Matins for St. Timothy’s Day

Sermon and Service for the opening service of the meeting of the Confessional Lutheran Ministerium, on January 24, 2023.

1 Timothy 6:11-16  +  Matthew 24:42-47

(Sermon by Pastor Joshua Sullivan of Kerrville, Texas)

In the epistle lesson appointed for the Festival of St. Timothy, the apostle Paul gives his son in the faith more than enough to keep himself busy and productive in the Lord. He gives several exhortations that are for Timothy the minister and Timothy the Christian, so that they apply to those of who are are pastors and those of who aren’t.

First he writes, “Flee these things.” “These things” being the love of money and the love of glory that leads to useless wranglings over words that are contrary to the the words of the Lord Jesus.  He writes in verse 9, “Those who desire to be rich—and we can add those who desire their own glory—fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.” Flee these things. But its not enough to flee  the temptations of the world. You have to have a place to run, a direction to go, a goal to pursue. So “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.” Righteousness because God has declared you righteous because you believe in His Son; godliness because you are a son of God through faith in Christ Jesus; faith in God’s promises because faith is your victory over the world; love, gentleness, and patience toward others because that is how Christ Jesus lives toward you each day.

And lest Timothy fall the flesh’s allurement that all this should be easy, the apostle adds another verb: Fight. “Fight the good fight of faith.” It isn’t a fight against flesh and blood people—not matter how much it may seem like it at times, or how much other people want to make it so. The fight is against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). Timothy is to fight these powers, rulers, and spiritual hosts. He is to take up the shield of faith to extinguish the flaming darts of temptation and enticement the devil shoots at your heart and mind. He is to take up the sword of the spirit, the Word of God, and use it correctly to slay those temptations, enticements, and falsehoods as Samuel “hacked Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal” (1 Sam 15:33). It is, after all, a fight, a warfare, and all these things wage war against his soul and his ministry. To this Paul adds perseverance. “Lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” As you confessed at your ordination, continue in the good confession of the gospel, to keep this commandment without spot, blameless until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory.

I’m sure there were days in which Timothy asked the question Paul asked in 2 Corinthians 2:16, and a question which we have asked ourselves at times, “Who is sufficient for these things?” Certainly not Timothy in himself. Not you. Not me. But Paul gives us the answer. “Our sufficiency is from God” (2 Cor 3:5). This is why Paul urges Timothy in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate.” We are insufficient of ourselves to flee sin, to pursue righteousness, to fight the fight of faith, to lay hold of eternal life, and to persevere in that faith until the end. We are insufficient in ourselves to fulfill the ministry God has given us pastors and the vocations He has given to all of us as Christians. But our sufficiency is from God who gives life to all things, who calls all things into being and sustains them, who sustains us. Our sufficiency  is from God the Son who, while suffering in the flesh for our sins, did not shrink back from making the good confession before Pilate. Our sufficiency to flee sin, to pursue righteousness, to fight the good fight of faith, and to lay hold on eternal life, is from God who has graciously given His Son for our sins and gives His Holy Spirit to enliven us by faith so that we live new lives as new creatures.

It’s no coincidence that the first conference of our ministerium should begin on St. Timothy’s day. The goal of the ministerium is to support each other in the ministry, to encourage one another to faithfulness, and to spur each other on to do the work that God has given us to do, and not just the work of the Ministry, but also the work of being a Christian. Fleeing sin, pursuing righteousness, fighting the good fight, laying hold of of eternal life, and confessing the good confession. As we do this, we point each other, not to ourselves, but we encourage one another as Paul encouraged Timothy. The strength and sufficiency for all this is not within ourselves, but from God who gives live to all things, who gives us New Life through faith in Christ, so that we can make the good confession as He did. Amen.