“Guard the good deposit entrusted to you”

2 Timothy 1:11-14

11 For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, 12 and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day the deposit I have entrusted to him. 13 Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.

“Guard the good deposit entrusted to you,” Paul writes to Timothy. In another translation, the word was translated “guard the good treasure,” but “deposit” works, too. When banks receive a deposit, they are receiving someone else’s money to care for. In this case, the treasure/deposit is the gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ. It is God’s truth, given to us to care for. It is a treasure that changes lives, but it is never ours to manipulate or claim to own.

This truth is important. We guard the history of the church, in its beauty and its failures. We guard the legacy of what has been handed down to us. There may be changes in how we understand what God is doing, but what God is doing is consistent across the generations.

For example, God is consistently lifting up the lowly. It’s true in the song Hannah sings in 1 Samuel. It’s true in the song Mary sings in Luke. It’s true in God’s rescuing the people of Israel from slavery and in his bringing societal outcasts back into the communities they called home. When we lift up the lowly, we are participating in what God has always done. The words might change, like “treasure” and “deposit,” but the underlying message remains.

The good news is that Jesus died for all of us. The good news is that the Holy Spirit is at work in us, making sinners into saints. The good news is that God made this beautiful world and set us to take care of it. God trusts humankind with everything God has done. We have a huge responsibility.

We are guardians of the faith. Our role is not to keep others away from the good news, but to make sure that the good news of God is available to everyone. When others say that God’s love is just for some, it is our role to share that God loves everyone. When others say that Jesus only seemed to rise from the dead, we can say that God has truly conquered death by truly dying and rising again. When others say that we are here to take care of our own, we can say that we are here to show God’s love by caring for everyone, because God loves everyone. It’s a guardianship that calls people into loving relationship with Jesus. This is the good news.