Trustworthy Saying
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Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing. I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
Paul uses “Trustworthy Saying” in several places (; ; )
1 Timothy 2:1
1) Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, 2) whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task, 3) godliness has value for all things holding promise for the present life and the life to come.
“Trustworthy Saying” (; ; )
Paul is saying Here’s something “you can take to the bank.” This is a bedrock idea.
Here’s something “you can take to the bank.” This is a bedrock idea.
Four conditional clauses. First half an action on the part of a believer, the second an action of Christ. “If this, then this” Could be part of an early Christian hymn or aphorism which is a pithy saying that communicates a general truth.
If we died with him, we will also live with him.
Saying “we died” in the past tense is fairly normal language for COC. It’s comfortable for us because of our emphasis on baptism.
Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Ro 6
The Pastoral Epistles: An Introduction and Commentary iii. A Christian Hymn (2:11–13)
The tense of the verb translated we died with him (synapothnēskō) indicates that a past event is in view; and if this event was the moment of baptism, the apostle is reminding himself and Timothy of that experience of identification with Christ which forms the basis of Christian living and hence of Christian courage and endurance.
This is a bedrock teaching of our tradition. A point in our life where we say I’m no longer living for myself but for the one who died for me. I used to live for myself and whatever I wanted, but now I’m turning my mind in a new direction to think about new priorities. His kingdom is first, serving others is more important than serving myself, the church is my family and God’s will is my will. That’s the “if” part of the equation. God’s promise is that we will live with him.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
Baptism is not a “work” to earn anything, but rather an act of obedience. Eph is clear that the reason for our salvation is not anything we do or say but because of God’s love. His grace makes dead people alive and people who are buried and laid low in the ground are raised up and seated in heavenly places.
2. If we endure, we will also reign with him.
2. If we endure, we will also reign with him.
Baptism is a starting place in our Christian walk. Not a point where we say, “OK that’s it, I’ve accomplished everything now that I’ve been baptized.” There’s a point of death (baptism) and then a continual process of dying that we’re always working on and struggling with. Jesus said we take up our cross daily and follow him. Ro says our “old self” was crucified, but our continual problem is keeping those old selves in the grave because they keep popping up.
Switchfoot “The War Inside” It’s where the fight begins, yeah underneath the skin. Between these hopes and where we’ve been. Every fight comes from the fight within.
It takes endurance to live the Christian life. Not only do we struggle individually with the war inside, but life itself can feel like a battle. Our families have issues, there are health challenges, work is a struggle. Throw a wildfire in there. This weekend was Waves Weekend and of course I was up at 4 AM monitoring Twitter and my colleagues texting me about a fire in Newbury Park just a few miles from my house and the Saddle Ridge Fire was blowing smoke all the way to campus which caused us to make several last minute changes in our program. Thinking “not again.” Especially as we’re approaching the one year anniversary of the death of one of our students and the Woolsey Fire that impacted so many.
Paul near the end of his life told Timothy, that he had “fought the good fight. He had finished the race.” Maybe we need to think more about those metaphors for life sometimes when we get discouraged about our various situations. Life is a fight. It’s a race. Those words imply struggle, training, preparation, and competition. Life requires endurance and persistence.
Perhaps there no better picture in scripture than what is described in . It’s a picture of us. You and I and all of our faithful brothers and sisters from all the ages. It’s the people standing before God in his heavenly throne room.
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
Rev 7:9-15
“Great tribulation.” I’m an “a-millienialst.” There’s not a special time of “tribulation” later (like 1,000 years)—a special time of testing God’s people, etc. The tribulation is now. It’s called life. But God’s promise for endurance is reigning with him. The first promise is living with him, now it’s reigning with him.
Rev 7:9-15
3. If we disown him, he will also disown us.
“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
We may automatically jump to some “once saved always saved” type argument. Some might think well, if you have disowned Jesus, you never really believed in the first place. This may make us feel uncomfortable that Jesus could completely turn his back on someone. There’s a principle though that how we live is important to God. It matters what we do. We know coming to church is a small piece of a life of faithfulness. We spend a great deal more time outside of the church gathering don’t we?
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
Don’t be deceived. Another time Paul says this is where Pau says, “don’t be deceived, wrong doers will not inherit the KOG.
. Don’t just listen to the word and “deceive yourselves.”
Lots of cautions in scripture around self deception. Must be something that’s easy for us to do. Each time there’s a reference to how we live. We can’t sow to please our self and expect salvation. We can’t do wrong and expect that we are citizens in God’s kingdom. We can’t just tune in and imagine ourselves as participants in doing God’s work. Our deeds. The choices we make on a regular basis are foundational to our showing continued loyalty to Christ.
How about this zinger from 1 Tim
Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Whoa. It’s better to not even be a believer than not care for your family. So often in scripture denial of our faith isn’t a few words spoken under duress like deny Christ or die. When does that ever happen? No we disown Christ by living a life that sows to please our self.
They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.
4. If we are faithless, he will remain faithful.
4. If we are faithless, he will remain faithful.
This is good news. I need this promise. We all need this promise. Thank God for his faithfulness.
Faithless (Ro 3:3-4)
In , Paul discusses being a Jew and states that true circumcision is one of the heart by obedience to God’s law. Then he asks, well what advantage is there in being Jewish or being circumcised? Much he says. First of all Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. And the Romans might have pictured the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai. But they also might have pictured the Jews building a golden calf and worshipping it, complaining against God about going back to Egypt, worshipping other Gods, etc. etc. What about all that unfaithfulness? So Paul heads them off in vs. 3:
What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”
What does our unfaithfulness mean? How does it impact God? God’s not like us. Some good friends of ours from college had infidelity in their marriage. Long story but through some interesting circumstances we were visiting them the very weekend when the news was revealed. That was a hard weekend for sure. You wonder how a family can remain intact. One person’s unfaithfulness really rocks the other person and we understand if they sort of go off the deep end as well. If they choose not to forgive we get it. But our weaknesses and faithlessness doesn’t cause God to walk away from us.
Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
The Psalms say God’s faithfulness surrounds him, goes before him, is established in heaven, it continues through all generations, every act God does is faithful. The bedrock of God’s very character is faithfulness.
Last thing to point out: “we” I don’t think these are just directed at us as individual Christians. It’s just me and God. No, there is a corporate nature of these if we do this, God will do this statements. We’re on this journey together. I know we don’t agree on everything, but we’re God’s people walking on the same path of dying, enduring, remaining loyal and living faithfully.