Well, this morning we enter into, as I've mentioned over the past couple of weeks, what the church calendar refers to as ordinary time. That is no particular events within the church calendar are being recognized here, but it's a time to maybe delve into other scriptures within the story of the Bible or letters or so forth. And we've been tracking, as you know, through the church calendar begins with Advent, in the preparation of the coming of Christ, and then a season of Christmas, and then there's a little window of ordinary time. Maybe we remember in that the baptism of Christ and so forth, and then some of the events in his life, the transfiguration. And then we come to a season of Lent as we prepare for a Holy Week, and then Holy Week, season of resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost, and then Trinity Sunday. And so that's the journey that we've been on. And now we enter into this ordinary time. And we have chosen to jump into a short New Testament book, but spend a little bit of time here. And that is the letter of Paul to Timothy, particularly his second letter. So that's what we'll be doing today. And today, an introductory sermon, to be sure. And really, different from anything we've been doing recently, we've been studying big narratives and big stories and characters throughout the Old Testament. And now we're jumping into a very small text, looking just at 2 Timothy 1, verses 1 through 3. And that's just Paul's introduction to Timothy in this letter. So I want to read the text for us, and then I want us to dive in and think about it. I've entitled this sermon, Christ-Centered Ministry. And Paul is writing, we call 2 Timothy one of the pastoral letters. It's a pastoral letter like 1 Timothy and like Titus in that Paul is pastoring this particular person. He's writing to him about the ministry in this discipleship role of, as we'll hear in this short text, the role of a father, a spiritual father to a spiritual son. He's writing to this next generation of leadership within the church. And so, in some sense, the pastoral epistles first Timothy second Timothy Titus are really a great text to read to ministers. As I read first and second Timothy. I'm challenged about how I am to shepherd the church. It's good for elders within the church. Good to challenge at presbytery meetings, young candidates in the ministry, and even those who are now ordained when you give a charge to them. Perfect text to use for that because that's what the letter was written for. It was written to charge Timothy as he now entered into the ministry. So for that, it's great. But here we have a little bit of a challenge because most of you are not ministers. Most of you are not elders within the church, and nothing wrong with that. As we've already considered, as we thought about last week, within the body of Christ, not all are called to be pastors. Not all are called to be elders within the church, right? God has given different gifts. So now we have to do a little bit of work as we read through this so we don't merely make it a letter that is only applicable to me or to the elders of the church, but that is applicable to all of us as ministers And I want to be, I want to be real careful here, because I don't want to try to spiritualize your vocation, whatever the Lord has given you to do. And for most of you, it is secular work and by secular I do not mean bad. I don't mean even of less value than church work or capital M ministry work, right? Formal ministry. You know that my life is pretty much taken up with formal ministry, gospel ministry. But as we read through the scriptures, it does not mean that your secular vocation is of less value. It's a different thing. God extends his hand of redemption. on one side, but also his hand of providence on the other side. And the way that God feeds his people, the way that God heals his people as farmers and doctors, truck drivers, and all these kinds of things. And that's the hand of God ministering common grace to his people. And that is just as much the work of God as am I the arm of God to minister his word. to his people. So I don't want to draw a barrier there between the work sort of sacred church work and then the secular work. So when I say your ministry or you as ministers, we do want to think how we use our work, whether it's pastoral work or whether it's the work of a carpenter or a doctor, a lawyer, a secretary, doesn't matter, pick the vocation, how we use that in the ministry of the Lord. And in as much as we can do that, in as much as we endeavor to do that, we will hear Paul's words to Timothy and we can make the application to ourselves. So I just want to make sure that we address that as we enter in because there's not a one for one. Most of us are not in Timothy's shoes. But nonetheless, we are called to use our lives in service for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that way, we can draw application to ourselves. So have ears for that as we read through this text over the next several weeks. Well, our text this morning, as I say, is just the very first verses of the letter, just verses one and two as we get going. So hear the word of the Lord this morning as I read our text, and then we'll jump in and consider this Christ-centered ministry. Very simply, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, according to the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, a beloved son, Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus, our Lord. Very simple introduction. In fact, if we've read through the letters of Paul, if you've read any of the letters of Paul, You know that this is a very common introduction that Paul makes in just about all of his letters. It's interesting to go back and look at those introductions because there is some variation, and we'll address a little bit of that. There is some variation, but we know that this is how Paul begins most of his letters. So nothing shocking or out of the ordinary here for Paul. Now just before we begin and jump in and think about how in this very introduction to Second Timothy we get a glimpse of Christ-centered ministry, let's just reflect on what is the context for this letter. So Paul is writing a letter to one of his successors. Paul is on the very back end of his ministry now, literally the back end of his ministry. Paul is in prison in Rome, and this is his second imprisonment, and Paul knows that death is imminent. It will be from here that in fact, Paul, as we understand it, will be taken and beheaded. So Paul is right here at the very end, and he takes time, even in his prison cell, to write to his up-and-coming successor, Timothy, and encourage him and challenge him, exhort him, to what life in the ministry needs to be. Now, Timothy has been with Paul. When you go and you look at many of the other letters, you will hear, I think it's maybe three, maybe three or four letters where Paul introduces the letter to the church, introduces himself like this, and then says, you know, Paul and Timothy, Timothy is clearly with him as he is ministering. So Timothy has spent time with Paul, and he has been learning at the side of Paul. but now Paul is giving him his last word and exhortation to him. So right at the outset, we need to know that, that we're dealing with this pastoral letter and that the context is serious because it's Paul's really last word, not only to Timothy, but really to all of us as it comes through Timothy. Now, I want us to think about this in terms of a Christ-centered ministry. You notice in just the two verses, it should stand out to you, I think, that just in the two verses, Paul mentions Jesus Christ three times. So for Paul, Jesus Christ It has saturated his whole understanding of his own calling. He has saturated, Jesus Christ has saturated his understanding of his mission. The source of it, the sustenance of it, and even the fruit of it is all taken up in Christ. For Paul, it is all about the Lord Jesus Christ. And even if you go back and read the text that Mark read from Ephesians chapter one, I mean, again and again and again, throughout those short 14 verses, I mean, it's in Christ, in Christ, by Him, in Him, through Him, because of Him. It's Christ, Christ, Christ. For Paul, everything centered around the Lord Jesus Christ. And hence, to the Corinthians, as we read in our Word of Exhortation, I didn't come to you with the wisdom of men. In fact, I endeavored to know nothing before you except Christ and Him crucified." For Paul, this is what it was all about. And therefore, I want us to think about in our own ministries, again, whatever that means. It doesn't mean we have to make plumbing a ministry, though it can be. It just means that I am a minister, small m, minister, as a plumber, as a doctor, as a lawyer, as a pastor, as a musician. as an artist, it doesn't matter. We are all called to be the salt of the earth. We are called to be the light of the world. We are called to be disciples with Christ. We are called to be coworkers with him. And therefore we must think about ourselves having a Christ-centered life and as such a Christ-centered ministry. Now let's look at the three times that Paul mentions Christ here. And what I want us to see is that Christ is the source of Paul's ministry. Christ is the sustaining force of his ministry. So not only the source, but the sustaining force. And I certainly don't mean those to rhyme. And then finally, Christ is the substance of his ministry. Christ is what Paul has to give. So let's think about these three things. First, Christ is the beginning, the source of Paul's ministry. He begins his letter, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. That is, Paul looks at his apostleship and he sees its source is the will of God in and through Jesus Christ. And just historically, we know this is the case, right? Paul was not groomed in any human sense for apostleship. And by the way, apostle just means sent person. Sent person, that's what an apostle is. A person who's commissioned to go on a mission and for a task sent by somebody. That's what the word apostle means. And so Paul is a sent one by the will of God in Jesus Christ. But remember, Paul was not being groomed in his life for apostleship, right? Paul was a hater of the church. Paul was a Pharisee of Pharisees. And we know how the Pharisees felt about Jesus. They were not big fans. So Paul was not being groomed. He hated the church. He persecuted the church. He was there at the killing of Stephen, standing by, watching, overseeing, and then on the road to Damascus to go gather other Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, that he might kill them when the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him. and knocks him on the ground, we assume from his horse, though, as we learn going through the Book of Acts, it doesn't technically say there was a horse there, but we always assume Paul was knocked from his horse. Maybe he was, maybe he was just knocked to the ground while he was walking. But either way, Paul is knocked to the ground, blinded by the light and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he hears the word of the Lord to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Three days he is blinded, and then Ananias is sent to Paul to say to him, Paul, Jesus Christ has said this to you, you're my guy. You are my guy to go to be a light to the Gentiles. You're gonna take the gospel to the Gentiles. So very much for Paul, we see the fact that he is an apostle by the will of God and the calling of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ directly, even verbally and audibly who actually called him. But I think what's so important about seeing the call of the apostle here is that while it happens more dramatically to him than it certainly did to me, I did not have any such experience telling me to go to seminary or into the ministry. And most of you did not have such a dramatic experience as that being called even into the faith. But what's so important and why it's so dramatic, I think, in the Apostle Paul is then we get a picture of what in principle is true for all of us. Think about the pattern of God throughout the Bible, right? Paul is not the only one to get this. There is a pattern throughout the scriptures of God coming and calling his people. Think, for example, of Noah. Noah is just doing his thing, and God, we're just told, and Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and God came to Noah and approached him and said, you're my God, build an ark, Lead the people into the new creation. You're my guide. Noah did not go seeking this calling. The Lord came and sought him. Or think about Abram. Abram is a man in the land of idolaters, we're told. And yet the Lord comes to him, Abram, you're my guide. Go to the land that I will show you. You're gonna be the leader of my people. I'm gonna make, I am gonna make of you a great nation. And through you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Or think about Jacob. It's not Esau. The Lord tells Jacob's mom, but it's the younger that is going to surpass the elder. The elder will serve the younger. And then God calls Jacob and meets him at Bethel and says, you're my guy. Or Moses there out in the wilderness. And the Lord comes in at the burning bush. You're my guy. You're going to go to Pharaoh and you're going to do this. King David out managing the sheep. And then the Lord comes to him through Samuel. You're my guy. You're the king. And this is the pattern that goes on and on. Jesus coming to the 12 disciples. Come follow me, you're my guide, right? The Lord comes and calls him. So this pattern is there throughout the scriptures. And Paul makes it clear here. This is through the Lord Jesus Christ, by the will of God. Now, the same is true for you and me. Though again, it may not be so dramatic, but the dramatic evidences of this, the stories of this in the Bible are giving us the description of what is happening, maybe not so visibly, maybe not so audibly, but in our own lives. The picture of our salvation is one of calling, right? Think of Romans 8, 29, 30. For all those he foreknew, them he predestined that they might be conformed to the image of his son, and those whom he predestined, those he also called. By all those whom God foreloved and predestined, he called into his service. He called like the way that Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb, another very dramatic display, not unto ministry, but just a picture of the life-giving, converting power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus came to life and willingly joyfully, lovingly walked out of the tomb. Herein lies a picture of our salvation. This is in essence what God has done for each of you who are in Christ. You were dead in your sins and trespasses. You were, as Paul says to Titus in Titus 3, we were all hateful and hating one another. We're all like Paul on the road to Damascus, hateful and hating one another. Look at what's going on in our world all around us. Do we not see in the manifestation of our culture that the hate that is just beneath the surface that then finds occasion to erupt and manifest itself, and all of a sudden there's turmoil within our culture. I mean, this is true of all of us. It's what simple man does. We tend to be self-oriented. We tend to be people who are hateful even toward our neighbor, though generally civilized society holds this down. But throughout history, it manifests, it rears its ugly head. That is the toxicity that's in our soul as non-believers, and sometimes, unfortunately, still remains in believers, bubbles out. I don't wanna pin this all on non-believers. The Lord knows, right? Believers struggle with sin also. But this is what we are by nature. We're all Paul on the road to Damascus. We're all Lazarus, dead in our sins and trespasses, yet we are what we are by the will of God and the calling of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bill Spancher, come forth. and we are brought to life. We are given that life unto us. And it's that spiritual blessing that Paul is talking about in Ephesians chapter one, as Mark read to us, that we have all of these spiritual blessings in Christ. He is the source of all of our blessing. He is the source of our callings. We have it all in Him. And brothers and sisters, we are ministers then, like Paul, not as apostles, not necessarily as pastors or formal evangelists, but we are all ministers unto the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, I encourage you to go back and read Ephesians chapter one, three through 14, and listen to Paul as he kind of has a chorus that goes through that passage. There's like three verses in that passage. A verse about the blessings we have from the Father, a verse about the blessings we have from the Son, and a verse about the blessings we have in the Spirit. But notice the refrain after each of those verses, and even to begin it. Praise be, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as he comes to the refrain at the end of a verse on the Father, he says, we are to be to the glory of God. This is your ministry. You and I share that, whether I minister formally within the church or you minister to your family, to your neighbors, to your community, to your coworkers, to your employees, whatever you do, this ministry, we all have in common. We are to minister unto the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the glory of God. That is why you have been called. And frankly, that is why you exist. Westminster Shorter Catechism, question number one, what is the chief end of man? man's chief end, that is his primary purpose, the end for which he was created, his telos in the Greek, the end for which we were created is that we might glorify God and enjoy him forever. This is why you were called, it is our ministry. And for Paul, therefore, the source, the very beginnings, the whole reason for his ministry is Christ. But he's also the source in terms of association. And then these are related. These are two unrelated things, but still considering Christ as the source of our ministry. For Paul, his whole identity then is in Christ. I am an apostle of Jesus Christ, he says. Do you think of your vocation that way? Do you think of your vocation, your life, your calling, your relationships as such in Jesus Christ, that you are a dad of Jesus Christ, a mom of Jesus Christ, a laborer of Jesus Christ, a musician of Jesus Christ, a pastor? of Jesus Christ, that you are whatever you are of Jesus Christ. Does he so dominate your identity that when you describe yourself, that's what you are? I always go back to the time when we had, we brought over three kids from the Orphanage Stars for Jesus to come to Chapel Field years ago now. And many of you know Joseph Mwangi, who is just like, he's a brother. He's a brother of mine, literally, in my family. I mean, not legally adopted, but he's lived with us for 12 years and been part of my family. But he came over with two others, Gilbert and Fenwell. And I remember particularly to this day, first meeting Gilbert, in chapel and Gilbert introduced himself to us. My dad had him speak in chapel. And I remember the way Gilbert introduced himself. And he said, my name is Gilbert. I am a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I remember standing at the back of the chapel, just there for chapel and seeing this new young man who's going to be joining our school. And for some reason, just being blown away by that. that it was Gilbert saying to know me, you must know this. I am a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether that means being a student, whether it means this or that, it is all of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's how Paul is. I am an apostle of Jesus Christ. Are you that? Paul says, your life, your body is not your own. You were purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul tells us in Romans, offer your bodies up a living sacrifice, which is good and pleasing to the Lord. Jesus comes along and says, you must lose your life if you are to save it. Pick up your cross and follow me. That is, our whole lives are to be dominated by our identity in Christ. For Paul, he had a Christ-centered ministry because he knew who he was. He was a minister of Christ, an apostle of Jesus Christ. And when you go back and look, and I wrote them all down, I won't go through them all, but go back and look at all of his introductions. Many times he will say, Paul, a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Reminds me of what Gilbert said. Do you think of yourself that way? Not just, not because you're not an apostle, but do you think of yourself primarily as a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ? That's offensive language within our culture, even today, isn't it? that we are bondservants of the Lord Jesus Christ, that this is what I am here to do to serve Him. May we think about our lives that way in whatever God has called us to do and all the relationships he has called us to. So first, he's the source of our ministry. Then secondly, he's the sustainer of our ministry, right? Paul goes on in this passage to say, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, that's the first time it's mentioned, by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus. So Paul is a apostle of Jesus Christ according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus. That is, Jesus is not only the originator of my calling, but he is the sustainer of my calling. I am what I am according to the promise of life that is in Christ. Now think again about the context of this passage. Remember what I told you about the context of 2 Timothy. Where is Paul right now? In prison. What's he awaiting? Death. Yet, Paul can say, think about this, Paul can say while he's awaiting imminent death, he can say, I am what I am in Christ and because of Christ and according to the promise of life in Christ. This is not the first time Paul has known affliction. Paul's whole ministry has been affliction. How are you able to stand up under that? How are you able to stand in the midst of affliction, in the midst of suffering for the name of Christ, or in your own personal life, or when troubles and trials hit like we ourselves have been going through now over these past three, four months? For Paul, he knew the answer. He is sustained by the promise of life that is in Christ. Paul's strength and his source of life, not only the source of his calling, but his source of life is Christ. For me to live Paul says, is Christ, and to die is gain. Now notice what he says here, according to what? He doesn't even say the gift of life. He says according to the promise of life that is in Christ, promise. Here's where so many people get distracted. They think serving Christ means blessings. If you're serving faithfully, you will be blessed in this life. And you may in fact be blessed in this life. And just serving him faithfully is a blessing itself. But notice that's not what Paul said. Paul knows that serving him here means untold numbers of afflictions, struggles. We scratch our head, oh God, why? Why would you allow us to go through this? Oh God, why would you allow this person to go through that? Oh God, why wouldn't you hear our prayers on this or hear that? Paul just didn't seem to struggle with that as much, though he cried out to the Lord from time to time, Lord, deliver me from this body of death, or Lord, deliver me from this thorn in my flesh. But when God said no, which he says to him in 2 Corinthians 12, right, when he says, no, I'm not removing the thorn from your flesh, Paul gets it. Paul understands. It's not about life now, it's about the promise of life in Christ that he is sustained. It's something that's not yet. So Paul does not see his being in prison as being in any way in conflict with the sustaining power of his ministry in Jesus Christ. There is a promise. And for Paul, if God makes the promise, if that promise is in Christ, then it is yea and amen, because Paul knows that it is Jesus Christ who was raised from the dead, who is the source of life itself, who makes the promise. And therefore, Paul is sustained by what is to come. not by his current circumstances. And I don't know if you're like me on this, but I am very much governed by my current circumstances. I am very much thrown off kilter by my current circumstances. But Paul is a model here, isn't he? Paul is a model of Christ. What does it mean to be Christ-centered in your ministry? It means to know who you are in Christ, but it means to tap into and define the source of your strength and your ability to go on in Christ and the promises that he gives. It is this and this alone, I believe, that will grant the courage that we prayed about in our corporate prayer of confession, that we might live courageous and sacrificial lives when we count the spiritual blessings that are ours in Christ. This will enable courage. This will enable us to be humble, as we thought about last week, and to lose the self-centeredness, the self-obsession, the constant worrying about ourselves. Because we know the promise we have, and therefore I can let go. I know I have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And therefore I can think about you. Therefore I can think about my neighbor. Therefore I can be courageous and name the name of Christ. So for Paul, the sustainer of the ministry is Christ. It's a promise, but remember, it's a promise in Christ. It's not just life, it's life in Christ. The promise that you have, and this is very important because this is what will keep us focused and lasered in on him. If you know that the promise of life is a promise only in him, in him and in him alone. Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, will not perish. I am the way, the truth, and the life. There is no way to the Father but by me. And this understanding kept Paul's eyes fixed on Christ, not fixed on the Romans, not fixed on imprisonment, not fixed on the whippings he had to go through, not fixed on the failings of the church, not fixed on this, but fixed on Christ because he was sustained according to the promise of life in Christ. And Paul wanted that for Timothy also. And brothers and sisters, you and I need this, because as we've confessed over the time of this COVID, and now over the time of all this chaos swirling around in our culture, how easy it is for us to take our eyes off of him. But Paul wants our eyes locked on Christ. We are what we are because of Christ, and we are sustained according to the promise of life in Christ. And then finally and thirdly, He's not only the source of our ministry. He's not only the sustenance of our ministry. Oh, these are three S's. I didn't even plan that. And then he's finally the substance of our ministry. That is, he is the why we minister. We minister because he has called us and that's it. If not, I'd be like Lazarus dead in the tomb. I'd be like Paul on my way killing people in Damascus. There, but for the grace of God, go I, right, we say. So he's the why we minister. He's the how we minister according to the promise of life in Christ. He's what sustains us. And it turns out he's the what we minister. Maybe those would have been better points. He's the why, the how, and the what we minister. And that's why Paul says, I endeavor to know nothing before you about Christ and Him crucified. I'm not coming to you with five tips for a happier life. I'm not coming to you with tips on how to organize your life. I'm not coming to you with five financial tips. We need financial tips. We need orderly lives. We need all these things. But Paul says, what I have, the treasure that is inside this jar of clay that I bring to you is nothing of me, is nothing of worldly wisdom. It is Christ and Him crucified. Him raised from the dead, Him ascended to the Father, Him who, He who sends the Holy Spirit, He who will come again and judge the earth one day. And that's why Paul, remember, Paul's life was distracted by a million different things. But in Philippians chapter three, he says, but when I knew Christ, everything else became rubbish. All the things I was striving for now turned to dust. I saw them for what they were, and they were rubbish. Compared, he says, compared, it's not that the things are rubbish in and of themselves, the things we pursue in this life, on a penultimate side, they're important, but they are absolute rubbish. Compared, he says, to the surpassing value and glory of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. That when you see Christ, everything else perishes, it just fades away in light of Him. So what do you minister? Yeah, of course, you're a plumber, minister plumbing. You're a teacher, go ahead, you gotta teach math, you gotta teach math. But see all those things in the light of Christ because it is ultimately Christ that we must minister. as we minister and as we live our lives to his glory, is to the glory of God and the Lord Jesus Christ that we ultimately minister. And that's what we've got to think about. And for Paul, this was certainly the case. And he exhibits this ministry now directly. We get to actually watch Paul do it as he ministers to Timothy, just in one short sentence. First, he addresses him to Timothy, right? He now turns to Timothy, a beloved son of mine. beloved son. You can hear God in the baptism of Jesus. This is my son in whom I am well pleased, my beloved son. And Paul now, as a father to a son, to his spiritual son Timothy, such words of affection, even as he's getting ready to perish, nonetheless, with personal care and love and delicacy and touch, he can speak to his beloved son, Timothy. Just as a little aside, are you a son to a father? Do you have somebody who can speak into your life? Do you have a Paul? Are you a Timothy? And at the same time, are you a Paul to a Timothy, especially you seasoned believers? Are you pouring yourself out for a Timothy? Who are you? Whose life are you speaking into? Who are you encouraging this way in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ? You seasoned believers, who are you taking under your wing and encouraging them and mentoring them? in the faith and encouraging them. And who are you looking to? It's true, we need both of these relationships, don't we? We need a father to mentor us. We need somebody who we can look to and maybe chasten us a little bit from time to time and encourage us when we need it and guide us and direct our steps. We also need to be fathers to those coming behind us and ministering, making sure that we're mentoring and keeping it focused. One of the problems that this moment is doing for us in the world is we're all concerned about global issues. We look at the problems all over our nation, and they're so depressing, and how can we solve them? And I really believe the answer is just look to the person next to you. Forget trying to solve the world's problems. Forget trying to solve all the problems of instability within our whole culture. How about you just love that guy? How about you just be kind and minister Christ to that woman, to those children, to that elderly person? to that person of a different race, to the person of a different economic stress, in a different economic steps. How about we do that? How about we just love the people right around us and turn off the news for a while, and not be overwhelmed by the problems of our whole society, and just look at who God has put right in our midst, where we can minister the love of Christ, where we can establish those relationships and actually pour ourselves. I can't pour myself into the world. That's so depressing to think. What effect can Bill Stranger have on the world? But I can affect my children. I can pour myself into them, my neighbor, my congregation, my friends, my students, right? The visitor I meet, the person I meet on the street, right? This I can do. So do that. Love those people. Be that as we do it. Paul manifest that kind of relationship to his son. And of course, not just a son, he's a coworker. Romans 16 refers to him as a coworker. As I said, Timothy was with Paul. But notice what Paul ministers to him. To my beloved son, what he ministers to him is what he has received from God in Christ by the Spirit. And he ministers Christ now back to Timothy. To Timothy, a beloved son, grace, mercy. and peace. And we'll see these words come up in Second Timothy. His blessing, what he's bestowing and ministering to Timothy is grace. Grace, that empowering work of God. Yes, there's grace for salvation, but Timothy is saved. The grace he's referring to here is that empowering, enabling grace that will help Timothy bear through the trials, the hardships, as we're going to hear in chapter two, that are coming his way as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Paul asked for relief from the thorn in his flesh, God said, no, my grace is sufficient for you. And Paul is now praying for that grace, the grace that only Jesus Christ gives, the grace that we only have in Christ by the gift of the Spirit from the will of the Father, that grace he prays for and bestows upon Timothy. And not just grace, but mercy, mercy. And mercy in this case, I think, is that gift of God which turns hardship into blessing. I think Paul looks at his own sufferings and he sees the mercies of God, the tender mercies of God, as he refers to in Romans chapter 12. That for Paul, even his hardships have been transformed by the grace of God so that they become mercies unto him. I think Paul does not look back and regret the hardships that he went through, but he sees them, in fact, as mercies. That they were doing a work within his life, chiseling away the old man, his old idolatries, and drawing into him, making his heart very tender and uniting him to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then finally, grace, mercy, and peace. And man, don't we need peace? And Paul knows that the road of a minister, and even for us as small ministers, the road of a minister is hard. If you're going to be faithful to Christ, Jesus already told us, you will suffer. Paul told the church in Iconium, it's through much hardship that we enter the kingdom. And therefore, you will need peace in a world that seems to absolutely have lost it. You need peace. Peace is that stabilizing, enablizing gift of God that allows us to be clear-minded in the midst when the world's on fire. When everything is falling apart around us, we have peace. Christians can have stability. We can speak words, as Mark prayed before the service for me, that my words would be seasoned with salt. We can do that. because we can be at peace. We're not destabilized when the world is, because we have peace with God. We know we have peace with one another in Christ, and we can bestow that peace upon the world. So here we see Paul ministering. Not only is he what he is in Christ, but he ministers Christ to Timothy because he says, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Three times in two verses. Paul's mind is saturated with Christ. Brothers and sisters like Paul, you are what you are because of Christ. He is the why of our ministry. And then he's the sustaining power, the how of our ministry. How do we do it? How do you faithfully serve Jesus Christ? Only by the promise of life that is in him. If you lean upon anything else, your legs will grow weary. You'll fall apart. You will fail in self-reliance. He is the how of our ministry. And then ultimately he's the what of our ministry. He's all I have to give. I cannot offer you Bill Spanger. He's not worth that much, frankly. My wisdom, my insights are not worth that much. I can't offer my students that. What I have to offer you, the treasure inside this jar of clay is Christ. And that is what we minister, grace, mercy, and peace to you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for Paul and for his Christ-centered ministry. And Lord, while we are not apostles and we are not all ministers with a capital M, nonetheless, you have called us to what you've called us to. And you have called us all to proclaim your glory. You have called us all to glorify you with our hands, our feet, our tongues. Father, you have called us to glorify you with the gifts and abilities that you've given to us. And so as such, may we know ourselves as yours, bondservants of the Lord Jesus Christ, called to be what we are because of him. And Lord, may you sustain us by that life-giving promise of life. that only comes through Christ life itself. And Father, may you guard us from attempting to minister to the world anything other than Christ, attempting to give to the world anything other than Christ, for ultimately this is the only thing that can build up, sustain, and save. So strengthen us for the small M ministries that you've given to each one of us, that we might be faithful to you. As Paul was, we ask this in Christ's name. Amen.