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Gospel Loyalty - 2 Timothy 1:15-18

This is a sermon by Peter Birnie from the evening service on 25th January 2026.

Click here to read the bible passage. Click here to use larger text.

An audio recording of this sermon is available.

2 Timothy 1 v 15-18 “Gospel Loyalty”

Intro: (Slide 1) There is a scene in the 2005 movie “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” where soon to be King Peter is leading his troops in battle against the evil forces of the white witch when his horse gets shot by an arrow and off he falls to lie helplessly on the ground. He gets up but is left by himself with the enemy soldiers and the witch herself approaching. But then the scene cuts to one of his most trusted soldiers, a Centaur and next to him a Rhino – they turn and see Peter down and his certain death approaching and without pause they charge to Peter, then past Peter and straight into the enemy soldiers, without any thought for their own health or survival. I love that particular part of the movie because that is what serious loyalty looks like. Not only are the Centaur and the Rhino on the side of what is good, but they are on the side of the people who are on the side of good. When Peter looks gone, there they are to stand with him and protect him.

(Slide 2) That is the sort of loyalty that the gospel of Jesus Christ calls all Jesus’ followers to. Jesus Christ deserves, demands and equips us by his Spirit for just this kind of self-sacrificial, courageous, powerful, bold, self-disciplined commitment to his name and the cause of the gospel and along with that to his people and the servants of the gospel. That is where we are at in 2 Timothy chapter 1 this evening. Paul is off his horse and seemingly helpless, languishing in a Roman prison cell with a death penalty hanging over his head. God will never leave him alone of course, but what about the people of God? What will they do?

(Slide 3) Will they plunge back towards danger, the danger of getting a reputation for being trouble-makers in the empire, the danger of imprisonment and suffering themselves, the danger of the maniacal emperor Nero finding new ways to put believers to death? Whose loyalty to Jesus will shine through in loyalty to the servants of Jesus?

• When gospel loyalty disappears, it will be because people let go of the gospel (v15)

 (Slide 4) Paul’s initial answer to this, that we get in verse 15, is a very bleak and depressing one indeed. Whose loyalty will shine through… no one’s. Nobody will show up, no one’s loyalty to Jesus is enough for them to be counted alongside Jesus’ apostle Paul on death row;

“You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.”

Considering all that we have heard over the past few Sunday evenings from this letter, this statement is shocking indeed. (Slide 5) Because with the gift of the Holy Spirit, God’s servants have been equipped with everything they need for lives of power and love and self-discipline. At the cost of Jesus’ blood, God’s servants have been saved eternally because of God’s grace and for his purpose. Indeed, their saviour Christ Jesus has already destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

So with all of this achieved for them and provided freely to them, surely the task of guarding the good deposit of the gospel, and being willing to suffer for Christ and with Christ’s people, though difficult and costly, is not beyond the ability of the people of God? When believers hold tight to this gospel, surely they won’t abandon other believers in their time of need? But Paul’s news is bad news – everyone has deserted him including Phygelus and Hermogenes. In his prison cell, in cold and harsh conditions, with death approaching, Paul is disappointed that the people of God are absent. And it seems like Phygelus and Hermogenes have disappointed him most.

(Slide 6) I wonder if, during the passion week, as Jesus was arrested at Gethsemane and brought to that joke of a trial, did the women get together to talk about what was going on? And as they whispered to one another about the disciples abandoning Jesus and running away, would one of them have asked, “even Peter?”. When it comes to loyalty to Jesus and so loyalty to the servants of Jesus, there will always be some people who will disappoint you far more if they shrink back and go silent when they should speak, or seek comfort when they should make sacrifices. It seems that both Paul and Timothy would certainly have expected Phygelus and Hermogenes to turn up even if nobody else did. What a sad little sentence that is in verse 15. Everyone has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

(Slide 7) Paul is not grumbling here, or feeling sorry for himself, bathing in pity and bitterness and resentment. No, Paul is writing this whole letter to stir God’s people up to faithful gospel living, preaching and enduring. Verse 15 is written as a stark warning for Timothy to take note of and for you and I to take action on. Paul’s disappointment isn’t linked to his own comfort and joy (although gospel loyalty does bring that sort of encouragement as we will see later), Paul’s disappointment stems from his burning concern for the church, for the spiritual state of God’s people, for the endurance of the saints.

(Slide 8) This failure of all the saints in Asia, and especially Phygelus and Hermogenes, causes great concern to Paul because it asks huge gospel questions about those men. What could possibly cause you to stand with Paul when the result may be the same death sentence? It is only true gospel conviction isn’t it? Loyalty to Jesus that is produced by the work of the Spirit and therefore a loyalty to God’s people, and especially gospel servants, that naturally flows out from this. Let’s ask that same question from another angle. Considering that the gospel is true, and that God is real, that Jesus died and rose again, destroying death and bringing immortality to light, that the Spirit is real, that God sees everything, that he is completely sovereign, and that there is a day of judgement coming, then what could possibly cause anyone to make the decision to desert Paul and not to be counted with him? The concerning, disappointing, and only logical answer to that question is that gospel loyalty will only disappear if people let go of the gospel.

(Slide 9) And no wonder Paul is concerned for the church and for these 2 men because back in Mark 8v34 Jesus teaches clearly what a letting go of the gospel leads to;

“…If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”  

What frightening words from Jesus’ own mouth for the everyone in Asia that Paul writes to Timothy about.

• When Gospel loyalty remains, it is because of the mercy of God (v16-18)

(Slide 9) But hold on, wait a moment. Not everyone everywhere. As Paul stands seemingly helplessly waiting in the face of his enemies and his approaching death, he isn’t completely alone after all – like that Narnian battle scene at the beginning, there is a Rhino or a Centaur charging into the frame, and his name is Onesiphorus. It’s a shame that is such a tough name to say or else I may well have had an Abbie, a Hannah, a Bethany and an Onesiphorus for children. Because what a bloke Onesiphorus must have been, v16 (Slide 10);

“May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.”  

(Slide 11) Rome was a big place filled with aggressive enemies of the gospel with threat hanging over even quiet believers. But it was in that environment that Onesiphorus, whose loyalty to Jesus and to Jesus' gospel servants had been forged back in Acts 19 during the forming of the Ephesian church, it was in that dark foreboding environment that Onesiphorus would have been going from place to place, prison to prison, perhaps even soldier to soldier, asking for the whereabouts of Paul the apostle.

(Slide 12) For most of us here, even the very act of coming into the Network service late and drawing that attention to ourselves, that alone is enough to make us feel awkward and vulnerable (most of us – not all of us). (Slide 13) But there is Onesiphorus, hunting for Paul, knowing that he isn’t risking just a little bit of social embarrassment but the threat of persecution, imprisonment and death. And notice the details in the text – he searched hard until he found Paul. It would have been so easy to look for a little while and then go home with conscience mostly intact. Or look for a long while in the easy places and go home with conscience mostly intact. But Onesiphorus must love Jesus, he must love the gospel, he must have been bowled over and transformed by God’s mercy that sought him hard until he was found, and so he searched hard until he found Paul.

(Slide 13) When you hear that, do you not immediately want to be a believer like Onesiphorus? I do. I want to be that sold out for Jesus, I want to be that committed to gospel work, I want to be that convicted about the mercy of Jesus Christ.

(Slide 14) And I tell you what else I want. I want the blessings that this sort of life brings. Because they are far greater and far longer lasting that any blessings I could get for myself by letting go of the gospel, by trading in gospel loyalty for selfish comfort and materialism. Verse 16 – “May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus” and then verse 18 “May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day!” What does loyalty to the gospel bring with it according to Paul here? Mercy for now and mercy for later.

• Mercy for now: Being counted with Jesus, belonging to him through faith, united with him in his sufferings right now  is costly and often painful, but it also means that by his Holy Spirit God is always with you, always empowering you, always persevering you, always forgiving you, transforming you, bearing fruit in you and through you – it is mercy, mercy, mercy for now.

• Mercy for later: And what about on that day when everyone stands in front of the judgement seat of Christ? On that day the mercy of Jesus will be prized more highly than any other possible blessing in the universe. Back to Jesus’ teaching in Mark 8; “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world but forfeit their soul?” Onesiphorus can confidently look forward to eternal mercy because he so obviously belongs to Jesus – he embodies Mark 8 v 35; “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” It is mercy, mercy, mercy for later.

Example/Story: (Slide 15) I have often been puzzled by the things that people will give their lives to – young people who will get up every morning at 4am so they can get good enough at swimming to compete in the districts, just stop oil protesters who will go to prison for throwing paint on statues, so called “freedom fighters” in Ireland who will sacrifice their own life and that of others so they will be under a different flag. I don’t have it in me to give up my life for an idea, for a concept, for recognition.

(Slide 16) But it is a very different thing to give your life to a concrete truth, to the eternal reality of Jesus and his Kingdom that cannot ever be taken away. That North Korean lady on the Open doors video who escaped, became a believer and has sneaked back into North Korea to spread the gospel. It is scary, but I get it – the gospel is reality and brings eternal gain. Eric Liddell giving up his chance to win a gold medal so he could honour God, then after winning a different gold medal, giving up fame and fortune, instead heading to China as a missionary and dying in a prisoner of war camp. That is sacrificial but I get it – the gospel is reality and brings eternal gain.

Onesiphorus got that – do we get it? If not, then we are to fix our eyes on the cross of Christ where Jesus, for the joy set before him, the joy of redeeming the people of God, the joy of eternity where God lives among his people, he endured the cross, scorning its shame. And as we fix our eyes there, and as the Spirit transforms our hearts then, and only then will we want to live differently, and be able to live differently;

Application: So here is some application for all the believers here from the example of Onesiphorus (Slide 17);

• Christian friendship and gospel loyalty will mean showing up. Can you be relied on to show up? I have benefited a lot this last couple of weeks from various evidences of gospel loyalty and showing up. (G in church always telling me if she will miss prayer meeting/Sunday gathering etc, J using words well, R saying “Yes I will do that”, R saying “Can I serve on that team?”, J getting on with serving others when it costs, the M team spending themselves for God’s glory, N sending me a text to ask for what I need prayed for – all showing up, being there, actively working to encourage gospel workers and gospel work). How can you show up more?
• Christian friendship and gospel loyalty will mean giving things up. The elders and leaders we work with in the churches give loads of their time and energy up to care for others and prosper the work of the gospel. Members of the congregation happy to give their money and resources to family funds, to bible projects, to gospel initiatives. Families giving sport up on a Sunday morning because gathering in a church family matters more. What are you giving up because of loyalty to Jesus and the work of the gospel?
• Christian friendship and gospel loyalty will mean speaking up. Let us be loud with the gospel. Open Houses, invites to courses, personal evangelism. How can you speak up more loudly because of gospel loyalty?

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