Word of Salvation – Vol. 18 No.04 - January 1972

Faith In The Context Of The Home

Sermon by Rev. N. Hart, Th.Grad. on 2Tim.1:3a & 5

Scripture Reading: Acts 16:1-5; 2Timothy 1:1-4

Psalter Hymnal: No.  51; 230:1,2,4 (after grace); 111; 417 (after sermon); 455

Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,

We live in an age which may well become known as the Age of Emancipation of Youth.  As we witness the things that happen in schools and universities, a shudder moves through the whole of society.  Among the adult world population it is the shudder of fear for a tremendous force that has only just begun to show itself.  Among the younger generation it is the shudder of excitement that comes with the spirit of rebellion.  And whether we like it or not, we are part of the world population that is experiencing Youth in Revolt.

In the educational world there are the beginnings of an atmosphere of terror.  In New York State, US, the Board of Education has ordered that plainclothes 'security guards' be placed in every high-school and junior high-school.  It has also urged every principal to set up a ‘task force' within his school to warn the authorities immediately it feared potential trouble.  There is a growing spirit of dissent, an atmosphere of permissiveness and violence, the spread of drug addiction, and the emergence of student militancy.  Yet the most significant factor in all this upheaval of social norms and moral patterns is the desire for self-expression.  The demand of the high-school student is similar to that of the university student: the demand for a greater role in education.  No longer does the present generation teach the younger generation.  The younger generation prescribes what the older generation should teach.

To pass these remarks off as something that happens in a different world from our peaceful New Zealand, is to accuse oneself of utter blindness.  The illegitimacy rate has reached its highest peak in New Zealand.  Venereal disease is on a steady increase.  Drug addiction is becoming a common factor in the community.  Student violence and youth revolution are just around the corner.  That is our world.

That is your world, young people.  That is your world, fathers and mothers.  It has once been said that "the hand which rocks the cradle rules the world".  But it could well be turned around to say: "the hand that rules the cradle rocks the world."  Our world is rocking badly; what is the hand that rules the cradle?

In our text we are faced with the faith of a young man who lived in a world that stood on the brink of disaster.  And we find that this faith found its beginning in the home.  Our text tells us about Faith in the Context of the Home.

1.  Its Unfeigned Character.

Let us first consider what kind of faith this was.  Paul calls it unfeigned faith.  Such faith is true and genuine.  Two things are said about this faith.  "It dwelt first in Timothy's grandmother, Lois, and also in his mother, Eunice."

Let us deal with Eunice first.

Eunice is described in Acts 16 as a certain woman, who was a Jewess, and who believed'.  And in that same passage we are told that Timothy was circumcised by Paul.  Timothy received the Old Testament symbol of baptism many years after he should have received it.  As the son of a Jewish woman, he had the right and the obligation to receive this symbol, because he belonged to the people of the covenant, to God's people.  But for some reason or other this had not been done when Timothy was eight days old.

Obviously, his father had opposed the idea, and the mother was not 'powerful' enough to have her wish pushed through.  So this was left undone, to become a permanent objection to the rest of the Jewish community in Lystra, where Timothy was born.  Some probably pitied Timothy's mother.  Others probably felt that it was her own fault, since she should have realized this when she first considered marrying her Greek husband-to-be.

Her whole life was one of difficulty and of compromise.  And her Christian life would have been no different.  For she came to believe in Jesus as her Saviour.  Most likely, she became a Christian after Paul's first missionary journey, when he twice visited Lystra, for when he calls in Lystra on his second journey, she is called a "believer".  And the way in which her husband is described indicates that he does not share her sentiments.  Luke tells us that she "believed; BUT HIS FATHER WAS A GREEK".

Especially, the word 'but' – BUT his father was a Greek – is meaningful.  It sets in absolute contrast that which goes before.  His mother was a believer, BUT his father was a Greek.  Thus, the faith of Eunice is faith in the context of opposition.

But there is more.  The term 'Greek' reminds the readers of the book of Acts of the Greeks at Athens, who mocked Paul, when he spoke of the resurrection of the dead (Acts 17:32).  It reminds us also of that sweeping judgment of Paul, when he wrote to the Corinthians, "The Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolish- ness" (1Cor.1:23).

If Timothy's father would have been anything like the Greeks, he would have laughed at the faith of his wife and his mother-in-law.  Yes, this faith was a WOMAN's FAITH.  It was an OLD woman's faith.  In our day, this is no recommendation, for it puts it on the level of PIOUS SUPERSTITION.  In fact, this is exactly how Timothy's father would have spoken about it.

That is the faith of which Paul speaks here.  But there is one more thing that must be said about this faith.  Paul calls it "the unfeigned faith that is in thee".  Now, this reading of the King James version is somewhat unfortunate, for in the Greek text, the verb "is" is not found.  Literally, it says: "the in-you unfeigned faith".  Especially, in the light of what Paul continues to say "and am persuaded in you also", this means that Paul spoke of the faith as it was when Timothy was still very young.  The 'unfeigned faith is a childlike faith.  Paul has been reminded of the child- like naive acceptance of Timothy when he was a child and a youth.  Later, in chapter 3 he again refers to it when he says:

"But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that since childhood thou hast known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus".

The faith of which Paul speaks, here, to sum up, is the faith which has proved itself in the face of opposition and ridicule.  It is the faith of a youth.

2.  Its Powerful Stimulus.

Now, we might well ask, what Paul had in mind when in an official letter from his prison cell in Rome, where he faced the death penalty for being a Christian, he reminds Timothy of 'his Sunday-School-Faith' and the faith of his mother and grand-mother.  What is the use of this?  Paul seeks to encourage Timothy is the face of great disaster.

Over the entire epistle hangs an atmosphere of tragedy.  Paul urges him to come to Rome, before the execution.  Paul warns him that in the last days there will be perilous times.  "For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof."

Paul warns that there will be seducers, "deceiving many".  He warns that "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves, teachers, having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables."

In the face of this disaster, Paul reminds Timothy of his child- like faith and of the faith of his grandmother and mother.  Strange?  Yes, strangely to the point.  Paul establishes two fundamental principles.  "Unless we become like children, we cannot even see the Kingdom of God".  And secondly, the battle of faith is fought on the home front, and won right there.

In the first place, the necessity for a child-like faith.  A childlike faith holds on to its substance, even in the light of all the evidence against it.  In Timothy's day, as well as in our day, there is a persistent building up of ‘evidence’ against the Gospel.  Especially, in the high-schools and universities of which we have been speaking, this is so.  In every sphere of learning, the Gospel is ridiculed and rejected.  The Church of today is faced with the most powerful force that Satan has been able to summon, so far.  Ask any teenager.  Yes, especially your own.  What is correct, the Bible's account of creation, or the doctrine of evolution?  The answer is repeatedly, "Well there are fossils" – there is evidence.  Ask them, "Is there a life after death?" – and the answer will come, "well, a person's body is put in the grave and dissolves into the chemicals of which it is made."  Ask them, "Is the Christian faith a gift of God?"  The answer will come, "There are a lot of other religions in the world, and those people are just as much persuaded."

Every challenge of faith has its answer.  And our young people have been brainwashed into these answers.  They have been taught that there is only one world, the world of matter.  They have been taught that religion is a farce, and needed only by weak individuals who cannot face reality in their own power.  In short, they have been taught that religion is for old women.

That is why, people of God, YOUTH IS IN TURMOIL.  The young people of today have absolutely no anchor for their life.  They have been taught even to question their own emotions.  Many live in a world of chaos, because they have lost their simple child-like faith and have tried to understand with the mind.

They have tried to put God in the test tube, and have failed – that is their disillusion.  And now they stand as pathetic individuals with a test-tube in their hands: the only thing they were able to hold on to.

3.  Its Glorious Acknowledgement.

Can you now see why Paul thanks God for the faith which is in Timothy?  Can you now see why he exhorts him to continue in the faith?  Why he tells him to continue in the things which he has known since he was a child?

Paul is of the conviction that this leader in the Church still holds on to those simple things which he learned as a child from his mother and grand-mother.  And he thanks God for it.  He thanks God, for Timothy's mother and grand-mother, who won the battle of faith on the home-front, who demonstrated the power of their faith in actual life.  He thanks God that, from early childhood, they have taught him the value of knowing the inspired word of God.

We have been thinking today of families, especially of mothers.  In our day, there is not only need for the cry, "Thank God for Christian mothers", but also: "Pray God for more Christian mothers."

The Word of God compels me to exhort all mothers present, here, today:
            SEEK THAT UNFEIGNED FAITH
                        AND PASS IT ON TO YOUR CHILDREN.

And to every child and adult I am compelled to say:
            KEEP HOLD of that simple child-like faith in the Word of God,
                        for it alone is able to make you wise unto salvation
                        through faith in Jesus Christ.

If this world will yet be saved from total self-destruction, it will be by faith in Jesus alone.

Are our homes fortresses of faith?

Amen.