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A sermon preached by Mr Antony Weiss The Twenty-first Sunday After Pentecost Christ Church St Laurence Sung Eucharist & Solemn High Mass – Sunday 9th October, 2016 2 Timothy 2:1-15 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (Ps 19:14 NRSV). AMEN.
From St Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy, “You then, my child, be strengthened 1 in the grace, the gift that is in Christ Jesus; and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust these things to faithful, trusting, believing men and women who will also be able to teach.” (2 Tim 2:1-2, my translation)
In considering this morning’s Epistle from 2 Timothy, I’d like you to think about these questions. What kind of legacy would you like to leave? Is there anything that you may like to leave to the next generation which will endure...having a lasting impact? Leaving a legacy is important and can have a bearing on others much more than we perhaps could ever realise. In a Church History lecture earlier this year at Moore College we were asked to name the Church Reformers whom we think left a great legacy. Cheekily I blurted out...John Henry Newman much to the derision, albeit light-hearted, of the students and lecturer! But I was kind of being serious. John Henry Newman whose Feast Day it is celebrated today in the Roman Catholic Church was originally an evangelical Oxford University academic and priest in the Church of England. Newman was later drawn to the High Church traditions of Anglicanism. He became known as a leader of the Oxford Movement of which this Parish Church is a living and blessed offspring. Sadly in 1845 Newman left the Church of England and his teaching post at Oxford University 1
In the original language Paul has the verb (ἐνδυναμοῦ) in the passive voice so I’d suggest we read this as “be strengthened in the grace of Christ Jesus (2 Tim 2:1a)” because the call is not just to be strong at one point…it goes further than this and is relevant to us as well. Paul’s intention is that he realises that Timothy has to be strengthen by God’s grace in order to endure and persevere continually especially when there is hardship and suffering for the Gospel. And surely so do we too as sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ takes courage and boldness, and as we know, for many at the greatest cost, their lives.