Pastor Nelson Bonilla: 10-5-25 ” World Communion Sunday’  

2 Timothy 1:1-14
Today, on World Communion Sunday, once again, we join with believers across the earth. Believers with different languages, cultures, and traditions all gathered around one table, all sharing one bread and one cup, all embracing one hope, all members of one body and we do it in remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice, his message and our common call to be light and salt of the world. World Communion Sunday was established with the intention to make visible the unity of the Church of Christ through the shared meal of the Lord’s Supper, reminding us that in Christ we are one people, called to lead the world with love.  

This day reminds us that the church is not just local; it is universal and transcends nations, cultures, and traditions. 

The Universal Church of Christ has been gifted with the flame of the Spirit and with this gift from the Father comes the responsibility to faithfully represent Christ before the world.

For my meditation today, I want to emphasize the two charges Paul gave Timothy. One verse 6, “I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God” or “fan into flame the gift of God” and two verse 14, “Guard the good treasure entrusted to you.” These words from Paul helped Timothy to face the different challenges he had during his ministry in Ephesus. He was left there to correct the false interpretation of some “Christians.”

Today I want to use these same words with two purposes, one, as a celebration of our shared faith in Jesus Christ with Christians all over the globe who have in them the flame of the Spirit and two, as a challenge to live as witnesses of reconciliation, peace, and justice in a broken world. 

Paul reminded Timothy to stir the gift of God or to Fan into flame the fire of his faith as NIV translates this passage. Fires don’t keep burning by accident; they need tending, fuel, oxygen, and attention. In the same way, Paul reminds Timothy and us, our faith, our witness, and our commitment to Christ can fade if left unattended. 

On World Communion Sunday, we are reminded that the church’s fire must burn brightly in every nation, in every community. To “fan into flame” is to actively renew our passion for Christ. It is to remember constantly who we are and what our call and ministry in this world is. Micah 6:8 reminds us of part of that call and ministry: To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.

Paul also calls Timothy to “guard the good deposit entrusted to Him, with the help of the Holy Spirit.” That “good deposit” is the gospel, the message we have received, the truth and purpose of Christ’s death and resurrection, the hope of eternal life, and the calling to love mercy and justice. The Gospel or deposit entrusted to us is the good news that in Jesus Christ, God has come to save, forgive, and restore the whole humanity—bringing us from death to life, from sin to grace, and from separation to communion with God and one another.

The Good News we must spread is that “Jesus himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. We must proclaim that Jesus’ purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” As Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2:14-15.
Notice this: Paul does not tell Timothy to hide the treasure, but to guard it. Guarding means protecting its purity, holding fast against distortions, (false doctrines) and making sure it is lived out faithfully. How can we guard the treasure Jesus left us? By continuing destroying the barriers and the dividing walls of hostility men are building; by fighting the good fight against the hostility we see every day in our world, by loving those Jesus loves and died for. 
  
In our time, there is constant pressure on the church to follow the world, to imitate its divisions, politics, its compromises and bring them inside the church. But Paul reminds us: the church is called not to be shaped by the world, but to lead the world by living differently, by being a community of forgiveness, peace, compassion, reconciliation and truth. 

Guarding the treasure means keeping the Church’s witness and commitment clear, holy, and courageous, so that when the world looks at us, it sees Jesus in us and also a place of refuge and peace a place where all feel welcome and love not in peril. 
At the Lord’s table today, we are reminded to enact both charges Paul gave Timothy:
 To fan the flame by renewing our faith in Christ’s sacrifice and to guard the treasure by affirming that the gospel belongs to all people rich and poor, people from the east and west, north and south.

Today and always, we sit around the table of Jesus, the dividing walls culture, class and status have created fall. Here, at the table of Jesus there is not persecution or rejection only open arms to embrace one other. Here at the Church of Jesus the world must see a glimpse of God’s kingdom. 

Paul’s words to the young pastor still echo: Fan into flame the gift of God and guard the treasure entrusted to you. Therefore, church, let us come to the Table with a heart ready to renew our mission and purpose and to leave this table not as followers of the world, but as ambassadors of Christ, burning with passion, faithful in witness, and united across every border. Because when the Church’ faith is on fire for Christ and guards the gospel with courage “we act justly, we love mercy and walk humbly with our God, and the world will be drawn not to us, but to the Savior we represent.
 
Amen.