As we are coming to the end of the year 2019 and looking forward to the New Year - the 2020 Vision is that we would continue to mature in our faith, to strengthen that which needs to be strengthened, to do what is necessary to be a healthy and fruitful church so that one day each person would be presented fully mature in Christ. The vision is to grow both deep and wide as a church.
Growing deep means growing personally and as a church being deeply rooted in Christ’s word and grounded in the faith.
Growing wide means growing in God’s grace, extending this grace to others and being a welcoming community.
Maturing or being set apart as a follower of Christ, means being teachable, committed to being a lifelong learner because it is an ongoing process that will not end in this life (Phil 3:12-14).
“We need to be able to receive from people who have walked before us and who have gained wisdom and insight from the Lord, and then further mature by living out our faith through serving and teaching others.”
2 Tim 3:10-17 (ESV):
10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,
11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.
12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it
15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
In Paul’s last days on this earth he wrote a letter to Timothy, pastor of the church in Ephesus, his son in the faith. In this letter he was stressing the importance of continuing in the faith, to continue walking as a disciple, as a learner. He was also warning Timothy about the trends in the last days and said to him,
Don’t be naive and think that everything is going to be easy when it comes to living out your faith as a Christian because it won’t be.
Instead, be discerning, recognizing the influence of those around you who claim to be Christians but in reality continually resist the truth or take a contrary position against it, not just by their words but by their actions. Those who followed these people were led away from their fervency in Christ and their lives were shipwrecked, ruined (1 Tim 1:19). Paul was saying to Timothy - if you are going to make it as a believer it is vital that you continually know:
Who you are following
What you are following
Why you are following
1. Who you are following
Timothy traveled and served with Paul for 21 years and Paul was his father in the faith. Timothy knew the character of the person he was following, and more importantly, he knew who Paul was following.
In 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul told the church, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:
Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.
It is your responsibility to discern the teaching of the one who is teaching you - whether from this pulpit, or someone who is discipling you personally. Not in suspicion or with a critical spirit but as the Bereans did in Acts 17.
They listened eagerly to Paul’s teaching and searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.
Timothy knew the clarity of Paul’s doctrine and how it lined up with the other apostles’ teaching.
Timothy saw the way Paul lived his life up close. He saw his faith, patience, and love for others, how he handled persecution, his failures, his frustrations, conflicts with other people, etc. Paul practiced what he preached and challenged those who were teaching others to do the same.
Timothy also saw Paul’s priorities, the guiding motive of his life and work and the driving passion of his heart. Paul’s motive was clear - it was to preach Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 9:16).
Timothy followed Paul’s faith (2 Tim. 3). He witnessed Paul’s dependence on the Lord and commitment to the truth.
Timothy witnessed Paul’s long-suffering. When Paul was hurt, oppressed, provoked and falsely and maliciously accused by people who sought to injure him he never sought revenge but gave them over to God. Timothy witnessed his love and his perseverance - Paul never stopped following Christ even under the most difficult persecution and afflictions.
2. What you are following
When it comes to the issues of life and godliness we follow the truths of the sacred Scriptures.
In verses 13 - 15, Paul is telling Timothy - there are those who will be deceived and led down the wrong path but you need to continue in what you have learned and in that which you have been convinced.
Paul is reminding Timothy to abide in the Word he has learned, live by it, be firmly rooted and grounded in it, knowing from whom he learned them.
Paul was not Timothy’s only teacher or mentor - Timothy received from other mature people in his own family and from brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.
“It is important to have more than one person speak the truth into your life and to know that someone is speaking truth into their life as well. ”
We see how Timothy’s mother and grandmother raised him in the sacred Scriptures and in the ways of the Lord (v. 15). It was this teaching from the Scriptures that led Timothy to a saving knowledge of Christ.
3. Why we are following (the truths of the Scriptures)
In verses 16 and 17, Paul tells us that the Scriptures are God’s very words, given by divine inspiration and that they are profitable for us.
The amplified version brings it out with more clarity:
All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; 17 so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.
All Scripture is the product of the Holy Spirit’s work. The Holy Spirit filled the writers and carried them along producing His words. And even though God's Word bears the mark or style of the writer’s personality, every word is the true and sure word of God Himself.
We are called to be life-long learners of God’s Word and His ways so that we can become complete, capable and proficient in everything we are called to be and to do in this short life.
Through a deep and abiding relationship with Jesus Christ the goal in being a life-long learner is to be transformed, empowered, enabled, for the good works God has created us for.