BECOMING: Perseverance

This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

For more information in our church, please visit grandparkway.org.

Amen.

You can have a C.

If you've got a Bible, I want to invite you to take and open up to 2 Timothy chapter 4.

2 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

2 Timothy chapter 4.

2 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

And I want to talk to you today about perseverance.

Perseverance about what you do and what makes you do what you want to do when everything you've relied on, everything you've trained for, everything that you're conditioned for is just exhausted and there's nothing left.

How do you make it to the finish line?

Probably one of the greatest statements in the Bible we're going to read this morning.

And I'm almost convinced, I don't know.

Every once in a while my wife will ask me morbid questions over dinner, like, What do you want on your tombstone?

And I'm sitting there thinking, is there extra chicken?

And she drops that on me.

But probably what I want on my tombstone is in this passage we're going to read today.

2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 1.

2 Timothy 4:1

Paul is talking to Timothy.

Paul, an older man, is saying this to a younger man, Timothy.

Verse 1, he says, I charge you in the presence, God bless you, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word.

Be ready in season and out of season.

Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound doctrine, excuse me, sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

For I, Paul, I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Henceforth, there's laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day.

And not only to me, but also to all those who loved his appearing.

And if you didn't hear it, the phrase that I'm referring to, and the phrase that I want all of you to be able to say and have etched on your tombstone or spoken over your life, is simply found there in verse 7.

Paul says, I have fought the good fight.

I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith.

I'm not so sure, hopefully I've gotten many years before I have to decide.

I'm not so sure that I want on my tombstone.

I have fought, I have finished, I have kept.

One of the things, if you hang around the church or you're around people enough, you'll realize how few people actually finish well.

A lot of people start off gung-ho, but over the course of time, I was reading just this past week about a couple that they had a uh a young adult Bible community.

Well, what some people call Sunday school, but we can't call it Sunday school here at Grand Park.

We have to call it Bible community.

Let's all say those two words together.

Bible community.

There you go.

Mm-hmm.

Just say Sunday school because it gives Lance, just throws him in into fits.

But anyway, uh they taught this young adult uh Bible community, and they had a 25-year reunion.

And they said one of the things that struck us was people that even came.

You know, they came, uh, some of them were kind of like, yeah, I don't even believe in God anymore.

I haven't been to church in 20 years, this, that, and so what happens?

Because see, here's my desire.

As your pastor, someone that loves you and cares about you, I want you to be able to say on your deathbed with your last breath, looking at your kids, whoever's in the room, and smiling, going, hey, I have fought the good fight.

I've I finished the race.

And I may have finished on my hands and knees, but I finished.

I've kept the faith.

And now it's laid up for me a crown that God, the righteous judge, is gonna give me, and not only me, but all those who loved his appearing.

How do you get there?

Five things I want to give you this morning about how what allows you, what will allow you and I to say that.

And the first one is this.

All these are right out of this passage, by the way.

The first one is this obedience.

You have to believe that obedience does not depend on circumstances.

Your obedience doesn't depend on circumstances.

In other words, when you face a situation, you're not thinking, okay, I'm gonna do this if the atmospheric conditions are just okay and just right.

We were kind of laughing as a staff.

We were back praying earlier, and I said, Now keep in mind, guys, it's because we said, we don't know how many people come to 8 o'clock service.

I said, Well, it's raining, so factor in, 10% fallout.

Can I confess to you, I played golf one time.

It was raining so hard, it was raining sideways.

But it wasn't lightning.

And they'd sounded the alarm, but it wasn't lightning.

It rained so hard, our our grips on our clubs got sticky.

We took our golf gloves off, and you could really grip the club, and we just played.

There was no one.

We took our golf shoes off and played barefooted.

I played four holes of golf in a thunderstorm barefooted.

Some of y'all are kind of like, that explains a lot right there.

You sure the lightning didn't get you?

But what I'm saying is, doing the right thing doesn't depend on everything being right.

You say, What do you mean?

Look at verse 1 and 2.

Look what Paul says.

He's he charges Timothy in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is the who is to judge the living and the dead.

And by his appearing in his kingdom, look at verse 2, he says, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.

And then here's the here's the circumstance.

Look at verse 3.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching.

Now, this doesn't make any sense.

Paul says, I want you to do this, because by the way, the time is coming when the circumstances are all going to be against us.

Matter of fact, people won't listen to sound teaching.

They have itching the ears, they'll accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and they'll turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into the midst.

But here's the deal: you tell the truth anyway.

You, Timothy, just tell the truth.

Just preach the truth.

And then he uses these three words that we don't use very much.

He says, but you know, people are gonna uh he says, be ready in season and out of season.

In other words, when you feel like it and when you don't.

He says, reprove, rebuke, and exhort.

Reprove is the Greek word allego, allego, and it simply means this to convict, to refute, or find fault with.

In other words, go to lunch with somebody this week and listen to them and purposely think, what can I find wrong with what they're saying?

If you need help, my mother-in-law can teach a class on this.

I can sign you up for it.

He says that's what you're supposed to do.

How many times do you go to lunch with somebody or you're around somebody and they say something that's totally unbiblical, and you just kind of think this thought, well, it's not my place to say anything.

See, you've let the circumstance, you've let the environment kind of dictate what you're gonna say.

But Paul says it's the exact opposite.

Here's the way you finish well, here's the way you persevere, here's the way you endure, you embrace number one, that obedience doesn't depend on circumstance.

He says, hey, reprove, rebuke, and you're like, yeah, I'm loving this.

And then he says, uh, exhort.

Exhort.

And that's not a word we use very much.

It's the Greek word parakal.

Don't write that down, don't think about it.

But hear this: it means to call alongside of.

It means that you don't just throw rocks at somebody over the fence.

It means you take them to lunch.

It means you take them to coffee.

And in this real intimate, close friendship setting, you just lovingly tell them the truth.

And you say, I'm not going anywhere.

I'm not gonna just judge you and walk away.

I'm here for the long haul.

You see, how what allows you to say, hey, I persevere, I finished.

The first thing Paul tells us is, hey, obedience doesn't depend on circumstances.

And if you want to see kind of uh the the big picture of what this looks like, just skip down to verse 9 if you would.

I want to just point out one little name there.

You've some of you have heard before.

Verse 9 he says this, after he says the stuff we read about, in verse 9 he says, Do your best to come to me soon.

For Demas in love with this present world.

Demas, one translation says, having loved this world more than the one to come.

Look at me, beloved.

Now this world will teach you to love it and to become just like it and think like it, despite the fact that the Bible says in Romans chapter 12, verse 1, do not let the world squeeze you into its mold.

Romans 12:1

Don't let the world shape you into listening and talking like they talk, or it wants you to talk, because in that kind of environment, nothing's wrong, nobody's wrong.

There's no such thing as sin, it's just a personal choice.

It's just, hey, that works for you, but this works for me.

You've got to embrace that obedience doesn't depend on the circumstance, or else you're gonna be like Demas.

And Demas, having loved this world, who that Demas who lived in bondage to only what he could see with his eyes and touch, has left us.

Didn't keep the faith.

How do you keep the faith?

How do you persevere?

First thing Paul says is that obedience doesn't depend on circumstance.

Second thing he says is that suffering has a purpose.

Look at verse 5.

He's teaching along there.

And he says, as for you.

Because he says, hey, when people they list all this stuff, but he says, as for you, kind of sharpens the focus on this young man he's talking to and says, always be sober-minded.

Endure suffering.

Do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

One of the prerequisites for you and I finishing, persevering all the way to the finish line, is that we believe that suffering has a purpose.

He says, endure suffering.

If you think suffering is punishment, what you and I will do if I think suffering is punishment.

Because there were some days, by the way, my day yesterday was so crazy that about three or four times I just laughed out loud.

I was like, there's no way nothing else could go wrong today.

It became a joke.

Marcy's like, what are you preaching about tomorrow?

I'm preaching about wives that need to shut up, is what I'm talking about.

How about that?

How about them apples?

Because she wanted me to just hear me say one more time, I'm preaching about perseverance.

I got sick of saying perseverance yesterday.

Just have to persevere.

You just got to push through.

I mean, 10:30 last night, I'm in my closet bleeding out.

I'm just crawling to the finish line, just thinking, oh, when is this gonna be over?

So, what do you mean?

Endure suffering.

Because suffering has a purpose.

It's never punishment.

See, we asked the wrong question in the midst.

If you've got your Bible, turn to the left to the book of Romans.

Romans chapter 5.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

I want to show you something.

See, when we get in the midst of suffering, let me just read this and then I'll tell you.

Romans chapter 5, verse 1.

Romans 5:1

Paul says, Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into the grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

More than that, we rejoice in sufferings.

Now, when I say endure suffering, when Paul says endure suffering, and I say to you, beloved, suffering has a purpose.

This is what I mean.

He says, Hey, we not only do we rejoice in the grace of God poured over our lives, verse 3 says, more than that, even we rejoice more at this than we do about grace.

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings.

Knowing.

Now look at me for a minute.

If you don't know, you're not gonna rejoice.

Does that make sense?

He says, hey, more than that, we rejoice in our sufferings.

Why?

Because we know that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

And hope does not put us to shame.

Hope does not disappoint.

Hope always does what hope says it's gonna do.

Because God, God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's been given to us.

See, when Paul says back here in 2 Timothy 4, hey, suffering has a purpose.

What he's saying is it point out is that a lot of us when we endure hardship and we suffer, we think that we ask the wrong question.

We ask, why is God allowing this to happen to me?

How can a good God let suffering happen to a good person like me?

Wrong question.

Here's the question you should be asking in the midst of suffering.

Instead of how could God let this happening, ask this question: Who am I becoming as a result of this?

Am I becoming bitter and cynical and jaded?

Or do I know what people in Romans chapter 5 knew?

Romans 5 · chapter mention

Do I understand what they understood?

And I'm able to say, you know what?

I rejoice with the grace of God that's been poured over my life.

I'm all down with that.

But you know what?

Even more than that, I rejoice because when all hell breaks loose in my life, I something swells up in me and says, you know what?

Suffering produces endurance and endurance, perseverance, sticking it out, staying in my marriage.

Look at me.

The easiest thing to do is to get a divorce when it gets hard.

You become a person of character because you stick and you stay.

And when you're so frustrated with your spouse, you look them in the eye and go, you know what?

I'm so angry, I can't even see straight right now.

But you know what?

Staying married to you is gonna make me a better man.

Some of y'all are like, Yeah, I ain't saying that.

I saw a picture of Michael Phelps laying in that bathing and in that bathtub, and I thought, I'll take one of those.

I'll take this one to the curb.

See, endurance.

Suffering produces endurance.

And endurance, keep on keeping on, produces character.

We are not a people of character in America because we don't understand endurance.

We don't understand just keeping on, just staying at it.

Paul says, hey, suffering has a purpose.

Third thing he says, this is how you get there where you say, hey, I fought the good fight.

I finished the race.

The third thing you got to believe is you got to trust God's nature.

Trust God's nature.

Look at verse 8 of 2 Timothy 4.

He says, this, henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, here's the phrase, the righteous judge will award to me on that day.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, I fought the fight, I finished the race, I've kept the faith.

Henceforth, from this point forward, there's all I have to look forward to now is that there's laid up for me this crown of righteousness, which God, who by the way, is the righteous judge.

You say, What do you mean trust God's nature?

Because if you believe God is the righteous judge, you don't have to be the general manager of the universe.

All the people that cut you off in traffic, they're gonna get theirs on judgment day.

The people that don't use a blinker, just slowly slow down and then turn.

They're gonna get it.

There's gonna be a room in hell, I believe.

It says for people who don't use blinkers, stand here.

And so people that drive too slow in the fast lane, and my wife always says, because I mean, we'll be going down the toll lane, somebody's doing 50 miles an hour in the left lane, and I get right up on their bumper, it's like NASCAR bump drafting, boom, boom, boom.

And my wife's like, Really?

You think they can see you?

I don't know, their mirror may be broken.

I'm back there waving.

And then when the people in the other lane speed up and I pull out, my wife says the same thing every time.

Don't look at them.

No, I'm looking at them.

Because God's looking at them and he ain't happy right now.

And so I just pull out and I just stare.

Just incredulous.

You know what liberates me from that?

God's the righteous judge.

I'm not righteous in my judgment.

Because sometimes I think less than righteous things about people that drive too slow in the fast lane.

How's that for petty?

Aren't you glad I'm your pastor?

Woo! Aren't you glad you got up early for that?

But every once in a while, I just gotta tell myself, God's a righteous judge.

If it bothers you that people think things about you that aren't true, you need to know more about the nature of God.

If it bothers you that people misquote you, you need to lean deeper into the nature of God and trust God's nature.

What do you mean?

Look at verses 14 to 18 of 2 Timothy 4.

You say, Well, what do you mean?

This is what it looked like in Paul's life, verse 14.

He simply says, Hey, Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm.

The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.

So I don't need to go on Facebook and write about him.

I don't need to play relational Red Rover, Red Rover, Red Rover, would all my friends come over and hate Alexander like I do.

No.

The Lord, the righteous judge, will repay him according to his deeds.

Beware of him yourself, for he has strongly opposed our message.

And my first offense, no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me.

May it not be charged against them.

But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles might hear it.

So I was rescued from the lion's mouth, and the Lord, the righteous judge, the faithful God, will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.

To him be the glory and forever and ever.

Amen.

Here's what I mean when I say trust God's nature.

That's not like, oh, preachers don't know what to say.

So let's say trust God's nature.

That's like, let's go to grandma's for Thanksgiving.

You hear it so much.

No, no, no.

That's not now.

It's verb.

It's hey, I don't have to be the general manager of the universe because God's a righteous judge.

And people are gonna get what they deserve, and wait, this is the best part.

Some people are not gonna get what they deserve.

They're gonna get mercy, just like you got mercy, you judgmental weasel.

You know my wife's favorite day when I'm driving in the fast lane and there's somebody on my bumper.

She just reaches over and says, Hey, is your rearview mirror broken?

Yeah.

Write her name down and pray for her.

It's Marcy.

See?

She's unsubmissive, smart mouth, disrespectful.

There's a litany of things she needs prayer for.

And I know I heard that, some of you said, and you're one of them.

Number four, how do you how do you get that?

How did how do you finish?

The fourth thing the text tells us is that the motivation is before you.

It's in front of you.

Henceforth is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge.

See, there's his nature.

He will award to me on that day.

Is Dave capitalized in your Bible?

Hello?

Are you with me?

You can't come to the eight o'clock service and be sleepy.

Okay?

See, that day.

It's talking about judgment day.

The motivation is in front of him.

It is yet to come that day.

Let me give you a question.

What do you what is it that you anticipate so much that it sustains you?

Hey, I I get kicked out of the preacher club for saying this, but let me say it.

Sometimes heaven's a long way away in our thoughts.

And Paul says, hey, that day, you're like, you know what, you know what sustains me right now?

Tuesday.

You know, they're like, it doesn't take much, does it?

See, when I leave here after preaching to sinners three times today, I go home, jump in my truck, drive to Fort Worth.

A friend of mine is not doing well.

He's had just an emotional meltdown, and he's in an institution right now.

I'm gonna go see him tonight, go spend the night with his dad, get up in the morning and go see him.

And then there was a guy who emailed me, listens to the podcast.

He lives in Iowa.

He's like, I'm gonna be in Dallas on the 20th, and then I'm gonna drive down to Houston.

I want to meet you.

And I'm like, dude, that's five hours.

Iowa, you made 10 minutes you're across the state.

This is Texas, okay?

It's 10 hours round trip.

I'm not worth that.

It's nothing special.

And my wife said, Well, why don't you go up and see your friend and then meet that guy in Dallas?

And so I'll go see my friend tonight, go spend the night with his dad, go to breakfast with his dad at the wagon wheel restaurant we go to every time.

It's like, this place is like 150 years old.

Smells like grandma in here.

And then I'll go to a Starbucks in Grand Prairie, Texas, and meet a guy from Ames, Iowa.

Who, by the way, sent me an email and said, I'm married, I got three kids, I don't own a roller skating rink.

Like, well, you didn't say that.

That changes everything for me, buddy.

I'm gonna tip them 50 and get on the speaker at Starbucks.

The next skate will be couples only.

If you're not skating couples, please skate to the wall, couples only.

Reunited and it feel.

Yeah, I knew there's some white trash in here.

You know some of you suckers went to the skating rink every weekend looking for a husband or a wife.

So right now.

And then, by the way, I get done with that, I gotta drive back because I got a 7 o'clock meeting here tomorrow night at the church.

Get up, got staffing Tuesday morning, got lunch with somebody in the church on Tuesday, and then I'm done.

Right now, that's the joy set before me.

You say, What why are you telling us that?

Here's why.

Look at me, we're just about done.

Some of you are like, I didn't think you could do it.

For most of you, your motivation is behind you.

You relate to God based on your accomplishments and your woundedness.

And all that happened back there.

Well, at my last church, well, you know, I went to a church one time.

Oh, you know, last year, Pastor, I gave$50 to the church.

You got a record of that?

Uh oh, okay.

Well, what what's in?

Of you that motivates you.

If all you're pointing back to is your accomplishments and your woundedness, probably my favorite thing that people say around here is people have been here a long time.

Yeah, when this church first started, I I worked in the nursery every Sunday.

And here's my response every time you say that.

So don't say that if you're thinking about saying that.

My response is simply this.

So at what point did you earn the right to do nothing?

And that's kind of their response.

Well, you ain't gotta hate on me like that.

I'm not hating on you.

But you're telling me what you did nine years ago?

12 years ago?

17 years ago when this church first started?

What do you want?

A cookie?

That's a confession.

It's not a boast.

Paul said, hey, listen, the motivation is in front of you.

Let me give you a biblical picture.

Genesis 29, 20.

Don't turn there.

Just write it down in your mind, okay?

Genesis 29, what do you mean?

There was a guy named Jacob.

Jacob was a sneak.

He deceived his brother.

And so what goes around comes around.

Jacob fell in love with a woman named Rachel.

And his dad said, Here's what you got to do to get my daughter Rachel.

You've got to work for me for seven years.

He worked seven years.

When he finished the seven years, he went to him and said, All right.

He said, Here you go.

She was had a veil over her.

He couldn't see who she was.

Got in the honeymoon suite, took the veil off.

Ro-ro.

Not Rachel.

It was Leah.

Big cross-eyed older sister.

He's like, Ha! And the dad said, Hey, I couldn't marry off the younger one.

The custom is the older one gets married off first.

And he says, Hey, okay, I'll take her, but I want Rachel.

He said, Well, to get Rachel, you gotta serve, you gotta work for me for seven more years.

Here's what the Bible says Genesis chapter 29, verse 20.

Genesis 29:20

So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.

And they seemed to him but a few days.

But a few days, beloved.

Why?

Because that was the joy.

Because he loved her.

What do you love right now?

I love Tuesday.

I can't wait for Tuesday to get here.

I'm driving to Fort Worth today.

I'll be thinking about Tuesday.

Paul felt about that day when he stands before God the way I feel about Tuesday.

But he felt about every day.

Fifthly and finally, as I close, travel light.

How do you get there?

Travel light.

What do you mean?

Look at verse 9 and we're done.

You still awake?

Congratulations, you made it.

Now you can go to a Bible community or you can go volunteer somewhere.

Y'all are like, let's take this one Sunday at a time.

Look at verse 9.

Do your best to come to me soon.

Let me give you one other question.

I've asked you two questions.

Let me give you another one.

Who do you enjoy so much?

That spending time with them motivates you?

Paul says, he's getting ready to die, folks.

Do your best to come to me soon.

For Demas in love, this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.

Cresons has gone to Galatia.

Titus to Dalmatia.

Luke alone is with me.

Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.

Tychicus, I have sent to Ephesus.

When you come, bring the cloak thy left with Capus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.

What's he talking about?

That's like crazy talk.

Here's the thing I want you to take away.

And more important, here's what the Bible.

Have you ever noticed the older you get, the less it takes for you to be happy?

When's the last time your grandma said, Boy, I went out last night and tied one on?

I mean, I didn't know when to say when.

I got hammered drunk and had to call a cab.

That just sounds dirty, doesn't it?

Y'all are like, don't talk about my grandma that way.

Because something happens.

Age is a beautiful thing.

It kind of teaches you, you know what?

I don't need much.

That's why some of y'all got some stuff in your house.

Every time we go to my in-laws, they pawn stuff off on us.

And I'm like, hey, ain't none of that getting in the car.

My house is little.

Here's why.

They've gotten to the point they realize they don't need all this stuff.

That's why some of you are laughing right now because your in-laws, whenever you go, they're like, wouldn't you like to have this?

No, I would not.

And my wife's a sucker.

She said, Oh, I'd be honored to take that.

Here's what Paul said.

I need good friends.

I need good books.

And I need that familiar coat I like to wear.

Skip down to verse 21 and we're done.

Do your best to come before winter.

Do your best to come before winter.

See, as you get older, one of the things you realize is that God didn't create you to do it on your own.

You were created to be in community, to be around people that nourish you and encourage you.

Good books are good.

Good friends are even better.

Who you're doing life with right now in community?

See, we kick off our community groups in a couple of weeks, and it's a great opportunity.

Stop being a Lone Ranger.

Stop being the couple that has no friends.

So you have some people that say, you know what, we haven't had dinner with the Ricas in a long time.

You know what?

We hadn't got together with Lance and Melissa.

I so enjoy being with them.

Let's get together and have dinner.

Are you aware how non-social you've become?

And then you come to church and it's like, well, I don't know anybody.

No one talks to me because no one knows you.

And Paul says, hey, do your best to get here before winter.

I've fought the good fight.

I finished the race.

I've kept the faith.

And beloved, that's my prayer for you.

Is that you and I could say that with integrity on our deathbed.

And the thing that gets you there is perseverance.

Stand to your feet.

Let me speak a word over you, and we'll be dismissed.

Hold your hands out.

He who began a good work in you will continue it to the day of Christ Jesus.

Which is the Bible's way of telling you and I that God's never going to change his mind about you.

He does not have buyer's remorse.

He has a father's love.

Depart now and live in this love.

Keep yourself in this love and rely on this love.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you, you're dismissed.