Matters for maturity - Chambers, Oswald

Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of god. 2 timothy 1:8.

This is the message of a veteran soldier to a young soldier. Timothy was constitutionally timid, and Paul had a marvellous solicitude for him, but he never allowed him to give way to self-pity. Be instant in season, out of season, whether you feel like it or not; whether you feel well or ill, keep at it. It is a fight which means no rest till it issues in a glorious victory for god.

1. Danger of dereliction

Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our lord . . . In revelation 19:10 these striking words occur: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, and the purpose of the antagonist of god is to destroy that testimony (see revelation 12:17).

The testimony of Jesus to himself is being explained away to-day, men and women are swerving from the truth. The power and vigour of the holy spirit in lives must go further than the threshold of the experience of being right with god; bit by bit the battle for god and for his truth must be pushed, and the only way to push it is by an experimental belief in Jesus Christs testimony regarding himself.

If we have been allowing the silting influence of modern tendencies to overcome us, god grant we may rouse ourselves and get back again to the moral and spiritual fighting trim, free from moral nervousness and spiritual timidity, trusting in god and going steadfastly on. A derelict ship is a danger to other ships, and a derelict in the pulpit, or in the Sunday school, or in the pew, is a desperately dangerous thing to souls on their way through life.

2. Dread of disloyalty

Nor of me his prisoner . . .

Nowadays loyalty to the saints is scarcely ever thought of. The apostle Paul is telling timothy to be loyal to him, and he uses a remarkable phrasehis prisoner, and yet Paul is always talking about liberty! Remaining true to Paul would be a real peril to timothys personal liberty. Have some of us changed our church membership because we no longer want to know certain out and out people? Do we welcome the out and out saint as we used to, or are we a little bit shocked when we hear the straight testimony of the saints who are in prison? Some saints have to be ugly in the eyes of the world for a time. The holy spirit makes us under- stand that in spiritual things it is the good that is the enemy of the best every time. Jesus said if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. Off goes the right arm, out comes the right eye, and for a while the life is maimed; but slowly and surely god will bring it round to the perfected relationship. When you are in contact with saints in the maimed stage, be loyal to them. Remember the way you your- self had to go.

Intercessory prayer is the test of our loyalty. When a man stands out as a prisoner of the lord, the saints must garrison him by prayer. If Satan can make a servant of god bow his head in shame because of the testimony of jesus, or because he knows a prisoner of Jesus, he will soon succeed in making him disloyal to Christianity altogether.

3. Discipline of disfavour

But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel . . . The gospel of god awakens an intense craving in men and an equally intense resentment, and the tendency is to do away with the resentment. Jesus christ claims that he can remove the disposition of sin from every man; the only testimony worthy of the name of Jesus is that he can make a sinner a saint. The most marvellous testimony to the gospel is a holy man, one whose living experience reveals what god can do.

4. Divine dynamic .

. . According to the power of god.

What is the purpose of god? That the historic jesus should reproduce himself by the might of his atonement in every one who will close with him, i. E. , deny his right to himself and follow him. It is not that Jesus Christ puts a permeating influence into a man; he stands outside a man and brings him to a crisis, and by means of that crisis reproduces himself in him (see Galatians 4:19). Thank god, it is not only timothy who had this marvellous counsel of pauls, we have it too; and it is not only the counsel of paul, but of the grand order of heroes right up to the present day, men and women standing for one thing, the testimony of our lord.