The Christian’s Legacy

THE PEARLS OF PAUL
THE CHRISTIAN’S LEGACY
DR. JIM DIXON
2 TIMOTHY 4:1-8
MAY 2, 1999

The Apostle Paul was born in or near the city of Tarsus in or about the year 10 AD. The city of Tarsus was a provincial capital of the Roman Empire. The Apostle Paul, by birth, was a Roman citizen and he was proud of it. He was educated in the Greek culture. The city of Tarsus was a Hellenized city that was famous for its cultivation of the arts. Above all else, the Apostle Paul was a Jew. He was by blood and by faith a Jew. His Jewish name was Saul. Paul was born of the tribe of Benjamin, as was the first king of Israel, who was also named Saul.

In Paul’s own words, he was a Pharisee born of Pharisees. Now, at the age of 13, Paul began to be educated. He began to be educated in the synagogue schools for the rabbinate where he was trained to be a rabbi. At or around the age of 18, Paul was sent to the city of Jerusalem that he might learn at the feet of Gamaliel. Gamaliel was a member of the High Jewish Court. Gamaliel was a member of the Sanhedrin. He was the most famous theologian in Israel.

Now, when Paul was in Jerusalem, he probably stayed at the home of his sister, who was known to live in Jerusalem. Some people believe that in his 20s Paul became a member of the Sanhedrin. There is no way to confirm that, but we do know that Paul became prominent in Israel, prominent in Judaism. He became a defender of the Jewish faith. As a defender of the Jewish faith, he grew to hate Christians. He viewed the followers of Jesus Christ as heretics, and he viewed Christianity as a distortion of pure Judaism. So, he began, perhaps above all others, to persecute the church of Jesus Christ.

Now it was in or about the year 40 AD and Paul was approximately 30 years of age when he was traveling north to the city of Damascus. His purpose was to seize and apprehend Christians—followers of Christ, followers of the Way—that he might bind them and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial and that they might be incarcerated or perhaps executed. When Paul was almost to the city of Damascus, he had his conversion experience. Christ appeared to him as a blinding light. Christ called him to be His apostle to the nations. Paul experienced metamorphosis. By the power of the Spirit of God, he was transformed in a radiant conversion experience, and he would never be the same. Twenty-seven years later, in 67 AD, Paul was executed by the command of the Roman Emperor Nero. As a Roman citizen, Paul could not be crucified, so he was slain with a sword. He was beheaded because of his testimony for Jesus Christ.

We who are assembled here today, we who are seated here in this sanctuary, are sitting here as a living testament to Paul’s legacy. For it was Paul above all others who took the gospel to the nations. We are part of his legacy because it was Paul, above all of the apostles, who was used by Christ to shape and form Christian theology. We are part of his legacy. Now, Paul would have had no legacy had it not been for the truthfulness of his triumphant confession. This morning, we examine his threefold triumphant confession found in 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verses 7 and 8.

First of all, Paul confessed, “I have fought the good fight.” God wants us to know today, if we would leave a legacy for Christ in this world, we must fight the good fight. Now, the word for fight in the Greek is the word “agon.” This is the word from which we get the English word “agony.” It means “to struggle.” It means “to struggle in a cause.” It was sometimes used of an athlete’s struggle. It was other times used of the struggle of war. God wants us to understand today that as Christians we have been called to struggle in a cause. We have been called to fight the good fight. We have been called, in terms of the literal meaning of the Greek, we have been called to “fight for the good.” We are called to fight for what is good in the sight of God.

Now, I have a nephew whose name is Mark Dixon. Mark is the youngest son of my oldest brother. He is 24 years old, an amazing young man. On the top of his head is bright red hair. Mark is most amazing, not because of what is on top of his head, however, but because of what is in it. Mark is an amazingly knowledgeable young person, extremely intelligent. He’s always been knowledgeable. I remember when Mark was about ten years old. My brother Gary and his wife Ann came to visit us here in Colorado, and they brought their sons, Mark and Robbie. They came to church with us here at Cherry Hills. Our church was about three years old at that time.

After the service, Mark came up to me and he said, “Uncle Jim, in your sermon, you said that Napoleon I was crowned Emperor by the Pope in the Cathedral of Notre Dame on December 2, 1804.” I said, “Yes, Mark.” He said, Well, Uncle Jim, technically that’s not true.” He said, “Historians tell us that Napoleon actually took the crown from the hands of Pope Pius VII, and he placed it on his own head and thus crowned himself.” I thanked Mark for his clarification. I was not surprised because, even as a 10-year-old, Mark knew more than any young person ought to know.

Now, Mark has gone on to receive his degree in history in college. He competed successfully on his college debate team. He wants to get a Ph.D. in history, and he wants to be a professor, perhaps at a military academy. Today, Mark is a Lieutenant in the United States Army. He is a member of the 82nd Airborne. He’s been taught to jump out of airplanes laden with military artillery. He just left Ft. Benning, Georgia, where he was in Ranger School and he is now at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina. His unit has been assigned to Kosovo. Now, Mark was not able to go because he just came down with pneumonia. Barb and I called him last Sunday. The day before we called, he had had a 105.5 fever. He was feeling better. He told us that he couldn’t wait to join his unit and he wants to go over to Kosovo.

I know my brother Gary and his wife Ann have mixed feelings about this. I know that they are somewhat conflicted. On one hand, they love Mark deeply as we all love our children, and they don’t want to see him placed in harm’s way. On the other hand, they love our country. My brother Gary served in the United States Army, and he is proud to have his son do the same. I know that Mark is convinced that what is going on in Yugoslavia is evil. I know that he believes that ethnic cleansing is evil. Whether it be by genocide or by deportation, it is evil. I know that Mark is willing to fight for what he believes is a good fight. I know he is willing to fight for what he believes is a good cause, and I know that Mark believes that our country is indeed trying to do something good over there. But Mark also understands that there is a higher good and there is a greater fight, and that higher good is the goodness of the kingdom of heaven. That greater fight is the cause of the kingdom of heaven. I believe that Mark will indeed fight the good fight, and he will, indeed, seek to serve the cause of the kingdom on this earth.

I hope you understand that you are called to that cause and to that fight. Whatever other causes you might give yourself to, there can be no cause in your life as a Christian that is more passionate than the cause of Christ. If you bear the name of Christ, if you call yourself Christian, then you are called to fight the good fight—the cause that is supreme, the good that is highest, the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

You can fight that good fight through the ministries of this church. We give you opportunities every week to fight the good fight and leave a legacy. I mentioned Sunday school teaching. I shared a week ago Friday at our Teachers Appreciation Banquet with some of our Sunday school teachers. I expressed to them the appreciation of our staff and of our elder board. We’re grateful for these men and women and for their struggle to serve Christ in the lives of these kids. We know that God has given them joy as they serve Christ. We’re grateful for their ministry.

I shared with that group a week ago Friday how I was privileged to be part of a Christian home and to attend a Christian church. I was privileged to go to Sunday school in my developing years and to have Sunday school teachers who loved Christ and who loved me. I was greatly impacted by my third grade Sunday school teacher and by my fifth grade Sunday school teacher, Norm Stein and Mel Zimmer. When I was ordained to the gospel ministry, I asked Mr. Stein and Mr. Zimmer to be part of my ordination service because they had so impacted my life. They loved Christ and I could tell, and I was amazed that they loved me too. Christ used them in my life. In a sense, I am part of their life’s legacy—just a small part—because they impacted my life for Christ.

There are many others who were impacted for Christ through their Sunday school teaching, one of which was Glen Goldie, who is our Minister of Education here at the church. I think many times we cannot imagine how Christ can use us in the life of young people if we would be faithful to serve and to fight the good fight there. We do need a hundred additional Sunday school teachers. I hope you’ve heard the call. God has called us here in Highlands Ranch to touch a generation for Christ, and we need to be faithful as we serve Him. There are many ways that we can fight the good fight, but if you would leave a legacy in this world, you must do something for the cause of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Now, secondly, Paul said, “I have kept the faith.” Now, I am aware of the fact that Paul actually made this statement at the end of his triumphant confession, but I want to deal with it now. “I have fought the good fight and I have kept the faith.”

Now, most Bible scholars agree that the first confession, “I have fought the good fight,” refers to Paul’s ministry in this world. This next confession, “I have kept the faith,” refers to something far more personal and far more inward. Some take this statement, “I have kept the faith,” in the moral sense. Those who take this statement in the moral sense point out that the word for “kept,” the Greek word “tereo,” is a word which sometimes means “to obey the rules.” It means “to submit to the rules.” Indeed, in the oath that athletes took in the Olympic games, this word tereo was part of that oath where the athlete promised to compete in accordance with the rules and to play by the rules.

It is also true that this word ” tereo,” this Greek word, was the equivalent of the Roman word used in the sacramentum, the oath where the Roman soldier joining the Roman legion pledged his life in obedience to those in authority over him and in obedience unto death unto the emperor of Rome. So, the argument is and the thought is that when Paul said, “I have kept the faith,” he meant that he had obeyed Christ, that he had played by the rules. The idea would not be that he was without sin. Paul understood that he was a sinner, and he states that clearly time and again. But, you see, Paul would be saying that he respected and honored the commandments of Jesus Christ and had sought to live by those commandments. Indeed, when he was in violation of them, he repented and in repentance came back and began to walk with Christ again.

Christ would ask you today, “Are you living a life of obedience and are you seeking to follow His commandments.” If there is any known sin in your life, have you confessed it and have you come in repentance to walk with Him anew? You’ll have no legacy in this world for the kingdom of Christ if you do not keep the faith.

Some of you have heard of Gordon McDonald. Gordon McDonald is one of the three men chosen by the president to be his spiritual counselors, the other two being Tony Campolo and Rev. Wogamanof the Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. Gordon McDonald, in the year 1985, was a pastor. He was asked to speak at a college commencement. A member of that college’s board came up to him after he spoke and said, “Mr. McDonald, if Satan were to blow you out of the water, how would he do it?” Gordon McDonald thought, and he said, “Well, I don’t know, but I know he couldn’t get to me at the level of my marriage. I love my wife deeply and I am faithful to her.”

The next year, Gordon McDonald, as the president of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, became renowned. He was respected throughout the Christian community. But only a year later, in 1987, Gordon McDonald committed adultery. He committed adultery. His life was shattered. His ministry was shattered. His world was broken. He repented, and in 1988, began the long process of healing. He wrote a book called “Rebuilding Your Broken World.” Today, Gordon McDonald is the pastor of the largest evangelical church in New England.

Now, personally, I do not believe that a pastor who commits adultery should be restored to the pastorate. I do not believe that because I think the integrity of the church and the pastorate is already in question. Yet, I must say I do believe in forgiveness, as hopefully you do too. I believe in forgiveness, and I believe that through repentance there can come forgiveness. I believe in the grace and mercy of Christ and the healing power of Christ. I do respect Gordon McDonald. I respect him because of his repentance and the sincerity of that repentance. I respect him because he has come back to the path of Christ and he is seeking to keep the faith.

I don’t know where you are in your life and I don’t know what temptations you are experiencing today, but I do know what the call of Christ is upon all of us, each of us. He calls upon us to keep the faith. If there is anything you need to repent of, do it today. If you need to get right with Christ, do it today. If you need to come back to the path of Christ, do it today. Keep the faith. Submit to the commandments of Jesus. Seek to live in accordance with His will.

There are other Bible scholars who believe this statement, “keep the faith,” is not primarily a moral statement but rather a doctrinal and a theological one. They point out that this Greek word “tereo,” this word “to keep,” does not normally mean “to obey the rules” but rather this word “tereo” normally means (its primary meaning is) “to guard or protect or to watch over.” They believe that here, “keep the faith,” means “guard the creed of Christ,” “protect the doctrines of Christ.” The statement of Paul would be “I have fought the good fight. I have struggled in ministry, and I have kept the faith. I have guarded the doctrines of Christ.”

Some of you have heard of William Tyndale. William Tyndale has been called “the Father of the English Bible.” William Tyndale was born in Great Britain in the year 1494. He was born in southwest England near the border of Wales. He was a brilliant young man, and he attended Oxford University. He was gifted in the languages. He had a great aptitude in languages. He became extremely competent in Greek and Hebrew and Latin.

He began to study the writings of Erasmus, who was the greatest linguist of his time. Particularly he began to study Erasmus’ edition of the Greek New Testament. William Tyndale was given a vision and a dream by Christ, and that vision and dream was to translate the Greek New Testament into English and to translate the Hebrew Old Testament into English. I know it’s hard to believe, but in the time of William Tyndale, even in the year 1500, there was no English Bible. Bibles were in Greek, Hebrew, and Latin and that was it. And so, he was given this dream to translate the Bible into English. But he was resisted by King Henry VIII, who was King of England.

The church in England at that time was under the authority of the church at Rome. The church at Rome did not want people to have Bibles in their languages. They did not want the people of the world to have Bibles in languages indigenous to their country. The reason for this was complex, but the church at Rome believed that if everyone had a Bible they would abuse it. They would mistranslate it. They would distort its teachings. They would distort its doctrines and its theologies. They believed that it was a dangerous thing to have a Bible. They believed it was a dangerous thing to disobey the Bible and a dangerous thing to distort the teachings of the Bible.

Certainly in some sense, the church at Rome was correct. It is a dangerous thing to have a Bible. It’s a dangerous thing to read a Bible and not obey it. It’s a dangerous thing to read a Bible and distort its teachings and doctrines. But the Protestant church believed, as does the Catholic church today, that the danger is worth it and everyone ought to have a Bible in their tongue.

Now, William Tyndale was banished from England because of his stance with regard to the Protestant Reformation and his desire to translate the Bible to English. So he fled to Germany and the continent. In Germany, he began secretly to translate the Bible into English, and he shipped that translation back to England, secretly. He shipped the Gospel of John in English back to England. Then he shipped back to England Matthew, Mark, Luke, the epistles of Paul, the writings of Peter, Jude, and John. Then he began to translate the Old Testament from Hebrew to English. All of this was shipped back to England, and it began to secretly be distributed. Finally, the church discovered it and Tyndale was in even greater trouble.

In the year 1535, William Tyndale was arrested through the treachery and treason of a friend. He was incarcerated in a prison in a castle in Brussels, Belgium. In the year 1536, he was burned at the stake for heresy as a Protestant. But, in a sense, we are part of his legacy, and it’s because of people like William Tyndale that we all have an English Bible today. His final words before he was burned at the stake, and this is well documented, were, “Lord, change the heart of the king of England.” King Henry VIII did have his heart changed. That prayer was answered, and he allowed the Bible to be translated into English in England. That translation used the work of William Tyndale.

In 1604, King James I of England authorized the King James version of the Bible and the King James version of the Bible is 90% based on the work of William Tyndale. It’s because of people like Tyndale that we have English Bibles today.

What are you doing with that Bible? Most of us have many Bibles. We have them in our homes. We have them by our bed. We have them, perhaps, in our living room. Are you keeping the faith? From the Bible, we draw our morality and our theology. From the Bible, we draw our morality and our doctrine, but are you guarding it in your heart and in your soul?

We have classes at this church on apologetics, classes that help you defend the faith and help you understand why the Bible has credibility. You see, the culture is never going to defend the Bible. Hollywood isn’t going to. Washington isn’t going to do it. Public school systems are not going to defend the faith, not anymore. Many of the institutions of higher learning in this country actually attack the credibility of the Bible. They do this not because the Bible lacks credibility. They do this because they do not like the morality of the Bible, and they do not like the theology of the Bible. But if you are a Christian and you belong to Jesus Christ, you are called to keep the faith, to guard it, protect it—in your heart, and indeed, in the culture in which He has placed you. There is no legacy in this world if we do not fight the good fight and if we do not keep the faith.

As we conclude, there is one more statement in Paul’s triumphant confession. That statement is this: Paul said, “I have finished the race.” Of course, as we live for Christ in this world, we have no legacy unless we persevere. Paul didn’t say, “I’ve won the race.” The call of Christ is simply for perseverance. He’s looking for endurance here. He does not want us simply to fight the good fight for a season or keep the faith for a season. He’s looking for perseverance, that we would fight the good fight and keep the faith as long as we draw breath.

Last Sunday I was really tired and kind of exhausted. I think part of the reason was that Barb and I had been on two different 3-day conferences. We had been out of the city and away from home. Then I had prepared last Sunday’s sermon on Saturday, the day before, which is unusual for me. I usually start earlier in the week but didn’t have the time. Then, of course, with the tragedy of Columbine High School and the murders that took place, I think many of us were just shocked and kind of depleted of energy. To this day, I think we still feel the shock of that.

After church, Barb and I went home and grabbed a bite to eat. We put on the service that was on television, that service to which the public was invited. Seventy thousand people came. As we watched that on TV, I know I was touched. I really felt somewhat encouraged because it seemed to me, at least, that God was beginning to use some of this tragedy for a great good. After watching that service, Barb and I got in the car because we were supposed to head out to our staff retreat, a 2-1/2 day retreat up in the mountains in Buena Vista at the Young Life facility at Trail West.

I have to say, I didn’t want to go because I was tired and because I was exhausted and also because our staff retreats tend to be highly relational. I’m something of an introvert. I just wanted to go home and recharge my batteries. We took off. We were driving around on 470, around to 285. Of course, you have to take 285 if you want to go to Buena Vista. As we were approaching 285 on 470, suddenly the traffic began to just build up. Before I could exit on southbound 285, everything stopped, and the whole highway was just not moving. People were even out of their cars just looking. We just sat there. I was just before what they call the northbound exit of 285, And so, Barb and I decided to just take that. We’ll take the northbound exit. If you know that, it really goes east. We’ll take the northbound 285. We thought we could go east on 285 and just turn around and then we would be heading toward Buena Vista.

So, we got off northbound 285 and began to drive. We realized as soon as we got on there that it wasn’t going to be easy to turn around. We had to drive a long way before we got to an off ramp and that was at Kipling. So, we got off at Kipling, came back under the highway, and tried to come back onto 285 from Kipling. We couldn’t do it because they had closed off the on ramp to the freeway. They had closed it off because something was going on. There were about thirty cop cars, some entourage. Some people said the Vice President was going to be journeying through there.

So, we got back on 285 going north or east, going the wrong way, thinking, “Maybe we’ll just go down further and turn around and be able to get on it going the right way.” I know this didn’t make sense, but I was tired. We went down to Wadsworth. We went to get off on Wadsworth and couldn’t exit on Wadsworth because it was so backed up. We got into that exit but we just sat there, and the red light at the base of the exit from 285 was frozen red. It just didn’t change. There was some kind of processional, some kind of a funeral processional I believe, going by. There were cop cars, but they had fixed the light in the red position and we couldn’t go any further, so we just sat there.

Finally, it opened up and we were able to get back onto 285 and begin to head in the right direction. We got back to where we had begun and it was a half-hour later. I said to Barb, “Let’s just go home. I didn’t want to do this anyway.” Barb then explained to me, “Jim, this is the staff retreat… You’re in charge of the staff.” Of course, I knew these things. I love our staff and I respect them, each one. But have you ever felt like bailing? Have you ever just felt like bailing out? Maybe at work? Maybe you’re just tired of the stress of work, whatever you do. Have you ever felt like bailing, ever dreamed of just getting away? Maybe in your marriage. Maybe as a parent. Maybe in your faith. Have you ever just felt like bailing in your faith? Have you ever thought, you know, “I’m tired of fighting the good fight. I’m tired of volunteering for ministry.” Even though there’s great joy in the Christian life, have you ever had times where you just felt, “I’m tired. I’m tired of keeping the faith, morally and doctrinally. I’m just tired.” Have you ever felt like bailing?

You see, here is the call of Christ to perseverance. We can’t bail. We don’t want to make that mistake. We’ve got to finish the race as long as we draw breath. Christ, by His power, will give you a legacy for the kingdom in this world, and that legacy will involve the lives of your children and others who come to know you. It will involve the lives of many people through the ministries you volunteer in. One day, you’ll receive the crown of righteousness, as Paul says here.

I know many of you hunger and thirst after righteousness, and if you persevere, indeed, you will have that longing satisfied. You’ll hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” So, fight the good fight. Keep the faith. Finish the race. Let’s close with a word of prayer.