Rev. David Holwick W 2 Timothy series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
July 4, 2010
2 Timothy 1:13-18
GUARD WHAT YOU'VE GOT
I. We have a heritage.
A. The death of Senator Robert Byrd.
1) Our nation's longest-serving senator, over 51 years.
2) He was a devout American Baptist who taught a Sunday School
class when he visited his home church in West Virginia.
3) Byrd was famous for keeping a small copy of the Constitution
in his pocket and referred to it often during speeches.
a) He didn't want people to forget what our foundation was.
b) The Apostle Paul had the same concern for Timothy.
c) Christians must decide what is important in life, and
protect it.
B. Today we celebrate our foundation as a nation.
1) I dropped by the oldest Holwick cemetery on way home from
the Creation music festival since it was nearby.
a) Our ancestor, Johann Jacob Holben, is buried in a small
church cemetery in Weisenberg, Pennsylvania.
b) His grave is a rough stone, but marked with an American
flag and a stone marker that says he is a veteran of
the American Revolution.
c) It's wrong - his sons, including one that was named
after him, were the veterans, not him.
2) Our documents may be our most important heritage.
a) The Declaration of Independence.
b) A few years later, the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
c) All of them are protected at the national archives
in Washington, D.C.
C. Christianity also has an important heritage.
1) Paul reminds Timothy of the teaching passed on to him. 1:13
a) This is the content of the apostolic gospel.
b) It is the message of how we can be saved through Jesus.
2) It is a lived message - it must be combined with faith and
love.
3) It must also be guarded.
II. Everyone seems to be deserting.
A. Not everyone was a patriot during the Revolution.
During my research yesterday, I found out that Benjamin
Franklin's son, William, was the governor of New Jersey.
He remained loyal to the King of England throughout the war
and never spoke to his father again.
After the war, he moved to England.
Worse were the patriots who turned against America.
The most famous was Benedict Arnold.
He won some of the most important battles of the war for our
side, then he betrayed us because he wasn't getting enough
attention.
B. Paul knew all about deserters.
1) Usually in his letters, desertion means abandoning Christ.
2) Here, it probably means Christian leaders who abandoned
Paul after his arrest (the second one).
a) In his first arrest at the end of the book of Acts, Paul
apparently was under house arrest and even had Bible
studies with local Jewish leaders.
b) From the evidence in the Pastoral Epistles, it seems he
was later released and did more missionary work.
c) In A.D. 68, Rome had a huge fire and Emperor Nero put
the blame on the Christians.
1> Peter and Paul were among those arrested.
2> It was at this point that most of Paul's associates
pulled away from him.
3) His emotional state is very evident in this passage.
a) "Everyone in Asia" has abandoned him.
1> Asia back then meant what we call Turkey today.
2> Not everyone had abandoned him there, or Timothy
wouldn't have had any churches to oversee.
3> But it does show how depressed Paul had become.
b) Two key deserters are named.
1> They are never mentioned again.
2> Apparently they were key leaders and Paul was
devastated by their abandonment of him.
C. Desertion still happens today.
1) Rise of liberalism in our churches.
a) For over 150 years in America, traditional theology has
been challenged, if not abandoned.
b) In Europe it can be traced back to the Enlightenment
in the 1600s.
2) It always began with an attack on the Bible.
a) The authorship of various books was questioned, such
as Genesis or Deuteronomy.
1> 2 Timothy, the book we are studying now, was among
them.
2> Most liberal scholars today say it is a forged
letter and not written by Paul.
b) Then the teachings were questioned, such as belief in
the resurrection, or the need for blood atonement.
c) Finally the miracles and any supernatural aspects were
eliminated.
3) Most of what are called the mainline Protestant churches
accepted these conclusions, to some degree.
a) That is why they have lost millions of members.
b) If you abandon a firm foundation, you only flounder.
III. There are always a few good men.
A. A single man made a big difference.
1) Onesiphorus is only mentioned here and at the end of the book.
2) Since that final reference is a greeting to his household
only, many assume Onesiphorus had died by this time.
3) But while he lived, he was Paul's best friend.
B. Paul's imprisonment did not shame him.
1) Instead, he searched through Rome until he found him.
a) Rome had a lot of prisons back then.
b) It would not have been easy to find a single person.
2) When he found Paul, he gave him material help - and
encouragement - on repeated occasions.
a) Proverbs 18:24 talks about a friend who sticks
closer than a brother.
b) That's what Onesiphorus was to Paul. He went the
extra mile.
IV. The heritage is in your hands now.
A. If the gospel depended on you alone, would it survive?
1) The record of our church has not always been bright.
At social events I attend in the community, I sometimes
run into former members, or kids who grew up in this
church and then moved on.
Often the conversation reveals to me that their faith is
not very solid and they are not involved in any church.
They believe in God and all that, but the gospel to them
isn't much more than "God is nice."
That's not the kind of faith that can save your soul.
2) We have to know what the good news of Jesus is.
3) We have to defend it, continually - with God's help.
B. Pass it on to your family.
1) The ministry of Onesiphorus began in his own home.
2) It would appear that his family was filled with Christians
who were active in ministry.
3) Pray for your kids and grandkids that they will know the
Lord.
a) One encouraging thing for me at Creation this week was
how freely our youth group talks about their faith.
b) They are bold about their beliefs, when they are
surrounded by 50,000 fellow Christians.
c) We need to build them up in knowledge and zeal so they
will be bold when they are surrounded by non-believers
too.
C. Encourage those who are on the front lines.
1) Many missionaries get discouraged like Paul did.
a) They write letters to us each month, but rarely hear
anything back.
b) When recession hits the world, they always get hit
twice as hard as we do.
2) What could you do to build them up?
a) Onesiphorus worked at it. He was relentless.
b) Not just missionaries, but pastors and youth leaders
need to know they are not alone.
1> Don't take them for granted.
