Episode 246: But As For You! | Landon Dermott

Alright. Hey, good morning y'all. My name is Landon Dermott. I'm the area director of Young Life here in the Roanoke Valley. And Young Life is just a ministry that works with high school and middle school students, and we tell students about Jesus. We say we earned the right to be heard regarding the greatest news they could ever hear, which is the news that Jesus loves them.

I love what I get to do. I feel often like I'm in my dream job as I lead our teams of adults, of volunteers that go into the world and reach teenagers. But it is also a gift for me to get to stand up here this morning, because I've said this before, but I'll say it again: I am a product of Young Life. Ultimately, through Jesus, my life was changed, but that was brought to me through the ministry of Young Life. And I wouldn't be who I am today if Young Life had stopped before it got to my high school.

Young Life didn't stop before it got to my high school because of the faithful support of so many people, including Church of the Holy Spirit. Church of Holy Spirit has been a partner of Young Life's for over two decades, way before I was in high school. And because of that, I'm so grateful and humbled to get to stand here this morning and speak to a church who has impacted my life directly.

By the way, my Young Life leader's name was Andy Fetzer—you probably know him. Today is his birthday, so if you haven't texted him yet, send Fetz a birthday text. It's his birthday today. I think he's like 27 or something like that.

The Passage and a Framework

This morning, I mentioned I'm on full-time Young Life staff. Something that I want to do as we jump into 2 Timothy is set up sort of a paradigm for us, a lens as we look at this passage. So 2 Timothy is a series we've been in for four or five weeks, and we're going to continue in it for a couple more. We've been looking at Paul's letter to his dear friend Timothy.

What Tim has shared with us is that Paul knew that his life was drawing to a close. He knew, as he was in a cold, dark prison and he was lonely, that his time was coming to an end. And he writes this letter to his dear friend and most trusted confidant and disciple Timothy. He says, "Timothy, it's time for you to carry the torch. Time for you to take the keys to the kingdom and carry on this mission of telling people about Jesus, like I've been doing."

We've been studying this letter, and we're going to look at 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 10 through 17 this morning.

Before we do, I want to talk about something that I learned in a class. Every kind of winter—January, February-ish—Young Life sends me away to Florida or Georgia, somewhere like that, somewhere warm in January, and I study a class. I'm kind of a seminary student, slowly chipping away at a degree. It's a lot of fun. But a few years ago, I took a class that was specifically on supervision of people, creating culture, how to lead organizations, organizational leadership type stuff, strategic planning.

And I came across this sort of formula. It's nothing revolutionary, but I'd love to set it up and use it as we talk about this passage in 2 Timothy this morning.

Essentially what it is: beliefs plus actions equal outcomes. I know that's nothing super revolutionary, but essentially, what we believe and what we do cumulatively impact what we achieve.

You can kind of see it a different way here: what you believe informs what you do. The actions you take are informed by the things that you believe, and then what you do impacts what you achieve. It's a simple formula, but it's very interesting and very helpful as you try to create a plan, a strategic plan for what you want to do, or take inventory of the actions that you are already taking in your life.

So when you process this, when you analyze this, you kind of go in a weird order. But essentially you say: What do I believe about a certain thing? Once you determine that belief, instead of going to what you do (which you might think you'd jump to), you actually say, "Okay, if I believe that, what do I want to achieve? Based off of that belief, what goals do I want to accomplish? What do I want to achieve?"

And then you're left with this gap. Right? Okay. I know I believe this, and I know I want to achieve this. So what actions in the middle will allow me to accomplish that goal? What actions will inform my beliefs? What actions will help me accomplish what I want to achieve?

This is kind of the formula. I'll use one silly example for us this morning so we can kind of put words to it.

Recently, I became a dad. Caroline and I had our first child in January, her name's Lindley, she's the best, and it was like clockwork. As soon as we had our first child, something changed in me, and I started caring about my grass way more. I became a dad and I started caring about my grass.

So, something I believe is that a nice yard adds value to your home—it's a worthy endeavor, something worth doing. So, because I believe that, then I'll jump to what I want to achieve. It's really simple: I wanna have a nice well-kept yard because I believe that a yard is a worthy endeavor.

So then, what actions do I need to take to help fill the gap between those two things? For people who care about their lawns, something they might do is mow it once a week, water it twice a week—particularly when it gets dry—fertilize it twice a year, maybe aerate the grass. Those sorts of things are actions you can take. So, then we've got this equation: these are the things I need to do to inform what I believe and help me achieve what I want to achieve.

That's kind of our equation. That's my grass from this summer—thank you. It's Bermuda grass, so it'll die in like two weeks, it'll look terrible, but it was fun while it lasted.

So, that's our formula. Let's use this as we jump into Second Timothy, chapter three, verses 10 through 17. And so, Paul knows that he's passing the torch to Timothy. He knows that Timothy is gonna take the keys to his mission—he's gonna be the one to continue his mission of sharing the gospel with the world. And so, Paul is gonna tell Timothy what he wants him to believe, what he wants him to do, and what he wants him to achieve. We're gonna look at those three things this morning.

What Paul Wants Timothy to Believe

First, what does Paul want Timothy to believe? If you follow along in your Bible or on the screen, it says this:

You, however, you Timothy, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance.

Paul in this verse is telling Timothy, "Hey, this is what I want you to believe." What Paul says he wants Timothy to believe is his teaching, his way of life, his purpose. Now, if we're just looking at this passage, that's pretty vague—it could be anything. But when we open up the context and look at all of Second Timothy or all of Paul's letters in the New Testament, we can see what Paul's teaching and way of life are. And I think we can sum up what Paul believed—that he wanted Timothy to also believe—into three things.

Number one is Jesus is divine. When Jesus came to earth, He wasn't just a man—He was God with skin on. He was God's Son. He was the image of the invisible God.

The second is that Jesus is our salvation. Jesus died on a cross, and through that death, He put us in right standing with God. He gave us the ability to be back in right standing with God. His death paid for our sins. He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we deserve to die. Jesus' death is our salvation.

And number three is that Jesus is alive. Jesus didn't stay dead, but three days after, He was resurrected from the dead and is alive today. We don't worship and have a relationship with a Jesus who is dead, but who is alive.

What Paul Wants Timothy to Achieve

So, those are the three things that Paul wants Timothy to believe, right? That's his way of life, his teaching. And so then, what we wanna do is we wanna jump and say, "Okay, that's what Paul wanted Timothy to believe. So what did Paul want Timothy to achieve?" We're gonna jump to the end instead of that middle, and say, with the end in mind, what do you want him to achieve?

So we'll look at the last verse of this section, and Paul says to Timothy:

So that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

What did Paul want Timothy to achieve? He wanted him to achieve every good work. Now, just in and of itself, that verse is pretty vague. What is every good work? What does he want him to do? But as we look at all of Second Timothy, as we look at all of what Paul says in all of the New Testament, I think we can get a big picture of what Paul wanted Timothy to achieve.

Just a couple weeks ago, Sloop taught on Second Timothy chapter two, and if you look at Second Timothy 2:2, we see where Paul says to Timothy:

Entrust to reliable men the things you've heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable men who will be able to teach others.

It's language that this church uses here. Paul's telling Timothy, "I want you to make healthy disciples who make healthy disciples. I want you to tell other people about the things that we believe. I want you to tell people about Jesus." That's what Paul wants Timothy to achieve.

If you believe these things about him, tell other people about them. So we see what Paul wants Timothy to believe and we see what Paul wants Timothy to achieve. Now we have this gap: What will fill it? What actions does Paul want Timothy to take that will inform what he believes and what he wants to achieve?

We're going to look at these middle verses, verses 11 through 16. Let me read them for you:

Persecute sufferings, what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra? The persecutions I endured. Yet, the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, Timothy, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of because you know those from whom you have learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy scriptures, are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. — 2 Timothy 3:11-16

So what does Paul want Timothy to do? What actions will fill that gap? He wants him to believe the word of God, to believe that all scripture is God breathed and is useful, and to live it out—to live a life based on the truth of this scripture that we have as well.

And then what is not popular: to face persecution. He doesn't say it might go wrong here and there. He says anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will face persecution. He says to Timothy, it's not going to be easy. It's going to be tough. But believe the word of God, live it out, face persecution, and that will help you as you spread the gospel.

So we can clean this up a little bit. We can move believing the truth of scripture into the "what you believe" category. What we see is Paul saying: believe the truth of scripture, live it out, face persecution, repeat—thus you will spread the gospel.

A Challenge for Us Today

As we continue on, one thing we're going to look at is this—this was written from Paul to Timothy, but perhaps God is giving the same challenge to us today. And as we do so, it might be easy for you to think to yourself, "What am I? Am I just a pawn that takes the hits, that does the tough stuff while God sits up in heaven and we face the persecution on his behalf?"

And if you hear nothing else today, I hope that you hear this: By some mystery, by some grace, we have been allowed by God to be a part of what he's doing. God could reveal himself in a moment to anyone. He could tell everyone about his son, Jesus. Jesus could have done the same. But by some grace, we have been chosen and enlisted to be a part of what he's doing. And we are the ones who are transformed and changed by getting to be a part of what he's doing.

He is after me and he's after you, and he cares so much more about what he's doing in your life than he does about what he's doing through your life. So if you only hear that this morning, I hope it's that.

Two Ways: A Contrast

Paul gives Timothy an equation: believe the truth of scripture, live it out, face persecution, repeat, and you'll spread the gospel. But what we see, if we look at all of 2 Timothy 3 and open up to those first nine verses that were talked about last week, Paul is actually setting up two inverse equations.

There's the way of the person who's in Christ Jesus, but there's also the way of the enemy—these false teachers that Paul has been talking about throughout his letter. There's another way. The enemy wants you to believe the lies, to reject the truth.

In verse seven of 2 Timothy chapter three, it says, they're always learning, but never able to acknowledge the truth. — 2 Timothy 3:7

And as a result of that belief, what do they do? They follow sinful nature. They please themselves. In 2 Timothy 3:2-6, you can see a laundry list of the things that they do—living for themselves, pleasing their sinful desires. And what do they achieve? They deceive themselves and others. I'm not sure which one is more sad.

He says to Timothy, there is the way of the world: believe the lies, reject the truth, please yourself, and deceive yourself and others. And he says, "But as for you, Timothy"—there's a contrast here. Believe the truth of scripture. Face persecution. Live it out and repeat. But as for you.

You know, there's a quote from a book that I love called A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken.

And he writes this book and there's a quote in there—he's from Lynchburg, it's really interesting—but he says, "A man in the jungle might hear a hyena's growl and mistake it for a lion's. But that same man in the jungle, when he hears the lion's growl, knows full and well that it's the lion's."

We live in a world today where there's a lot to be said about truth—their truth, my truth, your truth, whoever's truth and all these things. What we know is this: the truth is the word of God. It's God-breathed. And the way of the world is to believe the lies and to please yourself and to deceive yourself and others. But Paul is saying to Timothy, and perhaps God is saying it to me and you this morning: but as for you, believe the truth of Scripture and live it out. And it's gonna be tough and you'll face persecution. And as a result, you will spread the gospel.

Paul's Three Cities

It's curious to me why Paul, in this letter to Timothy, draws reference specifically to three places. He says, "You remember the things that happened to me in Antioch, and Iconium, and Lystra?" He draws reference to these three places, and we know Paul suffered a lot of things in a lot of places at the hands of a lot of people. So why specifically these three?

I want to take a look at Paul's first missionary journey as recounted by Luke, who's the author of the book of Acts. Maybe as we investigate this, we can figure out why Paul might have specifically drawn reference to these three places in this letter to Timothy, as he's asking him to believe these things, to do these things, and to achieve these things.

If you're flipping over there, we'll get to Acts chapter 13. It's towards the end of the chapter, and we see Luke recounting what happened to Paul when he goes first to Antioch. Paul goes there and he begins to talk about Jesus. He begins to teach in Jesus' name and talk about who Jesus is. And it says many people come to believe and they're strengthened in their faith. Paul starts to encourage people and people start to believe. But what happens? The crowds start to build up a revolt around him and they try to draw people against him. The crowds are stirred up and they kick him out of town. They send Paul away and they say, "Get out of here." He gets kicked out of town and it's tough, but at least nothing too bad happened to him. He just got rejected and kicked out of town.

So he leaves Antioch and he goes to Iconium and he does the same thing. He begins to teach about Jesus and he talks about those things that he believes—that Jesus is divine, that Jesus is salvation paid for our sins, that Jesus is resurrected from the dead. He begins to say those things and the crowds again start to rise up against him. After some people come to believe, people start to stir up the crowds against him. Only this time, they're not just trying to kick him out of town. What are they trying to do? They're trying to put him to death. And so Paul hears about their plans and he escapes. He goes to the next town, a town called Lystra.

He gets there and he begins to teach about Jesus. He begins to share about who Jesus is, and he even performs a miracle in Jesus' name. A man who was unable to walk gets up and walks. It's a powerful moment, but the people in the crowd start to want to lift him up and they say, "Oh man, he must be a Greek God. Let's call him Hermes. Let's lift him up and let's worship him." And Paul runs back into the crowd and he tears his clothes and he says, "No, no, no. Don't worship me. I'm just a sinner saved by grace, just like you. Don't worship me." But the crowds don't like it. And what do they do? They plot to kill him. Only this time he doesn't get away. They drag him to the edge of the city and stone Paul for the things that he's teaching and he's believing.

But if you're looking, this is where it starts to get real crazy. What does Paul do? The disciples gathered around him and Paul gets up. He didn't die. He gets up and what does he do? He walks back into the city—the city that had just tried to put him to death for what he's believing and teaching. He walks back in because he knows that in order to spread the gospel, it's gonna take living it out and facing persecution and repeat. He walks back into the place that had just tried to kill him. It's a wonderful story.

And we see, if you flip along to Acts chapter 16, Paul continues his first missionary journey and he goes and starts to share the gospel. At some point, he turns around and he comes back through to the towns that he had just visited.

And at some point, if you're looking in Acts chapter 16, he comes back to this town of Lystra. And there in Lystra, a young man joins him. A young man who was young in age, probably in his teenage years, 14, 15. And this young man had a mother who was a believer, and had a father who was a Greek and probably an unbeliever. A young man who was likely caught in an identity crisis. Which path will I take? Will I live in the way of the world, like my father? Or will I live in the way of them who are in Christ Jesus, like I see my mother doing? Who will I become? Is this stuff that my mom has taught me really real?

If you're looking in Acts chapter 16, the young boy who joins Paul there in Lystra, it's Timothy. Timothy, the Timothy, the one that he's writing this letter to. Timothy was a young boy from Lystra. I wonder if when Paul walked back in, if that changed everything for him. I wonder if Timothy came to know that his faith was real when he saw Paul, when Paul was teaching in his town.

I imagine that this letter is covered in nostalgia, as Paul writes this to Timothy. That Timothy might have had tears streaming down his face as he remembers that Paul walked back into the city, beaten and bruised, limping to continue teaching about Jesus. I wonder if that changed everything for Timothy.

Like I said, it's a wonderful story that Paul went to Timothy's city, Lystra, and he began to teach about who Jesus is. And then the crowds wanted to lift him up and worship him and he said, no, no, no, not in this way. Don't worship me, worship God. But the crowds didn't like that. And they dragged him to the edge of the city and they put him to death. But Paul didn't stay down. He got up and he walked back in to the place that had just tried to kill him. Why? Because he knew that the gospel was worthy of that. It's wonderful. It's almost a familiar story. It's almost as if we've heard something like that before. It's almost as if Paul was imitating the ultimate story.

The Ultimate Story

The story when Jesus came to my town, and to your town, and to Paul's town, and to Timothy's town. When he left heaven and came to earth, and he began to share powerful teachings, teachings with authority, when he performed many miracles in his own name, when the crowds wanted to lift him up and make him king and he said, no, no, no, not in this way.

For the son of man came to seek and save the lost. The son of man came to serve, not to be served. The son of man came to give his life as a ransom for many. — Luke 19:10; Mark 10:45

But the crowds didn't like that, and they dragged Jesus to the edge of the city, and they put him to death, a death on a criminal's cross. And they made sure that they didn't miss. And Jesus truly was dead and they put him in a tomb, but three days later, he got up and he went back into the city and continued to share the good news of who he was.

You see, Paul was only able to walk back into the city that day because he understood that Jesus had already walked back into the city for him, that Jesus had already taken the hit and was doing so on his behalf. Jesus walked back into the city for a sinner named Paul of Tarsus. Jesus walked back into the city for a young boy named Timothy caught in an identity crisis. Jesus walked back into the city for me. And he walked back into the city for you.

But As For You

And this morning, as we take a look at these two options, Paul sets it before Timothy. And he says, the way of the world is to believe the lies, to reject the truth, to please yourself, and to deceive yourself and others. And Paul says it to Timothy, I'll say it again. I believe God is saying it to me and you this morning. He says, but as for you, as for you, believe the truth of scripture and live it out in a world that doesn't believe that. Face persecution. It's not gonna get any easier in our world today to live out the truth of the scripture. Live it out and face persecution and repeat and spread the gospel.

Why? Because Jesus walked into the city for me and for you. Because Christ's love compels us, that we know that our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us a glory that far outweighs them all, that we have been chosen to be involved in God's work here on earth by some divine mystery. What a grace. What a gift.

In a second, I'm gonna pray, and my hope is that you would take inventory of this equation in your life. Which path are you taking? I know for me, it's all too easy to slip into the first. It's all too easy to live for myself, to believe the lies and reject the truth. But as for you, Paul says, as for you, which will you be? And reflect on the idea that we can only do the second option as far as we understand that Jesus walked back into the city for me and for you.

Let me pray. Lord, what we know not, teach us. What we have not, give us. And what we are not, make us. Thanks that you walk back into the city for us. Pray that you'd empower us. It's in your name we pray. Amen.