Sermon Text: 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Date: February 2, 2025
Event: The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, Year C
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 (EHV)
As for you, continue in the things you have learned and about which you have become convinced. You know from whom you learned them 15and that from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be complete, well equipped for every good work.
4:1I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom: 2Preach the word. Be ready whether it is convenient or not. Correct, rebuke, and encourage, with all patience and teaching. 3For there will come a time when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, because they have itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in line with their own desires. 4They will also turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
5As for you, keep a clear head in every situation. Bear hardship. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry.
What Does Gospel Success Look Like?
Keep at it. Keep pushing. Fake it ‘til you make it. These sorts of encouragements are often shared with those who are finding the path ahead of them difficult. Maybe they’re trying to set new personal records at the gym, and just can’t seem to break through that plateau. Maybe they’ve started a new job or embarked on a new personal project and it has become clear that they are in over their head or didn’t have as solid a command of the material as they thought they did. What’s the encouragement? Keep at it.
But how do you know when you’ve succeeded? How do you know when you’ve reached your goal? In some cases, it’s probably pretty straight forward. If you goal is to be able to life a certain amount of weight on the bench press, and then you do that, then you’ve accomplished that goal. But what about the project at work? Have you found success simply if it’s done? Is there a metric to measure it by? Do you need to rely on other people’s feedback and affirmations to know that you have done something well?
Many aspects of life and work are murky, including our calling as Christians and as a congregation to preach God’s Word to all creation. How do we measure success in that endeavor? What dangers exist when we look to the wrong place for success? What comfort does God have for us in this work?
Last week, we saw two examples of what looked like failure in Gospel ministry: Jesus was rejected in Nazareth, while the leaders in Jerusalem rejected Peter and John’s preaching. At that time we wrestled with what rejection of God’s Word means. Does it mean that the messenger had failed, or even that God had failed? No! If God’s Word was shared the response from the people spoken to is not the measure of failure or success. If they reject the Word clearly and accurately shared, that is on them, not on the one sharing.
But the inverse is also confusing. What does success look like? How can we measure it, or can we measure it? In our Gospel this morning, we saw Jesus find what appeared to be great success, so much so that the people in Capernaum tried to prevent him from going elsewhere! What could be more successful than an adoring crowd begging a messenger from God to stay with them and continue the work among them?
Well, appearances can be deceiving. Entertainers and politicians often try to measure success by numbers and visible metrics. How many people attended that concert? How many movie tickets were sold? How many people were at that rally to hear that speech? If the number is big, that is success; if the number is small, that is failure.
But in our Second Reading for this morning, we have the apostle Paul revealing to young pastor Timothy where his focus should be. And nowhere does Paul mention crowd, audience, or congregation size as where he should be focused. Rather, from Paul’s point of view, inspired by the Holy Spirit, the thing that determines gospel success is faithfulness.
Paul begins our reading with an encouragement that is probably familiar to our ears, especially if we went to Catechism class in our earlier years: As for you, continue in the things you have learned and about which you have become convinced. You know from whom you learned them 15and that from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be complete, well equipped for every good work.
There is a lot there, more than we have time here this morning to unpack. But very briefly, Paul encourages Timothy above all else to stay faithful to the Word that he was brought up with, because that Word is the flawless, inerrant, inspired Word of God. It is not just a list of rules, or a guidebook that we can pick and choose from as we wish. No, this is the God-breathed will of God given to us, and it should be used for both addressing problems and bulding up people in God’s will, so that everyone may be well equipped to give thanks to God for his forgiveness through their life of good works.
That all sounds great. But what happens when things go awry? What happens when the motivations of messenger and listener get distorted? Paul addresses this: 3For there will come a time when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, because they have itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in line with their own desires. 4They will also turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
What will happen? People will grow tired of what God has to say and seek other sources of spiritual guidance that are more appealing. Perhaps this messenger emphasizes self-help that offers visible, practical benefits for people in their daily lives. Maybe this messenger understands that people prefer not to dwell on the negative aspects of God’s law and tends to avoid discussing sin, death, or hell, instead focusing on God’s love and peace.
There’s a lot of talk about echo chambers in our modern-day, internet-connected world. But this is not a new concept. The idea of wanting to surround yourself with people who think like you (or perhaps even cater and tailor their message to your desires and interests) is about as old as humanity itself. Many people—even ostensibly Christian preachers—have made quite a name for themselves by scratching people’s itchy ears, by just saying what the people want to hear and reinforcing their preconceived notions. That is a much more popular tact than challenging people to expand their thinking and challenge their feelings because that work is hard and uncomfortable, and I, generally, would rather not do it.
For as long as I live, I don’t think I’ll ever forget my conversation with a Christian who was looking to join a congregation outside of our fellowship after doing some “church shopping.” “Pastor,” the person said, “these other churches are full.” And there it was. What was the metric for measuring success for this person? How many people were there? But what about the message being shared from God’s Word? Was it correct? Was it complete?
So, what is actual success when it comes to the gospel ministry? What is actual success when it comes to congregational ministry? Well, Paul tells us in his encouragement to Timothy: 1I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom: 2Preach the word. Be ready whether it is convenient or not. Correct, rebuke, and encourage, with all patience and teaching. … [K]eep a clear head in every situation. Bear hardship. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. Notice what is missing here? Nothing about the people's reaction, the crowd's size, or the message's popularity. Success in gospel ministry is dictated by faithfulness by God’s messengers.
That means that we will not shift our message as a congregation to meet the social norms of the day. While there’s certainly no reason to be acidic in our communities, we will not compromise God’s words to make other people happy or more comfortable. We will continue to press each other with God’s law, urging one another to see our sins and failures before God and recognize what we truly deserve from him: eternal death in hell.
However, we will not sidestep or distort the solution to that eternal problem. Any effort to look within ourselves to improve or reconcile with God is misguided, wrong, and eternally dangerous. Instead, we focus on Jesus and Jesus alone. He alone solves our sins through his death. He alone provides certainty for eternal life through his triumphant resurrection. He alone—his teachings and his work on our behalf—is the center of the entire Bible and, therefore, must be the focus of all of our work in his name.
What does that work look like? It looks like sharing this message with people as you have the opportunity. As Paul told Timothy,“whether it is convenient or not.” It means being in God’s Word ourselves so that we can draw from that Word for this sharing work.
As a result, we will let our lights shine in the world with joy and thankfulness to God for His free and complete forgiveness. This thankfulness means we will show love—true, unconditional love—to everyone. Not just our families or our congregation, but everyone everywhere. That includes showing love to our neighbor with whom we don’t get along, our coworker who can be a bit obnoxious, and the stranger who lives here or on the other side of the world and needs help and support. Perhaps that love starts with earthly kindness, but it always longs to address the more significant, eternal matters of sins forgiven and life in heaven because of Jesus’ work for us.
Faithfulness in our message and how we live our lives is the key to success in gospel ministry. Are we proclaiming God’s Word clearly and accurately? Can people learn from us what God has done to save the world, to save us, to save them? Then, regardless of the response, we’re fulfilling what God has called us to do. And what about the impact of the Word on the hearts of those who hear? Well, that is God’s work, not ours, so in our faithfulness, let’s not worry about the response and let God be God, doing what he has reserved for himself to accomplish.
And in all of these things, whether positive or negative, encouraging or discouraging, let us lift up our hearts in joy to the God who has saved us from our sins. The world's response to God’s work doesn’t change God’s work, which means that no matter how many people join us in church or share our confession of faith, our sins are forgiven in the blood of Jesus, and heaven stands waiting for us. The very Word that healed the sick in Capernaum and worked powerfully through Paul’s ministry is also with us. Thanks be to God! Amen.
