There are many facts in life that we are called upon to remember—appointments, vital pieces of information, names of acquaintances, even incidents from the past that are supposed to have significance. “Remember the Alamo” was a rallying cry to Texans at the time of the war with Mexico. “Remember the Maine” served the same purpose at the time of the Spanish American War, following the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbor in 1898. In World War II the saying was “Remember Pearl Harbor.” The interesting fact about these sayings is that each refers to a defeat. The saying that I want to take you to today is different and is also more important, for it is a challenge to remember a victory.
The challenge comes from a letter of the aged apostle Paul to his son in the faith, the young preacher, Timothy. Paul had been courageous and energetic in carrying the Gospel to the civilized world of his day. He had preached in Syria and Cilicia, Cyprus, Asia Minor, Macedonia, Greece, and Italy. Now he was in prison and was writing a letter of advice and encouragement to the man who was to carry on much of Paul’s work.
He says in effect, “Timothy, do you want your preaching to be strong and effective, as my preaching was? Do you want to win souls? Do you want to see the Church remain strong? Well, then, do not forget the great foundational truths of Christianity. And, in particular, do not forget the resurrection.” His exact words are, “Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel” (2 Tim. 2:8). I am convinced that in this statement we have an effective clue to the success of Paul’s ministry, as well as an indication of how we can be effective in our own. We can forget many things about life, many things even about Christianity. But if we remember the resurrection, we will always have a Gospel which has power to change men’s souls.
We need to ask some questions about Paul’s statement. Paul writes, “Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel.” But, we might argue, “Paul, we know what you are saying, but why is that so important? Why do you stress the resurrection? Why should Timothy remember this? And why should we?”
There are a number of answers. First, we should remember the resurrection because so long as we do remember it, we will always have a simple Gospel. And a simple Gospel is what men need. You will understand as I say this, that I am not talking about a “simplistic” Gospel. A simplistic Gospel would be one that is superficial, that does not really appreciate the problems or properly grapple with the facts. No one would want that in any area of life, certainly not in Christianity.
