Be Ready

Sermon by Bobby Warren

Delivered April 5, 2016 at Round Lake Christian Camp
I want to read something I saw on Facebook Saturday:
2 Timothy 4:7&8
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the
prize awaits me - the crown of the righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give
me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward
to his appearing.
Bob Jackson, my love, you have fought the good fight, you have finished the race and you have
remained faithful. Please get your prize and save a place for me. Tell our sweet girl how
much I love her. And please watch over us.
That was posted by my friend Jaime Jackson after her husband, Bob, died Saturday morning.
He was 48 years old. All of us worshiped together at Parkview Christian Church. Bobs death
came as a shock to all of us. On Easter Sunday he was playing in the praise team band, on
Monday he collapsed and was taken to the hospital. I dont know that he ever really regained
consciousness.
There were times when he opened his eyes and recognized Jaimes voice, but how cognizant
he was; I dont know. He endured a lot of pain due to an infection in his body. His blood
pressure was way too low; his organs started to shut down. He clung to life for nearly a week,
his body fighting as best it could in hopes of returning to take care of his young family.
But, in the end, it wasnt to be. God called Bob home on Saturday morning.
Todays message is Pauls Charge to Be Ready. It comes from 2 Tim. 4:6-8. Jaime posted twothirds of my text on Facebook. Let me read it all to you from the NIV:
2 Tim. 4:6-8, For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for
my departure. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8
Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge,
will award to me on that day and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his
appearing.
After what Jaime went through this past week, and perhaps what you have experienced in your
lives
(CT) IT IS IMPERATIVE WE ARE PREPARED SPIRITUALLY BEFORE THIS LIFE IS OVER.
(CS) In our text today, Paul lays out this charge for us to be ready, and later in the chapter he
hints at something else for which we should be prepared. Today, I want to explore two main
ideas:
I. WE HAVE TO TAKE THE NECESSARY STEPS TO GET RIGHT WITH GOD BEFORE THIS
LIFE ENDS, and

II. WE HAVE TO BE PREPARED TO CATER TO THE NEEDS OF OTHERS WHEN THEY

REACH THE WINTER OF THEIR LIVES.
(TS) How many have you have ever flown on a commercial passenger plane? When the flight
attendant offers instructions about the oxygen mask, what does she always say? Make sure you
put the mask on yourself before helping others. Why? Because we can be of no use to others if
we run out of oxygen.
If it is imperative we be prepared spiritually, then it stands to reason we take care of ourselves in
this manner.
I. WE HAVE TO TAKE THE NECESSARY STEPS TO GET RIGHT WITH GOD BEFORE THIS
LIFE ENDS.
A. BECAUSE LIFE ON EARTH WILL CEASE AT SOME POINT, WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE
WE ARE FAITHFUL.
SCR 2 Tim. 4:6-8, For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has
come for my departure. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the
faith.
1. As Paul reflects on his stage of life, he is confident he has been faithful to his God.
a. We know from the book of Acts that Paul, formerly known as Saul, was zealous for God, but
he didnt always have a good understanding of what God was doing.
b. Saul played a role in the stoning of Stephen and the persecution of other followers of Jesus.
c. On the road to Damascus, Jesus revealed himself to Saul in a powerful way.
2. When Paul realized who Jesus was, and he wanted to get in a right relationship with him, he
was baptized.
a. We read in Acts 22:14-16:
SCR "Then he said:'The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the
Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. 15 You will be his witness to all men of what
you have seen and heard. 16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash
your sins away, calling on his name. '
b. If we want to be in a right relationship with God and Jesus, it involves accepting their terms.
c. We know this involves hearing the gospel message, responding to it, confessing Jesus as our
Lord and Savior, being baptized and living as a new creation.
3. Paul can look back at his life and say, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I
have kept the faith.
a. Earlier in this fourth chapter, Paul gave Timothy a charge to preach the word, in essence,
make disciples and strengthen believers.

i. In 1 Tim. 6:12, Paul tells Timothy, Fight the good fight of the faith. This is basically a repeat of
what he said in 1 Tim. 1:18.
ii. This is Paul passing the baton onto Timothy. His fight is over, and Timothys is just beginning.
ILL I am a big football fan. I grew up outside Boston, Mass., so I am a New England Patriots fan.
But, no matter the sport, there comes a time when an athletes playing days are over. This year,
the football world fixated on Peyton Manning.
He had been a Super Bowl-winning quarterback in Indianapolis, but after he suffered a severe
neck injury, the Colts dropped him like a hot potato. The Broncos gave him a second chance,
and he returned to the Super Bowl twice, losing one and winning one this year.
Peyton was injured this year and lost a step or two. However, at the end of his championship
season, he didnt know if he was ready to hang up his cleats. He took some time to think about
it, and he eventually made the decision to retire.
All too often, star athletes try to hang on too long because they cannot give up the fame and the
glory. Instead of walking away from the game when they are at their peak, they hang on and
walk away washed up and used up. Paul, talking like a star athlete says he put up a good
struggle, he fought the good fight. He finished the race. He kept the faith.
4. Let us be like Paul and finish the race.
a. Notice, Paul did not say he won the race.
b. He was content to stay the course and complete it.
c. Christian service is one of endurance.
5. Paul endured so much, yet he kept the faith.
SCR Listen to what he writes in 2 Cor. 11:22-29, Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they
Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ?
(I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison
more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24
Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten
with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the
open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger
from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city,
in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27 I have labored
and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often
gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the
pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is
led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
B. WHEN WE ARE FAITHFUL, WE SHALL RECEIVE A CROWN IN HEAVEN.
SCR 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, will award to me on that day and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his
appearing.

1. Christianity is a journey, not a destination, though we long for our heavenly home.
a. Are you ready for this crown?
b. This crown is for the righteous person who keeps the faith.
2. And, Paul reminds us that it is not only for him, but for you and me and all who have longed
for the second coming of Christ.
(TS) There will come a time when this life ends for us. It will either be through death or through
Christ coming back. Are you prepared? Are you ready to meet your maker if he calls you home?
I was at the funeral of a friends husband this past week. He was killed in a fatal wreck in
Holmes County. Rich Chapin was 57 years old, and he was a solid Christian. His minister said,
We were not ready for Richs life to be over, but he was ready.
The Christian life is not a solitary life. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. He
gave us the Great Commission. There is only one task of the Great Commission: Make
Disciples. You do this by teaching them everything Jesus commanded and by baptizing them in
the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Because this Christian life is one of outreach to others ...
II. WE HAVE TO BE PREPARED TO CATER TO THE NEEDS OF OTHERS WHEN THEY
REACH THE WINTER OF THEIR LIVES.
In 2 Tim. 4:21, Paul tells Timothy, Do your best to get here before winter. Earlier in the chapter,
he writes beginning in v.9 Do your best to come to me quickly, 10 for Demas, because he loved
this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and
Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is
helpful to me in my ministry. 12 I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. 13 When you come, bring the cloak
that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.
Clarence McCartney used these verses as a foundation for what would become a 40-year
tradition. He preached his annual Come Before Winter sermon. I think the first time he
preached it, which would have been in 1915, the leaders of the church said he had to preach it
every year.
I want to share with you part of one of McCartneys Come Before Winter sermons. He wrote:
Pauls last letter is to this dearest of his friends, Timothy, whom he has left in charge of the
church at far-off Ephesus. He tells Timothy that he wants him to come and be with him at Rome.
He is to stop at Troas on the way and pick up his books, for Paul is a scholar even to the end.
Make friends with good books. They will never leave you nor forsake you.
He is to bring the cloak, too, which Paul had left at the house of Carpus in Troas. What a robe
the Church would weave for Paul today if it had that opportunity! But this is the only robe that
Paul possesses. It has been wet with the brine of the Mediterranean, white with the snows of
Galatia, yellow with the dust of the Egnatian Way and crimson with the blood of his wounds for
the sake of Christ.

It is getting cold at Rome, for the summer is waning, and Paul wants his robe to keep him warm.
But most of all Paul wants Timothy to bring himself. Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me,
he writes; and then, just before the close of the letter, he says, Do thy diligence to come before
winter.
Why before winter? Because when winter set in the season for navigation closed in the
Mediterranean and it was dangerous for ships to venture out to sea. How dangerous it was, the
story of Pauls last shipwreck tells us. If Timothy waits until winter, he will have to wait until
spring; and Paul has a premonition that he will not last out the winter, for he says, The time of
my departure is at hand.
We like to think that Timothy did not wait a single day after that letter from Paul reached him at
Ephesus, but started at once to Troas, where he picked up the books and the old cloak in the
house of Carpus, then sailed past Samothrace to Neapolis, and thence traveled by the Egnatian
Way across the plains of Philippi and through Macedonia to the Adriatic, where he took ship to
Brundisium, and then went up the Appian Way to Rome, where he found Paul in his prison, read
to him from the Old Testament, wrote his last letters, walked with him to the place of execution
near the Pyramid of Cestius, and saw him receive the crown of glory.
Before winter or never! There are some things which will never be done unless they are done
before winter. The winter will come and the winter will pass, and the flowers of the springtime
will deck the breast of the earth, and the graves of some of our opportunities, perhaps the grave
of our dearest friend.
There are golden gates wide open on this autumn day, but next October they will be forever
shut. There are tides of opportunity running now at the flood. Next October they will be at the
ebb. There are voices speaking today which a year from today will be silent. Before winter or
never!
So wrote McCartney in what has been called The greatest sermon ever.
A. DO YOUR BEST TO CATER TO YOUR LOVED ONES NEEDS BEFORE WINTER SETS IN.
As was seen over the past two weeks with the unexpected deaths of Rich Chapin and Bob
Jackson, we just dont know how much time we have left. If you have something to do, take care
of it.
B. BRING THOSE THINGS THAT SUSTAIN LIFE, BOTH HERE IN THIS ONE AND THE LIFE
TO COME.
Paul wanted his books ... I imagine those books would feed his spiritual hunger, and the cloak to
take care of the flesh.
I pray you will be there for others.
(TS) So, are you ready? Did you fight the good fight? Did you finish the race? Did you keep the
faith? Is there a crown of righteousness awaiting you?
Our preacher Brian White recently shared the story of John Stephen Akhwari, a marathon
runner who represented Tanzania in the 968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. When competing

in the marathon, Akhwari cramped up due to the high altitude of the city which he had not
trained in. Shortly before the 12 mile mark in the 26.2 mile race, there was jockeying for position
between some runners and he was hit. He fell, badly wounding and dislocating his knee joint
while his shoulder hit hard against the pavement. He however continued running, finishing last
among the 57 competitors who completed the race (75 had started).
Akhwari finished in 3:25:27, almost exactly 1hr 5mins after the Ethiopian winner. By the time he
came to the finishing line, his knee bandaged and bleeding, there were only a few people left in
the stadium, and the sun had set. A television crew was sent out from the medal ceremony
when word was received that there was one more runner about to finish.
As he finally crossed the finish line a cheer came from the small crowd. When interviewed later
and asked why he continued running, he said,
"My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race; they sent me 5,000 miles to finish the
race.
God did not create you to merely start the race, he created you to finish the race, and finish it
strong and claim your prize.