God has not given us a Spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-control
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God has not given us a Spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-control
One of my biggest fears while growing up was exams. Exams is something that I dreaded especially if it was not a subject I liked. I remember standing outside the exam hall just before our exam with all my friends trying to mug-up every word from my text book into my head, most often because someone heard from a little birdie passing by that this paragraph or this section of a chapter was definitely going to come on the exam, which was just NOT the case at most times. So much fear, so much anxiety , what tension !
One of my biggest fears while growing up was exams. Exams is something that I dreaded especially if it was not a subject I liked. I remember standing outside the exam hall just before our exam with all my friends trying to mug-up every word from my text book into my head, most often because someone got a word from a little birdie passing by that this paragraph or this section of a chapter was definitely going to come, which was just NOT the case at most times. So much fear, so much anxiety , what tension !
Sometimes the mugging would be so intense that I would forget all that I learnt in the last week and only remember what I just memorized a few minutes ago. It was indeed awful, so much fear.
In our passage this morning we see a man named Paul who is an apostle of Jesus Christ . The word “apostle” means “one who is sent.” It normally refers to someone who has been selected by Jesus or taught directly by Jesus to speak on His behalf.
Paul here in our passage , is an apostle of Jesus Christ . The word “apostle” means “one who is sent.” It normally refers to someone who has been selected by Jesus and taught directly by Jesus. Every apostle is invested to speak on Jesus's behalf.
Paul was once a persecutor of Christians , he once was breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, against Christians but one day on the road to Damascus God called him out , saying he had chosen him to carry God’s name to the Gentiles, to the kings and to Israel. Paul went on the preach to the gentiles , to the nations, rulers and was eventually imprisoned because of His faith in Jesus. Paul writes this Second Letter to Timothy from the loneliness of a dungeon while awaiting his execution, while awaiting death, a point of hopelessness for many people, a point of fear but not for Paul.
Instead, Paul writes this letter addressing his spiritual child Timothy. Paul is especially reminded of Timothy’s sincere faith and is excited and joyful at the prospect of being reunited with Timothy again. Timothy was in the most discouraging of circumstances because of all the persecution he had witnessed and also because of the trials, and imprisonment of what his spiritual father in the faith Paul went through. Paul though despite his situation overflowed with gospel encouragement to a struggling servant of Christ reminding him of His Holy calling in Christ Jesus.
Mounce, W. D. (2000). Pastoral Epistles (Vol. 46, p. 476). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.also because may be he knew Paul’s days were short, Paul though overflowed with gospel encouragement to a struggling servant of Christ reminding him of His calling when they laid hands on Him.
Paul exhorts Timothy in chapter 1 vs 6 to fan into flame the gift of God that is in Him because of the genuine faith Timothy possesses. It is an appeal to for vigorous use of the spiritual gifts, the gift of ministry that God has given Timothy, a rekindling of the gift of ministry which would involve fervent prayer, obedience to God’s Word and a demonstration of an active faith. A gift that was bestowed upon Timothy through the laying on of hands.
Paul then goes on to remind Timothy of this Spirit God has given us, which is in fact given to all those who follow Christ, to all Christians. This Spirit not of fear but of power , love and self control.
Paul then presses more on what that means here is telling Timothy that God through the Gospel has not given us a Spirit of fear but of power , love and self control.
1. Fear
All of us have fears in our lives . There is the fear of heights , there is a fear of losing a job, there is a fear at not having enough money to pay the bills , the fear of the future and even the fear of imminent death. We are all fearful of many things.
At this time in our family we are experiencing various kinds of hardships. My Wife had a surgery a couple months ago and although she has recovered well there is still this struggle with pain, and not knowing why. She has been to the doctor many times and we do not have any conclusive reason why she might be going through this illness. And then a couple of weeks ago, my sister-in-law, was diagnosed with cancer , a condition known as “metastatic carcinoma” and it is spreading. She is going through chemotherapy now and we are thankful for modern medicine. There are so many fears in our lives of the unknown future. We have many fears in this life , and you may have many as well. Seeing your health condition you do not know what will happen the next day , where life has bought you , you may feel abandoned by family , by your own relatives and children perhaps yet if we are children of God , if we follow Christ as Paul did we can also say like Paul that God has not given you a Spirit of fear. But of Power , of love and self-control.
Now we must ask What is this Spirit of Power? of Love? of Self-Control? How did Timothy come to posses it ? Was it a blessing from his ancestors ? Or may be Did he have to do a pilgrimage ? Or perhaps he achieved it over the years? Did he earn it?
Let me explain
Paul mentions about this word “Gospel” about 4 times in his letter(s) Timothy. So we should understand what it means. The Gospel means Good news.
What is this good news you might ask ? Well before we get to the good news let me tell you about the bad news.
The bad news is that we all by nature are separated from God. We have missed the mark of not living up to God’s standard. You see God is Holy and he requires us to live holy lives in full obedience to his commands.
You may say that you are not that bad a person, you may say that I have not murdered or stolen anything or committed adultery , I’m not that bad a person. But you know what God has commanded us through His Word. He says that even if we should hate our brother () that is the same as committing murder. He says that if a man even looks at a woman lustfully , he has committed adultery in his heart . This is terrible news for all of us, to be separated from our almighty God of all the universe . What can we do ? The answer is nothing. We can do absolutely nothing to save ourselves. We are dead in our sins. Can a dead man/woman do anything ? off course he can’t. Only God can give us new life. Only God can cause us to be born-again. And He has made a way for us through His Son Jesus Christ because of whom we are now reconciled to God. This is the Good News ! We have peace with God through Jesus Christ who gave his life for us ! But do you believe in this way, in the good news ?
Paul has this to say about the Gospel, about the Good News , speaking of Christ he says in
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,
God saved us not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.
Do you see the power in that. It is all God! Before the ages began, before the foundations of the earth he knew you by name. He also knows your pains, He knows all your fears , he knows all your struggles, he knows every single thing even before the ages began. And today He may be calling some of you’ll to Him for He has not only given us a Spirit of fear but of Power.
Now we must ask HOW has He saved us through Jesus? What does that mean?
Jesus Christ who though being God of all the universe , the Holy of Holys and who deserves to punish us because of our unholiness, because of our sins, yet He chose to came down us a man. To takeaway our sins of those of us who believe. He became the Lamb for us, to take our place as our substitute for us on that cross.
The answer is through Jesus Christ who though being God of all the universe and in his holiness deserves to punish us because of our unholiness, because of our sins, yet He chose to came down us a man. To takeaway our sins of those of us who believe. He became the Lamb for us, the substitute for us on that cross.
We should have been on their, not Jesus. We should have died, not Jesus. But Jesus who is truly God and truly man , the perfect lamb took our sins. Paul says in his second letter to Corinthians says
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Elsewhere Paul writes in the book of Romans and in
the Gospel comes not only
The same Paul wrote the book of Romans and in he says
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
We who believe in the Jesus are adopted as sons, as daughters into the fold of God and we can call Him “ABBA FATHER”
For gyou did not receive hthe spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of iadoption as sons, by whom we cry, j“Abba! Father!”
This is LOVE.
God is not given us a Spirit of Fear but of Power and of LOVE
2. God has given us a Spirit of LOVE.
You may be thinking that How can God love me when I’m going through this pain, this poverty, this disease, this virus, this cancer. Well the Bible is full of such illustrations of People going through hardships.
Christ may seem like an enemy for a while in your life today, as we see in the life Joseph , but perhaps it is to demonstrate his mercy in a more seasonable time. You must know though that He is a merciful God and if you go to Him as He calls you, he will not hold off his mercy long from you.
Sometimes, He seems to wrestle with us, as with Jacob, but he supplies us with hidden strength to prevail through those times. Faith in God, in Jesus pulls off the mask and helps us see a loving heart under contrary circumstances of our life.
So much Love does God have for his children that He lay down his life for us in his own accord for his sheep. Jesus says...
I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Christ gave His life for us His sheep. His action is not a reaction to our circumstances, but it has always been the plan from ages past for Christ to come make a way for us sinners to fulfill God’s glorious plan. We can do nothing apart from coming to Him. We are all dead in our sins but because of Jesus we now have life not for now, not for just the next 100 years but for eternity because he is our righteousness and we live because he lives
He has not given us a Spirit of Fear but of Power, of Love and of self-discipline.
3. This is for you Christian. If you say you follow Jesus, if you say you are a Christian. Then ask yourself are you disciplined ? As Paul puts it in the next chapter in . Are you pursuing God as a Soldier aims to please the one who enlisted him. Are you pursuing God as an athlete competes to win the prize. Are you pursuing God as a hard working farmer works through his crops?
FOR...
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Train yourself in righteousness by studying and applying God’s Word to your life each and everyday of your life.
Without Christ's Spirit in you, your soul is in confusion, it is without beauty and form till it be set right again by him whose office is to `restore all things', Jesus Christ.
The saying is trustworthy, for:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.
2 Timothy 2:
God gave us a Spirit not of Fear but of Power, of Love and Self-Discipline
The constraint that he lays upon his subjects is that of love. He draws us sweetly with the cords of love. Yet remember also that he draws us strongly by a Spirit of power, for it is not sufficient that we have motives and encouragements to love and obey Christ from that love of his, whereby he gave himself for us to justify us; but Christ's Spirit must likewise subdue our hearts, and sanctify them to love him, without which all motives would be ineffectual. Our disposition must be changed. We must be new creatures. They seek for heaven in hell that seek for spiritual love in an unchanged heart. When a child obeys his father it is from reasons persuading him, as likewise from a child like nature which gives strength to these reasons. It is natural for a child of God to love Christ so far as he is renewed, not only from inducement of reason so to do, but likewise from an inward principle and work of grace, whence those reasons have their chief force. First we are made partakers of the divine nature, and then we are easily induced and led by Christ's Spirit to spiritual duties.
God draws us. By the Power of His Spirit we are made partakers of His divine nature through the resurrection of God’s Son Jesus Christ who because of his agape, unconditional love gave Himself for us. So if you hear his voice this morning I urge you to diligently seek Him with all your heart, all your soul and all your strength and be drawn by His Majesty and to this God who is with us through all our fears.
Christ may act the part of an enemy a little while, as Joseph did, but it is to make way for acting his own part of mercy in a more seasonable time. He cannot restrain his bowels of mercy long. He seems to wrestle with us, as with Jacob, but he supplies us with hidden strength to prevail at length. Faith pulls off the mask from his face and sees a loving heart under contrary appearances.
4. Self discipline
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
16 dAll Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17 that ethe man of God2 may be complete, fequipped gfor every good work.
Whatever may be wished for in an all sufficient comforter is all to be found in Christ: 1. Authority from the Father. All power was given to him ().
2. Strength in himself. His name is `The mighty God' ().
3. Wisdom, and that from his own experience, how and when to help ().
4. Willingness, as being bone of our bones and flesh of our flesh (; ).
God has called us to a holy calling in Christ Jesus , so no matter the hardships and sufferings you may see or are going through remember your faith that God has given you , for he has not given us a Spirit of fear but of power and of love and self control in Christ Jesus who has finished the task and we can go out with confidence knowing that it is He who has entrusted us with the Gospel and will guard us to the very end.
The whole conduct of a Christian is nothing else but knowledge reduced to will, affection and practice. If the digestion of food in the stomach is not good, the working of the liver cannot be good; so if there is error in the judgment it mars the whole of practice, as an error in the foundation does a building. God will have no blind sacrifices, no unreasonable services (), but will have us to love him with all our mind (), that is, with our understanding part, as well as with all our hearts (), that is, the feeling part of the soul.
.....Sibbes, Richard. The Bruised Reed (p. 41). Kindle Edition.