For All Time

Text: 1 Timothy 1:3-14

Focus: Communion liturgy

Function: To help people see the importance of the ordinance of communion through the passing down of symbols.

Form: Bible Study

Intro:

This passage of scripture for preachers energizes me. Everyone, I suppose, likes and looks forward to a good challenge. And it gets better when it happens to be in the chosen profession of a…? (pause) An…? ...a preacher? or a Christian?

This is the first of the Pastoral Epistles, three books, 1^st & 2^nd Timothy and Titus.

The epistles -letters- contain a few songs and hymns from the early church, some confessions of faith, even what might have been an early “creed.”

They are three letters that demonstrate the kinds of issues that brother Paul dealt with when he was giving instructions to those whom he mentored as they were leading the churches that Paul and others planted.

Even though they are addressed to pastors, we include them in the whole canon of Scripture because they reveal spiritual principles, expectations and practices of the early church.

Jesus told us that although the good news will always be true and never change, He made it clear that the Church would always continue to evolve and change. In John chapter 14, verse 12 we read this: ¹²Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. Indeed, Jesus was talking about how they would change the world. And He also tells them that throughout the process they will need and receive the promise and help of the Holy Spirit. Listen to John 16: 12-13a ¹²“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth;

So, Jesus tells them that big changes will come, it will be so much that they can’t get it all into their heads at once, so trust the Holy Spirit to lead them.

God’s Spirit will lead us and She will lead us to more than what Jesus and His disciples were already doing. I wonder if they knew that they were going to change the world.

And we can trust the scriptures. They promise that the Holy Spirit will continue to reveal new and greater things to us, the Church.

And there are instructions for guidelines and parameters around that evolution contained in these three epistles. And, they are pretty open minded when you look at them in context.

One of the biggest ones might be from the end of the 2^nd Epistle, Chapter 4, verses 3,4:³For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, ⁴and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

Often, especially when drastic geo or political events happen, there is often a lot of talk that the outcome might mean the end of times. I remember people thinking that the second coming of Christ was imminent when the current President was elected. And I heard people refer to this passage and using it as a basis to criticize a perceived loosening of our morals because of what is purported as their agenda. There is always rhetoric and we need to remember to keep our faith in the kingdom of God. Dear family members who love Jesus were genuinely afraid.

But whenever I hear that the end is near because of a specific event, I always want to cringe. Mainly because when the end doesn’t happen, I have to defend my brothers and sisters in the faith, because they are.

And most of it comes from a fear of change.

But God has not given us a Spirit of fear. And today, we are looking at the values of tradition as they are experienced in the symbols.

There is another, more plausible explanation to the prophecy that people will flock to the preachers that tell them only what they want to hear.

I wanted to say to people who said “they flock to the person who will tell them what they want to hear, not what they need to hear.”

And I want to say to them, so then, the biggest churches are the ones that are getting it wrong?

Please, I am not saying that.

But, here is what I submit people do not want to hear:

They don’t want to hear that every time an American Drone strikes an innocent, we as a people are all to blame. I watched a TV preacher several years ago begin a sermon with “The Muslim religions preaches peace and over 90% are peaceful.” And then, he went on to preach a sermon about how we need to fear the other 10%. Maybe people want to hear that it is okay to be afraid, even though we know that God has not given us a Spirit of fear. They don’t want to hear that economic policies protect cheap gas so that we continue to burn through the fossil fuel reserves millions of times faster than they can be replaced is a sinful way for us to treat our children. Let alone what it does to the planet in regards to emissions and global warming. They don’t want to hear the rest of the scripture Jesus quoted when He said “The poor you will always have with you… Jesus then clearly says: SHOW KINDNESS TO THEM.”

A Christianity that calls everyone, especially those who live in such a prosperous land as ours, to live sacrificial lives for others is not easy to hear. It is easier to hear: “Be afraid of the other, they might be evil… ...resist those sinners, they are degrading the faith...” than it is to hear Jesus’ words: “take up your cross and follow Me” or “sell all you have and give it to the poor.”

And yet, some people are told that by resisting those other sinners and being criticized for it is persecution for their faith and that qualifies them as people living sacrificially, even though it doesn’t really cost them anything. As a matter of fact, in their own circles, it is used as a badge of honor.

And that keeps bringing me back to the power of the symbol of the Love Feast.

It focuses on Jesus and His sacrifice for all of humanity.

So, it brings us to the question of what traditions mean?, why we hang on to traditions? and the power of tradition.

• What do the traditions mean?
  • Verse 5: ⁵I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.
    • Timothy has the blessing of godly heritage of faithful women who have lead him to Christ.
    • Now, I always heard this passage repeated to me about how his mother and his grandmother taught him scripture.
    • Scripture is important, but that isn’t what the text actually says.
    • They passed on this faith to him.
    • But I want to focus on the power of the traditions, the power of the symbols as those are the things that communicated the faith.
    • The Jewish people are good at the power of the story, and just like us at Christmas and Easter, they retell the story of God’s love and deliverance several times during the year.
    • That shared story, that shared experience is important.
    • Jesus commanded us to continue the practice “In Remembrance of Him.”
    • Again, Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit to lead us all the way till the end of the ages.
    • The symbols that mean the most to us in our tradition, the love feast with the agape meal, the foot washing and the bread and cup is a powerful way to keep us focused on Jesus.
• Why we hang on to traditions?
  • Verse 6:⁶For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands;
  • Rekindles the gift, the faith.
  • I go back to how these traditions, especially these highly symbolic ones have passed on the faith.
  • Remember, it wasn’t like the pastor at their synagogue ever said, “okay, if you have your bibles, please turn to Psalms 119, verse 18.”
  • Only the very wealthy and highly educated had a copy of scripture.
  • They learned and studied the scriptures and lessons of faith together in community.
  • The symbols become living embodiments of what they needed to remember.
  • And that leads us to the 3^rd area to consider:
• The Power of Traditions.
  • They center back through the experience of what is symbolized.
  • And that is powerful because once we begin to experience, either vicariously, or in a real fashion, it begins to form us.
  • Again: Verse 7:⁷for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
  • Our faith forms us. We are reminded and rekindled by these acts.
  • It is not really the act, but the faith that is behind it.
  • However, the tradition, the symbol embodies that faith, it makes it tangible in a way that we can relate.
  • We relate more than with just cognition and mental assent, for some, at times, something spiritual and real is felt as it grows within us.
  • I think it has to do with the way that we do it together in community. As we participate together, we reinforce together the values that we embrace from the life, death and teachings of Jesus.