2 Timothy 1:13

Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and in love, which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain. But when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that day. And you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus.

What makes some people stand firm through life's storms — and how do we make it more likely that we will?

The Metal Revealed in the Dark Valley

The mettle of an individual — sometimes called their resolve, sometimes called grit — is not observed when things are good. It doesn't manifest in the sunny meadow. It is revealed when a person finds themselves in a dark valley, often through trials. The apostle Paul speaks of this in Romans chapter five: tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance produces character.

We live in a world that is broken and fallen, and every person here has experienced adversity, setbacks, and hardship. Sometimes we try to measure our hardships against others', looking down on some and being amazed at others. Pain, tribulation, misfortune, trials, and crisis are all around us — a major component of what's called the human experience. But it is true that not everybody endures adversity well. Not all people persevere. Which begs the question: why does one person press on and endure while another gives up, gives in, and throws in the towel?

Grit, Determination, and the American Gene

Is this mettle some inherited trait, an endowment some people have genetically more than others? In 2016 Angela Duckworth wrote a book called Grit addressing this very topic. Much research has been done, and the findings show that more than two-thirds of Americans — above 66% — do not think it is an inherited trait. They speak instead of determination and hard work.

We live in a culture that highly values determination and hard work. Most Americans say it is not an inherited talent but hard work. Some have even called it "Americanism" or "the American gene." You've got to work hard, press through the difficulties, go against the currents of life — that's how we Americans look at things. Think of the movies that do best at the box office: a character endures a hardship that should knock them down, yet they press through and overcome. Unbroken, Braveheart, Gladiator. We say, "Yes, that's what we long for — that's the kind of person we want to pattern our lives after."

As a result, there is a tendency to look down on those who don't seem to press through, stereotyping them as lazy, careless, or fragile. There are recent books, podcasts, and articles dedicated to this whole discussion — one titled Antifragile, asking how we can become unbreakable. And there's frustration among many in our nation toward the up-and-coming generation, with all the talk of safe spaces and trigger warnings. "Suck it up, princess — here's a straw," is often the approach.

The Same Exhortations Paul Gave Timothy

If it's true that you're more likely to succeed when you are antifragile, determined, and unbreakable, then how do we actually help people endure hardship? This is much of what Paul is speaking to in his letters to Timothy, because Timothy was one we might classify as fragile, fearful, and timid. The exhortations of our culture are remarkably similar to the exhortations Paul gave 2,000 years ago. In 1 Timothy 1:18 he says, "Wage the good warfare." In 1 Timothy 6:12, "Fight the good fight." In 2 Timothy 2, "You therefore, my son, be strong." This is the language of Americanism.

But is there anything more than mere exhortation that can help someone endure the storms that will come? Some who classify themselves as Christian teach that if you're a Christian you won't experience hardship. I don't know what kind of Christian they are, but I've experienced hardship — and I know many of your stories, where you have experienced far more than I have. So how can we make it more likely that we will stand in the day of trouble?

One thing you discover in Scripture is that it is not only the trial that reveals fortitude — it is often the trial that helps fashion it. Paul says in Romans five, "We also glory in tribulations." Now, do any of us rejoice in hard times? No, we don't. So how could Paul say that with a straight face? Because he understood what God is able to do: "tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope." But the only way a trial fashions fortitude is if you are prepared to stand through it.

Paul Writing from the Storm

Remember the situation. Paul is facing hardship; he is in the midst of a crisis that has gone on for years. Arrested in Jerusalem for being a witness of Jesus, he faced a group of men — the sicarii, the dagger men, first-century Jewish assassins — who took an oath not to eat until they had killed him. For the next five to six years his life is enveloped in this situation, landing him in a prison in Rome awaiting trial and ultimate execution. From there he is handing the torch to Timothy, who will carry on the ministry, and who sees persecution as a real possibility for himself. In fact, Paul will say in this very book, "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." So how do we weatherproof our lives from the storms that will come?

Point One: Hold Fast the Sound Words of Scripture

Paul says, "Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me." Timothy, you are timid, and you will face opposition — but as you do, how can you be prepared to stand? Hold fast to the sound words of Scripture. Why is this important? Because the Word of God is living, powerful, and useful. Later in 2 Timothy 3:16 Paul says, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, "that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." Many of those good works come in the midst of a storm. God wants to equip us for those storms.

About 1,400 years before Paul, Israel prepared to enter the promised land. Moses died and Joshua was given the torch — and Joshua was fearful, for entering would require battle and hardship. So God said in Joshua 1:8, "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night... for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." How would Joshua and the whole nation endure that storm? By holding fast to the Word of God.

A Season from Psalm 119

One of the greatest passages on the importance of Scripture is Psalm 119, the longest psalm, 176 verses — and a theme of affliction and heaviness runs through it. "My soul melts with heaviness; strengthen me according to Your word" (v. 28). "This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life" (v. 50). "My soul faints for Your salvation, but I hope in Your word" (v. 81). "Unless Your law had been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction" (v. 92). "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (v. 105) — in the darkness of a dark valley, the only light is His Word. "I am afflicted very much; revive me, O Lord, according to Your word" (v. 107). "You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word" (v. 114). "Great peace have those who love Your law" (v. 165).

Disciplines for Holding Fast

To hold fast to the Word we must develop disciplines. We don't like the word discipline in the church — we don't like the routine or the training — but it's essential. First, hear the Word: "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). I listen to ten or fifteen Bible studies a week; send me an email and I'll send you plenty of podcasts.

Second, read the Word. People often grab a Bible-in-a-year plan with fifteen chapters a day, fall behind by day five, and it becomes drudgery. Instead, take one chapter a day. Start in the Gospel of John and just keep reading, developing the routine. Third, memorize Scripture. People say, "I'm just not a good rememberer" — yet they know every word of a song from 1978. I know every word of dialogue in Top Gun, and so do about twelve other guys, several on staff here. So yes, you can memorize Scripture.

Fourth, meditate on it: "Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You." Blessed is the man who meditates in the Word day and night; he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. And finally, do not stop at hearing — "Be doers of the word, and not hearers only" (James). Do these things, and you will be hedging against shipwreck in the storms of life.

Point Two: Hold Fast the Word in Faith

In the previous verse Paul said, "For this reason I suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed." Paul held fast to the Word in faith — not as an intellectual pursuit to gain knowledge about Zephaniah, Zechariah, Haggai, and Obadiah. Notice his words carefully: he does not say "I know what I have believed," nor even "I know in whom I have believed." He says, "I know whom I have believed." That is a difference.

Scripture is not given merely so we can know about the ancient Near East at the end of the Bronze Age. It is the revelation of God. He reveals what He is like — His nature — and what He likes — His will. As we hold fast to Scripture, we get to know who God is, and there our faith develops. The psalmist said in Psalm 27:13, "I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Where did that come from? The revelation of God in His Word.

The longer I walk with Jesus and simply read through the Scriptures, the more I get to know who God is and remind myself of His promises. When I go through a challenge — and every trial seems like the biggest trial ever in the moment — verses come to mind: "All things work together for good to those who love God." "Nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus." "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." All the promises of God are in Him, Yes and Amen, and He is faithful. So we say with Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path."

Point Three: Hold Fast with Love in Christ

Paul says to hold fast "in faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus." As we hold fast to the Word in faith, we discover His nature — and one thing we find is that "God is love" (1 John 4:8). His love is manifested toward us: "In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him... and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:9-10).

This love will have its work in us. As John continues, "If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" (4:11), and earlier, "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (3:16). Why was Paul in his situation? Because he had committed himself to Christ, discovered God's great love, and resolved to lay down his life even if it meant suffering. Now he calls Timothy to do the same. To stand strong in the storm, hold fast to the Word — in faith and in love.

Point Four: Hold Fast the Indwelling Holy Spirit

Verse 14: "That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us." Here we have two great truths Christians often wrongly set against each other: God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. They are not at odds. Throughout Scripture they stand side by side. Paul gives Timothy an impassioned plea about his responsibility — "keep that which God committed to you," presumably the words of Scripture and the gospel. That's your responsibility, Timothy. But within it is the great promise: you keep it "by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us." There is God's sovereignty — the abiding presence of the Spirit enabling and empowering you from within.

God has promised He would not leave us without help. On the night Jesus was betrayed, He told His troubled disciples, "I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever... He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:16-18). After His resurrection He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." Paul says in 1 Corinthians, "You are the temple of the Holy Spirit." A mark of a Christian is the indwelling presence of God. As we go through trials, we are not alone — God is with us and in us by His Spirit, even when it seems no one else is.

Point Five: Hold Fast the Fellowship of the Body

Which becomes very important as we read on: "This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me" (v. 15). Paul writes from Rome to Timothy hundreds of miles east in Ephesus, the capital of Asia Minor — modern-day Turkey. Maybe you've experienced this: you go through a hardship and it seems everyone splits. Paul even names them — Phygelus and Hermogenes. How would you like your name immortalized in Scripture as one of the men who left Paul at his most needful hour?

But not everyone left. "The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me. He was not ashamed of my chain. When he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me... And you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus" (vv. 16-18). While others were ashamed of Paul's accusations and turned away, Onesiphorus diligently searched Rome until he found him. Later Paul writes, "Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world." But Onesiphorus didn't forsake him — and so Paul speaks a special blessing over his household.

In this man we see what should be present within the body of Christ. When you become a Christian, God indwells you by His Spirit and adopts you into His family, the church, the body of Christ. The body is truly a body — when one part suffers, the whole suffers, and the body comes together to encourage and strengthen. This is one of the greatest helps in trial: a brother or sister who comes alongside, sometimes simply to sit in silence, to pray, to encourage, to strengthen.

Don't Neglect the Gathering

This is why the author of Hebrews says, "Do not neglect the gathering together of the body, as some have." In the last decade, live video media has made "church online" easy, and some say, "I just do church in my living room." Honestly, I understand the appeal of pajamas and coffee on your own couch. But you cannot do the body of Christ ministering to one another digitally. It doesn't work that way.

This is also why we emphasize connect groups, and I'll say it again: plug into a group here at Cross Connection Church. Go to our website, find a group, or — if God has gifted you with hospitality — consider hosting one. You will face troubles. And one of the greatest supports in those hardships, next to the Word that strengthens us and the indwelling Spirit who empowers us, is the body of Christ that props us up. So plug in. Don't just do a touch-and-go on Sunday mornings. The difficult day will come, and we want to be there to pray with you and walk with you through it.

Closing Prayer

Father God, I thank You for the principles we find here in Second Timothy and for the importance of these things as every one of us goes in various directions this week. No doubt there will be speed bumps and potholes, troubles and trials along the way for all of us. They may seem minor, but they feel big to us in the moment. In those things, I pray that we would be those who hold fast to Your Word, who know it well — and who not only know Your Word but know You, having experienced Your love, having trust and faith in You, and having Your indwelling presence. And that we would have a brother or sister within the body of Christ to whom we can say, "Would you pray for me?" God, do that work in us so that we would be more likely to stand in the storm. We praise You, Jesus, for Your enabling power by Your Spirit, and for Your Word that encourages us. And we thank You that You have made us a family — we who were not a people are now Your people, because we have received Your mercy and Your grace. We thank You. Amen.