Scripture: 2 Timothy

It happened when my daughters were about three and five.  They came to me one afternoon and announced they had chosen their occupations.  I was to come immediately to the family room so they could have eye-witness to this historic moment.  I was seated on the divine and instructed to give them my proper attention.  Michelle, being the oldest, took her proper place in the middle of the floor while her younger sister, Nichole, stood just a little behind her and off to the side.  When they were certain I could see them both, Michelle walked over to the end table, picked up the one and only white Bible we owned and began waving in front of her as she said something to the effect of:  God knows you are a sinner.  He knows the secrets of your heart.  But God wants only the best for you.  So if you will only repent, the best is what God will give!  At that point Nichole, who had been dapping at her eyes, began to wail:  Save me, sweet Jesus!  Save me!  Michelle then reassured me that I could send an offering to them at our addressand God would richly bless me.

Now, on the one hand, I found the whole thing quit amusing because they were actually very good.  On the other hand, however, it was disturbing.  These were children who had been in church almost every Sunday of their lives.   They had attended Sunday school, Vacation Bible School, Christmas Eve services and Sunrise services.  If it happens in a church, they had been exposed to it.  But not once – not one time – had they come home and acted out what they had seen, heard, or experienced.  Yet, there was something about the glitz and glamour of certain television evangelist that had captured their imagination. 

What is even more disturbing is that there has always been something that has attracted us to those who deliver “the truth” as we want it to be.  As one theologian wrote, we don’t want sound teaching when it may be uncomfortable, or when it demands too much from us.  What we would prefer, instead, is for someone – anyone to tell – to tell us exactly what we want to hear while making it sound like the logical thing to do.  What we don’t want is to be told that our priorities need to be examined and our lives turned around.

That is one reason why “church shopping” has become has become so popular over the past forty years.  Again, we want what we want and if one church doesn’t meet our expectations, we’ll simply go find one that does.  So, in an attempt not to offend anyone, we have “dumb down” the Gospel, made discipleship an option, and offered grace on demand.  

Has any of this helped?  Can we honestly say that the church’s influence on society as a whole has increased as we have decreased our expectations?  Of course not!  By making it easier to say “yes” we have also made it easier to say “no.”  By stepping back and remaining quiet, we have allowed religious leaders to emerge whose doctrines are shallow and whose motives are questionable.

So, what are we suppose to do?  How can those of us who have remained in the church begin to turn it around?  We know we can’t go back.  So, how do we go forward?  How do we regain our credibility as disciples of Jesus Christ while encouraging others to join us in this incredibly  demanding, impossibly difficult, totally mind boggling, and awesomely rewarding job?

Well, the first thing we need to do is turn to the Scripture – not to proof texted but to learn and to be challenged by it.  What we will discover is that people of faith have always struggled to remain faithful in the midst of indifferent, and sometimes hostile, environments.  And, yes, there have always been those leaders within the church who have been less than faithful to God’s word – people who will soft sell the Gospel in order to tell others what they want to hear.

That was one of the problems Timothy was facing in today’s Epistle reading.  There were leaders who were teaching false doctrines so they could eventually control those who chose to follow their teachings instead of Timothy’s.  The problem had become so great that when the Apostle Paul heard about it, he was genuinely concerned about the church’s future. 

So, he decided to write Timothy a letter as a way to both encourage and instruct him.  What he had to say was not easy to hear because the only way forward was to hang tough – to be more determined than all those others around him.  If Timothy was serious about countering the popularity of all the false teachers around him, Paul told him he would have to be persistent in proclaiming the gospel, regardless of whether the time [was] favorable or unfavorable.   Not only that, he would have to cultivate the gifts of patience and persistence.  In the end, he would have to model Christ-like behavior while choosing to serve others over his self.   

We are called to model that same behavior – to develop that same persistence.  Christians, if we insist upon taking the easy path – if we refuse to preach the Gospel and hold it up as the norm for all to follow – then the day will come when the story will no longer be told.  Is that what we want?  Or, are we willing to hang tough while preaching, teaching, reaching, and living his word? 

To God be the Glory.  Amen.