But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
1 Timothy 6:11-15
[this was preached at the Installation service for a friend, Megan Cullip]
I met Megan two and a half years ago on my first day at the psychiatric hospital where we worked together. Our very first day began with a church service in which Megan was preaching. She was energetic and funny and compelling and an amazing preacher. She led worship with her skillful guitar playing, and she ministered to patients with compassion and authenticity. I could tell that our personalities seem to overlap in many ways, and I hoped that that might enable a friendship to blossom between us. But in other ways, though, Megan demonstrated qualities and abilities that I only dreamed of having someday.
One of those qualities is Megan’s ability to get stuff done. She is a taskmaster. While I was helpful in many ways at the hospital, I didn’t have the best reputation for getting things done. Whereas Megan’s chief mantra is personal responsibility, I’m just a little more prone to procrastination.
But, I’m working on it. I recently started using a new iPhone app that helps me keep track of all the things I have to get done. I can tell my phone what I’d like to make a dentist appointment on Tuesday, and when Tuesday rolls around, my phone will remind me to make the dentist appointment. And then, after I get off the phone with the dentist, I can satisfyingly check the item off my to do list and consider it done. There’s even a little score tracker at the bottom of the app that reminds me how successfully I’ve gotten things done on my to do list, and reminds me that I’ve let things slide a couple too many times. I’m finding it really helpful in my efforts to be a little bit more like Megan.
Maybe it’s just because I’ve been focusing on getting things done lately, but this app came to mind as I read through the scripture for this morning. At this point, it’s important to note that the book our text comes from is a letter that was written from the apostle Paul to a new young church leader named Timothy, who had taken a call at a church in an area called Ephesus. While he was at Ephesus, Timothy received two letters from Paul, each containing a number of pointers for someone just beginning in ministry. This morning, Caroline read for us a little selection from the end of that first letter.
What brought my iphone app to mind is that, at first glance, Paul’s writing reads more or less like a to do list. “Do this, teach that. Shun this, avoid that.” It feels like Paul is simply adding things to add to our proverbial plate. There are in this short text eleven imperatives! Teach, encourage, run, pursue, fight, hold, obey, tell, guard, avoid. Is this the same Paul that told the folks from Timothy’s church in Ephesus that “it is by grace you are saved, and not by works?” He might has well have said in that letter to the Ephesians: don’t think there’s anything you could put on your to-do list to earn God’s love.
Paul constantly reminded us the truth that nothing you or I could do could ever compensate for the even longer list of ways that we have failed to live up to God’s expectations of us. The envy we’ve had of others’ blessings and gifts, the promises we’ve broken, the apathy we’ve had toward our neighbors, the disparaging words we’ve used about or at other people—these aren’t “made up for” by even our best deeds.
But that’s why it’s such good news that we don’t *have* to! That’s what Paul spends most of his letters on—convincing us to stop trying to earn God’s love when it is freely given to us in the person of Jesus. So often, it’s our very attempts to make ourselves seem worthy of God’s love that separates us from God. If there’s anything we have to do, it’s to stop trying to be good enough, nice enough, smart enough, or rich enough to earn grace, and just receive it! That should be the only thing on our to-do list: receive grace. Just take it in.
It’s not just good news, it’s the best news—it’s heartening and liberating and life-giving—and I know that the sweetness of this good message is what called you, Megan, into a life of service to Jesus. You were captivated by the love that you saw in Jesus’ outstretched arms on the cross. It just got you. And me too.
We have been drawn in by the bounty of God’s love—all of us, I hope. That’s why we gather on Sundays: to tell the world about it. God loves us no matter what. That’s the gospel.
So, I find myself asking Paul: what gives? Why the to do list all of the sudden? Why all of the imperatives? I get *really* nervous when, for example, Paul urges Timothy in verse 11 to “live a godly life.” What does that even mean? I mean, honestly. Other than the relationship between cleanliness and godliness—and don’t worry, Megan’s got that part covered already—what is godliness all about? What makes someone godly? Let’s do a little experiment. Close your eyes—I know it’s weird, but let’s try it together—close your eyes and imagine a godly person. What does that person look like? What are they wearing? How do they look at you? How do they treat you? Do you want to spend time with that person, to hang out with them?
When I did this little experiment with my husband, the person he imagined was Ned Flanders. You know, that character from the Simpsons, the next door neighborino who says hi-de-le-ho and always goes to church and never curses. He is almost godly to a fault. When Paul encourages us to be godly, does that mean he wants us to be like Ned Flanders? Seriously? I mean. *I* don’t want to hang out with Ned Flanders. I don’t think I would feel like I could be myself if I spent time with someone like Ned Flanders, that I could tell goofy jokes and be honest about my shortcomings. Nope. It seems like the prevailing idea of what counts for godliness today is doing the kind of stuff that would, you know, make your grandma proud. Does Paul just want us to make our grandmas proud?
And it gets worse: Paul prefaces the injunction to be godly in verse 11 by saying: “You, Timothy, are a man of God. So do all of this stuff! Live a godly life!” That’s a lot of pressure. That was a term that was used to describe the most noble characters in the Bible: Moses, Eli, Samuel, David, Elijah, Elisha. Kind of the cream of the moral crop. Is that what the message of the gospel is supposed to mean? That we better be like the spiritual superheroes of the Bible, or else?
That doesn’t sound like gospel to me. And that’s because it’s not. To say that we better live up to the standard or else… or else we’re not going to be loved any longer, or else we’re barred from the kingdom, or else we’re no longer God’s children—that’s not gospel. That’s the kind of message we’re used to from the world, that we better achieve quotas, meet targets, fulfill expectations or we’re out of a job or a home or a relationship. That kind of stuff we’re used to, and it’s destroying us.
The gospel doesn’t destroy us. It brings us back to God.
So, again: where’s the gospel, Paul?
It’s right there, in that scary verse 11. There’s a word that’s not written there, but it’s there in the sense of the text, and that word is: already. Timothy does not get to be a man of God only so long as he checks the imperatives off of the to do list. Timothy is not a man of god only in order to check the items off the to do list. Timothy is a man of God because God called him, in love and grace, and moved his heart to know God’s love and share it with others. There’s no asterisk, no catch, no qualification. None. So, the text could read: but you, Timothy, are already a man of God. You have received grace, you have been given the good truth, so now you are empowered to pursue righteousness and a godly life, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. You’ve already been given these gifts, so just receive them, live into them.
Those imperatives aren’t to do lists. They’re blessings. They’re things that, when you have received the all-forgiving grace of god, you can’t help but do. It’s like when you tell your friend to have a good time as you drop them off at an airport for a beach vacation. It’s not something they have to get done, to check off a list. They’re just going to do it anyway because it’s the point of vacation. Telling them to have fun isn’t an imperative. It’s a wish, a cheer, a blessing. Paul is similarly here just encouraging Timothy to do the things that, if he grasps the words and deeds of Jesus, he is just going to do. And in case Timothy, in reading, ever begins to feel as though he’s obliged to do x, y, or z, Paul brings Timothy’s focus to the gospel in the doxology found in verses 15-16. Live the life that you have already been called into, he says, and just when you think that you’ve gotta do this or that to be beloved of God, look to Jesus, the one who dared to witness to the truth of the gospel to governor Pilate, the one who defeated death itself—and did that not because of how great you are but because of how great God is.
That’s the only thing that will keep you going—whether you’re a newly ordained young minister or if you’ve been a Christian your whole life, or if you’re trying this thing out. You can’t do these things of your own strength. But look on Jesus, the king of kings and lord of lords. Then no one can find fault with you, as long as you keep your eyes on Jesus. Then you can avoid the attraction of financial gain—only if you look on Jesus. Then you can be generous to those in need—as long as you look on Jesus. You’ll only be able to put on the premier virtue of gentleness—think about that, gentleness—just insofar as you keep your eyes on Jesus.
And that’s real godliness. Not the Ned Flanders brand of godliness, but the real kind of godliness, the winsome, lovely godliness, which is what people are when they are overflowing with love. You know, that’s the commandment that Paul tells Timothy to obey in verse 14—he’s referring back to the beginning of the letter at the command to all followers of Jesus to love one another (1:5)—and really, all the way back to Jesus’ command to love the Lord and our neighbor. Surely, love isn’t something you need to put on a to do list to remember to do. I never have to remind myself to love my husband, it just happens! And we all are similarly empowered to live out of love for God and neighbor, so long as we keep our eyes on Jesus.
So, Megan, receive this wish, this cheer, this blessing.
You already are a woman of God. I know that’s a big title, but it’s what you are—God called you to that. You already received life and grace in Jesus, and you already professed your great faith in the presence of the church. Tend to the great treasure that has been given to you, not by hoarding it but by giving it away. Live a godly life of love, and not in the abstract, but in love for the youth and their parents and every member of this church. And know that you can’t do any of this unless you just keep your eyes on Jesus, our merciful and sovereign Lord.
And may God keep all of us in his grace, and all of our eyes on Jesus, that we may be enlivened in love for one another. Amen.