2 Timothy 1:2 – OUR Lord!
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,
2 To Timothy, a beloved son:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Dwelling on Job's powerful, concentrated testimony in Scripture, Spurgeon cites in Morning and Evening admiringly, "The marrow of Job's comfort lies in that little word "My" – "My Redeemer."
Paul draws and offers similar succor from another little word as he opens the second letter to Timothy in Scripture in theological rhapsody. It is well that Paul shows us his credentials and Christ, the authority behind forthcoming instructions. It is well that he extends this sense of purpose to an intimate love of particular individuals like Timothy. It is well that he flies his missional flag with the cut-through colors of grace, mercy, and peace which blazes through any fog of war. It is well also that he traces these qualities to their roots in the united, sovereign regard of the Father and the Son.
But what are those colors to me if they remain aloft, and I am prostrate with the inevitable wounds of life and ministry? Providentially prepared in a proactive reflection before wounding arrows fly, Paul is sure to remind us, inspired, that, as rarefied as the company of the Father and the Son is, we belong. Christ is OUR Lord. As esoteric as Their deliberations may seem as we lisp with the psalmist that such thoughts are too high for us, Christ OUR Captain speaks to us and empowers us with understanding of our limit and predicament.
Imposing as His aegis to the enemy across the field of battle, Spurgeon also likens Christ more humbly, approachablly, to our Joseph. "It may be well," he directs graciously toward consideration of Christ's knowledge of us, "this was most blessedly perfect long before we had the slightest knowledge of Him." Indeed, He knows the grand strategy and the ultimate outcome of the universal struggle. He knows the terrain of the forthcoming battle and the weaknesses of the enemy He will exploit. But He also knows us, at once Generalissimo and Sergeant.
Just as He once set them down on a hillside in hundred and fifties and address the intimate vulnerabilities of our ancestors in the faith, so He knows every brigade, platoon, and company, and every individual therein. He is OUR Lord. His commands are knowingly tailored to the passions He has placed in us from before time began, and which He has been stirring expertly. He knows what we can do, and just beyond it as He would challenge us to walk by faith. He is OUR Lord.
And as the word OUR is individual enough to comfort us from fear of being a mere abstraction in His thoughts, so it is collective enough to remind us, with Romans 8:29 that as He in Resurrection was the Firstborn, just as surely we are among many brethren. Just as the dad once reassured his daughter that Christ was her comfort and she responded in love that she needed somebody, "with skin on," so knows Christ, our Wonderful, Counselor before we ever perceive our estrangement and lurch toward its remedy.
As Christ is OUR Lord, so He called us to take steps of submitted faith most often with brothers and sisters called on a similar, uncommon adventure. No, we will never bring the whole culture or the whole company with us. That moves from reassurance to the wariness to which He called us when all men speak well of us. Yet, He calls forth a remnant. He calls out for Himself Paul and Barnabas to balance and buttress one another, one Lord, one mission uniting two pasts, two temperaments, and two individuals as testimony of the new life and collective zeal He can produce as OUR Lord.
Our submitted obedience to His Lordship, whether twofold or otherwise tiny, can produce a rippling effect resplendent with His glory. So it was with Jonathan and his armor bearer. Jonathan declared the greatness of God as compared to the otherwise imposing Philistine host. The armor bearer yoked with him in this fight of faith. As victory unfolded, Samuel's narrative said that others, the erstwhile fearful on the periphery joined the fight. They included themselves, in today's sweet phrase, under the anointed, compelling, inclusive our of OUR Lord.
So be it with us, as with Jonathan, to obey as many or as few. So be it with us to declare His Lordship in our actions and to behold what He will do with such audacity. So eager are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to reformat our notions of community with renewed notions of that sweet intercourse that goes on between Them that They may indeed send it's like flowing among Christ's people like the oil running down Aaron's beard. He is OUR Lord.
2 To Timothy, a beloved son:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Dwelling on Job's powerful, concentrated testimony in Scripture, Spurgeon cites in Morning and Evening admiringly, "The marrow of Job's comfort lies in that little word "My" – "My Redeemer."
Paul draws and offers similar succor from another little word as he opens the second letter to Timothy in Scripture in theological rhapsody. It is well that Paul shows us his credentials and Christ, the authority behind forthcoming instructions. It is well that he extends this sense of purpose to an intimate love of particular individuals like Timothy. It is well that he flies his missional flag with the cut-through colors of grace, mercy, and peace which blazes through any fog of war. It is well also that he traces these qualities to their roots in the united, sovereign regard of the Father and the Son.
But what are those colors to me if they remain aloft, and I am prostrate with the inevitable wounds of life and ministry? Providentially prepared in a proactive reflection before wounding arrows fly, Paul is sure to remind us, inspired, that, as rarefied as the company of the Father and the Son is, we belong. Christ is OUR Lord. As esoteric as Their deliberations may seem as we lisp with the psalmist that such thoughts are too high for us, Christ OUR Captain speaks to us and empowers us with understanding of our limit and predicament.
Imposing as His aegis to the enemy across the field of battle, Spurgeon also likens Christ more humbly, approachablly, to our Joseph. "It may be well," he directs graciously toward consideration of Christ's knowledge of us, "this was most blessedly perfect long before we had the slightest knowledge of Him." Indeed, He knows the grand strategy and the ultimate outcome of the universal struggle. He knows the terrain of the forthcoming battle and the weaknesses of the enemy He will exploit. But He also knows us, at once Generalissimo and Sergeant.
Just as He once set them down on a hillside in hundred and fifties and address the intimate vulnerabilities of our ancestors in the faith, so He knows every brigade, platoon, and company, and every individual therein. He is OUR Lord. His commands are knowingly tailored to the passions He has placed in us from before time began, and which He has been stirring expertly. He knows what we can do, and just beyond it as He would challenge us to walk by faith. He is OUR Lord.
And as the word OUR is individual enough to comfort us from fear of being a mere abstraction in His thoughts, so it is collective enough to remind us, with Romans 8:29 that as He in Resurrection was the Firstborn, just as surely we are among many brethren. Just as the dad once reassured his daughter that Christ was her comfort and she responded in love that she needed somebody, "with skin on," so knows Christ, our Wonderful, Counselor before we ever perceive our estrangement and lurch toward its remedy.
As Christ is OUR Lord, so He called us to take steps of submitted faith most often with brothers and sisters called on a similar, uncommon adventure. No, we will never bring the whole culture or the whole company with us. That moves from reassurance to the wariness to which He called us when all men speak well of us. Yet, He calls forth a remnant. He calls out for Himself Paul and Barnabas to balance and buttress one another, one Lord, one mission uniting two pasts, two temperaments, and two individuals as testimony of the new life and collective zeal He can produce as OUR Lord.
Our submitted obedience to His Lordship, whether twofold or otherwise tiny, can produce a rippling effect resplendent with His glory. So it was with Jonathan and his armor bearer. Jonathan declared the greatness of God as compared to the otherwise imposing Philistine host. The armor bearer yoked with him in this fight of faith. As victory unfolded, Samuel's narrative said that others, the erstwhile fearful on the periphery joined the fight. They included themselves, in today's sweet phrase, under the anointed, compelling, inclusive our of OUR Lord.
So be it with us, as with Jonathan, to obey as many or as few. So be it with us to declare His Lordship in our actions and to behold what He will do with such audacity. So eager are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to reformat our notions of community with renewed notions of that sweet intercourse that goes on between Them that They may indeed send it's like flowing among Christ's people like the oil running down Aaron's beard. He is OUR Lord.
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