Be Still And Know

2 Timothy 1:12 I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return. Security is a big issue in our society. Billions of pounds are spent each year in an attempt to keep things safe. Nothing could make it clearer that, sadly, we live with a massive level of insecurity. I’ve only once lived in a house which had its own safe. It was so heavy that we never attempted to move it, but we were very grateful to have it because it was the best place to protect chocolate biscuits when our children were young! We didn’t have anything more valuable to put inside it, and I often imagined with glee the disappointment of anyone who tried to break into it with an oxy-acetylene torch. Paul knew there was no security issue more important than his salvation, and in today’s verse he celebrates God’s total reliability. God was able to keep Paul absolutely safe until Jesus returned or called him to himself. In a world that is full of insecurities, we all

2 Timothy 1:9 God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time – to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. When Jesus met Saul on the road to Damascus, everything changed. He moved from darkness to light. He experienced the forgiveness of his sins and entered into a new life with God which would never end. His whole life changed direction and he became an enthusiastic champion of the Christian faith, encouraging everyone to discover this salvation for themselves. In this verse, he reminds his young friend Timothy that salvation is not the end of the process. God saves us for a purpose: so we will live a transformed life of holiness. Holiness is the kind of word from which we all naturally shrink. Like Isaiah, we are more than aware of how unholy we are and that our society is anything but holy. However, holiness is God’s intention for us because that is life at its best. Unholiness is like living with h

2 Timothy 1:8 Never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. This wasn’t the first time that Paul had spoken about the issue of shame. In his letter to the church in Rome, he declared boldly that he was not ashamed of the good news of Christ (Romans 1:16). Paul had been brought up in the strict disciplines of the Jewish faith. He was a Pharisee and had studied under the most respected rabbis of his day. He knew that there were many people who wanted him to feel thoroughly ashamed of his Christian convictions, which they saw as a terrible betrayal of his Jewish roots. On the contrary, he was so proud of his newfound faith that he was more than happy to boast about his salvation and his new life in Christ. He was the very opposite of ashamed! Paul knew, however, that there were many reasons why young Timothy might feel ashamed of telling others about the Lord. Indeed, shame can be an obstacle for all of us. We might hate to be seen as different, or a bit odd. We would rather fit in with the crowd and avoid

2 Timothy 1:7 God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline. The apostle Paul wanted his young friend Timothy to be the best. There was no question that Timothy was going to have to face enormous challenges. He would be continually confronting opponents to the Christian faith, and he would also have to face up to issues of church organisation and discipline. He had a tough job ahead of him, and Paul knew it was vital that he was neither fearful nor timid. From the references to Timothy in Paul’s first letter to him and in 1 Corinthians 16:10-11, we get the impression that he was quite a sensitive person and probably naturally inclined to be timid. Paul knew that this could be a terrible handicap in his leadership role. The fear of other people or of failure will always greatly restrict a leader’s effectiveness. God doesn’t want fearful and timid leaders but ones who are marked by his power and love and who show self-discipline. The power that a Christian leader

2 Timothy 1:5-6 “I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you. This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.” When I was a boy, one of the great pleasures of Saturday afternoons was that I would light a bonfire with my dad. I came to love the smell of bonfires, probably because it reminded me of those happy moments. The greatest pleasure of all was the process of getting the fire going. Sometimes we struggled, but then by fanning the flames carefully we would have the joy of seeing the fire take hold. Paul used this image to speak of his longing for Timothy’s faith to grow. It wasn’t enough that he had a godly grandmother and mother. He needed to have a strong faith himself, so the flames needed to be carefully fanned. Through the centuries, many people seem to have looked at Christianity as a club, as if all that

2 Timothy 1:3 [The apostle Paul wrote:] “Timothy, I thank God for you – the God I serve with a clear conscience, just as my ancestors did. Night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.” Paul’s second letter to his young friend Timothy is deeply moving. Paul knew that he was close to death and was keen to do everything he could to encourage, strengthen and direct Timothy in his ministry. He knew it was absolutely vital that Timothy had a clear conscience. When we trudge through life with a guilty conscience, it is an oppressive burden to bear. I’m sure Paul’s colourful early life had left him with many sins and failures which weighed heavily on him, and it was out of relief that he could now declare, as a Christian, that he lived with a clear conscience. There is a delightful German proverb which runs: “A good conscience is a soft pillow.” We can sleep soundly when our conscience is clear. No wonder Paul was so keen that Timothy should share his experience of a clear conscience – he could

Psalm 98:7-9 Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the earth and all living things join in. Let the rivers clap their hands in glee! Let the hills sing out their songs of joy before the LORD, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice, and the nations with fairness. When we think about praising God, we naturally think of people joining together in chapels, churches and cathedrals around the world every Sunday. It’s inspiring to think of millions of people every week sharing in acts of worship. However, the psalmist doesn’t want us to think that this is the sum total of worship, because he sees the whole of creation involved in praising God. Nothing is left out! Even the sea joins in praising God. The rivers clap their hands in glee! It is beautiful poetic language because he is straining to remind us that absolutely everything is bound to be part of the chorus of praise because God is so great. He wants to blast open every attempt that we make to li

Psalm 98:1 Sing a new song to the LORD, for he has done wonderful deeds. His right hand has won a mighty victory; his holy arm has shown his saving power! I love the fact that God’s people through thousands of years have enjoyed singing. The psalmist had a very clear reason for encouraging people to sing: God’s salvation. Throughout his dealings with his people, he had shown them his ability to save, supremely when he led them out of slavery in Egypt. After 400 years in that land, God set them free in the most dramatic way. Nothing has changed. Salvation should spur us into singing today. Salvation never changes because God has always been in the business of setting people free from sin, guilt and lifelessness, but the way in which that salvation is experienced will be unique for every individual. I love hearing the testimonies of other Christians, and what always strikes me is that each is a one-off. God comes to us as individuals and meets us in the specific context of our lives, so there is endless va

Psalm 97:10 You who love the LORD, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked. One of the signs that we truly love God is that we start to hate evil, and this is critically important because the many great evils in the world will never come to an end unless people begin hating them. The Transatlantic Slave Trade only stopped when people identified its horror and started hating it. I once visited the ancient fort at Cape Coast in Ghana where slaves were held before being ferried to the slave ships off the coast. For me, the most horrific discovery was that the dungeon in which the slaves were brutally stored was underneath the chapel. As the slave traders worshipped God, they must have heard the cries of the slaves. For centuries, people lived with the slave trade as an acceptable, if regrettable, part of life. It was only when people started to hate it and fight against it that the tide turned and finally, albeit very slowly, it was dismantled. There

2 Corinthians 13:14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. As Paul concludes this tough letter in which he has responded to fierce criticism of his ministry, he ends by blessing the church in Corinth. These beautiful words are repeated millions of times every year as Christians meet together because they are the strongest words of blessing that could be imagined. They summarise the majestic work of the Trinity. Jesus’ life and ministry are wonderfully summed up in the word grace. Grace means gift, and his life and death were God’s perfect gift to the world. In a world in which there is often brokenness, sadness and a distinct lack of grace, it is wonderful to be able to pray for people to experience the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, which brings healing, forgiveness and restoration. Many things could be said of God the Father, the creator of the world. He is all powerful and all-knowing and no word of praise and adoration is too g

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 [The Lord] said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. The apostle Paul revealed that he had suffered a thorn in the flesh. He didn’t give any hint of what kind of thorn this was, so there have been endless suggestions over the centuries. It may well have been a physical difficulty, and it has often been suggested that he had a speech impediment. This would account for him being described as a poor preacher. It might well have been a mental or spiritual difficulty instead. We just don’t know, and it really doesn’t matter. What matters is the spiritual lesson that it taught him, namely that God finds it easiest to work in us through our weakness rather than our strength. A strong person is tempted to th

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. Paul was under attack from people within the church in Corinth. Some of them thought he was quite timid when he was with them in person but extremely bold in his letters while away from them. It’s never pleasant to be the target of criticism, and Paul responds by helping his critics understand that he wasn’t trying to impress them with powerful oratory and clever arguments. He was content to be thought of as a dull preacher because what mattered was not his clever performance but the declaration of the cross of Christ. That’s where true wisdom is found. When people challenge Christian teaching, it is absolutely right that we should give a thoughtful and sensitive response, but we should never imagine that people will be won over by the power of our clever reasoning. We need to rely upon the power of the Spi

2 Corinthians 9:10-11 For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. We can likely all think of occasions when we have been really generous and times when other people have been generous to us. They are precious moments, but that’s just it – they are moments, and they come and go. What the apostle Paul is talking about here is very different. He is talking about generosity as a way of life, not as an occasional and unusual outburst, and he says that God makes it possible for us to always be generous. Generosity has everything to do with our hearts and little to do with the quantity of what we give. The widow, who Jesus observed giving a tiny gift into the temple collection box, was supremely generous. Her two little copper coins were just a tiny fraction of what the rich people gave, but sh

2 Corinthians 9:7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” Some years ago, I was involved with setting up a new hospice. There was a desperate need to raise funds and, although I had never done such a thing before, I offered to organise a house-to-house collection. I recruited collectors and off we went. It was the most beautiful experience. Almost everyone was not only keen to give but thankful that we went to the trouble of knocking on their door. Many of you will have been involved in door-to-door collections and may have had a very different experience. I certainly have. On occasions, doors have been slammed in my face, but more often, there has been an attitude of indifference and an eagerness to put some small change in my box to encourage me to go away! God loves cheerful givers, and it is easy to understand why. He loves to see the cheerfulness because it shows the giver has understood

2 Corinthians 9:6 Remember this – a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. The law of the harvest is easy to understand: you reap what you sow. If you are miserly with your giving, you need to expect a deeply disappointing harvest. However, if you give generously, you can be sure of an amazing crop, probably far larger than anything you had imagined. Money is particularly important because, as Jesus observed, it is a rival god. You have to make a choice between serving God or money. You can’t serve both. Money makes huge boasts. It pretends that it can offer security, popularity, contentment and satisfaction, and it demands worship in return. In every generation, people have fallen for the god of money. However, money is not inherently bad. It is part of God’s creation and so is, in fact, inherently good. The problem is when it becomes the master and it drives our thinking and actions. The best way to prove that money is not our

2 Corinthians 8:20-21 We are travelling together to guard against any criticism for the way we are handling this generous gift. We are careful to be honourable before the Lord, but we also want everyone else to see that we are honourable. Paul had spent some time encouraging people to give money towards a collection that would help the Christians in Judaea who had suffered a severe famine. He knew how easily there can be accusations about the misuse of money, so he put measures in place to prevent this. One of them was to appoint Titus as his travelling companion when the money was taken to Jerusalem. He wanted to ensure that the way he handled the money was not only honouring to the Lord, but also to everyone else. Such wisdom in the handling of money is necessary in every generation. Through the years, treasurers of churches and charities have been found guilty of misusing funds far too many times. It has often been observed that such crimes are more easily committed within the trusting environment of C

2 Corinthians 8:11-12 Give in proportion to what you have. Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. People often ask what amount of money they should give to the Lord, and I think Paul’s words are incredibly helpful. It is probable that the majority of people in the Corinthian church were poor, and his intention wasn’t to make their lives more difficult. At the same time, he knew it was very important that they should give in a disciplined and thoughtful way, so he encouraged them to give money in proportion to what they had. I was brought up in a family which practised tithing. One tenth of my father’s income went into a small wooden box in the sideboard in our dining room. What impressed me as a child was that this box seemed to have more money in it than anywhere else in the house! It would often have a number of crisp bank notes, and it showed me from the beginning of my life how important it was to set aside money for God. I

2 Corinthians 8:10-11 Here is my advice: It would be good for you to finish what you started a year ago. Last year you were the first who wanted to give, and you were the first to begin doing it. Now you should finish what you started. Let the eagerness you showed in the beginning be matched now by your giving. Does any of this ring a bell with you? It certainly does with me! We begin to do something and we feel very enthusiastic about it, but then other things get in the way. In Corinth, the church had shown a desire to give money to support Paul’s collection for the Christians in Judea, but they then seemed to have forgotten about it. Time had passed and Paul was now eager to remind them of their earlier enthusiasm and to take action. It is said that the path to hell is paved with good intentions. Anyone can have good intentions, but what matters is that we turn them into action. Another wise saying is that people with good intentions make promises but people with good character keep them. If we are to

2 Corinthians 8:9 You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich. The Christian life is, before anything else, characterised by giving, and the reason for this is that it’s how Jesus lived. As we follow in his footsteps, our lives need to be shaped by giving generously. His generosity was so complete that he gave everything and became totally poor in order to make other people rich. This is a huge challenge to all of us in a society that is deeply acquisitive. The assumption is that life is found in acquiring more and more, but Jesus turns that thinking completely on its head. There is an old proverb which runs: “He who takes but never gives, may last for years but never lives.” That’s a scary thought and should redouble our determination to work out how we should go about our giving. We need to find a deeper understanding of where our money and resources come from. When we realise that it’s all fro

2 Corinthians 8:7 Since you excel in so many ways – in your faith, your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love from us – I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving. This is a remarkable verse. The two letters that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth lift the lid on a community which was very divided and disorganised in its worship, and in which there were serious disciplinary issues that hadn’t been addressed. However, Paul was able to come up with a long list of their good qualities! I love how encouraging he was to them. It’s easy for any of us to become overwhelmed by the failures of people and churches. It would be a good exercise to think about the most annoying person that you know and write down a list of their positive characteristics. If we concentrate too much on people’s shortcomings, the danger is that we will miss their finer qualities, and our relationship with them will never stand a chance. In just the same way, if we only look at a church’s weaknesses,