Episode 255: Faithfulness, Apostasy, and Restoration | Tim Henderson+

Introduction

Good morning, friends. Good morning. Brian, thanks for reading that cheery passage to us this morning. That was lovely. And Dan, what a crush that festival of names. Right? You made it look easy. That was great. And we are so glad, Nancy and Dan, to see you both. We love you. We pray for you often. And we're so glad that you are here, and the rest of you as well.

You guys, we are this week in our final installment of second Timothy. I mean, in chapter four in the passage that Dan read to us. And we've been at this for, I don't even know how long, six weeks, eight weeks, been in Timothy for a long time. And we've been saying the whole time that second Timothy, basically divides up into three buckets. What are they? Do you remember what was the first bucket of second Timothy's message? Paul's message to second Timothy? Yeah. Dig in, strap in, take the hit. It's gonna get rough. That's number one. How about bucket two? Do remember this? Bucket number two, the false teachers, they are coming. In fact, they are here. And then bucket three is what? Lonely, right? Which one is this? What bucket would you put this passage that Dan read into? It's bucket three, it's the I'm Lonely text. It's where Paul says, come quickly. He says, come before winter. He says, when you come, bring my Bible and a blankie. Right? He's lonely. Right? It's the passage in which he says, everyone has deserted me. Right? No one came to my defense. It's a lonely passage. Right?

And it's kind of an extraordinary passage for a couple reasons. First of all, there are 17 names in 13 verses. Most of them difficult to pronounce, right? There's and I don't know how to say any of them either. It's Demas, maybe, Creasons, Titus, Luke, Mark, Tychicus, Carpus, Alexander, Priscilla, Aquila, Onesiphorus, Erastus, Trophimus, Eubulus, maybe? Putin's, Linus, and Claudia, and if you throw in Paul and Jesus, that actually brings us to 19, right? All these characters, you guys, these are actual humans. These are real people. These are men and women who had real hopes and real dreams. There are good guys on that list. There are bad guys on that list. There are complex characters, men and women.

And I think that because we have a tendency to think of the Bible as a sacred text, right, as like this divine revelation, which it it is, I'm not denying that in the slightest, right, but if if we think of it entirely in that sense, then we might forget how incredibly personal it is as well. When God saw fit to reveal things to us, he did not give us a theology textbook and just say, boom, here's the stuff I want you to know. Instead, he gave us personal correspondence, like real letters, really things that were actually written to and about real human beings and said, this is where I want you to find the things that I want you to know.

It's like the sweetness of the gospel is not is not a bowl of sugar, all refined and bleached. We don't get it like that. We get like sugarcane, and you've gotta chew on it. You gotta extract the sweetness from it. Right? It's stories about human beings, real people, that you're chewing on the people, which is a strange way to mix that metaphor. Okay?

This is unprecedented in world history. The way that God speaks to us, the record, the revelation from him is not merely this set of, propositions to which we give intellectual assent. It's a story about real people. It's about human beings who are interacting with other human beings and with God himself as they fail and forgive and are restored. Right? And sometimes as they walk away. The men and women in this passage are heroes. There are villains on that list, and some of them have surprise endings, which I find surprising. It's really pretty bizarre, but it's also somewhat comforting because this is a true story about real people trying to know the transcendent, and we get to learn from them. We can watch their story, the things they struggled with, the things they failed at, the things they succeeded at, and begin to perhaps see our lives in there.

Some of these guys are highly commended. You might recognize Onesiphorus, we've seen him earlier. Some of them are very sharply criticized, which is interesting because I think it suggests the fact that Paul names names, calls people out, suggests that the oft cited Christian rule to not judge others is not absolute. Paul is willing to say, hey, hey, these guys guys blew it. He will be, he'll say, even he'll say things like, no one came to my defense. Everyone deserted me. But then the next thing he says is, may it not be held against them. Which is to say, he is truthful. These guys blew it. They're the worst. But he's gracious to say, let them begin again. Don't hold a grudge. Right? That is truth. That's grace. That's the framework of Christianity. He warns Timothy against Alexander. He should be up there somewhere at the bottom right corner. That dude is dangerous. Be on your guard. He is oppositional.

He does return to the praise that he gave to Onesiphorus. That was the guy in chapter one who had searched hard for Paul when Paul was in some dank jail in some, you know, corner somewhere. Paul loves this guy because he loved him and there's this warmth that flows to him. Okay? What we're gonna do this morning, there's a ton, 17 names, and we're not gonna hit them all, so don't worry. But I do want to look at three of them, three more of them, as representatives of the whole. And I want to look a little bit deeper at the stories. And the three that I have selected are Tychicus, Demas, and Mark.

The Stories of Tychicus, Demas, and Mark

And we're gonna start with Tychicus. Okay? Tychicus. He shows up all over the place in the New Testament. Did you know that? I would guess that for most of us, we're like, I've never seen that name before in my life. Okay? He actually shows up over and over and over again, but never in a way that tends to grab our attention. Okay?

The earliest place he shows up is in Acts chapter 20. What was going on in Acts 20 is Paul was preaching the gospel. Everywhere Paul goes, two things happen. There's a revival and there's a riot. He shows up in a town, he preaches, and people hear and rejoice and they delight, and then people are angry and fierce and they wanna kill him. Both things happen everywhere he goes. At one particular thing point, things got so bad that the threats against Paul's life were so severe that this group of men gathered around Paul, they basically formed a phalanx around him to keep him safe so that he could keep on saying the things that made people wanna kill him.

And when that happened, this group of guys included Tychicus. He was one of the guys that faithfully he's like a secret service agent willing to put his life between Paul and the guys that want to kill him. By the way, I might encourage you that if you were ever to summon enough courage to say something true and to say it graciously and people still don't like it, it doesn't mean that you should stop saying it.

Paul goes into community and people don't like what he's saying and so he goes into the next community and he says it again. And there's another revival and another riot. And then he goes somewhere else and he says it again. And there's another revival and there's another riot. We have a tendency just to assume, as soon as people don't like what we're saying, it's probably time to dial it back.

That is not the way of Paul. It is certainly not the way of Jesus. We are to be a people that are speak truthfully, graciously, and then suffer when it gets difficult. In Ephesians six, Paul calls Tychicus a dear brother and a faithful servant. And in fact, he was the guy that delivered the letter to the Ephesians, probably the first person who ever read that letter. Right?

He was Paul's trusted messenger. Colossians four, Paul speaks of him again. Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He's a dear brother, a faithful minister, a fellow servant in the Lord. I'm sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances, and he may encourage your hearts. Later on, Paul sends him to Crete to visit Titus, and it seems that this guy, Tychicus, was part of Paul's inner circle.

Whenever there was a message to be delivered, hey, where's Tychicus? Let's find that guy. Probably because he just likes saying his name. Say it, Tychicus. Isn't that a great name? Right? And he gets him, and he's constantly traveling around. And I wonder if it's ever occurred to you that we we know Paul, maybe you know Luke, maybe you know Peter, but there's this community, like, we you owe your faith today to this group of men and women who suffered, who risked their lives, who in some situations gave their lives, that the gospel would be established there in the Roman Empire, and travel all the way down to Southwest Virginia. Here, as Paul closes the letter, this guy is once again on his mind. He is this faithful, loyal servant. And he's on another errand, probably, he's he's definitely going back to Ephesus. And probably, he's the guy that's gonna deliver this letter to Timothy.

Timothy's the pastor in Ephesus. So he is he's Paul's messenger. He's the guy that goes and delivers the message, travels land and sea to get the words around, which ultimately makes it to us. Right? So we love this guy. Do you know anybody like him? Anybody who is faithful, long suffering, dependable, but nobody remembers his name. Nobody notices who she is because she's just simply doing the work and she doesn't need recognition. I was somewhere, I was at a crew meeting, a couple days ago, and a friend of mine was speaking and he quoted, somebody whose name doesn't matter because his the great quote was three things. Preach the gospel, die, be forgotten. That's the mission. Preach the gospel, die, be forgotten. It's not about you.

He must increase, we must decrease. And Tychicus was just faithful. Alright?

Then, second guy, Demas. This one's a little heartbreaking. Demas was a friend of Luke's. He also shows up all over the place, always in the company of Luke. Paul mentions him by name warmly, twice, in Colossians and then at the end of Philemon. Paul very often would close his letters with his personal, you know, correspondence, Oh, say hi to so and so, how was so and so doing?

Various members of the community. In Colossians, he says, our dear friend Luke, doctor and Demas, send greetings. Similarly in Philemon, Paul closes like this, he says, Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

He calls Demas a fellow worker. He's part of the team. He's part of that circle. He's part of that group. However, here, at the end of second Timothy, Paul says this, Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. That's a strong word right there. That's the same word that Jesus said on the cross when he said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Forsaken, deserted, same word. And Paul is deeply wounded. Right? Because Demas is on the team and Demas has checked out.

And it is an injurious thing, it's a wounding thing. Demas started well, but he ended poorly. And I recognize as I say that that could mess with your theology. Many of you were taught that you can't lose your salvation. And so when you see things like this, you're like, how do we categorize this? Right? Welcome to the club. But also, welcome to the world. Have you noticed this? Not just here in second Timothy four? I also believe that the scriptures teach that if you are saved, you're safe. If you are hidden in Christ, you cannot lose it. You didn't earn it, can't lose it. I affirm strongly the doctrine sometimes called perseverance of the saints.

But I also believe that the church, this church, every church is populated by a mix of real believers and false believers. Did you know this? This is the case. It's always been the case. The scripture speaks about it. Jesus speaks about it. It's all over the place. Right? There are always people who are among the community of believers and who seem to be believers, but time proves that their hearts are elsewhere. Jesus himself said the church is like a wheat field. And a farmer is growing wheat, but in the middle of the night an enemy comes out and he sows weeds in the wheat field, and dang it all, if the weeds and the wheat aren't just really hard to distinguish between. You just can't tell which is which. This has always been the case. Right? It's it's been it's true here. Some of you have good credentials. You are cradle Episcopalians. You've been at this game for sixty years. But do you know him? Genuinely, actually, is he your delight? Or are you just part of a club that does certain things and you're just going through the motions? It has become fashionable in this moment to deconstruct your faith. Many of you probably know people who have deconstructed. But deconstruction is nothing more than good old fashioned apostasy. It is the walking away from Christ. And it has been going on for a very long time.

We just decided to brand it with something more interesting in deconstruction. The bible warns us over and over again that we are surrounded by and may ourselves be phonies. And it exhorts us to make sure that we are in him. Do not let the concerns of this life, your doubts, your worries, the deceitfulness of sin interfere and prove that you're not his. Lean in. Be faithful to the one who is faithful to you. Seek his face for all your days. Make your calling and election sure. Because the the beauty, the mystery of the gospel is this, that weeds can become wheat. You may be in the community, but not part of the community. You may have been here for fifteen years because this is kinda what we do, right? But you've never really bent the knee. He has never become your chief love. You do not need to fear being weeded. We are forbidden.

In the passage where Jesus talks about weeds and the wheat growing up, and his followers are like, wanna go weed the garden? And he says, no, no, no, no, no. Don't do it. We are not here to weed the garden. Weeds can turn into wheat. Stick around long enough that he becomes your chief your chief joy, the one that you adore and the one that you love. Don't be like Demas who wandered away because he loved the world.

The Hope and Example for Believers

Alright? So we got Tychicus, faithful. You got Demas, who loved the world and wandered off. Third guy, I'll say for last, because I think he's the most interesting, his name is Mark. Sometimes we call him John Mark. Mark was another one of Paul's missionary companions. We're pretty sure, it's not a 100%, but pretty sure that he's the same guy who wrote the Gospel of Mark. There's more than one mark in the world, but we believe that this is the Mark who was kind of the amenuensis of Peter. Mark's Gospel is Peter's reflections, and Mark just kinda jotted it all down for him.

He was raised in the community of believers. In fact, if you know the story, do you know that weird moment where Peter, was in jail and an angel showed up and like walked him out of jail? It's this very surreal, very bizarre moment where Peter's there, angel shows up and he like, and Peter falls him out, but he thinks he's having a dream. I mean, he's there, he's living it, and he's like, this can't possibly be happening. But it is happening, gets out of the, he walks out the front door of the prison and he's like, oh, that was real? That just happened? Right? Do you know where he goes as soon as he gets out of jail? Goes to Mark's house. Actually, Mark's mother's house. Right? And Mark is he's part of this community. He's part of this group of believers, faithful, travels with Paul, his home was a base of operations. But do you know what happens next for Mark? Do you know? He turns away, he taps out, he blew it. The stakes were high, and the pressure was great, and it became too difficult. And when it did, he also deserted Paul.

Now I gotta tell you, it is hard to throw rocks at Mark because you guys, it was difficult. Everywhere Paul goes, I'm telling you, revival and riot. And sometimes you get tired of the riot. Sometimes it's just frightening and it is difficult and I don't wanna play anymore. I look at Mark, I'm like, dude, you blew it. But I'm like, I don't know. Would I have blown it? I mean, would you? Maybe. I don't know. I don't know. But Mark, the pressure gets too high and he and he bails. The the whole story of Mark reminds me of of a do you guys know William Tyndale? Is his name meaningful to you? What's Tyndale's claim to fame? What is what is his chief contribution? The English Bible. English Bible. William Tyndale is the guy that translates the Bible in English. So did John Wycliffe, but really to give primary props to Tyndale. Okay? You guys, Tyndale was a beast. Tyndale was, he's one of my heroes. He translates the New Testament into English, has the thing printed, published, and that puts him like number, public enemy number one, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. The the the powers that be, the way the church and the state were all woven together then, he is public enemy number one, his translation is seen as heretical, it wasn't, it was faithful, and so there so he's on the run, okay? He's got the New Testament done, he wants to translate the Old Testament into English as well. He had determined that he was gonna make the comp he said, the boy who drives the plow will know more of Scripture than the bishops do. Right? He's determined to do this. Problem is, he didn't know Hebrew, and there aren't any Jewish people to teach him. So he finds, this is incredible, he finds a Hebrew lexicon, teaches himself Hebrew, which how fun can that possibly be, and begins to translate the Old Testament into English. He finishes the Pentateuch, is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. He's on a boat, fleeing for his life, with the only English copy of the Pentateuch in the world, and the boat sinks, and the manuscript goes to the bottom of the sea. He makes it back to land, he gets out a pen and a paper, and writes down, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and resumes the work. Can you imagine? Okay.

This guy is a stud. He while in the midst of all of this, he writes this book. He writes a book called The Obedience of the Christian Man, is one of the most popular books in the world at the time. There weren't that many books. And but it's incredibly pastoral. And he wrote to what what were called the deniers. Okay? The deniers were those that were followers of Christ, and the pressure became too great, and so they recanted their faith. And when I say the pressure became too great, I mean, like, we're not talking they were losing their tax deductions, okay? We're talking they're being burned, they're dying horribly, being burned alive. And when people would be said to recant or burn, sometimes they would recant. And so he wrote to them, in the obedience of the Christian man, to encourage them, to encourage the deniers. Listen to what he says, Okay?

He says, if any man denies Christ, as Peter did, let him, if he repent, come again and take better hold and not despair. Or take it for a sign that God hath forsaken him. For God oft time taketh taketh his strength even from his very elect, when they either trust in their own strength or are negligent to call to him for his strength. And that he does to teach them and to make them feel that in the fire of tribulation for his word's sake, nothing can endure and abide save his work and that strength only which he has promised.

For the which strength he will have us to pray unto him night and day with all instance. Take better hold and come again. You guys know that the man most responsible for shaping Anglicanism recanted his faith in Christ? Do you know that story? His name is Thomas Cranmer. Cranmer is the is the is the reformation was spreading across Europe. Cramer was the guy in England that more than any shaped this, led this movement. He wrote the Book of Common Prayer, which is really our defining document, Third Nine Articles, which are our defining our document. He was a legend. He was huge. But it was difficult. He had two friends, Latimer and Ridley. And Latimer and Ridley and Cranmer were all condemned as heretics. And Cranmer, who was the chief of the three, was required to watch his brothers burn. Latimer and Ridley, when they were they were burned together, and somebody in a in a misguided act of kindness put an enormous amount of wood on Ridley's fire. The thinking was, more wood, more flame, more faster. Right? Let's burn him, let's burn him quick. But, the wood was piled up in such a way that it suffocated the flames from rising to the parts of his body that would kill him. And so it burned his lower half for a really, really, really agonizingly long time. And Kramer watched it. And after he watched it, he recanted. He's like, I'm out. I can't I can't abide doing it. The guy the founder of Anglicanism recanted. And then he recanted his recantation and was burned alive. And as he was strapped to the thing and the flames were lit, he held the hand that signed his recantation into the flames, that it might burn first and perished, faithful.

The Redemption and Restoration in the Stories

And finally, our guide, John Mark, look at this, in Acts 15, watch what happens, fifteen thirty six. It says, sometimes later Paul said to Barnabas, let go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where he preached the word of the Lord and see how they're doing. Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them. But Paul did not think it wise to take him because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.

This was a big deal. Okay, this is a huge thing. This causes a rift between Paul and Barnabas. Barnabas is the one guy that cared about Paul when nobody else would touch him and it causes a rift from them. But Paul just knew Mark is unreliable and I don't know if he's gonna bail on us again, we just we can't do it. And then, at the end of second Timothy, Paul says this, get Mark and bring him with you because he's helpful to me in my ministry.

You guys, where do you see yourself in that story? Are you inspired by Tychicus to just stay faithful through it all, and I don't care if anybody knows my name? Or do you feel the risk of Demas such that you are on the verge of deconstructing? Maybe distance or doubts or secret sin is allowing it all to unravel. Or are you like Mark who already tapped out, but you're ready to come back in? Wherever you're at, I want you to notice this. Paul is sad. He is lonely, but he's hopeful, he is confident, he is certain. He said a verse before our passage began, verse eight, now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

He says here in verse 18, the Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. You guys, all ages have discouragements and difficulties, including ours. Some are quite grave. In fact, the entire time from Christ's first coming to his second coming is fraught with difficulties. It all is. Which is why Jesus said, in this world, you will have trouble. But what else did he say? What was the next line after he said that? Take heart for I have overcome the world.

Stay in the game is what he's saying. Right? We're winning. We're going to win. You guys, the upside down kingdom is a place in which we will always say true things, and we will never say false things. We will always say them graciously, and we will never be ungracious. And when this resolve leads inevitably to suffering, we will keep saying them while remaining patient and kind.

Here's how Peter puts it. Look at this. Peter says, if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you are called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He goes, this is where our victory lies. It is in our union with the beautiful, the astonishing, the patient, the suffering Christ. And the fact that he did that for you is why you were rescued. And as we participate in the sufferings of Christ, he will save still others. His victory is absolutely certain. But it's going to cost you something.

So stay in the game. It's all worth it. It's all happening. I want you to strap in. It's gonna be difficult. And in fact, this morning, we're gonna invite you. If you wanna come down and spend some time alone with the Lord, this curved rail is a place for you to do that. Straight rail, we'll have some friends there that can pray with you. And it might be that in this moment, you're like, as you listen to the story, you're like, I wanna be like Tychicus. Or maybe you're thinking, man, it is tempting not to love the world like Demas. And maybe you know, it just takes a special amount of courage and hope to get up like Mark.

But you guys, every worthwhile thing ever done in human history was difficult. So no biggie. We'll just play the game that lies before us and take the steps that he wants us to take. We invite you to come forward to yield to his spirit, to live in grace and in truth, to suffer patiently, and to wait for Christ's certain victory. Friends, that is, as best as I understand it, Paul's second letter to Timothy. But do not forget that it is God's letter to you. Believe what it says, hope in what it promises, and obey what it commands.

Conclusion

Lord Jesus, we love you. We want to be, I love to be, like Tychicus. And I fear being like Demas. I hope to be like Mark. But Lord, what we want most of all is to be like you. We want to smell like you. But Lord, I know that as we do, we will sometimes be, to some, the fragrance of life and sometimes the stench of death. Lord, help us help us to be faithful like Tychicus. Help us to get back up when we falter like Mark. And Lord, save us. Protect us from being like Demas for we feel the love of the world. There are so many things that are sweet to us. Would you be sweeter still? Would you be more vivid to us? That it would be you, Lord. It would be your beauty, your goodness, your kindness, your strength, your courage, your humility that draws us on. We love you. Thanks for loving us. Amen.