Stay Strong
Bible Passage:
2 Timothy 3:14-17
Pastor:
Pastor Mike
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Sermon Date:
2010-05-01
Mark used to be in amazing shape. That’s what he told Dr. Martinez, at least. During the annual check-up, while his doctor measured and examined, Mark bragged, “Doc, I was the strongest kid in my school. I could have lifted a school bus if I wanted to!” His doctor raised an eyebrow as she measured Mark’s waist and watched it jiggle, but he continued, “And I could run! State track three years in a row.” Dr. Martinez bit her lip as she looked over Mark’s blood pressure numbers. “And as you can imagine, Doc,” Mark winked, “the ladies…well, there were a few broken hearts when I made my choice for prom.” Dr. Martinez swiveled around in her stool and gave the ex-heartthrob a compassionate sigh, “Mark, you’re out of shape. I didn’t know you back then, but I’m looking at you now. And you’re out of shape.”
Being strong is good. Staying strong is better. But, as Dr. Martinez reminded Mark, just because you were once strong, doesn’t mean you’ll always be strong. So let’s talk about muscles today. Physicians use two fancy words to describe how muscles change: atrophy and hypertrophy. Atrophy is when muscles shrink. The six pack turns into a one pack. The biceps turn into uniceps. You’ve seen atrophy if you’ve broken your arm. After six weeks of sitting in a cast, the arm muscles have shrunk. When the cast comes off, everything feels squishy and weak. That’s atrophy. Hypertrophy is the opposite. It’s when muscles go “hyper” and grow. When you do a bunch of pushups and your shirts get tighter and you start saying things about tickets for gun shows, you’ve experienced hypertrophy. And there’s really one difference between shrinking atrophy and growing hypertrophy—work. (Bring out a dumbbell) When you exercise and lift weights, your muscles eventually grow. When you watch seven straight hours of Sportcenter where other people exercise, your muscles shrink.
Now the principles of atrophy and hypertrophy are true for our faith, too. Spiritual muscles go “hyper” and grow when we lift spiritual weights—when we read God’s Word and take communion and reflect on our baptisms—and faith shrinks when we stop our spiritual workouts. The Apostle Paul knew all about that when he wrote a young Christian named Timothy 2,000 years ago. Paul was like a doctor examining the culture and making a diagnosis. And Paul writes to us today, too. He encourages us to not be spiritual couch potatoes, but to work so we can stay strong.
Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of.” Timothy had studied God’s Word. He “worked out” with Jesus’ teachings and grew in the faith. He came to believe that message of forgiveness and love. And so Paul said, “Continue doing that! Don’t take time off! Keep growing! Keep working! Don’t lose your intensity! Stay strong!”
Intense exercise makes us strong. How many of you have seen the commercials for P90X? It’s a workout DVD that’s 1 part inspiring, 1 part terrifying, and 3 parts crazy. Do these pull-ups and then these karate punches and then headstand pushups and then these ab-burning crunches and then eat all these vegetables and then drive past McDonald’s and then more karate punches and then yoga and then extreme plyometrics and then the ab ripper workout. It’s intense! But it’s hard to argue about the results. The before and after pictures show us women half their previous sizes and men who went from grazing cows to raging bulls. That intensity produced hypertrophy and their muscles grew.
I think we could rename catechism class “P90X for Lutherans.” It’s pretty intense. 2+ years of spiritual workouts. Over 100 Bible lessons on the commandments and the Trinity and the Lord’s Prayer and the sacraments. Lifting heavy doctrines like Jesus’ state of humiliation, infant baptism, the judgment day, justification, and more. We have been getting spiritually ripped through these intense studies. And, like Timothy, we didn’t just learn them; we “became convinced” of them. The Holy Spirit created faith in us and he strengthened that faith as we worked. We don’t just know God officially loves the world. We are convinced he loves us as part of the world! We don’t just know Jesus died on a Friday. We are convinced he died to make us right with God. We didn’t just learn heaven exists. We became convinced we are going there because we believe Jesus is our Savior. All glory to God, our muscles have grown. We are strong because of this intense exercise in God’s Word.
But don’t forget about Mark. Remember the ex-heartthrob? Remember what Dr. Martinez said? Once strong doesn’t mean always strong. That’s why confirmation, this transition into high school, is so crucial to our spiritual health. The same is true for those who finish our Bible Information Class or family members who are visiting today and really for all of us. Today there are two workouts you can choose from—after this service you can go sit on the couch of spiritual atrophy where faith shrinks or you can hit the weights and watch your spiritual muscles explode with growth.
That doesn’t happen overnight, but it happens. I remember a conversation with a parent of a catechism student. She didn’t think it was fair that her child had to study and learn and memorize all this stuff. After all, mom herself didn’t know half of it anymore. I also remember a Bible study with another catechism parent. He gave some insightful answers and everyone in the room listened when he spoke. After the study, another couple came up to me and said, “Wow! He really knows God’s Word!” That man did what the first mother didn’t. He “continued in what he learned and had become convinced of.” He kept lifting, kept growing, and as a result he was a blessing to others.
That second work out is definitely not the path of least resistance, but don’t forget how beneficial it is. We know why people are physically out of shape—it’s work to stay in shape—go to the gym, eat right, run, lift, get up! And we know why people are spiritually out of shape—it’s work, too—go to church, read your Bible, pray, serve, get up! But don’t forget the blessings. Physical exercise has so many benefits—more energy, a longer life, feeling good, emotional health, less aches and pains, and so much more.
But spiritual exercise has even more benefits. Listen to Paul’s words to Timothy—“From infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” This workout gives salvation. It connects us to Christ. It speaks of holy things. P90X can’t do that. But the Word of God can make you wise about getting to heaven. The Word of God is where we learn about Christ. Jesus Christ was never spiritually lazy. He worked to keep the commandments and he kept them! He worked to love other people and he did love them. In fact, he loved them so much he saved them. Jesus does that for us. We have no spiritual strength to save ourselves. Sin is like a bar that comes crashing down on us—if we’ve had so little love for God that we know less now than we did when we were 13; if we can bench our bodyweight but can’t name the books of the Bible; if we have all the passages memorized, but don’t have love for our parents or our next-door neighbors—these are weights that will kill us, so heavy we can only gasp and die eternally. But Christ is mighty to save. With his powerful arm he lifts that burden so we can breathe again. He picks up the guilt and the crushing shame when he forgives us. Our Savior is powerful. We believe that and are saved. Yes, there are eternal benefits in hearing this message. Faith comes from hearing this message. And we have “salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
Being spiritually strong is good for us. And it’s good for those around us. We can use these muscles to make a difference and glorify God. Imagine for a moment I was a hulking, world-champion body-builder (not too difficult!)—Shoulders attached to my ears. Biceps like cantaloupes. Legs as thick as tree trunks. Now imagine an earthquake shakes Madison and a support beam falls down and pins (Jacob) to the ground. And I march over and yell, “Oh, no! Jacob’s trapped! Someone should do something! Can anyone lift heavy objects?” You would all shout, “You! Use those for something!”
You may not have the bulging biceps and triceps and trapezius muscles, but many of you are spiritually strong. Others of you aren’t “cut” quite yet, but you’re getting there. No matter who you are, God wants you to use the spiritual muscle you have! Paul writes at the end of our lesson, “16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
The Word of God equips you—it gives you the strength—to do some heavy lifting. It prepares you to not just know, but to act—to love and give and to listen and to help and to bless. That’s because this Word is “God-breathed”. That means this book, the Bible, is unlike any other. It’s more than spiritual thoughts. It’s more than the opinions of religious folk. God himself gave this Word to us. It is God’s Word in every chapter and verse and word and syllable. And that’s why it makes us strong. Divine wisdom and power make this “workout” useful for every good work. For example, our catechism students are equipped to teach because of the verses they have memorized. “Love the Lord with all your heart. All have sinned. The wages of sin is death. But God so loved the world he gave his only Son. It is by grace you are saved, through faith...not by works. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. Faith comes from hearing the message.” Those God-breathed words are useful. They can teach their friends and correct their parents and train their children. These words will equip us to be patient with our boss and love our socially awkward classmate and get a wandering friend back to God and show the world the difference that the Word makes. With these words, this spiritual muscle, we are strong enough to lift steel beams of guilt and shame and rescue others!
Too much is on the line to go back to the couch after today. God wants to strengthen you. He wants to bless you. He wants you to bless others. He wants you to be more than a person who used to be and used to do and used to speak. God wants you be strong now and to stay strong. To help you remember that, I have a gift for our confirmands and their parents. It’s a bracelet inscribed with the words, “Stay Strong.” My challenge to you is to put this bracelet on today and show it to me or Pastor Glen every weekend throughout this summer when you come to church. 13 weeks. If you’re out of town, take a picture at the church you’re visiting and send it to me. Let’s continue in this God-breathed Word so our Savior can be glorified in everything we do. Let’s stay strong! Amen!
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