26
Basics
Jeff Weinkauf2 Timothy 2:14-22
14-18 Repeat these basic essentials over and over to God’s people. Warn them before God against pious nitpicking, which chips away at the faith. It just wears everyone out. Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple. Stay clear of pious talk that is only talk. Words are not mere words, you know. If they’re not backed by a godly life, they accumulate as poison in the soul. Hymenaeus and Philetus are examples, throwing believers off stride and missing the truth by a mile by saying the resurrection is over and done with.
19 Meanwhile, God’s firm foundation is as firm as ever, these sentences engraved on the stones:
God knows who belongs to him.
spurn evil, all you who name God as God.
20-21 In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.
A reoccurring thought which often comes to me is: "if we are in possession of the best news ever (Jesus and a restored relationship with God) then why are churches empty? Why are there not people beating down the door demanding what we have?"
I think the answer is found here in 2 Timothy 2. Look again at the high points,
- Review/repeat the basics (that's how you stay grounded in your purpose). I'm afraid we are sometimes hard to understand. What's this all about? The answer should be on the tip of our tongues at all times. Jesus.
- Don't pick on each other especially skip the "pious nitpicking" as it just wears folks out and worse yet erodes the faith. Translation, How we treat our Christian family reflects on Jesus. Why don't folks want what we have? Because who wants to join a team where you get scrutinized and picked apart all the time? No thanks.
- Do your best and live consistently. Let your words and deeds match up so folks can't discount the message when you bring it.
- By doing these things, We become the kind of "container" God can use to work through.
Stay grounded in the basics and review them often. Repetition is beautiful if it's reinforcing foundations. And when our foundation is secure we are confident and effective in our purpose.
Loving people is a core tenant of what we are called to do. It's attractive when Christians live like Jesus did. We know love is not rooted in leniency but it's also not rooted in legalism. Jesus showed us love is not the absence of correction, butthat correction is most effective when it is grounded in relationship. That's the basis of Proverbs 27:17 (NLV) "17 Iron is made sharp with iron, and one man is made sharp by a friend." So we can love, encourage, correct in relationship and ditch the sniping and griping altogether.
Consistency is not the lack of error or mistake. Consistency is where our compass points. The idea that we can't be seen in error leads I think to a pharisaical life. When we fail, (and we all do) it's what happens next which makes us attractive/effective messengers or perceived hypocrites. I am consistently trying to be more like him.
God please help me to live like Jesus, to point people to him in love and to be the kind of container you can use for any purpose. Amen
