Dear church,

I wonder what you remember from your own baptism. Do you recall where you were baptized – who was there and what it was like? Do you recall the water, whether it was cold or warm? Do you remember the words of the pastor or the person who baptized you?

“He saved us … by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”

I was baptized in 1989 at Riverlawn Christian Church in Wichita, Kansas. I was baptized by the youth pastor. I don’t recall anything he said. “By the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” – I suppose so.

I do remember as I was dunked that my feet slipped out from under me, and I took a big backstroke with my left arm to try to keep from sinking further under water. I remember my uncle, who was present to witness this, joked with me about it later.

And so my baptism was a bit of an embarrassment for me.

But this was the most important day of my life. The day of my baptism was the day I experienced “regeneration.” That was the day the Holy Spirit entered my life. In short, that was the day I was given new life. We can think here of being “born again” – dead, buried, and raised.

The picture for me is appropriate. I was a 11-year-old kid, slipping under the water, flailing on my own to try to avoid sinking. And I was pulled upright by someone else.

This is an appropriate picture for me because the “washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” is not something we do on our own. We aren’t saved by works done by us in righteousness.

Sin causes us to sink. Someone Else pulls us upright.

What do you recall from your baptism?

Chris

Dear church,

Paul urged Titus to teach “sound doctrine.” This sound doctrine sounds like a lot of rules – for older men, older women, younger women, younger men, and bondservants. There is quite a bit for them to live up to.

And then Paul gives them the reason to do this. “For the grace of God has appeared …”

This is why we are sober-minded, dignified, reverent, teaching what is good, self-controlled, submissive, and showing good faith. We do this because the “grace of God” has appeared.

We have been saved by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. His death on the cross atones for our sins. And this is why we live “sound doctrine.”

Really, this is a household code for the children of God as they live in the meantime – the time between the first and second comings of Christ. “For the grace of God has appeared” – that is the first coming. Meanwhile, “our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” – this sure sounds like his second coming.

Sound doctrine is lived doctrine. And we live this doctrine because we’ve been given the grace of God through Jesus Christ. And we live this doctrine until the return of Christ.

Our church talked tonight about communal sin. This is the sin the church has engaged in over the years. If we don’t talk about such things from time to time, there can be no true repentance and very little healing.

Whenever sin is brought to the table, we have an opportunity to live “sound doctrine.” I pray we are able to do this.

Chris

Dear church,

God never lies. This is an uncontroversial statement. Who would think that God could tell a lie? No, Satan is the “father of lies.” Jesus himself said that (John 8:44).

But God does not lie. Paul, I suppose, was stressing the eternal truth-telling of God in contrast with the residents of Crete, who “are always liars.” That’s a strong statement. We’re shocked Paul could be so bold in describing a whole group of people in this way. This kind of statement, to our modern ears, rubs us the wrong way.

We want to say, “Be nice, Paul.”

But I wonder whether perhaps there’s a point here Paul was making that we ought to let settle into our minds. God is eternally truthful. Cretans always lie. The two are on opposite ends of a spectrum. God’s words are always true. Cretans speak deceit.

To which side of that spectrum do you stand? Are you closer to God or the Cretans?

Be careful how you answer that question. You might find yourself again saying, “Be nice, Paul.”

Our attitudes as it relates to sin, particularly the sin of dishonesty, is an especially important one in our walk of faith. When we are dishonest, we can lead others astray. And when we are dishonest, we even can lead ourselves astray.

We must learn to be truthful with both ourselves – “Am I, indeed, a sinner?” And we must be truthful with others – “Yes, I am indeed a sinner, but there is a Savior.”

God never lies, and a Christian continually strives to speak truth in every moment in life, hoping to become more and more like God.

Chris

Dear church,

What has your devotion? Is it your spouse? A friend? Is it your daily work? A hobby? A home? If someone were to ask you what you were devoted to, what would you say?

The apostle Paul was devoted to the Word of God, to study, to preaching, to proper teaching. And he was urging Timothy to do the same.

Timothy was to preach the Word of God, and it didn’t matter what Timothy’s audience wanted from him. They could have all the “itching ears” imaginable. But Timothy’s devotion was to be to God’s Word.

This was just like Paul, whose own devotion to the Word of God was obvious. It seems as if Paul was asking Timothy to bring Paul’s study materials along with him when he came to Paul – “the books, and above all the parchments.” Paul wasn’t telling Timothy to do anything Paul wasn’t doing.

So what has captured your devotion? What do you spend the largest share of your time doing?

Not everyone, certainly, is going to be a preacher or a Bible scholar or a missionary. But somewhere inside of every Christian ought to be an ache to be of use for the kingdom of God – to serve Him in some way.

To what are you devoted?

Chris

Dear church,

This chapter, of course, contains the central motivation for our entire Bible-reading plan as a church. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

These days, we don’t want anyone to breathe on us. In fact, our government is mandating that people in public spaces don’t get close enough to breathe on each other. Your breath carries germs, they say. Please keep it to yourself!

And we wear masks. For a while I carried the same worn out mask in my pocket, and I would dig it out and put it on as I walked into the grocery store. It started to smell bad. No wonder! I had been breathing on it again and again. Some funky stuff comes out of our mouths, and we oftentimes don’t even notice!

All Scripture is breathed out by God. Here is a something that might also carry something that could “infect” a person.

Do you want God to breathe on you?

Please keep reading your Bibles. I am convinced that what we are doing – diving into God’s Word every day – can transform our lives for the better.

Chris

Dear church,

The passing of the faith from one person to another and from one generation to another was a principal concern of the apostle Paul’s as he neared the end of his earthly life.

Indeed, that’s why we have these two letters to Timothy. Paul was instructing his co-worker and apprentice in the sharing of the gospel and the leading of churches. Paul was encouraging Timothy to continue the ministry.

Paul in the first verses of this chapter described four “generations” of Christians – Paul, Timothy, “faithful men,” and “others.” The good news was passed from one person to another to another to another.

Paul then offered three pieces of advice – three analogies – about how a sharer of the gospel must live his or her life. The analogies relate to a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer.

I take these analogies to mean a person entrusted with the gospel – an evangelist – is to be single-minded in his or her desire to share God’s Word, is to faithfully and accurately use God’s Word, and is to expect support in his or her work from the church.

You may see some other truths in those analogies. That’s, of course, why Paul urged Timothy, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”

And perhaps this is the most important thing for people who want to do the work of the ministry. We should spend a lot of time thinking.

We should think about what we’ve heard from our teachers. We should think about how best to share the gospel. We should think about the people to whom we should share the gospel.

And we should think about Scripture – about difficult passages, about things that are hard to understand at the outset.

Paul’s chief concern late in his life was the increase spread of the gospel and to do this through people other than himself. Part of what he wanted these teachers and preachers to do, what he wanted Timothy to do, was to become good thinkers.

I wonder whether we are good thinkers. How much time do you spend pondering the gospel and considering your calling in Christ?

Chris

Dear church,

Paul was nearing the end. He was imprisoned. He was kept away from the mission to which he had devoted his life. And he missed his dear friend Timothy.

But Paul was confident. “But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.”

“That day.” This has a specific meaning. This means the day of Christ’s return. See also 2 Timothy 4:6-8.

Paul knew his ministry of the gospel would not come to an end. The Word would continue to spread. There was no doubt about that.

We see the hand of God moving here – giving Paul confidence. We also ought to see the trust that Paul put in Timothy. “By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.”

I am certain Paul could rest easy knowing God was in control. I am also certain Paul was completely satisfied Timothy still was out in the world, preaching the message of Jesus Christ – the story of salvation.

There are some people in our lives on whom we can count. There are some whom we know believe the same things we do and have the same convictions we have. And there are some whom we know can do things we can’t. And we simply must be grateful for them.

There are some points in life where we reach the limits of what we physically are able to do. In my ministry, I’ve encountered numerous older saints who have been physically limited. They no longer had the energy to do what they once were able to do. It can be frustrating.

But a number of those elders of the church – my elders! – have turned their attention to prayer and encouragement. I don’t know how many times I’ve had kind words given to me by folks who already have run the vast majority of their races. They were nearing “that day.” And they were content.

May we all be that way.

Chris

Dear church,

Some Christians may say that once a person is filled with the Holy Spirit, life gets really easy. Just recognize who you are in Christ, they say, and then live your life. Everything else gets filled in with the Spirit’s movement in your life, and things become simple. Your finances will improve, and your health will improve.

And the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “Fight the good fight of the faith.”

This doesn’t sound like something that’s necessarily easy. This sounds like a struggle, with potential winners and losers. This is how we fight, after all. We fight to win. And we have to fight because there’s opposition.

This reminds us of the beginning of this letter, when Paul urged Timothy to “wage the good warfare.” Paul seemed to like this battle imagery.

In some ways, then, living a life of faith involves fighting and warfare. This seems to be a metaphorical picture of the struggle against sin and the possible rejection of the faith.

Paul told Timothy to “flee these things” – that is, to flee the love of money and the craving after material things. And then Paul told Timothy to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness.

None of these things are particularly easy to achieve. All of them, in some way, require us to move forward, to willfully chase after them.

Frankly, the life of faith is difficult. I’ve found this to be true in my own life, and you probably have as well. Temptation knocks on the door. And we can be lulled to sleep in our faith when we’re prosperous and happy. And persecution, or even mild social pressure, can steer us away from a full pursuit of Christ.

This is not to say the Holy Spirit is ineffective. Actually, that’s not true at all. The life of faith would be IMPOSSIBLE without the Spirit. We would falter and fail and eventually run away – like the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane.

But we’re to keep in step with the Spirit. And the Spirit is always moving toward righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. And the Spirit is always moving away from sin, from greed, and from covetousness.

So if you are feeling like your walk of faith is a challenge, be encouraged. This is normal. But we need not be overwhelmed. Just one day at a time – one chapter at a time, one prayer at a time – is part of fighting the good fight of faith.

Chris

Dear church,

Here’s a chapter about life in the church. If we ever wanted to know what the church was like in its most pristine days, we get a nice open window in 1 Timothy 5.

We can see how believers were to treat their fellow church members (1-2). Notice the family language here.

We can see how the church was to care for widows who were left without any resources in life (3-16). There’s a command here for biological families to care for one another. And there are built-in protections for the church. Not every widow should be enrolled if there were other relatives to whom they could go for support.

We can see how “elders” were to be treated and how they were to act (17-20). They were worthy of honor, and they also had a responsibility to live faithful lives. There might be times when elders ought to be publicly rebuked.

And we see what appears to be some personal instructions from Paul to Timothy (21-25). It’s interesting to me here that Timothy had “frequent ailments.” So much for the word-of-faith/prosperity gospel idea that those who truly are Christians should never get sick!

I guess the picture that stands out to me here is the idea that biological families were to care for their relatives. Children were to care for the widowed parents.

We’ve been talking in our gatherings lately about the church as a family – the idea that the church was designed to operate like an ancient Mediterranean family. We have obligations to one another, and the unity and protection we have in this new surrogate family is a blessed thing.

But we ought not to lose sight of the fact we also still have a responsibility to our biological families. Yes, our church families come first, but God doesn’t want us to abandon our biological families in the process. We still care for them even if our ultimate allegiance now is to Christ.

Some in our culture today want to destroy the nuclear family – to break it up. I suppose this is so they can force people to rely more on the government. A Christian, however, has a duty to his or her parents, to support them.

“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

Is there a person in your family whom you ought to call today?

Chris

Dear church,

This passage has personal meaning for me. I suppose, as a pastor, I like the direct instructions Paul had for Timothy.

“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. … Practice these things, immerse yourself in them. … Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.”

Timothy was to devote himself to the ministry of the Word. He was to exercise his spiritual gift (whatever that was), and he was to mind how he lived his life. That is, he was supposed to live a life of Christian virtue, as an example for the church.

This is a good reminder for me, as a pastor, to do the things that Paul was calling Timothy to do.

There are good lessons here for the church, as well, regardless of the vocational calling of any given member.

First, Paul puts a primacy on the reading of God’s Word. The Bible should find its way into our daily lives. We need to read it and to hear it read publicly.

Second, we ought to find people whom we can model our lives after in the way we speak and conduct ourselves. Timothy was to show the church the way to live, and we ought to have Christian men and women from which we can learn.

Third, we ought not to neglect the spiritual gifts we’ve been given. Do you know what your spiritual gifts are? And if so, how are you using them?

Chris