Legacy pt 6

As we move into the beginning of Paul’s final words, we begin to see what has made Paul who he is and what he hopes will be his final legacy for Timothy, for the churches he has planted, and for us, who have inherited his mantle.

Paul wants Timothy to be the person who picks up what will be left when he dies. He knows that in order to do this, Timothy is going to have to be prepared for a life like Paul’s and be rooted in the same place that Paul has been rooted- the truth.

When you look at verses 10-11, we see Paul, one final time, reminding Timothy all that he has seen from Paul’s life. And notice Paul starts with the really good:

Teaching- Gospel

Conduct- how he acted

Aim in life- guiding principles that led to those actions

Faith- in Christ alone

Patience- with people and circumstances

Love - for all people- friends and foes (this will be important in vs 12)

Steadfastness- standing firm despite discouragement

All of these things are examples Paul has tried to set across his whole ministry. You see some or all of them in some form both in the history book of Acts as well as in all of his letters. Paul never claims to be perfect but he always done his best to be all in.

1, 2 Timothy, Titus (1) The Example of Paul (3:10–13)

he used examples of his passive commitment in the face of persecution and affliction. The verb “know” described Timothy as someone who had carefully traced out the events of Paul’s life. It “does not imply that Timothy has always been at the side of Paul but that he has observed that life with close interest

Church we need, now more than ever, to be those people. Because the first Gospel more and more people are going to hear in our day and time is going to be our actions, before they ever hear our words.

That’s what happens when the Gospel is reduced to a slogan.

(Example “thoughts and prayers”)

But look at how Paul continues this list in verse 11. It takes a TURN!

my persecutions and sufferings

and he names 3 specific places- Antioch, Iconium, Lystra

Antioch- driven out of the district

Iconium- attempted stoning

Lystra- actually stoned and left for dead (Timothy would have witnessed this in person)

1, 2 Timothy, Titus (1) The Example of Paul (3:10–13)

“The Lord ever rescues his people, frequently from death, sometimes by means of death. Either way, nothing ever separates them from his love (

All the things he commends to Timothy result in these last things. Don’t believe me? Look at verse 12

Live a godly life “in Jesus Christ.”

You cannot follow Jesus without some people seeing you as an enemy.

1, 2 Timothy, Titus (1) The Example of Paul (3:10–13)

Persecution “may vary in degree and take different forms in different countries and in different ages, but the basic hostility of the world to the godly man remains unchanged.”

And truthfully, real persecution, draws us closer to Jesus, not further from Him as Paul asserts here in this passage.

1, 2 Timothy, Titus (1) The Example of Paul (3:10–13)

The believer experiences fellowship with Christ in suffering as a part of the mystical union with him.

Today we have people going out of their way to claim persecution or create opportunities to say they are persecuted, while actual persecution for being “in Jesus” goes ignored or worse “they deserve it” because they are against the social norms of the day.

Church, we won’t have to seek out persecution or invent it. It will find us when we live for Jesus.

And it will occur while people who claim to be Christians but are actually deceived keep growing in power and influence and deceiving others. (v13)

1, 2 Timothy, Titus (1) The Example of Paul (3:10–13)

Paul described the false teachers as “evil men” and branded them as religious swindlers or “impostors.” Although the word “imposter” is used outside the New Testament to refer to a dabbler in the occult or a wizard, Paul may have been designating them as impostors, not magicians. The term does link them with Jannes and Jambres, whom he had mentioned in 3:8. The only progress of these ungodly heretics was in the direction of evil. They succeeded in deceiving others and also in losing their own ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood. They were to be pitied!

Which is ironic to say, since Jesus and John both say that the anti-Christ will deceive people and yet we don’t evaluate people who claim to follow Jesus in new ways by the teachings of Jesus if they prove expedient for how we want to live our lives or in line with our cultural or political preferences.

We struggle with discernment y’all.

So what is Paul’s remedy for both standing against persecution and not being deceived?

You are probably going to roll your eyes, and be tempted to turn your ears off, because it is the same thing that is repeated over and over again in the New Testament.

Build a firm foundation for what you believe based on studying and understanding the Word of God.

Go to verses 14-17

First, Paul says to continue in what you have learned and believed. - We don’t toss aside the old, the foundation, the cornerstone for something new.

1, 2 Timothy, Titus (2) The Enrichment of Scripture (3:14–17)

Timothy had learned the gospel and its demands from a compassionate cadre of teachers. They had not only taught him its outline but had assured him of its reality and truthfulness. Timothy’s need was not to search out new novelties on which he might squander his energies but to remain in the truths he had learned.

The term “continue” (menō) is the same term translated “hold to” or “remain” in

Second, he says to remember who you learned it from.- 2 fold meaning here- both the current people (those who are faithfully following Jesus) and from the eyewitnesses who wrote scripture under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

1, 2 Timothy, Titus (2) The Enrichment of Scripture (3:14–17)

An incentive for remaining in these truths was the personal impact of his teachers upon him. The reference to the “whom” who had instructed Timothy is a plural pronoun in the Greek. Paul was thinking of the moral impact made on Timothy’s life by his mother Eunice and grandmother Lois (1:5) as well as by Paul himself

This is also a WARNING to not be swayed by people who have sprung up trying to undermine Timothy’s faith with false teachings that are contradicting what he has heard previously.

Then he says to remember what Scripture is useful for:

Wisdom for salvation (Gospel presentation here)

Further instruction

Answering difficult questions (reproof)/rebuking false teaching (you have to know it to do it)

Correction- restoration- used as a means of graceful intervention when we agree to its authority

Growing in righteousness

And then he gives the reason why

So we can be equipped to do what God has called us to do and to be who we are supposed to be.

1, 2 Timothy, Titus Excursus 5: Inspiration, Infallibility, Inerrancy, and Authority

If Timothy would nurture his spiritual life in the Scriptures that he would use in his ministry, he would be fully qualified and prepared to undertake whatever tasks God put before him

And what are we supposed to be?

Lights in darkness

Salt

A city on a hill

Ambassadors

In short, the people who are advancing the Kingdom of God on earth.

And we cannot do that if we don’t understand the marching orders or if we are afraid of being hassled.

We have a higher calling.