Delivered October 9, 2022 by Amy Higgins

Scripture Lesson: 2 Timothy 2:8-15

Mom and I watch The Andy Griffith Show every day. In the third episode of the first season, Andy devises a plan so that the traveling band stopping in town for lunch can hear the local guitar prodigy (who apparently, became the sheriff of Hazard County twenty years later). When Andy finally gets them together, he begins to negotiate, “Mr. Fleet, if Jim was ready, and if you was to hire him, and if you was ready to talk money…” Then Jim interrupts, but Andy says, “Now Jim, you’re interrupting me right in the middle of my iffin’.” 

“Remember Jesus Christ…This is my gospel, for which I am suffering…” This is not just information for Timothy, it is his mentor rehearsing his own faith; proclaiming the gospel again, as he has many times before. He is making a declaration of faith, a creedal statement. “Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.” Sounds really familiar. Our creeds, our declarations of faith not only affirm our faith but, as we recite them corporately, we share our faith with others. Just as our prayers look both inward and outward, our creeds help us to outwardly live our inner faith – to live out loud. 

I asked someone to share with me what the Apostle’s Creed means to them and this is what they said, “The Creed is the perfect encapsulation of our faith. As much as one can ‘sum up’ the Almighty, creating, suffering, resurrected, saving, trinitarian God and His work for, in, and through us, the Creed gives us something to hold onto, something our baffled minds can almost grasp when we are overwhelmed by the immeasurable immensity of Who God is. In just a few lines it covers the scope of His-Story and moves us from the Creation of everything, through God’s redemptive plan, to the Judgment and the resurrection of our bodies, and right into Eternity.” We declare our faith with the Creed just as Timothy’s mentor begins this passage, but his declaration is followed by ifs. So, is there room for doubts? For failures in our will to fully follow, to completely give ourselves to all that discipleship requires? Let’s see.

If the Almighty, creating, suffering, resurrected, saving, trinitarian God works for, in, and through us, we have something to hold onto. If our baffled minds can almost grasp the immeasurable immensity of Who God is, the scope of His-Story moves from the Creation of everything, through God’s redemptive plan, to the Judgment and resurrection of our bodies, and right into Eternity. 

  There is room for the ifs, even in declaring our faith, because the ifs upon which our faith is built have already happened. If God created everything – check. If God fulfilled His redemptive plan – check. So, if the ifs of faith are settled, are things that have happened, rather than conditions for something to happen, then what are the ifs Paul speaks of later in the passage? They are our ifs, not God’s.

“If we died with him, we will also live with him.” 

If we have the cruciform love of Christ, the love that truly loves without condition, the love that sacrifices self, we will truly live with him here and now.

“If we endure, we will also reign with him.”

If we do not give in to what the world – the false prophets – tell us, if we keep our focus on Him and who He made us to be, remembering who we are and whose we are; If we do not give up when we grow weary of the needs of this world; If we do not give up but learn to rest and renew, finding our strength in Him and the Holy Spirit we will build the Kin-dom here on Earth as it is in Heaven.

“If we are faithless; he remains faithful.”

If we become so exasperated by the world, by politics – inside and outside the Church; If those who pull us away from what we are called to do for others and who we are called to be; If our true purpose, true mission, and true ministry gets sidetracked, He is still by our side walking every step of the detour with us, guiding us back to the Emmaus road where we can once again find Him in all we meet. 

With the ifs of faith already having happened, the ifs of our discipleship are not conditional as we may think of them being as if/then. But rather, the ifs are both/and. Both personal and communal. Both inward inspiration and outward exhortation. We are not passive spectators. We are called to “lean in” to the ifs. We do this, as we partner with the Holy Spirit to work within us, to make disciples, and to do our best, as Paul says, to present ourselves to God as one approved, for we are already worthy. And when something or someone interrupts you in the middle of your iffin’, you just keep right on iffin’.