Being Unashamed of Christ (Part 1)

We're going to move further into 2 Timothy.

! I promised last time we'd actually get to a verse or two, and we will. In my opinion, you can take that for what it's worth.

The Apostle Paul was the most brilliant mortal man that ever walked on the face of the earth. Interesting person.

Had such an impact that we're sitting here 2,000 years after he died talking about him and reading his works. Before he was Paul, you all know he was Saul.

And you know that he was radically saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. I use that word mortal to eliminate the Lord Jesus from the list.

Clearly, he's the omnipotent God. God in human flesh and is obviously infinitely wise and without equal. Paul was the most interesting guy.

I think as Saul, he was on the fast track to be the high priest. I think that's what he was being groomed for. Certainly had the favor of the high priest who gave him warrants of arrest for Christians in Damascus.

He started a journey on that road and God had other plans. We talked about Paul getting knocked off his horse. If you read closely, there's no horse in the...

He may have been on a horse, but he may have been on an elephant. I don't know. But anyway, he was laying in the sand before the trip was over. Paul was many things.

He was a preacher, teacher, evangelist, and a missionary, to name a few. One thing that might not make the list, but it is an area where Paul excelled, and that was discipling.

He was a great discipler. And we can learn a lot from that. We should be getting younger men ready for when we're gone.

I'm going to be talking about that this Friday and Saturday over at a Baptist camp in Missouri, connected to my youngest son's church, and we're looking forward to that.

Paul left us a body of truth by which the discipling process can and has touched millions in the church.

This list would include pastors, teachers, parents, youth leaders, counselors, and so on. Much of his inspired writings of the New Testament we have comes from Paul, and much of it is on discipling, and a lot of that as he interacts with Timothy.

Remember now, that was Paul's son in the faith and a student whom Paul discipled. Paul's instructions to Timothy are useful to those of us nearly 2,000 years later who might be helping someone grow spiritually in Christ Jesus.

And tonight, Paul is going to give us six principles for the discipling process to be successful. I mean, we want to be successful at it, right?

What he's going to talk to us about is that we can motivate others in the maturing process by employing these principles.

And here are some ways that Paul motivated Timothy by which we can employ to motivate others.

And the first thing I'll talk about is Paul's authority. Paul, verse 1, in the beginning of 2, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus to Timothy, my beloved son.

Timothy was well motivated to adhere to Paul's instructions because he understood from whence Paul derived his authority.

And you might be thinking, yeah, but I'm not Paul. If I'm going to disciple someone, what's my authority? It's that book right there. The ultimate authority.

Timothy, that's what you disciple them out of. Timothy understood Paul had authority. And it motivated him.

And Paul begins by reminding Timothy and through him to us that he is an apostle of Christ Jesus. Now the question comes in, was that statement even necessary?

After all, Timothy well understood from where Paul derived his authority. He knew that Paul was an apostle of the Lord Jesus.

But Paul, writing by inspiration, makes it clear that in the grand scheme of things, he outranks his young protege. There is a rank order here.

And it's not wrong for Paul to point this out. Paul is writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So there are lessons here, and one of them is this.

Intimacy does not preclude authority. Intimacy does not preclude authority.

And I came up with that. I think it's brilliant. John MacArthur stole it from me later. But intimacy does not preclude authority.

I'm very close to my officers. Probably closer than I should be. There's two schools of thought. Chiefs should be distant or close. You could be too close. There's a middle of the road.

But if I've got to do one or the other, I'd rather be close. But I still have authority over them in certain situations. And they understand that. We all love our children.

But that in no way negates the fact that we are in authority over them. If that's Scott telling me to get down here. We are in authority over our children.

I exercise stern to throw it over my granddaughters. Right, Mike? I only gave them $300 yesterday. I mean, I cut them way back. My officers deal with young people and parents weekly that don't understand that.

They do not understand that. You'd be shocked at Wade Wooden. But the number of calls we get, well, my 13-year-old, my 12-year-old just refuses to go to school today.

How would your dad to handle that? I always remember the story of Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederacy.

He went to his dad one day who had a huge plantation in Mississippi. He said, I'm not going to go to school today. He said, you're not? He said, nope. It's okay. You go out and work. And they had on the plantation a slave by the name of James Pemberton, and he was more like the ranch manager.

And he was treated like that with great respect. And he said, you'll work. You do whatever Mr. Pemberton tells you to do. Well, he came in that night, and he was dragging, and he took a bath and ate a little supper and went to bed.

And the next morning, he went out and went to school. He decided that wasn't his cup of tea. We deal with young people and parents weekly that don't understand the authority thing.

And that's even more complicated by the fact that we live in a time when the government has decided that any type of child discipline is wrong and should not be allowed.

That's why we're raising a culture of Tasmanian devils. And we deal with them. My youngest son called Saturday, and he said, what is happening with professional football?

These guys are getting arrested and kicked out for spanking their kids. I said, well, you know, Rob, yeah, it's a new day. And he said, my gosh, Mom should be in prison.

I said, yeah, both boys and I could have put her there. We started a long trip one day, and she cut a switch just to show them.

When we got to our destination, they had Truth and Nixon. I was bloody. I was a pulp, you know, because I'd tease her. It's quack. This is also true in the business world.

We may be very close to the boss, but he has authority over us, and there are certain things we should not and cannot do. I have a great boss, Ed Gordon.

He's also the pastor of Trinity Baptist Church. And I told Ed early on, I said, there's going to be times when I disagree with you. But as long as your instructions are lawful and moral, and they would be, I will carry them out.

But I said, I will never disagree with you in front of anybody else. And I never have. I never have. There is no question that Paul shared a deep relationship with Timothy.

It was very close to a father-son relationship. And in spite of this, Paul begins his letter to Timothy by reminding him that he, Paul, has authority over him.

And when Paul says that he is an apostle, that has a very important connotation in the original language. It means that Paul was a representative of someone even more important and powerful than himself.

He was a representative who carried with him the authority of the one he represented. And we know that Paul represented the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, with that said, we should have the image in our minds that Paul, as an apostle, stood in the place of Christ Jesus.

And when he spoke the words of Christ, when he spoke, he was speaking the words of Christ. We sometimes, you know, sometimes red letter Bibles are dangerous.

And I have them. But remember, as important as the red letters are, they're no more inspired than the other parts.

Paul's writings and Peter and John and Jude and so forth, they too are the inspired words of the Spirit of God. Paul also reminds us that he did all this by the will of God.

He received his marching orders from the Father and the Son. It can also be said that he yielded to the Spirit, so we see all three members of the Godhead.

In context, then, Paul is not offering Timothy some fatherly advice. He is speaking with the authority of the God of the universe.

He is also speaking with the authority of the gospel of Christ. Now, you might be asking, well, where is that in the verses we read? It is contained in the words, the promise of life in Christ Jesus.

That's the good news. That's the gospel. The gospel promises life, eternal life in Christ Jesus. Paul's call following the road to Damascus encounter was to proclaim life in Christ alone.

There was no other way by which a person could be saved. Now, having said all this, I want to make another point. Intimacy did not preclude authority.

Conversely, authority did not preclude intimacy. He could still be close to his friend and spiritual son.

Paul shared a bond of love with Timothy unlike anyone on earth during his lifetime. Well, the second point I want to make is, I hope I get this right, altruism, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

John MacArthur uses that word, altruism. Now, let me tell you why John did that. He wants all six of these points to start with the letter A. So I'm sure he's sitting there with a thesaurus.

You know, he's got 40 people on his staff looking for a letter A in here. Well, it didn't help me. I had to go to the dictionary. I mean, I had no clue what that meant.

So I looked it up. It means feelings and behavior that show a desire to help other people and a lack of selfishness.

Definition two, unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others. So I thought that's what it meant, but I wanted to verify. If I had gotten here early enough, I would have cleared with Mike, and now we know.

So Paul personified the unselfish concern for and devotion to others.

That's what a discipler does. This included believers and unbelievers. Timothy was an observer of this attitude and was to be discipled by it.

He watched Paul do this. He watched Paul go in and interact with the lost Jews in the synagogue. He watched Paul deal with government officials, Roman officials.

And he watched Paul deal with the baby church. So we are nearly 2,000 years after Paul wrote these words, and like Paul and Timothy, we've been saved by unmerited grace.

We were all in need of mercy, and this was abundantly supplied by the Lord. Paul wanted Timothy, and he wants us, to live with mercy and grace in constant view.

He also wanted us to have a peace of mind and heart that is a product of mercy and grace. If we are to live out our Christian lives in fullness, we need to have a genuine love for others.

We need to be concerned about their spiritual well-being. We are to love others unreservedly.

You remember the videos we saw, dispatches from the front? They were marvelous videos. But you remember that one? The one guy that was ministering daily to people's needs on the front lines was a Buddhist monk.

And Tim Kaseeb pointed that out. He said, here I am in the front of the front lines. And who is it that is feeding, giving them a place to stay, sheltering, clothing?

A Buddhist monk. And he says, we should be here doing this. The third thing we'll talk about tonight is appreciation. Appreciation, the first front of verse 3.

I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did. Appreciation should be a two-way street.

If you are mentoring someone, and let me just say to you, okay, you guys are the leaders of this church. Or you wouldn't be here. You need to be mentoring someone.

And there's plenty out there. Look at those kids sitting on the front row down there. That's a marvelous sight. If you're mentoring someone, you know, involved in counseling, you should strive to be a blessing to that person.

At the same time, they should strive to be a blessing to you. That is what I mean by a two-way street. Paul really appreciated the fact that God gave him the opportunity to disciple Timothy.

And let's keep Paul's appreciation in the proper perspective. He was presently discipling his young protege from a Roman prison.

He wasn't with Timothy when 2 Timothy was written. He's in a dungeon. But that didn't negate his discipling or mentoring responsibilities.

And just because you may be some distance from somebody, it doesn't negate your responsibilities as a disciple. Pick your family. I mean, you don't have to grab someone off the street.

You could be a discipling family member. This weekend, I'm going to talk about discipling your family for 100 years. For 100 years.

That's God's will. In the 6th chapter of Deuteronomy, verses 1 and 2, it says, Learn the statutes and commandments of God so you can obey them. Teach them. Learn them yourself.

Teach them to your son. Teach them to your grandson. That's 100 years. I was born in 1948. Rob was born in 19-something, 77.

His daughter is going to be born in 2014. When she's 40, you know, I'll be 33 because I'll be in the streets of gold.

But I would be 100. You see how that works? We're going to end with that, by the way. I've got some more to tell you. So blessing is a two-way street.

And Paul really thanks God that he has this opportunity with Timothy, even though he's in a Roman prison. The fact he's in a dungeon puts Paul's declaration that he was appreciative and, thank God, it puts it in a proper perspective.

He's in chains. And he's going to die. And he's going to comment later in our study, he knows he's going to die. He knows there's a comment. Paul was in the midst of terrible suffering.

He was literally awaiting death at the hands of the Romans. And to express appreciation under those circumstances must have been very revealing and instructive for Timothy.

Here was Paul in perhaps his final hours of life. And he tells young Timothy, I'm so very thankful to God whom I serve.

Isn't that amazing? I probably would have been praying, God, can you find some loophole to get me out of here? You know? Even in the midst of this terrible circumstance, Paul is lifting up God as an example that Timothy should follow after Paul is gone.

I remember the true story of the young Vietnamese pastor that was arrested and sentenced to one year in hard labor in Vietnam. He was such a model prisoner. After six months, they came to him and said, you know, we're going to let you go early.

He said, oh, don't do that. He said, I've only witnessed to half the prison. I've still got a whole other half to go. Well, okay, you can stay. Paul approaches death with a clear conscience and a guiltless mind and heart.

He says that he is serving God with a clear conscience. And this is really an attitude of worship. In spite of the circumstances we find ourselves in, our commitment is to serve God with a clear conscience.

That's a life principle for us. And whatever our circumstances are, it doesn't alter our relationship with Christ. And, you know, if you get down to the dumps or you look around you at this crumbling world, and it crumbles a little bit more every day, just ask yourself, what's Jesus doing right now?

And I can tell you, he's sitting on a throne and he's interceding for his children, praying for you. He's sitting on a throne and he's sitting on a throne and he's sitting on a throne and he's sitting on a throne.

And you may say, well, yeah, but, you know, here I am in Oklahoma and he may be busy with something. He created the universe. Trust me, he can intercede for everybody personally at the same time.

He can do that. Paul had a conscience and neither accused nor condemned him. How is that possible? Is that available to us to have a clear conscience?

It is available to those who truly believe and are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. It is possible through the forgiveness that Christ provides his children through the atonement and then through confession of known sin.

I'm going to throw this in for free. It's not even in my notes. Before you do any spiritual endeavor, whatever it is, get alone and go to the Lord.

1 John 1.9, confess your sins, your known sins. And trust me, they'll come to mind.

And the Scripture says when we do that, he forgives us of those sins or that sin and then he cleanses us of all unrighteousness.

Well, what's that? Stuff we've done, don't even remember. Didn't even equate it with sin when we did it. He cleanses us. You know what that really is, 1 John 1.9?

It's foot washing. It's spiritual foot washing. Remember Jesus told Peter, I've got to wash your feet? If I don't wash your feet, you've got nothing to do with me.

I'm going to wash my whole body. No, Peter. Your body's clean. Why was Peter's body clean? He was a saved man. But he picks up the dust of sin along the way.

And Jesus, that's the application of spiritual foot washing. Before you do anything, before you teach, before you go into that sanctuary, before you pray, go to 1 John 1.9.

And if you can't think of any sins, you're a lot better man than I am. And just say, well, Lord, whatever it is I'm not thinking of, cleanse me of those. And he will. He's faithful to do that.

We note that Paul also uses the word forefathers. We don't have a clue who those men were. He doesn't tell us. They may have been the prophets of the Old Testament.

They may have been the mighty men of God spoken of in the Old Covenant. Do a word study sometime on that phrase, mighty men of God. Some of us went to Eastern Heights a couple of years ago for that.

It was wonderful. They had room for 338 guys showed up on Saturday morning. It was fantastic. Okay.

The next thing Paul is talking about is appeal. As I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, he appeals to the Lord for Timothy.

He goes to the Lord on behalf of his protege. Who do you all take to the Lord? I've been lifting up my granddaughters.

I've been lifting up my granddaughters. I'm not fully confident they're saved. I mean, I get up at 2 in the morning and like Thomas Watson appeared and said, my eyes did swim in their orbs.

And they're coming around. And Wes, you have a hand at Rebecca's. And they came up to me after church and said, we really want to talk to you about some of the things. That's an answer to prayer. That's an answer to prayer.

Paul made a constant appeal before the Lord on behalf of Timothy. Who among us would not feel strengthened and encouraged by one, the status of an apostle Paul making intercession on our behalf?

Well, let me tell you, brothers, we can all do that. We're all equal under Christ. Christ is the head. We're the body. Paul's part of the body. We're part of the body.

The passage tells us that Timothy was constantly on his mind. Where did Paul learn to make such intercession? Jesus is the model.

From the Lord Jesus, we learn that he continually makes intercession for us. The word for prayer used here is one of the strongest in the Greek language.

It carries with it the meaning of making genuine supplications before the Lord. And one of the New Testament examples here is the type of prayer that Zacharias made before the Lord.

That's the father of John the Baptist. He's an old man. He's older than I am.

And he goes to the Lord in this strong prayer with this desire to have a son. He was childless. Years go by, and in his old age, his wife, who was old, bore him John the Baptist.

Jesus said no greater man ever lived than John the Baptist. He was the last Old Testament prophet and the first New Testament preacher. He was at the crossroads between old and new.

And you know the interesting thing about John the Baptist? God had not spoken to Israel for 400 years. Almost twice as long as we've been a country. He was silent for 400 years.

I add those things and then I get lost. Interestingly, Paul uses the words night and day to express his praying for Timothy. First of all, how would he know?

He's in a dungeon. There's no natural light coming in. But it stands to remind us that Paul had Timothy intently on his mind knowing that his son in the faith, though removed by distance, was at that moment working to build the church that Paul had founded in the midst of conflict that had been brought on by the presence of false teachers.

And we hammered some of those in here last Wednesday night, didn't we? The false teachers. They're everywhere in our day. They're all over. Television. They're everywhere.

If you want to genuinely help a believer, hold them up before the Lord daily and tell them that you're doing so.

You find someone that's really in a struggle and tell them. And you know, that's one thing I've always said. Everyone needs an accountability partner. And let me give you some advice.

Don't make it your wife. Don't make it another woman. Can't have another woman. You've got to have a guy. But make sure it's a guy that you're not going to read about on Twitter or Facebook.

I don't get on those things because I don't want to read about myself. I'm on there all the time because of being the police. I don't want to read that stuff. You know, I don't want to read it. The gospel comes and says, do you know what I said?

I said, don't tell me. I don't want to know. I don't want to know. Then the Holy Spirit has Paul talk about affection. Longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy.

They were close. It was a father-son. Here's another principle for motivating other believers. This is especially true for those you are discipling.

You know what? That's probably not very easy in 21st century, man. You know, it's really not.

It's not easy. But we should be doing that as we seek to build one another up. Paul says he was longing to see Timothy.

This means he had an intense desire or a yearning to see his younger brother in Christ. Paul says that he remembered Timothy's tears.

Paul was very moved by that, very emotional. Now, the passage does not say so, but I think we can be fairly certain that it involves their last parting.

And it would be their last parting. This occurred after a brief visit to Ephesus, sometime after Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy, but before his arrest at Nicopolis.

And after that arrest, Paul was transported to Rome and placed in prison. This was reminiscent of Paul's emotional parting with the Ephesian elders.

And I had in here, you remember we studied that a few weeks ago, and I took it out because that was my Sunday morning class. The Ephesian elders came out and met Paul on the beach.

He's getting ready to get on a sailing ship and depart, and they're never going to see him again in this life. And it was very emotional, very emotional.

Dr. Luke records this for us in Acts chapter 20, verse 36 and 38. When he had said these things, this is Paul, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

And they began to weep aloud and embrace Paul and repeatedly kissed him. We shake hands and give high fives. He was grieving, especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again.

Should have added in this life. They see him every day now. They've written even a day. And they were accompanying him to the ship. They didn't even want him to watch him walk up the plank, you know.

They followed him. The gangway. Sorry. They followed him. They followed him. Now, I'm not sure how that passage affects us.

We're 21st century men. But it is a gripping scene for me. I've been privileged to be in 45 countries.

Many of those are persecuted countries where the Bible is restricted. And many times in my visits in the persecuted countries when it's time to leave, we know when we part, we will not meet again until heaven.

We know that. Often we will say through an interpreter or if they speak English, we will meet you at the eastern gate in heaven.

We'll just meet you at the eastern gate. And Richard Warmbrand used to tell people, the founder of VOM, I'll meet you guys at the eastern gate. I'll be sitting there waiting for you at the eastern gate.

Paul realized that he might never see Timothy again in this lifetime. But the mere prospect of seeing Timothy again filled Paul with joy.

Timothy knew that Paul had a deep love for him and he knew the yearning Paul had to see him again. This no doubt filled Timothy with joy.

But even more importantly, it motivated him all the more to tend the flock that his mentor had established.

I mean, that would break Paul's heart if that church fell apart. So Timothy was well motivated. We're talking about motivating people we disciple or mentor.

Timothy was well motivated. He did not want to fail Paul. He knew failing Paul would be failing a church and he knew failing Paul in church would be failing Jesus. So he was motivated to tend the flock all the more.

The last time, and this name won't mean to some of you, you won't, but several of you will. The last time I saw Willie Pitchford in a hospital in Tulsa, she took my hand and she said, take care of the church.

And she was a member here for a long time. And her husband was a spiritual mentor of mine. I was with him when he died. I always remember when Dr. McBride and I went to see him, he was dying of cancer and he was in and out.

And the nurse said, well, he's been asking when you guys are coming. And I told him, you know, Jesus is here. And Dr. McBride said, yeah, but he wants somebody with skin on. And AC said, that's right.

He wants somebody with skin on. Willie said, take care of the church. And she would have said that to all of you. And then Paul is going to talk about an affirmation.

Paul here gives a final principle of motivation for young Timothy and through him to us.

He talks about the importance of affirming our brothers. And, you know, a good example of that, I think, was Anthony. That was his first shot, guys.

I mean, who wants to volunteer next Sunday? It's intimidating. It's his first shot. He talks about the importance of affirming our brothers.

I affirmed Anthony yesterday. He has already told Timothy that he remembers him in his prayer. He recalls their emotional parting. Now he speaks to Timothy through a letter.

Paul's in Rome in a dungeon. Timothy is not there. He's in Ephesus. And he speaks to him in a letter of being mindful of the sincere faith that Timothy had.

I can't think of anyone who I'd rather have affirmed my faith than Paul unless it's the Lord Jesus Christ himself. I mean, that's powerful.

Paul tells Timothy that he has a sincere faith. We all want to hear that, don't we, someday? Well done, good and faithful servant.

As opposed to, I never knew you. Depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I mean, that's the two choices. That's the two choices. Paul says to Timothy, you've got a sincere faith.

And there's an amazing concept here in the Greek language. It is a way of saying that Timothy's faith is genuine, without hypocrisy, without pretense, without deceit.

See, that's why God chose to write the Bible in Hebrew and Greek because they're the two most expressive languages on earth. In his first letter to Timothy, you might recall, Paul told him, The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Well, now here's where the rubber meets the road. Where did Timothy's sincere faith come from? Well, obviously it came from the Lord. For by grace you are saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God.

Not of works, lest anyone should boast. But God did and still does use earthly things to accomplish his heavenly mission.

Timothy had a heritage. Paul, writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reveals the heritage that Timothy enjoyed.

He described it, it is a heritage of sincere faith within him, which first dwelt in his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice.

That's a good name here. His mother Eunice. Thank God for Christian mothers and grandmothers. I always remember Jim Merritt.

He preached here. He became president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Jim Merritt was the product of a praying grandmother. She prayed every day on her knees.

The Lord raised up in my family, among my sons or grandsons, a minister of the gospel. He was the one that God raised up and she died five years before he was born. Never matter in this life.

While we cannot be dogmatic, there is a possibility that Paul had led both of these women to the Lord years earlier. God then used them to win Timothy and grow him in the faith.

God was preparing Timothy to carry on after Paul's departure. God doesn't shoot any blanks. He knew what he was doing. I will be speaking this coming weekend in Missouri on the role of Christian men to be the godly anchor for their family for 100 years.

Now, I won't go into minute detail tonight because I may want to teach this to you guys someday. One way, though, you become that anchor is by communicating your faith to those who come after you.

And that can be very inspiring. And, you know, if you're going to communicate to a great-great-grandson, how are you going to do that? You've got to write it down. Leave him a journal that you may keep.

Write letters. I'm leaving my sons, my library. I mean, it's only like 3,000 volumes. They can handle that. Communicate now for those who will come after you and you'll be in heaven.

I want to read you a letter that I found. It's inspiring. Here's a guy that anchored his family.

Listen to this. I resort to my pen one more time in life for the purpose of communicating a few lines. My brother, I am glad that your prayers are with me on Bud and Mary's behalf.

I talk to them a good deal about their salvation, but they keep putting it off until another time. I would love to see you both so we can talk about the Bible.

There is no one to talk to about the Bible. I have people in the area that practice their religion, and I have to contend with them.

They won't have the Bible. They depend altogether on their papers. That's what the denominations publish for an argument.

You can judge for yourself how the argument goes. The Bible is all I want and all I will have.

I remain your brother. Isn't that inspiring? That letter was written 140 years ago.

The man that wrote it was a veteran of the Civil War. He died in 1920. And his letter is a tremendous encouragement to me because that was from my great-grandfather.

And he died 28 years before I was born. But I'm standing here in the 21st century talking about him as an encouragement.

And I hope his letter encouraged you. I hope his letter encouraged you. Thank you.