Sermon Tone Analysis

*Series: Tough Christians In Tough Times—1*

“Introduction to 2nd Timothy”

 

     Four guys decided to go mountain climbing one weekend.

In the middle of the climb, one fella slipped over a cliff, dropped about 60 feet and landed with a thud on the ledge below.

The three others, hoping to rescue him, yelled, *“Joe, are you OK?”*  /“I’m alive…but I think I broke both my arms.”/

*“We’ll toss a rope down to you and pull you up.

Just lie still!”* said the three.

/“Fine,” /Joe answered.

A couple of minutes after dropping one end of the rope, they started tugging and grunting together, working feverishly to pull their wounded companion to safety.

When they had him about ¾ of the way up, they suddenly remembered Joe had said he had broken *BOTH* his arms—

*“Joe!

If you broke /both/ your arms,* *how in the world are you hanging on?”*

Joe responded,

*“With my TEEEEEEEEEETH…”*

 

    Do you ever feel like you’re holding on but by the skin of your teeth?

I can most assuredly say that it is without doubt that *we are living in ‘tough times.’*

Therefore, *tough times /demand/ ‘tough Christians.’*

I’m excited because beginning today I will be preaching through the book of 2nd Timothy.

2nd Timothy has long been one of my favorite books of the Bible.

Actually 2nd Timothy is classified as an “epistle” (or what we might call in more modern terms—a “letter.”

What makes 2nd Timothy so special is that it is the last book, the last writing (if you will) written by the Apostle Paul.

2nd Timothy has often been called *“Paul’s Last Will and Testament.”

*

 

I want to engage your imagination for a moment and try to help us all step into the sandals of Paul.

Imagine…*for the past 35 years or so you have invested your life and given your heart and soul for one purpose—Taking The Gospel Of Jesus Christ Throughout The Uttermost Parts Of The Earth*.

You have planted and nurtured churches throughout the Roman Empire—achieving success beyond your wildest dreams.

*But it has not been a cake-walk*.

Along the gospel way you have been beaten, imprisoned, stoned and left for dead.

You’ve been tied to a post and lashed with a cat-o-9-tails more times than you can count.

You’ve suffered ship-wreck and spent a day and a night drifting in the ocean…you’ve gone without food~/home~/shelter…You have faced your foes (far too many to count)—who have relentlessly dogged you and viciously opposed you).

Your *character* has been /maligned/, your *motives* /impugned/, your *methods* /questioned/.

*But through all these 35+ years…you’ve “kept-on-keeping-on!”*  You’re life’s motto has long been:

*“To live IS Christ…to die is gain!”*

Even your /enemies/ cannot deny that for /you/—to live IS Christ.

But for /you/, *now*, *“gain” is nigh at hand.

*

Just a few short years ago the crazed Roman Emperor—*Nero*—had imprisoned you under “house-arrest.”

It wasn’t exactly /pleasant/ being confined for 2 years in a small rented quarters chained to a Roman guard.

Nero, thinking you were a ‘nothing,’ a “nobody”…(and probably wanting to give you time to fail in your mission and thus be discredited) allowed people to come and go as they pleased (listening to your preaching~/ teaching).

You were ultimately acquitted—/or your case was thrown out of court/.

You left Rome and continued traveling and spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ.

*But now…things are different.

*While you were away from Rome—in July of 64 A.D. Rome burned for 6 days~/nights.

The saying among the populous of  Rome was *“**Rome** burned while Nero fiddled**.”*

/Everyone/ in that great city suspected that it was Nero /himself/ who ordered Rome to be burned—only to give him the real estate he wanted for his own lavish building programs.

But Nero /knew/ he had to divert attention away from /himself/.

And so Nero went on a “pull-out-all-of-the-stops” PR campaign—its slogan

*“**Rome** Burned While The Christians Fiddled!”*

 

Thus, the first great persecution of Christians began…And most likely Nero ordered a band of soldiers to travel to Troas (in modern day Turkey) to re-arrest Paul.

Only /this/ time, Paul would not be placed under “house arrest.”

*No, now he is confined to the wretched and infamous “Mamertine Prison.”*

*~*~*~*Look at the hand-out I have provided for you.*

I want you to understand (and get a feel for) the circumstances in which 2nd Timothy is written.

[Read some excerpts from hand-out]

 

       And so, having some understanding of what the Mamertine Prison was like,  I want you, once again, to step into Paul’s sandals.

What was life like for Paul as he wrote 2nd Timothy—his last and final letter.

*Envision this:*

* Confined within a dark~/damp~/dungeon…a dungeon that reeks with the stench of human sewage

 

* The only light in this murky and dim dungeon, now your /home/, is the dim light from a small window (which is not always left open).

* You languish in solitary confinement (or amongst the human refuse sent here for serious crimes) .

You had a friend by the name of *Onesiphorus* who spent days trying to find you…and with whom you had a short visit—praise God.

*But /now/*, you’ve been abandoned by virtually /everyone/—and even though you have prayed that their abandonment /not/ be held against them.

It still just really hurts!

But thank God at least one man, your trusted friend and physician—Luke—Dr.

Luke has not abandoned you.

* Hardest of all—You *know* that on any /day/, indeed at any /moment/, a band of soldiers—sent by Nero (along with an executioner—with ax in hand) will come for you.

* Your only comfort?

The promise of eternal life in the Lord J.C. and /knowing/ deep within the very core of your being that you have “*fought* the good fight, *finished* the race, and *kept* the faith.”

*In His marvelous~/unfathomable grace God, *even in /this/ dismal place,* has supplied you two things:*

* *

*(1) Writing materials* (pen, ink and leather parchment—probably smuggled in by Luke) and

*(2) Time*—maybe not /much/ time, but enough time to write one final letter…a Last Will and Testament.

But…of all the people you know, of all the churches you have established—*to /whom/ will you write?*

And of all the things that could, would or should be said—*what will you actually /say/?*

You think, meditate, pray about all of this…and then, suddenly, the Holy Spirit of God comes upon you.

And with pen in hand, you begin writing upon leather parchment these words: [read Greek text “…”]

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, a beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.”

But, what has all of /this/ to do with */YOU/*?

With */US/* as a church?

*I.

We, Too, Are Living In Tough Times*

[And these tough times in which we live come from *4 *directions:]

* *

*1st  These tough times in which we live come . . .

from outside the church*

 

* *Perhaps you are beginning to notice that it’s ‘open-season’ on Christians* .

As far as much of our society and culture are concerned—Those who name the Name of Christ—might as well have a tattoo upon their foreheads that reads*—“Flat Earth Society.”*

[Hey, better than “666”, amen?] *Rosie O’Donnell* has equated Bible-Believing Christians with Murderous Muslim Fanatics.

* *There are Relentless attacks upon the Bible *(its truthfulness, trustworthiness and authority) And these attacks are coming through every media venue—movies and music, books and blogs.

One anti-Christian entrepreneur has coined a bumper-sticker that says:

*“Believing the Bible is Dangerous to Your Health!”*

 

* *Legislation is in the works* that would make preaching against /homosexuality/ a *“hate-crime.”

*Enemies of the cross of Christ are seeking to re-write history books—to do away with the historical record~/fact that our country was founded by Christians and that this nations values  were based upon Judeo-Christian ethics and morality.

Indeed, there is a growing army, legions of godless secularists, who’s major goal in life is to remove all mention of God or the things of God from the public square.

*2ndly These tough times in which we live come also . . .

from WITHIN the church*

* *There is an alarming rise in false teachers promoting false doctrines . .

.*

* *Seminaries are turning out preachers that don’t believe even the /fundamentals/ of faith . .

.*

* *Apathy and lukewarmness abound *(as so many are lulled to sleep by “love for the world and the things of this world”).

*3rdly These tough times in which we live come also . .

.from

Satanic Assault*

* Cults and new age spiritualism are capturing the minds not /only/ of young people and unbelievers, but New-Age philosophies have infiltrated the church!

/Legion/ are the numbers of Preachers and Teachers promoting the Gospel of Health and Wealth—and who would have you believe that through the power of the /mind/ . . .