What Lights Your Fire?

            Right now our church has a member on a trip to South Africa and two others in the Dominican Republic.  We go on a lot of overseas trips and trips in the U.S.  The people who participate in and support these trips (usually to care for at-risk kids) are passionate about the call of God to love the ‘least of these’ (Mt. 25:40).  Preparing for trips and going on trips ignites something in their hearts.

            Many others in the church do not go on these trips.  It is entirely possible that a few people might not want to hear about another mission trip.  Enough already!  Are these who are not as fired up about this type of ministry bad Christians?  Not necessarily.  Maybe God has created them in a way that other expressions of faith energize them.

            Some get pumped up by worship.  Some find their faith fueled by silent meditation.  Some are easily excited by an open Bible, stacks of academic commentaries, and hours free for study.  Others are ready to express Jesus’ love to senior adults and those who are disabled.  Others still really want to do ministry to children – the children who are in the church. 

            The point is there are many forms of expression for the Christ-follower.  I do not say this in terms of a ‘menu,’ as in, ‘find what you like best and do that.’  Calling is God’s initiative in our lives and every calling includes difficulties.  Every calling will run up against walls of discouragement.  Not a one is easy. 

            When you discover your calling (and you will have more than just one in your lifetime) you find yourself enthused by the notion of it.  And when you are in the calling God has for you, the challenges, daunting though they may be, are no match for the passionate that burns within you.  Depending on God, you’ll see the challenges as things to overcome as you live in the rhythm and joy God has prepared for you, doing whatever it is God has called you to do. 

            As a high school senior, I felt called to spread the news that following Jesus is more fun, adventurous and rewarding than alcohol and drug-induced partying.  Under the influence of writers like Tony Campolo and Luke (as in The Gospel According to St. Luke), I wanted to scream from the top of my lungs, “The Kingdom of God is a Party.”  For me it was not just a slogan.  It was a calling that drove me to do a lot of things (some regrettable, but mostly good things). 

            As a young pastor, I was called to tell a small, urban, aging church that she mattered and that God had new work and new life for her.  I at that point had never poured my life into anything like I did trying to revive and inspire that church.  I admit as I write this that hubris made me think I could inspire a church.  That is God’s job.  But beneath my youthful and sometime foolish exuberance was genuine love for the people in that church.  God put that love in me and God has put love in you too.

            It may be tempting to say, “Well, Rob, you’re a pastor.  Of course you’re supposed to love the church.”  First, I’d respond with “Baloney!  I have seen dedicated lay people as called to deep passion for the church as any clergy.”  Second, the first call I mentioned – fun and happiness and excitement that comes in a life of following Jesus – is a call that came long before I ever thought about being a pastor.  And since then, I have been called to parenthood (not a clergy-specific call).  I have been called to orphan care (not a clergy-specific call).  I have been called to study the synthesis of Christian faith and rational thought (while this may be ‘academic,’ it is certainly not clergy-specific).

            All who want to follow Jesus are called; every one of us.  You are called and unless you know what sets your heart on fire and live in ways that you burn for the gospel and for the Kingdom of God, your discipleship is asleep.  Christians who mark time and live a sleepy, uninspired faith make Jesus puke (Rev. 3:16).  Don’t make Jesus puke. 

Through prayer, worship, Bible reading and conversations with other Christians, people who know and whom you trust, discover your passions and discover how to live them out.  Find out what kingdom of God activity lights your fire and do it.  Let your faith be a faith of action (or study or contemplation etc.).  Being a Christ follower should be the most thrilling aspect of our lives.  And it is when we live in our passions.  Find your passion and live in it.

Bible Journaling

In January and February, I blogged about different pathways into reading scripture.  Here is another, one I preached about 6 years ago.

 Application of Two Spiritual Disciplines, study and meditation, to the reading of Scripture

Rob Tennant, Sunday, April 13, 2008

          I want to pick up right where we left off last week.  We read 1 Peter 1:16, where God says, “Be holy, for I am holy.”  I spent 20 minutes describing a process in which those who are born again, saved from sin by putting faith in the crucifixion of Jesus, are then commanded to live holy lives.  That was the bulk of the message.  If a person received Jesus, then that person is called to be holy.

          At the end of the message, I cited 5 spiritual disciplines that all Christians should submit to in order to be conditioned for holiness.  The Holy Spirit is who will truly enable us to lead holy lives.  The Holy Spirit comes at His own initiative, not ours.  We don’t control Him.  But, I do believe, He comes more often than we know.  We miss Him, because we aren’t ready to receive Him when he comes. 

          Submitting our lives to these disciplines increases our readiness.  There are many disciplines that can prepare a person to walk in the way of Christ and have a heart that is ready to receive the Spirit.  Dallas Willard writes, “A discipline is any activity within our power that we engage in to enable us to do what we cannot do by direct effort”.[i] Slide 1 He’s speaking specifically of exercising the disciplines to condition oneself so that one is able to live as a disciple of Jesus.  I fast or I worship or I undergo the discipline of silence to refocus my mind and heart so that I can live as Jesus would have me live.

          Willard’s description is helpful, but there is more to it.  Richard Foster writes that the disciplines “invite us to explore the inner caverns of the spiritual realms”.[ii] Slide 2 He says the “purpose of spiritual discipline is spiritual growth.”[iii]  I think a better way of putting it is growth in the spirit, and the spirit awakening in me.  Slide 3 The Holy Spirit is in all places and in all people.  But not all people are full of Spirit, because most of us are not attentive.  We don’t listen and we don’t ask God to come in.  If we did, He would.  He would fill us with the baptism of the Spirit and we would walk in holiness. 

No Slides

This is the next step after salvation.  One is saved from the bondage of sin by confessing faith in Jesus.  And thus being born again, one is called into holiness, living set apart from the world and to God.  Willard says the 4 essential disciplines for discipleship are solitude and silence, and study and worship.  Last week, when we talked about holiness, I suggested that there are 5 disciplines every Christian should apply on a regular basis. Slide 4

-         Prayer

-         Witness (by this I meant lifestyle witness; our actions, words, thoughts and treatment of people, especially nonbelievers, emits the very fragrance of Christ)

-         Worship

-         Study

-         Meditation

Worship is a corporate discipline.  A person can worship alone and that is encouraged.  But here, I am specifically thinking of worshipping with the body of believers.  This should be done weekly, without fail, save for illness.  Witness is a discipline in the world, in our engagement with people who have no connection with Jesus.  We live in the Heavenly Kingdom even as we live in our daily surroundings.  In this morning’s reading, 1 Peter 1:17, we are reminded that we are exiles in this place.  Heaven is our home, but we are here for God’s purpose.  Worship is corporate, a disciple practiced with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Witness is evangelical, a discipline practiced among the unsaved. 

The other three disciplines I mentioned are solitary – prayer, study, and meditation.  These a person does alone and in fact it would be hard to do these in crowds and where there is commotion.  Quiet and solitude are needed for focus.  We talked frequently about prayer in the weeks leading up to Easter.  Those messages included mention of Jesus removing himself from the crowds and going away so he could be alone for prayer.  This morning, we’re going to deal with two other disciplines also done alone - study and meditation.

No Slide

Because we are taking the journey through 1^st and 2^nd Peter, we’ll treat these disciplines as they relate to specific passages of scripture.  You could study a topic, like resurrection.  You’d go through the Gospels and the letters of Paul and Peter and John and James, and you’d write down all the texts related to resurrection.  Maybe read several of them side by side and draw conclusions and apply those conclusions to your life.  That’s a topical study.  Or, there are book studies.  Maybe you’re part of a group that is reading Warren’s The Purpose Drive Life, or Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace.  Your study would certainly engage the Bible at some level, but you’d be under the guidance of the author. 

Those are fine ways to study, but what we will deal with this morning is study of a particular passage.  Likewise, we will deal with meditation upon a particular passage.  There are numerous forms of meditation.  Our focus is meditation upon scripture.

I felt it was necessary to discuss these things, and my thoughts were confirmed after the worship time last week.  Someone approached and joyfully, enthusiastically said she was going to commit to all five disciplines I mentioned.  I believe her.  I believe she has spent this week doing just what she said she would.  It’s a joy to know that our people are engaged in developing their spiritual sensitivity and in listening to the Lord.  However, her comment reminded me of my own enthusiasm when I attend conferences. 

I sit in a conference or a workshop and I am fired up.  I write down a million ideas that I am determined to apply so that I will know God better, see more of Jesus, and represent Him well in the world.  But then I get home from the conference, and toss the packet and the books I bought on the shelf.  I get caught up in the cares of daily life.  And those commitments I was so excited to make are quickly forgotten.

When I got home last week, I imagined someone from HillSong at his home on a Monday morning.  “OK, Pastor Rob says we’re supposed to study the Bible.  So, I am going to study the Bible.”  And the good hearted Christian gets up early, while the house is still quiet.  He sits in a living room chair.  The only light is the lamp.  The steam rises from his coffee.  He stares at his Bible.  And boy does it look thick!  Where should he begin?  “Well, the sermons are on 1^st Peter.  Maybe I’ll study 1^st Peter.”  So, he opens and begins reading.  At the end of chapter 1, he stops.  Now what?  He’s read the Bible.  But, there’s more to study than that, isn’t there?

The process I am recommending to you is one you can apply in about 45 minutes.  You can do this early in the morning, which is a great way to start the day.  And, then, you can review for about 5-10 minutes before bed at night.  If your time for study and meditation will be more profitable at night or during a lunch hour, do it then.  Parents of young children will probably have to do this while the kids are in bed.  Folks with roommates might have to do this in a quiet place away from the dorm room or apartment.  Find the time when your energy can be focused.  Find the space where you will not be interrupted by outside sounds.

What materials do you need? 

(Slide 5)

What Materials?

1) Bible

2) Colored Pens or Pencils

3) Notebook

4) 1 bland note card (3 x 5 or 4 x 6)

(slide 6)

Bible Versions

Not to Use (For Study)

1) Not a Paraphrase (The Message, The Living Bible)

2) Not the King James Version

** These are wonderful for meditation

(Slide 7)

Some Good Translations

New International Version (NIV)

English Standard Version (ESV)

Holman Standard Christian Bible (HSBC)

New King James Version (NKJV)

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

New Living Translation (NLT)

Good News Bible: Today’s English Version (TEV)

          OK.  Now, you’ve got the quiet time in a secluded space.  You’re comfortable.  You have your Bible in a good translation.  You have notebook and a couple of pens.  What do you do first?  Set the notebook, Bible, and writing implements on the floor.  Close your eyes.  Set your hands comfortably on your knees.  You are sitting in a comfortable posture, but also an alert posture.  Do the best you can to quiet your mind.  Invite the presence of God.  “Holy Spirit, please come into this place.  Fill my heart, and speak to my mind, and enable me to hear what you are saying.”  Imagine the spirit slowly filling you from your feet, up your legs, up your torso and arms, all the way to your head.  You are covered in the spirit. 

          I know this feels meditative.  We aren’t to meditation yet.  But, we begin study meditatively because our study isn’t for the purpose of expanding our knowledge.  That will happen.  But the purpose of our study is to meet God in His word, to know His word, and to be affected by His word.  I asked a friend who is someone committed to Biblical scholarship why study is so important.  He said, “God has spoken.  We need to know what he has said.”[iv]   We need to know so we can obey.  Obedience is the reason we do this.  We want to conform our lives to God’s word.

          So, after a minute of quiet time, open to your text and read the passage all the way through.  Our text for today is 1 Peter 1:17-23.

Slides 8-9

¹⁷If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile.

¹⁸You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold,

¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.

²⁰He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake.

²¹Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.

²²Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart.

²³You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word

of God.

          Slide 10

As you read, be attentive to ideas that pop into your mind.  Write them down in the notebook.  Be aware of questions and write them also. If something in the passage evokes a memory or an image; write it in the notebook.  If another scripture comes to mind, write that down.  If you think of relationships or encounters you have in your life lately, write it.  This is kind of a brain dump, a free flow of ideas.  The scripture is interacting with everything else that’s in here.  You’ve spent a minute at the beginning quietly emptying yourself.  That doesn’t mean your experiences and memories are dormant.  It just means now, they are informed by God’s word and we see our lives in light of God’s word.

Slide 11

Taking our example, I read in verse 17, “Live in reverent fear during your time in exile.”  I write “reverent fear?”  “Exile?”  I might wonder, what does it mean to live in reverent fear?  What does the Biblical author mean to say believers are in exile?  I don’t know what exile is like.  I am an American.  I live with freedom and democracy.  I can drive from here to San Diego and back without any complicated border crossings.  I don’t know exile.

If you have read about people in other parts of the world who have been sent into exile, or if you have had experience with refugees, you may want to pause and write extensively about this in your notebook.  It could be that in your study today, you don’t get past 1 verse, 1 Peter 1:17.  That’s Ok.  Verse 18 will be there tomorrow morning.  Today, the ideas flow and your write about it.  Or, verse 17 doesn’t catch your attention at all.

No Slides

You’re captivated by verse 18 & 19.  “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors … with the precious blood of Christ.”  Maybe you underline in your bible in blue or red, “Ransomed from the futile ways” because it evokes in you strong emotion about some things that feel like useless baggage that is dragging you down.  As you think about it, you are overwhelmed by your sense of the grip of sin.  And you stop right there and confess.  Write your confession and your feelings in your notebook.  Write the thoughts that rise up as your read that you are ransomed by the blood of Christ. 

You see, you go through verse by verse listening to the scripture.  Perhaps your questions are analytical.  How does this compare with what the Apostle Paul wrote about salvation from sins?  How is what I find here influenced by the sayings and life of Jesus?  As you compile questions, you might note some that you will ask of the pastor or some friend whom you know is well versed in the Bible.  Or, you may work on your own, coming back later and reading commentaries or Bible dictionaries.  That’s all later.  This is a 45-minute time of engagement with the Bible. 

After you have been at it for about 30 minutes or so, stop writing and reading.  As I said, you may not get all the way through the text, but that’s OK.  You’re trying to come face to face with the word of God, and you may spend a day or several days on just a few verses.  When I kept a notebook of my reading of Genesis, it took me almost a week to get through chapter 1.  When I did Philippians in this way, it took nearly 3 weeks, and that letter only has 4 chapters.  Take your time and allow the words to fix themselves on your mind.

This is not academic study.  That involves engaging the text in its original language and that takes much more than 45 minutes.  What I have prescribed here is flexible depending on your knowledge of and experience with scripture.  You can do this if you are novice or if you have read the Bible all your life.  I had already read the Bible through twice when I began this practice. 

When you’ve completed 30 minutes of engagement and initial response, then take about 5 minutes to write some conclusions.    Perhaps from this passage you are led to rest on verse 22. “²²Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart.”  You read that and conclude that life in the community of people ransomed by the blood of Jesus, in other words, life in the church, is defined by love.  God loved us enough to send Jesus to shed his own blood on our behalf.  And our response to Him is to live in holiness.  And one of the marks of holiness is love among each other in the community.  So today, in order for me to live in holiness, I have to express the love of Jesus to people.  And as it says in verse 22, this is a deep love, a love that is from the heart.  Slide 12

Now, you have a page full of notes and you’ve done some real thinking on these words of scripture.  Again, it’s not the study you’d do in a seminary course, but we aren’t in a seminary course.  You still have to shower, and go to work as a teacher or as a pharmacist, or when the kids wake up, you are full-time mom!  This is study of God’s word you do as a spiritual discipline so that God’s word will speak in your life.  That’s why it is so necessary to add another discipline – meditation.

No Slide

Meditation is different than study.  It only occupies the last 5 or 10 minutes of our 45-minute set aside time.  But, meditation speaks throughout the day.  Richard Foster says that meditation is where we move from “theological dogma [or from our conclusions about scripture] to the radiant reality” of God speaking to us.[v]  As my friend said of why we study, because God has spoken and we need to know what he said, I would of meditation, the reason we do it is God is still speaking.  We need to hear Him. 

The open Bible is there, as is the page of notes you’ve worked on.  Now, for a moment, close your eyes, relax your body, and take a deep breath.  Then pray,

Slide 13

“O Lord, by your abundant grace, put in me the desire to hear you, know you, obey you, and follow you.  Put in me the deep desire to see Jesus.  Give me the gifts of grace and the full revelation of the Holy Spirit.” 

We won’t have this desire naturally, but it’s OK to ask for it.

So we once more look at our passage in 1 Peter because the bridge from study to meditation is a Vacation Bible School exercise that is as powerful for adults as it is kids – scripture memorization.  Look at your notes and your reading and choose a verse to memorize.  Write it out on the index card.  Based on what we’ve said about 1^st Peter this morning, I’d try to memorize the last part of verse 22.

“Love one another deeply from the heart.”

Slide 14

With eyes closed, speaking in your heart, repeat this phrase.  “Love one another deeply from the heart.” “Love one another deeply from the heart.”  As you softly repeat this phrase so that it dances through your consciousness to the rhythm of your heartbeat, allow the people you will see in the day to come across your mind.  You children who will be getting up soon; “love one another deeply from the heart.”  The boss who is unfairly hard on you at work; “love one another deeply from the heart.”  The girlfriend who has threatened to break up with you; “love one another deeply from the heart.”  The friend at church who is going through such pain as he watches his father die of heart failure; “love one another deeply from the heart.”

Stay with this meditation upon this simple phrase from God’s word in 1^st Peter for a few moments.  Then, when you know it is time, say, AMEN.  No Slide Put your pen, your Bible, and your notebook away.  Put your index card with your memory verse with your wallet and your keys.  This goes with you through out the day.  Pull it out while waiting at a red light.  Let it speak in your heart at stressful moments, in periods of boredom, and in celebrations.  And when the day is done, look at the verse one last time before the lights go out and you’re off to sleep.  “Love one another deeply, from the heart.”

This is one way of committing to the disciplines of study and meditation.  There are many others and there are other equally valuable disciplines.  Do what you need to do to structure life and condition the heart to be ready to meet Jesus and receive the Spirit.  And we will continue to encounter the truth next week in 1^st Peter, chapter 2.

AMEN

---

[i] Willard (1997), Diving Conspiracy, p.353.

[ii] Foster (1978), Celebration of Discipline, p.1

[iii] Foster, p.8.

[iv] John Charles, in a conversation at HillSong Church, 4-7-2008.

[v] Foster, p.19.

Ways to Read the Bible

Pathways for Encountering God in the practice of Bible Reading

1-Memorize Scripture (January 5)

2-Read the Bible Through in a Year (blog - January 7)

3-Keep a “God Notebook” (January 12)

4-Write your Life Story, Find a Life Verse (January 26)

5-Read Bible Commentaries (blog – January 27)

6-Read the news and take it to the scriptures; read the scriptures and take them to the news (blog – February 1)

7-Read the Bible as Story (adaptations, e.g. Wangerin’s The Book of God)(February 2)

8-Take the Bible to Bed with you; meditate on a Bible verse as you fall off to sleep (February 9)

9-Pray the Scriptures (February 16)

10-Study a Specific Bible person (such as David or Moses or Peter) (February 23)

11-Anchor yourself (Fenruary 24) – see the article about Antoinette Tuff - http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/22/us/tuff-survivor-gunman/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

12-Read Comparatively (Exodus-Deuteronomy; 1 & 2 King – 1 & 2 Chronicles; Synoptic Gospels; 2 Peter & Jude)

13-Ask questions (on a Monday, read a passage – come up with five questions; spend the rest of the week exploring those questions) – make sure the questions are impactful; questions about topics that matter

Above All - the Bible (2 Timothy 4:9, 13, 16-21)

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Imagine with you are in solitary confinement.  No human contact. You get three meals a day, but other than that it is you in that room with your thoughts.  Nothing else.  But, the warden says you may have one thing, any one thing of your choosing.  What would be the one thing you’d want?  You don’t how long you’ll be there.  You’re feeling like you are going crazy.  What one thing would get you through?

The Apostle Paul was in a lonely Roman cell.  Scholars supposes this was his final stop before being executed for saying that Jesus and not the Roman emperor was Lord and ruler of the world.  Paul would never relent.  So, he was probably executed.  While he waited, he was allowed visitors and he asked Timothy to come.  In 2^nd Timothy 4, he writes, “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.”

He wanted those papers.  Why?

Today we conclude an 8-part series of talks about entering the world of the Bible.  We want to get into the Bible.  We want to get the Bible into us.  Ultimately, we present ourselves to God so that God might shape and mold us.  One of the ways we know how God is working on us, around us, and in us, is in our meeting God in the Bible. 

To be formed by what the Bible says, we have to know what the Bible says.  Each of us reads differently.  For this reason, I have proposed different pathways into scripture.  Some may not be helpful for you.  Others might be just what you needed. 

The final Bible pathway I recommend is based on the people we meet, the characters in the Bible.  Select someone whose history we know through their place within the Biblical story, and go into detail in studying that one’s life.  For example, you might decide to read up on King David.  Where is his story found?  You’d want to read 1^st & 2^nd Samuel, the opening chapters of 1^st Kings, and 1^st Chronicles.  You’d read the Psalms.  You would go to the New Testament to read all the places New Testament authors refer back to David.  After reading the texts, you might enjoy reading a commentary, either popular or academic.  This will help you understand in depth the individual you are researching and it will help you learn about God as you research David.  If Moses is your choice, you’d begin with Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  It doesn’t have to be a favorable character.  We learn just as much about God from the antagonists.  Maybe you want to study up on Judas Iscariot.  You’d read the four gospels and then commentaries.

The pathway into Bible I commend this morning is to enter the Word through study of a particular person. Moses, David, and Judas Iscariot are examples.  There are dozens of others.  The Apostle Paul is a good one.  He was the main figure leading the spread of Christian faith in the decades after Jesus’ resurrection.  In the closing chapter of 2^nd Timothy, we find an aging, tired Paul who is near the end

Many experts believe a second generation of believers wrote 1^st & 2^nd Timothy and also Titus, and the scholars offer reasons for arguing that Paul had nothing to do with these letters; the letters were written in his name but by someone else, long after his death.  I believe 1^st & especially 2^nd Timothy are from Paul.  Whether they are composites of several things Paul taught, said, and wrote over the years, or he originally penned the letters, I cannot say.  But I believe the content of both 1^st and 2^nd Timothy is originally from the Apostle Paul.  The sentiment in the last chapter of 2^nd Timothy is too personal to not be.

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: ²proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. ³For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, ⁴and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. ⁵As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

⁶As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. ⁷I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

⁹Do your best to come to me soon,

¹³When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.

¹⁶At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! ¹⁷But 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 lion’s mouth. ¹⁸The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. ¹⁹Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. ²⁰Erastus remained in Corinth; Trophimus I left ill in Miletus. ²¹Do your best to come before winter.

         

          Paul says in verse 3 people have “itching ears.” If people today don’t like a church, they search until they find one that makes them comfortable.  If church doesn’t do it, there are other religions.  If they can’t find one they like, they can come up with their own. 

This everything-fits, take your pick, all-you-can-eat-buffet approach to religious truth was driven home to me several years ago.  I was alone, driving on the West Virginia turnpike.  I picked up a hitchhiker.  The guy had a back pack and sleeping mat.  He was grateful that I stopped.  His body order suggested it had been a while since he had showered.  It was a sunny summer day, we were cruising through the beautiful mountains of West Virginia, and I mentioned to my passenger that I was a Christian.  He wasn’t interested in the topic at all.  His tone changed.  He did not want to be evangelized.  He said, “I worship God in my own way.”

What does that mean?  I have heard other people say that.  “I worship God in my own way.”  Does the person create his own God?  That’s how Paul saw it.  He told Timothy, “They will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, ⁴and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths” (4:3-4).  That’s the world Paul saw Timothy working in.  That’s where Timothy was to be God’s man, and it is where you and I are to be the people of God. 

So what does Paul advise Timothy?   “⁵As for you, [Timothy, and us, 21^st century disciples] always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully” (4:5).  It’s not’s easy, but it is what we are given.

Worship God in my own way; Paul could not imagine such blasphemy.  He laid out his life to do things God’s way.  By the time we land at the end of 2^nd Timothy, Paul knows his life’s mission is near the end.  “⁷I have fought the good fight” Paul says.  “I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (4:7).  The apostle is exhausted, but not discouraged.  He is charging to the end, embracing his chains, and rejoicing that he is privileged to suffer for Jesus.  He will stay rooted in the scriptures which he believed were completely fulfilled in Jesus.  For Paul, word and Jesus were connected and he, Paul would always do things God’s way, not his own way.

However, the apostle who displayed so much bravado, at the end, felt vulnerable.  Three times, he begs Timothy to come. 

                  

⁹Do your best to come to me soon,

¹³When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.

                  

²¹Do your best to come before winter.

It was cold and lonely and Paul was out of strength.  He was scared.  Even as he anticipated his Heavenly reward, which he didn’t doubt, he still had an earthly need – companionship.  In that moment of weakness, he didn’t play the hero.  He called out to his friend, his son in Christ, his closest tie besides Luke to the Christian community he had given his life to.  He called out and said, come.  I need you.  Come. 

And he did not want Timothy to show up empty-handed.  “Bring the cloak that I left … also the books, and above all the parchments.”

In ancient prisons there was not much provision for the inmates.  In freezing weather, they froze.  Without visits by friends bearing food, they often went hungry, even to the point of starvation.  Paul does not mention a need for food to Timothy.  Maybe another friend was providing that.  He does ask for his cloak.  But, above all, he says, bring the parchments. 

These were likely scrolls that contained the Psalms and probably the Pentateuch – the Torah – the first five books of the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  Maybe the parchments included the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.  Remember, in the first century, they did not have bound books as we do.  They had scrolls.  Paul wanted the word of God with him as he whiled away the days in the dark, cold, damp cell.  Another cloak would be nice, but above all, bring the parchments.  Paul needed the Bible. 

Paul always had the kingdom in view, and accomplishing things of kingdom value is what he stressed to Timothy (and to you and me).  He said from the outset, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you” (v.1).  He gave everything he had to serve Jesus, trusting that when he was completely empty God would fill him.  All those summons to Timothy, the request “Come,” – it comes from Paul when he was empty.

In following Jesus, you and I will experience power like we’ve never imagined when we are filled with the Spirit.  There will also be times we come up empty.  Those are the moments to lean on one another and dive into the word.  If I could stress any one thing it is our need for scripture.  Christians don’t always see it.  We go along, attending church, not really reading the Bible much at all.  And our faith is impoverished.  And the church – the local church and Christianity worldwide – suffers for our lack of Bible awareness. 

We need each other and we need the Word.  Paul was shaped as a disciple by the word, as his reading was guided by the Holy Spirit and his living of the word happened both in the context of fellow disciples and in the world to which he was called to preach.

You and I are not “Apostles” in the way that Paul was.  We have jobs and go to homes.  We do not travel about where Christianity has never existed.  We live where people have heard of Jesus.  There are churches on every corner.  We are secular and ordinary compared to the great apostle.  But Jesus does not see it that way.  In Jesus’ view, you and I are as important as Paul was.  The things that made him who was in Christ are what define us as people of God –individuals and a church body.  We are every bit as called as Paul was. 

Paul was not great because of his preaching skills.  He was a great orator but others were too.  Paul was not remarkable due to his incredible intellect.  He was truly a genius, one of the geniuses of history.  There were others.  Paul was not great because of his indomitable will.  His will was unbreakable.  But we could say the same of General Patton.  Paul had incredible focus and drive.  So did Hitler.  What distinguished Paul was his commitment to God’s kingdom and his recognition of his own absolute dependence upon God. 

Food?  Sure, that would help.  My cloak, please, bring it.  But above all, bring my parchments.  I need the Bible.  I need to go into it in this, my weakest moment, my time of failing. 

Do we see it?  Do we look into our own lives and see our strongest and weakest moments?  Do we experience the highs and especially the lows?  In examining our lives, do we see how much we need God?  Are we aware of how short we come without God’s word?

We live in the age where we can get the Bible in a dozen versions, with annotations and notes.  That is a gift we must use.  Above all, turn to the word.  Read it with your family, every day if possible.  The daily repetition shows your children how important it is.  Read with other friends, fellow disciples.  Read it in solitude.  Read when times are going well.  Read when you feel depressed.  Read it in large chunks, getting the flow of the story.  Read just a verse, the same verse, over and over and over, hearing and feeling the depths of divine wisdom. 

We close with an adaptation from the Gospel of John that reiterates the truth; God has given the Bible as a gift and when we accept and enter into this gift, we become new people, blessed people.

John 20:31 - “[This Gospel] is written so that [upon reading] we will put our faith in Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. If [we] have faith in him, [we] will have [eternal] life.”

AMEN