Pentecost 11                                   August 4, 2024
2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18                    Pastor Ryan Wolfe

“The Lord stands and delivers”

Have you been watching the Olympics? I never intend to get caught up in them. I don’t know when they start or where they’re going to be, but as soon as I catch a couple races and learn about a couple stories I’m hooked. Every time. One of the themes that I see over and over? The athletes talk about how they couldn’t do the incredible things they do without the people standing behind them. Coaches, trainers, families…when they athletes have them, they can do anything.

As Paul wrote to his young colleague Timothy in our text he brings the letter to an end with a dose of reality. He is writing from prison yet again. When he was first in prison he wrote to the Philippians that he expected to be released. This time, he has no such expectation. And as he naturally looks back at his life and ministry he speaks about the support he had too. What he finds though, is that other people didn’t always have his back. In his first imprisonment the people he was counting on deserted him. But there was one who didn’t turn away. One who did stay with him. The key to this text is verse 17: “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.” In his time of greatest need, God stood with Paul. And God delivered him. He kept proclaiming, he carried out his ministry, and the Gentiles heard the gospel.

This week we bring our series on our own ministries to an end. Our mission in life, our purpose, our ministries are to serve our Lord by serving others and sharing the Gospel. That’s why we’ve talked about it for five weeks. We are confident in Christ. We are firm in the truth. We are loving in how we proclaim it. And today, God reminds us that he doesn’t leave us alone to do this ministry. He stands by us always. And he delivers.

In 2 Timothy 4:2, just before our text, Paul told Timothy this: “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season.” Paul wanted Timothy to know the urgency of this ministry of the Word. As I said, Paul wrote this letter expecting that he was about to die. In verse 6 he says his “departure is near.” Paul was waiting for what was likely to be a pretty gruesome death, probably a beheading.

As Paul looks back on his life and ministry, notice what he sees. He compares his last days to the drink offering. In the Jewish system of worship the drink offering was the final step in offering a sacrifice. In other words, Paul saw his life as one big sacrifice to God and now it was coming to a close. In verse 7 he asserts that he fought the good fight. He ran the whole course God had laid out for him. He guarded the faith. He had done his ministry. He fulfilled his purpose.

If today you were going to write your final letter to future Christians is that what you see when you look at your life? Have you carried out a meaningful ministry? For me, all too often, I see missed opportunities. I see plenty of fights that wouldn’t be described as so good. I see those days when every other path looked more appealing than the course God had laid out for me. You see those missed opportunities too, don’t you? How often did the friendship with someone seem more important than the warning of truth, the sports more important than the Savior, the warm bed more desirable than the worship?

For all of this, what should be in store for us at our “departure” is punishment. Our sins should set us apart from the presence of God forever. But Paul was a sinner too. A persecutor. A murderer. And what does he see when he looks forward in verse 8? “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day.” And get this: “and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

We rejoice that we know the difference between what we sinners deserve and what we believers will receive? By God’s grace we have seen his first appearing through Scripture and now look forward to his second appearing at the end. Together we have celebrated the baby of Christmas, the teacher of Galilee, the friend of sinners, the dying sacrifice on the cross. We know that he was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. We stood in awe at the empty tomb and marveled at the future it promises to us.

So even though we fail time and again to deserve a crown, even though we fail to run the course God has laid out for us, even though we act like our faith has no urgency, and our ministry is meaningless, the righteous Judge declares us rightful wearers of the crown. Because Jesus didn’t fail. Because Jesus fought the good fight for us. Because Jesus ran the race with our names on his jersey. And from the cross at the end he called it “finished.” So the Lord, the righteous Judge, declares us faithful for his sake.

It’s a story better than any you’ll find in Olympics coverage this year. Jesus, the lamb who was slain yet lives, stands at our finish line holding the crown he won for us. The race is over, we’re just waiting for the countdown clock of our earthly lives to show all zeroes. That is how God looks at you right now. Nothing that happens in this life can change that scene at your death, as long as you continue to trust that Jesus has run the perfect race. Has paid the perfect price. God himself stood in your place and delivered.

Tell me that doesn’t give you a better sense of what’s important in life. All the stuff that worries us and distracts us and pulls us away from church and away from God isn’t worth anything by comparison. Tell me the thought of sharing that good news of eternal blessing with the people you love doesn’t make you want to rethink how you speak with them, what you speak about, what you do. That is what it means to preach the Word. To carry out a meaningful ministry. Today is our chance to share a victory greater than any medal of gold or silver.

But God won’t just be with us then. In the second section of our reading Paul describes being abandoned by everyone at his first trial, being in the lion’s mouth, being harassed by “every evil attack.” Our lives don’t always seem like lives of victory. Our ministry to others doesn’t always seem so golden and powerful.

But after asking God not to hold against them the wrong they had done, Paul explains how he got through it all. Remember the verse I called the heart of this text? “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.” Paul was faithful in life not just because he know God would be with him in eternal life. He knew God was with him right here and right now.

God was with you at your baptism, when he put his name on you and adopted you as his child. God is with you in his supper, as he unites us together in the one cup and one loaf. As he gives us the very body and blood that washed us clean. God is with you in the Word you hear in worship and the truths we share in confession. He is here in the texts we explore in Bible studies and in the encouragements we share with one another. No, God is not just with you sometime in the distant future. He’s with you right now, standing and delivering. Like Elisha in our first reading, I pray that God would open our eyes to see the horses and chariots of the Lord surrounding us as we grow in faith and go in ministry.

There is no reason to fear as we think of life or ministry because the Lord is at your side. Nothing is impossible with God standing beside us. No deliverance is unthinkable with his promises in our hearts and on our lips. There is never a reason not to take an opportunity, not to make an opportunity to show bold love, to speak bold truth, when we know God is with us.

So carry out your meaningful ministry with boldness and confidence because the Lord is standing with you now. Seek out the lost in your life. Stand up in the church and take your place in service with us. Love with the Shepherd’s heart and speak with the Prophet’s fire. Because the Lord will deliver his people, both those speaking and those hearing. And when he does you won’t be able to help breaking out in praise as Paul so often does in his letters. As he does to end these verses. As I end most of my sermons and this one today as well. May God bless your meaningful ministry, your service to him. And to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.