October 7, 2007
Proper 22
2^nd Timothy 1:1-14

When I was 19, I dated this fellow who was cute and funny and smart and, one day, his mother called him in Chapel Hill and said, “Your grandfather is very sick and he’s in the hospital. You need to come and say your goodbyes.” 

So this fella came and found me and asked me to drive down with him. And my first thought was these people don’t know me and it’s a tender time for them, won’t my presence there be awkward? Then I thought well, if my friend wants my company in this experience, I should go. 

So hours later, late at night, we’re sitting in the intensive care waiting room. It’s very quiet and we’re very tired and a man from the grandfather’s church comes to sit with us.   After a while, he looks across the room at me and says, “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Have you been washed in His blood?”

And I answered, “um hem.” And he says, “So, if you died tonight, are you certain that you’d be in heaven tomorrow?” And I said, “mmm, pretty sure.” His eyes narrowed, or at least that’s how I remember it, and he said, “Are you willing to wager your immortal soul on a ‘pretty sure’?”

With all the sophistication and all the deep, spiritual maturity of a 19 year old, my response came together in my mind…”Leave me alone! I don’t know you! I don’t want to talk to you anymore. I don’t want to tell you where I’m from or what my family does or what courses I’m taking or what my major is. I sure don’t want to share my personal relationship with God with you. You just need to back off!”

Of course, I didn’t say anything like that, instead I asked my friend if he wanted some coffee and I went to the vending machines. As I took that long walk through the hospital halls, I ran the conversation over and over in my mind. I was aggravated with the man. I thought he was rude and aggressive and judgmental. But as frustrated as I was with him, I was also upset with myself. I wondered why I had been so tentative in my responses. I wondered why I felt so vulnerable and at a loss. Was my faith sub-par? Was what I believed frivolous and anemic? Did I have the wrong answers? Suddenly, all those Sundays in church seemed inadequate. All those Sunday School lessons, all those Eucharists, all those service projects, all those mission trips, all the prayers of my life seemed puny and misspent. My good intent and sincere heart counted for zip! Out of nowhere, some stranger created doubt in my happy, peace-filled mind. I was irritated with him. I was scared for me.

And today, I wonder if this was Timothy’s experience. From our epistle reading this morning, we hear Paul’s words of support and encouragement to his long-time friend and assistant. The letter indicates that Paul is in Rome, in prison and near death. He’s heard from Timothy and others, that Timothy has suffered because of his Gospel message.

In his travels, and in his preaching to the “Christians” in Ephesus and Crete, Timothy has been shouted down, disrespected and ignored. He’s encountered believers who doubt his interpretation of Christ’s message who question his motives and the quality of his faith. They argue and bait Timothy at every turn. And the good man is weary and worn down. He now carries self-doubt and wonders if what he believes is insufficient! Timothy wants to retreat. He wants to put his head down and tend to his own prayer life and let others carry the message forward. He wants out of the fray, out of the arguments and the controversies. He just wants peace and positive interactions with his faith.

Paul hears his friend’s discouragement. He himself has had personal experience with the abuse, the needling questions, the aggressive certainty of the “opposing” Christian views of his day. Paul is also weary and worn down by the in-fighting within the community. 

In his lifetime of bearing witness to the message of Jesus Christ, Paul’s been pulled into endless debates. Christ is coming back tomorrow – get your house in order. Christ isn’t coming back in this generation – eat, drink, be merry. You have time to repent later. Faithful people only drink water and eat purified foods. Real Christians value hospitality and eat whatever’s been served. Everyone has access to God’s grace. Only the circumcised will be welcomed in heaven. If you really understood Jesus, if you really loved the Lord, you’d be on our side!

Paul’s heard all the arguments. He’s well versed in the factions and he feels for Timothy but his time is short. Paul is dying and he needs to know that the Good news is in good hands. Paul needs to know that the mission of Christ can be sustained. Jesus was very, very clear. He told his disciples leave this room. Do not stay cloistered here. Do not stay in this safe, comfortable, peace-filled room with your best and most agreeable friends. Get up! Get out! Take what you have heard and seen and experienced into the world. Tell my story! Tell what you know from your own life! You know what you know. You don’t have all the answers. You don’t know everything about God or me – but you know enough. Go tell your truth!

Paul got this message. Timothy got this message. They were powerful witnesses. They were persuasive evangelists, effective messengers and true disciples. Through their authentic story telling and the way they lived their lives, they brought a lot of people to Christ. They sparked a lot of faith. But they also met a lot of resistance and walked into unexpected hostility too many times.

In the arguments and controversies and the pursuit of absolute certainty, 21^st Century Christianity is not far removed from Timothy’s experience. Assured xt’s buy air time and create panel discussions and in loud authoritative voices, they proclaim the definitive judgments of God. Righteous, true believers put on the full armor of God and stand as the last line of defense between the chaos of the pit and grace everlasting. Woe to anyone who has an alternative understanding of Jesus and his teachings. Pity and avoid anyone who votes differently or prays differently, who drinks wine, or not wine, but grape juice at communion. Put down folk who believe in infant baptism. Smirk at folk who raise their hands in worship. From every part of the Christian world, there are loud, certain voices shouting God’s truth.

But, dear ones, we know as Paul and Timothy knew – loud doesn’t make it so! Truth is still truth when it’s whispered. Truth is still real and effective and life-changing when it’s modest and questioned and reviewed over and over. Loud sound bites can just be style over substance. Let us not be intimated by style!

Paul wrote to Timothy, “Friend, I’ve known you for a long time. I know your faith, where it came from. I know the faith of your mother and grandmother – those who started the belief within you. Trust their teachings. Trust what you’ve learned from me and the church – that community that raised you up. Do not worry that your expression of Christ is not like others. Do not doubt the validity of your understanding. Do not worry when you have questions. Do not be ashamed!”

God called you with a holy calling for his own purpose and with his grace. Where he calls you and how he wants you to express his message is valuable, sacred and right for you. You have been “given a spirit of power, and of love and of self-discipline.” Claim this spirit. Be strong and confident – in your faith and in your witness!

Friends, if I had just remembered this letter from Paul to Timothy that night in the hospital waiting room, my response would have been very different. “Miss, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?”

Absolutely! When I was quite young, I was baptized into the household of God. I was marked and sealed as Christ’s own forever! And when I was 13, I took classes and I studied and I prayed and I confirmed all that was accomplished in my baptism. And I said, “Those are my people.” I want to live the Christian principles all the days of my life. Everyday I’ll try to live up to Christ’s teachings. Some days I will succeed. Other days, I’ll not do so well, but I promise to try harder the next day and the one after that. 

And on the day that I die, like that (snap) I have every expectation that my soul will ascend to heaven and I’ll be welcomed into the heavenly banquet. I have no idea what that will look like, but maybe I’ll get to sit beside Paul’s friend Timothy. And after dinner, I hope there’s dancing!

Now I don’t know whether that answer would satisfy the grandfather’s church friend, but it is a response that expresses some confidence and integrity of my faith. It feels authentic to me and I hope and I believe it is an answer that would please God – Father, Son and Spirit!

I can think and make this proclamation of faith now because I have confidence in what I believe. I have a clearer, more integrated understanding and because I have a firmer grasp on what it is I believe, I can make more articulate, more compelling testimony. I’m not saying I have the definitive word of God’s mind. I’m saying I have some answers that God chose to share with me that I can only share these revelations through practice. 

All of us come to expressions of our faith through practice. Sharing what we believe in graceful, effective ways is a skill. Jesus himself said so. Some folk have an innate talent for proclamation, but even those believers require practice and thoughtfulness.

Mega-talent Michael Jordan practiced free throws. Shaquille O’Neal practiced even harder. We may not practice and we may not make very many free throws either, but baskets are an option for us.

Proclamation is not. Deeply woven into our faith is the directive from Christ himself…”If you are mine, go tell the world about me!” This message comes out of Jesus’ mouth to the 12 disciples, to the 3000 gathered at Pentecost, to Paul to Timothy to us.

He tells us, “Stand up. Hold your head high, speak in clear, sure tones. Say, ‘This is what I know. This is what I believe.’ I invite you to explore the Good News with me.”

Jesus doesn’t say “Go disciples, you true believers, go yell at the people.” He doesn’t say ask them questions in confrontational tones. Jesus doesn’t say take the Bible and beat them into submission, pounding them with chapter and verse. Impress them with your command of every phrase even if you miss the general sense.

What Jesus does say is, “With the spirit of power, love and self-discipline poured out over you, go bring others to the knowledge and love of me.”

As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, this is a charge we cannot ignore. We really must act as evangelists. But the style, the tone of voice, the words we use, the times and places we make his proclamation are our own. He trusts our integrity and our faithfulness.

Like Timothy, may we all guard the Good Treasure entrusted to us. May we speak it persuasively with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.