Making a Lasting Difference, Part 1

If you could sit down with a young man or woman preparing for full-time ministry in a local church, what advice might you give? If someone you loved was attending seminary learning how to preach, what might you say that would shape their skills? Today, on Insight for Living, we have the privilege of hearing a message that Chuck Swindoll delivered at his alma mater, Dallas Theological Seminary, where he trained more than 60 years ago. In his address, he challenged his audience to think counter-culturally about their role.

Chuck titled his message, Making a Lasting Difference. It's always such a privilege to be with you, and it's always a challenge to know exactly what to speak on, because you've heard it all. And yet, there seems to be, on occasion, a need for some emphasis, especially at the time of year in which I'm able to be with you. And here we are toward the end of this semester. A number of you are on your way beyond the school, others of you ending your semester to return this fall.

But whatever, this is sort of a turning point for us all. It occurs to me it would be appropriate that I talk about making a lasting difference in our lives and in the lives of others. I love being around people who are committed to that. These are people who don't want to drift along in mediocrity.

They don't want to be submerged in anonymity or fade away in obscurity. These are people who want their lives to count and to make a difference that lasts. If that's you, and I have a feeling that some of you certainly are in that category, I can tell you four things about yourself, even though you and I may not know each other, because these things are true in the lives of those who want to make a lasting difference. First of all, you are not motivated by money or possessions. Second, you are not interested in impressing people. You're not a people pleaser. Third, you are not driven by applause and accolades. You do your work to honor the Lord Jesus, not because others will take notice.

They will, but that's not your motivation. Fourth, you're not afraid of risk or hardship, difficulties or even sacrifice. That's all part of the life of those who want to make a lasting difference.

Only one thing matters to you, and that is that your life count for eternity. Such a life never just happens. It's never automatic. You're not born like that.

I don't think you pick it up in a classroom either. It's the direct result of who you are, what you do, and why you do it. Please think about those three, who you are, what you do, and why you do it. It also has a lot to do with those you admire and want to pattern your life after. I've found that people who want to make a lasting difference choose their mentors very carefully.

You're concerned that you become like those people who have helped shape your life. My words are based on a core section of 2 Timothy chapter 3. If you've brought your Bible, or if you have it on your phone, I want you to look at 2 Timothy 3 verses 10 through 14. I want to read those verses for you before I address them verse by verse. Paul writes, Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecution, and sufferings. Such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra. What persecution I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

You however, you however continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them. I want to come back to the verses in a moment and go through them one by one. Let me say some things generally about where we find ourselves in this final letter Paul wrote. First, obviously Paul is the older writing Timothy the younger. Paul is actually near death. Timothy has more years in front of him than behind him for ministry.

Paul's life is pretty well complete. Timothy is well underway as he is neck deep in ministry in the city of Ephesus. Paul is interested in Timothy making a difference. In fact, I'm convinced he's more interested in that than Timothy is. I find Timothy when I read the letters to Timothy, I find him somewhat passive and Paul often is stirring him, prodding him, encouraging him to go farther, to go deeper in his life. That's why I say he's more interested in it than Timothy. Let me say a couple of things about the immediate context of this section of scripture.

First, to make a difference, you must be different from those around you. If you go back in this passage to chapter 3 verse 1, you'll see something of the context of Timothy's world. Paul writes to him in verse 1, realize this in the last days difficult times will come. This is not last days in the sense of the final few days before Christ returns. This would cover the vast amount of time between Christ leaving the earth and returning to it.

It would include our time and years before we arrived on this earth and should the Lord tarry, years after we have spent days and years on the planet. Observe that the key word is difficult times will come. It's a powerful word. When you check it in the original, you'll notice it means harsh, hard to deal with, anguishing. It's used only one other time in the New Testament. That's in Matthew 8.28 where Matthew is recording the event where Christ encounters two demon-possessed men who live among the tombs. They are described by Matthew as being exceedingly violent. Same word rendered here difficult.

One of my mentors used to refer to this word as savage. Timothy, you're living in savage times. I would add to each one of you men and women preparing for ministry, you will minister in those kind of times. The second thing I would say about the context is that to be different from the majority, you must cultivate qualities that are unlike the majority.

What are they like? When you go through two through five, you'll hear the context in which you will be ministering and in which I have ministered through the years. Please listen carefully. People will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness but denying its power.

And then there's an ending at verse five worth noting. Avoid such people as these. I don't know if you've thought about that in your life and in your ministry to come. There are people you'll need to deliberately avoid. Doesn't mean you have nothing to do with them. It means you do not choose them as close friends, close associates, people you want to pattern your life after for they are the people described in those words I just read.

If you want to make a lasting difference, you have to be unlike those around you or you'll blend into the group that is always in the majority. Over the years I've served the Lord Jesus, I've noticed these words are actually taking place. They happened in every church I've served, in every area where I've ministered. The majority are just like those words described. Thankfully that majority is not in the church itself but in the world around us.

We are to avoid such lifestyle as that. Now, to dig into these words, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14, Paul looks in three directions as I examine them. In verses 10 and 11 he looks back. He urges Timothy to think back and the literary clue for that are these verbs that end with ed. Listen to them again, you followed my teaching.

That's in the past. As he writes Timothy, he's looking back to those years when he and Timothy were closely associated and Timothy was engaged in following Paul's teaching and conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, and even was witnessing the persecutions he was going through, sufferings. Such things happened, there's another word from the past, they happened to me at Antioch, Iconium, at Lystra, and I endured another word from the past, or regarding the past. You learned, you followed, you watched as those things happened and you saw that I endured all those things as the Lord rescued me from each one. So he's looking back, I'll go back into that in a few moments. When you get to verses 12 and 13, he looks ahead and the literary clue here is the word will.

Look for yourself. Indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ, Jesus, will be persecuted. Evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. May not sound very encouraging, but that's what you will face, you will encounter. You will witness and you will rub shoulders with those kind of people. You however, and this is sude, that's an intense negative contrast. You however, meaning you Timothy, the one who is making a lasting difference as far as the present is concerned, you continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of.

So let's go into those three dimensions. First the past, verses 10 and 11. Model the truth you have been taught by those you trusted.

That's what I think the two verses are saying. There's a helpful principle worth remembering and it's this. There's a powerful link between remembrance and continuance. A powerful link between what we remember from those who taught us, those who were our mentors, those who established us in our spiritual formation, and the way we continue today.

We link those two together and that's what Paul is underscoring here. Remember the things you learned from me and then continue in them Timothy. Stop and think as you look back.

Think over some people who have built into your spiritual roots. It began quite likely as it certainly did with me, with our parents. We were young. We were beginning to learn many things, among them spiritual truth. It was not taught to me at a school I attended.

It was not taught by neighbors I played with and had fun with. I learned spiritual truths first from my mother and dad as Bryant and I were driving here together this morning. We talked about our parents and both of us said it was our parents who initially got our attention spiritually. If it's been a while since you have thanked your parents, that would be a great thing to do.

If they're still living, make sure that you express to them your gratitude. Not only parents, but we've been influenced by teachers, Sunday school teachers. If you were in a Christian school, those teachers.

How about pastors who served faithfully. They opened God's word and you worked your way through the scriptures listening to them, learning from them. Then along the way there were mentors.

I've mentioned the word several times. I'm big on mentoring on the importance of choosing, selecting very carefully those who shape our thinking in depth. They know us better than teachers knew us. In some ways they know us as we're growing up better than our parents continue to know us. They knew us as children, but mentors know us as adults. They play their role in our lives. And then there are counselors.

You may have received specific help in areas of your life from counselors and most recently professors. Not all of them, but most of them cared for your souls. They guided us.

They reproved us. Proverbs 27, 6, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. Faithful mentors on occasion will point out areas of blind spots in our lives and we look back and realize the value it was to know that and to hear their reproofs.

They will also be people who affirmed us, maybe noticed spiritual gifts that no one else pointed out, but mentors do that for us. As you are influenced and impacted by those individuals in Timothy's case, his mom, his grandmother, remember mentioned in chapter 1 verse 5, both of them playing a major role in his earliest years, and Paul himself helped Timothy in his development and in his spiritual formation. Paul even mentions his own time of persecution and hardship. He said, you watched as I endured times of persecution. By the way, there's no complaining.

There's no whining. There's simply an acknowledgement that the Lord rescued him from those things he endured. Something happens when we witness our mentors going through times of suffering.

When I was going through my tour of duty in the Marine Corps, I was stationed for 16 months on the island of Okinawa. While I was there, there was a man who was a representative of the navigators named Bob Newkirk. Bob became for me a stabilizing force. He went through a very difficult time. To this day, I never knew exactly what it was, but I found out about it from his wife, Norma.

I went to their modest home to be with Bob during that time and he wasn't there. Norma said to me, you may find him at his office down in the village. But I made my way to his little office.

He never knew I went there. And when I got closer to it, I looked through the bamboo siding of his office and I saw my mentor crying out to God. He was on his knees. He was singing, come thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace. Dreams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise. That is such a beautiful picture of Chuck Swindoll standing outside the office of his mentor, listening to the sounds of praise.

And there's more to this story that you'll definitely want to hear. This is Insight for Living and Chuck delivered his message at a chapel service attended by the students at Dallas Theological Seminary. He titled his talk, Making a Lasting Difference. You know, every sermon you hear on Insight for Living is paired with Chuck's online study notes. We call these free resources, Searching the Scriptures Studies.

You'll find a document that contains today's study in 2 Timothy when you go to insideworld.org slash studies. Look for the message called Making a Lasting Difference. At Insight for Living Ministries, we believe your first priority in charitable giving belongs to your local church.

But then as God prompts you, we invite you to partner with us in building up the church worldwide as well. We accomplish this goal through Vision 195. Vision 195 expresses our goal to make disciples of Jesus Christ in all 195 countries of the world. When you give to Insight for Living, you're making it possible to enjoy these daily visits on your radio station. But you're actually accomplishing much more because a small portion of every donation is applied to Vision 195 as well.

One of the best descriptions of Vision 195 is included in this month's Insights publication sent directly to your home. Be sure to sit down and enjoy the pictures and stories from Poland. Chuck's teaching is translated by a field pastor into the Polish language, and you'll be encouraged to hear how God is touching lives. To give a donation today, call us.

If you're listening in the United States, call 800-772-8888, or you can give online at insight.org-slash-donate. Treat yourself to a vacation you'll never forget on the Insight for Living Ministries cruise to the great frontier with Chuck Swindoll. Honestly, I had no idea that a cruise to Alaska could be so much fun. And without a doubt, the stunning views took my breath away. God's artistic genius is on full display in Alaska. In fact, I guarantee this, you'll come home refreshed and filled with awe for his majestic creation. Yeah, at one point our ship was getting chased by dolphins.

They were playing and spinning in the waves. It was amazing. You'll have plenty of time for adventures on shore, lingering conversations around mealtime, and strolling through the idyllic ports of call. You'll be a part of some of the best parts of our day, laughing, singing, and celebrating our God.

Plan to come with us, won't you? The dates are July 1 through July 8, 2023. To learn more, call 1-888-447-0444. That's 1-888-447-0444. Or visit insight.org-slash-events.

The tour to Alaska is paid for and made possible by only those who choose to attend. I'm Bill Meyer. Don't miss Chuck Swindoll's conclusion to the brand new series called The Pros and Cons of Ministry next time on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Making a Lasting Difference, was copyrighted in 2022 and 2023, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2023 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.