The Get Away (2 Timothy 2:20-26)

The Get Away
2 Timothy 2:20-26

INTRODUCTION:
In October 2016, I held a gospel meeting at the church of Christ in Godley, TX where my mission-work co-worker preaches. We have been friends and worked in Romania together all the way back since 1995. The year Rachel and I got married is the year our friends decided to look into doing mission work in Romania. In October 2016, we traveled down to TX for me to hold a gospel meeting for that congregation. Daren and Julie have three children - the two oldest are very close to Jewell and Ana’s ages.

While we were there, our friends took us on a couple of site-seeing trips. One of the trips was to the Paluxy River bed in Glen Rose, TX about 30 minutes away. The Paluxy River bed is famous for having what appear to be footprints of dinosaurs embedded in the footprints of a human. But, we were walking around the river bed and went up on the bank of the river to walk along the trail. As we were walking, one of the kids saw an armadillo on the other side of a barb wire fence. He was just sitting there minding his own business.

But, I can’t leave well enough alone. I say, “Hey, somebody throw a stick at the armadillo and let’s see if he moves.” We talked about it and decided to try it. I can’t remember if it was me or someone else who threw the stick. It may have been Daren’s teenage son, Braden. We expected the armadillo to wander off away from us, away from the direction of the stick being thrown.

But it did not! That little armadillo ran straight at us! We all yelled, jumped back and the armadillo ran over the foot of Daren & Julie’s teenage daughter, Kailey, and she screamed the loudest! That little armadillo startled all of us at the time but we’ve had some laughs since then.

We normally try to get away from those things that startle us.

Back in the early summer or late spring, Rachel and I went bike riding with Jim and Tanya Watson of the Mount Morris congregation on the Columbiaville to Otter Lake bike trail. Jim preaches for the Mount Morris congregation. No, I have not asked Jim’ permission to tell this story and yes, if you know Jim feel free to tell him that he made it into my sermon today. He and his daughters, who come to our FUEL, like to make fun of me for my southern accent so I’m going to tell you this story…

Rachel and Tanya were riding on the bike trail in front and Jim and I were in back, talking away. Rachel was riding in front of Jim and as we were riding down the path, Rachel all of a sudden yelled out - “I ran over a snake!” And Jim all of a sudden, pulled his feet up off the pedals, squealed like a little school girl and nearly lost control of his bicycle! That was hilarious. I turned around to go back to see if I could see the snake but he had already slithered into the grass, probably looking for some ben gay for his back ache.

Normally, we try to get away from those things that startle us. What we need to do is “get away” from sinful behaviors that will keep us out of heaven. Last week, we studied the “compassionate Father” from Psalm 128 and how God wants us to fear Him and walk in His ways. One aspect of walking in the ways of God is to avoid sinful behaviors. God’s grace will forgive us of sin but His grace will not forgive us if we persist in sinful behaviors.

Our text will come from 2 Timothy 2…

WE NEED TO BE A “VESSEL FOR HONOR” - 2 Timothy 2:20-21:
Paul begins this context with an illustration from everyday life - the differences between items we have in our homes. We have expensive items, gold and silver, which are used on special occasions. Rachel and I have some crystal ware which she bought when she sold Princess House crystal. If you have ever eaten at our house, we’ve probably fed you on crystal ware but we don’t use it for everyday use. Quite frankly, it’s because I am likely to break something the more I handle it. I am the only one, in our family, who has ever broken any dishes in our house. Honestly. So, Rachel wants to protect the crystal ware from me!

Paul writes that we also have common, everyday-use items - “vessels of wood, earthenware.” We normally use Corel plates and bowls for our daily use. Of course, if we really want to avoid washing dishes, we’ll use paper plates and paper cups, knives, spoons, forks, etc. They are cheaper and easier to replace. For Paul in the first century, household items which were cheaper and easier to replace were items of wood and pottery.

Some things are vessels “to honor” (that is, they are more expensive and so used on special occasions) and vessels “to dishonor” (less expensive and so used on a daily basis).

In verse 21, Paul makes the spiritual application - “so make yourself clean from all evil… (ETR)” From what things? From dishonorable things - that is, from sinful things, sinful behaviors, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified by the blood of Christ (set aside for special use by Jesus Christ), useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

Non-Christians are less useful to the cause of Christ because their lives are immersed in sin and it is hard to lead someone out of sin when you are immersed in it. It’s hard to be an ambassador for Jehovah God when you serve the devil. So Paul says, “cleanse yourself from sinful things.”

WE NEED TO GET AWAY FROM YOUTHFUL LUSTS - 2 Tim 2:22:
He repeats his basic thought here in verse 22 when he says, “Flee from youthful lusts.” You understand that the apostle Paul is in his sixties, probably (the best we can guess) and Timothy, his young friend and protégée is maybe in his thirties, late twenties. Paul had already told Timothy once, in 1 Timothy 6:11 to “flee” sinful behaviors, specifically the love of money (from that context). Paul writes 2 Timothy from prison, at the end of his life, just 2-3 years after he writes 1 Timothy. But Paul tells Timothy again, “flee youthful lusts.” Flee sinful behaviors.

Both John the baptist and Jesus warned their audiences multiple times to “flee the wrath to come.” I believe their immediate context was the wrath of God coming on the city of Jerusalem but the wrath of God is still on its way, to destroy sin, the devil, and all those who have not given their lives faithfully to Jesus Christ.

Paul here says to “flee youthful lusts.” In fact, in the original language, “youthful lusts” is first in the sentence so that it reads: “youthful lusts, flee!” That emphasizes the need to grow out of sinful desires, passions, and behaviors that we practice when we are young and immature. This is the only place in the Scriptures where “youthful” is found. There really are no sins that are unique to being a young person. A young person can pretty much commit just about any sin that an older person can commit. The emphasis is not on a sin you commit when you are young; the emphasis is on sins you have not quit practicing.

When we are young, we might lose our temper. We need to grow out of that sinful behavior. We need to quit practicing it.

When we are young, we might gossip. We need to grow out of that sinful behavior… Lying. Lusting (1 Cor. 6:18, Paul says “flee immorality”). Selfishness. Trusting in ourselves that we know what is best for our own situations (1 Cor. 10:14, Paul says, “flee idolatry.”) Every sin we can commit, we might have committed, when we were young but we need to quit them. We need to get away from them, knowing that sin - any sin - will keep us out of heaven. We need to flee sinful behaviors with more seriousness and more passion, and more determination than when our friends got away from that armadillo in TX or Jim Watson got his feet away from that snake on the bicycle trail. If we don’t stop sinful behaviors, it is obvious that we don’t understand the seriousness of sin.

We need to get away from sin. But, we must put something in its place…

WE NEED TO PURSUE - 2 Tim 2:22:
Back in Luke 11:24-26, Jesus tells a parable that teaches us if we remove the bad, an unclean spirit, but we do not replace the bad with the good, then things are going to get worse! We can get away from youthful lusts but if we don’t replace bad habits, bad behaviors with good habits and good behaviors, then we’re going to go right back to our old way of life and things can be worse than they were before.

Flee youthful lusts, Paul says, and pursue:

Righteousness (ETR - “live right”) - living right as God defines it, not as our culture defines what is right or I want to believe what is right. “Righteousness” is defined in God’s word as what God says is “right.”

Pursue: Faith. Instead of trusting in how our friends or family tell us how we ought to behave, we must trust God’s word to direct our lives in the way God wants us to live. Trust God and live the way He tells us to live.

Pursue (#3): love. The greatest commandments are to love God supremely and love our neighbor sacrificially. If we love other people, even if we disagree with them (which is what Paul is about to discuss), then we will treat them honorably, respectfully, kindly, and gently. Speak to them, with them, about them, in such a way as to help direct them toward Jesus Christ. Let’s not allow our hateful behavior nudge people away from becoming Christians.

Pursue: peace. Pursue peace with God, which is available only through Jesus Christ. Pursue peace with other people. Back in Romans 12, Paul indicates to us that it is not possible always to live in peace with other people (Romans 12:18). Notice that in two different ways, Paul recognizes that it is not always possible to live at peace with all men: “if possible,” he says, and “so far as it depends on you.”

How do you live in peace with all men? First, you recognize that men and women have free will. God gave that to them and, whether their views are right or wrong, they have the right to hold those views. Secondly, we need to gently, calmly, lovingly discuss with them how we believe their views are wrong, according to the Scriptures (that’s what Paul is about to discuss). Thirdly, if they accept that their wrong views are wrong according to the Scriptures, then great. But, if they refuse to accept their wrong views are wrong, then we have to acknowledge that and continue being friends with them as far as the Scriptures will allow us to be friends. If we can’t be brothers and sisters in Christ, then we can be friends. What we don’t want to do is burn bridges of communication for it is for sure that if we act in such a way as to burn the bridge of communication, we’ll never be able to influence them for the good and the right. So, pursue peace “with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” These will be people whose heart leads them to serve and follow Jesus Christ. They “call on Him from a pure heart.” That is, they follow Christ, obey Him with pure motives.
Back in 1 Timothy 6:11, where Paul tells Timothy the first time to flee sinful behaviors, he told Timothy to pursue, not just righteousness, faith, and love, but he also tells Timothy to pursue:

Godliness (ETR - “be devoted to God”) - Godliness is living like God (literally). It means to live as holy as we can in order to reflect the nature of God in our lives as best we can. The decisions that we make… are they moving us closer to the nature of God or are they drawing us further from the nature of God?

Perseverance (ETR “patience”) — This is bearing up under pressure, the pressures of life — the hard decisions in life that come because we have so many stresses that are bearing on our minds and hearts that - if we are not careful - Satan can use to distract us from being faithful to Christ in our hearts and in our behavior. Stick with being faithful - that’s perseverance - even if life gets to be challenging.

And gentleness - When we went door-knocking a few Saturdays ago, we ran into a few people who wanted to tell us that door-knocking as we were doing was illegal. It was not. First, they claimed our door-knocking was illegal without even asking if we had gotten the township’s permission to door-knock. Secondly, I went and asked personally at the township office if we needed to do anything to get permission to door-knock. After some discussion with a worker there and reading the law ourselves and leaving and waiting for her to talk to her superiors and contact me back, we decided that the church did not even need permission, at least nothing in a written form. So, what we did was not illegal.

We also had an atheist call the office and talk to Dona and complain that what we left with her was offensive since she was an atheist. It is easy to mock her and say sarcastic things to her and about her but putting her down does nothing to lead her to Christ. I know Dona and I know Dona gave her a soft answer which turned away wrath.

What about those who do not call on God out of a pure heart? How do we treat those who refuse to repent, to modify their behavior to bring it within the boundaries of Christ’s word? How do we treat them? First…

WE NEED TO REFUSE - 2 Tim 2:23:
Paul says refuse to get into an argument with people who simply do not know what they are talking about. It was Richard Nixon who famously said, “You can’t out puke a buzzard.” Christians do not need to get into the mud with people who want to argue, sometimes just for the sake of arguing. In the world of politics, they say you should take the “moral high ground.” That is absolutely correct when it comes to defending the gospel of Christ. Make sure you always take the moral high ground.

Many years ago, back when debates, religious debates, were widely practiced, there was a member of the church of Christ who entered into a debate with a denominational preacher about the subject of baptism for the forgiveness of sins versus salvation through faith only. The denominational preacher got up and gave a very long, eloquent speech on the necessity of faith and faith only. The preacher in the church of Christ got up and read Acts 2:38, emphasizing the words baptism is “for the forgiveness of sins.” That’s practically all he said. The denominational preacher got up, mocked the preacher for his simple speech, and then entered into his second affirmative argument on salvation by faith only. The preacher from the church got back up and said, “Acts 2:38 still says baptism is for the forgiveness of sins.”

You know, you can defend the truth without being argumentative. It has taken me personally a long time to realize that. But all we need to do is follow Paul’s pattern he has outlined here in this specific text. First, refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.

A few years ago, Bill Maguffee and I were in a Bible study with a man and this man wanted to say that baptism in water was not required for the forgiveness of sins. He said baptism that saves is a “dry baptism” - that was the phrase he used. Well, I did not say this to him but that’s just a foolish statement. You can’t make up stuff and believe you’ll be right with God. You can’t twist the Scriptures and make God’s word say what you want it to say. There’s no such thing as a “dry baptism” in the Scriptures. I asked the man that if God had wanted to really teach that baptism, immersion, in water really was for the forgiveness of sins, how should God have worded it so there would be no debate, no doubt, no confusion on the subject. But he did not have the answer to that question.

In fleeing youthful lusts, flee being argumentative, even when you are defending the truth. Finally…

WE NEED TO BE KIND - 2 Tim 2:24-26:
Don’t be quarrelsome, Paul tells Timothy. Teach the truth. Defend the truth. Point out where error is found. But do so without being argumentative. We simply don’t have to do that. But listen to what Paul says:

Be kind to all. Even in the midst of disagreement over religion and politics. You know, if I can’t be friends with a liberal Democrat, there might be something wrong with my religion. I am politically as far from a liberal Democrat as I can get but if I can’t be friends with such a person, there’s probably something wrong with my Christianity. Be kind to all.

Thirdly, be able to teach. If we are in religious discussions, it would greatly help if we knew our friend’s position, religiously speaking. First, try to understand before you try to be understood. I try not to criticize other religions until I’ve read what they believe, from their own mouths, their own books. That’s why I’ve read the Koran and about a dozen books on Islamic theology written by their own scholars. That’s why I’ve read John Calvin’s writings and other writings that are held in high esteem by denominations. Know what they believe. And know what the Bible teaches. Study God’s word and know what the Bible teaches.

Be patient when wronged. Remember what I said about perseverance? It is hard to not respond negatively when someone treats us negatively. We think we have to treat them the way they treated us. They are rude to us; we’re rude to them. But that’s not what Jesus would want us to do. Be patient when wronged. Pray for your family and friends and be patient.

(verse 25) Be gentle when you correct those who are in opposition to the truth. Put yourself in the other person’s position and ask yourself, how would you want someone to correct you if you believed something that might be wrong. You would not want your intelligence insulted. You would not want your sincerity questioned. Don’t question other people’s intelligence. Don’t question other people’s sincerity. Yes, they can be quite intelligent but still be wrong. They can be very sincere but be wrong. Be gentle.

Because, God might, perhaps, grant them repentance - time to repent and perhaps touch a cord in their heart that might lead them to repent - and lead them to knowing the truth. Ignorance can keep us from heaven. That’s why we need knowledge, knowledge from God’s word. They might come to their senses, like the prodigal son when he was in the pig pen (remember that sermon?). These non-Christians might come to their senses and, through obeying the truth, escape the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

The devil loves nothing more than to spread lies about what God expects from mankind, to twist the words of Scripture to make people believe something that isn’t true, and then lead people to eternal damnation. That’s what we’re trying to stop in the hearts and lives as many people as we can reach. We’re after winning souls rather than just winning arguments.

Take home message: Get away from sinful behaviors and follow the pattern of life that leads to salvation: Righteousness. Faith. Love. Peace. Kindness. Patience. Gentleness. Knowledge.