Focusing on Christ
To fulfill God's will in our lives,
we must keep our minds focused
on the Lord Jesus Christ--who He is,
His ministry, and His promises.
Here's Gene to explain:
This Principle is based on perhaps
one of the most powerful exhortations
that Paul ever gave--ever wrote.
And here it is, beginning in the opening line,
really of 2nd Timothy chapter 2, verse 8.
And it simply reads:
Remember Jesus Christ...
Remember Jesus Christ.
I went back and looked up
a number of translations that are
really faithful to the Greek text.
And almost every one of them
translated exactly that way:
Remember Jesus Christ.
But why are we to remember Jesus Christ?
How are we to remember Jesus Christ?
Well Paul goes on to explain that to Timothy:
...Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead
and descended from David...
What he is simply saying is:
Jesus Christ is God who became flesh.
Who went to the cross.
Who was buried
and rose again on the third day.
Because he was God in human flesh
who said to the people:
Destroy this temple, this body,
and I will raise it up again.
And so part of the false teaching there in Ephesus
was against the resurrection of Jesus,
against who Jesus Christ really was.
Or some were even teaching the
resurrection has already taken place.
Which threw people into horrible confusion.
And so Paul is saying here to Timothy:
...Remember Jesus Christ,
risen from the dead [and] descended from David,
according to my gospel,
for which I suffer to the point
of being bound like a criminal.
But the word of God is not bound.
And one of the most encouraging things
to the apostle Paul himself
is when he was in prison.
For example in his first imprisonment in Rome.
He was there for two years.
He wasn't in a dungeon.
He was in his own hired house.
But he was under a house arrest.
And he wrote to the Philippians.
And he didn't know whether he's going to live or die.
He didn't know what was coming.
But here's what he wrote:
My eager expectation and hope is that I
will not be ashamed about anything...
Was he tempted? Yes.
To be ashamed? Yes. But he said:
...I will not [with God's help]
be ashamed of anything,
but that now as always,
with all courage,
Christ will be highly honored in my body,
whether by life or [by] death.
For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Why? Because he believed
in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
That in Christ--because Christ
was raised from the dead--
he too would be raised from the dead.
And he in turn, immediately
would go to be with Jesus.
But later would be raised, with all true believers,
when Jesus Christ returned.
And so that gave Paul eternal hope.
And he's saying that to Timothy.
Remember Jesus Christ and his resurrection.
I remember so clearly, D.L. Moody was published.
I don't remember this because I wasn't alive.
But I remember the quote later
that was in the Chicago paper.
And he said this--and he was quoted:
Someday you will read in the papers
that D.L. Moody of East Northfield is dead.
And he probably said that in a message,
and a stenographer was there,
and reprinted what he said
in the newspaper.
And he said in that statement:
Don't you believe a word of it!
At that moment I shall be more alive
than I am now.
That sounds like Paul, doesn't it?
I shall have gone up higher, that is all;
out of this old clay tenement
into a house that is immortal--
a body that death cannot touch;
that sin cannot taint;
a body fashioned like unto His glorious body.
And it's interesting that before
Billy Graham died--and of course D.L. Moody
was one of the great evangelists
of the 19th century.
And Billy Graham probably one of the
greatest in the 20th century.
And here's what Billy Graham wrote,
obviously influenced by what
D.L. Moody wrote--though it has
a shade of difference:
Someday you will read or hear
that Billy Graham is dead.
Don't you believe a word of it.
I shall be more alive than I am now.
I will just have changed my address.
I will have gone into the presence of God.
And that's what Paul's talking about
in terms of encouraging Timothy.
He goes on to conclude here
with a powerful creed.
They believe this was a creed
somewhere within the New Testament church.
But it's a powerful statement
in relationship to what Paul is writing to Timothy--
in chapter 2, verses 11 through 13:
This saying is trustworthy [Timothy]: ...
This saying is trustworthy.
Hear me out. Listen to this.
In the midst of your fear,
and your tendency or your temptation
to be ashamed and fearful,
remember this:
...For if we died with him,
we will also live with him; ...
In essence, he's saying: Remember
Jesus Christ in his resurrection.
You too shall live.
He goes on to say:
...if we endure, we will also reign with him; ...
And obviously, if you read the New Testament,
we will endure.
God has promised he will
never leave us or forsake us.
He will help us.
He will never leave us.
And that's a wonderful promise.
Paul went on to say:
...if we deny him, he will also deny us; ...
And that's referring to the fact
that there are those who absolutely
do not believe that Jesus Christ is God
and the Savior of the world.
But then he comes back
and addresses all of us:
...if we are faithless...
Like we've all been, right?
There are times when we are faithless.
...he remains faithful,
for he cannot deny himself.
And I think of what he said in Romans
at the end of chapter 8:
Nothing, nothing will separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It's a powerful, powerful statement.
This is a great truth. And it really
motivated Paul in terms of his suffering.
And here's his mission statement,
really to Timothy, in 2nd Timothy 2:10:
This is why I endure all things for the elect:
so that they also may obtain salvation,
which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
And here Paul deals with that
great antinomy that he deals with
in Ephesians when he said:
We're chosen in Christ before the
foundation of the world.
But Paul never went into a place and said:
If you're elect, you can be saved.
He went in and said, what Jesus said:
God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son.
That whosoever believes in him
shall have eternal life.
Paul always communicated the gospel
in a way that he believed
that everybody could respond.
As Peter said: God is not willing
that any should perish,
but all come to eternal life.
That's an antinomy that's hard to understand:
Two truths that seem irreconcilable,
But in God's scheme of things, it's true.
Both are true.
In our human being, it's hard to balance that.
But Paul illustrates it.
He illustrates it, that balance, with his actions.
So here's a Reflection and Response question:
As we live our Christian lives,
what are some of the other wonderful things
we can remember about Jesus Christ?
And as I raise that question, it takes me back
to a personal experience.
Many years ago, when I was still single,
I was ordained for the ministry.
And I say "ordained" in quotes
because I think anyone who's set aside
for ministry is ordained in the eyes of God.
But this was a human ordination,
recognizing the fact that I would be able
to use the word reverend, I guess,
which I very seldom ever use.
But according to the laws of the United States,
I'm an ordained minister--with the rights
and privileges that go along with that.
But in that particular situation,
I remember in the final service,
when Dr. Merrill Tenney,
who was one of my favorite teachers
in the Wheaton graduate school,
delivered what is called "the charge."
And a charge really is illustrated by Paul
when he wrote to Timothy and said:
Remember Jesus Christ.
That's a charge. That's a charge.
And so Dr. Tenney had me come up
on the platform and face him
in front of the congregation--
a small little church.
And he said: Gene, I want to share
with you what Paul wrote to Timothy:
Remember Jesus Christ.
Looked right straight in my face.
And he went on to say and expand on
how I should remember Jesus Christ.
First of all, who he was and who he is:
the resurrected Christ.
But he went on to say:
Remember Jesus Christ in his love
and compassion in your ministry.
Remember Jesus Christ in his prayers.
And the way he prayed.
And I'll never forget that one
because that's been one of my
weaknesses over the years.
Remember Jesus Christ.
And I will never forget that experience.
There's something about that
statement that is powerful.
It kind of summarizes everything
that we believe.
Remember Jesus Christ in every way.
Who he is, what he did,
and that he someday will come again.
A powerful statement.
And as I think about that,
I also think about what Paul wrote
to the Corinthians in chapter 11, verse 1,
when he said:
Be an imitator of Jesus Christ,
as I am an imitator of Jesus Christ.
And I believe that's what God wants
all of us to do. To set as a goal.
Not to be arrogant.
That's not an arrogant statement to say:
I want to live like Jesus.
Now, how we say that reveals humility.
Or should reveal humility.
And one of the best ways to say to everybody--
your children and everybody:
To imitate Jesus Christ as you imitate Jesus Christ.
Is not to talk about it, but to live it.
To live it.
I want you to be an imitator of Jesus Christ,
as I am an imitator of Jesus Christ.
A tremendous challenge.
And I invite all of us to set that as a goal.
So here's the Principle.
Let me restate it:
To fulfill God's will in our lives,
we must keep our minds focused
on the Lord Jesus Christ--who He is,
His ministry, and His promises.