2 Timothy 1:1-14 CEB
I take my sermon title today from the Contemporary English Version translation of our epistle reading. In other, older translations, we find “protect this good thing” refers to “guarding the gospel” which is often translated as “the good deposit.”
An epistle is an old word for a letter. Paul likes to write to Timothy, who is like a son to him, and give him spiritual advice and fatherly love and support. When he tells Timothy to guard the good deposit, he uses a Greek word for guard which is phylaxon. Stott, author of a book Guard the Gospel, (Intervarsity Press, 1973) explains that this guarding action, this protecting action, suggests that Timothy is being asked to protect the gospel so that it is not lost or damaged.
Is anyone familiar with the 2010 movie titled The Book of Eli? The main character, named Eli, is played by Denzel Washington. The setting is a post-apocalyptic world, and Eli is on a mission to deliver a very rare book for safe keeping to the West Coast. There is, of course, a bad guy who desperately wants this book. The bad guy eventually gets the book, a rare King James Bible, only to unlock the clasp and open it to discover that it is written in Braille, and the bad guy does not know Braille.
Spoiler alert, this is the place in the movie where we all learn that Eli is blind. Now, I need to make a nod to all Sunday School teachers everywhere, including my sixth grade Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Stetson, who taught us how to memorize Bible verses. Memorizing scripture can be a deeply invaluable gift to yourself. You never know when God will help you in a given situation by bringing to mind a verse you might have memorized as a child, or perhaps you’ll go home today and find a verse you want to memorize, for future recall. Memorizing Bible verses and then bringing them to mind when we need them can do many things…maybe it’s a verse that encourages you, or a verse that reminds you that God loves you, or a verse that calms you and brings you peace, or a verse that tells you that you do not need to fear, for God is protecting you.
Okay, back to The Book of Eli. And one more spoiler alert, Eli dies at the end of the movie. But he succeeds in getting to the West Coast and even tho the bad guy stole the holy book, Eli had memorized it and was able to recite it word for word so that it could be transcribed and consequently be placed in safe keeping once again, so that God’s divine word was not lost or damaged.
Now, we all know The Book of Eli is fiction. But the message is real, my brothers and sisters in Christ, that we are to guard the gospel, at all costs, and with everything we’ve got, because that is what God requires of us.
The apostle Paul, in verses 11 & 12, shares with Timothy that he suffers as a result of his work as a “messenger, apostle, and teacher” of the gospel. But even so, even in his suffering, Paul witnesses to his faith that God is actively protecting that which God has entrusted to Paul’s care. And then, of course, we come to verse 14 where Paul charges Timothy to “protect this good thing.”
Do you hear what’s going on here? It’s really quite exciting! Remember way back in Genesis, where God created us in God’s image? Genesis 1:26-28 The Message reads “God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature.” We see here, in 2 Timothy 1 that in protecting this good thing, this gospel, we are imitating God! God not only asks of us to care for the gospel as a spiritual calling, and to take on this sacred responsibility with joy, but God also assures us that it’s not solely up to us. God is with us in this sacred task and makes sure the vast power of God is also at work, alongside us, to see to it that God’s sacred word is neither damaged nor lost.
So you see, God is on the job, but also gives this task to Paul, Paul hands it on to Timothy, and we are all called, as the faithful of the Church, to protect this good thing, which in Greek is “ten kalen paratheken” or “the good deposit.”
What shall we do, here and now, to “protect this good thing”? Do we comprehend the dangers and suffering implicit in this holy task? In a world in which places of worship are increasingly seen not as places of sanctuary, but targets for destruction, or places where immigrants may be whisked away while they are merely practicing their faith…how will we make it clear to our community and the world, that we stand for justice, equality, peace, and love, and that we worship a God in whose image we all were created?
The theologian, Frederick Beuchner wrote a book titled Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale. He writes “The gospel is bad news before it is good news. It is the news that people are sinners, to use the old word, that people are evil in the imagination of the heart, that when they look in the mirror…what they see is at least eight parts chicken, phony, slob. That is the tragedy.”
“But,” he goes on to note, “Then there is comedy – we are loved anyway. But then there is a fairy tale-that extraordinary things happen…It is impossible for anybody to leave behind the darkness of the world he carries on his back like a snail, but for God all things are possible. That is the fairy tale. All together they are the truth.”
Regretfully, we cling to the tragedy and comedy image of who we are, when God is all about inviting us to embrace the fairy tale, to walk away from the darkness, to be joyous in the all-encompassing love of God. God simply wants us to follow his Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Mrs. Stetson would not call this sermon well-rounded without inviting the listeners to review what it is that we are called as the faithful to protect. Indeed, she would likely invite the listeners to memorize what it is that we are called to protect. Aren’t you glad Mrs. Stetson is now with the saints in heaven and not here to give you a lesson in memorization?! Not to worry. I’m not going to give you homework this weekend to memorize the King James Version of the Bible!
But I am going to invite us all to turn to page 882 in the United Methodist Hymnal, so that we can read aloud together The Apostle’s Creed, Ecumenical Version.
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontious Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen.
Let us work together, as a family of faith, supporting one another as we protect this good thing that God has entrusted to our care, so that all may come to know the love of God, the saving grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit, moving in us and through us. Amen.
Oh, and, if you haven’t seen The Book of Eli yet, in spite of my spoiler alerts, I do recommend it. Denzel Washington is one of my favorite actors and I think you’ll enjoy it!
Pastor Elizabeth Bailey-Mitchell
