Today
we’re jumping to the New Testament for eight days while covering 1 & 2
Timothy. Then we’ll be back in the Old
Testament for a good stretch as we cover Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and
Isaiah. It’s going to be a fun next few
months!
The Opening Greeting
One of the
things I love about the Apostle Paul’s writing style is that he is so deep that
it seems like every time I read the letters that he wrote through God’s
inspiration there is always something new to focus on. For example, take his opening greeting. Time after time I have focused on the word
“apostle” and how it means “one who is sent out for a specific purpose.”
Today as I
read through this letter I focused on the word “command.” Paul was sent out to foreign places at the
command of God. Another way of fairly
translating this verse would be that Paul was sent out to foreign places by a
decree of God. I am struck by the
obedience of Paul. God made a decree, he
followed. Sure, Paul had his moments of
doubt, his share of arguments with God, and his moments of struggle. But in the end it is safe to say that his
life was about being obedient to God’s calling for him to take God’s Word and
the message of salvation through Jesus Christ to anyone who would listen.
The Recipient
As we put
this idea in context, remember that Paul is writing this to Timothy. Timothy was younger than Paul. He was a man who had been impressed with
Paul’s willingness to die in Lystra as well as his willingness to continue the
work after almost dying. Timothy was
taking the faith that he had learned at the feet of his grandmother and mother –
Lois and Eunice – and learning to apply it to his life at the feet of
Paul. In this letter, what is Paul’s
first lesson for this young Timothy? You
must seek God’s call and obey it. There
is power in that advice.
Law and Gospel
Paul then
turns to an excellent discourse between the Law and the Gospel. In the modern church, we have fallen in the
face of the age old fight of the church.
The temptation is often to forget one or the other. Some people want to make it all Law and beat
people down with their sinful nature.
Others want to make it all grace and let people ignore their sin
completely. We have need of a
balance.
We need to
understand that the Law is our greatest tool against sin. When we have sin in our life, it is God’s Law
that will convict us. The Law is the
power of God to guide us and turn us away from sinful behavior. However, we must also not forget grace. Grace is the freedom we have received from
God to live apart from sin. Grace is the ability to show God’s love to others
in a multitude of ways. Grace is our
ability to follow a God whose message doesn’t change but whose methodology does
change based upon our context. Grace is
the root of our ability to be free in Christ!
I think we
as Christ’s church – and I know I as a person – need to remember this balancing
act. I need to pay more attention as to
how I apply it. When I am dealing with
aspects of sin in this world, I need to remember to turn to the Law, even
though turning to grace is so much easier in the short term because we believe
we can skip the “conviction/change” step in the process! When I am dealing with areas that are not
tied to sin, such as worship or evangelism or fellowship among the believers, I
need to remember to turn to grace and seek whatever God is doing in our midst,
even though turning to the Law and applying things like “tradition” and “my
correct way” is so easy!
Knowing
when to use Law and Gospel appropriately is so hard. We often want to use them backwards so that we
end up ignoring the areas of our life that we should be binding while binding
the areas of our life that should know true freedom!
Prayer
In chapter
2 Paul talks a lot about prayer. I have
confessed it before and I will confess it again. Of all the marks of discipleship, prayer is
the one that is the most difficult for me.
Don’t get me wrong. I can pray. In fact, I am often teased by my wife and
congregation that my prayers can turn into “mini-homilies” themselves. I enjoy praying. I understand the purpose of prayer. But all that being said I think the area of
prayer is the area of being a disciple in which I have the most to learn from
the genuine prayer warriors who are around me.
The area of prayer is an area where I could absolutely learn from a
spiritual mentor. So as I read this
chapter I definitely identify more with the recipient Timothy than with the
author Paul.
Paul’s
list of things we should pray for is also challenging: all people – not just
the ones we like – and specifically for kings and people of power – regardless
of whether we like them or not. But look
at the reason for the prayer for people and especially leaders. We pray for them so that we may live lives of
peace. We pray for them so that as we
live lives of peace we might be able to be dignified and reveal God to
them. Ultimately, we pray for them that
we might be enabled to live in such a way so that as His ambassador we might
bring God into their life. We pray for
people so that we might have an opportunity to be that evangelistic tool that
God uses in their life. We pray for
people so that as many people as possible would come to understand what it
really means to have one God and Father while relying solely on the one
mediator between us and that God: Jesus Christ.
Now that is a challenging focus.
I wonder
if you are like me and can confess that such an idea isn’t really the practical
purpose of most of my prayers? Most of
my prayers tend to fall into the “I need” or “someone else needs”
category. How often do I genuinely pray
for others simply that they might come to an understanding of their need for
God in their life?
Furthermore,
we are to pray without quarreling. We
are to pray while lifting our hands high in celebration of God. We are to pray in such a way as the focus is
not upon us but rather upon God. I think
that’s a good place to end. Our actions,
our speech, our prayers, our dress – all these things should allow God to be
the center.
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