Encouragement (Onesiphorus)

Read 1 Corinthians 12:20 “But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.”

In Christ there are many parts; we have teachers, preachers, workers, bus drivers, encouragers, and everything you can think of

How many of you have ever played sports in your life?

Anyone here watched soccer or played? Maybe baseball? Basketball?

Who gets the least attention? It is the goalie, the catcher, and the center.

They don’t get the most attention but at their core the game breaks down without them.

If you do not have a good goalie then it is fairly unimportant how your offense is because every time the enemy strikes they will succeed.

Try to play baseball without a catcher…

By a show of hands how many of you worked or are working in the food industry?

How many of you were best friends with the cook?

Could the business have continued without them?

Paul says in the following verses (vs.21-26) that we ought to have no division, no separation of joy, but that we all might uplift one another, share each others burdens, and rejoice with one another

We would never want to do just enough to “Get by”, we have people depending on us, no matter how “great” or “small” our work for the Lord might be. There is no great or small.

There is certainly always work to be done within the church and just like Paul would charge the church of Christ assembled in Corinth we too ought to follow this command (Have someone read 1 Corinthians 15:58)

“Always” abounding in the work of the Lord, this doesn’t just mean the spiritual successes and happy times of the faith.

Like Jon pointed out last Wednesday, East Main is currently doing wonderful AND we are being blessed by God to see the fruits of these labors.

During this time it can be easy, things can be enjoyable and even fun, but what about like how Jeffrey talked about, what about when the storm comes?

How will we act when the waves of life rock the ship so violently that the boat seems it might tip?

I would invite us to open to the main passage of our lesson tonight which can be found in 2 Timothy 1:16-18

Onesiphorus was a man, he lived and breathed on this Earth and the work he did earned him a spot in the inspired Word of God.

To my knowledge there are 4 verses on Onesiphorus in the New Testament, what we are currently seeing here in the text we just read and then also over in 2 Timothy 4:19

Although we are given but a few verses on this man we can learn of his; devotion to Christ, and his commitment despite any circumstance to encourage, strengthen, and help any way he could his fellow brother in Christ, Paul.

A man who was certainly “Always” abounding in the work of the Lord.

Three Major Points:

His actions

We know from the verb tense that Onesiphorus repeatedly refreshed the Apostle Paul

This refreshing could be in the literally refreshing like how David needed to refresh himself after a long journey in 2 Samuel 16:14

We are very familiar with this refreshment like having an ice cold lemonade on a hot summer day

This could also be in a spiritual sense of refreshment like 1 Samuel 16:23

We also all have encouragers in our lives who in our moments of pain and weakness are there to build us up and strengthen our resolve

Onesiphorus provided refreshment in one of if not both of these ways, he oft refreshed Paul and was not ashamed of his chains.

As a reminder, this 2nd letter to Timothy would be written while Paul was currently a Roman prisoner. And we know from the Word of God that this was at least his second time in Roman imprisonment.

His first imprisonment in Rome is found in Acts 28:30-31 where we learn that he is on house arrest and was not able to come and go as he pleased.

This time was a little different. Paul was no longer renting out a house to stay in while being under Roman watch, he was fulled imprisoned, writing of his chains with a high possibility that he would be in the Mamertine dungeon.

This would have been a very infamous place for prisoners in Rome due to the fact that this was a waiting place for those sentenced to execution or punishment.

We know that history speaks of these dungeons not treating the prisoners with food and water which made them very dependent on their loved ones to bring them proper food or water to eat.

Onesiphorus’ refreshment could have been this way as well which makes sense because evidently 2 Timothy 1:17 points out that he sought out Paul; very diligently (KJV)

It seemed to have taken some looking to find Paul and of course there was no electronic log of exactly where a prisoner was, but Onesiphorus was determined to find his brother in Christ and when he did he made it a point to refresh Paul.

What is interesting is this is not Onesiphorus’ first time providing help to the apostle, in vs. 18 we are shown that he served at Ephesus to a degree that was apparently well known to Timothy and required no further explaining.

We know from 1 Corinthians 15:32 that it was a hostile environment at Ephesus but it did not stop Onesiphorus from providing encouragement and service to Paul, and ultimately to the Lord.

The Atmosphere in which Onesiphorus labored

It is important to keep in mind the charge the Holy Spirit gave Paul to write to the church of Christ in Corinth to always abound in the work of the Lord.

Another point to bring to light is the specifics of Paul’s circumstance in 2 Timothy and the reality of the entirety of Christianity. Most scholars and historians cling to late 64-65 AD for the writing of 2 Timothy

The Great Fire of Roman started on July 18th, 64AD and lasted for 6 days before it could be put out and destroy 10 out of Rome’s 14 districts.

Nero was emperor and blamed this fire on the Christians, as you could imagine, Paul’s situation was getting worse, and becoming a Christian or even a supporter of one made you public enemy number one, however this was not something that wavered Onesiphorus.

The condition of labor, or atmosphere of it did not present a deterrent to Onesiphorus, we know things were difficult in Ephesus, and of course they were in Rome as well, but he stood and contended, his service was not going to change based on outside influence

Whatever it required to do this work, even if it meant delving into a dungeon of a hostile nation, Onesiphorus could be counted on, he could be trusted.

The Attitude of Onesiphorus

Onesiphorus was not ashamed of Paul’s chains

This was important because shame, or better yet the lack thereof would be a foundation to this letter given to Timothy that would be where the rest of the letter took its root from as we see in 2 Timothy 1:8

It seems that one of the reasons that Paul wrote this letter to Timothy was to encourage him, it could be that Timothy was in a time of discouragement and needed help in the right direction.

Timothy was being encouraged to not be ashamed of the Lord, or of Paul’s own bondage but rather to join in the trial and take hold of the power of God

How many of you have ever gone somewhere you shouldn’t have that your parents would not have approved of?

Most of us are in college or around that age, let me give you a scenario: (go into the party and false imprisonment)

This is something as Christians we ought to be aware of as well. We well know trials shall come our way and we ought to uplift those around us when they go through these trying times instead of shying away from them or our duty to the Lord

The attitude here in this chapter seems to be summed up in 2 Timothy 1:12, Paul says he is not ashamed, and shows how others such as Onesiphorus are not ashamed, so that he might encourage a fellow brother like Timothy to not be ashamed either

Philippians 2:1-2

Ephesians 1:3

Romans 10:17

Hebrews 11:1 and vs. 6

Acts 17:30

Matthew 10:32

Mark 16:16