Great Expectations

2 Timothy 3 NASB95

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also. Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

INTRO: We all have expectations…it’s really quite a big part of our life; everywhere we go, we expect some things

At home, we might expect for our kids to behave, our toilet to flush, and our car to start.

At work, we might expect co-workers to do their job, paychecks and lunch breaks

At vacation, we expect the tide to come in, our hotel room to be clean, and the seafood to be fresh.

What do we expect as a church? What do you expect when you come together each week?

Maybe you expect good music, strong coffee, and mediocre preaching…

Well, today as we explore the 3rd chapter of 2 Timothy, Paul shows us 3 Things the church ought to expect. We should note that this is written primarily for Timothy, the young overseer of the church in Ephesus. This would be a great text to preach a young minister’s ordination from. It’s a very real and honest picture.

ILL: You ever talk to someone about an event or destination only to get there and it’s not at all what was described? This happened to me some years ago. I was planning a trip to Lake Ozark, MO, where our company was to purchase a hotel. As I spoke with people about the hotel, I was given an overly optimistic picture of what was really there… I should have caught on to it when people used words like, “quaint”, “cozy”, and “rustic”

Paul does not do that… He does not try to paint a picture that is deceitful or misleading. So, this morning, we are going to walk through what we can expect as a church… we will see what every pastor must honestly recognize before taking on their role as a pastor and what you can do to support him.

My prayer is that we will be encouraged and strengthened in our faith.

The first thing we can expect is:

Expect Great Problems

In verses 1-9, Paul gives us a very blunt and perhaps even discouraging picture. “In the last days, difficult days will come”

Can you imagine being a young pastor and coming to this church to hear these words? “Chin up, things are going to be tough.”

And it should come as no surprise that these problems are brought on by trouble-makers. Look at how Paul describes these trouble-makers - (READ 2 Tim. 3:2-4) There are 15 terms used here. And it’s meant to give us a picture of the wickedness that exists. This list is might remind us of the wickedness Paul described in Romans 1 or certainly the list that Paul used in contrast to the Fruit of the Spirit in Gal. 5:19-21.

But the worst part is that these are people who call themselves ‘religious’. (5)

In other words, they try to talk the talk and do religious things, but, as Paul says, they have denied the power. This makes sense because they are living in the flesh. They do not have the Holy Spirit’s power in them. They are living a lie. These people cause all kinds of trouble in the church, as you might imagine. Not the least of which is deceiving women, likely the widows that were weak in their faith mentioned in 1 Tim 2. These women were the ones who would listen intently to true teaching, but would still quickly grab at false teachings.

For a pastor, it’s difficult to protect these weaker ones from this kind of deception. They turn on the TV and see how they can “sow a seed” for $20 or they get a letter telling them they need to send money to support God so that Israel isn’t destroyed, etc.

Paul says that we ought to distance ourselves from these charlatans. They are like the Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses- they have some neat tricks, but that’s all they are. They can make it appear that they have healed the lame, but I never see them go to the hospital and try that trick. They make it appear that the Holy Spirit is doing something big, but behind the scenes, it’s just an act.

As a church, we can expect these problems. They have been around for centuries. But with the expectation of problems, Paul gives us some hope.

I pray that these problem-causers will come to the knowledge of the truth. But we also see that their foolishness will be obvious to all. This doesn’t mean immediately, but rather ultimately. One day, these trouble-makers will be outed as fakes. Until then, we must be aware of them and avoid them.

We can expect problems from problem-causers. We can also expect that:

Discuss: What problem-causers can you see? How can we avoid these and still be a faithful witness?

Expect Great Persecution

I know what you’re thinking… “Oh boy! Can’t wait”

Yeah, this idea of persecution might just be worse than the problems we talked about. Paul explains to Timothy that what Timothy witnessed and knows to be true about Paul’s life as it concerns persecution would be true for him as he lived out his faith.

Here, we see that there seems to be no way around this persecution. Paul says that even though he was patient, loving, faithful, people still came against him. This came in a number of different ways- We likely will not face persecution on the same level as Paul - Paul was stoned and left for dead, he was chased out of towns by angry mobs, falsely accused, and even had people conspire against him to kill him. But, God’s grace was sufficient for Paul.

Paul understood the reality here- these evil men, both the charlatan problem causers and the persecutors would continue to get worse because they themselves were deceived.

You and I need to grasp this. People will come against us as we live a faithful Christian life because they are living in darkness.

ILL: Some of you know what it’s like to have a family member who suffers from Dimentia or Alzheimer’s. My grandmother had dimentia and our family would see some of the episodes and challenges this brought on. She genuinely believed that people were trying to kill her at times. She genuinely believed that the medication was really poison. The list goes on. My point is that my grandmother, because of her disease, was deceived about truth. And in her deception, she fought as hard as she could against the truth.

As long as men and women are being led astray by Satan, they will war against the truth and reality that we stand for as Christians. These people are deceived.

This is why we will be accused of hating women when we advocate for life.

It is why we will be accused of prejudice and hate when we speak about God’s design for marriage.

This is why we will see condemnation about gathering to worship while going to walmart is condoned.

Tuesday is election day. Many of you have been talking about it for months. I want you to know that no matter who sits in the Oval office or Governor’s office, Christians who live out their faith will face persecution. But we should not see this as a discouragement. James tells us that we should consider it pure joy to be persecuted for the name of Jesus (James 1:2-4). It just might be that this persecution that we face as Christians serves as an affirmation that we must be doing something right.

We can count on facing problems and persecution as a church. But don’t check out on me yet. I told you that I want us to leave encouraged. Paul gives us one more guarantee here and that is:

Discuss: Have you faced persecution for living our your faith? How have you prepared to suffer for Christ?

Expect Great Power in God’s Word

In verse 14, Paul puts the emphasis on Timothy. “You, however...”

Yes there are problems, yes there is persecution, but you, Timothy continue in the truth that you have learned. Continue to expect that GOD’S POWER is present in His Word. Nothing is too difficult for Him!

Here’s the thing: God’s truth is unchanging. Timothy had all he needed in order to bear up under these pressures that were sure to come. Paul says, “You can be confident in your walk because of God’s Word.”

You see, Timothy was called to lead the church in Ephesus. He was charged with guiding them in godliness and guarding against false teaching. Paul is telling Him that God has given you everything you need. All the negative in the world cannot compare to the riches of God’s love and power revealed in Scripture.

Church, we need to see the power that is in God’s Word that is here for you and me today. We need to expect God’s power when we open His Word! We need to anticipate His presence as we learn from Him!

You know why? Let’s look at v.17 (read)

It is inspired by God- lit. “God breathed”

This means that there is ultimate authority/ power in God’s Word. Because God is the author of Scripture, we can trust what He has said in it.

Because it is God’s Word, not our own, we can use it as a guide- to teach, correct, encourage, and to train in righteousness.

If you were here last week, we talked about being an approved workman- Friends, it is God’s Word that makes us adequate and useful to the master. It is the power of God’s Word applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit that causes real change.

Paul is commissioning Timothy- he’s passing the baton along to him and tells him this: Timothy, this is going to be difficult. You are going to be attacked, frustrated, challenged beyond what you think you can handle. But Timothy, you have everything you need. You have trusted God for salvation through His authoritative Word, now trust Him to grow you and to grow His church.

ILL: Friends, this is no ordinary book. Granted, it may look like one. Not everyone understands what we have here. There was a movie that came out in 2003 called “The Pirates of the Caribbean.” In this movie, the unlikely pirate protagonist, Captain Jack Sparrow held a compass that did not point North. To those around him, he carried a broken compass. Jack’s response was, “We’re not trying to find “north”” He was looking for a treasure- something better.

I wonder this morning if you and I realize that which we hold in our hands this morning. Do you realize the treasure of God’s Word?

Discuss: Consider the authority of God’s Word. How ought that impact our approach to reading Scripture and applying it to our lives?

Folks, this week I want to encourage you. Don’t be surprised by the blatant foolishness of those who misrepresent truth. Don’t be so shocked that people will oppose you for living a life consistent with our Christian faith. Instead, expect these things.

But, far more important is that we can expect God’s power and presence. He has given us His Divine Word so that we can order our lives according to His character and wisdom. We don’t face these problems alone nor do we face persecution without the assurance of God’s truth. Let us then be determined to walk in the power of God’s Word.