The Good Deposit

Two Timothy 1:1:

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus,

“To Timothy, my beloved child:

“Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

“I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I[’m] reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I[’m] sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I[’m] not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I[’m] convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you[’ve] heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

“You[’re] aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me—may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.”

Two Timothy 1, beginning at verse 14.

On one occasion Martin Luther said, “The epistle to the Galatians is my epistle. I have betrothed myself to it as to my wife.”[1] What he meant by that was simply that Galatians was for him, of all the New Testament letters, the one that resonated most with him. And if I may say so humbly, to a far lesser extent, I feel much the same about 2 Timothy. As I mentioned to you when we opened up our studies in 2 Timothy, it was from this book that I was given a verse, that I remember having a verse given to me in my middle teens, when we moved from Scotland to England. And there isn’t a week passes, there probably isn’t a day passes amongst our pastoral team—if I let you into a secret—where we are not quoting to one another from 2 Timothy.

And usually, we’re quoting one verse in particular. We memorized it in the NIV, and so we tend to quote it in the NIV. It’s a little different in the ESV. But this is what we say to each other: “Remember, ‘Keep your head …, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.’” Now, you can find that in 4:5, if you’re looking for it. And the reason we say that is because whether we are lifted up with great encouragement or whether we have descended to the depths of despair as a result of something that has hit us from the side, we are seeking to remind one another of this: that no matter what else happens, it is important to “keep your head,” to “endure hardship,” to “do the work of an evangelist,” and to “discharge … the dut[y] of your ministry.”

Well, this comes across very clearly as Paul writes what is his final letter, his swan song. At the end of the letter, he makes it clear that his ministry is now at an end. His life is ebbing away, he says, and he wants Timothy to understand—and, indeed, not just Timothy but to all who are the readers of the letter—that he has “fought the … fight” all the way to the end, he has “finished the race,” and he has “kept the faith.”[2] And the real reason for this letter is not simply to affirm those truths but, as we have seen, to write to Timothy in such a way as to encourage him to do the same—to make sure that Timothy will not drop the ball, that he will not fumble it, but that he will make sure that he takes from Paul this “good deposit” of the gospel and sees it safely into the hands of others so that those others in turn will be able to put it into the hearts and hands and lives of others.[3]

And we have seen as we’ve gone through this first chapter that he has been urging Timothy, in verse 6, to make sure that he fans into flame the gift of God that was in him through the laying on of Paul’s hands—presumably a reference to his ordination. And then, in verse 8, he has encouraged him not to “be ashamed of the testimony” of the Lord or ashamed of Paul. And then, as we saw last time in verse 13, he has been encouraging him to make sure that he follows “the pattern of the sound words.” And then, in a synonym, he comes to it again in verse 14: “[Make sure that you] guard the good deposit.”

Now, one of the great benefits of turning Scripture into song is that it lodges in your mind. And it was impossible for me to study these verses this week without going back, as so often happens to me, to an old Sunday school chorus that goes like this:

There’s a fight to be fought,
[There’s] a race to be run,
There are dangers to meet [on] the way;
But the Lord is my light
And the Lord is my life,
And the Lord is my strength and stay.

On his Word I depend,
He’s my Savior and Friend,
And he tells me to trust and obey;
For the Lord is my light
And the Lord is my life,
And the Lord is my strength and stay.[4]

Now, it is simply this that Paul is endeavoring, by the enablement of the Holy Spirit as he writes this letter, to drive into the very core of Timothy as a young pastor. And as we study this together, we should pay attention, let me suggest, to just three things this morning: first of all, that the gospel—which is at the heart of this—the gospel is a gospel which has brought about the change in the life of Paul; secondly, it is this gospel that Timothy is to guard; and thirdly, the ministry of the gospel is enhanced by the support of individuals like Onesiphorus. Okay?

The Gospel Changed Paul

So, first of all, then, let’s consider the fact that this gospel is that which has changed the life of Paul.

Paul had an encounter with the risen Christ. And his life was changed not as a result of reason but as a result of revelation.

It’s possible for us to be coming to this for the first time and to have very little background on it at all. And also, some of us are very forgetful. So let’s keep in mind that the person who is writing this letter is an individual who at one time in his life, as Saul of Tarsus, was a man who hated Christ, who hated the followers of Christ, who hated the gospel of Christ, and who, all the time that he did so, believed that he was serving God as he persecuted the church.

Now, this is verifiable data and causes an individual to say, “Well, if a man was so obviously going in that direction, what brought about the change?” What was it that brought this change about in the life of Paul? Because now we find him proclaiming the gospel, suffering for the gospel, and facing death on account of his commitment to the gospel. That is quite a radical change, you have to admit. It’s not as if this fellow Saul of Tarsus was sort of tangentially interested in following Jesus, that he had a sort of openness to the stories of Jesus, that he was intrigued by the ideas. No, none of that is true. He was vehemently opposed to anybody who named the name of Christ. And indeed, he tells people as he writes and as he speaks in his defense—you can read this in Acts chapter 26, when he is before Agrippa: he says that he went to the extent of going into the synagogues and seizing people out of the synagogues who were themselves beginning to proclaim this Jesus.[5]

And it was on one of those occasions, as he made his way to Damascus with threats and slaughterings in his mind,[6] that something radically changed him. And that was that he had an encounter with the risen Christ. He had an encounter with the risen Christ. And his life was changed not as a result of reason but as a result of revelation. Now, don’t misunderstand me. The faith that he came to profess was not an unreasonable faith. But the way in which he came to faith was not as a result of him trying to put all the pieces and the blocks together and making it understandable and believable but was a result of a divine encounter with the living God. Suddenly, he is cast to the ground, he says. Suddenly he is struck blind by the brightness of the light, and then he’s hearing a voice. And the voice that he hears he understands to be none other than Jesus Christ risen from the dead. “What? You’re actually alive? But I was convinced that you were an impostor! That’s why I’ve been killing all your followers. That’s why I’m on my way to Damascus. You’re alive?” It was this reality that brought about the change.

It is always this reality that brings about genuine conversion. A man or a woman may be interested in the Bible, intrigued by the sayings of Jesus, interested in singing songs—all of that—and still remain unconverted. Saul of Tarsus suddenly realizes two things: what he is and who Jesus is. What he is, is a man who is in the wrong. What Jesus is, is a Savior who has come to put him right and to put him in the right. And as a result of that, he then becomes a man “in Christ.” And indeed, when he writes to the Corinthians, he says, “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, and the new has come.”[7] It doesn’t sound as if this is just some vague notion that he’s bought into, does it—that he suddenly got interested in religion? No, this is a dramatic change. He has a whole new view of Jesus, he’s got a whole new view of the people who follow Jesus, and he has a whole new view of what it means that God loves people who are opposed to him.

Do you have that new view? Has God changed you in that way? That you once said to your wife, “You know what? You go along if you want. It’s a load of nonsense as far as I’m concerned.” Because you thought that was all it was: you know, you sing a few songs and hang around with people who are remotely interested in that stuff—until suddenly, you’ve maybe read a book, or someone gave you a verse from the Bible; you went to the final night of the VBS, the vacation Bible school, and all of a sudden, those little children’s voices merged and sung in your heart, and the light shone in, and suddenly you were changed. You were a new person.

That’s what’s happened to Paul. He’s not proclaiming an idea. He’s not proclaiming a philosophy. He’s not involved in a vague notion. He’s not out to tell the people in the world that he’s had a feeling of love and goodness. So much nonsense is spoken about the nature of the gospel. We can only have the gospel as we have the gospel. The gospel is not like a box of pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that you invent for yourself and create your own picture. No, it is clear. It is straightforward. It can be taught. It is propositional. You understand what I mean? You can state what it is, and you can state what it isn’t.

That’s why Paul is able to say, “And of this gospel I was made a teacher and an apostle and a preacher”: because he had something to say. So, for example, he says to Timothy, in 1 Timothy, he says, “[This] saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”[8] “You want to know what the gospel is?” he says. “This is it: God has invaded time in the person of Jesus. I didn’t believe that before. I believe it now. And I understand what it is to be a sinner. I had a covetous heart, I was a religious bigot, I had a fat head, I was convinced I was a genius, and so on. And all of a sudden, that was all changed in a dramatic encounter with the risen Jesus.”

Now, some of you are teachers. You teach maths. You teach biology. Some of you teach physics. What a job! But anyway, you don’t just stand up there in the morning and say whatever comes into your head, do you? You’ve got to show them how to decline, you know, the verb to be. You have to … It’s material. It’s there. And this is here. If you’re here today and you’re wondering about the gospel, then let me commend you to the Bible. Read this Bible. Read a Gospel. And when you read it, you won’t come up against vague notions, philosophy, ideas, religious hocus-pocus. You will come up against material that forces you to say, “Now, wait a minute.” Because it is this gospel which changed Paul’s life, and it is this gospel which changes every life that is changed.

This past Wednesday, Sue and I were in the airport coming home, and we bumped into a gentleman, a father and a son. The father was probably in his seventies, the son, I would guess, in his forties—maybe fifty; I don’t know. Very nice men. And the conversation began because somebody asked what was the book I was reading? And unfortunately, they found out what I do, and that always skews things badly. I greatly envy you who don’t do what I do, so that you can say things, and they’ll say, “Wow! I can’t believe you believe that.” When I say them, they go, “Well, you’re paid to believe that. You know, that’s what you do.” So I don’t have as big of an advantage as you.

Anyway, we got involved in a significant dialogue, and it was quite profitable, and there was a lot of interchange. And eventually, the father of the two—who was a nice, intelligent man, had engaged me in conversation—but this was his summation before he left: he said, “You know, this has been very interesting,” and he said, “and the things you’ve said might have been acceptable a long time ago. But they can’t work in our scientific age. After all, man is different, and we now know so much that we have outgrown the need for the tall tales that are there in the New Testament.” That was essentially it. You say, “Wow, you did a great job, didn’t you?” Well, I don’t know what kind of job I did, but what do we know? That only God softens hard hearts, and only God opens blind eyes, right?

And I found myself, as I was talking and listening, I could hear Paul’s words to Timothy: “[So] do not be ashamed.” “So do not be ashamed.” Because he’s essentially saying, “Are you so crazy as to suggest to me—a sensible man, a successful businessman, a man of the scientific age—are you suggesting to me for a moment that this Jesus of…?” I said, “Yes, I’m… Yeah, yeah, yes I am.” And my parting shot was just to ask him, I said, “You know, if you are as scientific as you say, have you ever read the gospel?” And he said, “No.” I said, “Well, you remember G. K. Chesterton said that in many people’s case, it’s not so much that they had considered the evidence and they found that it was wanting but that they had never considered the evidence.”[9] And he said, “Point taken.” So, then I reached in my briefcase and gave him one of Jeff Mills’s Gospels of John, and he went on his way to Beijing and to Bangkok and on from there.

I’m praying for him now—put his name into my routine. You’re doing the same, aren’t you? Yes, we are, aren’t we? What are we praying? We’re praying that this gospel that so radically turned the life of Saul of Tarsus upside-down might be used to turn the lives of our loved ones and our friends and our work colleagues upside-down too.

Only God softens hard hearts, and only God opens blind eyes.

Timothy Was to Guard the Gospel

That’s the first point: that this gospel is first of all the gospel that transformed the one who writes the letter. Secondly, it is this gospel that he then says to Timothy he must guard with great care. Timothy is going to be ministering in an environment where novelty is in demand, where mythology is alluring, and it’s going to be absolutely crucial that Timothy stands his ground. That’s why Paul had said in 13 that “[I want you to] follow the pattern of the sound words,” and now he says, “[I want you to] guard the good deposit entrusted to you.”

It’s not pleasant to be isolated. It’s not pleasant to be ignored by those who once stood side by side with us striving for the gospel, as Paul is going to point out. And Timothy is going to have to have something of the Daniel about him. Again, the children’s songs:

Dare to be a Daniel!
Dare to stand alone!
Dare to have a purpose firm!
[And] dare to make it known.[10]

And we told our children that any dead fish can swim with the current, but only a live fish can swim against the stream. And in an environment in first-century Ephesus where the ideas and novel concepts and religious jargon was flushing here, there, and everywhere, Timothy was going to have to take a stand, and he was going to have to make sure that he guarded this good deposit. How is the gospel to be guarded? How is he to do so?

Well, Paul points out to him in this letter a number of ways in which that happens. Let me tell you three without expansion. “First of all, Timothy, it is imperative that you believe it firmly. That you believe it firmly.” That’s 3:14: “That you remain convinced and continuing in the things that you have learned, knowing those from whom you learned them—that you are absolutely still taking your stand, firmly believing.”[11] So, when we awaken in the morning and we realize all that the day brings to us and we begin to absorb the news of another day, perhaps we simply pause and say to ourselves, “I believe in God the Father, the creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was buried, dead, and raised on the third day. He ascended into heaven,”[12] and so on. “Now let me just my equilibrium here before I start to go south. Before I’ve even had the first cup of coffee, let me remind myself of what I firmly believe.” Secondly, that he would suffer for it bravely—believe it firmly, suffer for it bravely. That’s 2:3. And then, in 4:2, that he would proclaim it boldly. Proclaim it boldly. So it’s not as if he’s got this little deposit that he’s going to keep somewhere in a box and keep it to himself for safekeeping. No, the way in which it is going to be sort of at the very core of his being will be as a result of his believing and suffering and proclaiming.

And the same is true for us this morning. As I mention the comings and goings of our world, as we see the movements of nations and the rise of kingdoms and the threatenings of men, we have to hold on to these things. Let it guard this good deposit. This is the thing that really, really, really matters. But we think about the movement of nations, and then we remind ourselves, again in our songs from childhood,

Kingdoms may rise, kingdoms may fall,
And nations refuse to heed God’s call,
But the Word of the Lord endureth forevermore.

Put your trust in Jesus. That’s it. That’s what Paul is saying here to Timothy.

And now, you’ll see that he’s not encouraging him to muster up his own self-ability. Here in the ESV it says, “By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” That is really helpful, isn’t it? Because it puts the power before the proposition. It reminds him that he has not been given a spirit of fear “but of power and [of] love and [of] self-control.” It is a reminder of what Paul has said when he has written to the church in Rome: that “the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are [the] children of God.”[13] It takes Timothy all the way back to the words of the risen Jesus to his disciples in Jerusalem, reminding them, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”[14]

So, these exhortations of Paul to Timothy are underpinned by his awareness of the power of God within Timothy’s life. ’Cause Timothy knows what it is to be fearful. He knows what it is to be ashamed. He knows what it is to feel isolated and alone. And what a great encouragement it must have been to him in light of what Paul goes on to say in the verses that close out this first chapter.

The birth and the growth of the church in Ephesus you can read for yourselves in Acts chapter 19 and on into 20. It is clear from the reading in Acts that it wasn’t all going to be plain sailing. Paul had made that clear. And now he recognizes the fact that those who were once standing with him in the gospel in Asia have now done a bunk. They have now left him. And right at the forefront of this group is Phygelus and Hermogenes. What a tragedy to get yourself in the Bible, and the only reason that you’re in the Bible is because you were actually a nuisance, and you were a deserter, and you were a discouragement to people.

Well, that’s exactly what he has to say here: “You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me.” “Turned away from me.” Doesn’t say that they turned away from the gospel. They might just have gone for a kind of not-his-gospel gospel, you know. They might have decided that they didn’t like Paul’s style—that “we’d like to go to a different congregation, where it’s not just as forceful as it often comes across.” Maybe they thought that Paul lacked the polish necessary to be accepted in their community. Maybe they just didn’t like the fact that their pastor or their evangelist was a jailbird—for whatever reason. Perhaps they decided that it was time for Paul to be less doctrinal, less propositional, less declarative, less straightforward, and far more contextual. For whatever reason, they decided that they were no longer going to stand with him.

Onesiphorus Enhanced the Gospel

And then against that dark background you have this bright shining light in this character Onesiphorus. What a wonderful thing this is! And this is my final point this morning. Point one was: this gospel is the gospel that changed Paul. Point two was: it is this gospel that Timothy must hold fast to and guard. And point three: this gospel is greatly enhanced by people like Onesiphorus. People like Onesiphorus. People like Tychicus. People like Epaphroditus. People like all the names of the people that you read at the end of Paul’s letters, where they have all these names of people. Nobody really knows who they are, but they were absolutely vital, absolutely crucial—all the no-name people who were enhancing the ministry of the gospel. Do we think that Paul was doing this on his own, apart from the power of the Holy Spirit? That Timothy was just such a great little preacher that he didn’t need anything at all? No! There has never been an occasion for that.

And unlike the deserters, this man had brought profit, and he’d brought encouragement. Indeed, that’s actually what his name means. These individuals had taken the wind out of Paul’s sails. There are people who are masterful at that, aren’t they? I fear that I could be good at that myself. Let’s just be very honest. I can take the wind out of people’s sails a lot easier than some can put the wind into people’s sails. There are people who inflate the balloon for you, and there are people who burst the balloon for you. And a lot of balloon bursters were here in Asia.

And here comes this wonderful fellow, Onesiphorus. “He searched earnestly for me.” “They didn’t want to have anything to do with me. He looked for me.” He’d gone to a great deal of trouble in order that he might provide a great deal of encouragement to the imprisoned apostle. And that’s why Paul is concerned that his family will be granted mercy, that his family will be blessed and encouraged: because inevitably, they have sacrificed in order that Onesiphorus might give. I don’t want to delay on this, but I want to point it out. If you have a member of your family who is prepared to extend herself, himself extensively for the encouragement of the gospel, it will have an impact in your family. It will have an impact on the way in which time is spent. It will have an impact on the way in which meals are enjoyed. It is inevitable that it will be so. It is impossible to read the history, the biography of useful Christian leaders, whether in places far away or here, without recognizing that every family that has an Epaphras, that has an Onesiphorus in it—also Epaphras—has an Onesiphorus in it will pay a price.

I was with a young man walking across London Bridge this last week. His father’s been an evangelist in the United Kingdom in Europe for all of this young fellow’s life. He grew up with his dad as an evangelist. What do evangelists do? They go away. They go away all the time. I said, “How does your family cope with it?” He said, “Well, I’m involved in Christian publishing, my brother is with Inter-Varsity Fellowship in New Zealand, my sister is a journalist, and my mother is still living with my father. I think we’re doing pretty well.” And he said, “Here’s the thing: we understood what was happening. And God has actually blessed our family, even though we have had to sacrifice Dad in the process of reaching the world for Jesus Christ.” Onesiphorus has extended himself. Says Paul, “May God bless the family of Onesiphorus and grant them mercy.” God hears those prayers.

Parenthetically, we face the great danger of the idolatry of family in our generation: “Oh, no, I couldn’t do that because of my family. Oh, no, I can’t because of my family. Oh, no, because of swimming. Oh, no, because of… No, no, because of…” I say to you that many a missionary biography could never have been written in our generation, because the people would never have had the wherewithal to go up and give up things for the sake of their family. And I say that as someone who is manifestly committed to family life.

Now, you will notice that Onesiphorus’s ministry is going to be blessed on that day: “May the Lord grant [to] him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!” All that Paul is enjoying, all that Paul is enduring in the now is ultimately to be understood in terms of the then. And we’ll come back to that, because it is a point that needs well to be made.

But let’s finish in this way: As we absorb this first chapter, as we come to the end of it, we might find ourselves fearful for the gospel’s sake. After all, things are not always the way that we might like them to be. There is declension, and there is apostasy. I think there is little doubt there is a diminishing of the impact of evangelical Christianity in the United States. There is a significant falloff in the lives of the millennials, if the statistics are accurate. There is a great loss, there is vast chasm fixed between the parental grasp of the gospel and getting it into the hands of the college and university students—hence our commitment to build into the next generation. And when we’re tempted to be discouraged by these things, we need to remember, first of all, that the gospel does change lives; secondly, that we are to guard it; and thirdly, that we have the opportunity to play a part in it by enhancing things through our own ministry. God is still on the throne.

And for those of us who are reading this and saying, “Well, this just seems like a very good study for the Basics Conference later on in May, but it seems to be very pastoral”—well, of course it’s very pastoral. It’s written to somebody fulfilling the role of a pastor. But as we said at the outset, it is not written exclusively to Timothy, but it was written for public readership, so that not only would the pastor know what he was supposed to be doing but so that the congregation might understand how important it is for the pastor to be doing it, so that they might learn together. And if you say to yourself, “Well, I’m never going to be a Paul or a Timothy,” then that’s fair. But what about being an Onesiphorus? How about that? “Well, I don’t know.”

Well, let me suggest to you, as I’ve said, that the work of the gospel ministry is undermined by some who have taken it upon themselves to make the minister’s life a misery. Okay? Now, there’s nothing personal in this at all. If you doubt this, come to Basics, serve the pastors when they come, and listen to them talk. And you will be reduced to tears, if you listen carefully, to discover the way in which many in pastoral ministry are routinely treated by individuals whom they seek to serve—individuals who fail to pay attention to the exhortation of Scripture that they ought to make sure that they obey their leaders so that the work that they do may be a joy and not a burden, because that would be of no advantage to them at all.[15] And we don’t have to go very far out of this building around us in this immediate community to discover places in which the declension of effective pastoral ministry may be traced in measure, in part, to those who have not adopted the spirit of Onesiphorus but apparently are far more in line with the deserters.

You see, the work of gospel ministry is enhanced by those who are refreshing souls like this. So you say this morning, say, “Well, I can be a refresher. I can do that. I can pray, I can encourage, I can write,” whatever else it is. And be on the lookout for those who have done, and then follow their example.

This past week, I found an old box that had materials in it when I was in Glasgow, and I was rummaging around looking at obituaries. I know that you think that’s strange. It’s the same peculiarity that wants to build a graveyard here on the property. It’s all part of the same peculiarity. But here I want to quote to you from someone I have never met in my life, who, I suggest, is in the stream of Onesiphorus—and with this I will close.

His name was Mr. Thomas Smith. The obituary announces the fact that his funeral was preached by the Reverend John Clark from Nehemiah 7:2 and Acts 11:7 and at the close of which the Reverend Clark paid telling tribute to Mr. Smith. What was the telling tribute? Let me tell you what it was. This is what the minister said: “A great blank was created in the church by Mr. Smith’s death.” If you and I are not here next Sunday, will a great blank have been created in the church? Is the empty Sunday night seat going to be any less empty next Sunday if you’re not here?

A great blank in the church was created by Mr. Smith’s death. He was a member for well-nigh fifty years and an elder for forty years, having been ordained in 1882. He had ever been a regular attender, a devout listener, a wise counselor, a trusted friend and advisor. A Sabbath morning without his kindly visit to the vestry, an elders’ meeting without his massive figure in the room, or a congregational meeting without his presence was difficult to imagine. The measure of his service would be the measure of their loss. His cautious wisdom, his shrewd judgment of both men and matters, and his pawky manner were familiar to them all. Behind these there beat a true and loyal heart, a tender sympathy, a faithful devotion. No one ever went to him with any real trouble without finding in him a wise counselor and a true helper. He was a faithful man and loved God above many. He left behind him the fragrance of an honorable name and a cherished memory. He has now heard his master say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your rest.”

Now, we’re not all going to play the part of Paul—most of us won’t—or of Timothy. But this Onesiphorus thing, it’s got some real potential, doesn’t it?

Father, thank you for the gospel that changed the life of Paul, that was entrusted to Timothy in order that he might proclaim it to others and was enhanced by the ministry of Onesiphorus—a trusted friend, a loyal servant. Help us, then, to receive your Word as from yourself, so that your kingdom might come and that your will might be done on earth as it is in heaven.[16] For Jesus’ sake we ask it. Amen.

[1] Martin Luther, quoted in William Hendriksen, Exposition of Galatians, New Testament Commentary (Baker: Grand Rapids, 1968), 3. Paraphrased.

[2] 2 Timothy 4:7 (ESV).

[3] See 2 Timothy 2:2.

[4] Naomi Pope, “There’s a Fight to Be Fought.”

[5] See Acts 26:9–11.

[6] See Acts 9:1.

[7] 2 Corinthians 5:17 (paraphrased).

[8] 1 Timothy 1:15 (ESV).

[9] G. K. Chesterton, What’s Wrong with the World (London: Cassell, 1910), 39.

[10] Philip Paul Bliss, “Dare to Be a Daniel” (1873).

[11] 2 Timothy 3:14 (paraphrased).

[12] The Apostles’ Creed (paraphrased).

[13] Romans 8:16 (ESV).

[14] Acts 1:8 (ESV).

[15] See Hebrews 13:17.

[16] See Matthew 6:10.