2 Timothy 2.8-15 (NRSV)

⁸ Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, ⁹for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained.¹⁰Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.¹¹The saying is sure:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 
¹² if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us; 
¹³ if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.

A Worker Approved by God

¹⁴ Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. ¹⁵Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.

My text this morning is written in 2 Timothy 2:15 which reads:

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.

It is almost as if the author of this letter meant the compliers of the lectionary to select these verses – 8-15 – because ending on this note seems to be the culmination of what he had been trying to say in the rest of the passage. It begins with the word remember because this is so important, not only for Christians but also for people in general. It seems to be part of the recipe of what makes a person human is the ability – indeed the need – to remember. Arthur Marwick, one of my favourite philosophers of history suggests that ‘... a society without its history is like a person without a memory – incoherent.’ It is as if we are like a person driving a car – while it is important to focus one’s eyes on what lies ahead, we always need to be glance behind as well. We cannot move forward effectively unless we know where we have come from.

For Christians, remembering is central to what we are. When we gather for worship we remember a number of important things about Jesus and when we meet together at the Eucharist we obey our Lord’s command to ‘... do this in remembrance ...’ Today the author of the epistle reminds us that we remember that the Jesus whose life and ministry we remember each week – indeed each day in our reading and prayers – is more than just a figure of history – he is the Christ ‘... raised from the dead ...’ he is alive in a new and significant way because he was ‘... raised from the dead ...’ He was not merely revived; he was resurrected, transformed into something new – the reason why Mary could not recognise him at first and why this was the experience of the disciples on the Road to Emmaus as well as the others. Yes, he was a human being – ‘... a descendent of David ...’ but also much more and this is testified to in the raising from the dead. This is a source of great joy and hope for the Christian because he is here with us here and now and wherever we might be or no matter what circumstances we might find ourselves in our Lord is alive and is with us. Especially when we meet together in the Sacrament of Holy Communion, our Lord is not only with us, but is within us. Jesus, who experienced human life, gives us guidance and hope and joy even in the midst of difficult times.

The author of this letter was in prison and there was no chance of release, but we sense the spirit of hope in his writing, because the truth of the presence of the risen Christ with people is not in chains and can never be chained. If it were possible for Christianity to be silenced, it would no longer exist. But you cannot kill what is immortal. The author realises that his suffering is not pointless, especially as it is evident that it is going to enable others to believe. History is full of examples of this where the witness martyrs were so powerful that people came to believe as a result. By the grace of God, Christian goodness, especially in the midst of persecution and injustice often leads to the conversion of the others including the perpetrators of the suffering.

The author brings this point home in what was probably one of the first hymns of the early Church which speaks beautifully of our Lord’s identification especially with the suffering. Jesus is present in a special way in us and we are called to see Christ in each other. Mother Teresa’s comment that she spent time reading and reflecting on our Lord, and then going out into the streets of Calcutta in search of him makes this clear. Those who die, because of persecution, our Lord dies with them, but just as he was raised, so will they; as we endure, we reign with him. There is also the challenge to those who deny the truth because they separate themselves from God’s love in the process. But our hope is strengthened yet again because even though we might deny him in all our human frailty, even if we are faithless, Jesus remains faithful ‘... for he cannot deny himself.’

This is wonderful good news and those of us who have had this experience know how true and wonderful this is; it is so beautiful, that it is impossible to put into words. The experience of struggle, and failure, only to be raised up forgiven, cleansed and blessed, welcomed and renewed, is something that refreshes us at the core of our being.

The good news is the truth of the love of God being incarnated in the man of history, Jesus of Nazareth, who was in one sense an ordinary human being in history, born of the Jewish family of King David, but who was so filled with the presence of God that we also know that he was much more than this, and that this is confirmed because he is with us now and always in the power of his Spirit; indeed he is within us.

When we gather for worship, we need to remember this.

But this is not all. Being human, we try to make sense of things using words, and this is important and good we have a need to understand meaning, especially the meaning of those times of pain and suffering and even death. But, while this is good to do, we also need to be reminded that words are not always adequate; they can be a blunt instrument when it comes to capture the essence of some of the deeper experiences of what it really means to be human, and more importantly, when trying to understand the truth of God.

When we think of those things that really matter in our lives: love, hope, joy, forgiveness, faith ... we know that words often fail us. Thomas Aquinas eventually drew the conclusion that we needed to move away from the literal and can only make sense of all this when we use analogy saying “... it is like ...” and provide only a glimpse of the experience for others as we seek to make sense of it ourselves.  And so the author exhorts us to remember ‘... to avoid wrangling over words, which does not good and only ruins those who are listening ...’

It is clear that words matter because the Scriptures are full of references to the holiness and importance of the word of God. Jesus himself is given the title of the ‘Word’ and it is crucial that we reflect on his teachings and even struggle with them, in order to find meaning. And it is good to debate and discuss and to search and to struggle, but not to wrangle! The Concise Oxford Dictionary definition explains why as it defines wrangle as:  ‘... a long and complicated dispute or argument ...’ It is the spirit of how we do things that matter. It is wonderful if people are searching for the truth together, but they must wrestle with it and not wrangle over it, for doing the latter ‘... ruins those who are listening.’ I do not want to give the impression that we must gloss over difficult issues like the human sexuality debate and other important matters that come up from time to time. Without confrontation and challenge, we would still have slavery, the subjugation of women and apartheid would still be law in southern Africa to mention but a few examples.

But there is another danger and that is that wrangling over words imprisons action. William Barclay put it this way: People try to ‘... make Christianity into a recondite (obscure) philosophy instead of an adventure of faith.’

Words are wonderful and I am deeply committed to teaching philosophy, but there is a danger that all this can become a substitute for action. There are too many people who just love talking about things, but fewer people who are really willing to get up and do something. If the world could have been saved by talking, it would have been saved long before now. If the world’s problems could be resolved by discussion, there would be none left by now.

It is also true that understanding often comes from doing rather than talking. Wesley was struggling with a number of issues about the faith and wrote in his Journal:

‘Immediately it stuck into my mind, "Leave off preaching. How can you preach to others, who have not faith yourself?" I asked Boehler, whether he thought I should leave it off or not. He answered "By no means." I asked, "But what can I preach?" He said, "Preach faith till you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith.”

There is a sense that things solve themselves as you continue on the journey. Barclay suggests that ‘... the best ways to understand the deep things of Christianity is to embark on the unmistakable duties of the Christian life.’

We also know that too much talk can be dangerous, not only because it can be confusing and even hurtful to others, but most importantly, because it is paralysing – people stop doing – and to think back to last week’s Gospel reading – it leads little one’s astray because it puts them off and disguises the good news of the Gospel or as the author of the Epistle puts it: ‘¹⁴ Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening.’

But all this does not alter the fact that that the truth matters and struggling with it matters. The Church has the duty to rightly explain the message of Scripture to the world. This is why it is such an important task for preachers and teachers to get it right – it is also why the ministry of the preacher and teacher is such a terrifying responsibility. We need to ‘... do our best ...’

The authorised version translates this passage as ‘... study to show thyself approved unto God ...’ This passage is central to my calling and why I devoted myself to years of study before ordination and why the journey continues. The responsibility is enormous because we have to ‘... rightly ...’ explain the word of truth. But ‘study’ implies intellectual assent and this is not the central issue here. Belief is more about commitment. So, the modern translators get it right when they translate the passage as ‘Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him ...’ and this is the task of all Christians.

We have already been warned that it is also the way we teach as much as what we teach that matters. For me, what a person believes has a huge impact on their lives; and if it is for the good, it leads to greater holiness. Paul elaborates on this thought in 2 Corinthians 3 where he writes:

³and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 

Nothing is more attractive than a holy life; and it is this sort of life that makes people want to ask what a person believes, and when this happens we know that we have rightly explained the word of truth. We will never have complete understanding, because the truth of God is infinite and our minds are finite. But we know God deep within the core of our being more than merely with our minds more than can be explained in mere words, because His Spirit is our guide and teacher. The words ‘I believe’ can be translated as ‘I commit myself to ...’ and leads to a transformed life of love. This is the renewing of the mind that Paul speaks of in Romans 12. And this is why it is the duty and the privilege of all Christians – and not just preachers and teachers to:

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.  Amen.