Jesus Fruit - Gentleness: Being God's Special Utensils - 2nd Timothy 2:20-26 (Wednesday Night Reflection)

One summer evening, a young child walked into the room while his parents were setting the table for supper.  Quite surprisingly, he asked if he could help.

His mother responded, “No, but I appreciate your asking.”

The child quickly responded, “Well, I appreciate your saying ‘no.’”

Now I don’t know what kind of meal they were having…whether it was a simple supper, or a formal dinner.  It might have been a formal dinner since the mom passed on the child’s assistance.  If it was a formal dinner, then I can completely understand the child’s response at appreciating his mom’s declining of his offer of assistance.

I have never tried to set the table for a formal dinner, and it is just as well.  I am one of these folks who can’t keep straight whether the fork goes on the left or the right, so you know, just ask Anita. Most of the time I just put everything on one side of the plate because I know that she is going to come behind me and fix whatever I mess up if I try to do it the right way.  I’m all about the cooking at the making sure the stuff is there to eat with…where it goes…I’m not that particular.  I also think that one fork and one spoon and one knife should suffice.  I think formal place settings are a little over the top with three or four forks, three spoons, two or three knives, two plates, and three different glasses.  You almost need a roadmap to set the table for one of those kinds of events…and guess what, there are “maps” online to help you set the utensils in their proper place.

If you are planning one of those formal dinners with that all that fancy set-up, let me make a suggestion…take that “table-setting map” and print it on the inside of the plate card that tells a person where to sit (if you are really having a formal dinner, that’s one of the required items).  If you were to print that map on the inside of the card with all the pieces labeled, then a simple person like me (you know a one fork, one spoon, one knife kind of person) would be able to tell what we are supposed to use when…instead of having to remember rules like starting from the outside and working your way in or something like that.

All of my complaining aside, there is at least one thing we can take away from a formal place setting.  It is the realization that each utensil is special, each has a purpose.  Each has its own purpose: a salad fork, a dinner fork, and a cake fork; a soup spoon, a tea spoon, and a dessert spoon; and, finally, a dinner knife and a bread knife.  They are special utensils.

Our reading from 2^nd Timothy tonight let us know that we are to be special utensils for God.  No, it is not about becoming a fork, spoon, or knife for God, but about becoming a special utensil, a special tool, a special instrument for God to use. 

In verse 20, Paul says that in a house there are gold and silver utensils and there are wood and clay utensils…(in our house it is stainless steel and plastic)…the first being for special use, the latter for ordinary use.  For Paul, this is the differentiation between the faithful and the unfaithful.  The gold and silver special utensils are those who are faithful to God and the wood and clay utensils are those who are unfaithful to God.  Paul mentions the marks of the unfaithful in verses preceding our reading tonight.  What makes a utensil ordinary and not special?  According to Paul it is “wrangling over words,” and “profane chatter.”  Do we spend time arguing over words, arguing about how something should be said that really doesn’t matter?  Do we have ungodly conversations…you know those jokes or comments that we would not make if we remembered that Jesus was standing right there with us?  Paul says we are to avoid both of those…arguing over words, Paul says, only ruins the conversation for those who are paying attention to it…profane talk, such as off-color jokes, racist comments, or the like only serve to move folks further and further away from God.  Paul says that those who claim to be Christians must avoid these things and turn away from wickedness. Then, according to Paul, those who clean themselves of these things go from being ordinary utensils of wood and clay to being special utensils of God.

What kind of tarnish must be cleaned off of us to make us a special utensil?  According to Paul it begins by shunning those youthful passions that we have held on to.  Like what?  Among them might be the constant desire to be entertained or be the center of attention, passions of lust, love of money, and so on…these things tarnish us and must be cleansed from us.  Paul suggests that we also must stay away from stupid and senseless controversies…don’t get involved in things that really don’t matter.  Why get into a senseless argument over what color to paint the sanctuary or what ingredients go in spaghetti sauce or how long we should hold a note while singing…none of those things have any bearing on our relationship with God and, according to Paul, are issues to be avoided.  Finally, Paul says, God’s special utensils must not be quarrelsome.  If we are faithfully following Christ, we will be Peacemakers, not those who go about looking for an argument or a fight.

What does any of this utensil talk have to do with the Jesus Fruit that we have been talking about for the last eight weeks?  Consider what a special utensil looks like.  Paul describes them as those who “pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart…the Lord’s servant must…be…kindly to everyone, and apt teacher, patient, correcting with gentleness.”  Here in Paul’s description of the special utensil, we find at least five out of the nine characteristics of Jesus Fruit…including this week’s focus, gentleness.

Paul, who has dealt with one church division after another, tells Timothy that a servant of the Lord should not be argumentative and quarrelsome, that whenever there is a disagreement, that it should be used as a teaching moment, and that gentleness must be used to correct the one that is off-track.  When we are argumentative, quarrelsome, and hateful in the midst of a disagreement, even when we are right, there is a greater chance that we will drive folks away or further from the truth, than there is that we will be able to convince them of what is right.  Everyone of us here have probably been involved in or been witness to one of those kinds of arguments…where the voices get louder and louder, the words get rougher and rougher, the name calling gets meaner and meaner, and in the end no one has moved from where they originally stood.  Paul says if you are working for God, and seeking to lead folks into a relationship with Christ, that is not the method we are to use.  I would suggest (rather than argue) that this is also the method that we are called to avoid with our brothers and sisters in Christ, less we run them away.

Paul tells Timothy and us that our methods of disagreeing with someone are to be gentle…they are to be kind, and mild, and avoiding any force or violence, including verbal force or violence.  The old saying is that “You draw more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.”  We do not want to “run-off” the folks that we are disagreeing with, we want to draw them into a closer relationship with Christ.  Paul says, if we “correct our opponents with gentleness” [that] God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth, and that they may escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”

That’s what being a special utensil for God is all about...it is about bringing folks to confront the sin in their lives, surrender to Christ as they repent of their sin, and freeing them from the traps that the devil has set before them…it is about drawing folks into a new relationship with Jesus Christ.  That is what all we do is supposed to be about…and that is why folks need to see Jesus Fruit growing from our lives…so that they may come to know Christ.  And just like the formal place setting where every utensil has its place and its job, we each have our special role in this work of God…yet if we want to be on the table, we must cleanse the tarnish from our lives and treat others with the gentleness of God.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.