Finishing Well
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Timothy%204%3A5-18%20&version=NIV
The Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter came from very different backgrounds and were very different kinds of men. Peter came from a very ordinary family of fishermen and was successful business man. Paul came from a family distinguished for being Romans citizens and scholars. Peter had little education and spoke in plain Greek, suitable for buying selling. Paul was extremely well-educated, and sometimes his way of thinking and speaking were hard to follow. His was a sophisticated Greek, suitable to the intellectual guild At the beginning of Peter’s ministry, his influence encompassed mostly the people he work with and his family. Paul on the other hand was among the power brokers of his society, with considerable clout and prestige.
But for all their differences, both men completed their lives, full of living faith. They finished well. One other thing you might not know: Both men died at the hands of the Roman Empire for their faith. Paul was beheaded and Peter hung upside down on a cross.
#allsaintssunday
This morning, we observe All Saints Sunday. This is a special time in the Church, when we pause to remember those who gone on to be with the Lord in heaven. It is a time when we remember that life, not death, has the final victory, and that those same saints who have gone on to glory now stand all around us, cheering us on, and rooting for us to finish our journeys with faithfulness.
And, I’d like to start by saying something about death. It is a healthy thing, not to be preoccupied with death, but to reflect on it. With that in mind, I ask you to repeat after me?
I AM A HUMAN. ALL HUMANS DIE. THEREFORE: I WILL DIE.
Let us consider for just few moments the lives of Peter and Paul, as we consider the art of dying with dignity and finishing the race of faith. #death #finishingtherace
I. We may not get a lot of say about how our journey ends.
#thejourneysend #peter #paul
Peter had experienced the crushing load of guilt and shame that comes with personal failure. Before Jesus’ arrest, Peter had sworn his loyalty to Jesus, saying that he would stand by Jesus to the bitter end. He would even face death for Jesus. But when the time of testing came, Peter lost his courage and sunk as low as denying that he had ever known Jesus.
After the resurrection, Peter was given the opportunity to begin again. Jesus forgave and restored him to leadership. But Jesus warned Peter that following him would take Peter through experiences he would never choose. In fact, following Jesus would cost Peter his very life, as he was led to his own execution.
Paul was the Church’s most successful missionary, starting dozens of churches and building people up in their faith. But notice, starting with verse 9 and the following from our 2 Timothy reading: by the end of his journey, Paul will end up alone; abandoned to die in some Roman jail cell. He was soon be led to the public square for his execution.
Neither man would have chosen the ending that they experienced, but they were willing to go with Jesus, all the way, knowing that there are some aspects of this journey that we simply cannot control. An important part of preparing for death is acknowledging that when it comes to death, we have very little control over the specifics. And yet, God will be faithful to the very end.
II. This is a Marathon not a Sprint.
The Apostle Paul writes, “I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Other wise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.” And, in Second Timothy, he urges his young apprentice to complete the work that God has given us to do.
Stuart Briscoe writes, I taught all my kids to enjoy running. Then they taught me how not to enjoy it. While I could keep a pace ahead of them, it was great. But when they began to haul me out of bed early in the morning on a frosty morning to run, or when my daughter had me running a 10,000-meter race, I started asking, “What in the world am I doing?”
I asked the question even more when we got to the start. There were 24,998 others. Being Milwaukee, some of them were dressed as beer bottles. One guy dressed up as a banana, another as a bunch of grapes. The gun went off, and everybody was laughing and waving. The banana was shaking hands with the crowd. And then it got rather interesting after about a quarter of a mile. The banana and the beer bottle were hanging over a garden fence—not looking good at all.
After about a mile later, there was no chattering or laughing. And after the second mile, the only sound was labored breathing. After the fourth mile, it was so quiet you could hear the birds singing. At 6.2 miles, people were dribbling in one at a time, and not many of them. The moral of the story is this: You get all kinds of people goofing off at the start, but that doesn’t count. To finish the race does and disciples of Jesus Christ keep on going to the finish\ line.
Stuart Briscoe, “Ordinary Folks Make Great Disciples,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 47.
III. We must be in it to win it! #inittowinit
Life is hard. Sometimes it is really hard. We have to know why it is that we do not give up. We have to know why it is that we keep getting up and going into the ring for another round. Christ’s promises of a prize that will not fade or loose its glory is our reason. If we can keep this in mind, we can set our determination on the idea that we are in it to win it.
Barbara Lee writes:
My five-year-old grandnephew was obviously worried as he looked down the long aisle of the church where his aunt was to be married the following day. His grandmother had an idea. “I think I’ll give a prize to the person who does the best job tomorrow,” she told him.
We were all holding our breath the next day, but when it was time, the ring-bearer performed without a hitch.
When his grandmother told him he had won the prize, he was both excited and relieved. “I was pretty sure I had it,” he admitted, “until Aunt Dana came in wearing that white dress and the horn was blowing. Then I started thinking—she might win!”
Barbara Lee, Goldsboro, North Carolina. Christian Reader, “Rolling Down the Aisle.”
Like the ring bearer in this story, we have to hang in there even when it looks like we may not prevail. This kind of determination allows us to be steadfast and unmovable in who we are and where our highest priority lies. In verse 6 Paul says, he has been poured out as an offering to God.
In order to understand this symbolism, you have to have to know something about the practice of offering God a sacrifice in the Old Testament. The drink offering is being called to mind here. When the worshiper wanted to make a sign that he or she was totally surrendering something to God, they would take a cup of wine and pour it out before God, as a way of saying, this is it.
In a recent NCAA cross-country championship held in Riverside, California, 123 of the 128 runners missed a turn. One competitor, Mike Delcavo, stayed on the 10,000-meter course and began waving for fellow runners to follow him. Delcavo was able to convince only four other runners to go with him. Asked what his competitors thought of his mid-race decision not to follow the crowd, Delcavo responded, “They thought it was funny that I went the right way.”
Delcavo was one who ran correctly. In the same way, our goal is to run correctly—to finish the race marked out for us by Christ. We can rejoice over those who have courage to follow Jesus, ignoring the laughter of the crowd. Like Paul, they can say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
Loren D. McBain, Mesa, Arizona. Leadership, Vol. 1. #pouredoffering #drinkoffering
1 Corinthians 9:24-27: Remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. You also must run in such a way that you will win. All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I am not like a boxer who misses his punches. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.