Carrying On When It’s Not Easy

Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:10-17

I. When it’s not easy you carry on by remembering.

A. Paul begins the second half of 2 Timothy 3 by writing, “You, however.” He is making a contrast between Timothy and the false teachers at the church in Ephesus. “Timothy, you should not live like the false teachers. You should live like me,” Paul says. “You should follow my example of enduring in persecution that you remember.” Paul’s example would help Timothy carry on as he too dealt with persecution (vs. 12). Who is your Paul? Who is your example and mentor? Who is your Timothy? Who are you being an example to?
B. What kinds of persecution had Paul endured? Paul writes in vs. 11 about the suffering that he endured on his first missionary journey at Antioch, at Iconium, and Lystra. You can read of those persecutions in Acts 13 and 14. Today if you tell people that do not go to church the Good News about Jesus, you will get a reaction! People will be offended. They will mock you for your faith. They will reject you. But if those secular people will respond to your invitation to come to church they will perhaps discover that many believe in Jesus. Christianity is plausible.

II. When it’s not easy you carry on by your devotion to the Bible.

A. In vs. 13 Paul reminds Timothy of the false teachers who were opposing him and the Gospel. Paul simply tells Timothy to continue. Be faithful to Jesus. Remain. Stay. Don’t move. Keep doing what Jesus told you to do in passing on the message about Jesus. What would help Timothy continue this mission? The sacred writings, the Bible (vs. 15). The Bible that Timothy was devoted to was what we call today the Old Testament. Paul is telling Timothy that the whole Old Testament is a story preparing us for Jesus and for the salvation Jesus would bring.
B. Moses said to the nation of Israel in Deuteronomy 32:46-47: “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.” The Bible is profitable to us (vs. 16) because it reveals to us what we are to believe and how we are to behave.

Application:
Keep calm and carry on in making Jesus known.
Sources:
The Bible
Commentaries by R. Kent Hughes, Andreas Köstenberger, and Phillip Jensen 

Sermon Discussion Questions

1)  When is it appropriate to use yourself as an example like Paul did with Timothy in 2 Timothy 3? How would Paul’s example help Timothy to endure persecution?
2)  “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). How can we not let this truth frighten us? Why did Paul feel it necessary to remind Timothy of this truth?
3)  How does a devotion to the Bible help you to carry on and endure in spreading the Gospel? What is the Bible useful for?