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Pentecost and Peter and the first great
sermon of the new era. Andrew and Barnabas, and yes, Ananias
and Saphria in their greed. Philip and the Ethiopian. We have
tracked the early days of the early church in these first
eight chapters of the book of Acts to try to catch a glimpse
from the first century of what God might have in mind for us
in the twenty-first century; to discover what it means to be a
model New Testament Church for today.
Now fast-forward…
I realize we are skipping over the greatest
missionary of all, St. Paul; and the great missionary
expansion of the church. We are skipping over the stories of
church planters and pastors like Lydia and Priscilla, Aquilla
and Timothy, skipping over the first great struggle in the
church, the Jerusalem Conference and the debate over
inclusivity—some things never change.
I encourage you to read the whole book and
find your way to the last chapter, chapter 28. St. Paul has
been taken to Rome as a state prisoner. We now find him under
house arrest, but basically free to continue his teaching and
preaching from his living room. Luke says he lived there two
whole years and welcomed all who came to him, preaching the
kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And
you get to this point and you want to say, “Then what? What
happened next? Where’s chapter 29?”
To find an answer, you can go all the way
to the end of those years and the last of Paul’s letters.
Still a prisoner in Rome, he writes his last letter to his
young friend Timothy, just before his own death.
In Chapter three he describes the days he
sees ahead…
“But understand this, that in the last
days there will come times of stress. For people will be
lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive,
disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman,
implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good,
treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of
pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding the form of
religion, but denying the power of it.”
And into that kind of a world, Paul
commissions Timothy with his final message in Chapter four.
St. Paul is turning the work over to the next generation,
the passing of the task and the torch, the
commissioning of Timothy to carry on the unfinished work of
Christ in the world, to write the next chapter in Acts.
1. Preach the word, be
urgent in season and out of season, do the work of an
evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
The task is passed on to Timothy, then down
the generations until it is passed on to us. Around here we
say our task is to:
“Gather, nurture and equip persons
for mission and ministry in the name of Christ.”
The calling to share the word. The work of
spreading the good news. The ministry of caring and teaching,
nurturing and encouraging in the spirit of the Christ.
Lloyd John Ogilvie , retired chaplain of
the Senate, great Presbyterian preacher, says:
“Acts ends abruptly, like an unfinished
symphony. I think that is exactly what Luke intended. It was
not the closing of an age, but the beginning of the era of the
Holy Spirit at work.
This last chapter of the Book of Acts
thunders for me with the challenge that we are to write the
new chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in our time.”
(Drumbeat of Love, page 282)
And to quote my preacher brother:
“When you get tangled up with Jesus
Christ, you become a person with a mission. You become a
person called, chosen, appointed. You have a task to do. The
primary purpose of the Christian faith is not to get you on
your knees so you can be pious; the primary purpose of the
Christian faith is to get you on your feet so you can be
counted in this world.” (Obligation Without Apology,
Oct. 1, 1985.) Wish I had said that…maybe I’ll say it
again.
This stewardship campaign is critical to
the witness and mission of this congregation. The calling is
for all of us to accept our place, our part, our task in this
mission. Every time we receive new members, we remind
ourselves of the commitment “to support the church with our
prayers, presence, gifts and service”. It’s not an option,
but an obligation.
Preach the word.
Be urgent in season and out of season.
Do the work of an evangelist.
2. And Paul reminds him to keep the
faith.
I can’t tell you how many times I have
quoted St. Paul’s epitaph over the graves of saints in the
life of the church. It is Paul’s last word, the final summary
of his life and work:
“I have fought the good
fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”
Because, quite honestly, some have not.
Paul says Demas, in love with the world,
deserted him. Crescens departed the mission and went to
Galatia. Titus has gone off to Dalmatia. Alexander, the
coppersmith, did him great harm. When he went before the
courts, no one stood by him. He warns Timothy that the time is
coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having
itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to
suit their own likings. They will turn away from listening to
the truth and wander into myths. In the light of all of this,
“Timothy, keep the faith.”
It’s the call to keep the church focused on
its central message: God’s love made known in Jesus Christ;
to hold fast to the bedrock conviction of the Gospel, that God
was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself and has given
us the ministry of reconciliation; to remember the central
claims of the Gospel: Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the
Life.”
So keep the faith.
3. .…And Timothy, come before
winter.
The third request to Timothy is really a
poignant appeal. Just come. Come now. Bring my books, my
cloak, but just come. I need your companionship. I need you.
Clarence Edward MacCartney was one of the
great preachers in a day of great preachers in the early and
mid-1900’s. Just before his death in 1957 he was asked about
his favorite sermon. He replied that his favorite sermon in
all of his years of preaching was one entitled “Come Before
Winter,” based on this text from Paul’s letter to Timothy.
His congregation asked him to preach it every autumn, which he
did for many years.
He reminds us that in those days, seafaring
was a dangerous task, and in the Mediterranean it was most
dangerous in the winter…dangerous enough that, like the Great
Lakes, the shipping lanes would shut down until spring. So St.
Paul--alone, under house arrest, deserted by some of his
companions, and longing for the companionship of his young
prodigy, entreats Timothy to come quickly. Oh Timothy, come
before winter.
MacCartney says:
“Before winter or never! There are some
things which will never be done unless they are done before
winter. The winter will come and the winter will pass, and
the flowers of springtime will deck the breast of the earth
and the graves of some of our opportunities, perhaps the grave
of our dearest friend. There are golden gates wide open this
autumn day, but by next autumn, or even by spring, they will
be forever shut.
Before winter…or never.”
You see, there are some things which must
be done today. Gifts to be shared. Love to be expressed.
-Our opportunity to impact the
world for Jesus Christ
-Our one chance to make a
difference in the lives of our youth
-Our only moment for caring
ministry, compassionate service, to be done today, or never.
MacCartney says:
“Christ never says ‘tomorrow,’ but
always ‘today.’ If you can find me one place in the Bible
where the Holy Spirit says ‘Believe in Christ tomorrow,’ or
‘Repent and be saved tomorrow,’ I will come down out of the
pulpit and stay out of it, for I would have no Gospel to
preach. The spirit never says ‘tomorrow,’ but always
‘today.’”
We don’t know if Timothy ever made it to
Rome. MacCartney describes Timothy back in Ephesus, receiving
this letter. Suppose he said “Yes, I will start out for Rome,
but first, I’ve got stuff to take care of here, take care of
business, clean up some things here before I go.” Finally, he
gets around to leaving and tries to find a ship to take him
westward to Rome, only to discover that the last ship has
already sailed…no more ships until April.
Imagine Timothy, all through the anxious
winter, reproaching himself for not going at once, regretting
his delay. Finally, spring arrives. He is there at the dock
for the first ship to set sail. MacCartney says:
I can see him landing at Neapolis,
hurrying up to Rome. There he seeks out Paul’s prison, only to
be repulsed by the guard. He seeks out the house of Claudia,
or Pudens and the gathering of disciples and he asks where he
can find Paul.
I can hear them say: “And are you
Timothy? Didn’t you know he was beheaded in December? Every
time the jailer put the key in the door of his cell, Paul
thought you were coming. His last message was ‘Give my love
to Timothy when he comes.’ ”
You see there are some things which must be
done before winter…or never. I don’t want to be maudlin, or
overly dramatic, but don’t you think Bo would have loved to
have had just one more day? That’s what we all hope for, and
it’s also the title of Mitch Alboms’s latest book…”one more
day.” But don’t you get the point? As much as we would all
like “one more day,” today truly is the only
day we have. Today…before winter.
This is our day, our time to write the next
chapter of the Book of Acts. Today is our time to preach the
word and keep the faith. Therefore, come before winter.
NOTES:
Clarence Edward MacCartney’s classic sermon
has been quoted and used by a multitude of preachers,
sometimes with or without proper recognition. It was published
in Christianity Today on Oct. 22, 1976, and the
quotations I have used come from that version. It was
originally preached at the First Presbyterian Church in
Pittsburgh, and the congregation requested that he preach it
every autumn, which he did for many years. You can find it in
volumes of MacCartney’s sermons available through our virtual
bookstore on our website, or at amazon.com.
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