Looking back! Looking forward!
My granddaughter recently ran the whole 42 kilometers of the Sydney Marathon. When I asked her how she had gone, her face lit up and she said that it was the best thing ever. When I asked why, she said that she had run the full distance and had clocked her best time ever.
Our text comes from Paul’s farewell letter to Timothy, his spiritual son and heir. Paul knows that he is about to be put to death for treason after his trial in Rome. As he awaits his death, he looks back on his whole life as a disciple and sums it up with five pictures that do not just apply to him but to Timothy and us as well. They are five snapshots that tell the story of his life and yours too.
Paul looks back with gratitude for what Jesus has done for him and says: I am already being poured out like a drink offering. He compares his life as a believer to the offering of a sacrifice to God at the temple in Jerusalem. There every gift that was brought to God was dedicated to him with a drink offering of wine that was poured out on the altar. Here Paul pictures his whole life as a thank offering to God for the sacrifice that Jesus offered to pardon him and make him holy. In response to that, Paul had poured out his life as a holy offering in lifelong service. Like Paul, we too who have been made holy by Jesus are called to offer our bodies as living sacrifices that are acceptable to God and pleasing to him (Rom 12:2).
Paul also says: The time has come for my departure. Here Paul looks forward with confidence to his coming death. By speaking about it as his departure, he envisages it as journey home to God. He knows his existence will not end in annihilation, but in life at home with Jesus and all God’s family in heaven. That journey began with his baptism. In each stage along the way he has had to endure many disappointments and hardships and troubles, each of which has all tested him and shaped his character. But in its last stage, which is its climax and goal, he comes home to God, not just for a short visit but to stay with him forever. Like Paul, your whole life is a journey home from earth to heaven to live with God in perfect peace and joy.
Now Paul looks back over his whole life with a sense of achievement and says: I have fought the good fight. Here Paul compares himself to a soldier who has fought a long battle against a spiritual enemy and his powerful army. It is a strange battle in which he stands on guard, as in a night, against an enemy whom he cannot see, because he is hidden in darkness. In this battle we, like Paul, do not fight against any human beings, but against the devil and all the evil forces that are under his command. It is the good fight of faith in which we are not involved in aggressive, destructive warfare, but in defensive peacekeeping as we protect ourselves and others from destruction.
In this battle we do no need to go on attack against our enemy. Our enemy attacks us secretly in many different ways. He makes trouble for us by the bad things that happen to us, such as broken relationships, financial difficulty, unemployment, sickness, and all kinds of disaster. He also tempts us to sin against others, or others to sin against us. Then he attacks our conscience by using our guilt to condemn us, or our anger to punish those who have hurt us. In all his attacks on us he has the same goal. He wants to destroy our faith in the goodness of Jesus and the peace that he provides. We do not need to attack the devil and the powers of darkness. But because Christ has already defeated them and made peace for us by his death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus calls us to be peace keepers and peacemakers. He equips us with defensive spiritual weapons to resist the devil and protect ourselves and others when the devil attacks us. Our two main weapons are the shield of faith and the sword of God’s word which we wield in prayer for ourselves and others. In faith we call on Jesus to defend us and save us. So our success does not depend on us and our spiritual strength, but on Jesus and the power of his Holy Spirit.
As Paul looks back on his life with Jesus, he also says: I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Paul is pleased that he is about to reach the end of the long distance race that had involved him in a running battle against the devil who had done his level best to stop him fighting and drop out from the race. The point of the race was not to come first, but to finish it together with the other runners in it. In Hebrews 12:1-2 we have this encouraging description of that race: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. The race that we run is the race that Jesus ran. He was the first runner in it. Like the messenger who ran the first Marathon to bring the good news of the Greek victory over the huge Persian army to the people in Athens, Jesus mapped it out for us to follow, from its beginning in baptism to its end in our death and resurrection. He prepared this race for us by overcoming the devil with his life, death, resurrection, and ascension.
In this race we run from earth to heaven through the territory of our invisible enemy. It is easy to lose our way, because it passes through the darkness of a sinful world. It is easy to get lost because we can’t see where we are with our physical eyes, or what is happening around us. So we depend on Jesus to tell us where to go, and how to get there, like the voice of the Google program in my car. As long as we listen to him and put our faith in him and his word, we won’t get lost, even when we don’t go exactly where he wants us to go. As long as we follow him and his way for us, we can be sure we will reach our heavenly goal. Our success does not depend on our self-confidence, but on keeping the faith that Jesus gives by the Holy Spirit, the faith that we confess each Sunday with the Nicene Creed.
Finally, as Paul looks forward to what will happen to him when the race is over, he says: Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. Here Paul speaks about the climax of his life at the end of the world. It will not come with his death but with the bodily resurrection of all people and their judgment by Jesus. It will be a joyful day when Jesus welcomes them home, the day when Jesus says to each runner, “Well done my good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21).
In ancient Greece the climax of the Olympic Games was the Marathon that commemorated the race of a messenger who brought the good news of victory over the Persian army back to the city of Athens. The prize for its winner was a laurel wreath that was put on his head to honor him. The wreath was sign of the recognition and supernatural glory that Apollo the sun god gave to him, just as he gave light each morning to announce his the daily victory over disorder and darkness and death. A victorious general, such Julius Caesar, who had saved Rome from it enemies, was also crowned with a laurel wreath. But Paul looks forward to a much better prize than any winner of the Marathon, or a victorious general ever received, the prize that Jesus gives to him and all those who finish the race of faith. They all get the same award, the crown of righteousness that Jesus awards to all those who long for him to appear, like the rising sun at the end of a long dark night, and shine on them from heaven. On that day Jesus will crown them with his own righteousness. They will receive his vindication and approval. They will share in his eternal life and light and glory. They will have the same status as Jesus and reign with him in glory as his royal brothers and sisters. What could be better than that!
So rejoice with Paul that you are all champions in faith. You are all saints who offer yourselves as living sacrifices of thanksgiving to Jesus. You all travel together on the same journey home to God in heaven. You all fight the good fight of faith as peacekeepers and peacemakers. You all run together with each other in the lifelong race of faith that Jesus has prepared for you. You will all share in Christ’s victory over sin, death and the devil and receive crown of righteousness and life and glory from him.
But all that depends on one thing and one thing only. You need to keep the faith that he gives and depend on him and his word for as long as you live. You can be sure of your success because you know that even if we are faithless, he remains faithful (2 Tim 2:13). So thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 15:57). Amen
