LISTEN
This sermon was preached by Tim Simmonds at the CCM Gorton site of Christ Church Manchester on Sunday 31st January 2021.
SERIES
This message was part of the ‘For Such a Time as This’ series, preached at Christ Church Manchester’s church in Gorton in late 2017. The full series included the following sermons:
BIBLE VERSES
This sermon was based on 2 Timothy 2:14-26
A Worker Approved by God
14Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. 15Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 16But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, 17and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. 19But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
20Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. 21Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
22So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
KEY POINTS
Impacting Lives
- We have an effect, whether we realise it or not, on the world around us. Family, work colleagues, friends even in the supermarket and with our neighbours. We don’t float through the world in isolation, we bounce off others and cause an impact. We need to ask ourselves “what impact do I have on people around me?” More deeply – is it a kingdom impact?
- To realise we have an impact on people around us is a vital part of faith and maturity. Paul wants Timothy to consider his impact on the world around him. He is most likely a church leader and evangelist, he has a position of influence and authority. He can set the tone, culture and atmosphere of the church and he represents the church to the world.
- Many of us have positions like that. We can set the tone, culture, atmosphere of our family or work place. You, on your street, in your office, in your class room, in a social group.They are all places to consider the impact you have. This is about Kingdom impact, how do we advance the kingdom?
Speech
- When considering our impact what we talk about matters. It’s important to know when to talk as well as what to say! Paul says – rightly handle the word of truth. We are to present ourselves as those approved with no shame. We have a great opportunity, as believers to hand truth to people.
- We can wrongly handle this truth. Paul gives a few hints.1) Don’t quarrel – It does no good and ruins the hearers. Paul is referring to arguments about fine points of theology, the sort of argument where no-one changes their mind. In those moments churches turn in on themselves, forgetting that the world needs to hear the word of truth, the good news of Jesus.2) Avoid “Irreverent babble” – Talking a lot but saying nothing good or helpful e.g speculation, gossip, conspiracy. Paul says it spreads like gangrene, a disease that rots the flesh. This sort of talk can destroy a church, it rots the body and it turns people away from the church.
We have a great opportunity to speak truth. We get to be God’s people, we get to represent him. We get to be different to the world around us with our words and actions. We have impact – the posts we put on social media – the whatsapp messages we forward – the conversations that we have – they all matter – they all have an impact. What impact do your words have?
Understanding Your Gifting
- It is easy to rule ourselves out, especially in evangelism/mission. We often just compare ourselves to other more successful evangelists – every conversation they have they manage to turn it to Jesus!
- I wonder if Timothy had a similar problem, he thought he needed to be like Paul. He looked at him and saw “gold and silver”, he looked at himself as “wood and clay”. Paul says to him that it doesn’t matter, be cleansed. I think means live for God, worship him. Then your gifting and skills become useful to God.
- Find the things that you are good at and that you can do. The areas where your gifts can be used.
Behaviour
- Finally Paul explains the importance of behaviour. Flee from youthful passions, often we make this about lust or partying too much. That’s not what Paul means, in context it is clearly about how we use our gifts, how we talk and how we behave. Youthful passion is to run after quarrels, to get caught up in foolish controversies which only creates division. Rather we should pursue faith, love, righteousness and peace.
- We put our trust in God, not in our ability to argue. We trust God when people believe different things to us. Paul gives four ways to behave – Kindness – able to teach – patient endurance – correct with gentleness. Then it is all about what God does, grants repentance, brings people to their senses, frees from the devil. God does the work not us – he uses our words, gifting and behaviour.
- The world is going through a huge cultural shift, one that we barely even understand. It has exposed deep inequality, abuse, greed as well as the human desire for hope and goodness. The world needs believers in Jesus to take Pauls call seriously, to pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace!
- Believers need to realise the impact they have on the world. We need to hear Pauls call to his young friend – Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
- What’s your impact?
MORE SERMONS
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