"The Best Christian Education in the World"

2 Timothy 1:1-7

Rev. Everett L. Miller

I’ve told you before that for many years of my childhood my family attended a great church called Yeaman’s Park Presbyterian Church in Hanahan, South Carolina. When all of us kids were at home my parents were very adamant about the family attending Sunday School and worship. I am glad that my parents made a point of doing that, as I later looked back on that congregation and remembered that the pastor had tried to help our family through some very difficult times. The memory of his witness helped me make my decision to become a pastor. But there was quite a disconnect between what we did on Sunday mornings and what we did as a family the rest of the week. We may have said grace; I don’t remember. But never did we discuss what we learned on Sunday morning. Never did we talk about faith. Never did we crack open a Bible. As a child growing up in the church I don’t think that I ever actually owned a Bible. If I did, I certainly didn’t keep it in my room. I cannot venture to say what was really taking place in my parents' hearts in those years but looking back on it I think we probably went to church on Sunday because that’s what respectable families do on Sunday in South Carolina. But faith never really came home with us.

One of my professors in seminary once told our class that everyone wants for the church to be like a big family, but Christians often forget that the family should also be like a little church. The best Christian Education in the world, he said, takes place not in Sunday School but at home. Faith has to come home with us, he said.

A long time ago, a very important prophet by the name of Moses had a habit of saying similar things:

"Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them." (Deut. 4:9)

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." (Deut. 6:4)

The great Apostle Peter, on the very day that the Holy Spirit came down as though it was tongues of fire, also said something similar:

Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call. (Acts 2:38-39)

And finally, in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul commands, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). Faith has to come home with us. After all, as we will see from Paul’s words to Timothy, our faith does not live at 201 South Walnut; it lives within us.

Paul begins his letter to the young pastor Timothy by building him up. He calls him “my beloved child,” which must be a wonderful thing to hear from your spiritual teacher. Paul recalls a time when Timothy broke down in tears, maybe when Paul and Timothy parted ways. He tells Timothy that when he sees him again he will be filled with joy. Then he talks about Timothy’s faith. Paul could have said, “I am reminded of your sincere faith that lives in you.” But he didn’t; he chose to trace that faith back through the channels through which it came, like tracing a river back to its tributaries. “I 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 faith came from grandma, from mom, and now lives within Timothy. Who knows why it doesn’t mention dad and grandpa? Maybe they weren’t around. Maybe they never became believers. Who knows? But what we do know is that if it wasn’t for the fact that Lois and Eunice wouldn’t let their faith stay on Sunday mornings or where they met for worship, if it wasn’t for the fact that Lois and Eunice brought their faith home with them and shared it with little Timmy, then that faith may have never come to live within Timothy. It appears that the home, which Lois and Eunice provided for the family, was like a little church.

Lois and Eunice must have known that if we do not raise our children to love the Lord, to study the scriptures, to spend time in prayer, then we should not be surprised if when they grow up they want nothing to do with faith or the church, because it will have no value for them. Granny Lois and Momma Eunice must have known this and they did the holy work of passing on the faith. Paul later had even more compliments for Timothy's family: "But as for you [Timothy], continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have know the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation thorugh faith in Christ Jesus." Faith came home with them and the results are wonderful.

You might want to say, “Well Everett, your parents didn’t bring faith home for you and look, you ended up as a pastor. So it’s not that important.” Although now is not the time for my full testimony about what brought me to my knees and what brought me to the realization that I just can’t go on living without Jesus Christ in my life, but I will tell you enough so you can get the point that it does matter if faith comes home.

During my four years of high school I lived with a different family each year. Before entering my senior year in high school I was once again looking for a place to live. I didn’t feel like I could go back to my parents’ house. My grandfather was in the final stages of lung cancer so I couldn’t move back in with them. So the family of one of my good friends set up a trundle bed in his room and although I was never officially adopted I became one of their children. They were the youth pastors at the Baptist Church and they brought their faith home with them. They talked about what God was doing in their lives. They prayed a lot. They studied the scriptures at home. Faith mattered to them. My new family loved Jesus and I got to see it in action. As my professor said, the best Christian Education in the world takes place not in Sunday School but at home. Faith has to come home with us, as it did in Timothy’s family with his grandma Lois and his mom Eunice.

Life is busy, too busy for many of us. We do and do and do. We don’t see our families as much as we’d like. There’s always noise from the TV or the radio. Even though I’m a pastor, don’t for a second think that I live some sort of monastic existence where all I have to do is pray and read the Bible. I live in the same world you do. Phone calls. Paperwork. Deadlines. Meetings.

But if our faith is truly going to live within us, as Paul says of Timothy’s faith, then we must talk about what God is doing in lives at home, we must pray as a family and for our families, we must spend time in God’s Word, we must live in a way that our children and grandchildren can look at us and have no doubt in their minds that we do believe in Jesus Christ, that faith does matter.

Our faith cannot only live at 201 South Walnut, because if it does only live here then what happens when we are not at 201 South Walnut? It is as I quoted this past Wednesday night, “Sometimes you have to see somebody love Jesus before you can love him yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.” Who better to show the way than mom and dad, than grandma and grandpa, than husband or wife?

I say, "Thank God for Lois and Eunice."

I say, "Thank God for my best friend’s family."

I say, "Thank God for all who take their faith home with them."

And finally I say, "Thank God for a faith that lives within us instead of in this building."

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.