Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Book: 2 Timothy

  • Paul’s Last Words

    Paul’s Last Words

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “II Timothy” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 1, 1988.

    About this sermon

    2 Timothy is Paul’s last letter, and it joins a biblical pattern of last words, from Jacob and Moses to Christ himself. Paul’s closing words work in three specific ways. The death of Christ, and in a lesser way the death of the apostles, means life for those who come after.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we are going to look at Ephesians, the second chapter, some verses there, then some verses from the fourth chapter of Ephesians, and then some passages from 2 Timothy. So, a little bit different than what appears in the bulletin, but taking something of a breather so that we can catch ourselves up on what we have been speaking about in second Timothy. So this is Ephesians, and you will remember that Timothy is the pastor of Ephesus, so this is the same congregation that is in view in Paul writes second Timothy. So Ephesians chapter two, verse nineteen will lead to the end of that chapter.

    Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens of the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the buildings fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord. in whom we also are builded together for the habitation of God through the spirit.

    And then chapter four, beginning with verse eleven and reading through verse sixteen. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints. the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ. So we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That we henceforth be no more children taught to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie and wait to deceive, but seeking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth according to the effectual working of the measure of every part make it increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. And 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 6 through 8.

    For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I lost the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. And forth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. And not to me only, but unto all them also, that love is appearing.” And then verse sixteen through eighteen. At my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.

    Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear, and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom, to whom be the glory forever and ever.

    Amen. Father, servants have been raised up in keeping with the prayers of your people for the harvest which you have ordained. Now, Lord, be pleased to strengthen those servants of yours so that they, with true humility and awareness of how weak they are, may present that word which, after all, is the hope and vitality of your children. O God, to the ends of the earth, we pray that specifically in the pulpits of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and in the mission activity of this denomination, and of other Reformed and Evangelical bodies, there may be that truth that is declared, and that for the calling of your elect and for the perfecting of your faith unto the day. We ask it in Jesus’ name.

    Paul’s second letter to Timothy is not the last position letter from the apostle in the New Testament. It is not the last position. Letter. Appearing in our Bible. Both Titus and Philemon, and some have suggested even Hebrews come afterwards. But second Timothy. Is in fact. The last of all letters on a lot. It is in effect. All last will. And. It is to be seen. Therefore in relationship to his coming death. This letter that.

    A last will and testament from Paul, and as such, to be taken with greatest seriousness. Not that you not that we should take all other letters left seriously. Here in this letter are Paul’s last canonical word, his last recorded inspired word. And they gain a certain weight because they are last spoken, last recorded. And last spoken, in some way, is best spoken. Also, it would be well for us to keep in mind that this letter is a summing up. It is a summing up of Paul’s ministry and life. It is of inestimable value.

    Therefore, in judging, understanding, and interpreting what Paul has done and said earlier and elsewhere, and in less extreme circumstances. How strange and how sad, then, that Paul’s letter, his second letter to Timothy, should fare so poorly in the church. remain so ignored and unused by the church, and even in some places be rejected as sub Pauline, as hardly a genuine letter of the apostle. For some in the church have rejected and said that Paul did not write it at all. Second Tennessee becomes a great important.

    As a testimony, a concluding testimony by this great apart. And underlining the importance of this is the way in which it fits so well a pattern we observe elsewhere in Scripture. You will recall in this regard other famous last words in the Bible. Think for a moment about Jacob. Think about Moses. And there are other examples in the Old Testament. Think most especially about our Savior. For each of these, Jacob, Moses, our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Scriptures record a closing soliloquy.

    Jacob’s words appear in Genesis 49, and how important they are, forecasting as they do the destiny of all the sons For most of the last will and testament goes on for an entire book. Deuteronomy. Famous last word. As he prepares the children of Israel for possession of the promised land.

    And thinking about Jesus. Thinking about where before his departure, we turn to the latter chapter of John’s chapter thirteen through seventeen, where he gives his disciples that matchless parting service. But in each of these instances, With regard to Jacob, with regard to Moses, with regard to Jesus. In each of these instances, we notice more than just the similarity of circumstance.

    Yes, it’s obvious the one who is speaking is about to die. And before he goes, he delivers a message appropriate for his accident. his exit from this world. However, in each of these instances, the speaker speaks recognizing at work a monumental change in the life and in the history of the people of God. That a monumental change is about to take place. but underscoring the significance of their word.

    Jacob’s last words signal a move out of the patriarchal and especially nomadic times for the children of Abraham into the times of settlement and those of the rise of a dynasty, a kingdom in keeping with the promise given Abraham. When Moses gives his closing address, in view in much detail and extended exhortation, is the end of the times of imprisonment, judgment, and wayfaring, and the beginning of that time of blessedness in the inheritance promised by the Lord to the children of Israel. As you well know, the departure of Jesus Christ signals the greatest transition in which the eye of the faithful beyond and above the provincial dynasty of Judah that Jacob had envisioned, and the territorial inheritance for the nation of Israel which Moses had envisioned. The throne of glory belongs to the Christ.

    The inheritance is the eternal regions of life, these procured by Christ for us through his own death on the cross for our sins, through his resurrection by which we are given newness of life unto eternity. Now it is because such great change Well, the people of God is bound up in the death of these individuals, supremely Christ.

    That’s the parting word recorded are so significant. When I die. I may utter some poignantly phrase even for the party were. But my word spoken on that occasion as memorable as they may be will not cannot rival the word spoken by the strategic figure in the history of redemption. My last word Your last word may be very interesting. They may even be inspired, but they are not essential and they are not fine. The words that are offered here by these strategic figures are essential to the history of redemption, and they are inspired words from God. That’s the difference between their words and yours, their words and mine. Now the apostle Paul is a strategic figure in the history of salvation, and his departing words are both essential and inspired, inspired of God.

    Just how strategic is he? You see, Paul must be understood as more than just a solitary figure. He must be viewed as representatively. And his departure must be viewed representative. Now in this is a certain formal similarity between him and crime. But there is also a mark different. Paul’s departure. His death is not vicarious. And his dying saved no one. Yet his death is representative. That is, when Paul passes away, it is as if all the other apostles are wrapped up in him and they are passing away too. The whole lot is gone.

    When Paul does. So again, the people of God in this instance, the Church of Jesus Christ, is witnessing the end of a particular period in the history of redemption and the commencement of another for no longer will be the church have in her mid living breathing teaching preaching about. You won’t be able to reach out and. Despite the claims of Rome. despite the claims of the charismatic. With Paul’s letter and his second letter to Timothy, we not only have Paul’s final words, his final inspired recorded words, but We have here a testimony to the closing of the times of the impossible. And the beginning of a time in which there will be no apart.

    How easily it is for us to underestimate the trauma of this radical loss to the church. Radical transition. For the church, generally, in the day of Paul, then, as the church witnesses this transition, the loss of the apostles would be like the loss of Christ to those original disciples. Remember how traumatic it was for them that Jesus should go? You’re not going to leave them.

    Well, for the Church generally, the loss of the apostles was, for them, similar to the loss of Christ experienced by the original disciples. Now, to be sure, the Holy Spirit comes and supplies comfort, and I don’t mean to minimize the significance of the Spirit’s presence. Still, The fact remains that the church was now facing a future without the apostles. She was facing a future without the presence of these who had been directly commissioned by Christ by the Risen Christ, these who had been in direct contact with him.

    And the sense of loss must have been overwhelming. Think of it yourself, personally, as it comes home to you. You are not strangers to the trauma of loss. Having experienced the loss of someone near and dear to you, you know well of what we speak. For that time in the world, and that time following the loss is one in which there rises within your heart manifold fear and tremendous doubt. The church as a body is not immune to such fear and inner doubt.

    You’ve asked yourself in your loss the question, how will I continue? How will I go on? What will I do without this person here in my life? How is life possible for me? And the church asks the very same question. Just as those disciples asked it with regarding Christ, so now the church asked it with regard to the apostles. Without them, how will we continue? To whom will we turn? How, in fact, can we go on? How will life for us be possible? Is there a future for us without them?

    But you that have experienced the severity of grief and that attack upon your hope, realize that there comes to you a comfort in your sorrow and a determination, nonetheless, born of the provision of the Father God, who rules and reigns and lives for the sake of his church, and no less for you.

    And so it is for the church as a body. For she, too, in her grief, she, too, in that attack upon her home, received comfort and determination through the provision of her sovereign will. In it all she will face not just the inevitability of death, but the necessity of death. For you see, Jacob had to die, Moses had to die, Jesus had to die, and the apostles had to die. Why?

    Because out of the church’s loss of Jesus of Nazareth, there would come for a certain date with regard to him for giving that would come out of that lost the joy of resurrection glory and the blessedness of the spirit. And now you see it here. They’re bringing down the eyes of the Christians in the first century. at the thought and prospect of the loss of her apostles, the loss of Paul the Apostle, and all of the apostles with him. There comes with that a certainty that is underscored by the Word, namely the completion of the Church’s only foundation, that foundation being the Apostles and the Prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. You’ve got to complete the foundation, because if you don’t complete the foundation, there will be no superstructure, there will be no building on top of that foundation. And without that foundation, as it testified by Paul to the Ephesians, the church will not arrive at that measure of the stature that belongs to the fullness of Christ. Their going means your maturity. Their departure means your gain. The pruning away effected by God of the apostles means your death. Their death means your life.

    But we’re dealing with. And Timothy introduces a strange twist into this comparison. Between the original disciples lost Christ and now the church is lost. For as we read through second Timothy. We do not seem to get a sense of Timothy’s power over this loss. There doesn’t seem to be any address to Timothy with regard to Timothy’s sorrow at the departure of Paul, as if the tears are restrained. They’re not there. Instead, and I hope I’m not being unfair to Timothy here, We get only a sense of embarrassment, shame, and severe disappointment.

    What a rotten break. What a rotten break. Why did I invest in this thing anyway? I mean I had attached myself to Paul because it had a huge. Attached to it that was right and promising look at the guy even in jail in Rome and he’s about to be executed now what kind of a huge. The embarrassment, the shame, and the severe disappointment. Well, you remember those disciples that had attached themselves to Jesus, and how disappointed they were, too.

    They were going to Jerusalem, remember? They were tripping on their way. They couldn’t get there fast enough, because at Jerusalem there was going to be the unveiling of the kingdom, and they were going to be in power. Nothing but glory and light awaited them.

    So now, Timothy, as the drama is worked out here in Ephesus, it’s almost as if you’re reliving the scenes of the earlier parts of that century, and Jesus is there encouraging his disciples with regard to his departure, and they can’t understand any of it, seemingly. Now, if there is, Paul takes up the role of Jesus in Timothy’s and the role of the Bible, and Paul is finding what Timothy and Christ is discerning. Why, what a great excuse it is in Jerusalem.

    Utter humiliation. A promise. Death. Yet a waking in us. utter humiliation across them. But I tell you from experience, don’t be disappointed. There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. And not only for me, but for everyone who loves his appearance.

    2 Timothy, a last will and testament from the Apostle Paul, but from all the apostles, concluding the apostolic page. And in its extended more than comfort, a charge, a charge comes to that those like Timothy be faithful, and all who receive expectantly for the coming of Christ, they be faithful as well. What will that faithfulness mean? It means suffering, atonement, death for the sake of the truth, and the crown of righteousness, laid up for everyone who loves Jesus Christ. O Lord, would you take us into the depths of the words which Paul spoke, that we may see beneath them and within them the wonderful drama which works itself out in the life of Christ and His relationship with His disciples.

    And may we Lord. Remain faithful. As surely Timothy became. The father keep us from. The air that stopped him. Lord. The air. That threatened to undermine him and to destroy him. So as the disciples were they supported in Christ, seemingly pinnacled at the time in prayer. But Lord, remind us, if we suffer with Him, we will also reign with Him. And if we endure by Him, we will also be glorified. Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Sonship, Christ’s Central Mission

    Sonship, Christ’s Central Mission

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “II Timothy” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 24, 1988.

    About this sermon

    Across these chapters Paul keeps returning to sonship, and believers receive their sonship and inheritance by grace. Christ’s central mission was sonship itself, securing it for others by first possessing it perfectly. The pastoral epistles focus on resurrection, and that focus follows from the same emphasis.

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    Sermon transcript

    Our reflection upon Second Timothy continues. We will be reading once more this morning from the fourteenth verse to the end of the chapter. All these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit. but to the subverting of the hearers.

    Study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as death a canker, of whom Hymenaeus and Philetus whom concerning the truth have heard, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some.

    Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth firm, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are his, and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house There are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and useful for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

    Flee also youthful lusts that follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart, but foolish and unlearned questions of all, knowing that they do gender strife. And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in neatness instructing those that oppose themselves if God, peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

    Pray with me briefly now. O Lord, there are servants of your word today in the world, and the number abounds and increases. But Lord, we ask that you will give to your church servants of the word in truth, that your people those whom you love would be fed, that they would be led aright, that they would be taught faithfully, and that not to stray. Father, for the sake of your people, do grant the request we make this day, and may it please you, Lord, may it please you to strengthen those who already speak, that they may speak with Christ in view, and with your glory in view as well.

    May nothing obscure you and your Son in the proclamation of your truth. We pray it in Christ’s name. Amen. What is beneath the surface of all that Paul says to Timothy? What is it that is beneath the surface for all that Paul has to say to this pastor? Well, interestingly enough, It is something that concerns us all very directly. It is the matter of sonship. It is the matter of sonship. Yes, it’s true. Timothy is a son. But so also are you?

    What do we know about sons? What do we know about the children of God? Can we determine a pattern as we survey Scripture on this matter? How do sons become sons? How do children become children? Do they become children because they do what we say? Or are they children to begin with? and does their obedience follow upon flow out of their identity? Why, of course. They are children by birth. They are children by creation, if you will. They have an identity as such So they are not becoming children, they are not becoming sons because they do what we say. Rather, they are children who are then obeying, who are behaving in keeping hopefully with their identity.

    What you are precedes what you do. Now, that which we can observe generally is true with regard to the specifics of the gospel and the specifics that pertain to the history of salvation, in order that grace may be grace, and you might understand the full character of that grace.

    For are you made sons, are you made children by the things that you do? Or have you been made sons, have you been made children by a special work of God? Have you been created and so identified as sons and children of the Lord? What you are then by virtue of God’s grace, what you are by virtue of His working, precedes any workings by you, any doings by you, any obedience that you may render. so that your identity is not based upon what you do, it’s based upon what God has done for you.

    Now that’s gospel. That’s gospel. Now we expect obedience from our children. We expect it from them because they are our children. That obedience, then, is not insignificant, nor is it unimportant to us, much less to them. The fact that we are children by the creative work of God, indeed, that foundation there playing for us to see. Our obedience, our behavior then flowing out of that. Our identity and our obedience being then the specific aspects of our sonship.

    But there’s another aspect. As we survey scripture, as we think about life in relationship to what we know to be true out of scripture, as we look at the general fabric of life itself, the whole question of sonship The whole matter of us being children of God is tied up with that issue of promise. Promise of inheritance. And once more, what is it that is essential to that promise of inheritance or that promise of reward?

    Is it so much what we do or what we are? Well, in the first instance, it is a matter of who we are. In the biblical times, the firstborn was the one who was entitled to the lion’s share of the inheritance. But what had he done in order to deserve that? He was merely born first, not by any doings of his own, not because he willed it, but because he was so designated, you see.

    This matter of sonship This matter of us being children of God then involves promise of inheritance, the prospect of reward, and that, too, a measure of grace, so that the promise is heard at the outset, and the promise of reward is conferred when we begin our lives as sons of God, as children of God. If you were to look, then, at the history of the children of Israel, what would you find? They were called the Son of God. Exodus, chapter 4. God calls Israel, My Son, My firstborn. Hosea, chapter 11, verse 1. Out of Egypt I have called My Son, referring to Israel as a nation. That identity for Israel as son of God conferred upon Israel by God’s grace, not based upon what she had done.

    The promise of inheritance, the promise of reward, granted her of grace at the outset as part of that constitution of her sonship. You may well think of Jesus Christ himself. Let’s take, for instance, his position as servant of God with a specific ministry to perform before he has done anything. He has his sonship underscored and reaffirmed. He comes up out of the waters of baptism.

    He comes up out of the Jordan, and there, at the Jordan, he hears those words out of heaven, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. his sonship, then the foundation of his mission, his task. Reward promised to him, and in light of that promise, he endures every test and proves himself to be son all the more. Into the wilderness he is driven, and there he undergoes those three temptations. And in each of those temptations, he is tried with regard to that identity which is his as son and the promise of inheritance that is his. Will he sacrifice that? Will he abandon that? For the sake of something much more immediate, something much more instantly gratifying to him.

    Well then, the pattern of sonship that we find in Israel and the pattern we find in Christ, and we have said that that pattern is the foundation for what we find in Paul’s dealings with Timothy. Timothy, in fact, is called my son. Paul speaks of Timothy as his son. Paul loves Timothy. And that love precedes even any obedience that Timothy may render.

    There is the promise of reward, specifically as it comes to Timothy. in his calling as a minister, as a pastor, as an evangelist in the early church. His identity as son, the promise of an inheritance, a reward in keeping with that ministry that is his, these things come to him at the outset of his labors as a son.

    As we run back over the territory that we have covered so far, we realize that after there was this declaration of Sonship to Israel and the granting of that promise of reward, her Sonship was proved and she was found to be washing. Likewise with Christ, His Sonship spoken of, underscored but then his sonship proved, and he demonstrates that he is the son indeed.

    The reward of the inheritance is his. Timothy will be tried also, as every servant and every son will be tried. So he finds himself in a first-century congregation there at Ephesus and undergoing the severest of trials. The test is with regard to his sonship. Yes, a sonship to Paul, who is his spiritual father in the faith, but even more than that, his sonship to God. That is in the balance. For he in this distress and in this predicament must prove himself to be the son, with all of the implements provided him for his sonship, all of the tools that have been granted to him in order that his sonship may be vindicated in the course and through the duress of life. So Paul himself, a son, is sorely tested in a Roman jail, and now Timothy is sorely tested in Ephesus because of the difficulties and the offenses and the problems that have arisen. Paul says to him, suffer hardship with me.

    I didn’t think sonship would be like this. I didn’t imagine that being a child of God would be like this. But the question arises, for Israel, for Christ himself, for Paul in a Roman prison, for Timothy in the Ephesian church, how will I survive? How will my sonship be confirmed through this distress which I experience? Surely I am called upon to obey, but I have already understood that I am a sinner. I am given over, it seems, to wickedness. I don’t have the strength within myself to hold out. What hope is there for me?

    Of course, we remind ourselves of God’s grace. We remind ourselves of his power present within us. But we need to remind ourselves of something more. We need to remind ourselves again and again of the significance of that promise, that promise of the inheritance given to sons at the outset of their journey.

    It is specifically that which is being countermanded and denied at Ephesus. The resurrection is already past, so say some. Now, you take stock of your spiritual well-being. You take stock of your spiritual temperament and temperature. Ask yourself, how often do I remind myself of the promise of the reward? How often do I remind myself of the promise of the inheritance? How much has that become the foundation of my life? Do you lack strength? Is there a lack of power in you to resist temptation? Do you find yourself continually caving in? Are you wandering from the truth? Is there a lack of zeal, a lack of enthusiasm? Well, just how excited about heaven are you? If you are not excited about heaven, then you’re going to have a very difficult time living properly for the Lord. If the inheritance does not interest you. If you could care less. If you haven’t thought about it since last December. If then.

    People get upset with the pastoral disciples. They look through them, they say we have no exposition of the cross of Christ here. Well, there’s a reason for that, because Paul does not want Timothy concentrating so much upon the sufferings of Christ. He wants him concentrating upon the glories of the inheritance. Because when we get into difficulty, our help is not found in looking at our sufferings and analyzing them endlessly, and getting ourselves more and more depressed.

    If anybody had a reason to be depressed, it was Paul. But what did Paul remember? I am a son. Now he didn’t think about that because it promised him great things in this world. It was so important to him because it promised him great things in the world to come. Now Paul starts with that promise of inheritance, and his whole theology, if we can use that word, his whole doctrine of the Christian life is built upon it. Take it away, there’s nothing. Absolutely nothing. You might as well go be a Buddhist. Unfortunately, there are a lot of Buddhists in the Christian church today. They don’t know it.

    You come to that conclusion, then, of 2 Timothy 2, verses 22 through 26. And you’re asking yourself, are these just disassociate disassociated postulates and axioms for the moral life, wise words to live by in the first century in Ephesus, or wise words to live by in the twentieth century in Pittsburgh. Everything that Paul says to Timothy is undergirded by the reality of sonship and the promise of an inheritance. Why should you flee youthful lusts?

    Because you are son of God. That’s why. Not because it makes good sense. Not because there will be a better social equilibrium in our society. Not because you can avoid social diseases, but because you are a son of God. That’s why. And so it goes. Sonship, promise of inheritance. Becoming the motivating factor for all of the moral life. All of our behavior. all of our actions. To the degree that you see that inheritance meaning more and more to you, to that degree, you will see your sonship confirmed and all the assurances of it. Oh, the inheritance.

    Can anything be compared? with what is promised and we as sons and children of God how are we to live in light of that which is given to us you have the living Christ as your guarantee that the inheritance is sure Let us pray. Our Father, remind us so that we will remind ourselves that we are sons that we are the children of God, and that we are heirs, heirs of glory, heirs of the kingdom, heirs with Christ, yes, heirs of God. Lord, may it be plain to us that if this truth is removed from our lives, truly nothing of Christian value remains. So continue and more, build us up in this certainty. We are sons, children of God, who are living for our Father in Heaven, who has granted us an inheritance in the regions of light, and we shall dwell with Him there.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • From Babel to Babylon

    From Babel to Babylon

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “II Timothy” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 17, 1988.

    About this sermon

    The city of God and the city of man stand opposed throughout Scripture, and the spirit of Babel’s tower runs forward into Babylon and on into the present day. Genesis 11 records the founding moment of that spirit’s resistance to God. A weakened doctrine of creation lets Babel’s spirit take root again.

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    Sermon transcript

    Now scripture begins with a reading from Genesis chapter 11. Genesis chapter 11, the first nine verses. And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.

    And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they made brick for stone and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

    And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one. And they have all one language. And this they began to do, and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down.

    And there confound their language that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from fence upon the face of all the earth, and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babylon, because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth, and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”

    You will read from verse fourteen to verse twenty one. These things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the heroes. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun provain and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth a canker. Of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have heard, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some.

    Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are his. and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there is not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor sanctified and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. Our Lord, it is well that every servant of yours who proclaims the word remember that he is but a servant, and that your glory is foremost, that the well-being of your people is at the heart of the ministry of the word. Therefore, Lord, may your people be encouraged by the preaching of the word today and may you in fact strengthen them so that they in service to you would be all that you have intended them to be. We pray this through Christ. Amen.

    There are only two building enterprises. There are only two building enterprises. One building enterprise is that which concerns the city of man. The other is that which concerns the city of God. The city of man. It has its foundation in man. It is a house built, an edifice constructed upon sand. Its strength no greater than the word of man himself.

    The city of God, however, has its foundation in and from God. Here is a house, an edifice built upon the rock, as sure and as certain as God’s word. that city of man has expressed itself variously throughout history. We see occasions of its formulation even in the scriptures as it rises up in opposition to God himself. I suppose that the city of man has a clear foundational and fundamental expression in the story that we have read in Genesis 11. The story of Babel. Over against this expression of the city of man, there is in time expressed in the world that work of God is building enterprise where love and obedience to God is demonstrated. We see it principally in the Old Testament in the construction of the tabernacle under Moses and Aaron. and in the construction of the temple under Solomon, the son of David.

    When we move into the New Testament, this city of God, this edifice that has its foundation in and from God, is seen all the more clearly. For from the New Testament, it becomes plain to us that the fullness of the building enterprise of God is now at hand. It is accomplished in and through Jesus Christ, for by him there has been prepared for us, the people of God, an eternal and heavenly dwelling. Yet, while God is in fact building for us this eternal and heavenly dwelling, there is a visible manifestation of that dwelling in the world, and it is localized in the Church of Jesus Christ. So when we speak about the city of God, or the foundation of God, as Paul speaks of it in 2nd Timothy, We have in mind the sweep of God’s activities by which he is bringing to expression his work, the end of which is a habitation for his people.

    The end of this enterprise by God. is, of course, glory. It is a dwelling place, the dimensions of which and the particulars of which exceed our wildest dreams. It is a region of perpetual delight and joy, blessedness to the full, a habitation that is unthreatened by sin, corruption, death, diminishment, or end itself.

    On the other hand, Babel stands as a monumental warning to man and his pretense The end of the city of man, the end of that foundation that is found with him and for his sake, the end is ruination, destruction. Babel lies in ruins, and her leaders are scattered in confusion. What was intended as a monument to the unity of man’s enterprise, what was intended as a monument to man’s ingenuity, his strength, his power, his importance, is now a witness to chaos and to the calamity of man’s foolish errors. But while the tower, the proud tower, lies in ruins, the spirit of that tower lives.

    It lives in such a way that in its pretentiousness, it even sets its sights upon the city of And if we think, then, of the church of Jesus Christ as the visible manifestation in the world of the city of God, then Babel sets the church of Jesus Christ in her sights. The spirit of Babel lives.

    She comes with the boast of clear speech, as if God’s curse had not occurred, as if there had been no confusion at all. She comes as if with clear speech to make her point, to prosecute her case. She enters into the Church of Jesus Christ with promise. She makes her stand. Her boast is communicated through her leaders. Her leaders seem articulate, well-versed, quite competent.

    Who could argue with the servants of Babel in Israel? Moses, the meekest man in all the earth, with his brother Aaron, stands before the congregation and prosecutes the case of the city of God. But there is a Levite who feels left out. His name is Paul. He joins forces with two sons of Reuben Nathan and a Byron. And who is Reuben? Why? That poor son of Jacob, who was first born but lost everything because of his indiscretion, will now this come a time for him to regain it all. Two sons of Reuben and this son of Levi stand before Moses and Aaron.

    They prosecute their case now, and it seems so logical. Aren’t all of God’s people priests unto the Lord? Who do you think you are that you have some sort of special measure of the spirit? Why do you set yourself apart? Isn’t God in the midst of the assembly? aren’t we all the same? Why they sound like good Protestants. Moses falls down on his face He recognizes that this clear speech isn’t clear at all, it’s just the babblings of babble.

    It is the confusion and the chaos from that ancient city still living on. It is intruding itself upon the city of God, the order of which is given from heaven. He arises. He says in the morning, you’ll come. The Lord knows. Those who are here. The spirit of Babel lives.

    And it lives, especially in the articulations of those who are leaders for that city, and they come prosecuting their case, and they sound so sensible. Is the church in Ephesus a very articulate man by the name of pioneers is prosecuting the case for a theology in which the resurrection has already occurred. Paul, however, is equated to this man’s words, as articulate as they are, with vain babblings. You hear the echo of Babel in that, don’t you?

    But that’s not all. He then turns on Hymenaeus and Philetus so that he might encourage Timothy and all those who might yet stand for the truth. And he says, the foundation of God standeth sure. And on its cornerstone, it bears the seal, the Lord knows those who are his.

    And this is stealing a chapter right out of the book of Numbers. Babel comes in, and the confusion and chaos follows. Night all sound very good, but in the end it proves to be confusion. It is the undoing, or the would-be undoing, of the city of God. It’s not just the vocabulary. It is the life as well. These leaders from Babel claim that they are known by God and their approach to life has his imprimatur.

    Yet, as you observe them, they become the advocates of every kind of depravity. Every kind of deviation from the truth, every desertion of godliness imaginable. Paul goes on to match that one seal spoken of on the cornerstone of the foundation of God. He goes on to match it with another statement, which says, Let everyone who names the name of Christ abstain from wickedness.

    Babel, of course, you know, takes form and shape again. In time, it becomes known as Babylon, the city of man personified. And how is that city viewed in the book of Revelation? Not just as a city filled with apostasy, that is, wrong belief, but a city filled with every kind of immorality imaginable. The foundation of the Lord stands sure. The city of God is ultimate and eternal, and she shall prevail.

    There is a large house. In the large house there are vessels of gold and silver. There are also vessels of wood and earthenware. some to honor and some to dishonor. The spirit of Babel would tell you that really the valuable vessels are those of wood and earthenware. The vessels that are worthwhile are actually in fact the vessels that they mark out. And these vessels are vessels of dishonor, because they are the vessels that have imprinted upon them the name of Babel itself.

    Leaders, then, for the city of God, standing over against the leaders of the city of man, How is it that they are to live? What are they to say? What are they to do? They are to cleanse themselves from these vessels of dishonor. These vessels of dishonor are a contagion, a disease, infectious, and they will corrupt. Where does the church stand? The visible manifestation of the city of God in the world. Where do her leaders stand?

    In many instances, the leaders come to the people with fine speech. They come with a well-developed program. they come giving you promises of glory promises that are calculated to appeal to your ego that in fact you will be made important by your adherence to their philosophy and their doctrine. Though they sound as clear as a bell. They are babbling worthless worldly words. And in the end, the message that they preach will fall to the earth. The Church is in fact now facing a severe crisis. How we progress from a principle of doctrine to open acts of immorality, justifying them in keeping with the theology of the city of Adam.

    For instance, does it matter that God created man? Does it matter that you hold to the truth of the biblical account of creation? Does it matter that you perceive in that story of creation an order? An order which is essential to the biblical message? Does it matter? that you hold to a doctrine which says to you that man was created first and woman was created from man. Does it matter? What if it doesn’t? What if it doesn’t matter? As many leaders in the church now are telling us, it doesn’t matter.

    Attack the order of creation at that point. What happens at other points? If you destroy the distinction between male and female in the creation, what other distinctions are then put in the balance? Is it any wonder that in those denominations where the doctrine of creation has fallen, that we now observe the most energetic efforts with regard to the destruction of distinction between the sexes altogether. Is it any wonder that where the doctrine of creation falls, that homosexuality rises? The spirit of Babel lives, and there are many in the Church today who are Babylonians. Now this passage that we have in front of us is about leaders in the Church. What is a leader to do?

    He is to cleanse himself. from the dishonorable. That he might be. A vessel for honor. One sanctified useful to the master. Prepared for every. Good work. And as it is for the leaders, no less for the people. That you also. may purge yourself of the spirit of battle, which surely spells destruction, not glory.” Well, the foundation of God stands pure. The Lord knows those who are Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from evil. Honor God. The sound. May well be clear, the words well formed for the argument well presented.

    But the Apostle Paul is not deceived. He sees it only as a wrangling about words, vain babblings, ungodliness abounding. For surely the spirit of Babel lives, it lived in the church at Ephesus, and it was to be resisted. It lives today. It is to be resisted no less now. May I please you, Lord, to make your church strong, that she may after all reflect the glories of the city of God, for surely she is to be that manifestation of the eternal dwelling where you meet with your people and abide with them forever.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • A Foundation That Stands Firm

    A Foundation That Stands Firm

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “II Timothy” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 10, 1988.

    About this sermon

    Two central theses anchor 2:19 against the false teaching of 2:18. Christ himself is the foundation of God that ‘standeth firm,’ a person and more than a doctrinal claim. Holding to him keeps the church from being shaken by the world.

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    Sermon transcript

    Our Scripture reading this morning is Second Timothy chapter two. We are reading from verse fourteen once more to the end of the chapter. Second Timothy two, verse fourteen, hear the word of God of these things, put them in remembrance charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the heroes. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

    But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus who concerning the truth have urged, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some.

    Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are his, and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and suitable for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthful lusts that follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart, but foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strife. And a servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God, peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

    It is a glorious, glorious text. Not often do men run to 2 Timothy to find a glorious text, but there is one here, sadly overworked by many. the foundation of God standeth firm. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth firm. If you were to memorize these words, if you were to carry them with you, You would have great advantage in the matters of life that concern you. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth firm. The passage actually has two central pieces. one relates to the controversy at Ephesus, the involvement of Timothy in that controversy and the significance of those men, Hymenaeus and Philetus. But even beyond the matter of controversy and the figures of those who bear office, those also who assault the church, is this second thesis, that this passage, glorious as it is, has as much application to the people of God as a whole as it does to ministers, to servants of the word. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standard.

    What is the specific focus. Of these words. How does Paul intend them to be taken. First of all over against the false teaching that has come in over again the figures of Hymenaeus and Philetus. The foundation of God stands firm in opposition to them and to their teaching, what they purport the gospel is all about. We’ll hear them, hear them. Paul has summarized their teaching for you. He has told you that they are those who teach that the resurrection is past already. Let that sink in. Do you understand what it means to hold such a doctrine? Consider the seriousness of it. The resurrection is past already. Now, there have been many attempts to get to the heart of the air embraced by Hymenaeus and Philetus. But what is the heart, truly, of their position and the falsehood that they have embraced?

    The resurrection is past already. That means there is no future resurrection. No. Future. Resurrection. In other words, whatever the resurrection is, it’s already here. Period. But to deny that there is a future resurrection, what implications does that have? It means as well that you will deny the world to which that resurrection leads, and you will conclude that this world is the only world. And whatever there is of the resurrection has occurred in it, and that’s it. Period. So no future resurrection and no future world. There is no world above. There is no dwelling above. There is no habitation above for you.

    This is it. Paul counters. In the face of this false doctrine. Nevertheless the foundation of God standard. How are these words specifically apply to the circumstance. To the problem emphasis. Why hymen is and the leaders have transformed Christianity into a religion of this world. Over against that then comes. These words. But. You’re asking how do these words specifically answer to the difficulty that has arisen, how do they speak to this case?

    After all, to talk about a foundation brings to mind something that seems quite earthy, quite earthy, quite attached to this world. Paul, however, with these words, is directing Kenneth to something that carries his mind beyond this world and to the heart of what God has done for his people. We read about foundations in the Old Testament, specifically as the foundation applies to the structure that stood central to the life of the people of God. Foundations as they related to the tabernacle, but specifically to the temple. It is against that background that now Paul speaks. For as he makes mention of the foundation of God, he has in mind that to which those foundations pointed, those foundations that were established in the Old Testament.

    Disobedience arose, the people were judged, the temple that stood at the center of their life was overthrown, not one stone left upon another, all reduced to rubble. But in the midst of that devastation, there comes the prophetic word. That stone rejected by the chief builders, I will make the chief cornerstone. I will lay a stone in Zion, and upon that stone foundations will be laid.

    Blessed is every one that trusteth in me, is not offended by me in laying that foundation. So then away from that focus and concentration upon foundations that are simply of this world. Foundations rather now that are apparent only in Christ and in that which he is establishing, an eternal dwelling, not made with hands, for his own, who he is now drawing to himself. The foundation of God stands firm. In fact, it cannot be shaken. Why? Because it is eternal. Look at the foundations of this earth. Are they not bullshit?

    Does it matter how pretentious they become, even in their religiosity? The focus, nonetheless, upon this world a habitation here, and what this world can offer. Over against the false doctrines of Hymenaeus and Felicius, then, there comes a message about the foundation of God that stands firm, and that, yes, at the heart of the gospel.

    What will men preach? Will they preach to you the better lives? or will they preach to you. What will the church offer you. A life in which increases are guaranteed in which your family is secure a woman looking for a Christian man why because she knows he won’t leave.

    Maybe. the rewards of this life, the rewards of this world, how we set our eye upon them and live for them as if they were all. In actual fact, these things are far removed from the heart of the gospel. Actually, you see, the church that follows those things is actually, you see, following the teachings of Hymenaeus and Philippe. The foundation of God that stands firm is eternal, it is unseen, it is perceived by faith, not by sight. And what about the general comfort of this glorious passage? What about the vicissitudes of life? The troubles that overtake you? The distress from day to day? The anguish of soul? Your worry? Your anxiety? The foundation of God stands firm. It is internal habitation. It is internal development. To the degree that our eye is diverted, we begin to teeter. To the degree that we no longer see clearly, the end of our faith, we fail in its daily operation. Our faith caves in because we no longer see eternity, a firm foundation for our lives.

    Nevertheless, Paul says The foundation of God stands firm. And that is the bedrock of all true, proper gospel preaching, and that is the bedrock of all proper, true Christian living. We let loose of it to our detriment, but we hold it fast. to our good and God’s glory.

    Let us pray. Our God, as we consider the foundation which you have established in Christ, may we realize that this foundation was costly to you, that Jesus Christ came into the world and he gave his life that the eternal dwelling may in fact be opened up to a people belonging to yourself. Without the shedding of his blood then, Without the forgiveness of our sins, there is no access. But we rejoice today that the message of the gospel is that access is ours through the shed blood of Christ. And that we who believe do, in fact, have eternal life. Bless us, Lord, your servants as we come together now to partake of the supper which Christ instituted in the days of his flesh. Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Paul’s High View of Scholarship

    Paul’s High View of Scholarship

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “II Timothy” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, March 27, 1988.

    About this sermon

    ‘Become like little children’ suffers a real misuse, and Gilbert Tennent’s shift in the pulpit from exegesis toward personal experience fed a broader problem. Paul puts real weight on scholarship in 2:15 and 4:13, asking for his books and parchments even from prison. The pastoral epistles give anti-intellectualism no support.

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    Sermon transcript

    Our scripture reading this morning is from the second of Paul’s letters to Timothy. We are in the second chapter, we are at verse fourteen. Then we will look at a verse in chapter four. We will begin with 2 Timothy 2, 14 to the end of that chapter. Of these things put them in remembrance. charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

    But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth a canker, of whom Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is already past, and overthrow the faith of some.

    Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are his, and Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity, that in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor sanctified and suitable for the master’s use and prepared unto every good work.

    Fleeing also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strides. And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God for adventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. And then in the fourth chapter, the thirteenth The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.

    Pray with me now. Father, if our hearts are stirred, we rush to your word, for we know that your word is our life. More than the meat that is on our table, more than the drink that is on that table as well, so is your word to us, our life, our nourishment. our strength. Father, may we be well fed today. And Lord, may the proof that we have fed well be the fact that we are living the word, not just hearing it. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.

    We have idealized the children of Palm Sunday. Unfortunately, we have taken those children and utilized them improperly. As if with the yet young and unformed minds As if eschewing and avoiding knowledge, we were to be children all our lives. We are in trouble. The Church is in trouble. I belong to the preacher’s union and the preacher’s union is in trouble because we have concluded things improperly with regard to the children and with regard to the use of our minds and our intelligence. in 1740.

    Let your minds do a little traveling now. 1740 is the year. We are in a southeastern Pennsylvania town by the name of Nottingham. we are worshiping at the Presbyterian Church. Those gathered with us this morning have come to listen to a unique minister. One who has crossed the Jordan. No, I guess it’s the Delaware. He’s come from New Jersey. and the Presbytery of New Brunswick.

    His name is Gilbert Tennant, T-E-N-N-A-N-T. He is the son of William Tennant, who organized the famous Log College in New Jersey in 1728. out of which eventually arose Princeton University. Now, Gilbert is a disciple of George Witsy, a revivalist from England, who in so many ways, together with Jonathan Edwards of Northampton, Massachusetts, is at the center of what has become known as The great awakening. Is a little bit of your American history coming back to you this morning? Well, anyway. In 1740, Gilbert Tennant preaches in that Nottingham Presbyterian Church.

    His message is entitled, The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry. He’s speaking specifically of unconverted Presbyterian ministers. Already he has become famous, and that is why the Church is full. He has become famous for his fiery sermons in which he has challenged his hearers repeatedly by telling them, no one ever became a Christian without first passing through the terror of realizing that he was not a Christian. Mere acceptance of Mere belief in the Bible and its doctrine of salvation is not enough, said Gilbert Tennant.

    One has to experience personally a new birth, that is, a new birth that can actually be chronicled as to date and to the specifics of its occurrence. It can be recited, reversed, and recorded. Kenneth was bringing pressure to bear upon congregations and upon local boards of elders to examine not only those coming into the church, but those already in the church about the genuineness of their own personal experience of regeneration. Now, I hope you see the problem. not that we could ever be against regeneration, against being born again.

    Far be it from Christ’s church to neglect to preach regeneration, that you must be born again. Equally, far be it from Christ’s church to coddle those who ignore or deny the significance of Christ’s words, you must be born again. Indeed, we here in this church add our amen to those words of Jesus. Unless you are born again, unless you are born from above, you will not, you cannot see the kingdom of God. In fact, Let me press presently those words of Jesus upon you.

    If you are sitting here this morning and you are holding on to the old life like some sort of modern-day Nicodemus, turn from that old life now to the new. That old life, be it as religious as was the religion and religion of Nicodemus, it will not save you. Trust in Christ, only in him, and if you will, then God’s words of assurance will come to you, establishing you in the knowledge that you are in fact born again. But don’t you see, what is at the center of your trust and what is at the center of God’s assurance to you is that old, old story of Jesus and His love.

    But when we start concentrating upon our experience and the special, even dramatic, features of our conversions. When we start to make the criteria for entrance into the church, or entrance into heaven, or even when we start to make our experience the basis of our assurance before God, then it is no longer Jesus’ story that I love to tell, but my own.

    My story doesn’t save anybody. I do not know how long it will take the evangelical world to wake up to that fact. Your story saves no one. It is only the story of Jesus. that saves. I rejoice that I have a story to tell about myself and I am glad that you do too. But I cannot and neither can you allow those stories to eclipse the story of Jesus.

    Now, Mr. Tenet wanted a vibrant church. He had had enough of presumptuous Presbyterians. He had had enough of dead orthodoxy of what he judged to be a lifelessness. In the church. He had had enough of pious Presbyterians, in his estimation, dozing on their way to hell. However correct he was in his assessment, he was wrong in his solution, and when the ministers would not move in keeping with his prodding, he attacked them in the most vicious way. They, with their parishioners, he judged, were hellbound. The unconverted church was served by an unconverted ministry. Well, in time, The church straightened Mr tenet and the whole mess out best. But unfortunately the damage had already been done.

    You see Mr tenet’s position had the effect not only of making judgment about the ministry generally but judgment also as to who might be fit for that ministry. As there had been a shift in the consideration. With regard to the person in the pew, so there was a shift with regard to the person in the pulpit. The weight shifted from a competence with regard to the traditional disciplines, which were seen as essential for the preparation for the gospel ministry.

    Enough of this about biblical languages, enough about this exactness concerning knowledge of scripture, knowledge of doctrine, knowledge of the history of the church, enough of these intellectual exercises. What was needed now was an accounting of one’s conversion and also one’s calling to office.

    When were you called? And how are we to deny these wide-eyed, energetic, even magnetic dynamos who can give us a blow-by-blow account of their personal call from Christ as if he came personally to them, calling them to serve? They don’t have to know anything. They just have to have the right experience. Forget those essentials that the church had come to insist upon. That hard work of learning and training.

    The man obviously has the electricity. So how can we deny him? One hundred and seventy years later, the Presbyterian Church in this country was faced with a genuinely unconverted ministry. This ministry was not just stuffy. It wasn’t just dead in the manner that Gilbert Tenet had judged it, this ministry reeked of unbelief. It was guilty of denying the essential and fundamental truths of the faith.

    But you know what? Strange as it may seem, this unconverted ministry was the great, great, great grandchild of Gilbert Tennant. How is it possible? Certainly, Gilbert Tennant was orthodox in his beliefs. He held on to the truth of Scripture, did he not? How is it possible that these folks in this century could be the descendants of him?

    Well, in wrongly assessing things in his own day and in wrongly charging the ministry of his time, Tenet actually aided and abetted an ignorant ministry that was to come in the years that followed. Knowledge became optional. Intelligence became an obstacle itself. Objective truth gave way to subjective feelings, and in time, both liberals and conservatives, in their ignorance, were embracing a version of Christianity that was generally hostile to historical research, verification, and objective truth. Gone was the whole dimension of mental sweat when it came to religion. Hail the dawning of the age of warm and fuzzy feelings.

    In 1909, J. Gresham Machen was outraged with the changes at Princeton Seminary because he judged the ghost of Gilbert Kennett was still haunting the hall. And the result was assuredly a cadre of ministry pumped full of all kinds of the main material which without any real assimilation or any intellectual work of any kind they would come out again upon their unfortunate congregations. Let me tell you. The conclusion of an ignorant ministry is an ignorant church.

    Parents in our time have become quite mouthy. They insist upon intelligence in education. Let the school where they send their children falter but a bit in providing their darlings with less than the very best in learning. and they are at the doors beating them down, if not beating the teachers up. People are outraged in our time because of general incompetence. They take on all the professions, not just the educators, but the liars and the doctors and the auto mechanics. The doctor better know what he’s doing, they say, or I’ll sue. But those same parents and those same people will accept any demonstration of blatant spiritual idiocy spewed forth from their pulpits. In fact, I’m convinced that the church In many instances, prefers ministers who don’t know anything.

    Better that we be a lot of useful it is. To quote a few distractors of President Reagan. Paul says to Timothy. That’s the King James translation. The new American standard is be diligent. The Greek word used there means make a make a dent to present yourself approved to God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed handling accurately handling rightly the word of truth. Paul is a sworn enemy of ignorant He is the sworn enemy of an ignorant and mentally indolent minister.

    And what he advised Timothy, he lived himself. In that fourth chapter, the thirteenth verse, he gives Timothy specific instructions to bring in his books and the parchments when he comes to him at Rome. Paul never stopped studying himself. He never stopped exerting himself. He was diligent. He made haste as a competent and energetic workman for the Lord, rightly dividing the word of truth until the end. Unfortunately, To too many ministers and too many ministers in the OPC, the end came when they closed the last book that they were studying in their seminary days. If they cracked them even then. For what is happening in our seminaries is a travesty.

    You don’t pass, you don’t fail courses any longer in seminary. You don’t receive failing grades. Why such a judgment would mean that we then were saying that you weren’t called. Paul was no enemy of intellectual rigor. But looking out on the church today Paul would undoubtedly be himself. I couldn’t avoid that. Presently.

    He could hear a candidate for the ministry. Be so unprepared that he could not identify a single Israelite He could hear a candidate for the ministry, incapable of listing the books of the Bible in order. A candidate for the ministry who could not give you the opening line of any psalm, including A candidate for the ministry who could not tell you the reason why the church split East and West, who could not give you a cogent, intelligent rendition of the doctrine of justification. He could visit a prestigious church in Pittsburgh and hear a distinguished doctor of divinity, no candidate now, this is a man in office, this is a man who’s risen to the heights. He could hear a distinguished doctor of divinity tell his congregation that the reason why Judas betrayed Jesus was because there was a failure of ministry by the other eleven, to him personally. and they pay this man.

    He could hear a dynamic minister tell a worshipful audience, speaking of Paul now. He could hear, Paul could hear a dynamic minister tell a worshipful audience that he, Paul, never talked about walking, but always running, because we are into energetic pursuit. Paul almost always talked about walking, but very seldomly talked about running. It is conceivable that after witnessing such nonsense, the Apostle Paul would sit down and write his own sermon entitled The Danger of a Devastatingly Ignorant Ministry.

    The bane of the twentieth-century church, of twentieth-century Presbyterianism, is not that we don’t have ministers that look nice, that sound good, that make a good impression. that have a knack for church management, who can give you a rundown of all the statistics in the community, who can tell you where you ought to put the next Burger King, because they’ve done all their demographics.

    The ministers we have can do all of that, but they don’t know anything truly about God. They don’t know their church doctrine, they don’t know their church history, they don’t know their Bibles, and they don’t know how to use Now, admittedly, in keeping with the Apostle Paul himself, knowledge without love puffs up. There is nothing more insufferable than arrogant religious know-it-all. But at the same time, to cultivate ignorance and even to reward it with office is false. will be disaster. God helps. Now I said this before, I’ll say it again, we don’t give grades in church.

    But being a Christian does demand some mental effort. It demands it on the part of the ministry, and it demands it on the part of the people. Now, I’m trying to do my job, and I want you to try to do yours. Our Father, we know that we are to love you and serve you with all of our minds. We pray, our Father, that we would not become lazy, we would not shelve our brains, when it comes to our faith. And please help the church and refresh your church, not with an arrogant approach and attitude towards learning, but an attitude that is informed by a proper godliness and zeal. We are varying abilities. But to the best of our abilities, let us apply ourselves. Truly, we should study, be diligent, make haste to present ourselves unto the Lord. Workman approved of him needing not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Suffering Outweighed by Glory

    Suffering Outweighed by Glory

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “II Timothy” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, March 20, 1988.

    About this sermon

    Suffering and glory run through 2 Timothy as a matched pair, and Romans 5 shows that the gospel’s glory far surpasses the suffering that comes before it. Timothy stands in real danger of apostasy. Losing sight of heaven, more than any outside threat, makes believers fall away.

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    Sermon transcript

    We are in 2 Timothy this morning, the 2nd chapter, and we are beginning with the 14th verse. Then we will be looking at some verses in Romans as well. Hear the word of God. Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord, that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearer. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun provain and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth a canker, of whom is Imonaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already. and overthrow the faith of some.

    Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are his, and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also wood and of and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and suitable for the master’s use and prepared unto every good work.

    Flee also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart, but foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strife. And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God for adventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will.”

    And then from Romans chapter five, verses one through five. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience, experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

    Oh Lord, in Christ your son, you have given us instruction that we would pray earnestly that laborers would be sent forth into the harvest. May we take that instruction to heart as we commit ourselves. Lord, truly, there are many preaching your word today who are doing so with sincerity and with devotion to you. Encourage them in their study of your word and also enable them to bring forth the treasures concerning the kingdom of heaven so that the people would be refreshed in the knowledge of the true God. Father, we ask that it might be the case here that wonderful things are laid before your people for their consideration, that they may be helped. And those who do not know you, may they be challenged by the gospel, and may it be your grace that brings them to faith in yourself.

    We ask in Christ’s name. Amen. Suffering and glory. Suffering and glory. Second Timothy is filled with the themes. Suffering but also. In fact, chapter two. About servants. To go. That chapter. About servants, honorable. And dishonorable. would put before us. That truth. That in the end. Servants honorable and dishonorable are distinguished right here. At the point of suffering. And. What do you know of the What do you understand of each? How do you see them related in your service to God? Now listen to what Paul says about his own service to God in terms of these themes, suffering and glory.

    First, the suffering. You will want to get that out of the way. But note how pervasive he is in his description of it, in his references to it. The first chapter, right off the eighth verse, he calls himself Christ’s prisoner. Not only is he a bond servant of Christ, but now he is literally a prisoner for Christ’s sake. He’s in jail. He says further in that verse that he is suffering for the gospel. In the twelfth verse of that same chapter, he speaks this way, I suffer these things. referring to the circumstances that are now his in a Roman prison. In the fifteen births, he has experienced personal desertion of some closest to him. You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me and then he named a couple of men.

    Particularly. In the next verse. He speaks about my chain. You get a sense of the link. Of that chain. As he speaks. Moving into the second chapter. He talks to Timothy about the hardship involved in servanthood to Christ, in his service, which he presently endures. In verses four through six, he gives us three illustrations of hardship. His objective to place before us that hardship in a striking fashion.

    The soldier suffers, he says. The athlete suffers, he says. Even the hard-working farmer suffers. If they, much more myself. In the ninth verse, he speaks here about the extent of his suffering. He speaks of that hardship once more that he had mentioned previously, but now in terms specifically of the imprisonment that he endures as a criminal. One who is indicted. One who is facing trial. having undergone already a part of that trial.

    In verses eleven and twelve, he speaks of dying with Christ, of enduring for Christ’s sake. In the third chapter, the eleventh verse, he reviews here for Timothy. those circumstances of his ministry that Timothy knows very well how, when he preached originally in the provinces of Asia Minor, he suffered severely, was stoned, was beaten, was persecuted. The eleventh verse is followed then by a general statement in which then Paul is included, he says, and indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, will in fact suffer. The fourth chapter.

    He gives us here a graphic description of what he has undergone and what awaits him. He tells us in the sixth verse, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. In the tenth verse, he speaks of Demas. Having loved this present world, he says of him, he has deserted me. He has abandoned me. In the fourteenth verse, he talks about the personal abuse he has suffered at the hands of one Alexander, the coppersmith. And then, in one of the most poignant passages in the entire New Testament, verse sixteen, at my first defense, no one supported me, but all deserted me.

    It’s rather overwhelming, isn’t it? It’s rather overwhelming. But listen, Listen to the other side. Let’s go through it again. The first chance. The seventh verse, he tells Timothy there, we have not been given a spirit of fear, a spirit of terror, a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power. and of love, and of a sound mind. Timothy, I’m not crazy for enduring what I’m enduring. Indeed, Paul does suffer as a prisoner for the gospel. The suffering is extreme.

    But you see how he concludes that verse? It is in keeping with the power of God that is in me. The power of God and the power of his gospel at work in me. Then he spells out in the subsequent verses nine and ten the significance of that gospel and its power. He talks about how that gospel power is explicated in terms of the Savior Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to life.

    The glory is shining. The twelve-verse Paul speaks confidently about this God who will keep that which he has committed unto him against that day. What day might that be? Well, the day that is coming when the magnificent glory of God will shine for all of its great And. Then shall the righteous shine for. As the sun. In my heavenly fathers. The second chapter. Again, looking at those illustrations that Paul gives in verses four through six.

    Yes, he does speak about the hardship, he speaks about the suffering, but he also speaks about the glory. There is a glory awaiting that soldier who is faithful. There is a glory awaiting that athlete that competes according to the rules. There is a glory that awaits the hardworking farmer as he becomes the one who partakes of the first fruits of the harvest. There is a glory to be sure. And if it is so for soldiers and athletes and farmers, much more is it for us.

    And in that eighth verse, one that I’ve hardly treated adequately, Paul there summarizes for Timothy his gospel. He asks him to remember Jesus Christ risen from the death. That in keeping with that glory, he is expounding in keeping with that glory that is explicated along the lines of the life and immortality brought to life through the gospel. Jesus Christ risen from the dead descendant of David, according to my gospel. In view then is the resurrection of Christ in relationship to that glory, and certainly the promise of resurrection and glory attending unto it for us. Verse 10 of that second chapter, Here, Paul, to be sure, is speaking about how he endures all things, but he tells us that he endures all things for the sake of the elect, that they also, with him, with him and Timothy, may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, and with it eternal glory.

    Salvation and glory, demarcated for us there. And what shall we say to that great hymn that is included here for us in verses eleven through thirteen? A more than adequate compensation, a God who is sufficient. If we die with him, we are told we shall also live with him. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. Verse twelve. And what comforts are communicated in that last verse If we are faithless, if we fall down, if we prove. We. He remains strong. For he cannot deny himself.

    More than adequate compensation, then for whatever suffering is involved in our dying with him, whatever suffering is involved with us enduring for his sake. More than adequate compensation in the resurrection promised us, and in the faithfulness of God to bring that to pass. Even in the third chapter, the eleventh verse, where Paul is going through his litany, he speaks of persecution, suffering, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra. What persecutions I endured, he reminds Timothy of these, but then he says, out of them all, as if a little resurrection had occurred, out of them all, the Lord delivered me. We race on to the fourth chapter. We can’t get there too quickly. We have heard about Paul being poured out like a drink, offering the time of his departure at hand. Then we hear him going on in the seventh and eighth verses.

    He says, I fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. And in the future, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will reward to me on that day. And not only to me, but also to all who love his appearance. And finally, coupled with that moving statement in the sixteenth verse. On the two verses that follow. Yes, it’s true, all deserted me in my first defense.

    But did the Lord. Verse seventeen, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me in order that through me, the proclamation might be fully accomplished and that all the Gentiles might hear, and I was delivered out of the lion’s mouth. The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom.

    To him be the glory forever and ever. It’s overwhelming. In fact, as overwhelming as the account of his suffering. Even outdistancing that is this expression of glory and hope. The glory far exceeds the suffering. And the certainty of that glory is what sustains Paul. It is that glory that he places in front of Timothy that Timothy might be likewise sustained. And this epistle is in the New Testament. So that certainty of that glory might be put in front of you. But what happens? What happens when that certainty of glory, that well delineated hope expressed here, is lost from our vision, obscured or eclipsed?

    Do we not find ourselves, like Timothy, drawing back in fear before the threat? Or, like so many of the false teachers against whom Paul stood, Do we not find ourselves in their company if, in fact, we move in that direction, absorbed with what Paul calls worldly chatter, speculations, and worldly fables? Timothy, in drawing back, sees too much of the world and too little of glory, and those who have gone off in the direction of falsehood are doing the same thing in their own way.

    The concentration point is the world and the imposition of a worldly frame of mind. Now, you must not misunderstand at this point what Paul is driving at. But we are liable to think that the consideration of this worldly imposition is somehow contrary to the religious frame of mind. Far from it. The most religious-minded people in the world oftentimes turn out to be the most religious. The point is, What religion?

    Timothy and his fear, the false teachers and their preoccupations, each losing sight of the certain glory and the hope that is promised. Turning their eyes away from the world to come and the glory in it They have now been overtaken by a preoccupation with this world, its promise, its system.

    And all that it has to offer. The false teachers, it seems, have abandoned that certain hope. Timothy is in danger of losing. His grip on that certain hope. We are all aware, are we not, of the various forms of the religious worldliness that is now abroad. From those in our own day, like Hymenaeus and Phileas mentioned here in the second chapter, from those in our own day like them who have doctored the doctrine of the resurrection. After the cannons of radical liberalism. So as to deny it all together. To those who like Timothy while retaining the doctrine of the resurrection and the future glory oftentimes in a posture of radical conservatism, yet having spiritually internally abandoned it.

    What will be the bottom line? If you lose sight of the glory, if you lose sight of that which Paul places before Timothy here, there will be no reason for you to endure. And there will be no motivation for you to do so. In the end, there will come collapse. There will come collapse both in morals and in character. For many, the denial of the resurrection glory and the hope of the gospel means that now there is a descent into an ungodliness and to immorality. Tell now.

    Gone is any serious thought of eternal reward. Gone is any serious thought of a corollary eternal judgment. There is no true spiritual power left. because the vision of the eternal kingdom of righteousness has evaporated. There is no longer any proper biblical motivation or ground to holiness, and all proper biblical restraint is lost.

    The seriousness with which Paul then addresses Timothy. It’s home. When you begin to consider. The severity. Of the cost. You give up the resurrection. And you’ll go to hell. Paul must say to Timothy, flee youthful lusts. My friend, your godliness is in the balance. But let’s work backwards.

    What about you and your battles? What about you and your sins? What about the nagging, addictions of your life? The things you can’t shake? Is it because you don’t see the glory clearly enough? You don’t hold onto it tightly enough. You don’t insist on it. adamantly enough?

    Have you fought a drinking problem? Have you had a battle with drugs? Can you not pass the newsstand without your thoughts flying? crippled? Are you a compulsive gambler? Now why is it do you think you have no power? No strength to resist? Because the glory of the reward is somehow eclipsed in your mind and for your soul. You do not see it adequately enough. There’s something else here. need to mention. Worthy of a sermon in its own right. And that’s why I read from Romans five. And in some ways it’s better if you have that in the new American Standard Version.

    Because you see it’s not just a matter of morality that is in the balance What is also in the balance is what we call character. Before suffering, how do you fold up? Do you know why the tribulation comes? Do you know why the strain comes into your life? Because you’re being proved, because you are being tested, because it is being determined that whether or not you will decide for God, for his own sake alone. That is why. And every time you crumble before that test, your character is affected.

    And the strength you need to face the decisions of your life is gone. It evaporates. It disappears. And it is precisely at this point that the church as a whole and Christians individually are failing miserably today. You know why? Because there’s no cost to any decision that you make. You can make a bad decision, a wrong decision, an immoral decision, an evil decision, and you’re surrounded with so much affluence that it never touches you. It never registers.

    So you move from your thirties to your seventies, completely oblivious to the ministry of God in your life. And when it comes time for you to instruct your grandchildren, there isn’t anything in you to instruct them with. And when it comes time for you to face death, there’s nothing left and all you can do is The difference between someone who has been tested and tried and proven when they face death. The difference between them and someone who has failed miserably, repeatedly. for whom there is absolutely no character left.

    Why it’s like night and day. I think you know what I’m talking about. Well, suffering and glory. And yet you will see the glory, godliness, and proven character. Just as it was so for Paul. Oh Lord. It is true that. The suffering will come. But father. May we prove to be your children. Your sons and daughters.

    Who in the midst of that trial do not lose sight of the glory of Christ, the resurrection and the eternal reward. And father, we ask that with our eye clear, we will live righteously and strive after godliness. And Lord, we ask as well that in our trials Our character may be tested and truly improve.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Wrangling Over Words, Rightly Understood

    Wrangling Over Words, Rightly Understood

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “II Timothy” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, March 13, 1988.

    About this sermon

    ‘Wrangling over words’ in 2:14 has a right reading and a wrong one, and even the OPC’s General Assembly has used the wrong one to shut down real doctrinal contention. Paul charges Timothy to contend for the true gospel. Avoiding necessary contention disobeys the text.

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    Sermon transcript

    We are in 2 Timothy, this morning, the second chapter, and we are beginning with the fourteenth verse. Hear the word of God. Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord, that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearer. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman, that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun provain and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth a canker, of whom is Imonaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already. and overthrow the faith of some.

    Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are his, and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also wood and of and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and suitable for the master’s use and prepared unto every good work.

    Flee also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart, But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strife. And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God for adventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will. would be our food, our nourishment, who would be fed by you as surely as your people were by the manna in the wilderness.

    In this latter day there has come forth the living bread, and truly Jesus Christ would speak to us through the scriptures that our hearts may be sustained. O God, may we hear and live. Amen. Flight 6, 1519. The end of June. The forces have gathered. Karlstadt has come, but also the formidable John Beck. The battle is on. There appears, midway in the debate, a figure from Wittenberg. His name is Luther. Karl Stath is not doing well. Luther takes the floor. Back in Karl Stath have been arguing about grace and free will.

    But now the debate shifts. The debate shifts to the authority of councils. And can they care? The debate shifts to the question of the primacy of the seat of Peter. The primacy of the Pope. And Luther reports. there is but one foundation for the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ. And upon that foundation, His Church is built.

    Well, there were those there at Life’s And there were those there in that world who suggested that all that was taking place here was a wrangling about words. After the manner of that which Paul is condemning to Timothy in the second letter, he writes to him that second chapter, the 14th verse, a wrangling about words, unproductive, foolish in itself. the chief spokesman.

    For those hurling this charge. Was the eminent doctor. From Rotterdam. Here. Wrangling. About. Words. Nineteen thirty three. April 11th, Trenton, New Jersey. The air is supercharged as a large body of people crammed their way into a Presbyterian church in that city. The white haired, handsome, athletic Robert E. Speer Mission’s secretary to the Presbyterian Church USA is there and everyone loves him. But there is another. A professor of New Testament from Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia by the name of J. Gresson Machen. The battle is on.

    The issue is the character of the gospel, what is essential, what is not. The question is, will the missionaries of the Presbyterian Church USA preach that gospel, or will they not preach that gospel? and many with him judge that nation’s assault is merely a wrangling about words. 1988. A seminary student sits in a class He looks out a window over a campus and surveys more than the campus for his eye, as it were, is perceiving the character of an administration and faculty. The spirit of that institution is that All of these questions that you raise, sir, are merely wrangling over words, arguments about semantics. Therefore, your insistence that we hold the line with what you consider to be the gospel is out of place, and you are out of order, sir. So it is that the pastoralists of which second Timothy is one. And especially this passage which we have read this morning. Have been used or should I say of you. I say abused because. The treatment of texts that we have before us this morning from some has become the justification for setting aside the gospel in all of its implications, in all of its power.

    In the hands of many, this text becomes a touchstone A touchstone for that doctrine that contends that all debate is wrong. Every controversy is an evil. Each and every argument over doctrine is an affront to the benign deity that they serve. Of course, while Many are at work silencing their opposition, diffusing debate and arguments with texts like this. At the same time, making those who wish to debate the issues, wish to press the case, look especially impious. These same are solidifying their own position beyond the gates of any debate. They claim they serve a higher ideal. The ideal found in a world where no debate takes place.

    Such is the claim. Now we all acknowledge how wrong and sinful it is to be contentious and combative and argumentative for the sake of being contentious and combative and argumentative. After all, it is not a Christian virtue to be obnoxious. I do remember in my own case how obnoxious I have become. on certain occasions.

    There were those bloody battles with my brothers. And even though they turned and walked away, I went after them. They couldn’t even hide in the bathroom. I was knocking on the door and screaming through it. A little more seriously were the incidences with my parents. When I proved to be especially obnoxious.

    And. You know how things go at school. Instances there as well. Not only to. Fellow students. And I many times become obnoxious but. I dare say there were times when my professors wished I weren’t there. In all honesty, I can say that I have argued just for the sake of arguing.

    It is possible, therefore, even in the church to become an ecclesiastical theological, doctrinal nuisance. And the Church rightly deals with such instances as that. But you see, that is precisely what this passage is not dealing with. It is not dealing with a theological and doctrinal gag rule. Implemented for the sake of silencing all opposition, a rule that implies that the worst thing in the church is the contention aggressively for the truth of the gospel.

    The gospel is precisely what is at the forefront here. For Paul has been reminding Timothy, his son in the faith, and pastor now at the church at Ephesus, to be strong in that gospel, specifically in that gospel, and to entrust that gospel as a deposit with others, with faithful men, who themselves then will teach those beyond themselves. There you have wanted to. Timothy, be strong in that gift that grace that has been given to you by Christ, be strong in that gospel. Remember those things that I told you when you were ordained. Keep them in mind and entrust those things to others at the heart. of these words of Paul is that gospel, and he goes on and he explains the costliness of a stand for that gospel.

    By reminding Timothy of the hardship and the suffering which he has endured for the sake of Jesus Christ, he is presently in prison in Rome. He is presently in chains, and he is being treated, according to verse nine, as a criminal. He reminds Timothy of the reason why he suffers and endures this agony, for that very gospel which he is commending to Timothy is a gospel that promises reward. Now, it’s not as some may think, it is not the reward of a better life here.

    It is the reward of God’s grace in the resurrection from the dead. The reward is brought into view, then, specifically with regard to that resurrection, and it is that resurrection now that Paul is pressing upon Timothy. That resurrection is at the heart of the gospel.

    Lose the resurrection, you have nothing. Now, I ask you, are you going to contend for it or are you not? Are you going to contend for it when someone says to you, it doesn’t matter whether that body came out of the grave on the third day? Are you going to contend for it when someone says to you, all that matters is that you have resurrection hope or resurrection faith or you think resurrectionally? how we can use our adverbs. But you see what Paul’s argument presses.

    You lose that resurrection for Christ, and you lose it for yourself. For if Christ be not raised, then neither will you be. and if Christ is not raised and you are not raised then what in the world am I talking about? and why am I suffering here in chains at Rome? well Insisting upon that resurrection is no mere wrangling about. That should be obvious.

    When Paul gets down them to these latter verses in the second chapter, he is telling Timothy to remind those he teaches about this gospel. It is precisely that gospel that Paul expects Timothy and these others to prosecute in the church and to prosecute aggressively.

    The wranglers about words are those who stand on the other side. The wranglers about words are those who are endeavoring to avoid the implications of that gospel that Paul preaches and now Timothy preaches. They’re the ones that are involved in what Paul calls worldly and empty chatter. Verse sixteen. Their talk spreads, he says, like gangrene. He names a couple of fellows here who are responsible.

    They are involved in derangling about words, but Wrangling about words does not then short-circuit Paul’s program of aggressive pursuit and application of the gospel. If you were to take this portion of Paul’s letter in the way that some suggest, you would have Paul contradicting himself. For what they do is that they take that fourteen verse and they say that when Paul speaks about the wrangling over words, he is here directing his sword against all those who are involved in debate and aggressive pursuit within the church concerning the truth. That certainly does not fit the situation at all because Paul himself is debating the issue. He is himself contended, and when you go on to that famous classic first verse fifteen be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling a right or rightly dividing the word of truth. All you’re setting out the program for the appropriate prosecution of the truth within the church. Paul is no wrangler over words, but those who oppose him are. And that they, through their words, seek to countermand the gospel that he has presented. And he here is enjoining Timothy that he not become involved in the same kind of nonsense. Stand your ground. Stand your ground.

    You can chart the demise of the church by the intrusion of that certain interpretation of this passage into a church. When contention for the truth is put off by statements that seem so pious Oh, that’s merely a matter of semantics. That is only wrangling over words. 1987. Grand Rapids, Michigan.

    You’re sitting in the General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Ah, not a better place to be, right? the church is now taking out full page ads in national magazines soliciting money from people who have nothing to do with this church they are turning the church into a corporation a business enterprise and placing the church on an economic basis entering the marketplace competitively, seeking dollars. A number of outraged men rise to their feet and they speak from the depths of their souls. What are they told? They’re wrangling over words that are unimportant. You are getting excited about nothing.

    Well, you may judge and judge rightly that it’s a far distance from church as business to a denial of the resurrection, and I would agree with you. But please don’t be deceived. It is a serious matter when the Church of Jesus Christ is being transformed into a corporation, a business, the purpose of which is to show a profit at the year’s end and to make a good showing with all the statistics that you can parade in front of the constituency. Did you pay a dividend this year? Well, I will continue to contend for the gospel against that, as well as against all who would contradict and deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Don’t be put off by those who know you have heard you. Don’t be put off by those in your family, those who are acquainted with you, because you tell them that the gospel is true and it makes a difference what you believe.

    It makes a difference whether Christ died for sinners or he didn’t. It makes a difference whether Christ rose again on the third day or he didn’t. It makes a difference whether he’s going to come again. Or he isn’t. It makes all the difference in the world. It makes all the difference in your life. Yes, indeed.

    So don’t be afraid of being charged with wrangling about words when it comes to the truth. O Lord, we pray that we would understand your word of right, that we would not be put off by those who would contend that our contention for the truth is improper. But may we be aggressive and determined in speaking the truth. While we speak, remind us of Christ. May we speak from hearts that are filled with love. For it is not just a matter of prosecuting a case in which we are right. It is a matter of demonstrating Jesus Christ before the world. The one who loved the world in such a way that he came into it in order to give his life for those who would trust in him. Hear us, Lord, as we pray and encourage us in our

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  • Weakness That Testifies to Strength

    Weakness That Testifies to Strength

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “II Timothy” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, March 6, 1988.

    About this sermon

    Timothy’s weakness truly weakens his ministry, and Paul says so plainly. Paul’s own weakness, by contrast, testifies to the strength of the gospel. Paul keeps his focus on Christ’s resurrection, which answers every suffering either man will face.

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    Sermon transcript

    The scripture this morning is from 2nd Timothy, chapter 2. We are beginning with verse 1, and we will be reading through verse 13. hear the Word of God. You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others. Thou, therefore, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

    No man that woreth entangleth himself in the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits.

    Consider what I say. and the Lord give the understanding in all things. Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel, wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even unto bonds. But the word of God is not bound. Therefore, I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

    It is a faithful saying, for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we believe not, yet he abided faithful, he cannot deny himself. Let us pray together briefly. Father, your word has been given to us. And it is our light. And it becomes. That by which our life is sustained. Father.

    Prosper your word. that your servants may be encouraged. Also, may your word have its full effect in confronting also those who are without faith. Father, we pray that you may be gracious in bringing to yourself those whom you have known from all eternity. those, then, Lord, that would be within the range of your word this day. Father, fill up your assemblies with those drawn by your word.

    We pray it in Christ’s name. Amen. Weakness, like a virulent disease, breeds weakness. As if born to it, the spirit infected by weakness watches that weakness spread effortlessly. seemingly of itself, how powerful weakness is. Strength, like a rare and delicate organism, like a fragile artifact, demands protection. A defense. Care. Constant attention. Strength. Strength is dependent. Ironically. Dependent. How weak strength is.

    But strength, while weak, speaks boldly. It boldly addresses itself to weakness. For all its frailty, it preaches powerfully. unashamed of it. On the other hand, weakness for all of its power cannot admit to its own name for weakness is ashamed of itself. Yet, weakness, as if by root of a proud boast, lives from within itself.

    It derives a strength from itself. It justifies itself with reams of rationalizations, concealing its identity behind a screen of self-righteousness and self-satisfaction. Strength, however, rests upon a source, a wellspring outside of itself. Strength, as the Apostle Paul speaks of it, has its source in God. and in that gospel which Paul calls the power of God, with its promise of a crown of righteousness above, and its promise of life and immortality in God’s heavenly kingdom forever. Such strength as this, the world sees as weakness personified. That world itself, glory, in its own weakness. Oblivious. To its. Sadly. Timothy. That pastor at Ephesus, beloved by Paul, as if he were Paul’s own son, is growing stronger in the world’s weakness, but weaker in heaven’s strength. Specifically.

    Timothy is weakening in the grace of his calling. By which he has been set apart to the ordained ministry. Paul must say to him, Be strong, my son. But further, Timothy is in danger now of becoming the carrier of a spiritually lethal disease that will multiply weakness in others and make them immune to any real spiritual strength. You see, if he, being weak, then goes about his ministry in that weakness, what will be conferred upon or confirmed in those who follow him, but that weakness.

    Paul, therefore, is writing to Timothy to remind him of the gift of God’s strength given to and to encourage him in that strength that lies beyond himself in what Paul calls the grace that is found in Christ Jesus. The first verse of that second check. But you ask how could Timothy, one so close to Paul, find himself in need of such a reminder, in need of such encouragement. How could Timothy, one with such a calling and such a confirmation in that calling, find himself in need of such a reminder, in need of such encouragement? It is because of the natural propensity towards weakness, living in him and also in those called of Christ that lives still despite their love for Christ, even their desire to serve him. Weakness lives in him despite the strength given him, and that weakness, if left unchecked, breeds weakness.

    We must be, as Timothy was, encouraged with regard to strength. Paul would say to you and to me, as well as to Timothy, be strong in the Lord. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. and in the power of his mind, put on the whole armor of God, that he may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. That strength, which demands constant care, watchfulness and protection, is presently being neglected by Timothy. The source of that strength is outside of Timothy himself.

    It is the grace or the gift of God found in Christ Jesus, which then Paul goes on to define By way of those things mentioned in the second verse of the second chapter. The things which Timothy heard from Paul originally in the presence of many witnesses. Therefore, you see. This strength of which Paul speaks in its fundamental and most basic form is none other than that strength, that grace found nowhere else but in the gospel and in its articulation. The grace given Timothy is to preach that gospel Those things which he heard in the presence of others was that gospel. And he now, by the charge of Paul, is to entrust that gospel to faithful men who will teach in turn others. But certainly You respond, Timothy can’t be losing touch with the gospel, something as basic as that, can he?

    Oh yes. The weakness seems to need no encouragement within the heart, while strength needs all the encouragement. If our eyes are diverted from the source of our strength, how easily we pull apart or lose our way. It is the gospel itself then, that is in the balance.

    Not as you might expect, For you see, as Paul develops his position with Timothy, it’s not as if he’s bringing before Timothy the particulars of the gospel story, rehearsing for him again the death of Jesus Christ, for instance. No, but what he is bringing before him is his own suffering and the fact that he, Paul, is facing imminent death himself. Timothy may well be able to contend himself. I’m not recoiling from the cross of Christ, but Paul is saying to him, You’re recoiling from my cross. And my suffering and my shame have become an embarrassment to you. What is your attitude after all, Timothy, towards my chains? My chains are judged by the world as appropriate because I am a criminal, an evil man. What is your attitude? Timothy is recoiling from Paul. He thinks he may well recoil from Paul and not lose Christ. It’s not true. Weakness, then, in Timothy regarding Paul is breeding greater weakness still.

    Paul is in prison, you know well. Judged a criminal, you know that also. His suffering and plight is a scandal, his weakness condemned by the world’s strength. But Paul is bold to declare, not only to those who have imprisoned him, but also to Timothy, that his weakness is a testimony to the gospel’s strength and power. And while Paul is going from strength to strength, Timothy is moving from weakness to weakness. He is weakening before the assault of the world’s power and strength. He is actually becoming strong in his resistance to Paul’s weakness. Increasingly, he moves in a direction that will render him incapable of handling at all the scandal of the gospel, let alone the scandal of Paul.

    The suffering connected with that gospel, specifically the suffering endured by Paul in prison, these things become odious to Timothy. Paul is not making the connection overtly. It is laid between the lines. He leaves Timothy to draw the proper conclusion.

    In the end, my son, your offense at me is an offense at Christ. Now, as powerful as Paul is in his weakness in addressing. As powerful as he is in that just as powerful, if not. Just as powerful If not subtle, is he in presenting a solution to the dilemma that faces.

    After Timothy, you read down through the verses that we’ve read this morning together. You may be struck yourself with a certain omission. We’ve already alluded to it in connection with Paul’s exposition of his own suffering, but note now its omission here as he would give encouragement and direction to Timothy. What is missing is any specific, definite, overt reference to the cross of Christ, and that for reasons The remedy to Timothy, as much as it may well be grounded in that cross, is even better referred to the resolution of that cross. That resolution being then a resolution for Timothy, if he but see it. Therefore, rather than concentrating upon the crucifixion of Christ, what Paul is doing is presenting to Timothy the resurrection. And he’s presenting it along the lines of a certain well-constructed argument. He is telling him, sow the sufferings out there, Timothy, one of it.

    Why don’t you grow up? But don’t you understand that regardless of the suffering and the pain that you’re called upon to endure, I’m telling you that the power of the gospel that I declare has a resolution to that suffering that far exceeds the pain by virtue of its glory and its gain. Why do you think I’m going through this? Why do you think I endure all these things? Because I know that there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, and that my heavenly Father will bring me finally to his kingdom above. And I am certain of that. I am persuaded of that infallibly.

    While it may be, Timothy, that you are losing your grip upon the gospel as it regards the sufferings of Christ, more particularly you are losing your grip on the gospel as it pertains to the resurrection. For you can see no reason why you should endure hardship or suffer pain in this world. But there is every reason. For the sake of this gospel, which the world judges as weakness itself. I will suffer anything. For I know that the crown promised to me is promised to you. And to all God’s left. They with us shall see eternal glory. Why the soldier?

    Does not he himself teach you these things? He suffers hardship. He undergoes pain. And that. For an earthly reward, the approval of his commanding officer. And the athlete. He goes through all of his training. denying himself and suffering in that training for what? A crown, a prize.

    And the farmer, laboring in his field, all of the sweat that pours down from his brow, all of the calluses on his hand, all of the agony that he has known in his life, For what? That the crop may be produced, and that he may share in the harvest. Why, if it’s like that for the soldier, and for the athlete, and for the farmer, how much more you? The pain for the gospel’s sake is inevitable.

    It will come. But it’s worth it. For I have not seen, nor hear, heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man all those things which God has prepared for those who love Him. And the suffering of this present moment is not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. If we die with Him, we shall live with Him. If we suffer, we shall reign with Him in glory.

    What a gospel. What a gospel. Are you not willing to endure any hardship yourself? All suffering for the sake of this gospel. If you are, glory is yours. There may be a powerful Lord in which the world rejoices, but it after all is only a weakness. Lord, there may be a weakness. In which the church rejoices, but in the end it is the power of God. And Lord, that shall be well proved. In the day of Christ. And is already being proved in us. Who trust in you? We pray father. That we would be strong. In the grace that is found in Jesus Christ and in his gospel. Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • My Son: Paul and Timothy, God and Christ

    My Son: Paul and Timothy, God and Christ

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “II Timothy” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 28, 1988.

    About this sermon

    Paul calls Timothy ‘my son’ in 2:1, and the phrase reflects the Father’s own relationship to Christ. Paul points to Onesiphorus again, this time to instruct church members who hold no office. Sonship is the real subject of what looks like personal correspondence.

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    Sermon transcript

    Our scripture reading this morning is from 2 Timothy chapter 1, beginning with verse 15. We will be reading through the 7th verse of the 2nd chapter. 2 Timothy 1.15.

    Hear the word of God. This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom are Fidulus and Hermogenes. The Lord give grace unto the house of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me and was not ashamed of my change. But when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently and found me. The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. And in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well.

    Thou, therefore, my son, Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

    No man that woreth entangleth himself in the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that laboreth must first, must be first partaker of the fruits.

    Consider what I say. and the Lord give the understanding in all things. Father, we have prayed and you have answered. How many times? Or how we have prayed on behalf. Of the congregations of this presbytery that they would have. Servants. Servants of yours for their pulpits. That the word may come forth from those pulpits with power, with effectiveness.

    And Lord, how we have committed ourselves to prayer in the past for the mission in Japan. And our hearts have been united on behalf of servants of yours, like the Cummings family. We intercede for Cal and his distress. May you grant him healing, but also as he recovers, may there be a demonstration of your power and a refreshing in your word, so that many would be amazed and turn from sin unto you. We pray these things, asking your blessing upon us this morning. that we may hear your word, and that we may not be only hearings, but also doings. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.

    It is the strangest of weapons. But Paul is armed. He is armed with a man. He is armed with one on a surface. And armed with this man. He now directs a perfectly aimed for us. at him. He is graceful. He is even tender. But his thrust finds its mark. I don’t know whether I’ll get through this entire sermon with the accent on the right syllable in his name. On a sitter. Is that fellow spoken of at the conclusion of Chapter one. Verses sixteen through eighteen. Despite the program.

    Despite the shame, despite the scandal, it’s not the danger connected with association with this apostle, Paul, the prisoner. Onesiphorus has not been ashamed of or scandalized by Paul. A common Christian He is anything but calm. His love drives him and has driven him to seek Paul out in Rome, in prison, in order that he might encourage Paul through service unto him. service.

    Which all at the end of that first chapter. Timothy knows well. Because on a separate has been active also in Ephesus where Timothy. So that. the strange weapon. Armed with this man on a separate Paul directs a perfectly aimed brought activity. Chapter two. For the body proper of this letter beginning here. It itself begins with these words, you then, you there best, my son. As if to say, you know about Onesiphorus well, what about you? Paul’s use. of those words. My son. At this point in his letter. Is very telling. On the one hand.

    It communicates Paul’s genuine affection. There is that gentleness to Paul’s trust. So, these words, my son, communicate Paul’s genuine affection. In fact, these words recall the depth and power of that affection that Paul bears towards Timothy. You see, Paul’s affection for Timothy is a great, a magnificent love. Behind it stands more than devotion born of the fact that it was Paul who led Timothy to Christ. It was Paul who parented Timothy in his office as a minister of the gospel.

    All of that is true. But even more, standing behind Paul’s affection for Timothy is something as vast and profound as the person and work of God. Something as vast and profound as the Trinity itself. And the inner Trinitarian love the Father in Heaven has for His Son.

    Paul. Call. Timothy. Is well-beloved. Verse two of chapter one. Those same words are found in the second verse. Of the first chapter of Paul’s first letter to Timothy. But there’s an even more interesting and more telling passage. Turn to first Corinthians chapter four. And look at verse seventeen.

    For this reason, I sent you, Timothy, who is my beloved. I sent to you, Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child or son in the Lord. And he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church. In the context of this 17th verse, We have the fifteenth verse, a verse in which Paul has told the Corinthians that while they have many tutors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for in Christ I became your father through the gospel.

    This statement in the fifteenth verse sets us up for verse seventeen. The fatherhood of Paul leads on to the unique sonship of Timothy, whom Paul now sends to Corinth. And this, very interestingly, as the precursor of Paul’s own coming to Corinth. Verse eighteen, a coming by the way that will be possibly for judgment. If not reward. Verses 19 and 20. You see.

    Shaping Paul’s actions are the actions of God. For, beyond Paul’s fatherhood to the Corinthians is God’s fatherhood of his people, and beyond Paul’s commission of Timothy to Corinth, his well-beloved son is the commission of the Father in heaven of his well-beloved son to the world in order to redeem sinners. And beyond the imminent arrival of Paul at Corinth is God’s promised advent at which he shall come to judge the world. Now, Paul goes on to finish his Trinitarian analogy in the next chapter. In the fourth verse of that fifth chapter, he speaks about the Corinthians being gathered for worship with him present with them in spirit. So, there you have it.

    Paul, the father, sending his well-beloved son, Timothy, yet present in Corinth in the spirit, father, son, and spirit. But our point here pertains specifically to Timothy. and the depth and the power of Paul’s love for him. The depth and power of Paul’s love for Timothy is revealed by a review of the love of the Father in heaven for his well-beloved son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is that that Paul aspires to in his relationship with this man, Timothy. Paul is molded and shaped in his love for Timothy by the love the Father in heaven bears for his son, Christ Jesus.

    Well, that’s one side. That’s one side of Paul’s intent. In the use of those words, my son. There is, however, another. When Paul speaks. At the opening of that second chapter. In those words, my son. He intends those words to be more than a bare expression of his sincere affection. Actually, those words become the blade of Paul’s perfectly aimed thrust. You see, Paul is wielding a sword, and the sword is Onesiphorus. With Onesiphorus stands the sword. The words, my son, at the opening of that second chapter, become the blade. The blade cuts. The sword penetrates to the heart.

    The reason. Because. On a separate. This common Christian. This one relatively unknown, even seemingly unimportant. Without sonship to Paul is a better son than Timothy the son. The man who is not the son has become the son to the son. That the well-beloved son might know how to behave. Therefore you see, While there is the gentleness. Paul’s words come at Timothy. As an admonition. As a review. Timothy has three point. Timothy has drawn back.

    The scandal of the cross and the scandal of Paul have become too much for him. And in his fear and hesitancy, in the wavering of his mind, he has failed to be the son to Paul that he should be. The model for his sonship even goes beyond on a separate.

    Is it not. That only be gotten well beloved son of God. Who is faithful. To the end. Well then. All words come at Timothy. as admonition. As review. Paul continues. His words. He goes on to say. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the reason that he is saying that is because Timothy has become anything but strong. His weakness now is measured against the strength of another, the strength of this common man, this unpretentious fellow, on a syphilis. And the situation is aggravated, you see. Because Timothy is not only a son to Paul, but he is a man who bears office.

    He has ordination in the church. And that is exactly what Paul is intimating by his words, the grace that is in Christ Jesus, not just the grace belonging to Timothy, because Timothy is saved like all other things. but the great belonging to him, because he has the gift of office in the church, the gift of God, which came to him through the laying on of the apostles’ hands. Paul making reference to that in the sixth verse of the first chapter. That gift of God, that he was not to neglect bestowed upon him through prophetic utterance with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery. The first epistle to Timothy, chapter four, verse fourteen.

    So then, Timothy. Because of his fear, because of his shame, because of his hesitancy and his confusion. out of his now-developed reticence before the scandal of the gospel and the suffering associated with it, is proving to be weak. And such weakness is particularly damaging to one who bears the office, as does Timothy. that are. On the. Wall is directing a perfectly.

    On a separate without this unique race that is your. without the gift of God in ordination, which you have, Timothy, has been strong. No, he has been mighty in the grace, as infinitesimal as that grace is, given him. And now, that strength, that power, unveiled in him instructs you. Without your grace, he instructs you in your use of the grace, unique grace given you.

    Without office, he rises above office. to instruct all of us. Armed with on a citrus, this unique weapon, Paul directs a perfectly aimed thrust. at him, but also at us. At you. At me. The sword cuts at me if in fact I cower before the scandal of the gospel. More ashamed of it than the shame it causes me.

    At offices, generally, the thrust is directed. If in fact they recoil from the scandal associated with the gospel, and because of an inability to bear suffering, become ineffectual and incompetent because they cannot lead others through suffering. That was precisely the indictment against the false prophets of Israel. who had no doctrine of the cross. It was the true prophet who had learned the lesson of the cross and because of that charted a path for the people of God through their suffering to glory.

    But the thrust. He’s also for you. You who sit in here. On a surface you see becomes for you your patron. Not for you to venerate not for you to worship not for you to honor with special day. But for you to imitate. You don’t need the office to be an instructor of those who bear it. If it comes to you, well and good, but you don’t need it in order to be instructed and useful in the church of Christ. The strain may be great, the anguish of heart severe, You may wish the office, you may look for it, you may aspire to it, but then disappointment comes, and you think it’s the end of the world. It is not!

    For your patron saint is there, on a syphilis, by name. And by way of his example to you, you become the order of those ordered, the son of those called sons, the Lord of all of those who are called Lords. The gift, you out gift those gifted and become the standard for them. You serve. proving your sonship, strong in the grace given you, like on a syphilis.

    Does Paul’s thrust hit the mark? If it does, it will be healing for you as it was for Timothy. Now, Lord, quiet our hearts. Let us push aside all images that might interfere. And may we see the Lord Jesus Himself, who was the perfect Son, perfectly obedient, serving wonderfully, even learning that obedience through the things which he suffered, but never being ashamed of you and the truth. Oh God, may we find ourselves content in our service.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Onesiphorus, Who Held No Office

    Onesiphorus, Who Held No Office

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “II Timothy” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 21, 1988.

    About this sermon

    Paul rebukes Timothy for fearing persecution, and he sharpens the rebuke by exalting Onesiphorus, who held no church office, over Timothy, who did. The exposition of 1:9-14 grounds that uncomfortable comparison. Office never replaces the courage Onesiphorus showed without it.

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    Sermon transcript

    We are in Paul’s second letter to Timothy, first chapter, verse six to the end of the chapter. This is second Timothy one. Versus six and following here, the word of God. Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.

    For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel, according to the power of God, who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, whereunto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. For the witch cause, I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Oltrast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus, that good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Spirit which dwelleth in you.

    This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom are figilists and homogenies. The Lord did give mercy on to the house of ownership on a separate for he off refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain. But when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently and found me the Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day and how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus. Thou knowest very well.

    And then from the fourth chapter. but unto all them also that love is appearing. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Paul. Has been taken. To Rome. As the prisoner. Of the war.

    Paul wants Timothy. to come to Rome as the prisoner of the Lord. For Paul, being taken to Rome as the Lord’s prisoner has meant suffering. For Timothy, being called to Rome by Paul as the Lord’s prisoner will mean suffering. But it isn’t that suffering in Paul’s case began for him when he was arrested in Asia and extradited to Rome.

    By the same token. Neither should do Timothy’s suffering begin for him. When he arrived. Suffering has been part and parcel of Paul’s service for Christ. Timothy knows this quite well. And Paul, as if Timothy had forgotten, reminds him of it. You followed my persecution, Paul writes in the third chapter of his letter the ninth verse. You followed my persecutions, my sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra. And Timothy is also aware of sufferings Paul has endured at the hands of some in the church. You are aware, Paul writes, that all in Asia turned away from me, including vigilance and her margin. The fifteen verse of that first chapter.

    Now, Paul wants Timothy to remember these things, not because he wishes to make something out of himself. But because he wants Timothy to realize that his calling to is one of suffering for the gospel sake. But, you know, do you not, by now, that this is precisely where Timothy is having his problem. In fact, Precisely at this point, Timothy is stumbling, falling, falling headlong. Suffering and its prospect, not very attractive. Suffering and its prospect seem to be a terror to Timothy. But, as Paul is reminding him, Timothy is allowing certain things, very important things, to slip. He is losing his grip upon the nature of his calling, the character of his ordination, and the character of that gift of the Spirit that has been given unto him. six of the first chapter. Surely Timothy.

    That spirit. That spirit that we have received is not a spirit of fear. Rather, ours is a spirit of power. The power of God God himself present with us in the face of our fear. Ours is a spirit of love. Don’t you know that, Timothy? Whereby, for the sake of the God we love and those whom we love in his name, we are willing to face any fear, all threats, and each indignity. And surely, ours is a spirit of discipline. Ours is a spirit of discipline, and of a sound mind, of balance and good judgment, so that In the face of intimidation, we don’t panic, become irrational, or simply turn our backs on our calling because of the distress that has come to us. All of this, then, in the seventh verse. This spirit of ours, Timothy, is the spirit of the Lord Jesus, whose testimony in and through suffering is perfect.

    According to the power of God, for the sake of his love for the Father and for us, and without wavering, he underwent all the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross. He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we, through him, might become the righteousness of God.

    He endured the cross, despising the shame, so that you and I might not be ashamed in our sufferings, but rather glory. Therefore, Timothy, Don’t be ashamed of Christ’s testimony of Christ’s suffering. And don’t be ashamed of me, his prisoner and my suffering. Jesus Christ and I may be a scandal to the world, but we are not a scandal to have. And God forbid that we should be a scandal to you.

    Join me, then. You being my beloved son in the faith, whether there in Ephesus, where you currently pastor or here when you come to Rome, join me in suffering for the gospel. All of this in verse eight. And what a gospel it is. Don’t you see? It is the divine antidote. To all of your fears. Your fears may cripple you. But the gospel is the power of God to release you.

    Don’t you realize that by this gospel we have been saved, rescued by God Himself? Do you not realize that by this gospel we have received a calling, a holy calling from Him? from none other than God himself, a calling that ascribes to us a dignity and an integrity and honor and a standing before him. Not so that we might boast in our words, but that we might be a living evidence and testimony and witness to his eternal purpose, that we might be trophies to his grace. Our temporary suffering, Timothy, is not worthy of comparison with that honor that is ours by grace from Christ, even from before all time.

    So we are understood to be. All of that in verse nine. What then? Are our fears. When seen in such light. Seen in the light of eternity. Or what are they when seen in the light of the actual appearance of Jesus himself? When we realize that his appearance has meant the abolition of death and the triumph of life and immortality for us. All that in verse 10.

    Now, Timothy. I have been appointed for this gospel, and I have an appointment unto this gospel as a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher. This appointment I have is as a trust, for God has deposited with me this appointment for safekeeping. For the sake of this deposit, I am willing to suffer my present indignity, no, any indignity, for the sake of Christ. If you hesitate yourself, Timothy, if in your confusion you blurt out, why, Paul, why do you do this? Why, oh why, Paul, have you no shame in all this shame associated with you? Then I will tell you.

    Because just as God has deposited with me my appointment, so I have invested in him my life. He expects me to guard his gift to me. He will keep assuredly my deposit with him. He expects me to fight the good fight, to finish the course, to keep the faith. But he has laid up for me the crown of righteousness. He will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. Is it worth it, Timothy? Is it worth whatever you may be caused to endure? Isn’t the crown worth it? Isn’t your place in the heavenly kingdom worth it? Isn’t eternal life and immortality resurrection unto glory worth it? I ask you.

    Well, then, you to run the race, you to finish the course, you to keep the faith in the face of all your fears before the threat of that suffering that you dread. Keep a firm grip on that deposit committed to you. The sound words, the gospel itself, which you heard from me. Verse thirteen. Guarded by God’s gift to you, that treasure committed to your care. Verse fourteen. Now you know that not all have. Not all have guarded the gift. not all part of the treasure.

    Committed to their. For them to. My suffering was a stumbling block. Why. My suffering a stumbling block. No less the suffering of Christ it to. Because of my suffering because of the persecution I endured, because of my arrest in Asia, because of the scandal associated with me for the sake of the gospel, because of their fear that they too might suffer, they too might be scandalized. They withdrew from me.

    Most notably. Vigilance. But if you need an example. I have one here for you. Oh, not a great. Not even a man that I can describe with the language that I reserve for you. A common man, a common individual, a layman, if you will. On a syphilis finding. Far from my beloved son in the faith, far from an ordained minister and ordained evangelist like yourself.

    This man now becomes your instructor. Unlike you, Timothy, even though I love you dearly, unlike you, you being one who has not encouraged me in my present circumstances, my chains an embarrassment to you. But this man, he has refreshed me, and it has been a part of the way of his life. He refreshed me off.

    And unlike you, Timothy, though I love you well, you have been ashamed of me, but he hasn’t. Does he see something then, Timothy, which you do not see? And unlike you, though I love you well, you have not eagerly sought me out, though I long to see you. But this man, this man sought me out, even though it was costly to him. He not loved like you, yet loves better than you.

    Such is His love, born of the gospel. He then, as the ordinary Christian, He then, as the one who sits in a pew without office. He has guarded a simple deposit given to him and guarded it better than you can. And may it please the Lord. to guard him well, until the day of Christ.

    Onesiferous can say better than you, Timothy, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that. because he was never ashamed of my change. Timothy. I say it gently. What you should be in your ordination This man is without ordination. And though he has no special call. He has that call common to all. To serve the same. And he does it excellently. how he has performed. Why not only here in Rome, far away from you, where you can observe. But also, as you know, Timothy has an indictment against you. In fact. Paul has been taken to Rome as the Lord’s prisoner. Paul wants Timothy to come to Rome as the Lord’s prisoner, spurred on in his life and in his service by a common layman.

    One unordained who becomes instructor to the ordained. One who is not a teacher who becomes a teacher of the teachers. One who is not a ruler but becomes by his example a ruler of the rulers. The ordained among you may not measure up before you. You may think that because you have no special office, you have no special service in the church. Nonsense. This man spoken of here by Paul proves otherwise. In your service, you become that one through whom service is measured.

    Even for those who are called upon specially to serve with us. You become teacher to the teachers even ruler to the rulers because of your love for Christ and your willingness in that love to suffer any indignity for the sake of Jesus. Why for you? Why for you, in the end, there is laid up for you nothing less than a crown of righteousness. And that crown is as good as any crown given to any apostle, or any preacher, or any evangelist, or any elder.

    Amen. What is it, Lord, that the gospel would do? It would place before us one like on a citrus. Unknown. Virtually. A common Christian. But seemingly. in his treatment of Paul, in his example to the church, an unprecedented example of the marvelous mercy of Christ. Those with the high office are taught by this one who exhibits the highest office of Jesus Christ. O Lord, may we serve in His company. May we learn from Him. We pray it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.