Each September we spend the month revisiting our vision as a church – Who are we? What has God called us to do? Why do we exist? How do we keep ‘the main thing’ the main thing?
And to help us do that this year we’re going to spend 4 weeks in the book of 2 Timothy, thinking about what it means to be ‘courageous in the gospel.’
Courage & Integrity
Courage is a virtue we all recognise when we see it in others and something that we’d all like to have more of ourselves.
Courage is an inner power to…
- do what is right over what is expedient
- to speak truth to power
- to sacrifice one’s own comfort for the sake of protecting others
- to ‘be true to yourself’ rather than bowing to peer pressure
- to risk vulnerability and being known rather than hiding in shame
- to count the cost and still take the plunge.
Courage is linked with integrity – if you’re going to be a person of integrity you will need courage, as it’s hard to be the same person in all contexts and stick to your values no matter what your situation. Integrity entails suffering, denial, discomfort, risk, being unpopular and sacrifice, and therefore will require courage. This is the life Jesus called us to when He said (Mark 8:34):
Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
A Courageous Apostle
Paul had lived a life of integrity – being true to Jesus and Jesus’ calling on his life – and it had cost him greatly, just read the list of his sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11:23-29. As Paul writes his final and very personal letter to his protégé Timothy, he is in prison, all alone and about to face a trial before a Roman court, where he assumes he will die (2 Timothy 4:6-18). And so in the letter Paul is urging Timothy to pick up the church planting baton (2 Timothy 1:13-14).
Paul himself has been courageous in the gospel for many years and urges Timothy to take on the baton of spreading the gospel in a hostile world. He calls him not be ashamed, to suffer, to be disciplined, to confront false teachers, to keep preaching and to keep the main thing the main thing…”the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:10).
Calling All Cowards
Now here is the good news…remember the gospel is good news! From what we can tell, Timothy wasn’t the most naturally courageous type and by the very fact that Paul has to write him a letter to urge him and motivate him and give him reasons to be courageous tells us that Paul is not expecting us to be super-humans. It’s in our weakness that we know God’s strength to be courageous, so in 2 Timothy 2:1 he says:
You then my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus
How are we to be strong? In the grace that is in Christ Jesus. He will provide us with the power and resources to fight the good fight.
A Courageous Church
And so the Holy Spirit calls us today to be courageous in the gospel. The world around is happy for us to talk about ‘being on a spiritual journey’ (which we absolutely want to help people on!) and wants the church to be at the forefront of social action and environmental care (and so we should be!) BUT… when we start talking about the message of salvation, the importance of living a holy life, the eternal realities of heaven and hell, the uniqueness of salvation in Christ and the authority of the bible over all areas of belief and practice…well then people start to bristle. And it has always been that way. The gospel will always be offensive because it tells us we are sinners that need to get right with God and cannot do that except by his grace and through faith in Christ. Jesus suffered, Paul suffered, Timothy will suffer…will we?
Have Courage Now
If you want to be a Christian in 21st century Dublin you need courage in the gospel. We must be clear on what we believe and willing to count the cost of following Jesus so that we, like Paul, can ‘fight the good fight, finish the race, keep the faith’ (2 Timothy 4:7). Paul in the letter mentions a number of people who have deserted him and deserted the gospel. They were not willing to count the cost and finish the race.
Central to our vision as a church is to ‘make a spiritual difference in Dublin’ which means sharing our faith and calling people to repent and believe. We want to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28) and in this series we’ll look to how the grace of Jesus can help us to fulfil our mission.
Series Outline
Here is an outline for our short series, which will culminate in our 5th birthday celebration on Sunday 29th September
- Sunday 8th Sept – Courage in the gospel (2 Timothy 1)
- Sunday 15th Sept – Suffering for the gospel (2 Timothy 2)
- Sunday 22nd Sept – Confident in the scriptures (2 Timothy 3)
- Sunday 29th September – Finishing the race (2 Timothy 4)
Do watch this excellent bible project video for an overview to the letter. We hope you can join us for this exciting series.