OUR SUNDAY MESSAGE: THE FAITHFUL SAYING 2 Tim 2:11-13 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. 12 If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. 13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The timing of this book was when Paul was prisoner in Rome – his second which was more severe. He was in chains and with no hope of being released but be judged and executed. Christians were violently persecuted They were killed and died some deaths full of mockery – some would be covered with skins of beasts and left to be torn by dogs, some nailed to crosses, burnt in fire .You will notice how he opened the chapter, urging Timothy to be strong in the grace that is Jesus Christ. This was a very tempting period when preachers could easily chose to zip their mouths for the sake of safety. This was the time if you would openly identify yourself as a Christian will be putting yourself at risk of arrest and eventually death by torture. After looking at what Paul was going through, it as very possible for Timothy to think otherwise for the sake of his life. Thus you would see Paul giving this strong emphasis: This is a faithful saying! Ishoko razvokwadi. Trouble may grow to the extent that you think Jesus did not do enough, but one you need to for sure is He remains our Lord – Faithful as ever. 1. It is a true saying that if you died with Him – you shall also live with Him In this passage we see the key steps to glory. If we have Christ, implications is our old self is dead, Christ lives in us, our whole life is of Christ, we live not our own life but that of Christ. As He dies we die also and we will live and our miserable body will remain buried. Christ is life. In our new life with Him; we will walk in Christ, talk Christ, think Christ, do Christ etc. Whatever we do, it will be sorely dependant on what Christ wants. Salvation / holiness brings benefits in the life today and the one to come (Psalms 112:1-9). When Christ is us, we are a new creation. Christ when He went to the cross He became:The poorest , with no home, field, blankets, money, food (2 Corinthians 8:9.) - So that we could be rich. He became The most wicked (He took the sin of the world, stood accused) - so we could be right, with no record of sin anymore. He carried the most unhealthy body to the cross, - for our sake so we could arise in utmost health. Colossians2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. Because we received Him - walk in Him, rooted in Him, and built up in Him. We no longer live, but He lives in us. Nothing can take our joy in Christ, hunger, joblessness, increased tax, no cash circulating, Ebola threat, persecution etc. BUT NOTE: Our being dead with Christ precedes our living with him, and is connected with it: the one is in order to the other;Life comes after death. 2. It is a faithful saying that If we suffer/endure - we shall also reign with Him The new life in Christ is a battle, it calls for endurance. If we dont back down because of the situations/circumstances that will come our way then we will enjoy life in heaven. In 2 Tim 1:7-10 – Paul urged him to take afflictions of the gospel. The gospel attracts critisms, persecution , rejection, imprisonment etc. Paul gave illustrations of an athlete engaged on a race, a soldier in battle, and a hardworking farmer. We can observe the following from these illustrations given; Athlete Athletics is not very easy, the reason why in this house we have none professional athletes. A number of things you will need to endure eg diet, where you cease to enjoy your favorite foods. No wonder why those who succeed most are Ethiopians, Kenyans; the nations with history of hunger. Crowns are for those that compete in line with set rules, not in just reaching the finishing line but disliked enough to endure going round avoiding cutting corners for the sake of crown. Some people may start the race with a lot of zeal and demonstrating lot of promise, but will not endure the heat, tiredness, the pain etc hence will be counted the same as those who did not even compete when crowns are given. There is a race we must run, we have all qualified to compete but not guaranteed to crown because there is some endurance to be done. The soldier Being a soldier is not an easy profession. You are to live a life different from POVO, neither do you enjoy life priviledges as a POVO. You may have a wife, kids that needs to be taken to school – helped with homework, a mansion in the brooke. When in war zone all these you will have to endure to live without for the sake of your master. Chisoja is one career that you don’t always share your experiences with your family, even your wife.We are the soldiers of Christ in the warfare – Jesus is our master who will give us medals if we endure the pain of the battle. The hardworking farmer Hard working farmers are not ones that needs land in order to enjoy inputs benefits for resale at the expense of the whole farming project or for use as collateral to obtain bank loans. Pakurima nguva yegadziriro yakareba kupfuura yekukohwa. It takes months to prepare land, but fresh maize cobs does not stay fresh for long. Farming is for the patient who know where the value is. You invest a lot in equipment, inputs, labour with little sign of harvest. We are farmers in the land of Christ. The Life with Jesus Christ is all about endurance / suffering for him is the way to reign with him. Mat 19:28 Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. In order to endure – there is need for challenges, afflictions, persecution, rejection etc. The life in Christ is Christ is characterised by these. 3. It is a faithful saying that If we deny Him – He will deny us. Christ is faithful to His word, one of His essential attributes. If we don’t comply to His statutes – we will stand convicted by the same. That is a fact that we can never run away from. 4. If you don’t believe/ lose faith – He will remain faithful. Faithfulness is one attribute that Christ will never violate for if He do, then suddenly we don’t have a God, we can as well go back to our old life, for God will have surrendered. NB: This is a faithful saying, and may be depended on and ought to be believed. But, If we deny him, out of fear, or shame, or for the sake of some temporal advantage, he will deny and disown us, and will not deny himself, but will continue faithful to his word when he threatens as well as when he promises. It is faith in Jesus Christ that gives us victory (1 John 5:4). We do not fear the enemies, for He has already conquered them. Through our identification with Christ in death, burial, and resurrection, we have won the victory (see Rom 6).
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 13:42:48 +0000
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