Sermon Tone Analysis

“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.”

[1]

For many Christians, perhaps even for most Christians, the memory of immediate changes that accompanied the new birth lingers in the hallowed halls of treasured events.

These blessed souls experienced a newfound joie de vivre that had not been known previously.

Though she may not have been fanatical about the matter, the new believer wanted to speak openly of what God had done in her life.

She knew that whereas previously she had been dead to the True and Living God, she was now alive—more alive than she could have thought possible.

It was well-nigh impossible not to tell others, pointing them to the freedom from guilt and condemnation that she now experienced in Christ the Lord.

That newborn child of God felt as though her mouth was bent into a permanent smile and she bubbled over with vibrant excitement at the thought she was loved not because of who she was, but simply because she was.

There seem always to be found among the churches individuals who appear to have been weaned on dill pickles.

They so suppress any expression of joy that you would believe that were they to smile their face would break.

Though these impoverished souls can laugh, they have no sense of joy.

They give the impression that their primary purpose in life is to stifle any joy that a believer may express.

I recall one such sourpuss who was present on a particular evening.

I was chairing an evangelistic crusade in a Canadian city.

Each evening, many people were responding to the invitation of the evangelist.

On one particular evening as I walked through the inquiry room, a young man was seated all alone, beaming and quite obviously excited.

I stopped to speak with him at the invitation of the counsellor who had just led him to faith in the Son of God.

He immediately began to speak of how excited he was because Christ had saved him.

He was positively bubbling over and just could not be silent.

As we spoke, a pastor from one of the co-operating churches wandered into the inquiry room.

He recognised the young man and walked over to hear what was being said.

The young man immediately began to tell that pastor of God’s gracious gift and how excited he was because God had saved him.

That dour denizen of darkness dressed in clerical garb, who likely had never had an personal encounter with the Living God much less knew if there was a God, patted that young man on the shoulder and said, “There, there, you’ll get over that.”

I could not contain my indignation.

I exploded, “Don’t listen to him!

He doesn’t know what he’s talking about!

I pray you never get over this!

God has done a wonderful work in your life, changing you and starting you on a journey that will lead to transformation into the image of His Son.

Don’t listen to this man!

Ignore him!

And don’t bother going to his church—ever!

He will steal your joy!”

The tragedy of that story is that the minister in that story is too often not the exception among the professed people of God.

Rather, his attitude reducing the Faith to a mere religion, a series of rituals, is the rule in too many cases.

Perhaps Timothy, tired from the constant struggle to be righteous, was beginning to go through the motions of what is called worship without worshipping.

It seems that Paul saw the need for the young minister to be reenergised.

The message is intended for weary Christians.

I have but one message for those who are pretending to be Christians, and that is to believe on the Lord Jesus and be saved.

Those pitiful creatures that only know religion but have never been born from above do not deserve the honoured title of Christian.

However, those who are Christians, those who know Christ Jesus the Lord, but who have grown weary in well-doing need the encouragement of the Apostle’s words.

“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.”

*PRECEDENCE* — “For this reason I remind you…” Break down the Apostle’s words to Timothy.

He begins by alluding to what he had just written.

What was the reason that prompted Paul to speak so pointedly to Timothy?

The reason that Paul speaks so openly is the genuine Faith that Timothy possessed—the identical Faith, you will remember, that had been evident in both his grandmother and his mother.

The Apostle has focused on Timothy’s godly heritage.

Especially when one was raised in a godly home, the actions of that individual reflects on those with whom he was associated.

Your parents, if they held to this Faith, are judged in part by your actions.

Whether your life is a benediction to your training, or whether you live in rejection of the training with which you were invested, will be a matter of judgement by those who observe how you live out your life.

As a teen, flexing my independence and moving beyond the immediate home, my father would often caution me, “Son, remember that you are my son.

Don’t do anything to make me ashamed.”

That warning served as a brake on many of the temptations that presented themselves.

Move beyond family, though family is admittedly essential.

As a member of this congregation, as one who participates in the worship of this particular church, how you live reflects on the teaching you have received.

Your choices reflect on those with whom you share worship.

Too often the professed people of God treat the congregation of the righteous as a religious club.

They join when they feel like it; and they quit whenever they wish.

Candidly, if the community of faith is a mere organisation, then the individual can be the sole arbiter of her decision.

She can join at her pleasure and she can quit when she wills.

Paulo undoubtedly refers to such people when he writes, “Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica” [2 TIMOTHY 4:10].

The fellowship is family.

I don’t doubt that there are tensions in every human family; however, only a sociopath would leave her family, renouncing her heritage because she was angry.

We make the effort to work through our disappointments and our displeasures because we are family.

However, when someone is angry at others in the church, the mere fact that that person can walk away bespeaks a disconcerting truth—they never were part of the family!

Some may grow angry with the pastor; and so they quit the fellowship.

Did the rest of the congregation hurt them?

Were they attacked by others?

The dark truth is that they love this world more than they love the truth; they are lovers of themselves rather than lovers of God.

Writing early Christians, the Apostle of Love spoke pointedly concerning those who walk away from the fellowship of believers.

“They left us.

However, they were never really part of us.

If they had been, they would have stayed with us.

But by leaving they made it clear that none of them were part of us” [1 JOHN 2:19].

His words sting!

They elicit excuses from those who walk away from the fellowship!

However, the one walking away cannot evade the impact of what the Apostle has said.

All the proffered rationales for walking away from the fellowship are reduced to bald-face lies in the glaring light of God’s Word.

If you have a heritage of being raised in the Faith, you must not forsake that heritage.

Your actions reflect on those who taught you, it reflects on those who invested themselves in your life.

Your actions must either betray an unhealthy self-love that has exalted your own interests above that of the truth, or your actions reveal a love for the Master and for His truth.

You cannot say that you love God and despise the congregation of the righteous.

Those who are of the truth must admit the truth of John’s words, “We love because he first loved us.

If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother” [1 JOHN 4:19-21].

[2] If you love your brothers, you will walk with your brothers.

You will walk with them if you are convinced you are right in order to encourage them to walk in the truth.

If you have no love for them, you can leave.

Though addressed in a previous message, fix the thought in your mind that Paul has in view “the Faith” and not belief.

He is focused on the Body of Truth that defines what we as Christians believe.

I’ve spoken often of the essential truths of the Faith.

Though we Christians may differ on many matters, some matters are essential if we will bear that Holy Name.

We must believe that Jesus our Master is very God and very man.

We must accept that He presented His life as a sacrifice in the place of fallen mankind, that He was buried and that He conquered death, rising from the dead on the third day.

There can be no disputing that He presented Himself alive to those to whom He chose to reveal Himself and that He ascended into Heaven where He is seated at the right hand of the Father.

We must believe that it is by faith in Him—without effort or merit on our part—that sin is forgiven and we are accepted into the Family of God.

We must believe that Jesus Himself is coming again to receive to Himself those who have believed in Him, those who are born from above.

We accept that the authority for these truths is the written Word of God which is inerrant and infallible.

To dissent from these stated truths is to deny that we have a vital relationship to the True and Living God.

Timothy is being told what he believes matters; and your beliefs matter also.

If you are not committed to the Faith, if you do not hold to these truths that distinguish followers of the Christ from everyone else, why should you hazard your reputation and even your life to pursue righteousness?

If righteousness is only an abstract concept that is fluid, always adapting to the changing ideals of this fallen society, why would you even attempt to hold to truth?