Turn with me please to the scripture Sarah just read, 2 Timothy 2 verse 8

For the last 25 verses Paul has been encouraging Timothy to teach others what Paul has taught him, in other words, he wants Timothy to create teachers. Paul has challenged him to stand strong and not be ashamed of the gospel, or ashamed of Paul, who is in chains in a Roman prison, and certainly not the testimony of Jesus Christ. Paul has challenged Timothy to suffer with him for the sake of the gospel. He told Timothy to not get distracted and to work like a soldier, like a farmer, he also encouraged Timothy to compete like an athlete be honorable, and adhere to the rules. As an apostle, that is Paul’s challenge to Timothy to always stay true to the gospel, in other words, to preach it like it was taught to Timothy, pure truth which we know brings glory to God. That challenge will apply to every elder/pastor that Timothy teaches and each one from the 1st century to now and on. Paul knows that he is in the last moments of his service to our savior Christ Jesus, and there is no time for anything other than the urgency that this letter in Timothy’s hand exudes, and we would be remiss if we think that Paul’s exhortation of Timothy has come to an end. Paul is preaching a “Go All In” message to Timothy, of course, he is, Paul is ALL in. He has always been all in, let’s call it what it is, Paul was all in when he was Saul, he was created that way by the creator Himself for the very task he has carried out since his conversion on the road to Damascus. 

 Now, as we move to today’s scripture Paul's exhortation will turn up the heat again.

Verse 8

8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel

Now we see the urgency and exhortation reach the highest level as Paul calls on Timothy to consider Jesus, who is the highest example of obedience there has ever been. One might say that Jesus set the gold standard for excellence and obedience, but to say that would diminish who and what Jesus is. Did you know you can’t buy 100% gold? in fact, the purest gold available is 99.99 and the gold standard of 24-karat gold is 99.95% pure, now you see why I say that comparison would diminish Jesus. What is 99.9% truth called? Correct, 100% lie. It is either pure truth or it is not. Christ was 100% truth, 100% pure, 100% sinless, 100% God, and 100% man. He was God on earth and called Himself the Good Shepherd. He was and is not only the good “shepherd”, he owns the flock. Each and every sheep of the flock belongs to Jesus as a gift from the Father. Christ’s flock began at Pentecost when the church was born by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and each elder/pastor since then has been an undershepherd of Christ’s flock. All under shepherds are to tend the Lord’s flock as the Lord would tend his own flock. Peter denied Jesus 3 times on the night of Jesus’ arrest. Over a week after Jesus rose from the grave He and Peter had a very important talk that is recorded in the book of John, 

John Ch 21:26-17 reads

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

There is much to discuss in this dialog but what we are looking for today is, who owns this flock, what Jesus does, who tends the sheep, Peter, and every pastor and elder that is called to such service. If the flock belongs to Jesus, then it stands to reason that Jesus sets the standard for how to tend the flock. Tend to them with the love of Christ, feed them the truth, in fact in the reinstatement of Peter that we just read, He told Peter two different times to feed them. Paul is exhorting Timothy to tend the flock of Jesus as Jesus would. Do it in a manner that Paul and Timothy know is going to cause tension because if the gospel is spoken in the pure truth it was birthed from, it is going to ruffle some feathers. Man has many flaws, but one of the flaws that comes into conflict with the gospel is submission. For most, submission feels awkward at best, and to the flesh and the secular world, submission is often seen as a weakness. Oh, but submitting to Jesus is anything but weak. It might sound easy to turn over the lordship of our lives to Jesus, but it is anything but easy, and it is a daily struggle for most when you take into account that the flesh will be battling that decision daily until we draw our last breath.

Ephesus was the 2nd largest city in the Roman empire, it was also a port city, which meant that any sort of unholiness you could think of took place there. Many wealthy and powerful people lived there and with Nero’s persecution of the church, Timothy found himself in a dangerous city at best where turning in Christians was certainly not frowned upon if not rewarded. It was an easy place to slack off of the truth just enough to not ruffle feathers.  Paul knew that, so he ups the urgency and he calls on Timothy to remember Jesus, who He is, what He has done, and how He would run the church if Jesus were here doing it himself. I spoke earlier of the metaphor Good Shepherd,  Jesus used this metaphor to exemplify how He loves, teaches, nurtures, and would do anything to protect His flock, up to and including death on a cross, All In. Paul planted churches all over Asia Minor, taught for three years in Ephesus, and is known for being the chief, not the only, but the chief evangelist of Asia Minor, in fact, he started 7 churches there. Therefore, he was well aware of what takes place in the churches of Asia Minor when he is absent, false teachers move in and distract and confuse the church with their unpure gospels. Paul knows what suffering for the gospel is, and suffering to the point of death is Paul’s modus operandi and that is exactly what he is calling Timothy to do.  Don’t be discouraged, distracted, or misled from the pure gospel when ear tickling is easier than teaching the truth. Be and do exactly what and how I taught you, Jesus is worth it!

Paul also mentions that Jesus rose from the dead and is the offspring of David which further declares Jesus’ deity. Timothy would certainly remember as we do that Jesus rose from the dead and by resurrection He made it clear that He is God. Though others had risen from the dead before, no one had ever risen in a glorified eternal form before. The reference to King David’s seed line points to the Davidic covenant being fulfilled by Jesus and is a reference to His humanity and to Him being the rightful heir to the throne. 

In v8 Paul also states “as preached in “my” gospel. 2 Cor 12:2-4 reads 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows— 4 was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. Also in Gal 1:11-12, we read, 

11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.[b] 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 

Does Paul mean that he has a different gospel or maybe a higher gospel than the other apostles preach? To use Paul’s own words, May it never be.  The good news, the gospel only comes in one package, that is that God left heaven, was born of a virgin into this world through the Davidic seed line, died for our sins, and rose from the dead conquering death and sin forever. That’s THE one and only gospel. So Paul is saying remember Jesus Christ, Jesus is the name given by God to the prophesied messiah born of a virgin, and Christ is a title that means The anointed one, and then Paul declares Jesus to be the offspring of David. Paul is stating and or verifying that “his” gospel is the same gospel as the only true gospel, the gospel that all the apostles are preaching. 

As preached in my gospel, Verse 9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. Paul knew he would suffer for Jesus. Let’s read in Acts where Ananias was sent to Saul to restore his sight Acts 9:13-17  

13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 17 So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

He was threatened, beaten, shipwrecked 3 times, bitten by venomous vipers, jailed at least 3 times, and the one that leaves me breathless, he was stoned and left for dead. In Acts 14 Paul, Barnabas, and other disciples were in Lystra (Asia Minor modern Turkey) and Paul had just healed a man who had been lame his entire life. Let’s pick up the story from Acts 14:19 

19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. 20 But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city. The next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe. 

Antioch and Iconium are 90 and 20 miles respectively away from Lystra, friends, 90 miles is at least a 4-day walk. The gospel that Paul taught, the gospel that he is imploring Timothy to teach has ramifications that Paul makes no apologies for, in fact, he tells Timothy to not be ashamed of the chains he wears. If we can gather anything from this, Paul has a resume that states he is minimally qualified if not overqualified to speak about suffering for Christ. When Jesus stopped Saul on the road to Damascus, he was an unapologetic fanatical Pharisee chasing down every Christian he could find who was committing blasphemy against Yahweh. In his and the Jerusalem religious leaders' eyes, Jesus committed blasphemy when he claimed to be God and blasphemy was punishable by death. That includes anyone who believes in Jesus, and Saul persecuted Christians unmercifully until Jesus stopped him. Saul was All in for the wrong team, but remember, God built Saul that way for the day that he stopped him on the road to Damascus. Was Saul All In, I would say so. The Lord built Saul for that day so he could turn him into the Apostle Paul, he made him that way because the fields of soil that Paul was going to break were HARD, spread all around the world as they knew it, and it was dangerous. That’s why Jesus basically arrested Saul, I’m not sure Saul would have accepted the job, without knowledge of the gospel and the eternity with God it promised, because it didn’t come with any understandable job perks. Give up your exalted position with the religious leaders and citizens in Jerusalem, sleep in the dirt, a calculatable amount of the people you will meet in your new job will want to kill you, you will not get rich, and you will die because of your new job. Whadda think Saul, are ya All IN? We laughed, but that was his new job. Of course, after knowing the Lord and all that the new job had in store for Paul and those he would evangelize, Paul was completely All In. Now he is asking the timid Timothy to follow in his footsteps. Paul knew that this was the last letter to Timothy and with all likelihood, his last letter ever. As Galatians told us earlier, Paul received the gospel directly from Jesus. That meant that he did not need to “understand” it from another man’s perspective, he got it directly from God without any incorrect filtering, forgotten parts, or errors. Paul knew that he was the gospel source for Timothy, and through Timothy, many others would be taught to teach, but only if Timothy was all in. Paul was all in, but Paul was an apostle, Timothy was not. If Timothy was not an example of strength, then it could be construed that only apostles could be expected to truly stand firm and steadfast. That was an unacceptable outcome for Paul, and beyond that, Jesus deserves more.

Paul states in v9 that he himself is bound in chains but the word of God is not bound! Absolutely not, if the religious leaders in Jerusalem, Saul of Tarsus, and the Roman government could not bind the word of God, it can’t be bound. You can persecute the written word of God, which is the inspired word of God as written by authors anointed to perform that task for God, you can persecute Christians which Jesus takes very personally, in fact, he considers it persecution of Himself which is what He accused Saul of Tarsus of on the road to Damascus, but you can’t bind it nor stop it. In fact, at times God chooses to allow the church to grow under a cloud of grace that He supplies and at times He chooses to expand the church by scattering the flock with persecution. Acts 4:32

 32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 

The setting for this is shortly after Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was gifted to us, and Peter preached the first Christian sermon in Jerusalem, and about 3000 souls were saved and baptized that day!  Let’s not miss where that sermon was preached, Jerusalem, the same place that persecuted and had Jesus put to death. Not only did this sermon take place in Jerusalem, but the apostles and disciples continued to essentially poach new church members right out from under the religious leaders’ noses as their number grew and grew. However, this grace did not inspire them to head out and spread the gospel, they were too comfortable right there in Jerusalem living in and under the abundant grace God was providing. It was then that God chose to use persecution in the form of Stephen’s martyrdom to flush believers out of Jerusalem and into the countryside. God provides grace as he sees fit, just as He uses persecution, but stopping the word of God is not something that God’s creation can do unless God chooses to allow such. 

Verse 10 

10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 

Though there is disagreement regarding the doctrine of election the bible is clear and states it as fact with the Book of Life as the foundation of the doctrine. God, being all-powerful, could save each and every soul He chose to, at any time in any way He chooses, however, that is not how he typically does it excluding the Saul to Paul story we discussed earlier. He chooses to use us as His instruments of salvation, and by allowing us to be involved He brings glory to Himself. How does God glorify Himself by letting us be involved in something He could clearly do on His own? It is the heart of evangelism that is being discussed here. As we love God and what God has done for us, we choose to obediently go forth and assist God with the harvest that is already His. It is our love for God and others that glorifies him, for what is it if we just accept what God has done for us and have no love for the eternity of others? 

James 2:17

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 

This is one of the most misunderstood verses in God’s word, but it is really not that difficult if we apply good study because we know Eph 2:8-9 

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 

Therefore, it is our faith that produces works not works that produce faith. What a beautiful formula, Paul endures because of the love he has for those that God loves. No one goes to bed with an unbelieving heart and wakes up a believer. It could work that way but it doesn’t, God uses us to purvey the gospel for Him, and that’s why he needs us also,  not just Timothy, to be All in. 

V11 

11 The saying is trustworthy, for:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 

  We are born at enmity with God, we are actually hostile toward God before regeneration. 

Romans 8:7-8  

7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 

We do not turn to the flesh, we are born that way. It is through God’s great mercy and grace that he draws us into a relationship with Himself. 

Romans 6:3-6

3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self[a] was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

In God’s economy, death does not describe someone whose’ heart no longer beats and provides life, death is eternal separation from God, and life is eternal life with God. We are born with a dead soul that does not seek God and is therefore eternally separated from God. When we die to that eternally separated dead spirit we rise with Christ to eternal life with God, this is also known as regeneration. 

V12 

If we have died with Him, we will also live with him. 

This is a great encouragement that Paul shares as he speaks of the millennial kingdom of Christ, which would be Jesus’ 1000-year reign on earth after the tribulation period. Jesus will reign from the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, and we the glorified saints will reign with Him for this 1,000 year period. However, there will be people there just like you and I are today, natural people born of Adam who have not been glorified yet and walk into Christ’s kingdom. These unglorified believers will repopulate the world with natural men and women who must profess faith in Jesus just as you and I did before our glorified state. That being the case, those children and their children will be children of Adam and born of a sin nature, and that sin nature will need to be ruled over to keep sin in check and that is where we come in. Endurance and overcoming to the end earn rewards, one of which is ruling with Christ.  

V 12 also states that,

if we deny him, he will also deny us

There is no candycoating this, and it is not an encouragement it is a warning. Although Peter denied Jesus three times, Saul persecuted Christians therefore persecuting Christ. Are these actions the same in nature, I would say that they are not. Had Peter died after his denial, although he would have greatly damaged his testimony, he would have gone to heaven as a believer because Jesus died for his sins. He did not quit believing, In a moment of weakness he denied knowing Jesus. On the other hand, had Paul died before the Road to Damascus event, he would have died a non-believer and suffered the same consequences as anyone who dies in that state. This warning is to encourage Timothy to work hard for the gospel because the stakes are high. If a person dies without coming to faith in Christ, denying Him, Jesus will deny that person to the Father 

 V 13 

If we are faithless, He remains faithful- for He cannot deny Himself. 

This is more encouragement. Not all but many that have professed faith have had a moment or a season, some even longer than that, where their faith was weak or all but nonexistent. This is obviously not a revered or preferred state for a believer, but it certainly happens. Jesus left heaven and walked some 30 to 33 years on earth as a man. He had the exact same physical needs we have on a daily basis. He needed to eat, sleep, drink, and hydrate himself, if he fell on a stone he might bruise or bleed. Though he never fell to it, he also saw and experienced temptation, and since temptation is not sin temptation did nothing to soil him.

Hebrews 4:14-15 

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

So he understands what we go through on this side of heaven, and though we may get weak for a moment or just be weak, Jesus is still faithful to those that are truly His. He gets us. It is comforting to know that we can’t faithlessness our way our of Jesus’ palm.  

John 6:39 39 

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. He remains faithful- for he cannot deny Himself. 

He cannot deny Himself because we are indwelt by the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. It is a worthless thought to think that God would turn His back on God?!?! 

All of this is as if Paul is saying, REMEMBER who you are serving, He is worth any and all suffering, I suspect that you also Timothy will have to suffer, so with a joyous heart join me in suffering for the gospel and Jesus, He is worth it. Go All IN Timothy!     

 What about us Verse By Verse, are we All In, is the person sitting in your chair All In? If not, how far do we need to go to get to All In, how far do we individually need to go to be All In?