Share in Suffering - 2 Timothy 1: 8-10

0:43You know, I think one of the ways that we misremember the former days as we think about the past is we start to glorify it and we say things like, you know, remember when, you remember the good old days? You remember when everybody was a Christian? Do you remember when everybody honored God and everyone was good? You know, we pretend like the suffering that we experience being persecuted for the gospel, we pretend that that is unique to our generation.

1:19Instead of learning from the wisdom in Ecclesiastes and elsewhere, that there's nothing new under the sun. This is the same thing that Christians have experienced in every single generation. If you, as a believer, are being tempted to be ashamed of the gospel, that's not a new temptation. Believers in every generation have been tempted with that temptation. If you are suffering consequences even now because of your faith in Jesus, that's not a unique phenomenon. In many ways, suffering is the expected heritage of the Christian. The scriptures make that clear.

2:08The colors and the tints and the varieties of that suffering might change. But the scriptures are clear that when we trust in the gospel, there are consequences. And as believers, we typically always believe something that the world, in whatever generation, might call shameful. You know, for our generation, maybe it's standing by scripture's declarations about male and female. Or maybe it's standing by scripture's insistence about how God created the world. In other generations, it's been other issues that the church is harassed over. In Timothy's generation, you can imagine what the issues might have been, right?

2:57What are some of the things that might have made Timothy tempted to be ashamed in his day. What about a crucified Messiah? The king you've been waiting for, killed like a common criminal? What about a gospel that's a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks? What about an apostle? The apostle that has trained and loved you and now is chained in prison, about to be killed for his faith in Jesus Christ. There's a lot to be ashamed of if you're Timothy from the world's standpoint.

3:43And Paul says in verse 8, Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. Paul says, Don't run from it, Timothy. You share in it. Don't be surprised by the suffering. Don't be ashamed of the suffering. The Lord Christ suffered. I, Paul, am suffering. Now you share in the suffering. He begins his passage with the word, therefore, pointing back to the verse that just came before about how this. Spirit has been given to us as believers, including Timothy, that he hasn't received a spirit of fear, but one of power and love and self-control. And so, because of that, Timothy does not need to be ashamed. He can continue to be bold. Do not be ashamed, he says. That's the main command for our passage today. Do not be ashamed. Rather than running or cowering when the gospel is unpopular, rather than shrinking back when our leaders are put in prison, Christians are to continue to suffer for the gospel and the power that he provides. And specifically, he says, suffer for the testimony about our Lord, for the truth that he has died and been buried and been raised again to new life.

5:27Be willing to suffer for the testimony about our Lord. As Paul speaks to Timothy, they've known each other for about 15 years now. And for pretty much that entire time, Timothy has been Paul's trusted associate from the very beginning. You know, we read about in the first year of them knowing each other that Paul is already sending Timothy on errands and trusting him to represent the gospel at churches all over the world. Now it's been about 15 years. Timothy has still been faithful. And Paul is going to spend our passage today just glorying in this wonderful, glorious gospel. This gospel that they both believe in and that they've made it their life's privilege and duty to share and to suffer for. And so as we read through this passage, I think what we'll see are three motivations to suffer for the gospel. Three motivations to suffer for the gospel. That God was purposeful, grace was manifested, and Christ was victorious.

6:46Three motivations to suffer for the gospel. God was purposeful, grace was manifested, and Christ was victorious. I'm going to read the text, and what I'm going to read is actually verses 8 all the way through verse 14. Our text today kind of stops right in the middle of the sentence. But the sentence is just so long. So we couldn't make it all the way through. So we're going to stop all the way, we're going to stop in the middle of a sentence, and next time I get to come and be with you, Lord willing, we'll finish the sentence and finish the paragraph. So right now I'm going to read verse 8 through 14, but our text for today is just verses 8 through 10. So follow along, and starting in verse 8. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of Be his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling. Not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.

8:19Follow the pattern of sound words, of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. Pray with me before we begin. Father, what a privilege it is to come and sit before your word, to read it with our own eyes, to study it and consider it and apply it to our lives. We pray, Father, that you would give us soft hearts, hearts that are like soft, tilled, fertile soil, ready to receive. The seed of your word, ready to be convicted, ready to be challenged.

9:12Father, give us soft, humble hearts so that we can see where we've failed to obey and apply this passage. Give us repentant hearts, and give us joyful hearts as we joyfully get to keep your commands that aren't burdensome. Give us fresh joy as we study your word together and refuse to be ashamed of the gospel. In Jesus' name, amen. The first motivation to suffer for the gospel is that God was purposeful. And I want to warn you a little bit. We've already covered kind of the main idea of this passage. Now, our outline, compared to the verse numbers, is going to be a little tricky. And the reason why it's a little tricky is the way that Paul kind of moves on in this is he'll mention a word and then he'll kind of talk about that word for a little bit. So at the end of verse 8, Paul says the word God, and then he'll say a couple things about God. And then in verse 9, in the middle of verse 9, he'll say the word grace, and he'll tell us a couple things about grace. So, You have to stay on your toes a little bit for the outline today, but I think you'll see what I mean. So, the first motivation is that God was purposeful, and you see it in verse 9.

10:43So, at the end of verse 8, he says, God, verse 9, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace. This is the gospel, isn't it? That God stepped in to save us and call us. That he was the active agent to step in, all because of his own purpose and his own grace. He stepped in to save us. And that's what he says first. He says, He saved us. Not just speaking about the future salvation. You know, in some places it talks about how he will save us. Those who have believed in him, we will be saved from the judgment to come. Here he says, saved past tense. He has already saved you. He took the initiative to send his son into the world so that Jesus Christ could die on the cross, so that we could find forgiveness of sins. He already orchestrated all of those events. Isaiah, speaking of those events ahead of time, says it was the will of the Lord to crush him.

11:58This was all the Lord's plan. It was the Lord who drew us in to look at the Son of Man who was lifted up so that we would believe and have eternal life. All of these things are from the Lord. He grabbed us by the back of our shirt when we were about to run off a cliff into judgment. The Lord saved us and he called us to a holy calling. That's what he says next. This word for call is often used of that effectual call that we hear about in theology. And in other passages of scripture, it talks about how when God called us to believe, that's what caused us to believe. Romans 8:30 says, Those whom he called, he also justified. But here, the context shows that he's actually speaking about something different. Here he says he called us to a holy calling.

12:58This means that he's called us to holiness. He's called us to live a set-apart life. I think you see the same kind of dynamic in Ephesians chapter 2, right? That by his grace we've been saved. By faith alone, we've been saved. And yet, even though it wasn't by works, we were made into his workmanship, created to accomplish works. So we were saved by. Grace, but we were saved for holiness, to accomplish works, to live a holy life. We were called to a holy calling. I think that's the dynamic that he's mentioning here.

13:42In Ephesians 4, like I mentioned at the beginning, he says, walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Christians are meant to walk in this holiness, live a set-apart life. Again, God is the active agent, isn't he? He's the one who saved. He's the one who called. Paul clarifies. He says, not because of our works. This is back to our passage. Not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace. So we didn't earn this. This was given to us. It's not because of our works, but because of his grace. And it's not even because of our own initiative, but because of his purpose. According to his purpose and grace, he sovereignly accomplished this act in our lives.

14:36I think this is quite a motivation to suffer for the gospel, isn't it? That this isn't something that was just made up by men and they convinced us in their own reason to be tricked into this. No, this is something completely different than that. This is expressing the truth that God was purposeful. God was intentional. And all because of his own grace and his own purpose, he saved us and he called us to a holy calling. And he's not done yet, right? He's patiently drawing others to himself as well. You know, I think that when we share the gospel, we can have a similar kind of confidence to Paul. Do you remember the story when he is preaching the gospel in, I believe it was Corinth?

15:34God tells him to continue on teaching. And the reason he gives, do you remember? The reason he gives is he says, I have many in this city who are my people. And so Paul is to stay there and continue to evangelize as the Lord brings his people to himself. And I think that we can have the same confidence as we are unashamed of the gospel. That God, in his purpose and his grace, that he's still sovereign, he is still purposeful. We can trust him and be willing to suffer for the gospel. The second motivation to suffer for the gospel is that grace was manifested. Grace was manifested. So try and find the word grace in verse 9. Did you find it? Find the word grace in verse 9, and then he says, Grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior. Jesus Christ. Again, this is the gospel, right? But grace was ordained, and then grace was manifested. Grace was established in Jesus Christ before the ages began, and then it was revealed in Jesus Christ when he came and lived a perfect life and died on the cross.

16:50Let's step through it carefully. First, he says, Grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. Before the ages began, this grace has been given to us in Christ Jesus. Isn't that astounding? Grace has always been the plan. God has always been gracious and merciful toward us. And the key here is that was in Christ Jesus, right? He says, which he gave us, this grace he has given us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. This was always the plan. You know, the Messiah dying on the cross and raising again was not a plan B.

17:44It wasn't a disaster recovery plan after sin corrupted the world. Grace had been given before the ages began. There is no mistake in God's providence. You know, even as God communicated through the prophets in the Old Testament, this theme is seen over and over that grace would come, that people could find forgiveness, that there is value in fearing God and trusting His Word, that people could come and be cleaned and washed and forgiven of their sins.

18:25And that was manifestly revealed in Jesus Christ. That's what he says next, verse 10, which now he's still speaking about grace. Grace now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ. So now everybody, everyone can see this. It's very obvious. This has been manifested for all to see. This grace has been manifested and it's out in the open. It's obvious because grace is found in Christ. He's the Savior. He's the only one who can save us.

19:06Before the world was ignorant, but now God commands all men everywhere to repent. What a motivation, again, to suffer for the gospel. That we are beneficiaries of a grace that wasn't a plan B, that wasn't spontaneously cast upon us. It wasn't an accident. We didn't slip into grace. Instead, grace was promised before the ages began, and now God has made that grace obviously available to any sinner who would come to Him. And as believers, what a joy that we get to continue in that ministry of making that grace obvious and manifested to the world.

20:03What a privilege to joyfully continue, even if it leads to suffering. The third motivation to suffer for the gospel is that Christ was victorious. So find the words, our Savior Jesus Christ, or our Savior Christ Jesus, in verse 10. Our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. That's so cool. The gospel, again, for a third time, right? Jesus Christ abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. He destroyed death, he abolished death.

21:02And he shined a light on life and immortality through the gospel. Listen to this. This is the author of Hebrews. He writes, Since, therefore, the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same thing. So he took on flesh. Christ took on flesh, took on a human body, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death. He needed to take on a human body so that he could die.

21:39Through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who, through fear of death, were subject to lifelong slavery. So, since Jesus took on flesh and died, he was able to destroy the devil who has the power of death, and he was able to deliver those who were always perpetually afraid of death, and rightly so. Through his death, he abolished death. And of course, we know that the final destruction of death will take place in the future. Paul writes in Corinthians that the last enemy to be destroyed is death. We know that that's true. But the death blow has already been accomplished on the cross.

22:30And everyone who has believed has already been given eternal life. The scriptures are clear about this. Jesus is clear about this. That anyone who has believed has received eternal life. So that one day we know after we die and go to be with the Lord, we will mock death. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Death is small potatoes. This giant, terrible shadow that hangs over all of mankind, it's nothing. It's nothing. It's just destroyed. It's just gone. It's nothing. It's a mockery when compared to our mighty, victorious Savior.

23:28He has destroyed death, abolished death, and Paul goes on, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Since Jesus was able to conquer death, he was able to bring something to light. Again, I think this is a picture of manifesting it, making it obvious, shining a light on something so that it's readily available. Anyone can have it. And it was life and immortality. He brought life and immortality to light. He showed us how we can have real life, true life, eternal life that never ends, immortality found only in him through his death and resurrection.

24:25Now we know, I think, is the point. Now we know there's only one way to life and immortality, and that one way is him. He's the way, the truth, and the life. He's the only way that we can find forgiveness and the only way that we can receive eternal life. What a motivation to suffer for the gospel. What is my suffering when you compare it to this gospel? That death has been abolished. That life and immortality have not only been made available but made obvious and manifest for anyone to see.

25:16Death destroyed because Christ was victorious. You know, I think if you asked a handful of people to summarize the gospel message, I think you might hear. An answer like this: God stepped in to save us from the punishment that we deserve. He stepped in to call us to a holy life. This was not because of any works that we did, but because he is full of grace and because he sovereignly purposed to do so. That's a good summary of the gospel, isn't it?

25:58I think you might also hear an answer like this: you know, what is the gospel? That forgiving grace was promised long ago before the ages began, and that it was majestically revealed in one person, and that person is our Savior Jesus Christ, and only in him can we find this promised grace. I think you might also get an answer. What is the gospel? That Christ Jesus dealt the death blow to death itself. He abolished death and was victorious and conquered death. And because of this grand victory, we can now find life and immortality, eternal life that has been promised through this gospel of forgiveness.

26:59Three, Good answers, all speaking about this glorious gospel and all in our text today, that God was gloriously purposeful, that grace was gloriously manifested, and that Christ was gloriously victorious. It just makes you want to say, you know, what suffering? What suffering? I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Romans 8:18. What suffering? When you compare it to that gospel, it makes you feel ridiculous forever being ashamed of such a message, doesn't it? It makes you feel foolish forever walking away from an opportunity to stand and suffer for the gospel.

28:10When we're thinking rightly about the glorious gospel and about the testimony of our Lord, it makes us feel silly for ever being ashamed of a message like that. What a grand and glorious truth. What a wonderful hope that has been. Manifested. So let's joyfully accept any mockery, any humiliation we receive for standing up for this gospel message, making it plain, making it obvious to the world. What does that look like in your life? For Timothy, it looked like what we hear in 1 and 2 Timothy the whole time. Guard the deposit.

29:04This teaching that has been handed to you, Timothy, guard the deposit. Stand up for the truth. When false teachers come and the church is persecuted and the apostles are in prison and the apostles are killed, still you guard the deposit. Don't be ashamed. You keep preaching the truth. That's what it looks like for Timothy. What does it look like for you? Surely it looks like rejoicing in the gospel, even among friends and family and co-workers, marveling in God's grace that He would have grace towards you, that He would love you when you're unlovable, filled with sin.

29:59I think it looks. Looks like standing in awe of the God who sovereignly accomplished all of this by his own purpose and grace. I think it looks like standing in awe of our Savior who has revealed that grace. I think being willing to suffer for the gospel means that you ought to be quick to identify with Christ Jesus. Quick to accept the label of Christian. Happy to tell the others the truth about what that means. Happy to tell others the truth about what it means to be a Christian. You, as a believer, have been equipped with the Holy Spirit. And the spirit that the Lord has given us is not a spirit of fear. It is a spirit of power and love and self-control.

30:58So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord. Instead, share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. That was Paul's charge to Timothy. And I think it's a charge that we can carry on today. For those of you who haven't repented and believed, for those of you who haven't come to God and asked for forgiveness of all of your sins and trusted that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, that that death was died. Was a death that paid your penalty.

31:34For those of you who haven't come to God and asked for His forgiveness, I want to tell you that this gospel message that is worth suffering for, that we believe is worth dying for, this gospel message is true in every part. This gospel message is true, and it is your only hope to find a full and free forgiveness from the God of the universe. So come to God, believe in Him, trust that He's ready to forgive and that Christ has paid the price so that you can be forgiven. Pray with me, Father. We are astounded and amazed at this glorious gospel message. We do pray for any in this room or any who are hearing this message who have not believed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray that today you would change their heart and show them the depths of their sin. Show them that their only hope is trusting in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin.

32:45For those of us who have believed, Father, I pray that you would fill our heart with a recognition of just how glorious this gospel is, that this is the gospel of your glorious grace. Of you stepping in to rescue us according to your own purpose, sending Christ Jesus into the world to die for sin so that we can be forgiven not because of works or deeds that we've done, but only because of your grace. Help us revel in that gospel. Help us be so amazed by it that it seems foolish to us. It seems unbelievable and unthinkable to ever be ashamed of such a message. Help us be willing to joyfully suffer for the gospel.

33:41Help us share in suffering with a joyful heart. We thank you, God, for your penetrating and convicting word this morning. Forgive us for the times when we disobeyed. Forgive us for the times when we've been ashamed. Help us apply the word that we've read this morning. In Jesus' name, amen.