#2621: Living For Jesus In A World Of Opposition

[MUSIC] Well, hello cornerstone. Great to be with you. Good to see you. And I always love coming over here. I love your pastor, love your staff. Your whole church is so wonderful. It's always a joy to be here. And it's a great honor to open the word of God and share with you. I love doing that. I love having the opportunity to be with you and look at God's word together. We're in the Staying Power series talking about making it through difficult times. That's Staying Power that comes from the Lord. And the title of today's message is "Living for Jesus in a world of opposition." Pastor Jerry has been taking us through Nia Maya. And we're seeing how Nia Maya has handled the opposition that he's been facing. And as we go through the series, it occurs to me that what's amazing is that Nia Maya is facing opposition and hardship as a result of doing the thing that God called him to do. Now, I don't know about you. But I guess I tend to think that if I'm doing the thing that God wants me to do, if I'm being faithful to my calling, that things are going to go pretty well. It's going to be pretty smooth sailing. But that's not the case with Nia Maya. And as I think about it, that's not the case throughout Scripture. You see that over and over again where people who are faithful to the calling that God has laid on their life endure opposition and hardship and suffering as a result. And you're like, well, that's not what I was expecting. I was expecting things to go well and things to be smooth and not happening. Joseph doing what God called him to do ends up in a pit, ends up in prison. Daniel doing what God calls him to do, being faithful ends up in the lion's den. Jeremiah faithfully preaching the Word, doing what God calls him to do ends up in the sister. Jesus faithful to the Father's will ends up on a cross. Yeah. That's the picture of the Christian life. And yet in the midst of all of that, Jesus says in John 16, 33, in the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world. So Jesus tells us, it's going to be rough. You're going to have trials and tribulations in this world, but take heart, he says, I have overcome the world. That's just a beautiful thing. And I guess that's the perspective that I want us to have, that Jesus has essentially promised us that there will be, there will be opposition in the world in which we live. And that we live for him in the midst of that by his grace, through his strength, in his power. And I also love that passage at the end of Romans chapter 8. Pastor Cherry has has read this and talked about it. I want to read it again because it's so perfect for what we're talking about in this series, "Staying Power." It says in Romans 837, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And I actually like to read that end apart that nothing will be able to separate us from Jesus Christ, our Lord, who loves us. Nothing will separate us from him. His love is a binding love. And he promises us that he will hold us closely. That's a beautiful picture. So even though we face opposition, even though we don't see the whole picture, take confidence, the word of God says that the Lord is with us. Now Peter also mentions this all by way of introduction. Peter mentions really that there's two kinds of hardship that we may face. Let me read it to you from 1 Peter 2 20. He says this, "For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God." So Peter tells us there's two kinds of suffering, two kinds of hardship. There's the kind of suffering that you're going to experience if you sin. That if you reject the Lord and you choose to go your own way and live according to the world and live a life of sin, there will be suffering too bad so sad. That's what that comes with the territory. You can expect that. But then there's another kind of suffering that comes from being faithful, from being obedient, from doing the very thing God calls you to do. And if you suffer for that, Peter says that is commendable in the sight of God. God honors that. God honors that. And that's exactly what we're talking about in this message today, living for Jesus in a world of opposition. What does it look like to be faithful in the midst of opposition? And we're going to look today at 2 Timothy 4. We've been looking at Nehemiah. Then we went to Hebrews, then to Ephesians, and they were looking at 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy is the second letter that Paul is writing to Timothy. Timothy is a young pastor in Ephesus. Paul planted the church in Ephesus. A city not unlike San Francisco was a pagan culture. It didn't want to hear about Jesus. Paul planted the church there amidst a lot of opposition. And then he leaves Timothy behind to be the pastor there, writes him a letter. And now at the end of his life is going to write him a second letter encouraging him on living for Jesus in a world of opposition. So that's what we're looking at today is what is the what is the encouragement that Paul is giving to Timothy and Ephesus giving to us in San Francisco for living in this world. That's what we're looking at. So second Timothy chapter 4. All right. Let's look at three words of encouragement for from the apostle Paul to Timothy and to us. First five verses, I charge you in the presence of God enough Christ Jesus who is to judge the living in the dead and by his appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. And they will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. But as for you always be so reminded, endure suffering. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. There's the first word of encouragement that Timothy and I'm going to say the first word of encouragement here for us is stay true to the word. Stay true to the word. If you're going to if you're going to handle the opposition that's coming your way, you've got to stay true to the word. Timothy preach the word and we need to obey the word and be in the word ourselves. So just in the same way that Paul is encouraging him to preach it, we need to also be in the word ourselves. I don't know about you, but for me it's just super important to be in the word on a daily basis. The word of God is my anchor just like a boat needs an anchor to not drift off into the rocks. I need to be anchored in God's word. If I'm going to live in a corrupt culture that's constantly pushing against me, I've got to be anchored in the word of God. I encourage you. I commend to you be in the word day by day. Make it make it non-negotiable. Of all the things I'm going to do in my day, being in God's word must be one of them. We need to stay true to the word of God. That is what Paul is encouraging here for Timothy in Ephesus in a place where he's going to need to be faithful to the word. He's that people don't always want to hear it, but you've got to be faithful to preaching. That's what I love about this church. What I love about Cornerstone is this is a church that is committed to the teaching of the word of God. It's so important to be faithful to the word. That is his encouragement here. That's not always going to be easy because as we preach the word, there are going to be people that don't want to hear the word. Light exposes darkness and people are in darkness. They don't want the light shining on them. When you preach the word, naturally there will be oppositions. What Nia Maya experienced in that narrative. Now here we're getting the same sense of that. We can expect opposition when we are lifting up the word of God. People don't always want to hear it. They want to hear, as Paul says in this text, they want to hear what they want to hear. They tend to drift off into myths because God wants to hear what this person wants to say or what this person has to say. They just want to hear what they want to hear. Now in the end of this section in verse 5, he says to Timothy, he says, "Indure suffering." This is interesting. Timothy is a pastor. Paul says to him, "Indure suffering." Why? What's he getting at here? What Paul is getting at here is that Timothy, as a past, or needs to understand what Paul has been through. And so what Paul is referring to, I'm sure here because he alluded to it in chapter three, but first let's go back to Acts 14, which is what Paul is alluding to here and on his very first missionary journey. Paul knows what he's talking about when he says to Pastor Timothy in doer suffering because Paul's been through much himself. In Acts chapter 14, his very first missionary journey, it says in verse 19 of Acts 14, Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city supposing he was dead. Wow, wow. How badly do you have to be injured for the people to be like, yeah, he's dead, he's dead. Let's go, leave him. That's pretty serious stuff. And so Paul knows what he's talking about. And I don't know about you, but that happens to me and I'm done, I've had it. I mean, Lord, I tried. Yeah, I went, I preached the gospel, they beat me up, they stoned me, they almost killed me, I tried, didn't work, I'm done, I'm going home. That's me, not Paul. Continue reading it says, "But when the disciples gathered about him after he was stone left for dead, he rose up and entered the city and on the next day he went with Barnabas to Derby and when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lister and Iconium to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God." Wow. I don't know that I could have done that. Stone left for dead, what does he do? He gets up and does it, he gets you. Okay, I'm going to give you more of that. I'm going to give you more of that. He goes back into the same city, reaches the gospel, people get saved and then he says to them through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom, not my favorite verse in the Bible. I'm telling you, that's not my favorite verse. That we can expect tribulation if we're going to be faithful to the Lord. And that is the context here in 2 Timothy 4 because back in chapter 3, right before this, look at what it says in the text there in chapter 3. Paul is referencing that. He says in verse 10 of 2 Timothy 3, "You have followed my teaching," speaking to Timothy, "my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happens to me at Antioch and Iconium and Lystra, which persecutions I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me, indeed all who desire to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Again, there it is. If you desire to live a Godly life, you will be persecuted. This is chapter 3 and then it rolls down into verse 16, that famous verse that we know. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for a proof, for correction, for training and righteousness, so that the man of God might be complete, equipped for every good work. So now, context for chapter 4 where we're at, preach the word to Timothy, preach the word. I suffered, you saw it, you know what happened to me? Endure suffering. If you preach the word, you have to expect opposition. I think that's the word for us. Be ready for it, don't be surprised for it. If you're gonna be faithful to Christ in the city of San Francisco, lifting up the gospel, you can expect opposition, just expect it. It's stay faithful to the word, don't compromise it. Don't give up on it, just acknowledge it. It'd be faithful to it. All right. So that is the first word of encouragement. Secondly, it says in verses 6, "Throughway, I'm gonna say, "Stay focused on your eternal destiny. "First, stay true to the word." Number one, Timothy, stay true to the word. Number two, stay focused on your eternal destiny. Look what Paul says here. For I'm already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure is come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day. And not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Oh, I love this, I love this. Not only to me, but to all who have loved his appearing. That promise is for us as well, that there is a home in heaven that we are going toward. And Paul is the right perspective. In the midst of his suffering, in the midst of his opposition, he says, but you know what? I'm looking forward, I'm looking forward to going home because the Lord has prepared a place for me and I am ready for that. And so what Paul recognizes is that even though I have been through a lot, even though I've been through suffering, it is but for a season, it is but for a moment. And I maintain a right perspective that all that I've been through doesn't compare with what is up ahead. In fact, that's what he says in 2 Corinthians 417, when he says this, Paul says, this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. See, everything that I've been through, add it all up, total it all up. It's a tiny little, it's a light momentary affliction relative to the glories of heaven that I stopped right there. Because Paul has a confidence in his eternal destiny and he's focused on that. And the question I have to ask right here is, do you have that? Do you have that? Do you have a confidence that when this brief moment called life is over, that you will be ushered into glory with your Lord? Because if you don't have that confidence, you can have that confidence even now. You can lock that down today. It's a matter of yielding your life over to Christ. It's taking the car keys of your life, handing them to Jesus and letting go. No longer I, Lord, but you. It's what Jesus calls being born again. We've been born physically, but we also, we'll be born spiritually. And once we are born spiritually into Christ, kingdom by yielding our life to Him, allowing Him to forgive us of our sins that we might enter into relationship with Him and the Father. That is the way to have, and Jesus says, I am the way and the truth in the life. There's no other way to have it. No one comes to the Father except through me. So it's yielding my life to Christ is how I become a Christ like one, a Christian. And so, so important that we understand that, Paul has, because if you don't have that, if you don't have that confidence in your eternal destiny, how can you handle opposition? You'll melt. The reason we are able to endure is because we know that this is a light momentary affliction compared to what is up ahead. That this life is just for a moment. The real thing is up ahead. Maintaining that right perspective is critical. Timothy, stay true to the word. Stay focused on your eternal destiny. And now here, thoroughly, this is beautiful. I love this last point. I'm gonna call it this. Stay connected with your fellow believers. Look at it starting in verse nine. Do your best to come to me, he says. For deemous in love with this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Cretions has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you. For he is very useful to me for ministry. I love this. This is sort of a tender side of Paul that we don't really see much, I don't think. Where he's at the end of his life and everyone has left him. Everyone has left him. And it's just me and Luke here now. It's just me and Luke. Everybody else left. Could you come Timothy? I need to see you. And I need to see Mark. And I want you guys to be with me. We need community. We need each other. We need our fellow believers. And that's why it's so important to be involved here at Cornerstone, to be connected to other believers. If you're trying to live the Christian life out there on your own, it's going to be rough. It's going to be rough. If you're going to live for Jesus in a world of opposition, you're going to do it by linking arms with fellow believers who will pray for you, who will support you, who encourage you, who will help you. And you will do the same for them. And that's why community is so important. That's why Cornerstone is such a beautiful community here in the city of San Francisco, where we are locking arms and working together and supporting one another. And you see that in Paul. He's like, I need people. Demise in love with this present world. He ditched me, deserted me, he says. It's a good thing we're not in love with this present world, by the way. Or are we? I confess. I confess that sometimes I am in love with this present world. And I do get pulled. Scripture sets me right, which is why I need to be in the Word. I need to be reminded. I need to be reminded that I'm only here for a moment. And I need to be focused on my fellow believers [BLANK_AUDIO] together with him in community, not deserting them, going after the world, but being involved and supportive of the ministry. So important. And I love this last part where you just bring Mark with you. If you remember the Second Missionary Journey, Mark wanted to come along, but he ditched him in the first in the first missionary journey. And so Paul's like, no way, we are not bringing that went along. And so Paul and Barnabas got in a big argument whether or not to bring Mark and they split over it. So there was a big rift between Paul and Barnabas and Mark. And now I love this because the end of Paul's life he says, you know what, I want to see Mark. I really want to see Mark. Timothy, could you come and see me and could you bring Mark with you? I love you guys. I love you guys. It's a beautiful picture of reconciliation. And can I just commend to you reconciliation? If there's someone that you're not right with in the church, in your family, in your someone that you're not in a right relationship with, God honors reconciliation. Just get together with that person, talk it through, pray it through, work it out. Look, we get enough opposition from the world. We don't need opposition among ourselves. Work through those issues. God honors that. If we would be faithful to our Lord, living for Jesus in the world of opposition means, I'm going to stay true to the word. I'm going to stay focused on my eternal destiny. And I'm going to stay connected with my fellow believers. And that is what it means to live for Jesus in a world of opposition. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the encouragement that it is to us. We acknowledge that sometimes it is discouraging living in this world. But you tell us to take heart, Lord, you have overcome the world. And so we can take our encouragement from you to God alone be the glory. Lord, I commit these dear saints at Cornerstone to you. I thank you for them. Bless them. Encourage them. Be with Pastor Terry. Be with the staff. Be with this church. As they lift up the light of the gospel, the city of San Francisco, the name of Jesus Christ might be lifted up and honored for the glory of God we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]