Timeless and Unchanging

A message bsed upon 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

How can I be sure in a world that’s constantly changing?  This question was put to song some forty-five years ago in another tumultuous decade. Nothing has slowed since.  The world around us is changing more rapidly than ever.  At the turn of the 20th century it was believed that the body of human knowledge doubled every century.  Today the doubling of knowledge takes place every twelve hours!  It is impossible for anyone to keep up with this increasing depth and breadth of information.  The proverbial jack of all trades is being replaced by specialists in every field. Change is everywhere.  It is relentless. It threatens to sweep away everything in sight.  Is anything sure and certain?  How can I be sure in a world that’s constantly changing?

The tides of change impact Christendom too.  Mainline church leaders have been abandoning Biblical teaching for decades. They deny the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, His divinity, His bodily resurrection and His physical return in judgment on the Last Day. Universalism, the belief that everyone will be saved regardless of what they believe has gained traction among many denominations. Clerics as diverse as the three most recent popes, Billy Graham and emerging church leader Rob Bell deny that Jesus Christ alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Sociologists of religion declare that the church is dead.  Something different will serve the burgeoning Christ-less spirituality of this present age. Modern scholarship prides itself on its skepticism of the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3).  Programs you see on the History Channel, Discovery and TLC do not promote Biblical Christianity. They recycle ancient heretics and their false teachings into alternatives to the faith that you have learned.  Unbelief, misbelief and disbelief dislodge faith and certainty.  How can I be sure in a world that’s constantly changing?

None of this is new.  Satan, the dark prince of this world, has sowed seeds of doubt, unbelief, cynicism and skepticism widely.  He has many willing helpers.  Whenever you hear the question “Did God really say?” Stop. You should be able to detect the scent of sulfur emanating from these words.  “Why do you ask?” is an excellent follow-up. What follows is usually a denial of God’s Word and a particular belief based upon the Scriptures. The assault on marriage and the family are current examples. The debate is not so much about same-sex marriage as it is a sweeping effort to discredit religion and the family as we have known it since Eden.

What is new is the abandoning of the faith as handed over to us by our forefathers.  Early Christians became a leaven through which the culture was permeated and became largely Christian.  We are heading in reverse. Public figures deny our religious heritage and seek to replace it with anything but Christianity.  We are on the verge of an era when Christianity will be oppressed by ideologies as diverse as Islamic Sharia Law, humanism and Marxism.  It’s happening now in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.  North America is next. Christian persecution is rampant in Egypt, the Sudan and Pakistan.

       The answer, the mission challenge, is before you.  SFrom infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the  man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:14-17). The grass withers, the flowers fall but the Word of the Lord endures forever (Isaiah 40:11). Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:7). The Lord does not change His mind based upon the latest poll numbers of public opinion (James 1:17).

       The mission of the Church is not to scratch the itching ears of a wicked and perverse generation. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4)? We live in the time when people do not endure sound doctrine (2 Timothy 4:3).  The answer is not to accommodate, change or let the world write the church’s agenda.  Paul introduces this section of Holy Scripture by charging Pastor Timothy “in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead at the appearing of His kingdom” (2 Timothy 4:1).  In other words, you are accountable to the Lord for the conduct of your ministry.  He will require that accounting when He returns.

       Therefore, “Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.  As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:2-5).

       We enter the mission field with eyes wide open.  The field is precisely where God has placed you.  It is fulfilled in your home, neighborhood, church, school, vocation, community and through your mission offerings to the outermost parts of the world.  Each of us knows people who are living contrary to the Word of God.  All of us know people who would benefit greatly from the forgiveness of their sins.  Repentance and forgiveness remain the heartbeat of Christian mission.  To reprove, rebuke or exhort has gone out of favor.  That’s a national problem today.  No one wants to say no to anyone.  The result is a generation that refuses to be held accountable. Who will step up and be the adult when adults abandon their God-given role?

       This is why the Scriptures call for pastors to be sober-minded with complete patience and teaching. Endure suffering.  It’s remarkable that most of us haven’t suffered for being a Christian to this point.  Regardless, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.  An evangelist is one who brings the forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name. This is vital for those convicted of guilt by rebuke, reproof or exhortation.  Jesus remains the Savior of the human race.  There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life the only way to God the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit (John 14:6).

       St. Paul writes: “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people will and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:12-13). “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1Timothy 4:16). These remain the timeless and changeless Word of God.  How can I be sure?  God is faithful even if we are faithless.  The Word of the Lord endures forever, Amen.