Sermon 10/30/16
Seasons
By Deanne Collins
10/30/16
2 Timothy 4:1-8
2 Timothy is a letter from Paul to a young evangelist Timothy. Paul is facing his death as he waits in Rome. He knows that it is only time before he will be executed. He is facing the end of his life, exhorting a young man who is beginning the ministry season of his life. A season that is full of promise. Paul, in the Winter of his life is like the season where he is gathering up the word to prepare Timothy for the bursting forth of his season, to lead the church by preaching the Word, convincing, rebuking, and exhorting the church. He must learn to be patient as he teaches his flock, God’s Church on Earth.
My topic today is the seasons of life and how we can apply the seasons of the year to our lives as we work toward the final goal of being with Christ in Heaven.
I am starting with Winter.
Winter, the ending of life: the bleakness of bare trees, icy roads, snow that was white in its falling is now dirty from being scraped up into piles on the parking lots. Daylight is short. It is dark when you head off to work or school and dark when you get home. There is danger from ice. There is the threat of falling or sliding off the road. The Winter gloom makes people depressed. February is the longest month of the year. Where is the hope?
And, yet, there is promise. Without the snow and ice, there might not be enough moisture in the ground for the Spring, produce would be spoiled. Like the apple trees that require temperatures below 20 degrees in the winter to produce fruit in the Summer, Winter is necessary. The winter frost resets the plants that emerge in the Spring, the flower bulbs, the tree roots that harbor the sap for maple syrup, or Sassafras tea. Who tells the seeds that have fallen the previous year that it is time to send out a root? It is time to plant the starter plants inside for hope of a productive summer. And it is time to prune the fruit trees and vines. All in preparation for new life.
Paul talks about how he is in the Winter season of his life and he shows how to look back on life, how to age gracefully, how to say good-bye. He is saying good-bye to not only Timothy, but to the Church in general. He knows where he is going after his death and is saying that his hope is the Crown of Righteousness he will receive for his good work on the Earth. Also, his seasons of suffering in his ministry are coming to the end. He says he has fought the good fight. He has finished the race. He has kept the faith. He is looking forward to his reward in Heaven where he will be joined by all who have looked forward to seeing Jesus Christ in person. He has the promise of new life.
Spring, the hope revealed. The bare trees have the pastel hint of color, first the yellow-green of the willows, then the blush of pink as the trees get ready to show their splendor. The flowers bloom, the winter crops sprout. There is activity as it seems like everything is coming to life. It is a time for planting and tilling. This is when the buds appear and burst open to glorious blossom. The hope of new life abounds. This is when we hurry to plant and sow when the weather is right. We have to get the trees and landscaping in the ground so they are watered with Spring rains.
Paul was Timothy’s mentor. He found him in his grandmother and mother’s house. They were faithful gentile women, who had brought him up on the teachings of Christ. Timothy was a teenager when Paul found him. He grew in faith as Paul brought him up on Christ. He blossomed under Paul and Paul depended on him to be with him for a season while Paul was in prison, waiting to be beheaded. Paul was a man in his Winter, planting the seeds of ministry in Timothy, a man in his Spring, telling him to “be urgent in season and out of season,” in good times and in bad.
Summer, much happening. Our activities are focused on doing everything we can squeeze into the time we have. The days are longer and we revel in the lingering nights of Midsummer. There are family gatherings, church and school camps and sports of all kinds, celebrations and weddings. In the church, it is time to reach out to our neighbors and include them in our Summer activities. And the crops go through their own seasons. I was impressed this year of many rains, everything was so green, dressed in their summer colors. In Summer, everything is productive. This is a busy time of growing and producing. We have fresh garden produce to harvest and share. But, if we do not keep after our gardens, the weeds will take over.
The Summer of Paul’s ministry started on the road of Damascus when he met Christ. He became the most famous traveling Evangelist, ever. In preparation for ministry, Paul charged Timothy to preach the word, be urgent in the good times and the bad, convince, rebuke, and exhort his charges. Paul encouraged him to be unfailing in patience and teaching. There were some in the church that did not like Timothy because he was so young. So, Paul added in verse 5 that he should always be steady and endure the suffering to do the work of an evangelist, fulfilling his ministry. And Paul knew that there would be weeds in the garden and included for Timothy, verses 3&4: For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. You can go on You Tube and find people who claim to be Christian, talking about how we are in the End Times and there will be a time when all the old fables and myths of giants and fairies are coming true. There is a whole genre of people that are teaching on the end times and how you need to prep for a time when there will be famine and pestilence and if you buy the right type of food, the right water distiller, the right type of wilderness cooking stoves; all of this running into thousands of dollars, you can be secure that your family is well fed, and your children will not have to come to you and say how hungry they are. They say you must do this for your family. These people live off of peddling to your guilt and fear. Even though it is sound advice to be prepared for a time when power goes off and repair people are overwhelmed, so you may not have power for a while, they are making a profit from your misfortune and fear.
Autumn or Fall, is a time with riotous color. The trees know that it is time to turn and finish all their fruits and nuts. Although we only got cold weather recently, the crops still turned brown and were ready for harvest. The pumpkins and squash were ready for harvest. There are other fruit waiting for the first frost to finish their production of fruit, like the persimmons.
The fall of our lives is when we reach the age of retirement. This is the time that we baby-boomers are facing. We hope we can change our lifestyle to a more settled life. We complete the Summer and start to evaluate our life. Have we done everything we wanted to do when we grew up? Or have we just started over and are doing something new? Where is our hope of the future? Are we taking care of our parents or our grandchildren? What are the challenges we face? How will we be able to afford the care we will need as we enter the Winter of our lives?
As I am approaching the Autumn of my life, I have thought about my winter, I want to say that I when I die, “I have no regrets.” So, I question, do I have any regrets or things on my bucket list that I still want to do? Do I still have time as I enter the Autumn of my life to do the things I want to do?
And I ask God, “Where am I going? What am I doing, just starting a career in counseling, at my age? Why did you put me here? Why am I seeing people who have suffered so much and are still suffering? How can others do the horrible things they have done that brings the people into the counseling room? How can I help them make sense out of what they have suffered?”
But, I know who is in charge and there will be rewards in heaven. As Paul says, “Henceforth there is laid up 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 loved his appearing.”
To finish today, I am reading a poem I found on line, by M. S. Lowndes, called “The Many Different Seasons.”
By Deanne Collins
10/30/16
2 Timothy 4:1-8
2 Timothy is a letter from Paul to a young evangelist Timothy. Paul is facing his death as he waits in Rome. He knows that it is only time before he will be executed. He is facing the end of his life, exhorting a young man who is beginning the ministry season of his life. A season that is full of promise. Paul, in the Winter of his life is like the season where he is gathering up the word to prepare Timothy for the bursting forth of his season, to lead the church by preaching the Word, convincing, rebuking, and exhorting the church. He must learn to be patient as he teaches his flock, God’s Church on Earth.
My topic today is the seasons of life and how we can apply the seasons of the year to our lives as we work toward the final goal of being with Christ in Heaven.
I am starting with Winter.
Winter, the ending of life: the bleakness of bare trees, icy roads, snow that was white in its falling is now dirty from being scraped up into piles on the parking lots. Daylight is short. It is dark when you head off to work or school and dark when you get home. There is danger from ice. There is the threat of falling or sliding off the road. The Winter gloom makes people depressed. February is the longest month of the year. Where is the hope?
And, yet, there is promise. Without the snow and ice, there might not be enough moisture in the ground for the Spring, produce would be spoiled. Like the apple trees that require temperatures below 20 degrees in the winter to produce fruit in the Summer, Winter is necessary. The winter frost resets the plants that emerge in the Spring, the flower bulbs, the tree roots that harbor the sap for maple syrup, or Sassafras tea. Who tells the seeds that have fallen the previous year that it is time to send out a root? It is time to plant the starter plants inside for hope of a productive summer. And it is time to prune the fruit trees and vines. All in preparation for new life.
Paul talks about how he is in the Winter season of his life and he shows how to look back on life, how to age gracefully, how to say good-bye. He is saying good-bye to not only Timothy, but to the Church in general. He knows where he is going after his death and is saying that his hope is the Crown of Righteousness he will receive for his good work on the Earth. Also, his seasons of suffering in his ministry are coming to the end. He says he has fought the good fight. He has finished the race. He has kept the faith. He is looking forward to his reward in Heaven where he will be joined by all who have looked forward to seeing Jesus Christ in person. He has the promise of new life.
Spring, the hope revealed. The bare trees have the pastel hint of color, first the yellow-green of the willows, then the blush of pink as the trees get ready to show their splendor. The flowers bloom, the winter crops sprout. There is activity as it seems like everything is coming to life. It is a time for planting and tilling. This is when the buds appear and burst open to glorious blossom. The hope of new life abounds. This is when we hurry to plant and sow when the weather is right. We have to get the trees and landscaping in the ground so they are watered with Spring rains.
Paul was Timothy’s mentor. He found him in his grandmother and mother’s house. They were faithful gentile women, who had brought him up on the teachings of Christ. Timothy was a teenager when Paul found him. He grew in faith as Paul brought him up on Christ. He blossomed under Paul and Paul depended on him to be with him for a season while Paul was in prison, waiting to be beheaded. Paul was a man in his Winter, planting the seeds of ministry in Timothy, a man in his Spring, telling him to “be urgent in season and out of season,” in good times and in bad.
Summer, much happening. Our activities are focused on doing everything we can squeeze into the time we have. The days are longer and we revel in the lingering nights of Midsummer. There are family gatherings, church and school camps and sports of all kinds, celebrations and weddings. In the church, it is time to reach out to our neighbors and include them in our Summer activities. And the crops go through their own seasons. I was impressed this year of many rains, everything was so green, dressed in their summer colors. In Summer, everything is productive. This is a busy time of growing and producing. We have fresh garden produce to harvest and share. But, if we do not keep after our gardens, the weeds will take over.
The Summer of Paul’s ministry started on the road of Damascus when he met Christ. He became the most famous traveling Evangelist, ever. In preparation for ministry, Paul charged Timothy to preach the word, be urgent in the good times and the bad, convince, rebuke, and exhort his charges. Paul encouraged him to be unfailing in patience and teaching. There were some in the church that did not like Timothy because he was so young. So, Paul added in verse 5 that he should always be steady and endure the suffering to do the work of an evangelist, fulfilling his ministry. And Paul knew that there would be weeds in the garden and included for Timothy, verses 3&4: For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. You can go on You Tube and find people who claim to be Christian, talking about how we are in the End Times and there will be a time when all the old fables and myths of giants and fairies are coming true. There is a whole genre of people that are teaching on the end times and how you need to prep for a time when there will be famine and pestilence and if you buy the right type of food, the right water distiller, the right type of wilderness cooking stoves; all of this running into thousands of dollars, you can be secure that your family is well fed, and your children will not have to come to you and say how hungry they are. They say you must do this for your family. These people live off of peddling to your guilt and fear. Even though it is sound advice to be prepared for a time when power goes off and repair people are overwhelmed, so you may not have power for a while, they are making a profit from your misfortune and fear.
Autumn or Fall, is a time with riotous color. The trees know that it is time to turn and finish all their fruits and nuts. Although we only got cold weather recently, the crops still turned brown and were ready for harvest. The pumpkins and squash were ready for harvest. There are other fruit waiting for the first frost to finish their production of fruit, like the persimmons.
The fall of our lives is when we reach the age of retirement. This is the time that we baby-boomers are facing. We hope we can change our lifestyle to a more settled life. We complete the Summer and start to evaluate our life. Have we done everything we wanted to do when we grew up? Or have we just started over and are doing something new? Where is our hope of the future? Are we taking care of our parents or our grandchildren? What are the challenges we face? How will we be able to afford the care we will need as we enter the Winter of our lives?
As I am approaching the Autumn of my life, I have thought about my winter, I want to say that I when I die, “I have no regrets.” So, I question, do I have any regrets or things on my bucket list that I still want to do? Do I still have time as I enter the Autumn of my life to do the things I want to do?
And I ask God, “Where am I going? What am I doing, just starting a career in counseling, at my age? Why did you put me here? Why am I seeing people who have suffered so much and are still suffering? How can others do the horrible things they have done that brings the people into the counseling room? How can I help them make sense out of what they have suffered?”
But, I know who is in charge and there will be rewards in heaven. As Paul says, “Henceforth there is laid up 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 loved his appearing.”
To finish today, I am reading a poem I found on line, by M. S. Lowndes, called “The Many Different Seasons.”