Making a Mark

I want my life to mean something. I want my life to be important. I want to leave a mark. As a pastor, I’ve heard those words or words very similar to them quite a few times. And I don’t think they are unusual words. Doesn’t it seem fair that kind of most of us, if not all of us, want our lives to be important at some level? That we want our lives to make a difference, to leave some sort of a mark of some kind? I think that’s fair. I think that’s fair that many of us, most of us, all of us, have those thoughts, at least to some extent. I wonder though, where our thoughts go next. And what I fear is that our thoughts next go to things like, “So I need to amass a lot of wealth,” or “I need to become powerful,” or “I need to start this really successful business,” or “I need to become this famous actor, actress, sports person, politician, whatever.” And we tend to think that’s the way our lives become important, and we make a big mark. [pause] Is making a big mark a good thing? Kind of depends on what mark you made. Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Martin Luther. Good! Nero, Stalin, Hitler. They too made big marks. Not good. And so, making a big mark, per se, is not really what we’re shooting for, at least not the way we humans tend to think about it. But here’s the cool thing. God does want your life to be important. God does want your life and my life to make a mark, in fact, a big one. But as God so often does, he loves to hide big things under blankets. There’s lots of stuff in our text about leaving a big mark. And what that really means in the life of a believer. And we’re going to kind of walk our way through the text, picking out some various details. I’m going to start right at the beginning. The context of 2 Timothy is that Paul has been put in jail for the second time. Remember the first time he was jailed in Jerusalem, quickly transported to Caesarea, sat there in the jail as the leader Felix was waiting for a bribe from him. And then he eventually has to appeal to Rome, and off to Rome he is sent. And the book of Acts does not record it. But every indication from church history is that Paul was released from that imprisonment and was able to continue to do mission work. And then he was taken captive a second time. And again, judging from church history, this time he did not get released and was executed at the hands of the Emperor Nero. And this time his arrest is not a house arrest, but in 2 Timothy, he tells us that he is chained like a criminal. That in this one, it’s hard. And he senses that his earthly life is coming near an end. And so he’s writing to youngish Timothy, who Paul had met on his second missionary journey in the town of Lystra. Timothy had joined Paul and Silas on that missionary journey. And again, we don’t get all the details, but it seems as if Timothy became Paul’s right-hand man, one of his right-hand men, his compadre, his compatriot from that time forward. What is clear is that Paul and Timothy became very close. He addresses the book of 2 Timothy to my beloved son. Paul was single, didn’t have children, but he regarded Timothy as his son. They were dear to each other. And as our text begins, Paul talks about remembering a time it’s not recorded when Timothy and Paul were separated, and it led Timothy to weep. Perhaps it led Paul to weep, too. And inside of that whole thing is this little hint as to one of the ways our lives become important. It’s just in regards to the interactions that we have with the people who are around us. Oh, we don’t really get the impression that Paul and Timothy were doing anything big or special for each other. But hey, we’re just partners. And they were just working together for Jesus. But as they were working together for Jesus, there was this dearness that took place, this bond that happened. How many people are you impacting right now because you’re living your life of faith? And how important is that mark that you and I are making? Not because we’re doing something humanly big, but because we’re living our life of faith. And that’s exactly where Paul goes next in our text. He talks about how he was reminded of Timothy’s faith, which also lived in, and the Greek word there literally does mean to dwell inside of. In other words, that God is emphasizing the fact that faith isn’t like this ring that we put on our finger or a jewelry that we hang around our neck, nor is it just some tangential sort of Sunday morning part of our life. But that faith lives in us. And that our trust in God’s power, our trust in God’s plan, our trust in God’s forgiveness of us and others, that just dwells in us. And what happens is it kind of oozes out of us. And oftentimes it oozes out of us in ways we don’t even recognize. That we smile at the person at Quick Trip who takes our cash or credit card. That we’re friendly to the person at Pick and Save or wherever you do your shopping, who helps us check our groceries out. That we greet our neighbor with a smile. You don’t think about those things, do you? But you do them all the time. Because faith in Jesus is oozing out of you. It lives in you. Now, think of the mark that Lois and Eunice made on the world. As their faith oozed out of them, it impacted Timothy in huge ways. Church history tells us that Timothy ends up becoming the lead pastor in Ephesus, probably the most important congregation in what we would call Turkey. In fact, it seems to indicate that he became kind of the biblicist for that whole region, kind of the lead pastor, for many other pastors to look to for guidance, for hundreds, thousands of believers to look to for leadership and encouragement, and inspiration. Was Timothy making a difference? Oh my, was he? Where did it start? It started with mom and grandma, who were living their lives of faith. Now, as mom and grandma lived those lives of faith, do you think they were thinking to themselves, “Man, we’re really making a big mark here.” I doubt it. I doubt they even had that thought cross their minds as they did whatever their work was, as they practiced patience and kindness and love with one another, as they just raised Timothy. They weren’t thinking about how big a mark they were making. They weren’t thinking about how big a mark they were making. But were they making a mark? Oh my, were they making a mark? How big a mark are you and I making right now? How big a mark are you and I making right now? Does our faith in Jesus ooze out of us? I have no idea. But does God know? Absolutely. And one thing you can know for sure, whether you can see the mark you’re making doesn’t matter. God sees the mark you’re making, and it may be that the mark you’re making won’t even be seen during your lifetime. It may show long after you’re in heaven, at least here on this earth. Is that okay? Absolutely. Because Jesus doesn’t say you will be the light of the world, or you should be the light of the world, or you might be the light of the world. He says you are. You are the light of the world. And because of that, your life is always making a mark. And perhaps it’s for that reason that Paul then urges Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God, which was given to you by the laying on of my hands. Now, we have to step away from that passage real quickly and admit we’re not sure what that gift of God was. Some people think it’s simply Timothy’s God-given faith. That’s possible. Other people think, and I agree with this, but this is my opinion. It’s not a for sure thing that it was his gift that he’d been blessed to become a called worker. That he was a pastor, and that would seem to indicate the laying on of hands thing that Timothy was ordained by Paul and officially somehow made a pastor, the way we pastors are done today, and the way Victor Phil will be doing in a couple of weeks. And the word fan into flame would probably better be translated fuel the flame. Fuel the fire. In other words, it wasn’t so much that Paul was saying to Timothy, get this started. Now, what he’s saying to Timothy is there’s a fire burning in you that’s been given to you by God. Keep adding logs to the fire. Keep that campfire burning. Keep that wood stove burning by keeping on adding logs to that fire. And how do you and I do that? You and I keep fueling that fire by hearing the word of God, by being reminded of our baptisms, by attending the Lord’s supper often, because as we do those things, what are we reminded of? We’re reminded that we have a savior. We’re reminded that we have a savior who brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, that we are not mortals. We are immortal because we will cease to live here, but we will go on living in heaven. We’ll never really die. Not the way the world thinks about it. Because Jesus destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light, and brought life and immortality to you. And oh, it reminds when you fuel that fire, when you fuel that flame by hearing words of God like that, you’re reminded that yes, those things were revealed to you during this period of time. But it’s been true for you for all eternity. Because God shows you as his son, as his daughter, before he ever said, “Let there be light.” Can you imagine? God thought you were so important that he chose you to be his child before he even created this world. How important does that make you to be? How important does that make your life? Wow! Can you even put a value on it? I don’t think you can. That the importance of the life that God has given to you and me is just invaluable. And that’s true. No matter what is going on in our lives. Remember where Paul was when he wrote these things. He’s in jail, and it’s hard. He’s chained like a criminal. He’s convinced he’s soon going to be execute,d and he was right. But he could encourage Timothy, “Don’t be ashamed of the gospel and don’t be ashamed of me. Join me in this.” Because all of this stuff is happening according to God’s purpose. And God’s grace. Your God loves you enough that he has a plan for you. And your God loves the world enough that he has a plan for the world. And no, I have no idea how bunker buster bombs fit into that plan. But that’s not my job to know. That’s his job to know. Be assured, brothers and sisters. He knows. And he knows how all the things that happen in this world are going to work together for good so that the most possible people can end up in heaven. And if that means that for my salvation, I need to suffer, oh, how important that suffering will be for me. And if it means that for somebody else to get to heaven, you and I need to suffer. Oh, how important that suffering is so that God’s saving message can continue to be spread. But oh, how easy it is to lose sight of that, my brothers and sisters. Amen. So what do we need? We need to fuel the fire. We need to keep adding logs to our spiritual fire by hearing the word of God, by remembering our baptisms, by coming to the supper often. Because what is the ultimate mark of a really important life, a life that really makes a mark? It’s a life that’s lived for Jesus. And so my brothers and sisters, my urging to each one of us, starting with me, my urging to each one of us, starting with me, is that you and I keep fueling the fire of faith. That you and I keep hearing about God’s wonderful saving love in Jesus. Because as we keep hearing about that, God’s love, God’s peace, God’s power, God’s glory will continue to seep out of us. And oh, what a mark we will make. Amen. And amen.