2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

As a male of the species, it should come as no surprise that there are aspects of women that I will never truly understand. One of those aspects in particular is purses. I’ve been told by a reliable source that part of the purpose of a purse is for accessorizing. As a man, I have an intellectual understanding of this term, but it also remains beyond my ability to master. But, more than that, the purse seems to be about all of the stuff. There’s a wallet in there somewhere, with the cash and cards and whatever else goes into one. But then there’s also the Kleenex, the lotion, the hand sanitizer, the lip stick, the keys, and well...I really don’t know what all else is in there.

As you probably also know, men and women tend to have different approaches to leaving the house. For men, the wallet is generally all we need. It has the essentials. Anything else we might need we’ll hunt and forage for. For women, the purse and all of its contents are an essential part of the package. Each side laughs at the other, but I think it really goes to our vocations as men and women. Men are tasked with taking care of critical business. We are gifted with the ability to single-mindedly focus our attention on the most important problems and dealing with them. This frees the ladies to use their gifts to deal with the myriad smaller problems that remain. Lots of small problems require lots of small solutions, which a purse is designed to deal with. Men don’t have time for purses. If a life or death situation arises, a mugger attacks or a fire breaks out, a man who is trying to keep hold of a purse, no matter how decorative it may be, is a man who no longer completely focused on the problem. A man needs his hands free and unencumbered, with only the essentials in his back pocket.

In his letter today, St. Paul continues to advise Timothy on what a life of faith should look like, particularly as Timothy leads the churches that Paul has founded during his missionary journeys. Timothy isn’t exactly a newborn Christian at this point. Paul has been working with him for quite a while. Timothy was a Christian from early on in life. Walking alongside Paul in his journeys, he also learned from Paul as well. Paul is very well educated and an excellent teacher. Paul is happy to explain the nature of Christian faith and life in as much detail as someone is able to handle and continues to do so here, even though they are separated by many miles.

So what does Christian life look like? In this case, it means being prepared. He needs to be ready in season and out of season. He needs to be equipped for every good work. Ultimately, this advice is for the whole church, but it is directed at him in particular. He can’t assume someone else will just handle whatever problems arise. He has to be ready to deal with them. Big or small, he’ll have to face them, sort them out, and get everything back in the proper order.

There will undoubtedly be lots of issues he will face. Some of them will be internal strife. Some of them will be external pressures. He has been given certain gifts by God, but he can’t just assume everything will just fall into place as soon as he deals with it. It’s that preparation that’s key. Without being prepared, you’ll never know how to address these problems.

St. Paul’s advice could just as easily be given to any of us. That’s one of the reasons we have it in the books of the Bible. St. Paul is talking to Timothy first, but through Timothy, to the whole church. Everything Paul says here is as true today as it was in the first century.

That’s not so bad, is it? I know some people like the thrill of living moment to moment, just taking everything as it comes and dealing with it on the spot. That’s fine in some cases, but here we’re talking about issues with eternal ramifications. Not being prepared might mean missing an opportunity to share the Gospel. Not being prepared might mean not giving someone the comfort they need in a difficult time. Not being prepared might mean someone falls into despair and leaves the faith behind.

There are so many different things you might need to prepare for. How do you even know where to begin? Thankfully, Paul gives some direction there. God has given you the tools necessary to become wise for salvation. He has given you His Word.

So now what? I guess you just toss one in your purse or get a small one to carry in your pocket? Maybe it works like garlic against vampires. You just have to have one on you for it to work.

Well, no. That won’t do much for you. Often people who do carry them around like that pull them out from time to time still don’t really know what they’re doing with them. The Bible is many things. It works in many ways. Like any complex tool, it requires some understanding to use it properly. Those who don’t use it properly just end up hurting themselves or others.

Learning to use it takes time, a lot of time. Your whole life in fact. You’ll never master it, even if you spend your whole life learning to use it, but you can at least become proficient in it. But, that’s a lot of time. That’s a lot of dedication. There are just so many other things to do. I have work. I have hobbies. I have my all important relaxation time. There’s so much I want to do, so much I want to accomplish. Spending all of this time studying a book means not doing all of these other things, things I’d much rather be doing.

Yeah, there probably are a lot of other things you’d rather be doing. Maybe you think you can manage on your own if you find yourself stuck and have to just wing it. Maybe you just keep your head down and hope someone more qualified comes along. Maybe you just don’t care.

Those are all fine answers until you find yourself in a situation where none of those answers work. The tiny little newborn you just gave birth to has a heart defect and is literally dying in your arms. If you knew what to say, you might tell your little baby girl that there is a God out there who loves her, that the Good Shepherd loves his little lamb and will keep her safe forever. If you knew what to do, you might even baptize that little girl so that God’s promise would be explicitly given to her and she would know she’s been in the presence of her loving savior. But you don’t know the words, the promises, much less the actions to go with those promises, and then it’s too late.

Your kids are growing up, high school, college, and off into the real world. They’ve already learned from you, perhaps not in words but in deeds, that all of this church and Bible stuff isn’t as important as other things in life. When the temptations come, when the world’s lies creep in, seeking draw them away, telling them not to bother with all of this, you might try and stop it, but you haven’t been using the tool God gave you all along and now you’re fighting an uphill battle because you’re trying to use a tool that you don’t even know how to use. Your kids drift away from a faith they learned wasn’t all that important anyway. Maybe you’ll have time to talk to them, to win them back, but maybe it’s too late.

Your wife is dying. A sudden heart attack struck without warning. The doctors did what they could but they don’t think she’ll last the night. She’s resting peacefully but doesn’t respond to much. You’re sure she’s in there, but what do you say? You hope you’ll see her again, that’s what everyone says happens anyway, but you don’t really know. It could just all be a big nothing and this is the last moment you’ll ever have with her. You wish you’d spent some time trying to figure this stuff out beforehand, but now it’s too late.

God knows exactly what kind of world we live in and what kind of people we are. He knows the wages of sin may come due at any moment and may take us completely by surprise. Whether it’s tragedy or unbelief, whether it’s assaults by the enemy outside of the church or divisions rising up within it, all threaten to destroy and lead people into despair. He knows that, if you try and deal with any of these things all by yourself, you will fail. So he gives you the one tool that can help you. He gives you the one thing that can address all of these concerns, all of the problems, all of the worries and cares of the world. But it won’t be very effective if you don’t know how to use it.

We must be careful, of course, to put too much of the work on our own shoulders. Only the Spirit creates faith. Christ alone brings forgiveness and salvation. God’s Word does all of this without any help from us. At the same time, as any pastor knows when he sits down to craft a sermon, God may do the work, but we can certainly get in his way. You have an effect on how God’s promises are heard and those promises won’t be heard at all if you don’t even know what they are. A handyman might occasionally be successful in dealing with a problem by smacking it with his power drill, but he’ll be far more effective if he knows how and where to use it.

Being prepared takes work, work that we often find we aren’t that interested in doing. There are just too many other things we’d rather do. Reading your Bible so that you know what it says. Coming to church where you don’t just hear God’s Word, you begin to put it into action. Being active in prayer, so that God’s Word is on your heart and mind throughout daily life.

God has done quite a lot of preparing, thousands of years of it in fact. He prepared the world to see and know the savior when he arrived. He prepared the world for his gifts of grace, as he washes sin away with water and pays for it with blood. Now the story of what God has done comes to you. It’s the story of sins forgiven and death defeated. It’s the story that tells of God’s love and his triumph. It’s the story that tells you what he has done to save you. It’s the story that changes the world and everything in it.

God has given the story to you because you are a part of it. He has drawn you into the story through Christ. Everything Christ did is yours now because his life is yours. This isn’t a choose your own adventure book. It isn’t a big cliffhanger. The end is already written. The outcome is already determined. Know the story and find there your assurance that salvation has come to you and eternal life is yours. Know the story and share that joy and consolation with those around you who don’t yet know the end. God has wrapped this gift up and given it to you, not to sit on a coffee table or on a shelf to just be decorative, but to be the most useful tool you have. It is the one thing that can bring forgiveness where there is repentance, joy where there is despair, and life where there is death.