Guard What’s Good
By Jeff Cranston
Founded in 1636, this world-renowned university employed exclusively Christian professors, emphasized character formation in its students above all else and placed a strong emphasis on equipping ministers to share the good news. Its original mission read, “Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well [that] the end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.”
Any guesses on the university? Harvard. Only 80 years after its founding, it had drifted so far from its mission that a group of pastors decided to start a new school that could do better in retaining the mission. The new school was called Yale, which since has also moved light-years away from its original purpose.
But it’s not just schools. It’s churches, too. Our state, region, and country are littered with churches that got distracted and lost the good deposit entrusted to them. One generation believed the gospel; the second generation assumed the gospel; and the following generation denied the gospel. It happens all around us, all the time.
In the New Testament book, 2 Timothy, the apostle Paul commands Timothy to hold fast to a few key, elemental truths. Read 2 Timothy 1:13-18.
Hold fast to sound teaching
“Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” – 1 Timothy 1:13
The word retain means “to consider” or “to cling to” or “to hold in the mind.” Standard is a word used of a writer’s outline or an artist’s rough sketch, which sets the guidelines and standards for the finished work. The Christian’s standard is God’s Word, which encompasses “the standard of sound words which you have heard from me,” an apostle of Jesus Christ.
The word sound could literally be translated healthy. Over the years, Timothy had heard Paul preach. Paul is saying to Timothy: You’ve heard these healthy words from me. Now follow their pattern. Retain the truth in the face of false teachers who are going to push you away from that truth. Paul’s words are a prototype, a pattern, and Timothy can’t afford to deviate from them.
Some people love to pick doctrinal fights. They love to stir things up. They flit around like hummingbirds from church to church to church. They don’t like this; they don’t like that. But Paul says, “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”
We think we have to choose between holding on to truth and being a person of faith and love, but Paul says we need both. We need to hold on to truth at the same time that we hold on to faith and love.
Hold fast to your treasure
“Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.” – 1 Timothy 1:14
Not only do we put our trust in God, but also God puts His trust in us. The idea of God using people is never far from New Testament thought. When God wants something done, He often chooses to find someone to do it. In this verse, Paul is letting Timothy know that every one of us who follow Christ can guard what has been entrusted to us by the Lord and do the work of God only by the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is the Spirit of God who gifts us and calls us to work for the Lord. Every genuine believer is given specific work to do for Christ, but as believers, we cannot do the work in our own strength. Not one of us can penetrate the heart of another person; only the Holy Spirit of God can do that.
“Guard, through the Holy Spirit” means that we must stay close to the Spirit of God and depend upon Him for the power to do good and effective work.
When Paul says, “Guard … the treasure… ” he is referring to “faithful sayings.” Memorized sayings and scriptures. The early church had to do much of their learning by rote and memorization. So, “Don’t forget these things, Timothy; hold on to them.”
Hold fast without deserting the gospel
“You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.” – 1 Timothy 1:15
This is a reminder that if we associate with spiritually courageous and trustworthy Christians, our own courage will be strengthened. On the other hand, if we associate with those who are ashamed of Christ and his gospel, we will soon be tainted by that shame.
The people who turned away from Paul were ashamed of him because they were ashamed of the gospel he preached and defended, and they became even more ashamed and fearful when he was imprisoned for the faith. Those who had been with him were afraid of being guilty by association. Their first priority was self-preservation, therefore, they wanted nothing more to do with the apostle—who not only had ministered with them but to them.
To be rejected by the world is not pleasant; to be deserted by fellow workers in the service of Christ is particularly painful. To have those you have spent your life spiritually nurturing turn away from you, and sometimes even against you, is heartbreaking in the extreme. And with that in mind, it is no wonder that Paul expressed at the beginning of this letter his deep longing to see Timothy, one of the few who have not deserted him.
Then we learn of one man who dared to leave Ephesus and come to Rome to assist Paul—Onesiphorus. And this reminds us to …
Hold fast by following the example of those who have remained faithful.
Whenever a crisis hits, as it seems to a lot these days, I often see a quote from Mr. Rogers posted on social media. Mr. Rogers said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers—so many caring people in this world.[1]
I like that. It’s so easy to look at the negative. It’s all around us: Twitter attacks, public shaming, acts of racism, hatred and cruelty. Rev. Fred Rogers told us to look for the helpers and to be encouraged by the good people who are all around us. Paul said the same. And as he does, he presents us with some great qualities of friendship.
“The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains … ” – 1 Timothy 1:16
1. Be a “breath-of-fresh-air” friend.
Onesiphorus’ name, while quite different to our American ears, means profitable for profit-bearing. He was a profitable friend to Paul. During Paul’s time of ministry at Ephesus, Onesiphorus was a faithful minister, along with this household. He was a “breath of fresh air” for Paul. “He often refreshed me …”
2. Be a diligent friend.
… but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me. – 1 Timothy 1:17
Onesiphorus was living out what Proverbs 27:10 (NLT) teaches us: “Never abandon a friend … ”
There is no doubt that, when Onesiphorus came to see Paul again and again, he took his own life in his hands. It was a dangerous thing to keep asking where a certain criminal could be found. It also was dangerous to visit him and still more dangerous to keep on visiting him. But that is what Onesiphorus did.
3. Be a serving friend.
“ … the Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day—and you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus.” – 1 Timothy 1:18
Paul is verbalizing his deep appreciation and love for Onesiphorus. He prays that God will have mercy upon this dear saint in the day of judgment—that God will reward Onesiphorus for the many things he did for him when he was a prisoner.
What kind of friend are you?
Do you bring comfort, exhibit compassion, act with concern and consistency as a genuine friend? Are you only a conditional friend? Are you ashamed of someone else’s chains? Do you have a tendency to bail out on those who appear to have no hope of turning around—those who are terminally ill or those who are in serious debt?
Thank a friend today.
They’ve been there for you through the good and the bad. They give you a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, and are someone you can laugh with. Someone who encourages you and lifts you up is a “breath of fresh air.” Why not drop them a note, a text, a phone call, or tell them face-to-face and let them know, “Thank you for being my friend”?
Hold on to the truth of the gospel.
Hold on to the truth against all the pressures to let it go. It matters. Paul was in prison because of that truth. He was about to die for that truth. That truth has been revealed by God himself through his Word. It matters for the living of your life. These truths are, as Paul says, sound words, words of health. But especially hold on to Jesus Who is the truth.
Jeff Cranston is the lead pastor of LowCountry Community Church in Bluffton, S.C.
[1] Accessed 23 June 2021, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/fred-rogers-post-goes-viral.