Sermon Tone Analysis

“May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me—may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.” [1]

One courageous act can ensure that the name of an individual will live on in honour.

David became great, building his kingdom on the exploits of courageous individuals.

The names of these bold men live on in honour.

Among these bold men are some marked for honour by one courageous act.

Shammah, for instance, was recognised for taking a stand in a field of lentils in battle against the Philistines [see 2 SAMUEL 23:11, 12].

Another of David’s mighty men appears to have distinguished himself repeatedly by bold, courageous acts.

Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was recognised for vanquishing two ariels of Moab, for going into a pit with a lion on a snowy day and killing the beast, and for killing an Egyptian with the man’s own spear.

Small wonder that David set this man over his bodyguard [see 2 SAMUEL 23:20-23]!

Our text honours another man who is unknown to us other than for one courageous act.

Onesiphorus is mentioned only twice in the Bible.

In our text, he is commended for his search for Paul despite the Apostle’s imprisonment.

This was undoubtedly a courageous act.

Paul will mention his family again in 2 TIMOTHY 4:19.

Some scholars have concluded that Onesiphorus was dead, which would account for why Paul urges Timothy to greet his family though he fails to mention greeting Onesiphorus.

Similarly, when the Apostle speaks of this good man in 2 TIMOTHY 1:16, he voices his prayer for mercy for Onesiphorus’ family without mentioning Onesiphorus.

What is evident is that Onesiphorus was not with his family at the time Paul wrote.

Onesiphorus was likely from Ephesus.

We can infer that he and Paul became friends during the Apostle’s ministry there.

In fact, whatever we may say concerning Onesiphorus is conjecture.

His courage, however, is not a matter of conjecture.

*A MODEL FOR CHRISTIAN COURAGE* — “Onesiphorus … often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me” [2 TIMOTHY 1:16, 17].

Onesiphorus is not addressed directly in this missive to Timothy.

His family receives attention from the Apostle twice, however.

In the text, the Apostle writes, “May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus” [2 TIMOTHY 1:16].

Then, Paul writes, “Greet … the household of Onesiphorus” [2 TIMOTHY 4:19].

It is strange that the Apostle greets “the household of Onesiphorus” and not Onesiphorus.

Several explanations can account for this apparent anomaly.

Onesiphorus might have still been in Rome, ministering to the Apostle in prison.

However, that possibility appears to be precluded by the fact that in our text, Paul uses the aorist tense when speaking of the ministry he had received from Onesiphorus.

While the aorist tense is not strictly identical to our past tense in the English tongue, it does speak of an event without regard to how long the action was occurring or how long ago that action ceased.

What is important is that the action is completed.

Thus, we would surmise that Onesiphorus is no longer refreshing the Apostle.

I cannot exclude the possibility that Onesiphorus was travelling and in transit from Rome to Ephesus when Paul wrote.

However, if the possibility was that he would be home shortly, then why didn’t Paul anticipate this and include him in the greetings?

How could the letter from Paul to Timothy arrive before Onesiphorus arrived?

Perhaps Onesiphorus was in some way now proscribed from visiting with the Apostle.

Perhaps officials interdicted him in this mission of mercy.

Since Paul was under sentence of death, it would not be unrealistic to think that judicial officials kept Onesiphorus from visiting Paul as he awaited execution.

However, it is puzzling if this prospect is allowed to account for the reason Paul was permitted to correspond freely with Timothy and not with Onesiphorus.

Considering all the evidence, it seems to me that it is most accurate to suggest that Onesiphorus had died, perhaps even suffering death because of his faith demonstrated through ministry to the Apostle.

That this is a realistic possibility appears to be supported by the prayer that “the Lord grant him to find mercy … on that day” [2 TIMOTHY 1:18].

If Onesiphorus was still alive, then Paul would pray for him to be blessed now.

Whether Onesiphorus was alive or dead, the focus of the message is his courage displayed in seeking out the Apostle.

Though otherwise unknown to history, this man’s singular act stands as a model of Christian courage.

At a time when Paul was shunned by most believers, Onesiphorus not only identified as a Christian, but as a supporter of a man condemned to death because of his faith.

Onesiphorus did not consider his own life when he acted to honour God and to support the servant of God.

His action provides a model for each of us to emulate in life.

I do not need to agree with every jot and tittle of an individual’s theology in order to recognise courage displayed in the cause of Christ.

Though I may find many points of disagreement with an individual’s doctrinal views, if that one loves the Master and stands courageously for truth, honesty compels me to admire that individual and to urge believers to emulate the boldness and courage displayed.

Throughout history are found many individual Christians who stood boldly for truth.

Let’s take a moment to remember some of these choice saints and look at courage among those with whom we may more readily identify.

Let’s begin our stroll down the halls of the halls of Christian courage by remembering Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who chose to stand for his faith rather than embrace governmental promotion.

When many professed Christians chose silence in the face of Nazi genocide, Bonhoeffer distinguished between the Confessing Church and a new form of religion that united church and state.

Bonhoeffer’s determination to stand with Christ and his insistence on freedom for the churches cost him his life.

He was executed by hanging only three weeks before Hitler committed suicide.

He had multiple opportunities to leave Nazi Germany for the safety of Britain or the United States; and he did go to Union Theological Seminary in New York in June 1939 at the invitation of.

Amid much inner turmoil, he soon regretted his decision despite strong pressures from his friends to stay in the United States.

He wrote to Reinhold Niebuhr, “I have come to the conclusion that I made a mistake in coming to America.

I must live through this difficult period in our national history with the people of Germany.

I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people... Christians in Germany will have to face the terrible alternative of either willing the defeat of their nation in order that Christian civilisation may survive or willing the victory of their nation and thereby destroying civilization.

I know which of these alternatives I must choose but I cannot make that choice from security.”

[2]

Maximilian Kolbe was another martyr to Nazi evil.

Kolbe was a Franciscan priest serving in Poland.

When the Nazi’s overran the nation, Kolbe refused to accept the rights of a German citizen due because of his parentage; rather, he chose to continue his monastic work when he and other monks provided shelter to refugees, including between one thousand and two thousand Jews who hid in their friary in Niepokalanów.

Eventually, Kolbe was arrested and imprisoned in Pawiak prison before being transferred to Auschwitz as prisoner 16670.

There, he was subjected to violent harassment, including beatings and lashings.

When three men escaped from the camp, the deputy camp commander picked ten men to be starved until dead to deter further escape attempts.

One of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, “My wife!

My children!” Kolbe volunteered to take that man’s place.

After two weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe remained alive.

Because the guards were in a hurry to clear the bunker, they gave Kolbe a lethal injection of carbolic acid.

Kolbe had chosen to identify with his faith rather than accept release by submitting to the Nazi masters.

[3]

Among the English reformers, Thomas Cranmer, Nicolas Ridley and Hugh Latimer were each burned at the stake for holding to the authority of the Word of God and denying papal authority.

Cranmer, weakened through being held in isolation in prison for over seventeen months, recanted his faith, avoiding execution for a brief while.

Regaining strength, he was offered opportunity to confess publicly his “error” before the papal legates.

His sermon was written out and he was allowed to enter the pulpit to read what he had written.

However, he astonished those present when he deviated from what he had written to confess that because his hand had betrayed him, it should be punished by being burnt first.

He then boldly stated, “As for the pope, I refuse him, as Christ’s enemy, and Antichrist with all his false doctrine.”

Dragged from the pulpit and hastened to where Latimer and Ridley had been burnt six months earlier, the faggots were piled around him.

As the flames grew around him, Cranmer held his right hand in the fire, calling it “that unworthy hand.”

His dying words were, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit… I see the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” [4]

I’ve spoken of people whom some are uncomfortable accepting as martyrs of the Faith.

A German Lutheran of who revealed himself to be of a decidedly modernist persuasion, a Franciscan monk noted for his devotion to Mary and an Anglican noted for his contributions to the Book of Common Prayer are not normally recognised as evangelicals.

Perhaps we make too much of profession and too little of possession.

Those who resist the spirit of the age to identify fully with the Master are to be honoured when their devotion leads them to stand courageously.

This is not to say that evangelicals do not have heroes—we do.

John Clarke, Obadiah Holmes and John Crandall were three Baptists who stood for liberty in worship.

Their insistence on freedom of conscience was met by brutal attempts at suppression by religious authorities in New England in 1651.

Obadiah Holmes was whipped with thirty-nine lashes for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Clarke and Crandall were fined an exorbitant amount for accompanying Holmes.

[5]

Let me speak of another evangelical from more recent days.

After her husband, together with four other missionaries, was martyred by Auca Indians in Ecuador, Elisabeth Elliot and Rachel Saint, whose brother Nate was among the missionaries slain, lived among the very tribe that had murdered the five missionaries.

They carried the message of life to a savage peoples, becoming God’s instruments of grace to turn the darken tribe to faith in the Son of God.

Tragically, these gracious women were castigated for not leaving the Auca in their pagan darkness.

Modern concepts of the noble savage continually assailed these women for daring to declare life in the Son of God.

Elisabeth Elliot (though married twice more after Jim’s death, she continued to be known by this name) passed into the presence of the Saviour on June 15, 2015.

[6]

As I prepared the message this week, I came upon the account of a missionary who, though less well-known than other martyrs, demonstrated extreme courage to the point of death.

In 1931 a missionary named John Vinson was working in North China.

An army of bandits swooped down on his village looting, burning and killing.