In our study of this letter, we have observed the Apostle Paul instructing young Timothy to cultivate a godly legacy (1:1 – 7), to not be ashamed of the gospel but to guard the gospel (1:8 – 14), to be a faithful friend until the very end (1:15 – 18), and to continue making disciples who make other disciples (2:1 – 7). Can I just make a quick observation and say that I think everything the Apostle Paul is laying out here, is super hard?

It is not easy to cultivate a godly legacy; it requires a day in and day out commitment to mundane spiritual routines that produce incremental growth over long periods of time.

It is hard to keep the gospel at the center of our daily lives; it requires an unwavering focus on the bloody cross, the empty tomb, and the hope of heaven when everything in this visible world seeks to distract us.

Being a faithful friend to others is oftentimes painful and surprisingly lonely; the only image that will sustain us in our pursuit of being faithful friends until the very end is the picture of Christ’s faithful friendship towards us as he hung alone on the cross in our place.

Making disciples who make other disciples, is a responsibility and a privilege that every believer is called to participate in, but this work is hardly done in the neat, tidy, clean classrooms of a church building; this work is often done in the messy trenches of life-on-life relationships.

This is hard work! Being a Christian is hard work. Following Jesus is not about the consumption of an hour and a half religious experience on a Sunday morning; it is so much more than that because it involves picking up an instrument of death (a cross) and following Jesus with our crosses over our shoulders as we invite others to do the same.

How in the world will we ever trade the shackles of our consumeristic, individualistic, entertainment-based hearts and minds for the calling to carry a cross? Why in the world would anyone want to join us in that kind of journey?

And how in the world will we ever endure this journey, faithfully, until the end despite the rejection, despite the betrayal, despite the mocking, despite the hate, the loneliness, the suffering, and the temptation of a so-called easier life of consumer living?

How will we ever pick up our crosses, invite others to join us in the journey, and then endure faithfully until the very end? Look at our text with me and let’s see how God would answer those question…

2 TIMOTHY 2:8 – 13…

8Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, 9for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! 10Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; 13if we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself.

#1: WE MUST REMEMBER THAT GOD IS NOT LIMITED (VV. 8 – 9)

God is not limited. This is exactly what the Apostle Paul reminds Timothy of when he says, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound” (2:8 – 9). God is not limited! Even though the Apostle Paul is limited by his suffering, his captivity, and his chains, he knows that God is not limited.

He knows that Jesus has risen; he has beaten Satan, Sin, and Death! He knows that the gospel is not limited; it is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16)! He knows that the Word of God is not limited because it is not bound by any earthly circumstance or barrier!

There are absolutely zero limitations on God, zero limitations on the work of Christ, zero limitations on the message of the gospel, and zero limitations on the power of the Bible.

Oftentimes, we begin to falsely think that our limitations restrict God’s ability to do something miraculous in us and through us. We place false limitations on what God can do in and through us when we focus on our limited funds in the bank, or we focus on our limited abilities, or we focus on our limited amount of time. Many people often tap out of this cross-carrying life because they focus on these kinds of false limitations.

But those who endure until the very end, those who pick up their crosses and continuously invite others into the same journey, are those people who remember that God is not limited and then in light of that truth, they make adjustments to their lives by the power of the Spirit who is fully alive inside of them and is fully capable of transforming and sustaining them until the very end.

#2: WE MUST REMEMBER THAT GOD HAS A PURPOSE FOR OUR LIVES (V. 10)

God has a purpose for our lives. I have noticed in my own life, that when I lose sight of God’s main purpose for my life, I wind up off track, distracted, frustrated, and ready to give up. I have observed this same thing happen in the lives of many people who start out in this journey of following Jesus, and then they find out that it is really hard work carrying a cross and inviting others to join them in the journey.

Pretty soon, they fall away into some really weird new purpose for their life like bashing the church and her leaders for not doing what they want them to do, or figuring out every new conspiracy theory on the dark web, or building the great American version of a family, or working three jobs to build their wealth, or chasing some new hobby, or just flat out falling back into some deep dark sin pattern.

I think that at this point in the Apostle Paul’s journey, he has not only experienced the personal temptation of tapping out and finding a new purpose for living in the face of extreme suffering for the sake of the gospel, but he has also experienced the pain of rejection, betrayal, and loss as he has watched helplessly as some people that he once called brother or sister in Christ, traded their crosses for a different purpose in life.

So, he reminds young Timothy to endure until the very end by remembering that God has a specific main purpose for our lives. He says, “Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2:10).

When the Apostle Paul says these words, he is essentially saying that Timothy’s purpose will fuel his endurance, that his purpose is the salvation of the elect, and that his purpose is rooted in eternal glory instead of temporal happiness.

Oh, how destructive the pursuit of temporal happiness has been on the lives of many people who once called Jesus, Savior, but bailed out the moment they realized that he aims to be their Captain.

I would rather spend my life, seeking to the save the lost within a yard of hell with four or five battle ready soldiers who understand God’s main purpose for their lives than to sit in the comfort of consuming one entertaining experience after another with hundreds of soft, self-serving, wanderers with no purpose beyond the momentary pleasures of this world.

This is why I am so grateful for many of you in this room. Those of you who have picked up your crosses and are inviting others to join you in the journey. Those of you who have laid hold of God’s main purpose for your life – to see the lost find eternal salvation in Christ – as you labor, day in and day out in your vocations, leading your families, sacrificing your time, talent, and treasure to see this church family sustained on the south side of the tracks. I am grateful to be singularly focused, with some of you, on God’s main purpose for our lives; namely to see disciples made within a yard of hell.

#3: WE MUST REMEMBER THAT GOD IS FAITHFUL (VV. 11 – 13)

God is faithful. This is the entire essence of Paul’s words in the last three verses of our text where he says, “The saying trustworthy [faithful], for: If we have died with him [with Christ], we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself” (2:11 – 13). God is faithful.

He is faithful to grant eternal life to those who have trusted in Christ’s work at the cross. He is faithful to help us endure so that we may reign with him in eternity. He is faithful to reject those who reject him. And he is faithful to us when our faith fails because his faithfulness is not dependent upon us; his faithfulness is dependent upon his own perfect, untainted, and unbroken character.

Once again, when I experience seasons of despair, or depression, or loneliness, or coldness towards God and his purpose for my life, it is usually because of my own unfaithfulness or someone else’s unfaithfulness. I fail often and everyone I have ever known has failed often too. But God has never failed me and he has never failed you.

Even in the darkest of times, when I could not see the purpose for my suffering, when I could not fathom enduring until the very end, God has been so faithful to be present with me in the midst of my suffering and to remind me that his promises of salvation in the bloody cross, victory over Satan, Sin, and Death in the empty tomb, and future hope in the rock solid promise of eternity, are absolutely trustworthy promises because the God who promises is the God who is absolutely faithful.

CONCLUSION…

How in the world will we ever trade the shackles of our consumeristic, individualistic, entertainment-based hearts and minds for the calling to carry a cross? Why in the world would anyone want to join us in that kind of journey?

And how in the world will we ever endure this journey, faithfully, until the end despite the rejection, despite the betrayal, despite the mocking, despite the hate, the loneliness, the suffering, and the temptation of a so-called easier life of consumer living? How will we ever pick up our crosses, invite others to join us in the journey, and then endure faithfully until the very end?

God has spoken to us through his Word today and the answer is that we endure until the very end by remembering that God is not limited, God has a purpose for our lives, and God is absolutely faithful.

The cross, the empty tomb, and the promise of eternity in heaven are all that I need to prove that my limitations do not limit the power of God.

The cross, the empty tomb, and the promise of eternity in heaven are all that I need to prove that God has a massive purpose for my life that far surpasses any temporary pleasure I could chase.

The cross, the empty tomb, and the promise of eternity in heaven are all that I need to prove that even in my darkest bouts of unfaithfulness and rebellion, I have an eternally patient, kind, loving, gracious, merciful Father who is absolutely trustworthy because his faithfulness knows no limitations. – Amen!

1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references in this paper are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).