Entrusted

Well, from a cold prison cell, a haggard looking, worn out Jewish man known as Paul the Apostle wrote one last letter.

It was the 60s of the first century, and his race is nearly run.

His life is nearly over, but there's one last letter, one last encouragement to write to his apprentice, Timothy.

He says in the end of 1 Timothy, my son in the faith, fight the good fight.

Fight the good fight.

And then now we hear him say, God, what has been entrusted to you.

This is his last letter, 2 Timothy.

And he wants this young pastor, this young missionary to know, you need to guard what has been entrusted to you.

Let me read from 2 Timothy 1 again.

I know whom I have believed and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

What you heard from me keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus.

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you.

Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Well, we've spent 3 weeks watching videos from Scott Pilgrim, the head of the Baptist Mission Society.

It's not something we do very frequently.

In fact, it's the first time I've ever done that in my 30 years of ministry.

I'm more than happy to preach if I get the chance.

But we tried that, and I think it's been great.

Though I did ask the deacons this week, how have the videos been going, and the noses screwed up, and I was like, too much.

Four videos is too much.

Some people didn't like this and didn't like that.

But then we reflected and agreed, the content's been great, but just video is hard, maybe we were worn out in COVID.

So I'm here in the flesh.

Hopefully, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

But I appreciate Scott's input, it's been great.

And the last message will be online, if you want to see that last fourth message in the series on mending.

And I hope you have been blessed and challenged.

This morning, we're going to continue thinking about mission from the perspective of entrustment, because this is how Paul frames mission to his young apprentice Timothy.

At the end of 1 Timothy, as I just said, the Apostle Paul says to him, to Timothy, fight the good fight.

It's a phrase loaded with oomph, isn't it?

Fight the good fight.

What does that mean?

Well, we live in a country that's at peace, so most of us don't know a lot about war.

We don't probably know a lot about fighting, battles.

But there is a battle going on that we are living in.

It is a battle for the souls of human beings.

It's a battle between light and darkness.

And I know for most of us, me included, that sounds overly melodramatic.

It really does.

But if you believe the Bible, there truly is a battle going on.

The world, the flesh and the devil are teamed up against the will of the one living God.

The world, that anti-God, selfish current of humanity, the flesh, the desire-driven, self-centred bias inside each of us, and the devil, a fallen angel who is hell-bent on thwarting the plans of the living God.

They're all against all that is good and all that is of God.

But it's not an even battle.

Amen?

Amen?

We don't live in a dualistic world or universe.

God is almighty, not just even mighty.

He is almighty, and the devil is a created being who is no match for him.

Yet, we are in a fight that needs to be fought.

And it's a fight, as I said, for the hearts and minds and souls of human beings.

I would suggest it's also a fight, as we've seen the last few weeks, for bodies, bodies that get mistreated in this world.

It's a fight that they might be treated with dignity, that human beings might receive justice.

And the kingdom of God coming in power through the church is meant to bring that, because we pray, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

May your kingdom come.

And that will affect not just spirit, not just soul, but lives, bodies.

In this fight, we entrust, we entrust our lives to Christ as Christ entrusts his gospel to us.

It's what Paul says in 2 Timothy.

I have entrusted my life to God.

I have entrusted my life to Christ, and Christ has entrusted his gospel to me.

To be entrusted, to be given a treasure is a wonderful thing, a scary thing, a thing of responsibility, isn't it?

When someone gives you that which is of great worth, I wonder what the most precious thing is that you've ever been entrusted with.

I asked people what that was for them.

For me, I can't think of something more scary than when we were entrusted with our children.

When you hold a child and all of a sudden, it's yours.

You can't give it back to someone else.

It's yours, and there's a weight, a gravitas, a gravity that comes with that.

When I asked around, I heard people say, my husband and I heard people say my wife, a young husband said to me, when my father-in-law handed me my bride's hand, I felt a sense of responsibility.

I had been entrusted.

Others talk about their calling.

My little sister, someone said to me, is a person I've been entrusted with.

Others said faith, relationships with wider family.

Some have been entrusted with a business.

You've inherited it, maybe.

What is it that you've been entrusted with?

Do you know what that's like?

Do you know what it's like to fail?

To have been entrusted with something very special, a treasure.

I've mentioned before that our family dog, who was 19 years old, a corgi who was 19 years old, an interesting-looking little critter.

He was 19 years old in human years, and I loved Rusty.

And back in the day, they went wandering, and people didn't have fences around their pools, and he ended up drowning in the neighbor's pool.

I was like, oh, on my watch, the dog had been entrusted to me.

But that's not all.

Another time when I was a late teenager, I was entrusted with the house when Mum and Dad were away, and I came home, and somehow, I don't think it was my fault, but it happened.

The back courtyard got blocked, the drain got blocked, I walked in, and the whole house is a centimeter underwater.

All the carpet flooded.

On my watch, it feels terrible when you have been entrusted and you fail the responsibility.

I wonder if you've felt like you've entrusted your dream to God, and you wonder whether he failed you.

I think all of us know what it's like to be failed or to fail in this responsibility.

Paul says, I have entrusted my life to God.

And that's the truth for all of us.

Certainly, if you're a Christian, that's what you've done.

You have entrusted your life to God.

And I think it's easy to say that sometimes we can say, I have entrusted all those times when I get completely stuck to you, Lord God.

Is there anyone with me on that?

You know, I have entrusted when I'm beyond myself.

At those times, I promise, Lord, I will entrust my life to you.

When health crisis looms, financial insecurity hits, at those times, I will entrust everything to you.

When things are going well, leave it to me.

But we're called to entrust our whole life to God.

So let me ask you a few questions.

Have you entrusted your belief, your belief, no matter how many questions you come up with, no matter how many challenges you see, can you say, I have entrusted my life, my belief, my world view about how things really are.

I've entrusted that to God.

I've entrusted my reputation.

It's God's to look after.

Can you say, I've entrusted my finances, really?

Can you say, I've entrusted my will, not my will, but yours be done?

Have you entrusted your need for revenge?

I think that's a big one sometimes.

I don't need to take revenge because it is not mine to avenge, but yours, Lord.

You tell me that in your word.

You will look after the relationships, the justice that's required.

Can you say, I have entrusted my fears, idols, pain, shame, anger, lust, ambition?

I have entrusted to you my one shot at life, because that's what it's all about, isn't it?

Jesus wants us to lay our life down.

It's the essence of mission, because it starts with us being fully given over to the Lord.

When you think about some of the characters, Paul himself, Acts chapter 9, he has this revelation of the risen Christ, and he is changed for good.

It takes him 10 years before he steps out on mission, but he entrusted everything to his new master.

We've been studying the Gospel of Mark, and we saw that Jesus came by the Sea of Galilee and called disciples to follow him.

They left everything, and they entrusted their life to him.

Do you remember later on they say, Lord, who else have we got to turn to?

We've given everything up for you.

Wherein?

We have entrusted our lives fully to you.

When Paul talks about the good fight, he's not talking about a game, is he?

He's talking about a sacred entrustment of one's life to God who created us as the basis of this good fight.

I think if we were to keep drilling into what is most precious to us, I think for me, even though, I mean, maybe there's something more important, more treasured than my own breath.

I guess there is.

I think of some members of my family.

But it's hard to beat your own breath.

But that's what we were asked to entrust.

Everything.

My whole life.

Jesus said in Matthew 13, The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field.

When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

Entrusting everything.

This is the language that Jesus speaks about when he refers to the kingdom.

Matthew 13.

Jesus says, The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.

When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and he bought it.

He entrusted everything for this most precious treasure.

When we fully entrust ourselves to God, what happens?

He entrusts his message to us.

Amen.

When he sees someone who is like, I'm in, Lord.

Remember, that's what he looked for when he looked for David.

His eyes looked across the world.

I'm looking for a man or woman after my own heart who wants to entrust their whole life to me.

And he found it in David.

So when we do this, when we entrust our life, as Paul has said to Timothy, the second part is receiving what God has entrusted to us.

His treasure.

1 Corinthians 4, 1.

I don't think I've got it on there on the screen, but it's a great verse.

People should think of us, Paul writes, as servants of Christ and managers who are entrusted with God's mysteries.

Isn't that a great text?

We have been entrusted with God's mysteries.

And this brings us back to the motive of mission, clearly.

2 Timothy 1, let me read again.

Paul writes in verse 13, What you heard from me, God, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you.

Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

What is this good deposit?

I think the good deposit is the truth.

It's the truth of the good news, of the gospel.

But I think as you think back to the whole story, the big narrative of the Bible, the church has been entrusted with all sorts of other aspects of good news that we could probably identify in Genesis 1 and 2.

Adam and Eve are entrusted with the stewardship of the planet, aren't they?

Guard the good deposit.

What's the deposit given, the treasure given to humanity?

This planet is yours to look after.

The stewardship mandate is a deposit that we guard, the truth of stewardship.

Noah and the flood taught humanity that there is a holy God who will judge sin, and we are meant to convey that, to carry that good deposit, to protect it, to not let it be washed down or watered down.

The message of the good news includes we are sinful and we need hope in a merciful God who is holy.

There is a judgment coming.

That's the deposit we find, the truth of holiness.

Abraham was entrusted with the promises of God, called to leave his home and go to a place that he didn't know where he would end up, and ultimately to start the nation of Israel.

He was entrusted with the promise that God is gracious and merciful, the truth of grace, blessed to be a blessing.

Moses was entrusted with this powerful story of a God who rescues and redeems.

Moses, the story says, God heard the cry of his people, and he came to rescue them and ultimately took them from Pharaoh's grasp and through the Red Sea.

It's the truth of redemption.

I would say if you were to summarize it, let me read from my notes.

Jesus, God's only son, this is the deposit that we guard.

God's only son, Jesus, was born of a virgin, fully God and yet fully man.

You can say amen at any time.

He lived a perfect life, died a sinner's death, cursed and hung on a tree, shedding perfect blood to appease the wrath of God for sin.

He rose again three days later, defeating death, and ascended to heaven, sending his spirit to fill and empower his church.

He now sits at the right hand of the Father, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

He sets captives free, brings light into our darkness, cleanses us of all that defiles, heals our hearts, and renews our minds.

We have been entrusted as environment carers, light bearers, grace givers, redemption tellers, holiness revealers, gospel givers, and heart healers.

What a glorious calling.

What a glorious calling that is.

Can you see why the devil wants us to forget that?

The devil would love to get us so distracted and preoccupied that we forget what we have been entrusted with.

The good news for all the world.

Does anyone remember Francesco Scattino?

Stuart Roberts.

How are you going to win your next game show if you don't know who Francesco Scattino is?

2012, a guy who grew up in a seafaring family.

He learned about responsibility from the Naval Academy.

He became a captain of super yachts.

Ultimately, he was the head of security on a massive ship.

And then for five years, he captained the Costa Concordia.

Is this coming back to anyone?

The Costa Concordia, off the coast of Giglio in the Mediterranean.

Somehow he lost his sense of what he was entrusted with.

This immense responsibility.

It's a 100,000 ton ship, 4200 passengers.

He ran it aground through recklessness.

And then, do you remember what he did?

He abandoned the ship with 100 passengers left on it.

He was sentenced to 16 years prison for manslaughter.

There were dozens of people that were killed in the accident.

And he also was sentenced for abandoning the ship and for, what was the other one?

Doing bad stuff.

It is possible to become complacent, is it not?

With this responsibility that, I mean, he made a very public mistake, and we've all made mistakes.

I don't mean to sit in judgment on him.

He's a sinner like us.

But I'm struck by him as a story of someone who had immense responsibility but bailed.

And we've been thinking about mission this last month, and I think it's wrapped up in this idea of that we've entrusted our life to him, to God.

And we're lucky.

We're fortunate.

We're blessed because we know this gospel.

I remember being in Cambodia years ago with another pastor on a mission trip, and we were bumping into these Buddhist monks all the time in their orange robes, and we just couldn't help but with tears in our eyes look at each other and say, how blessed and fortunate are we that we grew up knowing the truth?

I don't mean to put down them as Buddhists, but I don't believe they're on the right path.

I believe there's only one way to God, and it's through Christ Jesus, our Lord, who died for our sin and rose again.

Those Cambodian Buddhist priests, they don't know the truth.

I do.

I've been entrusted with it, and if you're a Christian here, you do.

We have the good news, and it is our responsibility to share it.

Jesus said those powerful words just before he left this earth.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, and I'm sending you.

I breathe my Holy Spirit on you, and I want you.

That was the disciples.

And Pentecost is going to come where I breathe on even more.

I want you to take this good news and make disciples of all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Teach them how to live the way I said you could live.

Here it is, the responsibility.

Jesus was saying, in other words, as you walk along your path of life, every believer who will follow even 2,000 years later, like us sitting in this room, as you walk past all the local characters that are in your world, in your sphere and my sphere of influence, down the road and around the world, make disciples.

Tell them, show them that there is a God in heaven who loves them.

This is the good news.

We have been entrusted.

It's a weird thing to say, but we're all God's God.

I do want to push back on that.

So he's got all of creation, shouting forth creation, the gospel and the truth of his existence.

But we're the ones who carry the special revelation, amen?

There's general revelation out there, but we are the custodians of this treasure, of the mystery that God in Christ has saved the world.

In 1943, days after he was elected Prime Minister of the British Coalition Government on May 13, Winston Churchill delivered one of the most famous calls to fight in human history.

This is what he said.

You might remember it, certainly from watching a video or hearing it.

He said, You ask, what is our policy?

I say it is to wage war by land, sea and air.

This is in response to what Hitler was doing.

War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime.

That is our policy.

You ask, what is our aim?

He said, I can answer in one word.

Our aim is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terrors, victory however long and hard the road may be, for without victory, there is no survival.

Let that be realized, no survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge, the impulse of the ages that mankind should move forward towards his goal.

I take up my task in buoyancy and hope.

I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fall among men.

I feel entitled at this junction, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, come then, let us go forward together with our united strength.

A broken leader of the British Empire, which is broken, is not perfect.

It's not the kingdom of God.

But I think that great speech reminds me that words do tend to rally human beings, amen?

Words rally us around the cause.

And so, may the words of Jesus continue to rally us, that He has given us and trusted us with the message of the Good News.

And we have a job to do.

We have a job to do.

We're in this together as the church worldwide to represent Him and to be sharers of the Gospel, the Good News, in word and deed, until He returns.

And that's why we're raising $50,000, or the best part of it.

That's why we have a budget that we've put up by $1,000 this year.

Whether we get there or not, it's just because we've got the Good News, we're going to have a crack.

To me, it doesn't matter if you fail.

It doesn't matter at all if we don't reach $50,000.

The fact is that God knows we were willing to.

Would you agree?

Because we live in a wealthy part of the world.

Not all of us are wealthy, but some are.

And together, we've got a heap.

Heap of resources, heap of capacity.

So we're just going to keep on doing our best.

And as we've said at the start of the year, Go24 represents have a go.

Have a go.

Step out.

Second Timothy 1.12, Paul writes, I know whom I have believed and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

My life I'm in, Lord.

I know you've got me, he says.

What you have heard from me, Timothy, keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus.

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you.

This gospel.

Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Would you agree?

We have entrusted our lives to him, and he has entrusted his gospel to us.

Let's fight the good fight.

Amen.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for this privilege as a church that we get to be part of your kingdom going forth.

And we want to confess, Lord, that sometimes we just get foggy and we get busy and distracted, and we lose sight of the responsibility you have given us, the treasure, the deposit of truth, the mystery of the gospel that you might make your life and home in us, that you might set us free from our sin, take away all the guilt and shame, set us adopted as children of the Most High, and you would give us, which you have, a hope beyond the grave, a life eternal that starts now, that no one could ever take away.

Lord, we want to share this.

Lord, we ask for forgiveness for where we failed you, but we ask for a growing and robust and courageous faith to step out in what you have for us into the future.

In the name of Jesus, we pray.

Amen.

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