Sermon Tone Analysis

Memorial Day Sermon

Stand Tall, Suffer, and Keep the Faith

So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner.

But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.

This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.

That is why I am suffering as I am.

Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner.

But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.

This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.

That is why I am suffering as I am.

Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Again, consider what Oswald Chambers wrote, “All through history God has chosen and used nobodies, because their unusual dependence on him made possible the unique display of his power and grace.

He chose and used somebodies only when they renounced dependence on their natural abilities and resources.”

If this is true (and it is!), then Timothy was the right man for the job.

He was not endowed with a powerful body and iron constitution—he was frail.

He was not bold but reticent.

And he was not a natural leader.

If the job was to get done, he would have to rely upon God.

Everything would have to be the result of Timothy’s profound dependence upon God’s power and grace.

Timothy was surely heartened by Paul’s introductory remarks in which the apostle reminded him that he was in the apostle’s constant prayers and of his longing affection for his young disciple and of his confidence in the sincerity of Timothy’s faith.

And Timothy undoubtedly took further heart from Paul’s reminder of the giftedness for ministry that he was to “fan into flame” and of the Holy Spirit’s gifts of “power” and “love” and “self-discipline” (levelheadedness) for ministry.

These bracing realities primed Timothy for the solemn charges to stand tall, suffer, and keep the faith—heady exhortations that range through verses 8–14.

STAND TALL AND SUFFER (vv.

8–12)

The dual call to stand and suffer is immediately introduced: “So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner.

But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God” (v.

8).

Stronger men than Timothy had wilted when faced with shame and suffering.

The iron-willed, sword-wielding Apostle Peter had loudly declared, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death” () but soon was ashamed to admit he knew Jesus and denied him outright before the soldiers and a servant girl as Jesus watched (cf.

vv.

56–62).

In those storied and (thankfully) fleeting moments, Peter fled the shame and suffering of Christ.

Stand Tall

The temptation for Timothy to succumb to shame was not a figment of Paul’s imagination.

The cross of Christianity was a scandal.

It may seem incredible that people would view Jesus as shameful.

But both Jews and Gentiles viewed crucifixion (a penalty reserved only for the worst of criminals) as the ultimate emblem of disgrace and dishonor.

Polite pagan company never mentioned the equivalent of the English word cross.

The loathsome word was too obscene.

And in the sophisticated Greek environment, the preaching of the cross was held to be absurd (cf.

).

The idea of a Jewish peasant becoming the substitutionary atonement for people’s sins was laughable.

Educated, urbane Greeks snickered at such crudeness.

There were also some in the Ephesian church (for example, Hymenaeus; cf.

2:17) who viewed Paul’s sufferings and imprisonment as public proof that the Holy Spirit was not with Paul.

Paul’s enemies within the church believed that the resurrection (a spiritual resurrection) had already taken place and that those who had experienced it had been so endowed with the Spirit that their difficulties evaporated.

Their theology was similar to today’s “health and wealth” preachers.

To them, Paul’s sufferings and imprisonment in Rome were due to his shamefully unspiritual nature and the disapproval of the Holy Spirit.

But Paul urged Timothy not to succumb to such ungrounded shame, whether over the scandal of the cross or the ignominious suffering of Christ’s servants.

Rather, he was to stand tall, as Paul himself did in that foul dungeon.

Paul’s unbowed, towering posture is detected here in his subtle use of words as he describes himself as “his prisoner”—that is, the Lord’s prisoner!

He is in Caesar’s dungeon, but Nero is not his captor—Christ is.

And the apostle is proud, not shamed.

Thus Timothy also ought to stand tall.

“Be the man you are meant to be, Timothy!”

Suffer

The parallel call to suffer is explicit: “But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God” (v.

8b).

Rather than being ashamed of Paul’s suffering, Timothy must stand tall and freely choose to suffer with the great apostle.

Oswald Chambers was right when he wrote: “To choose to suffer means that there is something wrong; to choose God’s will even if it means suffering is a very different thing.

No healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he chooses God’s will, as Paul did, whether it means suffering or not.”

This said, suffering, rather than being removed by the gospel (as the health and wealth gospelers would have it), is actually part of the gospel.

Jesus made this clear from the beginning when he forewarned his followers in the Upper Room:

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.

If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own.

As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.

That is why the world hates you.

Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’

If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.

If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”

()

In the same way, Jesus crowned the Beatitudes with suffering, in essence saying that when you have attained the seven blessed qualities of poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, spiritual hunger, mercy, purity of heart, and peacemaking, you will suffer!

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” ().

Suffering is part of God’s gospel blessing.

When Jesus called Paul on the road to Damascus, he immediately sent Ananias to him, saying, “Go!

This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.

I will show him how much he must suffer for my name” (, ).

And as the years passed, Paul would describe his ministry like this:

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.

So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

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Paul encouraged the Colossians by telling them that suffering is a privilege: “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church” ().

Likewise, he informed the Philippians about their privilege: “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him” ().

Later in 2 Timothy he will say again to his young protégé, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (3:12; cf. ; ; ; ).

And Paul’s words were sealed with his own blood.

This first-century theology needs to be central in our twenty-first century theology.

Persecution is inevitable for serious Christians.

It is a privilege—“It has been granted to you … to suffer for him.”

It is a blessing—“Blessed are those who are persecuted” ().

Suffering is never pleasurable.

But it can be eased by the company of those undergoing the same thing.

Timothy was called to join Paul in suffering for the gospel because what is so difficult alone is easier to endure (and even rejoice over) in the company of other believers.

In the same way, “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” ().

Suffering is not something any person or group chooses or endures in its own power, and that is why Paul calls Timothy to do it “by the power of God,” which Timothy had been given, as verse 7 said.

Praying and Living for the Gospel

Everything of God

The reason that Timothy (and Christians of any age) can rely on God’s power is because it is inseparable from God’s grace.