t be surprised if you are trained to be more wicked. To believe lies. To love and live like people who hate to be made whole by God’s Word.

Follow those who want you to be made whole. Follow those who set boundaries like bumpers at the bowling alley. Who correct you, even harshly if it’s needed to make sure you are on the path to be made whole.

Read God’s Word for yourself! If you want to be made whole, train for it. Train for it and grow in it. It’s not something additive. Training for a sport, future job, or hobby won’t make you whole. Only God, through Christ, through His Spirit, through His Word, can make you whole.

Here’s a good example: Take 15 minutes each morning to do a few things.

Read one chapter of your bible.

I highly recommend the ESV daily reading bible. It has some explanation before you read a section, and makes you answer a question about what you just read. If you want to learn how to read the bible and be equipped in it, this is a great starting place.

Journal.

Write

Pray