Defend It

like those chairs? We just put them in the middle to reward people who sit there, other half on the way.. set a trap didn’t work, blessed 4 other churches with our old chairs

Intro: When I named this series nothing but the truth, the courtroom scene is what inspired me, and that’s where we are going to land today. We have all heard the oath given before someone takes the stand, Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Find your way to 2 Timothy 1:8-14

Nothing but the truth so help me God… We’ve talked about speaking truth, about finding freedom in truth, about believing the truth, and this week we are going to talk about defending the truth. The apostle Paul who wrote most of our New Testament wrote a couple letters to his protege Timothy. Well he probably wrote more than a couple letters to him but we include two of those letters in the Bible and our passage today is part of that second letter.

2 Timothy 1:8–14 8“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, 9who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, 10but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11for which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher. 12For this reason I also suffer these things; but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to protect what I have entrusted to Him until that day. 13Hold on to the example of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 14Protect, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”

So let’s keep that courtroom mindset in place, and see where verse 8 shows us that defense starts with a good testimony.

Defense starts with a testimony (v8)

In the courtroom the defense might call for a witness to take the stand. The defense will call witnesses who ideally will help present a perspective to those who are listening that will convince them that the defense’s proposed version of the truth is most believable.

Just this Friday, right in front of our house became a crime scene. It’s 4:00am, Allison is hearing some noises outside, keep in mind I’m only taking her word and the word of our ring doorbell on this because I sleep through tornadoes, earthquakes, and large explosions. So she wakes up to check things out, and what took place is someone stole a car, then parked it in front of our house, and abandoned it there and jumped in a car with someone else. Now when I say they parked it in front of our house, what I really mean is in the road. Not somewhat pulled off the road, not beside the road, or in our driveway, they left in parked in the driving lane of the road, and there it sat for at least 4 hours as school busses and daily commuters dodged their way around it. Ok so maybe a little too much detail, but about 7:30 we had a sheriff in our living room asking Allison some questions. Now something you need to know about Allison is that in another life she would be one of two people. First, obviously an NFL football player just so she could run out of the tunnel in a packed stadium, but if she couldn’t do that she would be a crime scene investigator minus the blood, violence, and drugs of course. So just really clean crime scenes where she cracks cases but doesn’t have to see any of the details, make sense?

So I was blown away with the energy I could hear coming out of her as the Sheriff was asking for what she experienced about this automobile theft case that she was obviously going to help crack. When the Sheriff finished gathering her report, he asked this question. Would it be ok if I included your name in the report? Obviously she said yes, because this could be the beginning of her new career as an investigator.

Verse 8 said don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or the shame that comes from suffering from this testimony. If we are going to defend the truth it starts with agreeing to have our name attached to a testimony about what we have seen and experienced in our relationship with Christ. Too many of us are generally ok with being associated with Christianity until someone begins to ask specific questions about our testimony. Allison shared her testimony with energy for two reasons. First, she thought she could share information that would make a difference. Do you believe that your testimony makes a difference. Of course it does, Revelation says the words of your testimony combined with Jesus’ blood makes us overcomes, and our testimony leads others to repentance. Secondly, Allison shared her testimony with energy because she was confident in what she had observed. Look at what 2 Timothy 2:15 says…

2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”

Many of us lack a testimony because we lack knowledge. We don’t want to take the witness stand if we have not observed or experienced an event. We can remove shame and gain confidence in our testimony as we handle the word of truth diligently and consistently. To defend the truth, we start with a testimony, but we can only have a testimony as we build confidence in the truth by observing and living out God’s word.

Something else that might happen within the courtroom is a cross examination.

Cross examination (v9-12)

The very mention of this phrase might cause someone to be anxious or nervous, especially within a courtroom. We may take the stand confidently when we simply have to testify in accordance with the defense but knowing that our story might be challenged by the opponent brings a sense of discomfort. If the prosecutor can bring up questions that you might not be prepared for you could be made to look like a fool, you might become ashamed of your testimony, you might even take on a sense of guilt for a mistake that you made within your testimony. For those of you that aren’t slow in matters like this, when you saw the point “cross examination” you might have thought there’s a double meaning there, and of course there is. When we are cross examined by the enemy, as Christians we can only be examined through the lens of Christ’s work on the Cross.

Erwin Lutzer said this about the enemy’s attempt to accuse you. He says…

No Christian can commit the “unpardonable sin.” Those who have transferred their trust to Christ have had their sins pardoned. Christ has canceled all of our transgressions. He knew us long before we were born; He knew the evil we would do; and He covered it all. When Satan accuses us, we must show him our canceled certificate and read aloud, “Paid in full.” We must say to him, “Begone! For it is written, ‘Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us’” (Romans 8:33–34). Our attorney, Christ, has pleaded our case, and God has accepted His plea. And when God speaks, the universe listens.

Lutzer, Erwin W.. God's Devil: The Incredible Story of How Satan's Rebellion Serves God's Purposes (pp. 116-117). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.

That’s why saying the name of Jesus is so powerful, when we don’t know what to say, aren’t sure how to answer, we can speak the name of Jesus and the enemy must flee. The enemy can do nothing but try to intimidate you and cause you to believe that the work of the cross is less powerful than it is. Which of course brings us back to a thought we shared last week, all the enemy can do is lie, it is his native language. So when you feel like your faith is in a state of cross examination, you remember that you can only be examined through the work of the cross.

Tying this back to today’s text let’s look again at verses 9 and 10. 2 Timothy 1:9–10 “(Jesus)who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, (You keep believing your worth is tied up in your works, but verse 9 shows us here that He had a purpose for you that was granted from eternity, not in eternity or in the future, but from an eternal realm that existed far before you were thought of by any human here on earth), going on verse 10 but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,” (Now that Jesus has appeared His purpose for you is made alive in the gospel message.)

When you are cross examined you can stand confident because of the work of cross of Christ.

Finally, verses 13 and 14 talk about protecting the witness. So why not title this point witness protection right? Much of this point we just covered has to do with defending yourself against the accusations of the devil, but we must defend the truth in the presence of others as well. Let’s look at verse 13-14 again.

Witness protection (v13- 14)

2 Timothy 1:13–14 “Hold on to the example of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Protect, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”

If we were told we were going to be put in the witness protection program we would understand it to mean that special measures are being taken to protect us because we have born witness to something that might put us in danger. This morning I want us to think of this phrase as, “us protecting the witness of jesus Christ” because we have been told to do so here by Paul when he reminds us that the treasure of the gospel message has been entrusted to us.

What measures are we taking to protect the treasure of the gospel message? Could it be that we aren’t protecting the message because we don’t treasure it as we should?

We must protect the treasure of the truth which is the gospel message, because that same message in turn protects us. We tend too frequently quote Isaiah 55:11 when we say that we know that the Word of God will not return void. I feel that most of the time we have used it as a quick reminder that if you share God’s word it will have an impact when it seem like it might not, but look at this whole verse here. Isaiah 55:11 “So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it.”

The gospel message will not simply impact the one who hears it, but when the truth of God’s word is preached, and taught, and shared, and lived out, it will not simply just have an impact, but this verse says it will bring about the purpose for which it was sent… and that purpose is to reconcile all women and men, of every age, and every race and nationality unto Himself.

When we fail to protect the witness of Jesus Christ, when we fail to hold the line against outside influences who would look to tear down this message, we have failed at defending the truth.

I suppose post-election we could talk about defending the truth as standing behind a certain policy, issue, or candidate. But defending the truth isn’t about a t-shirt, hat, yard sign, facebook or instagram post. Defending the truth today means being so saturated in His word and motivated by His love that you will want to speak the truth to others from a heart that is motivated toward repentance above justice, a mind that is transformed rather than boastful, and from a Spirit that reflects the humble and merciful Spirit of Jesus living inside of you.

RESPONSE -

I’m going to invite the team as we prepare to respond to today’s message.

When Jesus showed up on the scene born to a virgin Mary in a manager, the way of defending anything in those times had a military connotation to it. That’s what they all expected in a Messiah, a military general. Jesus defended the truth by removing all question about what the truth was. Japanese author (shoe-sock-ew) Shusaku Endo described Jesus so simply yet complexly as a man who had such great love that he was willing to die even for those who did not yet believe.

Jesus laid down His life in defense of the truth, but not on a battle ground, a political rally, or a picket line. He did so by surrendering His rights, sacrificing comfort, and allowing the Truth of the life that He lived to prevail to the point that I’m talking about it to you right now over 2000 years later. Even moments before Jesus’ torture began, the Roman governor Pontius stood in front of Jesus and posed the question What is truth? Perhaps for just a moment, Pilate thought more about the truth…instead of a political agenda. In the landscape of our country today, seeking truth over political agendas might be a better way. Nevertheless, in that moment, the irony was that Jesus was the very essence of truth itself and yet in that moment He said nothing. Jesus knew that real truth would be authenticated as He suffered for a creation that He loved in spite of the fact that many did not yet love or believe in Him.

Are you ready to take the stand? Would you be a viable witness? Would you convince the judge and jury? Will you hold the line to protect the truth?

I had considered today, writing an oath and posting it and inviting you to join in an oath to defend the truth, but decided to use the bridge of the song that we are about to sing instead. Will you stand and listen as i read the words to the bridge of this song, and as I read them to you will be honest and if there’s something in these lyrics where you would say… whoa, that’s a little too much for me, but God that’s who I want to be for you. Would you use that as your prayer point as you come to the altars today.

Christ Be Magnified Bridge - I won't bow to idols, I'll stand strong and worship You And if it puts me in the fire, I'll rejoice 'cause You're there too I won't be formed by feelings, I hold fast to what is true If the cross brings transformation then I'll be crucified with You 'Cause death is just the doorway into resurrection life And if I join You in Your suffering, then I'll join You when You rise And when You return in glory with all the angels and the saints My heart will still be singing, my song will be the same

PRAY - God I keep bowing to idols, but I want to stand for you. Lord I’ve let feelings push me around too much, help me to stand on your Truth rather than waver to emotions. Lord I know if suffering comes, that I will be in good company because you suffered before me. Lord help me celebrate that when you return our song will be the same. CHRIST BE MAGNIFIED. Let’s come and pray today church.

POST RESPONSE

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