Welcome to this week’s episode, a special rerun from our Speaking of Life archive. We hope you find its timeless message as meaningful today as it was when it was first shared.
Watch video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlBPT2Rt90I
Program Transcript
Speaking of Life 4046 | Good Gift
Greg Williams
A couple of years back my son Gatlin proposed to his long-time sweetheart, Erin in a unique way. Under the guise of taking a family walk after dinner with mom, dad, brothers, sisters-in-law, and nieces and nephews we found ourselves on the putting green of hole number 5 at Cramer Mountain Golf Club.
As the small kids putted golf balls around Gatlin nestled up to Erin around the hole and slid down to one knee. He presented a shiny white gold ring with a diamond, but before Erin’s attention went to the ring her tear-filled eyes were fixed on Gatlin and her enraptured hug enveloped him as her feet left the ground. Undoubtedly the ring got her attention, and she proudly wore it and flashed it around every chance she got.
What stood out to me was that Erin was receiving Gatlin the man who gave the ring, over and above the ring itself. The ring was great, but life-changing only because of the giver – the person behind the gift.
I think this is a workable metaphor for what’s going on in Luke 17 when Jesus heals some lepers. If you remember the story, ten lepers are healed by Jesus. They are told to present themselves to the priest as was customary of the law for cleansed lepers. But only one turns back to praise God and thank Jesus for the healing. There is more going on here than a man showing good social graces. All ten received healing from leprosy, but this one man received so much more. His praise and thankfulness was an expression of receiving the one who had healed him. He received the healing, and he received the healer.
That’s one reason scripture so often tells us to praise God and offer thanksgiving. We are being invited to receive and enjoy the Lord who gives himself to us.
Here is a segment of one Psalm that does just that:
1 Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
2 sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise.
3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
Because of your great power,
your enemies cringe before you.
4 All the earth worships you;
they sing praises to you,
sing praises to your name.” Selah
Psalm 66:1-4 (NRSV)
We can be thankful for the good things the Lord gives us – and they are many. But let’s never miss out on receiving the good Lord himself. After all, he offers himself with every gift he gives.
I’m Greg Williams, Speaking of Life.
Program Transcript
Speaking of Life 4046 | Good Gift
Greg Williams
A couple of years back my son Gatlin proposed to his long-time sweetheart, Erin in a unique way. Under the guise of taking a family walk after dinner with mom, dad, brothers, sisters-in-law, and nieces and nephews we found ourselves on the putting green of hole number 5 at Cramer Mountain Golf Club.
As the small kids putted golf balls around Gatlin nestled up to Erin around the hole and slid down to one knee. He presented a shiny white gold ring with a diamond, but before Erin’s attention went to the ring her tear-filled eyes were fixed on Gatlin and her enraptured hug enveloped him as her feet left the ground. Undoubtedly the ring got her attention, and she proudly wore it and flashed it around every chance she got.
What stood out to me was that Erin was receiving Gatlin the man who gave the ring, over and above the ring itself. The ring was great, but life-changing only because of the giver – the person behind the gift.
I think this is a workable metaphor for what’s going on in Luke 17 when Jesus heals some lepers. If you remember the story, ten lepers are healed by Jesus. They are told to present themselves to the priest as was customary of the law for cleansed lepers. But only one turns back to praise God and thank Jesus for the healing. There is more going on here than a man showing good social graces. All ten received healing from leprosy, but this one man received so much more. His praise and thankfulness was an expression of receiving the one who had healed him. He received the healing, and he received the healer.
That’s one reason scripture so often tells us to praise God and offer thanksgiving. We are being invited to receive and enjoy the Lord who gives himself to us.
Here is a segment of one Psalm that does just that:
1 Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
2 sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise.
3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
Because of your great power,
your enemies cringe before you.
4 All the earth worships you;
they sing praises to you,
sing praises to your name.” Selah
Psalm 66:1-4 (NRSV)
We can be thankful for the good things the Lord gives us – and they are many. But let’s never miss out on receiving the good Lord himself. After all, he offers himself with every gift he gives.
I’m Greg Williams, Speaking of Life.
Psalm 66:1–12 • Jeremiah 29:1, 4–7 • 2 Timothy 2:8–15 • Luke 17:11–19
This week’s theme is God’s faithfulness amidst adversity. In our call to worship psalm, the psalmist recounts God’s mighty deeds and his deliverance. In Jeremiah, God is instructing the Israelites on how to flourish even in their exiled state. In 2 Timothy, Paul reminds Timothy through a line in a hymn that even if we are faithless, God is still faithful. And in Luke, we see Jesus demonstrating God’s mercy and healing power towards the outcasts of society.
Reminder: This introductory paragraph is intended to show how the four RCL selections for this week are connected and to assist the preacher prepare the sermon. It is not intended to be included in the sermon.
How to use this sermon resource.
Unchained: Having Enduring Faith
2 Timothy 2:8–15 NIV
Corrie Ten Boom became famous as the humble Dutch woman who helped rescue and hide more than 800 Jewish people during World War II. Her faith would be tested as she was eventually betrayed and arrested. She would go on to endure brutal treatment at the hands of her captors in the concentration camp where she was sent. She endured starvation, deplorable conditions, and the deaths of her father and sister Betsie. Yet in that hell, Corrie encouraged other inmates with her enduring faith. Quoting her sister Betsie, Corrie was known to say: “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.”
Today, we look at 2 Timothy 2:8–15.
In this passage, Paul writes to Timothy who he is mentoring and teaching. Paul appeals to Timothy to “do his best” as a worker for God’s kingdom and he will endure because his life is in the risen Jesus Christ who is faithful. That same encouragement is for us today! (Read the passage.)
Although Paul is in prison at the time of this writing, he declares that the truth cannot be chained! Let’s begin by focusing on verses 8 and 9.
The Cornerstone
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. 2 Timothy 2:8–9 NIV
In verse 8, Paul establishes the fact that Jesus is a real person. Some disputed this, suggesting that he was merely a Spirit, or an angel.2 Jesus, in fact, was of the direct lineage of King David. Jesus is the rightful, ruling, eternal heir that was promised long ago by the prophets. His kingdom will no know end.
Not only did Jesus live as fully God and fully man, in an actual human body, but he died in a human body. Death could not hold him. He rose from the dead and ascended to the Father. He is the One who is recognized as King of kings and Lord of lords.
The resurrection mentioned here is not just one among many doctrines in the church. It is the key foundation of all our hope. The good news is that we have been included in Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus has taken humanity with him through this entire journey. Because of this, we fix our eyes upon our true King and risen Savior in the face of opposition, suffering, grief, and all our doubts. His victory supersedes our circumstances.
And so, Paul declares that he is willing to suffer for this gospel and its glorious truth. Anything less than this wouldn’t be worth the effort. Jesus is the cornerstone upon which everything else is built. Believing this foundational truth helps us to endure the things that happen to us that challenge our faith. There are no chains that can hold back God’s active work in our lives.
The Call
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 2 Timothy 2:10 NIV
Paul was imprisoned mainly because of Jewish opposition. And yet, we see him willing to suffer at their hands in the hopes that it might result in their coming to faith in Jesus as the Messiah.
Elsewhere, we see Paul writing to the Romans about how he would choose to be estranged from Christ if it would mean their salvation (Romans 9:3).
Paul writes of the strong calling that we have towards endurance. And there is a reason for this endurance. Not that our salvation is dependent on it, but through our endurance others might come to faith themselves. Suffering carries within it a redemptive pathway.3 Our endurance can serve to advance the kingdom of God in ways that our own comforts cannot.
The message of the gospel is truly countercultural. We see just how countercultural it is when others challenge our faith. Others may be inspired when they see how we suffer for our faith. They can see that God’s word is not chained at all by our circumstances. As Paul asserts in Romans 14:4, God is able to make us stand. Endurance then is not a passive resignation, but an active faithfulness. Our trials can become platforms that testify to the One who remains ever faithful to us. Paul writes “a trustworthy saying”:
Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him.
If we disown him, he will also disown us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself. 2 Timothy 2:11–13 NIV
In several of Paul’s epistles, he quotes passages from early Christological hymns or confessions. These were either songs, poems, or canticles. (A canticle is scripture put to music.) They served as powerful and important ways to teach and unite diverse congregations around shared truths about Christ, and our lives in him.
Paul uses one of these hymns to encourage believers to endure in their faith. He includes the benefits. Also verse 12 includes this warning, “If we disown him, he will also disown us.” It is most likely a poetic device meant to shock, not meant to be taken literally. Otherwise, it could sound like God’s actions toward us are conditional or based on what we do. This is not true; we are saved by God’s favor alone. It’s a warning that was probably meant to be understood that disowning Christ would make no sense for us since we have already been taken in by his faithfulness.4
Whether it’s in the quoting of Scripture, reciting or singing of hymns, let’s not lose out on the importance of these practices within the church. These resources help to stabilize the faith of the church amidst uncertainty and pressures to conform to society. This is not suggesting that we hide ourselves away from the world, but rather, live actively within it to transform it with the love we have received by the Spirit of Christ. We live as unchained people from a different kingdom, a kingdom that will not be overthrown but will endure for eternity. And we can endure because our suffering is seen through the truth of Christ’s crucifixion.
The Charge
Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:14–15 NIV
This is the way to remember the essential truths about our faith. We are to acknowledge Jesus as our Lord, Savior, and King. We are to look at all that he has accomplished and not to be moved from those things. As we are living with this in mind, we are to be aware that there are those who will oppose or even persecute us for this faith of ours. Again, we are not to be moved, but to endure with patience, knowing that Christ is at work through our ministry in people’s lives. Some are just waiting to see the hope come out of us in our times of stress and trial.
We are to remind each other of God’s faithfulness to us in all situations. He will walk with us through difficult times as only a loving heavenly parent can do.
Lastly, we are not to be spending our time in futile divisive arguments. Paul goes as far as to suggest that this will ruin those who listen or give in to this behavior. And yet, there are ministries out there today whose sole focus is not to lift up the name of Jesus. Their ministry is not to equip the saints through discipleship or even to spread the good news. Their focus is on pointing out all the flaws and faults of everyone who doesn’t perfectly line up with them theologically.
Paul finishes with the importance of crafting one’s life on the truth of the gospel. We can stand firm under pressure because we are convinced of the truth regarding the One who loves us and saves us.
So, carry this charge: Fix your eyes on the risen King. Let every step you take, every trial you endure, shout to the world, “The gospel is not chained, and it cannot be silenced!” For in Christ, your endurance is never wasted — it’s etched into eternity, a testament to the unchained God who makes us stand.
For reference:
- A war story: “There is no pit so deep God’s love is not deeper still” Christian History Magazine
- Early Christian History / Heresies: Docetism
- 10 Christian Missionaries Every Christian Should Know – Theology For the Rest of Us
- How Faith in Redemptive Suffering Can Keep Us Sane – EWTN Global Catholic Television Network
- God has saved you, therefore respond (salvation and sanctification in Torrance theology)
Rev. Dr. Eun Strawser—Year C Proper 23
Listen to audio: https://cloud.gci.org/dl/GReverb/GR068-Strawser-YearC-Proper23.mp3
October 12, 2025 — Proper 23 in Ordinary Time
2 Timothy 2:8-15 NRSVUE
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Program Transcript
Rev. Dr. Eun Strawser—Year C Proper 23
Anthony: All right, let’s transition to our next pericope of the month. It is 2 Timothy 2:8–15. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for Proper 23 in Ordinary Time, October 12. We’d be grateful if you read it for us, please.
Eun: Absolutely.
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful—he cannot deny himself. 14 Remind them of this, and warn them before the Lord that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.
Anthony: Scripture tells us that the Word of God is not chained, Eun, as Paul wrote in verse 9. For me, this seems to be quite the theological statements and more what say you.
Eun: Yeah, I love that if you think about that word “a chaining” most of us can have certain images, right? For some cultures you can think of imprisonment or enslavement. Others, it feels like restriction. But I love that whatever kind of image that comes in mind for us in the word “chain,” the Apostle Paul is saying that God’s Word doesn’t interact that way.
It’s not a dealing with any type of enslavement or imprisonment or being restricted — that there’s no bounds with it. It is never chained down. It’s never restricted. It will only do what it’s meant to do — constantly. And so, I love that the Word of God not being chained also doesn’t bear responsibility on us. There’s nothing that we can do to enhance it or limit it — that God’s Word is freely just constantly expanding and growing. It gets more and more beautiful as time goes on.
So, I love that Paul’s reminder to Timothy is, I think it really is, a word like, do your best for sure. Keep on proclaiming God’s truth, but don’t worry, your human failures and mistakes will never limit God’s Word. I think the other thing about God’s Word not being chained is that restriction point — that I think that it also is a word to say that God’s Word and God’s story — again, going to that full gospel — is that it needs to be not restricted by just one culture. That whatever locally rooted place that we may all be living in or be ministering in and loving Jesus and loving others in, that the gospel makes sense to that local culture too. That it isn’t some human culture that we’re trying to present, that it’s another effort to colonize or assimilate a different culture. It’s that God’s Word is not chained up or bound up by human deeds or mechanics. That God’s Word is understandable and relatable and beautiful and true in every single local context.
Anthony: Yeah, and I sometimes, this is just a personal pet peeve of mine. I don’t know if you’d agree with me, Eun. But I’ll hear people say we’ve got to make the Word of God relevant. I just find it is relevant and you contextualize it to your situation, but it’s always relevant. And it was relevant then, and it’s relevant now. And as you said, it’s liberating.
And I was just pondering a text in Luke chapter 13 where Jesus encounters a woman who’d been bent over for 18 years and he says, “You are set free.” And that’s what God does and that’s what his Word does, right? It liberates people. And if it’s not liberating, it’s not the Word of God because that’s what the Word of God does. It may mess with you at first and it may get all up in your grill, but it sets you free because that’s who God is.
I find verse 13 to be so very encouraging. If we are faithless or feeling like we’re not full of faith in one day, we find that Jesus Christ remains faithful. Do you find that encouraging and what would you want to share with our audience?
Eun: Oh man. It’s not meant to be convicting, that’s for sure. Or accusatory. I love that there’s so much mercy. But what a wonderful life and call that God gives us, right, that he’s saying that we are fully capable and able to live a life imitating Jesus, that this is good for us, this is good for our family, this is good for our neighborhoods, this is good for the world around us.
But it doesn’t bank on your strength. It doesn’t demand a perfection from you, that you can have bad days and God is full of mercy. This whole thing works. This big project of the gospel transforming all of us in the world around us only works, not because of our strength. It only works because Jesus is faithful, because he’s the faithful one. I think that it’s not meant to be convicting, that it’s supposed to be great encouragement that God is truly with us in this.
Anthony: And he is the faithful one. And what I find is some people are afraid when the gospel, as they would say, gives away too much.
We don’t want to be faithful, so of course we don’t. But because we know he is faithful and we live and move and have our being in him, this is a faithful response — to be faithful because he’s so good, right? And so thankful that we can look to Jesus and see not only an example, but the one who abides in us by his Spirit, helping us to be faithful and strong.
Program Transcript
Rev. Dr. Eun Strawser—Year C Proper 23
Anthony: All right, let’s transition to our next pericope of the month. It is 2 Timothy 2:8–15. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for Proper 23 in Ordinary Time, October 12. We’d be grateful if you read it for us, please.
Eun: Absolutely.
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful—he cannot deny himself. 14 Remind them of this, and warn them before the Lord that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.
Anthony: Scripture tells us that the Word of God is not chained, Eun, as Paul wrote in verse 9. For me, this seems to be quite the theological statements and more what say you.
Eun: Yeah, I love that if you think about that word “a chaining” most of us can have certain images, right? For some cultures you can think of imprisonment or enslavement. Others, it feels like restriction. But I love that whatever kind of image that comes in mind for us in the word “chain,” the Apostle Paul is saying that God’s Word doesn’t interact that way.
It’s not a dealing with any type of enslavement or imprisonment or being restricted — that there’s no bounds with it. It is never chained down. It’s never restricted. It will only do what it’s meant to do — constantly. And so, I love that the Word of God not being chained also doesn’t bear responsibility on us. There’s nothing that we can do to enhance it or limit it — that God’s Word is freely just constantly expanding and growing. It gets more and more beautiful as time goes on.
So, I love that Paul’s reminder to Timothy is, I think it really is, a word like, do your best for sure. Keep on proclaiming God’s truth, but don’t worry, your human failures and mistakes will never limit God’s Word. I think the other thing about God’s Word not being chained is that restriction point — that I think that it also is a word to say that God’s Word and God’s story — again, going to that full gospel — is that it needs to be not restricted by just one culture. That whatever locally rooted place that we may all be living in or be ministering in and loving Jesus and loving others in, that the gospel makes sense to that local culture too. That it isn’t some human culture that we’re trying to present, that it’s another effort to colonize or assimilate a different culture. It’s that God’s Word is not chained up or bound up by human deeds or mechanics. That God’s Word is understandable and relatable and beautiful and true in every single local context.
Anthony: Yeah, and I sometimes, this is just a personal pet peeve of mine. I don’t know if you’d agree with me, Eun. But I’ll hear people say we’ve got to make the Word of God relevant. I just find it is relevant and you contextualize it to your situation, but it’s always relevant. And it was relevant then, and it’s relevant now. And as you said, it’s liberating.
And I was just pondering a text in Luke chapter 13 where Jesus encounters a woman who’d been bent over for 18 years and he says, “You are set free.” And that’s what God does and that’s what his Word does, right? It liberates people. And if it’s not liberating, it’s not the Word of God because that’s what the Word of God does. It may mess with you at first and it may get all up in your grill, but it sets you free because that’s who God is.
I find verse 13 to be so very encouraging. If we are faithless or feeling like we’re not full of faith in one day, we find that Jesus Christ remains faithful. Do you find that encouraging and what would you want to share with our audience?
Eun: Oh man. It’s not meant to be convicting, that’s for sure. Or accusatory. I love that there’s so much mercy. But what a wonderful life and call that God gives us, right, that he’s saying that we are fully capable and able to live a life imitating Jesus, that this is good for us, this is good for our family, this is good for our neighborhoods, this is good for the world around us.
But it doesn’t bank on your strength. It doesn’t demand a perfection from you, that you can have bad days and God is full of mercy. This whole thing works. This big project of the gospel transforming all of us in the world around us only works, not because of our strength. It only works because Jesus is faithful, because he’s the faithful one. I think that it’s not meant to be convicting, that it’s supposed to be great encouragement that God is truly with us in this.
Anthony: And he is the faithful one. And what I find is some people are afraid when the gospel, as they would say, gives away too much.
We don’t want to be faithful, so of course we don’t. But because we know he is faithful and we live and move and have our being in him, this is a faithful response — to be faithful because he’s so good, right? And so thankful that we can look to Jesus and see not only an example, but the one who abides in us by his Spirit, helping us to be faithful and strong.
Small Group Discussion Questions
- Why is the death and resurrection of Christ vital to us as believers?
- How can our endurance in suffering prove the validity of our faith?
- How can we better manage our response to our trials in life?
- Can you share any songs, poems, or scriptures that anchor you in your faith?
- What would be a proper response when you find yourself tempted to add to a divisive discussion?
