PASTOR'S MESSAGE

   

Remember Jesus Christ

2 Timothy 2:1-13

(Reverend Gary L. Buss)

 

One day an elderly parish priest was tending his garden near a convent, when a passerby stopped to inquire about the priest's much-loved roses and how they were doing.   “Not bad,” said the priest.  “But they suffer from an ailment peculiar to this area known as the black death.”  “The black death?  What on earth is that?” asked the passerby, anxious to increase his garden knowledge.  To which the priest replied: “Nuns with scissors.”

            Obviously, as far as the priest was concerned his beloved flowers were under attack.  Well, in a way that’s not unlike what you and I go through each and every day of our lives.  As Christians we are constantly under attack from our arch-enemy Satan, who wants to take us captive and destroy up our faith.  He wants to cut us off from God.  However, he doesn’t come at us with scissors in hand.  But he does use a double-pronged attack.  He mixes in truth with his lies, and then stabs us with his accusations once we’ve given into to his lying seductions.  Ultimately that all leads to the ‘black death’ – eternal death, chained up in the dungeons of hell.  And the only thing that can save us from Satan’s deadly lies is the truth of God’s Holy Word.  For although Satan wants to chain us up in the shackles of sin and everlasting death, God’s precious saving Word can release us and set us free!

            That was the thought behind St. Paul’s words to Timothy in our text for today, when he said:  “THIS IS MY GOSPEL, FOR WHICH I AM SUFFERING, BOUND WITH CHAINS AS A CRIMINAL.  BUT THE WORD OF GOD IS NOT BOUND!”  Most scholars believe that Paul wrote these words, while locked up in the cold, dark dungeon of the Mamertine prison in Rome, about to be put to death for preaching the Gospel.  Nevertheless, he continued to preach the Good News that God’s freeing and releasing Word is not bound.  And my friends, that is the same Good News that we are called to share with others.

            For example, we can invite a friend to come to church with us, or talk to a neighbor about what Jesus has done in our life.  We can visit someone in the hospital and pray with them or share some comfort from God’s word with a hurting co-worker.  We even have programs to help us learn how to witness better like the Conversations of Grace seminar in Denver, in November, or the reverse Trick or Treat program that the Evangelism committee is sponsoring on the 27th.  But if we never make use of those opportunities, if we don’t take time to talk to people about Jesus, then as Paul indicates in our text we have disowned Him, because we’re acting as if God’s Word is bound and chained.

            For that reason, because of our lack of witnessing and our other sins, because of our stubborn, rebellious sinful nature, God would have every right to disown us, to chain us up like criminals just as St. Paul was chained up.  It’s helpful to note that the word ‘criminal’ in our text is the same word used in the Gospels to refer to the two men, who were crucified alongside Jesus.  In technical legal language it was reserved for murders, traitors and the like – what we would call notorious criminals.  And what an accurate picture that gives us of our sinful human condition.  We are by nature notorious sinners, who have betrayed God by our selfish desires and unkind actions.  In fact, we have actually murdered Him, because it was really our sins that crucified Jesus.

            However, the wonderful message of the Gospel is that Jesus gladly and willingly underwent all of that for us, so that He could smash to pieces the chains of our sin, unlock the fetters of our guilt and shame, and set us free.  We know that the Roman method of securing criminals was to attach one end of the chain to the prisoner and the other end to his guard, kind of like being chained to your captor.  And that’s what it was like before Jesus came along.  We were chained to Satan and doomed to eternal death.  But by His death on the cross, Jesus released us from our bondage and turned the tables on Satan.  He bound the evil one in chains, locked him up tighter than a drum, and threw away the key, so that he cannot accuse or harm us any longer.  In other words, our enemy has now been chained, but God’s Word is not chained; it has free course.  The Gospel comes to us freely in the Word and the Sacraments to grant us pardon and peace.  And we receive that by God’s grace through the gift of faith in Jesus Christ.

            That’s why in our text Paul exhorts us to constantly:  “REMEMBER JESUS CHRIST!”  Of course, when Paul tells us to remember, he isn’t just asking us to think  about Jesus, but to meditate on His Word, to Study the Scriptures, to partake of the Sacraments, to pray for the Spirit’s support and guidance, for that is the only way to be strengthened in our faith and kept from being chained up by our sins.  As a matter of fact, the word remember  that Paul uses in our text, is the Greek word mnhmeion and it literally means a tombstone or burial mound.  In fact, our English word  monument  is related to that.  After all, the reason people erect a monument to the dead, or raise a burial mound, or engrave a tombstone, is to remember the deceased, to remember what they stood for, to sum up their character and life as an example which they can remember and draw strength from. 

            Well, according to St Paul, the One we should remember is Jesus Christ.  We should erect a monument to His life within our heart, by engraving His saving Word on our heart and soul.  The big difference, of course, is that in this case the tombstone is gone, the epitaph is no longer there.  For when Jesus died on Calvary to destroy our sin, He didn’t remain dead.  He rose again to prove it, rose again to grant us the victory over our enemies: sin, death and hell.  Yes, the grave-stone has been rolled away, and with it all our sins and sorrows have also been rolled away for good.  At our Baptism, when we were united with Jesus in His death and resurrection we escaped from the tomb of our guilt, burst forth from the prison-house of death and were transferred over to the kingdom of eternal light and life.  That’s what we remember, when we remember Jesus Christ! 

            And yet, even more important than our remembering Jesus, is that fact that He remembers us.  As the dying thief said:  “LORD, REMEMBER ME WHEN YOU COME INTO YOUR KINGDOM.”  And Jesus gave him that wonderful Gospel promise:  “TODAY, YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE.”  Jesus remembered us, by His atoning sacrifice on the cross, where He won for us eternal life in paradise, and He gives us that as a free gift.  For as St. Paul put it in our text:  “IF WE ARE FAITHLESS, HE REMAINS FAITHFUL – FOR HE CANNOT DENY HIMSELF.”  Instead of disowning or denying us, He has remembered us and taken us into His kingdom.  In spite of the faithlessness of our sin, He is faithful to His promise to love and forgive us.  And all of that He showers down upon us in His Holy Word. 

            My friends, that’s why it’s so crucial that you and I not chain up God’s Word but continue to boldly proclaim it to all the world.  In the traditional Collect for the Church we pray:  “Grant, we implore You, Almighty God, unto Your Church Your Holy Spirit and the wisdom which comes down from above, that Your Word may not be bound but have free course and be preached to the joy and edifying of Christ’s holy people.”  That should not only be our prayer, but our life’s one purpose and goal – to share God’s Word with others for the salvation of many souls.

            This past week, I read about a little 4-year-old Arizona girl, who was walking along the edge of the Grand Canyon, when she slipped and plunged about 450 feet to her death.  She fell while on a trail near Mather Point, during a family vacation.  Her father scrambled down the cliff and tried to resuscitate her, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.  A Park spokesman said:  “Millions of people come here on vacation and this is a tragic reminder that when you have children here you have to keep them under control at all times.  Something like this can happen in a flash.” 

            Dear friends, certainly our heart goes out to that family in the loss of their little one.  It is a careless and senseless tragedy, that didn’t need to happen.  But even more so we should be heartbroken over the countless souls that perish daily without faith in Christ.  That too is a senseless tragedy, that doesn’t need to happen.  For when we had fallen into the chasm of sin and death, God our Heavenly Father lovingly reached down into His world to resuscitate us and He succeeded.  He sent His Son Jesus to give His life for you and me, that by His freeing Word we might be forgiven and saved.  In fact, Jesus loved us so much that He even loved us unto death on the cross, in order to shatter the chains of our guilt and shame.  That is the Good News of the Gospel.  And since the end can come in a flash, we need to be about the business of sharing that Gospel message with others.  Let us take time today to thank God for those people, who loved us enough to share the Gospel with us, so that we can be saved.  And encouraged by that, let us recommit ourselves to do the same thing.  Not to let God’s Word by chained, but to remember Jesus Christ by preaching and teaching the truth of the Gospel to His expanding kingdom, reaching out to all, for His name’s sake.  Amen.

  

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