HOW TO OVERCOME BITTERNESS

2 Timothy 4:14-18 (KJV)

Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:

Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.

At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.

Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Let’s remember that the Apostle Paul is writing a last lesson to his preacher student, Timothy.

The time is short.

Paul will soon be gone to glory and Timothy will be left to pick up and move on.

What do you say?

What piece of counsel or advice do you give as your last words?

The Apostle Paul chose to put, just before he closed, something I believe is intended to “cure” bitterness.

All of us have to deal with bitterness sometimes.

·   Someone mistreats us

·   Someone gets a promotion we thought we deserved

·   Someone takes something we wanted for ourselves

All of deal with those sorts of things, but maybe preachers deal with it most.

It’s the nature of what we do –

·   Some people disagree with us

·   Some of them are violently opposed to us

·   Some of them were once very dear friends

Paul gives, by way of example, a plan to cure feelings of bitterness.

First

I. ADMIT THE PAIN

2 Timothy 4:14-16 (KJV)

Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:

Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.

At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.

We live in this twisted world that can’t get much of anything right.

So we have a corrupted sense of what forgiveness means.

We think – and those who have wronged us almost insist, that forgiveness means to act as if nothing ever happened.

They want us to, “forgive and forget.”

Forgiveness is very important – in some cases, forgetting would be foolish.

If someone breaks into my home, I need to forgive them immediately, even before the act.

Why? Because holding a grudge will not harm anyone but myself.

To be bitter, angry, hateful toward the person can only cause me harm.

On the other hand, to forget what they did would be foolish.

Ever heard that phrase, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”?

Paul never had ill feeling towards them, but he did remember that these are people to beware of.

Paul left their judgment in the hands of God, “the Lord reward him according to his works:”

This was one of the most liberating things I ever learned:

I can forgive anyone of anything because I trust that God will make it right in the end.

Those who ought to be judged, will be judged:

·   Righteously

·   Justly

·   Absolutely

Nobody is getting away with anything!

If they get saved, truly saved, Jesus will take their judgment for them – and that is better anyway.

II. ACKNOWLEDGE THE LORD

2 Timothy 4:17 (KJV)

Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

I knew the man who started Westside Baptist Church in Bremerton very well.

·   They started out like all of us who have planted churches do – with nothing.

·   He was able over some time to gather a small congregation and

·   They rented a building to meet in

Then his wife died, leaving him alone with his kids

For a little while he felt like he had been abandoned:

·   Pastors weren’t helping him as much as he thought he needed

·   The members of the church weren’t there for him in his loss

He quit the church and even quit the ministry for a little while.

But then he came to realize that, though his wife was gone, God had never left him.

He went on to serve the Lord at Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College, married the widow of a missionary and pastored a church in Oregon until he passed away.

In one of the most difficult days of his life, Paul was practically abandoned by the believers – something that would be very painful and could easily lead to bitterness.

But he never lost sight that God stood with him.

Finally

III. ACCEPT HIS DELIVERANCE

2 Timothy 4:18 (KJV)

And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

No matter what happens on this earth, our final reward is in heaven.

You may feel

·   Mistreated

·   Abused

·   Taken advantage of

But if you are a child of God, walking with God, just remember that the books haven’t been settled yet.

The best deliverance anyone can possibly have is the one that gets us into heaven.

Conclusion

Bitterness is a real challenge in this evil world.

But it can only hurt the one who gives in to it.

Don’t let it consume you.