Untitled Sermon (7)

I don’t know if you’ve ever struggled with relating to someone in Scripture, but man do I relate to Timothy. Here….

Oftentimes, I desire to share the gospel, the good news of the saving work of Christ. I know it to be true, in the core of my being, with every fiber in me I know it to be true. But time and time again, I go to open my mouth and nothing comes out. Before the breath even leaves my lungs I feel the shame. Shame of not being able to share the truth I hold so dear. Shame because these people know Christians, they have seen them suffer, they have seen where this “good news” has led him. Fear of losing friendships. Fear of losing family. How can I not share this salvation news with those I care so deeply about.

I feel alone. Like I’m hiking through the woods and there is no one for me to follow, no one to encourage me, and no one to point me in the right direction. Is my faith really sincere? Am I really even saved?

If you thought you’d never be able to relate to a character in Scripture, I am glad you are here today.

He was timid in his leadership, fearful of conflict, and needing the confidence and encouragement of those he looked up to.

For those of you I have yet to meet, my name is Mason and as Danny said I get the opportunity to serve here at Mosaic on the pastoral staff.

And y’all, I really relate to how Timothy felt.

About a year ago I was dropping some things off at Good Will with a friend. There was a young guy who was there to take our stuff and organize it and out of the blue he said, “Do y’all have any encouragement for me? I just feel really down and I feel like I need to be encouraged.”

The friend I was there with said, “Yeah!.... Mason?” and I absolutely froze. I had no idea how to encourage this kid, and it wasn’t until we got in the car that we both looked at each other and said, “wow, we are bad at sharing the gospel!” I mean, God practically set that up on a tee for us and we both bombed.

With that, I am so excited to jump into our passage today.

To do a little recap, this letter was written by the Apostle Paul. A man whose life was drastically changed after an encounter with Jesus. And he is writing this letter to a young man who has spent many years learning from Paul.

This is not just some casual letter to a friend, this is a deeply heartfelt letter to a man that Paul would consider his son. Paul is getting near the end of his life. He is facing a legal trial because of the proclamation of his faith that he believes will end in his death.

In fact, towards the end of this very letter, Paul writes “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.”

Y’all, I don’t know why, but there is something different about the words of someone who knows their death is near that grabs you and pulls you in. This letter contains Paul’s last written words to his son and we would do well to listen intently.

Paul opened this letter with a beautiful and heartfelt greeting as Paul is constantly thinking about Timothy and the tears in his eyes as they last departed with the deep longing to see him again. I can only imagine Paul in his dark, cold, wet prison cell. Shivering as he sits on the hard stone floor, remembering his son in the faith as a soldier on the front lines glances yet another time at the faded photo of his family.

And this is where we jump in, still towards the beginning of this letter, if you’d like to turn to the Second letter to Timothy we will be in chapter one verses five through seven.

We are going to read the full passage and then we will jump in together. Paul writes,

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Euncie and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 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.

Man, this is so rich.

In the three verses before this passage Paul has used the phrase “I am reminded” three times. There is a huge encouragement here for Timothy. Paul remembers Timothy constantly in his prayers, remembers his tears as he longs to see him, and now he remembers the sincere faith of his son. Paul is letting Timothy know “I have not forgotten you.”

But this faith was not found or created by Timothy alone, no, there were many active agents in what is now the faith of Timothy…

Here, in verse five, Paul points out, much like he did himself, that Timothy is not alone. Timothy’s faith was authored by God through the influence of his grandmother, his mother, and Paul.

Last week we read that Paul’s faith, the way that he serves God has been passed down by his ancestors, and here we see how the faith of Lois, Timothy's grandmother, impacted the faith of Eunice, which then impacted the faith of Timothy.

This is a beautiful image of discipleship within a family unit. Three generations of followers of Jesus, and who knows how many generations were affected by the work of Timothy! All because one woman decided to pass her faith to her daughter, and she to her son, despite her husband being Greek and most likely unbelieving.

A few weeks ago, in our community group, Danny had us write down the name of someone who discipled us, under them we wrote our own name followed by those we have discipled and, if known, who those people discipled.

For example, back in college I was discipled by a guy named Brian, then I would put my name under his and if I was discipling anyone their name would be under mine.

There are a few things that are just so cool when you do this. One, you get to see how God has worked through you to touch not just the lives of people you’ve directly impacted but indirectly through the people you’ve discipled!

Second, we wrote down just the people we were discipled by, but if we kept going back, who discipled our discipler and so-on, eventually our tree would be traced back to one of the twelve! Which means that our discipleship trees trace all the way back to Jesus!

Ephesians 2 says that “you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”

How amazing is that, we are and everyone we guide into the faith, are all members of the same household built on the foundation of the apostles and Jesus. We have no right to be there but through the work of God, our names are there too.

It is the great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 11, and when we disciple someone, when we join them in their imperfect walk with God, through the power of the blood of Jesus, we join that cloud of witnesses

If y’all can remember WAY back to when we were in this short little letter called Hebrews, we defined faith as a “present action response.” Meaning, that we are actively responding to the work and call of God seen in the fruits we produce and the way we live. James would say that he shows his faith by his works, by the fruit of his life. This is how Paul can be certain that this faith seen in Lois and Eunice is in Timothy as well.

Because Paul is certain of Timothy’s faith, he is also certain of the gift that God has given him.

We continue in verse 6 with, “For this reason” because Paul is sure of Timothy’s faith, “I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”

So… what is this gift?

There are a few different interpretations of what this gift is. Some believe that it is a spiritual gift of preaching, shepherding, or something of the sorts. Some believe that it is the gospel and salvation. And some believe that this gift is the Holy Spirit.

Here is what is important about all three of those interpretations…

They are all intertwined with each other. As believers, as followers of the Messiah, we receive the gift of salvation brought only through the saving blood of Jesus. When we receive this gift we are also given the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which comes with gifts or talents from God used for the glorification of His name and the edification of His people.

And Timothy is encouraged to fan this gift into flame

Have any of y’all been camping or around a camp fire before?

Great, one person likes the outdoors

For those of you who don’t know, I grew up in Texas, and my dad and my grandpa used to take my brother and me out to a deer lease in a small town called Llano, Texas to hunt each winter. When most people think of Texas, they think of the hot 110 degree summers, but in the hill country it can get pretty cold in the winter. There were many trips where the temperature didn’t get above 20 degrees.

This place we would stay was quite literally a tin shack, no running water, no heating, no a/c. You walked into this one room cabin with concrete floors and to the left you saw five bunk beds made from 2x4’s and to the right was a small table and the kitchen. In between the two sections was an old potbelly woodburning stove that was used to heat the place.

Now we needed this fire to keep us warm, but fire can be pretty tricky. Too much wood too quickly and you’ll smother it, too much breeze on the spark and you’ll blow it out. But if you don’t give enough oxygen to the small flame started by the kindling then it will light up and burn out. Even after the fire gets started you need to be continually feeding it and fanning it. If you leave the fire unattended for too long, it will go out.

This gift, given to Timothy by God, was like that fire, needing to be fed and needing to be fanned. Paul is telling Timothy to remember this fire, remember this gift. Do not neglect it, do not stop fanning the flame, turn this spark into a fire!

How do we do this? How do we fan this gift into flame?

It is through relationships. Engaging in spiritual rhythms that draw us nearer to our God, such as silence and solitude and meditation on Scripture through being discipled and poured into by someone who is further on in this faith journey. And it is through pouring out into others.

Our God, in the Trinity, is inherently a relational being. A theologian wrote that “From eternity past, the Father and the Son and the Spirit have been in community, in relationship. They have loved each other. That loving relationship is bound up in the very nature of God himself.”

With our God being so relational, He created us for relationships too. Relationship with our creator and relationship with others. A relatively new science is the study of humanity and the neurobiology of social behavior. Through this study it has been concluded that humans are inherently social beings, that we rely on relationships.

You may have heard me say a few times already the word “discipleship” now if you have been around the faith community for a while you may have a connotation that comes with that word, this word might also be completely new to you, no matter where you come from.

So, let’s define it so we are all on the same page.

When most people think of Christian discipleship, they may think of meeting once a week or once every other week to review a chapter in a book or discuss theology and how to be a “better Christian.” This is not inherently wrong, we ought to learn and grow in knowledge of our God and discuss ways we can look more like Him.

However, when we look at discipleship in the times of Jesus, it was a very different system.

You see, as we are relational beings we are also beings that learn from observation and form an identity based on community association. We are observational habit building learners.

My cousin recently had her third child and she went through some pretty rough morning sickness. Now what’s funny is that her oldest, then 3, would see his mom go to a trash can every morning so when she would go to a trash can he would go to a trash can and start making dry heaving sounds. He observed a regular behavior and instinctively copied it.

And that is what discipleship is, as we look to the life of Jesus and the twelve, we see people who spent day after day, night after night with their teacher. Learning, yes off of His teachings, but also by the way He lived His life and the responses He had to different life scenarios.

Just like my cousin's son, they were able to instinctively look more like Jesus based off of the time they spent with Him in deep relationship.

A few weeks ago Brady taught on the life of Timothy, through a series of tests he found out that Timothy was most likely a six on the enneagram. There are a lot of great features about being a six, but one of the hardships is that they are generally anxious people. They tend to think through every situation until they find out which one leads to the worst possible ending.

Trust me, I’m married to one. She would brag that she has 64 worst case scenarios planned out before breakfast. When she was a kid she would go downstairs every night to check the stove to make sure the house wouldn’t burn down. At the age of 6 she had a fire evacuation planned out for each member of her family.

But she’s great to take on a trips and can get you out of a bad AirBnB!

The Enneagram Institute says that “the central issue for type Six is a failure of self-confidence. Sixes come to believe that they do not possess the internal resources to handle life’s challenges and unpredictable changes alone, and so increasingly rely on structures, allies, beliefs, and supports outside themselves for guidance to survive.”

This is extremely prevalent in the life of Timothy seen in just this letter alone, the way Paul encourages, supports, and calls Timothy up. Timothy relies on the support of others so he shows how he has been backed by so many in his family and in Paul. And here Paul is going to address the failure of self-confidence.

Paul brings to mind that God has given us a spirit. This Spirit is not of fear but of power.

When Jesus tells His disciples to wait for the Helper He says that “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

When we hear “power” we think of physical might and strength. When Steve Rogers received power it was in the form of superhuman strength. When Peter Parker was bit by a spider he received physical powers in his reflexes, awareness. But what does “power” mean in the context of the Holy Spirit?

Is it might and authority to win battles and conquer enemies? Power to lord our way over those without power? If you google what power means, you get “the ability to influence or control people, this can be used for good or bad.” Is this the power that comes from God?

What Paul says is that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

Paul says that this power is fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5

So here is what I think Paul is saying so far in this letter, “Timothy, I know that you are surrounded by enemies, that each day you have to walk in the shadow of the Temple of Artemis, through the market where just about every booth is selling idols. Where day by day there are new pilgrims arriving to worship a false god. I know that it is not safe for you to be a follower of Christ and to share the gospel in the streets. I know that you feel alone without me, without your mother, and without your grandmother.

But God has given you a gift, God has given you a spirit. This spirit does not bring fear, but power in the face of those who stand against you. Power to share the gospel boldly, power to live a life of self-control, not swayed by the pull of fleshly desires, emotions, and fear. And power to love those who stand against you.

It is the Psalm of David saying ‘YHWH is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? YHWH is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arises against me, yet I will be confident.’

Timothy, how can David say this? How can you stand in power against those against you? The Psalm continues ‘One thing have I asked of YHWH, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of YHWH all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of YHWH and to inquire in his temple.’

Timothy, my son, cling to Jesus. Cling to the hope of eternal life in the salvation of Christ. Cling to the faith of those who have gone before you. Cling to what you know to be true. My son, fan the flame of the gift that God has given you. Fan the flame of the gospel.”

There is something that Paul does here that is really cool that we will dive into more next week but there is a transition. I don’t know if you caught it, but up until this point everything has been “I” and “You”.

I thank God, I remember, I long to see you, Your tears, your sincere faith… but now, in verse seven, Paul brings it together. “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

How amazing is that!

In this subtle transition that will continue for the next 7 verses, Paul and Timothy are united in the Spirit, united in the gospel, united with the cloud of witnesses and united with the household of God.

This short passage, these three verses, dives into the entire purpose of this letter. Paul is passing the baton, but Timothy is not alone in his mission. He can look back on the faith of those who have gone before him, he can look to those who mentored him, he can look to those he is unified with in the Spirit, and he can look to Jesus who authored his faith.

Y’all this is where we are. We are on a journey, we are sent on a mission. To live a life on the well worn narrow path inviting those we come in contact with. To show them the way to eternal life. To walk with them through the highs and the lows, the joys and the sufferings. We invite them to follow us as we follow those further on the trail.

If you are new to our local church expression, we have recently started something new. We have put an emphasis on the One More in our lives. We have identified one person in our lives, someone we are regularly in contact with, who does not know Jesus. Who has not heard the good news. That we are broken fallen people who cannot achieve perfection, but God being rich in mercy and overflowing with love sent Jesus. Who lived a perfect life and took on our sin and shame as He died on the cross. And that through His resurrection we too can be in Him. Joined in Him, in His righteousness. With this…

We are called to make disciples, to invite them into the cloud of witnesses, to invite them into life with our Savior.

If you have never been disciplied by anyone or you are looking for someone to do life with you, to pour into you, and guide you through their wisdom and experience. We would love to chat with you and get you connected.

If you have been following Jesus for a while and are not discipling anyone. Maybe you feel ill-equipped, maybe you’ve never done it before, maybe it’s because you don’t want to “mess it up.” We have some excellent resources that we can connect you with to help guide you through this process, and we would highly encourage you to start pouring out into others from the overflow of what God has given you.

And I just want to connect with you really quickly, in that discipleship tree I mentioned earlier, I was extremely convicted by the lack of disciples I’ve had. I have been in seminary for two years and have been walking with the Lord for the majority of my life and I am still able to convince myself that I am not qualified to disciple anyone.

So, I understand your struggle. I understand that feeling of not being ready. But God does not call the equipped, He equips the called. And we are all called to make disciples of all nations, inviting them into the good life that is found in Jesus.

And man, if you are new to this faith walk, if you feel alone on this journey, we would love nothing more than to help you find true biblical community here. Because you are not alone. You are connected to a family that stretches across the globe and across time. You have been brought into the household of God, into the family of God. And we would love nothing more than to connect you with community here.

Let’s pray.