Guarding the Gospel: The Cost and Call of Discipleship

"Paul's an old man when he writes 2 Timothy. He's in prison. He's in Rome. The winters aren't terribly harsh in Rome, but they're worse than Orlando winters. Paul's in a prison, perhaps it's a bit dank, musty, cold. He asks for his cloak. You get a sense of his frailty. You get a sense of the urgency. He says at the end of this book that he is ready. He is ready for that final sacrifice. His whole life has been poured out as a drink offering, as a sacrifice to God in service of Him. Now, he's ready, as it were, for that final sacrifice." [00:55:48]

"Follow, follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you." [04:05:56]

"Paul, as you know, was trained in the Old Testament, and we have this great poetic expression of Hebrew parallelism. If to say it once is a good thing, why not say it twice? That's even better. And so we find this parallelism consistently in Paul. That's what we find here. They're grammatically parallel, versus 13 and 14. There's the command, 'Follow.' Follow what? Follow the pattern of words, but not just any words. Sound words. And these were the words which you heard from me. Then he repeats this in verse 14. 'Guard.' The Latin expression here is 'custodi,' to be a custodian, a guardian." [00:55:48]

"Paul is outlining for us here what discipleship is. Discipleship is following. Discipleship is guarding. And it's not in being innovative. Calvin says when Paul tells Timothy to guard this pattern of sound words, he is saying, 'Don't simply hold fast to the broad strokes of my ministry.' Now, Paul talks about Jesus. I'll talk about Jesus. Paul talks about salvation, I'll -- No. This is what Calvin says, 'The very form of expression.' Do not deviate, not one iota. Not just in the broad strokes. The very form of expression. Do not deviate from that." [16:04:81]

"Paul doesn't just command. He also demonstrates what those sound words are. There's a content to these sound words. There's a content to our faith. In fact, if you go back up in the preceding verses we see it. Let's take a look at verses 8-12. Everywhere in Paul we see the content. Paul says in verse 8, 'Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord.' That's content. A testimony of our Lord. 'Nor of me as prisoner,' this is the occasion. Paul's in Rome. 'But share in suffering' -- I'm going to come back to that. Anytime Jesus talks about discipleship, doesn't He talk about suffering? Share in suffering for what? The gospel. There's the content. The gospel. The gospel, the gospel, the gospel." [19:50:49]

"True discipleship is a cost. We're seeing it currently in our moment culturally. You know, if you look just at American evangelicalism, in the 1980s and in the 1990s, we were at the cool table. Do you remember the cool table in junior high where all the athletes sat, and you wanted to sit at the cool table? I was always over at the nerd table. That longed to be where Mr. Larson sat at the cool table. Little known fact, a surfer in his teenage years. Little known fact. Now not so little known. In the '80s and the '90s, you know what? We had a seat at the cool table." [33:30:49]

"Paul endeavored to be winsome, but never at the sake of compromising the gospel, but clearly recognizing that it's the gospel that is the offense. And fidelity to the gospel means suffering. Fidelity to the gospel means suffering of some kind. He says it again, doesn't he? Down in verse 11, 'For which I was appointed a preacher of this gospel. I was appointed a preacher of the gospel. I was an apostle of the gospel, and I am a teacher of the gospel.' That's who Paul is. He's a preacher, he is an apostle, he is a teacher. And then verse 12, 'Which is why I suffer as I do.'" [32:48:60]

"Discipleship is about conviction. It's not just standing on the gospel, it's standing on the gospel with conviction. What made the Reformation was not just the content. What made the Reformation was the boldness and the courage and the confidence with which those Reformers proclaimed the doctrines of the Reformation. And they turned a world upside down. And some of that turning of the world upside down was through their martyrdoms. We are called to follow a pattern. We are called to guard a good deposit. And we are called to do so with conviction." [45:32:64]

"By the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. God has not left us to our own devices to be His faithful disciples. He has given us His Spirit and that Spirit indwells us, and it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that someday God in His graciousness will say to us, 'Well done, you good and faithful servants.'" [46:37:48]

"Paul is a classic germaphobe. Back here and scattered all around, of course, are the hand sanitizers. And I love you people. I really do. You come from all over, and you also bring your germs with you. And you want to hug me and you want to shake my hand, and you want to leave a good deposit. So I was using one of these hand sanitizers out in the back here, and one of the other speakers -- I won't tell you who it was, he's -- I think he's the President of a Southern Baptist Seminary, but -- I turned to him and I said, 'I guess we're all germaphobes these days,' and he said, 'That's actually the one phobia that can be good for you.'" [08:06:17]

"Paul is such a great teacher, isn't he? So vivid. He doesn't just say, 'Follow sound words. Be hygienic, Timothy.' He says, 'Follow the pattern.' This is a fascinating word, pattern. We lived in Amish country for 17 years. This was quilting country. And the intricate design and the thread work and the care, the diligence, and there were these patterns -- I don't understand any of them or what they were, but gifted quilters can identify those patterns that give shape to various quilts. And they follow that pattern." [11:19:52]

"Paul singles those two names out. There were others. It's a vivid example of those who did not follow the pattern and those who did not guard the deposit. But Paul's confident of better things with Timothy. And so he gives a positive example. Look at chapter 2, versus 1-2. 'You then, my child, be strengthened by the graces in Christ Jesus and what you have heard from me.' Same expression from verse 13. 'In the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach other's also.' This is God's truth succession plan. God's truth succession plan has one agenda item. Has one criteria. And it is fidelity." [38:44:96]