ABOUT THIS EPISODE
No man is an island … actually, it's true of women too. But sometimes, it seems like the rest of the world is pretty much ready to desert us. And when we feel all alone, we wonder if we still have anything useful that we can do. So … do we give up, or do we keep going?
You know there are parts of the Bible that I'm prone to skimming over. For instance the genealogies. They're so long and boring and dry, particularly the one that goes on for pages and pages at the beginning of 1 Chronicles in the Old Testament. Who has time to read that? But one man did, a guy by the name of Bruce Wilkinson and he stumbles across the prayer of Jabez, one of the most powerful prayers in the Bible and of course he wrote the book, "The Prayer of Jabez".
And that's how often it is with those bits we'd rather just skim over. The introductions to Paul's letters or epistles in the New Testament, we always want to skim over those. But there is such a richness and power in those, we do so at our own peril. And finally the bits that I used to be prone to skimming over were some of the personal notes at the end of Paul's letters.
He'd write all the rich, meaty theological stuff that you and I can apply to our lives and then almost like a p.s. at the end of a letter he kind of writes to say, "Say gidday to Fred and tell Betty to come and visit me soon and give my regards to all my friends in wherever it is." You know, all that stuff. But just the other day as we were exploring what it means to rekindle the amazing gift that God has placed within each one of us, we read this in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16:
That all Scripture is useful for teaching, reproof, correction and training so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient and equipped for every good work.
So as we draw to the end of Paul's letter and we get to that personal bit I'm going to resist the temptation to skip over that bit because as is always the case there are some gems hidden in there that the Holy Spirit wants us to take and write on our hearts.
Paul sets out his purpose of his letter to his young protégé Timothy way back in chapter 1. Timothy's going through some terribly tough times so Paul reminds him of all that trouble that God's gone to, to get him to this point in his life. And he writes, 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 6:
For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands.
And verse 14:
Guard the good treasure entrusted to you with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.
This letter is about rekindling the gift that God has put into each one of us and using it for the glory of God. Why? Not only because doing that is so incredibly satisfying and fulfilling, which it is, but because the time is short and people are going to a Christ-less eternity as we saw yesterday on the program. And I pray that you, like me, have been powerfully encouraged and motivated to rekindle the gift that God has placed within you over these past weeks as we've let God's Word transform us.
So, here we are drawing to the end of the letter, and we get to this personal bit. What does the Holy Spirit have to say to us through this if indeed every Scripture is inspired by God and is useful in our lives? Well let's have a bit of a read about what Paul has to say on the personal front, 2 Timothy chapter 4 beginning at verse 9. He says to Timothy:
Do your best to come to me soon for Demas in love with this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica, Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia, only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you for he is useful in my ministry.
I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books and above all the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm, the Lord will pay him back for his deeds. You also must be aware of him for he is strongly opposed to the message.
At my first defence no one came to support me but all deserted me, may it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lions mouth, the Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom, to him be the glory for ever and ever, amen.
That's quite a devastating story, isn't it? All these people who've done Paul harm and deserted him and left him, remember at this point after many years of ministry in Jesus name across the known world it's pretty much the end of his career. Paul is now on death row in a Roman dungeon. He's escaped execution and all that stuff and the lions a few times. He's been through court hearing after court hearing, he's served the Lord so faithfully and through so many trials and tribulations and now this, everyone's deserted him.
God's people, the very ones who should have stood by his side, the very people who should have been there for him have either deserted him on mass or as in the case of Alexander the coppersmith, have done him great harm. Can I tell you something? There is nothing, absolutely nothing that is more damaging than when the people who are close to you, the people you should have been able to trust, the people who should be caring for you and standing with you in your distress, God's people after all, desert you and betray you.
Our immediate response to that is, "This shouldn't be happening!" And when it does it ranks right up there as our number one excuse for not exercising the amazing gift that God has given us for His glory. It's our top excuse as we conclude that well if all those other Christians in my Church can't get their act together, why should I?
Have you ever had that thought running through your head, as though because others lose the plot it must therefore be fine and dandy in God's eyes for us to lose the plot as well? For us to put our gifts and abilities on ice and let countless people head off to a Christ-less eternity. Let me ask you, is that what Paul did? No! He relied on the Lord and even when he's locked up, chained to a Roman guard, this is what he does, he uses the opportunity to tell the Romans about Jesus. We read about it in Philippians chapter 1 beginning at verse 12. He writes to the Philippians:
I want you to know beloved that what has happened to me has actually helped us spread the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ and most of these brothers and sisters having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear.
Don't you love that? Would the time appear favourable there, chained up in a prison? Probably not and yet Paul used his gifts and his abilities to turn that around for good and bring Jesus to his jailers for goodness sake.
I want to encourage you today not to let anything, any disappointment, any adversity, any betrayal stop you from taking your gift, your unique ability back out of the locker and putting it to work right where you are for the glory of God. Don't wait for a better time, don't wait for the storm to clear, don't wait for God to put you in a much better place. Start using your unique gifting right now to be as Christ to a world that desperately needs a saviour whether they realise it or not.
Because in all likelihood there's someone close to you, someone that God has deliberately put in your proximity space who needs to hear about this amazing Jesus through your unique ability to tell them, through your gift of service or your gift of encouragement or whatever it is that is your gift, your shtick in life. And one day you'll meet them on the other side of eternity and you'll have all eternity to rejoice in Christ with them. That's the plan and it's a fantastic plan.
It's a plan where God wants to use us just where we are, just the way He's made us, in exactly the circumstances we find ourselves in, in order to tell people about the saving love of Jesus. Remember Jesus didn't turn back from the Cross because the time wasn't good; Jesus went to the Cross because He knew that's the one thing we needed of Him.
Friend, use your gift, tell people about that Jesus.
