Sermons 2025

Text: 2 Timothy 2:1-13
Theme: Endure!

Outline
1.    We undergo suffering because of the Gospel
2.    Endure because of Christ
3.    Endure unto life everlasting

Sermon
 

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
 

My dear beloved flock, the text for our mediation today is the second letter of Saint Paul to Timothy the second chapter verses one through thirteen.

Boys and Girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Do you know what is in this ring? It is a diamond. Diamonds are formed deep in the earth. Coal is pressed and pressed by the earth until eventually they cannot be pressed any more. They turn hard and eventually sparkle into beautiful diamonds. Did you know that the same thing happens to you? We are pressed when bad things happen to us. We have pain in this life. Friends and families die. We become sad and angry. Yet, in our text, Saint Paul calls on us to endure steadfast in the Gospel because all of this suffering will get us something  far greater in the end. What awaits us at the end? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
 

1.    We undergo suffering because of the Gospel
 

How many of you undergo suffering in this life? We have a lot of suffering in this life. We have the suffering of the fallen world that we live in. All of the lusts and passions of the world that entice us into world pleasures. The fancy cars, the big televisions, the most up to date phone or computer. Eventually, it will all fade away into dust and brokenness. Yet, the pleasures of the world still pressure us to look, not towards things eternal and permanent, but towards things temporary and transient.

We have the suffering of our sinful flesh. Just as the world is temporary, so too is our flesh. Because of Adam and Eve and the Fall into sin, all of us are sinners by our very nature. We sin in our thoughts, our words, and our deeds. We break the Law of God over and over again. Because we sin, we encure the price of death. As the Lord told Adam, “You are dust and to dust you shall return.” Unless our Lord comes again, every single one of us will face that reality.  This means we face the suffering, not only of our flesh decaying, but the reality of the death of friends, of family members, of loved ones no longer with us. This was not the reality that the Lord created us to live in. He created us to live with Him forever. Because we see the effects of sin and death, we mourn. We become saddened and crushed as we face what should never have been, but we are powerless to change it. 

We face the pressures of the devil and all his temptations as he rages against us because we follow Jesus Christ. The devil knows that he has been defeated eternally. Yet, still he rages against God and His Anointed. The devil has one goal, cause us to lose our faith in Jesus Christ. If we no longer trust in Jesus, we no longer look to Him for salvation, forgiveness of sins, and every good thing, then the Devil has won and our faith has been lost.

The Devil, our flesh, the world, all of these add constant suffering, pain, and anguish to our lives. They do not desire to hear the Word of God. They do not listen. They stick their fingers in their ears like toddlers not wanting to listen to their parents and go lalalala. They cause us to suffer for the gospel, as hidden as it may be in our nation today, we have been blessed that is it not as overt as in many countries today where Christians are bound in chains, imprisoned, and killed for their faith. That is what Paul is experiencing. As he writes this letter to young Timothy, he is chained twenty-four seven to a Roman soldier. He says I am in chains for the Gospel.

2.    Endure because of Christ
 

We can almost hear him yell the next part, “Yet the word of God is not bound!” In the midst of his pain, suffering, and imprisonment, Paul encourages Timothy, and us, to be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus in and though faithful men preaching the Word. Paul may be bound in chains but the proclamation of the Gospel continues through Timothy and others. Timothy is called here to keep preaching the Gospel, as well as instructing other men into continuing that proclamation. 

It is a proclamation that continues today as the Lord continues to send out faithful Pastors into His Church. Through their faithful preaching of Christ, believes are given forgiveness and strength to endure the pains, hardships, and trials of this world. You are given strength that comes from the divine grace that Christ Jesus has shown to us.  “Timothy himself is encouraged to draw on divine strength to sustain him in the difficult situation where ‘everybody’ has deserted Paul and in order to emulate the good example on Onesiphorus. The motif is linked to the concept of grace and strength being given to a person who is being installed as a successor, like Joshua to Moses… The life and service of the Christian believer should be characterized by the strength and power to do what God requires, by contrast with that of apostates who profess religion but lack the spiritual force that should be associated with it (3:5).”  

We are strengthened to endure because of what Christ Jesus Himself endured. Paul continues, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering ” Remember Jesus, the promised Messiah. A King of royal blood, who entered this world as a true human being, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.  Remember, and be strengthened by your Lord who has undergone all suffering, to the point of death upon a cross, for you. Remember Jesus who is not dead. He has risen from the dead! 

By His death and resurrection from the dead, Jesus gives you mercy without end. He gives you every single one of God’s riches thought His Word and Sacraments. Jesus gives you forgiveness of every single one of your sins. He gives you everlasting peace with God. He gives you strength to endure whatever the devil, the world, and your flesh can do, that you may withstand steadfast in faith unto the end.

3.    Endure unto life everlasting

What a joyous end awaits steadfast and faithful believers in Christ! 

We endure the same as an athlete, soldier, or farmer. Work is hard, the labor can see monotonous and mind numbing, the same routines, the same fields, the same training, over and over again for seemingly no reward or profit. Yet, all that endurance, all that training and labor, does indeed carry with it a great reward at the end when the battle is won, the race is over and the gold medal is yours, the crops, so painstakingly cared for, grow up in  harvest of thousands plentiful.

“Among the Romans crowns were the highest distinction for service in war. The corona triumphalis of laurel was presented to a triumphant general; and the corona obsidionalis was awarded to a general by the army which he had saved from a siege or from a shameful capitulation. It was woven of grass which grew on the spot, and was also called corona graminea. The corona myrtea or ovalis, the crown of bay, was worn by the general who celebrated the lesser triumph or ovatio. The golden corona muralis, with embattled ornaments, was given for the storming of a wall; and the corona castrensis or vallaris, also of gold, and ornamented in imitation of palisades, was awarded to the soldier who first climbed the rampart of the enemy’s camp.”  

Great rewards indeed for the pain of enduring the suffering of battle and training. 
 

Even greater than a wreath that fades is the reward awaiting us! What awaits us is not a wreath but a crown. A crown that will be given to us, not by fellow believers, but by the loving hand of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. A crown of everlasting life with Him that will never fade away. A crown that we shall wear as we reign with Him in everlasting blessedness forever (Revelation 3:21).
 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, continue to endure steadfast in the grace of Christ Jesus. Endure the pain and sufferings of the world, your flesh, and the devil, secure and steadfast in the work of Christ Jesus done for you. Until that glorious day when your Savior gives you the crown of life everlasting.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus. Amen.