SERVICE WORKS; IT REALLY DOES
Jeremiah 31: 31-34
2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:5
OCTOBER 19th 2025 – SECOND TIMOTHY SERIES
I have tried to imagine Paul in that dark dank hole in the ground that the Romans called a prison cell. No table service … no laundry … no social workers nor medical teams checking in on the prisoner whom the Romans knew they were going to kill off … once his name reached the top of the list. He didn’t even have a TV, and I seriously doubt that his WiFi was working.
Yet, Paul kept writing … he was focused on the future of the Christian church providing the clarity that early believers needed to hold onto. He was preoccupied with ensuring that Jesus’ truth conquered the Romans and the dictates of Nero who still ruled even after the great fire in Rome which historians believe he had set so he could build his Golden House … Nero would be overthrown a few years after Paul was executed.
Paul wanted to make sure the teaching of Jesus overwhelmed the philosophies and religion of the Greeks with their idols and that the early groups of Christians survived as followers of Jesus Christ and adherents to His teaching. The GOSPEL… the Good News. It was essential to Paul … to the church’s future … and frankly to God that those early Christians actually SURVIVED while understanding their responsibilities in faith and that they lived as Christ called them to live rather than lining up and doing what the Roman Emperor expected … or what the followers of some statue in Athens demanded.
Paul was about to give up his life because he clearly rejected Rome and lived for Jesus. And in his second letter to Timothy he wanted to make sure that the church in the years to come did not succumb to the world’s point of view but continued to celebrate the faith walk that Paul encompasses in his declaration to the churches in Philippi and Thessalonica … REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS … not in the world, not in some world leader but in the LORD GOD and as James noted that requires Jesus’ followers to actually put our faith into action … servant ministry, loving ministry … caring for others.
Nothing has changed in our world. The 21st century might be a bit different but how we live … the words we use and how we showcase love as Jesus expects, and God insists on are our responsibilities … as people of faith; just as those early Christians had the same responsibilities. There are always opportunities for mixed loyalties, but Jesus specifically said … give up the world, pick up your cross, and follow me.
I could list the lessons of the Sermon on the Mount as a starting point for our responsibilities. However, most of you still remember that good old Golden Rule “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” If you are wondering, the Golden Rule is actually part of that very Sermon on the Mount and it’s not some catch phrase that an advertising agency came up with … it is a Jesus directive on how Christians … how His true followers are to live. You can read it in Luke chapter 6 or Matthew chapter 7. In a way that directive of Christ’s is about serving others and Jesus was very clear that we are to serve ALL others especially the poor and the broken. When we serve others … when we willingly and energetically rush across the roadways of life to help those who are broken and hurting regardless of who they are then our faith really works and when others notice that we are willing to serve others that will always give us an opportunity to share our faith, which is Jesus last directive for all of us. Because people will ask WHY IN THE WORLD are you helping ‘them.”
We heard this morning from the Prophet Jeremiah that same declaration from God. God is instituting a COVENANT, which is basically a binding agreement between the Creator and all of humanity. Frankly, because God is God and not a single one of us is God the responsibilities for humans are non-negotiable … if we want to align with God. If we want to be God’s people. If we want to serve God … it’s not like you can make a list of God rules that you don’t like because folks from your circle of friends don’t like those rules … God begins “I will put my instructions with them.” That basically directs us to read the Gospels because God spoke through Jesus and Jesus is our Savior, right?
I think that is a good starting point to pause on because Paul warns Timothy about false messengers who will claim to be Christians but actually be the antithesis of what God defines as a Christian … you all know what Jesus said, “EVERYONE will know that you are my disciples … IF YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER.” Note the words translated from the GREEK … John’s historical record of Jesus words since he was there he heard this statement with the clarity that we need to hear this morning and every day if we are choosing to SERVE GOD … TO LOVE GOD … TO OBEY GOD and to ACTUALLY and TRUTHFULLY be a CHRISTIAN rather than just misusing the name Christian like so many in our world do with great regularity. Jesus said “EVERYONE will know that YOU are my disciples.”
So, think for a second what your reputation is in this world amongst those who know you … what example you showcase about what matters to you or who matters to or who doesn’t … the words you use in the world and even here in church … Jesus was recorded STATING as only the Son of God could … “EVERYONE WILL KNOW THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES … IF YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER.” No exceptions to that Jesus fellow … it’s ironic that in this world we think that we get to line up those we love or perhaps I should say like because it seems so hard to love doesn’t it. We snicker and mock people using childish names just like junior high school kids knowing full well that mocking someone is the exact opposite of loving them as Jesus taught.
I know Darrin Brown and I have had conflicted baseball conversations because I HATE the Boston Red Sox, his team … although come to think of it David Ortiz was a pretty amazing player, and Carl Yastrzemski is a Hall of Famer and Ted Williams … I have his baseball card from the 1950’s. The Babe played for them too … so did Clemens before he made the right move to New York, so I guess competitiveness is not really hate because I don’t hate those players … I don’t even know them it’s just that I want my team to win every time they play Darrin’s team. Darrin knows I love him even though somehow; he was misguided at some moment of his life into becoming a Red Sox fan.
The reality of God … of ensuring Christianity stays strong and that the Christian church continues is no different today than when Paul wrote to Timothy and instructed him to take the responsibility of sharing Jesus’ teaching even though honestly Timothy was a weak young guy. It’s the same reality of God’s covenant with humanity … I will put my Instructions within them and engrave them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. They will no longer need to teach each other to say, “Know the LORD!” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD; for I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sins.”
The caveat being … that those who become God’s people actually put God’s instructions on our hearts and in our minds and focus on living them out through our words and actions … by serving God in this world so that God’s lessons on life shine out even in the dark moments of time. Paul writes to Timothy using that Greek phrase I have been emphasizing this month, sy de BUT AS FOR YOU …. “You must continue with the things that you have learned … the Holy Scriptures that help you to be wise in a way that leads to salvation through faith that’s in Christ Jesus.”
So, church I ask SY DE … but as for you … are you ready to serve God? Serve Jesus using the Gospels as your guide for life. None of us are perfect but we have God’s Word to hold onto to push us into the Light of Christ. BUT AS FOR YOU church …. “Every Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for training character so that the person who belongs to God can be equipped to do everything that is good.” Paul’s words for Timothy but also for you and me.
I would hope that each of us is well aware of how much God loves humanity. God made the active decision to bring Jesus into the world … the Messiah that the prophets predicted … the Savior … God with us, Immanuel. And, God instructed Jesus to provide teaching lessons of faith. Jesus Himself said, “I have not spoken on My own; instead, the Father who sent Me has commanded me what to say.”
It’s important to remember that the Gospels provide insight into what God wants and what God has to say. Paul realized in writing to Timothy that there would be those teachers who as Paul wrote would be “self-centered turning their back on the truth and turning to myths.” And that there would come a time when people who said they were aligned with Christ would “not tolerate sound teaching and would fall in alignment with these false teachers.” Paul told Timothy to “keep control of himself in all circumstances even to endure suffering” but to always hold true to Jesus words … the Gospels.
SY DE BUT AS FOR YOU… and as for me … the Gospels give our faith strength. The Gospels give our faith its guidance. Jesus teachings are easier than the prophets and far easier than Revelation to understand and they represent God’s expectations so if we are to serve God … we need to hear the Gospels … read them … embrace them … and reject the world. Are you willing to open them up once in a while? Once a week maybe?
Yesterday, a fellow pastor posted this reflection on why Nobel Peace Prize winning Bishop Desmond Tutu sensed a call from God to be a pastor. Tutu grew up in South Africa during the days of Apartheid, which were even worse than America’s Jim Crow days when black Americans were not allowed to go to the same bathrooms and drink from the same water fountains as whites. In South Africa if a black individual or black family were walking down the sidewalk and a white person was coming in the other direction they had to step off the sidewalk and bow to the white person. Tutu shared the story of the day his mother and he saw a white man in a black outfit heading towards them. They prepared to step aside and bow but the white man stepped off the side walk, greeted them with a smile and allowed them to walk on. Young Tutu asked his mother what had just happened, and she said, “That man is an Anglican priest, a man of God. He loves all of his neighbors equally.” The man’s name was Reverend Trevor Huddleston through his brief act of service and love he changed a young man’s heart strengthening his faith. A young man who would help make this world a better place.
We are called to activate our faith … we are directed by God to cross the road to care for those who are hurting … God insists that if we belong to God we must love all of our neighbors and that our reputation needs to be centered on our love. They will know that we are Christ’s disciples by our love … and if we don’t have love for all of our neighbors and are not in service for those who are hurting and poor and struggling then we need to make some rapid changes in our lives because the sweet woman I watched dying yesterday didn’t think she would be dying two weeks ago. “The person who belongs to God has been equipped to do everything that is good!” AMEN