With great power comes great responsibility
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2 Timothy 1
2 Timothy 1
What’s up y’all, its good to be with you guys. this is now our 6th wednesday night together this semester, still feels like we are just getting started
We began our semester talking about habits, remember stop trying to be Godly and start training yourself for Godliness, then we talked about turning dirt roads into highways, thnn we moved on to our series in exodus which was all about relationship with God, how do we find relatonship with God in the midst of any circumstance in our life,
so my hope now is that you have some tools to have good habits in your life when it comes to pursing the Lord and you have an awareness the presence of God in your life and what it looks like to have a relationship with him, and now we will be turning our eyes to a new series, follow me as I follow Christ, and this is gonna be three weeks in the book of 2 timothy.
And my hope for this series as you are hopefully rooted in good habits or working towards that, and you understand that God desires a relationship with you and you can trust him and walk with him, we can now get into some more discipleship orientated conversations. If I am going to claim to follow christ, what does that look like? And 2 Timothy has so much for us in regard to that.
Paul is in prison in Rome, he is aware that his days are numbered as he is going to be executed, and he is writing to Timothy. Timothy is a young-ish pastor of the church in Ephesus and Paul has discipled and poured into Timothy for years, so in 2 Timothy Paul is writing to his young son in the Faith knowing it may be the last communication they have and he is exhorting and encouraging Timothy in being a man of God. So thats where we are going, yall open your bibles to 2 timothy, lets pray.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus,
Paul is reminding Timothy he is an apostle, his words have meaning and are important.
He is saying ultimately the purpose for his writing in the good news of Jesus
To Timothy, my beloved child:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Here we are beginning to see Paul’s love for Timothy, lets continue
I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.
We see this picture of Paul in prison longing to see Timothy, praying for his ministry
Why does Paul care so much for Timothy
I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.
We see Paul talk about Timothy’s family of great faith and how Timothy has great Faith, Paul sees this in Timothy, later in the book it talks about Timothy being brought up with the scriptures. Paul has so much care for Timothy because he has this relationship with Timothy and he sees Timothy’s sincere and great Faith.
Now we are going to get into it
Now the letter turns from introduction and Paul’s longing to see Timothy, and now Paul is going to start giving Timothy some truth he needs to hear.
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Most Scholars think Timothy was kind of a timid guy, had a chill demeanor, and what we know from 1 Timothy is that Timothy has been dealing with a ton of issues with False teachers in Ephesus. We almost get this picture of Timothy as this already Timid and chill guy who has just fought this battle with false teachers. He’s probably pretty worn out.
Paul, in sight of this, is reminding Timothy of the gift he has
Do you all know God has created you, and wired you specifically with something to give to the Kingdom of God?
You have a gift and you may not know what it is, and frankly you may not really believe there is anything that special about you, but the truth is, you have a gift God created you for a purpose and he has knit you together with something to give to the kingdom of God
But not only does Timothy have a gift, but Paul reminds him God has given us a spirit, not of fear, but of Power, love, and self control. Lets break this down.
Not of fear, this word fear is the opposite of Boldness, so Paul is telling Timothy that the spirit inside of him is giving him boldness, and power what does power mean, it means the ability to do what God has asked, the ability to live into the gifts god has given timothy. But not just boldness and power, but the ability to love God and others, and self discipline which is to live differently than the world.
See there is this picture that God has given us gifts, you and me, that he expects us to use for the kingdom of God, and he expects us to be Bold, and love fiercely, and be self disciplined in a society of self absorbed people. That’s hard stuff, but Paul’s point is that everything youve been given and everything god expects of you is backed up by His power. Yeah on your own, you cannot do what God has asked of you, are you kidding me, on my own I would be a mess, but we are not on our own, because God has given us the spirit, the holy spirit inside of us giving us boldness, and power, and love, and self discipline, what we need to live into the Gifts and purpose we have in this life.
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,
THEREFORE, dont be ashamed, you have a spirit of boldness and power, dont be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, but share in the suffering for the Gospel
Paul is telling Timothy to share in the suffering for the Gospel, not to shrink away when it gets hard to be a Christian to but be bold.
Not of Timothy’s own strength but...
BY THE POWER OF GOD
By the power of God to speak and live the testimony of Christ that is sharing the gospel in our words and actions
but not only words and actions in our associations too. Paul is saying not to be ashamed of him being in prison, likewise we are called to testify to Christ in who we associate with, who are our friends?
Are we willing to stand with our christian brothers and sisters at school, in public, and say these are my brothers and sisters and I will treat them as such and I will not be ashamed to stand with them.
Thirdly paul is saying not to be ashamed in the message itself. That is the Gospel itself. The Gospel that
who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
The issue here is that to stand strong in the Gospel is to acknowledge our need.
See Paul says God saved us and called us not because of our works, not because of what we have done, but because of what? His purpose and grace.
See we must, as Christians admit our utter powerlessness and our absolute need for Christ.
Its not anything we did, we didn’t answer the questions on the test right, no we failed, 0%, and God needed to bail us out, and he chose to not because were the good ones, but totally because of his Grace and plans.
That can be hard to accept because if we are honest we want to be the hero of our story.
But to be a Christian is to acknowledge your absolute and total need for God and his great Grace which you needed. Jesus is the Hero.
And while this can be hard to accept and goes against our nature in a lot of ways
Its the truth and we have to come to place where we acknoledge that. and there is so much freedom in that, because God accepts you at 0% at failure, while we still sinners, Christ died for us. God loves you as you are and he is going to walk with you to bring you into the fullness of his gifts and plans for you.
for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.
Paul says it is for this Gospel that he suffers.
But he is not ashamed of his suffering. He is not ashamed of being in prison, I think I would be pretty ashamed of that honestly.
And this is a dude who not only was in prison, but he was stoned and shipwrecked and arrested multiple times, I mean this was a guy who could have been easily ashamed, but he wasn’t, why?
“For I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me”
Paul knows who God is, and he has confidence in God’s will and ways. Paul knows God is in control and his eternity is secure and his life is in God hands. Paul has surrendered to God fully, even if that means execution in a Roman prison.
Let’s continue
Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Here Paul is saying follow me, as I follow Christ. The pattern of sound words, is the word of God, this is Pauls writings in the new testament. Follow these things. We should too right?
Are you in the word? You reading the Bible?
Then he gives Timothy this charge:
By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
A good deposit has been entrusted to Timothy, what is that? The gospel. Paul here is talking about Timothy defending the Gospel from false teachers and liars.
Let me tell you, it does not take long at all to search on youtube or come across something on tik tok of some dude or lady who looks like a pastor, calls themselves a pastor, and is speaking absolute and utter lies about the Bible and the gospel.
I have seen video upon video, my little brother sent me this week and he was like bro, I saw one this morning. There is so much garbage teaching that is devoid of the truth online.
We must know the sound words by being in scripture so that we can stand firm against these lies and false teaching.
And let me just throw this out to you, if you ever see something and it doesn’t seem right talk to somebody, your parents, your leaders, me john kendall KL, we know this stuff is out there and it can be confusing and we would love to walk with you through that.
What I am saying here is that your understanding of scripture matters. It matters, you matter. There is a good deposit entrusted to you.
Have y’all seen Spiderman? Any of the Spidermans?
In each Spiderman there is a moment where, a turning point, where there is a recognition by either uncle Ben or aunt May of the power peter parker has. And depending on the spiderman, Uncle Ben or Aunt May looks as Peter and says what, “With great power, comes great responsibility”
What Paul is saying here to Timothy, and what I am saying to you, is that you have great power and great responsibility.
You have gifts given you by God and you have the power of the Holy spirit within you giving you boldness, love and self discipline, and the ability to do what God is asking you do, and with that great power you have a great responsibility to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
A responsibility to not be ashamed but testify to the gospel in your words and actions and the people you associate with and the message you teach. A responsibility to know the truth through the sound words of scripture and guard the gospel from the attacks of false teachers and liars.
All of this by the power of God, the Holy spirit inside of you.
And listen, you may not know yet what your gifts are or how God plans to use them in the kingdom of God, you have gifts and God wants to use them to make an impact in the kingdom of God, and its okay if you don’t know what they are yet, you don’t need God to come down from the clouds and tell you what he wants you to do you can start right here.
Do what this book says and in time God will show you, he’s not asking you to do something he hasn’t told you about.
If you think you are gifted in some way, great lets figure out how you can use that right now. Let’s talk.
But no matter where you are whether you know or not,
You have a responsibility right now to seek him and guard the Gospel, and you get to explore your gifts and serve in different ways and in time it will be clear.
You have gifts given you by God and you have the power of the Holy spirit within you giving you boldness, love and self discipline, and the ability to do what God is asking you to, and with that great power you have a great responsibility to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
A responsibility to not be ashamed but testify to the gospel in your words and actions and the people you associate with and the message you teach. A responsibility to know the truth through the sound words of scripture and guard the gospel from the attacks of false teachers and liars.
There is no excuse not to, you have everything you need because its not you it’s God, All of this by the power of God, the Holy spirit inside of you.
You have great power and with great power comes great responsibility.
We are going to take a minute our two
What is God speaking to you in your heart right now? What do you need to do about it?