Spirit of Power

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

– For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

Summary: The power God in us assumes two things. 1). That we have received this Spirit. As such, we must first ask if “I” have repented and been baptized for the forgiveness of sin, thereby receiving the promised Holy Spirit (). 2). That one we have received this gracious gift, we must move on from a Spirit of weakness, fear, and timidity, and move forward in a Spirit of power, love, and self-discipline.

Summary: The power God in us assumes two things. 1). That we have received this Spirit. As such, we must first ask if “I” have repented and been baptized for the forgiveness of sin, thereby receiving the promised Holy Spirit (). 2). That one we have received this gracious gift, we must move on from a Spirit of weakness, fear, and timidity, and move forward in a Spirit of power, love, and self-discipline.

I. Wrong tools

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Imagine for a moment that you are building a shed. You have all of the materials necessary, to include the diagrams, the wood, the fasteners, the nails, the bolts, etc… So you begin working on the shed. You lay out where everything is going to go, and maybe you’re able to get by with your hammer while laying out the foundation.

And then you hit a point and you can’t work any further. You’re stuck because, you see, the only tool you have is a hammer. You’ve hit a point where you need a Phillips-head screwdriver, but maybe you don’t need any different. Perhaps you’re like me and you don’t know building or tools, and so you just assume that you have everything you need because you’ve never built anything else anyway. Why doesn’t this hammer work!?

So, you take that hammer, and you try nailing the screws into your shed. It doesn’t work. You try again, this time with even more conviction than before! It still doesn’t work. This goes on and on. You tap, you pound, you throw the hammer, you scream.

Now, at this point what makes more sense? To think that sheds can’t be built? Or to recognize that hammer isn’t enough?

Do you give up on ever building this shed, or do you realize that you have the wrong tool for the job?

I wonder this morning, how many of you are trying to build your spiritual life with the wrong tools.

This morning we read

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

It has been my observation that many Christians and non-Christians WANT power, love, and self-discipline, but they seek it with the wrong tools.

It has been my observation that many Christians and non-Christians WANT power, love, and self-discipline, but they seek it with the wrong tools.

If a Christian, perhaps they simply seek to exert willpower. They have some understanding of the ways of god because they vaguely recollect, or recall what morality looks like to God. For the life of them, though, they can’t seem to follow.

Perhaps, if that doesn’t work, they go chasing after the wise philosophers of our time who tell us that love means that we accept everything and anything so long as nobody gets hurt. YOU may be hurt, but as long as you’re not hurting anyone else…

Maybe…and for matters of full disclosure, this has often been my personal idol…Maybe we seek out answers in psychology, personality profiles, self-help books, and the psyche. We’re not sinners in this paradigm. We’re broken. In churchy language, we’re just being authentic, and we just need to surrender more.

You don’t find peace in any of it, though, do you?

Do you know why? Because you’re using the wrong tools.

Errors:

If I read the right self-help book I will develop self-discipline. Hammer. You’re a sinner. Sin requires spiritual death, not a good cleaning up.

John Owen:

Ah! Well if I’m a sinner I’ll simply resist sin more to find peace with God. Hammer.

Works of John Owen: Volume 6 Chapter 9: Particular Directions in Relation to the Foregoing Case Proposed

Such a person hath cast off, as to the particular spoken of, the conduct of renewing grace, and is kept from ruin only by restraining grace; and so far is he fallen from grace, and returned under the power of the law.

If I take a marriage course I will learn to love better. Hammer. You can’t love like God if your passion isn’t God.

If I explore my past enough I can get to the root cause of my problems. Hammer. Life will have struggles no matter how good or bad your past may have been.

Works of John Owen: Volume 6 Chapter 9: Particular Directions in Relation to the Foregoing Case Proposed

Such a person hath cast off, as to the particular spoken of, the conduct of renewing grace, and is kept from ruin only by restraining grace; and so far is he fallen from grace, and returned under the power of the law.

We are a culture awash in spiritual hammers. And these hammers in the spiritual life are deadly. John Owen, a 16th century theologian wrote in his book, The Mortification of Sin, “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”

He’s right, and I would venture to guess that most of you here this morning would agree. The problem with the hammers we use isn’t that we aren’t seeing the right problem. It’s that we are using the wrong tools to get at the root of the problem.

Here’s reality. We can go to church every day of the week, say 1000 prayers, and be no closer to power, love, or self-discipline than when we started. I can try every outward thing to get at an inward problem and never make so much as a dent. I can read every self-help book on the market and still be an awful spouse. I can watch videos on investing wisely and still lack peace.

A friend of mine once relayed a dream about fighting a demon. No matter how many times he hit it, punched it, kicked it, slammed it with the world’s tools, it just stood there smiling back. Serenely. Mockingly.

How many of you have felt similarly, “powerless, loveless, and anything but disciplined?”

What do we do?

Do we just look at the structure of our faith and assume that’s it? There’s nothing more we can do? And then walk away?

No. We repent. That’s our only tool.

II. The Two-Fold Cure

Acts 2:38 ESV

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

- Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Did Peter say repent only? No. Did Peter say be baptized only? No

Did Peter say be baptized only? No

He said repent AND be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you…WILL…receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

I’m going to offer today that some of us have been baptized but we’ve never repented of our sin. We’ve gone under the water but have rarely given thought to what it means to turn our back on this world and turn our face always and only toward our Savior.

I’m also going to venture a guess that there are some here today who believe they have repented but have never been baptized. How, dear friends, can we say we’ve repented if the first call after repentance is to be baptized? We cannot. It’s like saying you want to be a professional boxer until the boxing coach tells you to strap on the gloves.

Repentance, at its core, is a rejection of all idolatry. It’s a rejection of every tool we have used for happiness that isn’t grounded in God’s way.

, “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience!”

1 Peter 3:21 ESV

Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

A good conscience. A good conscience rejects all of the false tools of this world and says yes always and only to the person, work, and witness of Jesus Christ.

Have you repented if you go under the waters of baptism thinking about God on one hand, and about the debauchery you’re planning on the other?

Have you repented if you’re thinking about God one second and the computer images you’ll be looking at later?

Have you repented if God commands one thing and you chase after another?

No!

Without repentance, baptism is nothing. God is not looking for a person who is self-willed, self-assured, and pulling himself up by the bootstraps.

Psalm 51:17 ESV

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

– The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Lest you think that a broken and contrite heart lead to weakness, think again. It is in humility that we find our only source of spiritual strength. Our strong rock. Our refuge. It is only, however, when we come to the end of self that we will clearly see the one who chose us in Him before the beginning of all creation.

Ephesians 1:4–5 ESV

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

- For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to son-ship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will.

Why is this verse connected to power, love, and self-discipline? Because it is not our power, love, or self-discipline that we are putting on when we repent.

We are putting on the power, love, and self-discipline of Jesus, all of which are given to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. All of which is given to us through adoption. He brings us into the family and gives us a new identity.

We are no longer hammering away at sin as slaves to an angry God. We are now experiencing the death of sin and new life in Jesus Christ. We are sons of God, not slaves to sin.

In a phrase, we have no fear of God, which means we can now simply love what God loves.

That’s the work of the Spirit.

Every Tuesday night a group of guys and I get together in Annex 2, and we discuss how our walk with Jesus is going. If you’re a guy and would like to join, we’d love to have you. Tuesday night at 6 PM. Ladies, if you’re interested, I can get you information to start your own.

One of the things I think we agree on in our group, is that we don’t just want to overcome sin. We want to love what God loves.

Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions Article XXVII (XIII): Monastic Vows

All people, in every vocation, should seek perfection, that is, grow in the fear of God, in faith, in love toward one’s neighbor, and similar spiritual virtues.

Notice what is said FIRST! Fear of God and faith.

We can only love what God loves when we know what he loves…the Bible.

We can only love what God loves when we submit our ways to His ways, no matter how we feel about it…repentance.

We can only love what God loves when we are so soaked in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus that we can no longer tell the difference between His will and our will. The Spirit

The Spirit isn’t terribly mysterious. It is grounded, and gives witness to, Jesus. It gives us life not only to overcome our sin, but to provide peace with God because we love AS God loves.

III. What Do We Do?

We now, like those first people hearing the sermon of Peter in Acts, should be asking, what do we do?

Here’s what we don’t do.

We should feel sorrow over sin, but don’t only feel sorry. More is needed.

We don’t rush to the store to find the next book that will tell us we’re OK on the whole, and we just need a different technique to get to a better OK. More is needed.

We don’t look past the clear teachings of Scripture and reason that God just doesn’t care about sin and that you’re good only because of a divine legal declaration. You’ll find that literally nowhere in Scripture.

In a word, we repent. Let’s define our terms.

When the Bible speaks of repentance, it does not mean that you feel emotional about your sins. There’s no conviction in that. If you only hate the consequences of sin but do not love the God of holiness, then you’re only about 1/3’d of the way home.

When the Bible speaks of repentance, it does not mean that we are merely seeking a get out of hell free card. There’s no change in that.

When the Bible speaks of repentance, it does not speak to a mental affirmation of who Jesus is. As James reminds us, even the demons do that.

When the Bible speaks of repentance, it means that we see our old affinities to the ways of this world as dead. As providing no hope. No life. It means that we reject the promises and idols of this world. It means our orientation is no longer focused on hoping for something that will make us feel better now.

Repentance means the old ideas, loves, hopes, and goals die to a new vision for reality.

Repentance points to Jesus and says I want His holiness, and ONLY His holiness from this day forward. It lays claim not by merely affirming who Jesus is, but with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength saying…

“His forgiveness is my forgiveness! His father is my Father! His ways are my ways! I am dead to the old, and live in the newness of life that comes from Jesus Christ.”

How do we know when we have achieved thais mind? Peter gives us an idea:

1 Peter 1:13–16 ESV

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

– Therefore, with minds that are alert and FULLY sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

It is Christ who purchased us for a price (). It is Christ who rose from the dead (). It is Christ who shows us the way to the Father ().

It is in Christ, that you will find all the qualities of God. It is in Christthat you will find “power, love and self-discipline,” as stated in our opening verse today.

Not in Freud.

Not in the opinions of this age.

Not in money.

Not in rank.

Not in an assignment.

Only In Christ and His way. Amen