A FAITH WORTH HANDING ON
a sermon based on 2 Timothy 1:1-14 and Luke 17:7-10
by Rev. Rick Thompson

It is a great faith, isn’t it—this faith of ours, faith in the God who is fully revealed in Jesus Christ! Yes, it is a great faith!
As we listen in on the old veteran Paul’s letter to his young colleague Timothy, we are reminded what a great faith it is!
“Remember, Timothy,” Paul urges, “we are called by God’s grace!” Our value in God’s eyes does not depend on making perfect choices and doing perfect things and thinking perfect thoughts consistently and unfailingly. Our value in God’s eyes does not depend on our being right, but on our being RIGHTEOUS! And our righteousness, Paul reminds us, is a gift! That’s why he says, “We are called by God’s grace!” What a wonderful call it is: to live in the luxurious, generous, unconditional love of God for sinners who don’t deserve it!

We are called by God’s grace!
Oh, what a great faith this is!
But that’s not all the old man Paul has to say.
This grace of God in which we live, this great faith God has given us, comes filled with astounding promises, Paul tells his young friend. Paul proclaims, “Jesus Christ has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
Did you hear that? What has God done? What has God given us?
Well, God has robbed death of its power, stripped death of its hold on us, destroyed its tyranny over us. Death does not have the last word over us!

God has the last word. And what is that word? Life! Immortality! The promise of a life packed full of meaning now, on this earth. And the assurance that life will be incredible and joyful for all eternity!
Oh, what a great faith this is!

This is a faith, this is a gospel, Paul insists, that we can be proud of! This is a faith worth talking about! This is a faith worth living for, even suffering and dying for! This faith, this gospel of Jesus Christ, will sustain us and uphold us through anything life can send our way. You among us who have been faithful for many years have learned that! Your witness of faithfulness proclaims that! Jesus Christ, who died and lives for us, is worth living and dying for! Those who trust Jesus and witness to Jesus and live faithfully to Jesus will not be ashamed, Paul declares.

Oh, what a great faith this is!
It’s such a great faith that one does not even mind—in fact, enjoys—serving as a servant, a slave in the household of God.
That’s the point of the parable we heard Jesus tell today.
He spoke of a master who had one slave—a pretty common occurrence in that time and place. The slave worked all day in the field, then had to come in and prepare his master’s dinner before that weary slave could finally rest and eat before collapsing into bed.

The slave is “owed nothing” Jesus says—that’s the literal translation of the word we read as “worthless”. The slave should expect no thanks, expect no compensation other than room and board. The slave is, after all, just doing his duty.
The slave is owed nothing. But the slave has been given something: the slave, after all, is in the master’s household. The slave has everything he needs—food, clothing, and shelter, a master who provides for him.
Likewise, we are slaves in the household of God.

Likewise, we are owed nothing. God does not owe us one thing—but, in Christ, God has given us everything. God has given us forgiveness and life and salvation. God has given us a place in the household of God forever. And we, in response, gladly do our duty, serving God faithfully, knowing that there is no greater thing we could be than slaves in the household of God!
Owed nothing—but given everything. Oh, what a faith it is!

It’s a faith worth handing on! It’s a faith worth sharing. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, but, instead, something to be immensely proud of—that God, in Christ, has claimed us as God’s own!
It’s a faith worth handing on.

That’s one of the reasons Paul writes to Timothy, one of the reasons we are invited to listen in on the correspondence.
Paul reminds Timothy of something very important. He commends Timothy for his “sincere faith”, and remembers that Timothy didn’t receive that faith by coincidence or by being struck with thunder and lightening from heaven. How did Timothy receive his faith? It “lived first in your grandmother Lois and mother Eunice.” Timothy—like many of us—first heard about Jesus from his mother and grandmother. From the earliest days of the church, faith has been handed on from generation to generation. And, Paul commands Timothy, “It’s your turn, now, Timothy,” your turn to testify to the gospel, to share your faith with others.
Well, Timothy is long dead, so guess whose turn it is now? That’s right—it’s ours! Young and old, we are called upon to tell the story of Jesus so that this great faith of ours can take root in the lives of others, and invite them into the life and immortality that God gives through Jesus Christ.

We have a great faith—a faith worth handing on!
Martin Luther once warned the church about the importance of handing on the gospel. “If we don’t tell the story,” Luther declared, “then the gospel could die out in the next generation!”
We are fortunate to have a multi-generational congregation. Young in years, old in years, we all rejoice in the faith we share. Together, we enrich each other. How good it is to share that faith with one another, to witness to one another. It’s a great faith, isn’t it!

Yes, it’s a great faith—a faith worth handing on. That’s one reason we need you older ones here. You’ve lived in the love of Jesus for many years. Your faith has been tested through many of life’s ups and downs, and in that testing it has been nourished and strengthened. We need you. We need your example of love for God and love and loyalty toward God’s church. Even if you find your strength and energy declining, we need your prayers and we need your witness. We need you! We need you to keep telling the story of Jesus so that the next generations will also hear and believe the precious gospel, the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ!

It’s a great faith, and we need you, seniors, to remind us how great it is!
And we need the younger ones, too. We need the younger ones to teach us to be curious and inquisitive as we grow in faith. We need their enthusiasm and energy, their delight in every new learning, no matter how small. We need you younger Christians.

You remind us, too, what a great faith it is—this faith we share in Jesus.
There’s a poem by an anonymous author that goes like this. It’s a poem for all of us to hear:
The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
Are read by more than a few,
But the one that is most read and commented on
Is the gospel according to you.
You are writing a gospel, a chapter each day
By the things that you do and the words that you say.
People read what you write, whether faithless or true.
Say, what is the gospel according to you?

Yes, what is the gospel according to you? Old or young or in between, what do others see when they look at your life? What do others hear when you talk of what’s most important? What do others experience when they are in relationship with you? Do they see and hear and experience the gospel of Jesus? I hope so, because this great faith of ours requires grandmothers and grandfathers, moms and dads, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters who live and speak the truth of Jesus so that all—all!—may come to know Christ!

We need to speak the gospel, live the gospel—and hear the gospel from each other as well. It’s a great faith, a faith worth handing on. Often the old hand it on to the young, but other times we hear it from the very young!

Grandpa was babysitting four-year-old Alicia, and passed by her room shortly after bedtime. He heard her saying something. She was speaking very reverently, like she was praying, but her words didn’t make any sense. As Grandpa listened more closely, he realized the little girl was speaking the alphabet. “What on earth are you up to?” Grandpa asked.

“I’m saying my prayers,” explained Alicia. “But I can’t think of exactly the right words tonight, so I’m just saying all the letters. God will put them together for me, because God knows what I’m thinking.”
Even for a four-year-old, it can be a great faith, can’t it—a faith that trusts God to know and understand what we can't know or articulate. Its a great faith—a faith worth handing on!

That’s my prayer today. That’s my prayer: that whether we’re 4 or 24 or 40 or 74 or 104, we’ll know and believe this great faith.
This is my prayer today: that knowing Jesus and trusting in Jesus, we’ll also hand this great faith on!

Amen.