2 Timothy 1:1-14

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, 2To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3I am grateful to God?whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did?when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 4Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 5I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.

??????????????????????? 6For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; 7for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. 8Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, 9who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, 12and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. 13Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.

What Disciples Do. Let us remember, Christ followers are known not as much by what they believe as what they do. Our actions speak louder than our words. So far we have talked about how disciples take faith seriously, how disciples seek people for Christ and Church, and how disciples practice generosity. Today, we will talk through the importance of disciples taking faith home. In other words, disciples live out their faith in and with their family. And since it is impossible to deal with the subject of the Christian family in one sermon, we are going to focus on the importance of passing on our faith to our children and grandchildren. As we explore this topic, I invite you to pray with me.

One of the things I love about this congregation is that it reminds me of the congregation I grew up in?just a lot smaller. I have shared before that I grew up at Venice Presbyterian where we had 1500 members. When our family showed up, we were the only family with young children and everyone thought we were cute! I am grateful that my mom decided to raise us differently than how she was raised. She decided to raise us in the church, because she wasn?t raised in the church and thought it would help us. I don?t think she knew how much it would help her in raising us and for walking through life. To this day, I still say I was raised by 1,500 grandparents from Venice Presbyterian. There was a smaller group of grandparents, men and women, who invested into our family. The faith of my church grandparents and church parents, as well as the faith of my grandmother, and the innocent faith of my parents, is a huge part of why I feel called to do what I do. The faith of Ginny, Sharon, Glenn, Billy, Barbara, Dottie, Jean, Pat, Delinda, Howie, Yvonne, Jim, John, Megan, Martha, Beth, Susan, and the list could just keep going. Know it was through the faith of these people and many others where I learned how to live my faith and by whom I was taught about faith. And what you might think is a little crazy, is I believe our congregation can do this and is quite capable of doing the same thing as the congregation I was raised in. I also want you to hear this?In many ways you are already doing it, but we all have many more opportunities to do so.

I don?t know if you have heard this before, but I think it is a very true statement. ?The church is always one generation away from extinction.? Do you ever feel that? Well, given that reality, it?s crucial that parents and grandparents successfully pass on their faith to their children and grandchildren. Of course, it?s not only the job of parents to pass on their faith. It?s also the job of other family members, family friends, and our church family. If we think back to how we were raised and how we raise our children, I think many of us tried to surround our children with folks who would embody similar values as us. We tried and try to give our children and grandchildren a support system where they can grow in their faith, grow as good people, grow into healthy young adults, grow into lifelong disciples, grow as professionals, grow as partners in relationships as well as parents, we pray we have surrounded our children with people who will encourage, support, challenge, teach, and love our children. Yes?

Also, as a congregation, we do this something that is pretty amazing. We make a promise to every child and adult in our congregation and those who come into our congregation. And we make the promise through baptism. When we baptize a child or adult in the church, the entire congregation takes a vow, makes a promise, to help raise and nurture that child and adult in the Christian faith. So passing on our faith to our children is relevant not only for parents-but for all believers. You have promised to do this, and what an amazing honor that is. In hearing this, let us remember that virtually every follower of Christ has at least some opportunity to influence the faith of children and adults.

Now, there could be so much discussion out of this passage from 2 Timothy. But we are going to focus in on verse 5. Because influencing the faith of our children is exactly what our passage from 2 Timothy is about for today. Timothy is a young disciple, but has been mentored in sharing his faith and sharing Christ with people by Paul and others. Verse 5 says the following, ?5I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.? This verse is a great reminder of a good example of a family that passed on their faith to their children. Although Timothy is a young man, he played a key leadership role in the life of the early church. Timothy would have been wise beyond his years and a part of that would have been because of how he was raised. In today?s text we learn that Timothy had a strong and ?sincere? faith. Where did that faith come from? As we see in verse 5, it came from his family, especially his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois. Timothy?s family was a family who successfully passed on their faith and it showed. The passage goes on to tell us what sincere faith looks like and describes the purpose of the Gospel and work Timothy was doing. So you might be asking, how did Timothy?s family pass on their faith?

From this passage, successfully passing on faith in a family can come in two ways: First, with how they lived their faith. And second way is how they taught Timothy about their faith. This is a similar statement as how you share your faith with those you are in a relationship with and through the various forms of evangelism. If we think back to the importance of modeling how we live out how we are being Christians, it is important to remember that others are always watching, especially children. All children who are around us will learn more by observing us. If they see us saying one thing in church and saying something different at home or in the store, then they will be confused by your words and actions. If they see us smoking, then in some way they think it is okay to smoke. If our children watch us serve and give back, then our children know this is important and do so. If they hear us cussing, then in some way (no matter what we say) they think it is okay to curse. If they see us yell at the driver who cut us off on the road, they think it is okay to yell at other people who do things we don?t like. If our children never see us reading the bible, then they won?t think it is important to read the bible. If our children see us making fun of people, calling people names, disregarding people because of their disabilities, race, sexual orientation, or judging people because they are different, our children will learn from us that is it okay to disregard people who are also created in God?s image. If our children don?t see us praying or talking about what we are praying about, then they won?t believe prayer is important and have those conversations with God. If our children don?t see us own our mistakes and take responsibility for our actions, then they neither will they and they will also play the victim role and blame other people for what is happening in their life. That is a lot of pressure, isn?t it? Do you remember the old phrase, monkey see, monkey do?

Timothy?s mother and grandmother lived out their sincere faith in front of Timothy and how they lived out their faith had a deep impact on his faith. The fact is that faith is caught more than taught. Remember, monkey see, monkey do?When parents live out Christian faith, values, and standards in front of their children, their children soak it in. As we think about how we ?live out? our faith and what our children are observing, it is important to remember that even if you don?t have children or grandchildren around you, you are modeling your faith. You have children and grandchildren in this congregation, at the store, in the mall, in line at the grocery store; who are all watching you and observing how you live out your faith. You also have your adult children who are wondering how you have made it and what keeps you going. Did you know you can still impact the lives of your children even when they are adults? You can still have a deep impact on the faith of your children, not matter what their age. As I thought about this, I realized that I do not have adult children. I am an adult child. So I thought of someone in our congregation who is actively doing this with her adult children and I asked Barbara to come up and share her story of how she has impacted the faith of her adult children.

Thank you so much Barbara. It isn?t always an easy journey to live out our faith, especially in our homes?but it is important to continue to do so, even as our children become adults. The second important aspect of this passage is that Lois and Eunice directly taught Timothy how to live out his faith. I can almost picture Timothy coming back from a trip with his mentors and sharing his stories with his mom and grandmother. In 2 Timothy 3:15 it says, ?and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.? Although it?s critical that we live out our faith in front of our children, we must also teach them about the Christian faith, which can be done both at home and in the church. Praying together, reading the Bible together, and talking about how God would have us live and respond to certain situations are all valuable ways to pass on your faith to others in your family and church family.

Today, we are welcoming Giovanni into baptism. We will officially make those vows to nurture him and walk with him on his faith journey. Beckie and Dave will promise to be Gio?s Godparents and walk with him on his faith journey as well. And we will all promise Maria that she does not have to do this alone, but that we will walk with her and Gio always. Today, we truly get to promise to take faith home. As we walk through this week, it is my prayer you will think about how you are living and modeling your faith for your children, grandchildren, and the children in our congregation. Just like in what we promise on the day of the baptism of our children, our grandchildren, and the children in our congregation. Reflect on ways that you can be an even stronger model of faith for your family. What changes do you need to make in your life to show the little and big ones in your life what it means to take faith home and live it out? For me and my house, we will serve the Lord?so what does that mean to you and how are you modeling a real and honest faith? This is something that our family needs to reflect on as well. It is important, no matter where you are in your life, that this is something you reflect on and decide to make some changes.

As one young teenager who grew up in a devout Christian home remembered how they took faith extremely seriously in their home, remembers the minister asking him this question. ?Why is faith so important to you? The teenage boy replied, ?I don?t know. I guess it just runs in the family.? I pray the children we raising in our congregation, in our homes, and as a family, will know that their faith just runs in our family because they have people like you who are their actively modeling their faith and are living as disciples who take their faith home. Amen.