Grace for the Long Road

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Welcome to Grace at the Fray, a podcast that explores the many dimensions of God’s grace that we find at the frayed edges of life. Come explore how God’s grace works to renew your life and send you on mission in his Kingdom.

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0:00:23.0 Jim Lovelady: Hello, beloved. Welcome to a new season of Grace at the Fray. We’re back. So what did you do this past summer? I started off the summer leading worship for the Serge Leadership Conference and the Company Conference. Man, it was such an honor and one of the greatest privileges of my life to lead these folks in singing. And boy, did we sing. So every four years, our company gets together for our company-wide conference, and it’s all about encouraging one another to keep going. The work is hard. The sacrifices are many. The trials are real. The suffering is overwhelming. But press on. Press on because Jesus loves you and He’s with you, and we’re in this together. And one of the people that I wanted to hear from after the conference was my friend Steve. He wasn’t there as a missionary or a staff member. He was one of the volunteer physicians serving on site. So in other words, if someone was like, “Hey, is there a doctor here?” Steve was one of the people running around meeting the needs of people who needed a doctor. Since he used to be a missionary, and because he came from outside the organization, I thought it would be fun to ask him what stood out to him. And what he described fits with Serge’s belief that it’s the gospel of Jesus that inspires and empowers mission.

He said the overwhelming impression that he had was how seriously Serge takes the spiritual renewal of our missionaries and their families. Everything from the worship to the teaching to the pace of the week, it all communicated that these weren’t workers being squeezed for more ministry. They were sons and daughters being cared for by their heavenly Father. And he noticed it everywhere in the joy of the missionary kids finally being surrounded by other kids who understood what it means to grow up between cultures, third culture kids. He also saw it in the presence of Christian counselors who spent the week caring for missionaries who carry burdens that most of us will never really see or understand. In the daily rhythm of the prayer time, listening to stories from around the world and then praying together these big Kingdom prayers. That was my favorite part. And maybe the most striking to him was how naturally celebration and grief lived side by side. The conference honored the legacy of Rose Marie Miller and celebrated decades of faithful ministry in Uganda, where it all got started, while at the same time, the whole community rallied around colleagues facing the Ebola outbreak in Congo. Missionaries in quarantine, even one receiving treatment for Ebola. They got to join via livestream. And the response wasn’t fear or spectacle. It was prayer. Deep family prayer. So Steve’s conclusion was simple. Having served cross-culturally with another missions organization himself, he said something like, “Serge does member care really well.” But I think that what he’s really describing is something deeper. He wasn’t just seeing good organizational systems. He was watching a gospel culture, a community that believes caring for the soul of the missionary is a crucial part of the mission itself. It’s hard to capture a week like this if you weren’t there. But listening to Steve, I realized that what stayed with him wasn’t a particular sermon or a session. It was watching a community of weary missionaries experience the… experience the love of Christ through one another, through fellowship, spurring one another on, encouraging one another to keep going, reminding one another that there is grace for the long road. So with this first episode, I want to give you a little taste of that conference by offering you the final talk of our keynote speaker, Ajay Thomas. Ajay is a pastor and a church planter in the Philly area, and all of his talks during the conference were amazing. But the one that you’re about to hear was incredibly impactful for me. I was deeply moved, and I had to sing afterwards. So I want to share it with you, and I think you need to be reminded that there is grace for you, grace for the long road. Now, I want you to think about the good work that the Lord has called you to. It’s probably… It probably has something to do with making something beautiful or putting something together or putting something back together, loving and serving those around you in whatever form that is particular to you and the way God made you. So let me ask you this question: why do you keep going? Whatever good the Lord has called you to and that you’re all about, why do you press on? Why do you keep going when the road is long? I want you to listen to this as if you were a missionary, because you are. You are sent by your Heavenly Father to proclaim the lordship of Jesus by the power and fellowship of the Holy Spirit wherever you live. Do you believe that? Now, this episode is for everyone, but I want to speak directly to the men right now. I’m speaking to you in particular because we need you. Men, I want you to listen closely to this talk. The Lord has called you to faithfulness. And if you’re tired and discouraged, I want you to know you are not alone. This is your call to get up and follow your King because He loves you and He alone has the words of eternal life. And after this talk, I’ll give you a preview of where I want to go with this coming season of Grace at the Fray, so stay tuned.

And before we get to Ajay’s talk, I want to invite you to join us in prayer for the Serge field workers that we at the headquarters here in Philly are praying for each week. We meet on Tuesday and Friday mornings to pray, and this week we’re praying for the teams in the DRC and Uganda. Would you pray? Would you pray with me? Lord, we pray that you would bless these folks as they do their work in the love of Christ. Grow them in Christlikeness. Give them endurance and grace for their long road ahead of them. Give them joy in their work in your Kingdom and the pleasure of Your joy as they follow You. Give them wisdom and let Your grace abound in their relationships with one another, with family members and children, and with the people that they serve. Heal all sicknesses, namely the Ebola epidemic that’s currently facing these countries, and liberate the enslaved. Protect them from the powers and principalities of darkness and restore to them the joy of Your salvation, and let Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in these places just as it is in heaven. We pray in Your name. Amen. And now, receive God’s grace, grace for the long road.

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0:07:49.0 Ajay Thomas: If I don’t get to say it, I do want to just say, again, I’m so thankful to God for this week. My wife Shainu had to leave early, but we count it such a gift to have been with you. We will go home and are going home inspired and renewed in love for Jesus and in commitment to this work. So we’re so thankful. I sat with Bob H. and Dan, who I just met, and I really did… I told them I felt like I was sitting with legends and just listening to stories, and it has encouraged my own faith, and I’m so thankful. So as we leave here, we want to consider this thought of enduring through the One that loves us. As I’ve thought of that, one of my favorite stories is years ago, I read a story about a swimmer named Florence Chadwick. Florence Chadwick was the first woman to swim across the English Channel. And in 1952, she set out to be the first one to swim across the Pacific from the Catalina Islands to the shore of California. And so on a cold, foggy day, she set out to swim. She stepped into icy cold waters. Beside her would be a rowboat filled with her mother as well as some men with rifles who were there to shoot away sharks. And so, in icy cold, shark-infested, foggy-day waters, Chadwick began to swim. She swam mile after mile, hour after hour. When about 15 hours of swimming had passed, weary, worn out, unable to see anything in front of her, unable to see anything beside her, she cried out to the boat to beg them to let her in. And from within that boat, her mother screamed out to her, saying, “Don’t quit. Don’t stop. You’re almost there.” And so she kept going, at least for a little while. But eventually the fog proved to be too much, and so she stopped. And it wasn’t until they brought her into the boat that she found out she was less than half a mile away. The next day they had a press conference, and they said, “What happened?” And she said, “All I could see was fog. If I could have just seen the shore, I would have made it. All I could see was fog. If I had just seen the shore, I would have made it.” I wonder if you can imagine what it would be like to come so close and come so far, only in the end, to have just come just so short. That is the passage that we are looking at, the passage in 2 Timothy 2:1-13. 2 Timothy 2:1-13. And in this passage, if you have a Bible, I invite you to turn there; the apostle Paul is essentially screaming to his child in the faith. It’s as if Paul is in a rowboat beside Timothy and he’s screaming at the top of his lungs, “Son, don’t quit. Don’t bail on Jesus or the ministry that Jesus has given to you. Don’t stop, because you’re almost there.” You see, if you know anything about Timothy’s context, if you’ve read or studied 1 or 2 Timothy, you know that thick fog had rolled in over Timothy’s eyes. Timothy could hardly see beside him. Timothy could hardly see in front of him. If you’ve read through the letters, you know, as Patric mentioned, the city that he was ministering in, the church that he was ministering to, all of it just proved to be too much. For example, if you read 1 Timothy, you’ll find that there were always heretics to silence, there were troublemakers to excommunicate, there were quarrels to squelch, there were angry men to pastor, there were immodest women to charge, there were rich people who had to be taught not to be haughty and taught to be shared. There was an entire congregation on top of all that that constantly looked down on Timothy for his youth and inexperience. And not to mention that as you get to this section, Paul has just finished naming names like Phygelus and Hermogenes. That is, men in Timothy’s company that he thought would endure with him. Names that he knew as coworkers and co-laborers, people who believed the gospel with him, who, as he’s kept on going, it’s almost as if the herd around him keeps thinning. I wonder if you know what that’s like: people you started with and were sure would end with you, who have sort of fallen away and dropped out along the way. The longer you are in ministry, the longer that list of names grows. And that’s what Timothy had come to see. There was the fog of fear in front of Timothy. There was the fog of suffering in front of Timothy. There was the fog of opposition in front of Timothy. And all of these problems that I just named were just within the pews. He hadn’t even stepped out the front door of the church to a city that hated him and was hostile towards him. And none of that, to even mention that there’s an enemy who is constantly prowling about, looking to devour us. And the moment we step into this work, we put a bullseye on our chest. And so, an enemy that’s accusing, and a city that’s hostile, and a congregation that’s difficult, all of it had made Timothy want to tap out and throw in the towel and quit. Again, I wonder if you understand, and maybe more than understand, if you can relate. I know that I can. Perhaps you know what it is, within either the quiet confines of your heart or into the ears of a trusted friend, to whisper, “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t go on.” I know how often I have wanted to feel like I could do anything. I could go be an accountant at Comcast. The headquarters is in Philadelphia. I’ve got to find something else to do. The grass seems greener, truly, everywhere. Anything else, anywhere else, doing anything else. And it’s just then that’s where Timothy was when a letter comes in the mail, and his spiritual father writes to him and is almost standing beside him or rowing beside him and saying, “Son, don’t quit. Don’t bail. Don’t stop with Jesus or the ministry that Jesus has given you, because though you can’t see it, the shore is just half a mile away and you are almost there.” Those are the words Timothy needed, and I imagine we need them as well. So let me read for you 2 Timothy 2; this is beginning in verse one. He says, “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since he aims to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hardworking farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. 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. 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. The saying is trustworthy, for, if we have died with Him, 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.” In this passage, Paul is going to call his son to endure. And to do that, he’s going to tell him what it will take, and what it will look like, and what it’s all for. Those are the three things I want to point out from it. What it will take, gospel ministry, what it will take, what it will look like, and what it’s all for. And if you want to know how to define what this gospel ministry is, before you even talk about what it’ll take or what it’ll look like or what it’s all for, what is this gospel ministry? It’s right there in 2:2. He says, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” So Paul is sitting on death row. This is right before he’s about to die. In chapter four, he’s going to say, “The time of my departure has come. I’ve run the race, I’ve fought the fight, it’s time.” Before he says that, sitting on death row, Paul’s concern is to see the gospel spread out and passed down. “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” It’s been pointed out that there are sort of four generations in view in just this verse. What you have heard from me to you entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. I looked it up. Four generations is something like 100 years. Paul has in mind that what he is entrusting to Timothy will have fruit to bear a 100 years from now. I wonder if you think of that, could you imagine that what we’re doing now will bear fruit in 2126? That’s what Paul has in mind. You’re in this room because you desire to see the gospel spread out and passed down. You want to entrust it to faithful people who will entrust it to faithful people and on and on. And in fact, you’re in this room because this verse works. You’re in this room because there were faithful men who entrusted the gospel to faithful men who taught others also. And so it’s come down through the generations to you. And as I said, your hope is that those who are sitting in that room are those who it’s going to go down through as well. And in the years to come, they will exceed us in their fidelity to Christ, in their faithfulness to Him, in their usefulness to His gospel. And so the hope is to see this gospel spread out and passed down. So what will it take? What’s the power, if you will, for gospel ministry? He starts by saying, “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” What’s the power for gospel ministry? What’s the power for seeing the gospel spread out and passed down? “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”  Paul wants to point Timothy to the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And not just grace, the strengthening grace, the one who is, the one who loves us, and the ability we have in Him to endure. But here I want you to notice the emphasis. Paul here, his point isn’t just to point him to grace. And I think his point isn’t even just to say, “Hey, you need grace,” or “You can’t do this without grace.” That would be putting the wrong emphasis on the wrong syllable, right? You can still sort of make it out, but there’s something to putting the right emphasis on the right syllable. And the emphasis here isn’t that you can’t do it without grace, but rather with grace you can. The emphasis is that through the strengthening grace that is in Christ Jesus, you can do this, Timothy. You see, a timid man who’s ready to tap out and throw in the towel doesn’t yet need one more reminder of what he can’t do. He needs someone to pull his chin up, look him in the eyes, and say, you can do this. There is in Christ Jesus sufficient grace for the ministry that He’s called you to. And I want you to hear, no matter what context you’re in, it is not a surprise to the Lord Jesus. You could probably swap stories about who has the harder work, and yet in every one of those places, the grace that is in Christ Jesus is sufficient to strengthen you for the place and call that He’s given to you. And so put your chin up and look straight in the eyes of the Lord Jesus and hear him say, there is strengthening grace for your call. There is strengthening grace for your context. The grace of Jesus Christ has kept the people of God in all the places they’ve been throughout the ages. They’ll keep you in the place you are. They’ll keep the generations to come. The grace of Jesus Christ is sufficient for the place and for the context and for the call and for the city and for the church that He has called you to. So then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. This call requires nothing less than, but also needs nothing more than the grace that is in Christ Jesus. So then, brother and sister, don’t quit. Don’t bail. Don’t pull out on Jesus or the ministry that He’s given to you, because the grace of Jesus Christ is strong enough and sufficient enough to keep you in exactly what He’s called you to do. That’s what it takes. That’s the power for gospel ministry. So then, what will it look like? What will it look like to see this gospel spread out and passed down? What will it look like for this gospel to bear fruit in 2126? This is the picture of gospel ministry. And in this picture of gospel ministry, Paul gives us sort of three portraits, a composite picture of three portraits of what gospel ministry looks like. He says it’s like a soldier, it’s like an athlete, it’s like a farmer. It’s a soldier, 2:3, “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” Share in suffering as a good soldier. Earlier in the letter, in chapter 1, Paul had already told Timothy, “Hey, God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power.” And that word timidity is: He didn’t give us a spirit of fear. He didn’t give us a spirit of cowardice. It’s almost the idea of he didn’t give us the spirit of one who tucks tail and runs from the battle. Now, if you’re not someone who tucks tail and runs from the battle, you’re someone who runs towards the battle. And who on earth runs towards the battle? Who on earth runs towards enemy lines? Who on earth runs towards gunfire and military? Who on earth runs towards that? Soldiers do. Soldiers aren’t surprised by gunfire. Soldiers aren’t surprised by enemies. Soldiers aren’t surprised by suffering. They run towards the danger. They don’t shirk from it or shrink from it. They run towards it. And Paul is saying, “This is gospel ministry.” It’s volunteering to run towards the enemy. It’s volunteering to run towards pushing back darkness throughout this whole world. That’s the call. I remember being at this church, boarded up so that no one on the outside could see. And I heard at the end of this gathering, a pastor stand up for 20 minutes and shepherd his congregation on what they should do if a mob should show up. I’m listening to this man teach his congregation what they should do. And so he’s telling the young children and women that if they come, you are to go to the side and begin to sing and pray. He’s shepherding the young men in his congregation, “You’re to go and stand around them and defend them if a mob should come.” He’s telling the older men who have been Christians for 10 years or longer. 10 years is all it takes for you to be a senior there, and so 10 years or more, you’ve got to come to the front, and all the elders have to be at the front. He’s instructing them on what they should do. And I could tell you, I’m sitting there, I’ve been in pastoral ministry for two decades, I have no context for shepherding a congregation like that. And I couldn’t help but think, are we in the same tribe? Like, you’re following Jesus, and I’m following Jesus, and yet what it looks like for you to follow Him feels so different. But it’s just assumed that if we’re going to follow this Jesus, sharing in suffering is going to be part of the call. It’s not a bug, it’s part of the feature. It’s the design. It’s the woof and warp of ministry. Share in suffering as a good soldier. But then Paul adds this, and there’s grace here if you’ll see it. In verse four, he says, “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” We are called as soldiers to be sort of singular-minded with this one focus. We can’t be distracted by the things that civilians get distracted by, but rather our aim is to please the one who enlisted us. And right there in that little phrase is grace, strengthening grace that you can be strengthened by. And the grace is, you are in this fight to see the gospel spread out and passed down, but you’re in this fight because He enlisted you. A soldier doesn’t get entangled in civilian affairs since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. You got enlisted. Could you hear that? Jesus didn’t have a draft lottery and got stuck with you. He enlisted you. He thought that in seeing the gospel spread out and passed down, He was going to recruit you. You’re not here by accident. You were enlisted by Him. What a wondrous grace that He could have saved me and beamed me up, but instead left me because He’s got me enlisted in this work. The best thing I’ve ever heard on this is Charles Spurgeon once reflected on his own call to ministry and the wonder of the thought that Jesus had called him. And so he reflects on this story from the Prodigal Son. Listen to this quote from Spurgeon. He says, “I have always felt in my own mind that it was one of the clearest proofs that I had God’s forgiveness of my many sins when I was trusted to preach the gospel. I should think that if a prodigal came back to his father, the old gentleman would kiss him and receive him and rejoice greatly over him. But the next Saturday, the market day, the old gentleman would say, ‘I cannot send young William to market. That would be putting temptation in his way. Here, John, you’ve always been with me. Go to market and buy and sell for me, for all that I have is thine. William, you stay at home with me.’ He might not let him see all that he meant, but he would say to himself, ‘Dear boy, he is hardly fit for that great trust. I love him, but still I hardly dare trust him as much as that.'” And then listen to this: “But see what my Lord did with me when I came home to him as a poor prodigal. He said, ‘Here is my gospel. I will entrust you with it. Go and preach it.'” Spurgeon’s saying it’s one thing for him to have brought me home, and that would have been fine, but another for him to take the most precious thing He has, namely the good news of his Son, and say, “Here, I trust you with this. Go and preach it.” Oh, you and I have been enlisted by Him. And so it’s hard, but there’s strengthening grace to know we have one who enlisted us. And so be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. A soldier and an athlete. He says in verse five, “An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” Commentators say what Paul likely had in mind is that before you could even compete in the Olympic Games or the games of his day, you had 10 months of strict training, and you couldn’t shortcut it, you couldn’t shortchange it, you had to keep the rules. And that’s the life of an athlete. When everyone else is in bed, the athlete is in the gym. When everyone else has another bowl of ice cream, the athlete holds back. It’s that discipline, it’s that consistency, it’s that keeping of the rules. And why? Why do you do that? Because an athlete has a crown in mind. You don’t keep the rules, you don’t get the wreath. And so that wreath is strong enough to say, I’ve got to keep this. And Paul is saying, “Son, if you don’t quit, but if you’ll stay the course, then you will soon enough be able to say just like I am, I have run the race. I have kept the faith. I have done what I was supposed to do, and now there is waiting for me, and not just me, but all who have loved his appearing, a crown of righteousness. And so, son, hold on. Don’t quit. Don’t bail. But not only an athlete or a soldier, but he also says a farmer as well. Verse 6, he said, “It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.” Not only a suffering soldier, not only a rule-keeping athlete, but a hard-working farmer. Whenever I’ve thought of this, I remember this commercial that came on during the Super Bowl. There was this commercial for Dodge Rams. And so in it, in order to talk about the toughness of Dodge Rams, was this deep baritone voice of a man named Paul Harvey, and he spoke about farmers. Let me read you what he said in his commercial. He said, “And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, ‘I need a caretaker.’ So God made a farmer. God said, ‘I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper, and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board.’ So God made a farmer. God said, ‘I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt and watch it die, then dry his eyes and say, maybe next year. I need somebody who can shape an axe handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make a harness out of haywire, feed sacks, and shoe scraps, and who at planting time and harvest season will finish his 40-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pained from tractor back, put in another 72 hours.’ So God made a farmer. God said, ‘I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bales, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed, and risk, rake and disk, and plow and plant, and tie the fleece, and strain the milk, and finish a hard week’s work.’ So God made a farmer.”

 Now, I don’t even know what half of that means. [laughter] But I do know when I heard it, I said, I want to be a farmer, right? Because when you hear this thing, you go, whatever that is, that is heroic. Hard, but heroic. Right? Farming is hard work, and that would be Paul’s point. A farmer is up before the sun is up and down after the sun is long down. And he doesn’t get up because he feels inspired. He gets up because it’s the thing to do, because there’s fields to plow and seed to sow. And here’s the thing about farming: all that work is done with no immediate results and with no guarantees of harvest. Can you think of a more apt picture of gospel ministry? Except that you plow fields because they’re there to be plowed, and you sow seed because you need to sow it, with no guarantee and no idea of if or when it will bear fruit. You have the conversation with the lady next door with no idea if that amounted to anything. You open your home with this revolving door, and people are in all the time with no idea if it’s going anywhere. You labor to study a language and give yourself to it for years with no idea if this is amounting to anything. Can you think of anything more like gospel ministry than farming? You plow fields, and you sow seed with this hope that one day, one day, one day, maybe there will be a harvest. And you have this confidence that over time, God will bring growth. I remember reading a story about this man named Luke Short. He was early in America’s history, in the Puritan days. And Luke Short had come over from the old country, from England. And when he was 15 years old, back in England, he had heard a sermon by a preacher named John Flavel. And John Flavel had been preaching to him about those who do not believe in the gospel are anathema, are under the curse of Christ. Well, Luke Short sailed across the ocean and lived his entire life. One day he was either out on his farm or sitting on his porch, 103 years old, and all of a sudden he thought to himself, those who do not believe the gospel are anathema. And so convicted, he became a Christian at 103 through a seed that had been planted 85 years earlier. His tombstone read, “Here lies Luke Short, aged in grace three years, aged by nature 106.” That’s gospel ministry. You plant seed and the winters come, and you have no idea how long that seed will lie in that ground, in fallow ground or hard soil, or like our brother said, tilling concrete. And yet you labor with a thought that if it be decades or 85 years later, the word of God is not bound. That’s what Paul said. And that this thing, the winters will give way, the springs will come, and the seeds will sprout. That’s gospel ministry. You labor with the hope that one day you’ll look over your shoulder and you’ll see a harvest behind you. Paul is screaming from the boat, “Son, don’t quit. Don’t bail on Jesus or the work that Jesus has given you to do because there’s a harvest on the other side of our work. I know you can’t see it past the fog, but there’s a harvest on the other side.” Now, we haven’t said all that can be said or teased out all that can be teased out from these metaphors, which is why I think Paul says, “Think over what I say, and the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” But I think what we can say is that what’s common to all three is that this is incredibly hard. You know what’s common to a good soldier or a rule-keeping athlete or a hard-working farmer is that it’s hard. And I think Paul would be saying, “Son, if it is so with the vocations of men, what do you imagine it will be in the ministry of God? If it is so in the vocations of men, what will be in the ministry of God?” This is hard. But son, this is all going somewhere. And that’s the third and final thing. What will it take? It’ll take the strengthening grace that is in Christ Jesus. What will it look like? It’ll look incredibly hard. But what’s it all for? Where’s this all going? And here now you have, I think, the purpose of gospel ministry. Why share in suffering like a good soldier? Why keep the rules and the rigor like an athlete? Why work hard like a farmer? Because this is all going somewhere. Verse eight, “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.” Son, remember Jesus Christ. Remember the offspring of David, that is the Messiah. And how did everyone think the Messiah was coming? Oh, everyone thought He was going to have a shield and a sword and on a stallion. How did he come? Not as a conquering king, but as a suffering servant. How did He come except as one who ran towards enemy lines, except as one who kept the rules, except as one who labored for a harvest. He was acquainted with grief, familiar with sorrows, suffering, hardship. He tasted death. Remember Jesus Christ. But we have to keep the right emphasis on the right syllable. What does he say? “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.” That’s the emphasis. It’s remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead. He didn’t stay dead, did He? Paul, that’s the emphasis. That’s the emphasis, son. This is all going somewhere because we can endure through the One who loves us, the firstborn from the dead, the One who did taste death but came out the other side for us, the firstborn of the resurrection. You see, son, on the other side of all our suffering, there’s something there. On the other side of the suffering of a soldier is a victory. On the other side of the rule-keeping athlete is a crown. On the other side of the hard-working farmer is a harvest. And on the other side of the cross is an empty tomb. This is all going somewhere, son. So it was for them, so it will be for us. This is all going somewhere. We will not stay down because the word of God is not bound. So it was for Jesus, so it was for me. I’m in chains now. But what does he say? The time of my departure has come. Soon there will be on this head a crown. That’s the audacious hope of resurrection, that this decapitated head will one day wear a crown. That’s what’s coming because Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. Therefore, verse 10, because that’s true, I can endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. All this suffering, all this effort, all the attacks from the enemy, from within, from without, all that stuff is going somewhere. And Paul says, “My endurance and my suffering, and yours too, is going to be the means by which the elect are brought into the Kingdom.”, which is a staggering thought. Isn’t it unbelievable to think that one billion years into glory, someone’s going to tap you on the shoulder and say, “Sister, I am in this heavenly country because you came to my earthly one.” or, “Brother, I’m standing in the city of Jerusalem because you CP’d in my earthly city.” This is the means by which the elect will be there. And Paul’s saying, “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.” You sticking it out matters. You enduring matters. You not bailing on Jesus or his gospel or His work matters. And it matters eternally. It’s just a small piece of the puzzle, but it’s a part of the puzzle.

And you and your work and your labor, brother and sister, it matters. And Paul says, “You can bank on this. This is true what I’m telling you.” In fact, he’ll say in verse 11, “The saying is trustworthy. For if we have died with Him, 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.” Paul gives this exhortation and concludes it with a pair of promises and a pair of warnings. Listen, if we die faithful to the end in this work, we will live with Him. If we endure, brother and sister, hold on; if we endure in a way that I don’t even know what it really means or how to explain it, we will reign with Him. A pair of promises. But a pair of warnings: if we deny Him, He also will deny us. And if we are faithless, He remains faithful. Now, either that switches back to say, no matter what we do, He’ll still be faithful, maybe. Or it’s a warning to say if we are faithless, as in found without faith, like Phygelus and Hermogenes, like the other list of names. If we find our names on that pile of those who did not stay with Jesus, then He will remain faithful. All the threats of this gospel will fall upon us. So with promises and with warnings, He says, that’s what’s at stake. That’s why your call matters, both to Jesus and to His work. So, brothers and sisters, this is our call: to see the gospel spread out and passed down, to dream together that what we’re doing here might bear fruit in 2126, that generations from now, there will be consequence because of your endurance, because of your sticking it out. To that end, it will take the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And you then, my child, be strengthened by that grace that is in Christ Jesus. And what will it look like? It’ll be hard, but it will be incredibly worth it because this is all going somewhere. Two months after Chadwick’s swim, she tried one more time. And she stepped out into the Pacific into another day just as icy, just as foggy, with waters just as shark-infested. Except two months later, she made it. And they had a press conference again, and they said, “What was the difference?” And she said, “This time, the entire time, I kept in my mind an image of the shore.” And brothers and sisters, Paul has written so that through Timothy you might hear, son, daughter, don’t quit. Don’t bail on Jesus or the work that He’s given you to do, because though you can’t see it, the shore is right there and you are almost there. Let’s pray together. Father, I thank you for these brothers and sisters. As for the saints in the land, these are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight. And I pray that you would bless them as they go from here today, tomorrow. I pray, O Lord, that you would let them endure, that their works matter with great consequence, both for themselves and for the people that they’re laboring among. Pray that you would strengthen them by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, that you’d help them endure amidst all the attacks from within and from without. Strengthen them even today. Let this day be a part of the means by which you will have them endure to the end. And Lord, bless them and keep them, make your face shine upon them and be gracious to them, lift up your countenance upon them and give them peace now and always, I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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0:44:03.0 Jim Lovelady: Keep going. Just keep going. Something you should know about me is that I am by nature deeply cynical and I wrestle with many doubts. And if you’ve followed the podcast, you may be able to pick up, you may have been able to pick up on that. So Ajay’s sermon was very encouraging to me, and I received it as the Lord’s mercy. And ever since his talk, and all summer, basically, I’ve been thinking a lot about the journey of faith, the theme of pilgrimage, partly because my son and I, with my best friend and his sons, are planning to walk the last 150 kilometers of the Camino de Santiago next summer. And partly because Ajay’s talk showed me that my soul feels like I’ve been walking for a long time, and I’m tired. But I got to keep going. So I’ve found myself meditating on the Psalms of Ascent, the pilgrim Psalms, Psalms 120 through 134. And I’ve been reading Eugene Peterson’s A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, because you’ve got to keep going. So this season on Grace at the Fray, you’re invited to join me as I explore what it means to be on pilgrimage to God. Pilgrimage with God and with one another. So let’s journey together, right? What do you say? And look, the Serge Renewal team is all about coming alongside you in your pilgrimage. So if you want more intimate companions on your journey, I want you to explore the Discipleship Lab course. Discipleship Lab is a cohort-style journey learning how to disciple others in their pilgrimage. It’s a rich curriculum, but it’s the sharing of life together with folks from around the world that’s most impactful for people who take this course. I’ll leave a link in the show notes, and it starts soon, so don’t miss it. Go check it out. Link in the show notes. But maybe you’re realizing that your journey needs some one-on-one attention and you need a personal guide to help you bring the gospel to bear in your daily life and to recover the joy of your salvation. If that’s where you are, you need to sign up for the Mentored Sonship course. Again, follow the link in the show notes. It will change your life. And if you want to give toward the work of Serge, and it’s a crucial aspect of helping our people keep going, go to give.serge.org and start your donation today. All the info you need for getting more involved with the work of Serge, well, it’s in the show notes. Serge.org is a great place to start. And if you’re watching on YouTube, like this video, subscribe to our YouTube channel, share this episode with someone who needs grace for their long road. Let’s follow in the footsteps of our Savior. You may be just getting started following Jesus, or you may feel like it’s already been a long road, but keep going. He loves us, and we love Him because He loves us. So as you continue on your pilgrimage today, receive the Lord’s blessing for your journey. May the Lord bless you and keep you, and make His face to smile down on you. May the Lord be gracious to you, turn His bright eyes to you, and give you His peace. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, life everlasting. Amen.

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