Sermon Text: 2 Timothy 4:1-8
Date: June 21, 2026
Event: Proper 7, Year A

2 Timothy 4:1-8 (EHV)

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom: 2Preach the word. Be ready whether it is convenient or not. Correct, rebuke, and encourage, with all patience and teaching. 3For there will come a time when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, because they have itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in line with their own desires. 4They will also turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

5As for you, keep a clear head in every situation. Bear hardship. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry.

6You see, I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. 8From now on, there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness. The Lord, the righteous Judge, will give it to me on that day, and not only to me but also to everyone who loved his appearing.

Be Ready

I’ve recently been replaying an old video game from my childhood, and one thing has stood out to me. The game will telegraph when things are going to get difficult. Suddenly, your characters will find tons of supplies, and there will be an opportunity to save your game so that if you fail in what’s coming, you’ll be able to restart relatively close to the pressure point. On the one hand, it’s exciting because you’re getting stuff that is good for what is coming. On the other hand, you are probably dreading what is coming. The game is essentially telling you, “Be ready. Things are going to be rough.”

We don’t always get such clear sign-posting about what is ahead in our lives, but we do have a general sense of how things are going to go—and we probably shouldn’t expect sunshine and lollipops every day of our lives. What does Jesus say we should be ready to do in our lives? Take up our crosses and follow him. Or, putting a bit of a finer point on it, consider what we heard him warn his disciples in our Gospel this morning, “Brother will hand over his brother to death, and a father will do the same with his child. Children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all people because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:21-22). Existing in this life is going to be painful and difficult enough, but being a true, biblical Christian is going to bring with it its own hardship and suffering.

But, Jesus also said we go forward into this life with the care of our almighty Creator. Not even sparrows suffer injury without God knowing about it, and as Jesus expressed in that remarkable understatement, “You are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:31).

In our Second Reading for this morning, Paul addresses similar thoughts and encouragements with Pastor Timothy. At the time of writing, Paul is very near the end of his life, and he clearly knew that was rapidly approaching: You see, I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. So what does Paul, the champion of the gospel of Jesus, want to impart to the next generation of pastors, to the next generation of Christians? Be ready.

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom: Preach the word. Be ready whether it is convenient or not. Correct, rebuke, and encourage, with all patience and teaching. Now, some of this is specific to Timothy’s calling as pastor in the church in Ephesus in the 1st century AD. He was called to shepherd the flock of people in that place at that time. We’re not all pastors; we’re not all called to the public ministry; and not one of us is serving 2,000 years ago. But some of the principles will apply to all of us.

Paul charged Timothy to preach the word, but he’s not just talking about the Sunday morning sermon (to use our modern-day equivalent), because he’s calling on Timothy to preach whether it is convenient or not. Now, I suppose you could limit this to “be ready to preach on Sunday whether you got a good night’s sleep or not” or “be ready whether the sermon really came together this week or not” or “be ready regardless of how much other stuff weighed you down this week,” but I think it’s a whole lot broader than that. Timothy’s calling to preach the word was not just a localized, public worship setting, but to preach the word at all times, in all places.

You might never have set foot in a pulpit, you might not have ever spoken in front of a crowd after high school speech class or a wedding toast, but you and I preach more sermons with our lives than we even realize. When you clearly forgive the person at work who hurt you deeply, you preach loudly to those who would find solace in harboring anger and nursing grudges. When you keep a positive outlook on life because you know the forgiveness of your Savior, even if, by human measures, your life seems to be falling to pieces, you are preaching a powerful sermon to those who know you. And when someone wrongs you, and you do not retaliate, you don’t let anger take over, but you assure the other person that because Jesus forgives you and forgives them, you also forgive them; that is the gospel beaming forth from your life, perhaps clearer than any biblical statement uttered in this place in the last 60 years.

Why are those actions powerful sermons? Because they are situations that are far from convenient, and in fact, it would probably be much more comfortable to act contrary to that in those moments. Paul’s words for what Timothy would face in his life ring true for us today: There will come a time when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, because they have itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in line with their own desires. They will also turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths. You could probably describe all of modern society as people looking to find “truth” to scratch their itchy ears. People run to whoever says what they want to hear. And even if no one is saying what they want to hear, they just listen to their own heart, their own emotions, and convince themselves that what they feel is good and right, and that anything contrary to it is wrong and should be dismissed. People do not put up with the solid biblical teaching of God’s law condemning sin and the gospel that brings forgiveness only in Jesus. They long to find another way, and they delude themselves into thinking that they’ve found it.

But you and I know better. That’s not to say we’re perfect in this—far from it! We have itchy ears, just like everyone else, and the draw of those who would say what we want to hear is strong. But sometimes what we want to hear and what we need to hear are very different things. This itchy-ears-scratching might sound like someone trying to assure us that what we did (or want to do) is right, even when God says it’s wrong. It might sound like a harsh condemnation of the actions of a group of people that we already don’t like, and so we continue to justify our vilification of a particular family, or ethnic group, or faith system. Anyone who tells us what we want (or they think we want) to hear is coming to address that itch with myth, fable, and fiction.

Paul tells Timothy that sometimes, often even, the role of Christians will be to deliver news and reminders that make the itch worse rather than better. We are not called just to tell people what they want to hear or to just stay in the realm of the pleasant and socially acceptable. The Christian faith is deeply offensive to our natural selves, and you can’t be faithful to God’s Word without bringing that offense. No one is going to say, “Oh, thank you for telling me what a failure I am in God’s sight! Thank you for letting me know that I deserve hell for my rebellion against God and his commands!” No one is going to say that because all of that is incredibly bad news that no one—not you, not me, not anyone—wants to hear.

So, be ready for people not to want to hear what you need to share. Be ready for people not to be excited about God’s truths that he’s entrusted to you. But be ready to share them anyway; be ready to share them no matter what the effect or the cost, whether you feel ready and prepared to talk about it or not.

But as important as the readiness is the motivation. Why should you be ready? Not to cut someone else down. Not to prove that you are right where they may be wrong or at least misguided. No, the reason you and I want to be ready to share God’s Word, share both his condemning law and his sweet, forgiving gospel, is love. Love for the person who needs to hear it. Love to the person who has been so distracted looking for scratchers for their itching ears that they’ve missed the truth. Love for the person—for everyone—that we want to share eternal life with.

Because that’s what this is about. It’s not about achieving personal glory or sustaining an institution like a Christian congregation. This is about reaching souls with the eternally vital truths from God. It’s about addressing sin with the only thing that can—Jesus’ life and death in our place—and finding peace and comfort in that free gift. It’s about loving all people in a way that proves you want them rescued from hell.

So, be ready. But be ready in love. Be ready with humility. Be ready with empathy and sympathy. Be ready to share the comfort the Holy Spirit has already put inside of you, but that you know is not just for you, but is for all people. And God bless your preparations and your readiness, using you and your words and actions in the ways that he knows is best. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria