Hog Shadows

I Love The Word (2 Timothy 3:1-4:8)

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Wed, 30 May 2012 18:44:00 +0000

Years ago, I was listening to ESPN’s Mike & Mike in the Morning radio program as I was getting ready for work in the morning. Big Mike Golic, formerly a journeyman defensive tackle in the NFL, was describing a particularly motivating halftime speech he remembered from his brother’s high school coach years ago. He said this feisty coach walked silently around the locker room for several minutes, looking carefully at the uniforms of each and every one of his players. And then the coach walked to the front of the locker room, looked his players directly in the eyes and angrily shouted, “Where’s the blood? Where’s the blood on your pads?” Fellas, don’t you understand the blood and guts, hard work, passion and determination necessary to win this game? Don’t you understand the attitude and effort absolutely necessary for victory? Fellas, there must be, there will be blood on your knees before this game is over!

And as I picture things, the Apostle Paul is giving Timothy the same sort of passionate speech in our Scripture passage today. I’ve been thinking of what it means to truly love God and fully love His Word. I was planning to talk very simply today about why we love the Bible, but the text led me in a slightly more blunt, forceful direction. It seems to me our passage today is essential to any understanding of what it means to love and to live by the Word. Scholars believe the great Apostle Paul is about to be beheaded by Nero along the Ostian Way and, judging from the comments he makes in our passage today, our dear friend Paul seems to know what is coming. But before Paul departs, he wants to ensure the baton, the mantle of his spiritual leadership, is properly passed to his young disciple. And so Paul has encouraged Timothy to be unashamed, to be a good steward of the gifts God has given him and to stay away from unproductive spiritual arguments that accomplish nothing. But now the great Apostle Paul gets to the powerful centerpiece of his letter; he gets to the bloody, challenging, Bible part of the story.

But mark this: there will be terrible [the same word used by Matthew to describe the demoniacs] times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed [uneducated, vulnerable] women [what matters for the illustration is the fact that they are weak-willed, not the fact that they are women], who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres [traditionally two magicians who] opposed Moses [in Exodus 7], so also these men oppose the truth--men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings--what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them [although Paul suffered very badly on each occasion!]. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction for the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry; for I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

My dear Timothy, there will be blood in this game! Dear Timothy, you must understand three key things about what it means to love the Word in the world you’re living in…

Your Times Son, you must first understand the times in which you minister. These last days will not be characterized by great faithfulness and tender receptivity to the things of God. You are called to minister not in easy, but in truly terrible times. And folks, do you notice the evil people the Apostle Paul is describing in this passage are not monsters attacking from outside the church, but evil people worming their way around inside it? Note that this laundry list of evil behavior will be displayed by people “who have a form of religion, but deny its power.” The nasty and broken people the Apostle Paul wants Timothy to be ready for are people who will attempt to destroy the faith from within; evil people and religious imposters. My dear Tim, you must understand the times. There will be blood all over you before this game is over!

Gordon McDonald told a great story in a sermon years ago. He described how, “In the 1920s, on the heels of the Bolshevik Revolution when the dictator Joseph Stalin was extending his chokehold over all of what became the Soviet Union, he sent political speakers out to Russian towns and villages to brainwash the people about Marxism and the Russian form of Communism. Peasants were forced to hear the harangues telling them what they must believe. It was made clear that the teaching of Christian faith was to come to an immediate end. The church was no longer to be active. But what none of them realized was that hundreds of years of Russian Orthodox teaching about the resurrection couldn't be rubbed out of people's souls just like that. One large crowd of people sitting in a public auditorium listened for three hours to the speech of a Russian commissar as he tried to convert them to Marxism and the glories of the Communist party. When he finished, he was exhausted, but he had taken his best shot. He was sure he had convinced the crowd, so he invited questions. Here and there people rose to ask questions, but he was satisfied he had done his best. Just as things were about to end, and he was to sign his success seal over what he had done, a Russian Orthodox priest stood up at the back of the hall: "I just have one thing to say to you. Christ is risen!" Instantly the entire crowd responded, "Christ is risen, indeed!’”

A riveting and courageous story, right? But on the sermon tape I heard, George McDonald continued this illustration by saying, “Folks, this is the third time I've told that story this morning. At the end of the second worship hour, a couple came up and introduced themselves. The women said to me in a heavy accent, "I am from Russia. Thank you for telling your story; it moved me greatly. But I must tell you one more thing about that story, which you did not tell. You need to tell people that when the crowd said 'Christ is risen indeed!' those people knew for certain they would all go to jail.’”

We must not shallowly tease ourselves into thinking following Jesus will be painless or easy. We must not be terribly surprised at the difficulties and resistance we experience, even (and maybe especially) from some people within the church. We must not be surprised at the nasty weeds we discover growing even right here among the wheat. We must understand the challenging times in which we are called to follow God. As the great evangelist D.L. Moody said many years ago, “I thought when I became a Christian I had nothing to do but just to lay my oars in the bottom of the boat and float blissfully along. But I soon found that I would have to [row hard] against the current.” This ministry stuff is never easy, Tim! There will always be blood on the pads before this game is done. We must understand the times we live in!

Your Foundation And because all this is true, Timothy, you must understand and fully embrace the Bible foundation of your ministry. My dear Tim, even though all this other terrible, depressing stuff is true, you don’t have a thing in the world to worry about because you know that these terrible, demonic people and challenging times will pass away. They will be exposed for what they are. They will not stand in the coming storm because they have no sure foundation as you do. But you will stand! Simply “continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Timothy, this is what it means to truly love the Word of God – to love the Bible. As long as you cling to the sure and certain foundation of the Word of God, you will have nothing to worry about. You will be thoroughly equipped for every good work God calls you to accomplish. The only way any of us will victoriously weather the terrible storms coming our way is by clinging to our sure and certain foundation; the Word of God. We know the people who have taught it to us. We know enough about the Bible to know we will be safe in the Bible’s arms. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we know only the Bible can equip us for every good work.

Susan Wright of Florida told a wonderful story many years ago about the Bible. She said, “while sitting next to my first grade daughter during our morning worship service, I noticed her look down intently at my open Bible. In a low whisper, she asked, "Did God really write all that, Mommy?" "Yes," I quietly whispered back. Looking down carefully at my Bible again, my little girl then said in amazement, "Wow! He really has neat handwriting!’”

Yes, He does, sweetie; oh, yes He does! You have no idea…

When Joshua took over leadership from Moses on the eve of entering the bloody battlefields of the Promised Land with the people of God, the first chapter of Joshua tells us God told him adamantly that the Word of God was going to be a fundamental source of his strength and courage. In Joshua 1:7-8, we hear Almighty God saying to Joshua “be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” Joshua, understand, my dear son, that only this Book is your sure and certain foundation in a very terrible time. As Martin Luther was famous for saying, “The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me.” I love the Word! I truly love the Word! My dear Timothy, let the Word of God speak to you, let it run after you, let it lay hold of you with both fists so that you will be well-equipped to face the terrible times in store for you!

Your Calling Then third and finally, Tim, understand what you have been called by Almighty God to accomplish in this terrible world. Tim, before God in heaven, you must understand your calling. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction for the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Understand your true calling! Love the Word, son! Love the Word with all your heart, soul and strength! Preach the Word, not your opinions. Be ready even when it isn’t convenient. Patiently correct, rebuke and encourage. Keep your head, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist. And do your duty, son, do your duty! In view of the coming Christ and His kingdom, understand the calling you have received. Understand the tasks you have been assigned and get down to doing them! Timothy, my time here is coming quickly to an end. I have fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. I am not sad. I am not scared. I am not ashamed or feeling abandoned by God in any way. I am anticipating a crown at the end of all this! And you can too, my dear Tim! You can too! But you must understand your path to victory will not be a painless or easy one. Of course, you won’t regret it. The further in and up with God you go, the further in and up you’ll want to go. But you will need to choose this holy, biblical path on a daily basis. You will need to make daily decisions about what sort of foundation and calling you’re going to embrace as you live and work in the times to come.

Understand your calling! Understand and fully embrace the biblical calling you received!

James Guthrie, a Scottish Covenant martyr who was beheaded for his faith on the first of June, 1661, woke up from a deep and comfortable sleep in his death row cell on the morning of his execution. His servant beside him was weeping for his master’s soon coming execution, and the good and courageous Guthrie immediately and sternly interrupted him and said, “Stop that at once! This is the day that the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

Perpetua, an early church martyr executed in the arena at Carthage in North Africa on the 2nd of March in the year 203 AD, on the day they took her out into the gladiatorial arena to be cruelly mauled by wild beasts and then beheaded by the executioner, reportedly proclaimed loudly and proudly on the way to her death: “This is my day of coronation.”

My dear Tim, there will be blood in this game!

There will be many terrible times ahead. But there will be rejoicing, a coronation and a crown in store for us if we will cling to our biblical foundation and calling. We’ve got the powerful Word of God to guide us through all this tough stuff… Loving the Word of God means muscularly, intentionally embracing the Word of God.

My dear Timothy, my dear Darlington, may God help each one of us properly understand our times, our Bible foundation and the incredible importance of our calling! May we too long for His appearing so profoundly that when our time comes, we too will face our end, our coronation, with rejoicing!

An Iowa woman named Adelaide Pollard, serving as a speech teacher in Chicago, was struggling with obeying God about something she felt God was calling her to do. She longed to serve as a missionary, but ill health prevented her. Before WWI, she did eventually go as a missionary to South Africa, but ended up getting sent to Scotland because of the war. She eventually returned and finished her life in New York, dying in 1934. But out of her struggle to obey God, to truly guide her life by his Word, to flesh out what it meant for her to preach His Word, she wrote a simple poem which has now come down to us as a prayer song. As we all also wonder how God might be uniquely calling us to truly love and preach His Word, please pray with me as I sing this song of consecration...

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.

Mold me and make me after Thy will,

While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Search me and try me, Master, today!

Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,

As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!

Power, all power, surely is Thine!

Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Hold o’er my being absolute sway!

Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see

Christ only, always, living in me.

Father, as Francis of Assisi said so many years ago, help us to preach your word always, in all we do and, if necessary, use words. Help us to love and live your Word in all we do. Have your way in our lives. Amen.

Graduation Day!

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Sun, 27 May 2012 12:46:00 +0000

A Tesia Daddy Shot

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Sun, 20 May 2012 00:19:00 +0000

A Lovely Morning

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Sun, 20 May 2012 00:09:00 +0000

Goat Island Morning

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Sun, 20 May 2012 00:05:00 +0000

East Bay Bike Trail

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:24:00 +0000

There is an amazing bike/walking trail that begins in Bristol, Rhode Island and goes all the way to Providence. If the Energizer Bunny had her way, I suspect we would have done even more of it than we did. But the day was absolutely perfect and the trail truly beautiful - we put on some significant miles. We took a diversion from the East Bay trail into the trails of the Colt State Park, which was also pretty breathtaking. Tomorrow we'll explore Goat Island.

Rhode Island is a real walker's paradise!

Fish & Chips for Moni

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:19:00 +0000

The EB has been looking forward to getting some good fish and chips almost since we arrived. After our mega trail walk today, we stopped at a very nice restaurant at the end of the trail that served a very nice plate of fish and chips. So Monica ordered a gordita and I ordered the fish and chips...I had a perfect opportunity for a nice cheeseburger, but she's been talking about fish and chips so much, I ordered the fish instead. I regret the decision. For the silly amount of money I spent, a burger would have been better. Nobody starved I guess and we didn't have to pay anything extra for the sunshine, but I'm going to squash any further talk of fish and chips!

A man has to dance with the one who brung him, am I right?

American Beauties

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:17:00 +0000

Shots from the Bristol Yacht Club...there's just something intrinsically lovely about a beautiful boat in the sunshine. Truly a rich man's plaything, but such a lovely plaything!

A Bristol Turkey

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:14:00 +0000

This guy seemed to think I was getting too close to his ladies...

Love Is Life

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:08:00 +0000

The Cliff Walk trail in Newport, Rhode Island is truly a must walk trail. It is not only a breathtaking glimpse of the ocean coastline, there are views of some very beautiful mansions. But even this trail has its vandals I guess. Is painting a nice message about love on someone else's property a loving thing to do? I doubt it...

Time For Big Guns

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:06:00 +0000

Texting The Boy

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:19:00 +0000

To conclude that Maria has been a teensy bit distracted this trip would be the understatement of the year! She has something of a date coming up...bless you, Maria! May the visit be more than all you could possibly ask or imagine!

Moni Leading The PT

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:45:00 +0000

Eisenhower Home

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:43:00 +0000

President Eisenhower's summer White House from 1958-1960.

Chiclets at Fort Adams

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:41:00 +0000

View From Our Condo

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:40:00 +0000

Views From Fort Adams

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:38:00 +0000

The Clingstone House. True to its name, this hard-to-ignore, privately-owned Jamestown house perches atop a rock in Narragansett Bay called Dumplings Island, which is a bit south of Jamestown's harbor and the Newport (Pell) Bridge. It overlooks, and can be seen from Newport's harbor. According to "Historic and Architectural Resources of Jamestown, Rhode Island", there are multiple versions of how the house came to be designed and built. There is, however, agreement that the house was built in 1902-1905 for Lovering Wharton, whose family summer home had been condemned in order to build Fort Wetherill. Described as an overgrown bungalow‑chalet, the house is three and one‑half stories tall. Constructed with heavy mill‑type framing, it was designed to withstand hurricane force winds. Shingled inside as well as out, the rugged interior features massive beachstone fireplaces, burlap covered ceilings, many picture windows and natural ventilation. The 1938 hurricane caused considerable damage, but the structure remained sound. After standing abandoned and sad-looking for decades, it was purchased and renovated by the present owner; bringing back to life a most interesting and unusual house.

Moni Before The Storm

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:32:00 +0000

Summering In Newport

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:30:00 +0000

Kennedy Wedding Chapel

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:26:00 +0000

John F. Kennedy and wife Jackie Bouvier got married here.

This Year's Offical Red Sweater Picture

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:21:00 +0000

Mansion Self-Portraits

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:51:00 +0000

Love Is Life

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:49:00 +0000

Cliff Walking Evening

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:47:00 +0000

Three Babes On A Walk

noreply@blogger.com (The Ground Hog) — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:46:00 +0000