Category: Thinking about Biblical TEACHING

For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;
¹² If we endure, we will also reign with Him;
If we deny Him, He also will deny us;
¹³ If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.                         2 Timothy 2:11b-13  [NASB]

Paul wrote an interesting series of ‘if’ statements to his protégé, Timothy.  If Timothy needed to hear this, surely we need to hear it as well:

If we died with him refers to the fact that we repent of our sins and give up on a life lived for ourselves.  In exchange, we have a present and future life with him.  It will be a glorious life since it is and will be in his presence – but it will also be an eternal life.

If we endure refers to the need to continue on despite the difficulties, temptations and even suffering we experience in our spiritual life.  It is not a given that we will endure – we should never assume that we are immune to temptations to sin, to give up when the going is tough, to deny our faith.  If we do endure, we will reign with him.  We are told that we will judge angels – whether Paul refers to that or simply to being stewards in a future life beyond this one is not clear.  In any case, it is a future privilege.

If we deny him refers to the possibility to which I alluded above.  We must guard ourselves.  To turn our backs on him is to invite him to turn away from us.  The worst thing ever is to have God say to us, “Okay, your will be done.”

If we are faithless seems to refer to indifference short of denial of the faith.  Too often we have to admit that our confidence in God is lacking.  We must confess that we are too easily drawn by temptation.  We have to acknowledge that we are caught up in the things of this world and have lost our zeal for Jesus Christ.  He remains faithful, however.  We can turn back to him.  We can renew our zeal.  We can get our spiritual lives back on track – because he is faithful.  Jesus is waiting for us to turn back to him.  This is who he is.

– SSXG

⁸ Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.  2 Timothy 2:8  [NASB]

Jesus Christ “raised from the dead”.  Do you believe this?

You cannot be a Christian without believing that Jesus Christ is alive – that he rose from the dead.  Our hope of eternal life is based on the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

The resurrection also provides hope for this life.  Think of this:  if Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, anything is possible!  Not just forgiveness of sin, but victory over sin!  Not just being clothed in Christ’s righteousness, but having the possibility of conquering those habits and tendencies that drag us into sinful behaviour…

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead!

– SSXG

 

⁵ … men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. ⁶ But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. ⁷ For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. ⁸ If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. ⁹ But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.   I Timothy 6:5b-10  [NASB]

The famous ‘root of all evil’ passage is found in a discussion about material possessions.

The larger context is Paul’s strong indictment of people who teach false doctrine.  Among their faults is the supposition ‘that godliness is a means of gain.‘  How many times have we heard versions of this supposed truth?  The idea that if you live right, God will bless you materially.  In some cases it is taught that if you give right, God will bless you materially.

Paul says almost the opposite here.  Godliness is gain with contentment.  If we are content with what we have, godliness is a benefit to us.  Not that we will gain more, but that we will be satisfied with what we have been given.

The verse is question is frequently misquoted as “money is the root of all evil.”  The King James Version (which is the version being misquoted) actually declares that “The love of money is the root of all evil” [emphasis mine].

The problem is not the money or the lack of it.  The problem is not the things that money can buy nor the lack of them.  The problem is the love, the desire and the craving for money and material possessions.

May we learn to be content with what we have…

– SSXG

⁸ Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. – Philippians 2:8  [NASB]

Notice that Jesus gave up his immortality.   He, the creator of life, humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.  God the Son, in whom we now have life, who is the definition of life itself, died on the cross.  How could he possibly be killed?  Only by his own choice.  Only because he deliberately humbled himself.

Think about how he died.  He didn’t die bravely on the battlefield?  He didn’t die an honourable death.  He didn’t die as a hero.

He died because of a weak Roman politician.  Because of jealous Jewish leaders.   Because of a gross miscarriage of justice.  He didn’t die just any death.  He died as a criminal.  As a lawbreaker.  On a Roman cross.

Paul mentions to the Galatians that it was a curse to die on a tree.  And everyone knew that the crucifixion meant shame.  It wasn’t just a brutal death – though it was.  It was also the death of a common criminal.  Lowest of the low.  Guilty in the eyes of the onlookers.  I doubt if the Romans even gave him the dignity of being covered.  Shame upon shame upon shame.  That’s why Paul says, “even death on a cross!”

On the cross,  Jesus gave up his holiness.  We are told that he who knew no sin became sin for us.  Jesus became contaminated with your sin and with mine.

And with that, Jesus also gave up fellowship with the Father.  He cried out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Friend, do you want to know how much God loves you?  Look at Jesus.  Do you want to know how much Jesus loves you?  Look at his descent from heaven itself to the cross.  This is the God we serve!

– SSXG

⁵ Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. – Philippians 2:5-7  [NASB]

As Palm Sunday approached, I began to think about Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem.  It struck me that Jesus’ humbling of himself began long before that moment – and took him to the cross!

In what way, then, did Jesus humble himself?  We have to begin before the beginning.  There is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  One God – a mystery beyond our comprehension.

There was no time, no space, no matter.  And then God began to create.  He created time and space.  He created the earth and a universe to put it in.  He created living creatures and mankind.  Jesus, God the Son, took part in the creating of the earth and the universe around it.  In fact, in John chapter 1 we are told that “without him was not anything made that was made”.

Notice that Jesus’ initial position was that of oneness with the Father.  He was equal with God.  Whatever it is like out beyond time and space, in the eternal NOW where God is, God the Son was there.

So how did Christ humble himself?

He gave up his glory.  He entered time and space.  He entered into his own creation.  He became a human being.  Notice that God the Son did not treat that status – of being part of the Godhead – as something to be grasped.  As something to hang onto.  Instead, he made himself nothing.  So God the Son came to earth and became the Son of man.  This is the Creator of the universe becoming part of his creation.  As if a computer programmer were to enter the game he created.

He gave up his power.  He who made the universe entered into Mary’s womb and grew there.  He was born a helpless baby like all the others.  There he is, a little baby, needing to be fed by his mother.  Needing Joseph to earn enough to keep clothes on his back and a roof over his head.  He has all the might and power as the God of the universe who created everything – and he is now dependent on Mary and Joseph.

He gave up his sovereignty.  Jesus has the right to be in control, the right to command and to demand that everyone and everything do exactly as he wishes!

But Jesus wasn’t born into the household of the Roman emperor with imperial status and the right to demand the obedience of an empire.

He was born into the dynasty of the great king David – but it was a defunct dynasty, a dynasty with no power or influence whatsoever.  Worse, Jesus was born in an unimportant stable into the care and keeping of the young wife of an ordinary workman.

There he is, sovereign Lord of the universe, yet growing up under the authority of Joseph and Mary.  Obedient to the human beings that he has created!

– SSXG