2 Timothy, Rules for life 6

I want to thank Keith and Pat for preaching over the past few weeks. I really appreciate them coming to encourage us all: Keith for encouraging us to be using our God-given gifts for serving one another so that we may all come to maturity, and Pat for exhorting us all to recognize and deal with the sin in our lives through confession, growing in the Lord, and then fellowship and accountability with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Pat was giving a good illustration of what Keith was teaching from Ephesians of one member using his gift for the glory of God, and the growth to maturity of all the members of the body!

Today, we will be looking at 2 Timothy 1:6-7, and seeing that using our gifts this way is part of the Rules for Life that Paul was sharing with Timothy, and with us.

Let’s read the verses, and then ask the Lord to speak to us as we delve into this passage.

2 Timothy 1:6–7 NIV

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

Prayer

Fan into Flame the gift of God

We spoke about this a few weeks ago. Though today I want to focus on verse 7, I believe it is important to keep in mind the context of verse 6.

When we looked at this before, we mentioned that the gift of God is the Spirit. Everyone who receives Jesus as their Savior, that is, believes in Jesus—meaning that they believe His death and resurrection were for the payment of their sin, and the giving of new freedom and life—is given the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, or third person of the Three-persons-who-are-One-God, comes to reside in that believer.

The bible often uses the metaphor of fire in relation to the Spirit. The Spirit is a fire that gives us the new life in Christ. Fire that functions in a couple ways...

Fire to consume and refine

Just as fire burns away the old dead wood, so too the Spirit burns away the old dead sin in our lives, changing us to be more like Jesus. Just as fire is used to heat, melt and purify gold, the Spirit is working to bring the fire to our lives to purify us.

This reminds me of what Pat shared about the addictions, or sins in our lives. They seem like they have control over us. But when the Spirit comes, He fights against those old desires. He works to consume, to burn up and remove them. He works to refine our lives to be more like Jesus!

Fire to work and accomplish

Just as fire brings life and energy, the Spirit brings life to our lives.

I liken it to the old Steam engines which you can see at Steamtown here in Scranton. Those big engines can do nothing without fire in their fire box. They are just tons of steel that don’t go anywhere, and cannot do any useful work. However, when you have the fire in the firebox… The fire provides the heat and energy to make the engine work, and to move the train and its tremendous load down the tracks!

So too, the Spirit brings the heat, the zeal, and energy to our lives to serve the Lord and do the work He has prepared for us to do from the creation of the world!

So Paul tells Timothy to remember the Spirit. He tells him to remember to rekindle the flame, and to allow the Spirit to do His work to refine him, and then to accomplish God’s work through him.

Paul then continues to exhort Timothy with the next Rule for Life which we want to focus on today:

Do not be Timid

Timothy knew he had been given the Holy Spirit. He knew he had been given gifts by the Spirit. But Timothy was feeling timid about using those gifts. He felt he wasn’t up to the task.

Maybe it was the opposition he faced in Ephesus. Maybe it was just his personality to be more shy, more unsure of himself. Whatever the reason, he wasn’t using the power of the Spirit, or the gifts he was given.

Too often, we can be like Timothy. We can feel timid. We feel we could not possibly do what God is saying in the scriptures.

For some, we think that there is no way we could have victory over the sin—that addictive behavior in our lives. We have tried before, and we just cannot overcome. We feel timid about the Spirit working in us to overcome sin.

For others, we are timid about using our gifts to help others. We think, I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t teach anyone else. I don’t know enough. I couldn’t help. I am not as gifted as other people are. I couldn’t do that. I wouldn’t do it well enough.

Like Timothy, too often we are too timid about using the gift that God gave us in the Holy Spirit—that fire that refines, and accomplishes much!

We are timid in dealing with sin.

We are timid about using our gifts to serve in the body of Christ.

Paul knows that. He shares the rule for life… Do not be timid! Don’t give into those feelings of fear and inadequacy!

But telling someone to not give into fear of inadequacy doesn’t go very far does it?

When we are is struggling with the same sin, that addictive behavior in our life that wants to drag us away and destroy us, someone may say, “We talked about this before. Stop it, already! Stop it!”

But just saying stop it does not go very far.

What do we need?

What did Timothy need as he faced the fear of man?

Paul told him to not be timid, but rather...

Live in Power

We need to know that there is a power that overcomes sin in our lives. That power is the very power of God!

Timothy knew that power, he just needed to be reminded to use it. Paul had written a letter to the church in Ephesus where Timothy had been working. What did Paul write?

Ephesians 1:18–21 NIV

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

Now that is power! Raising someone from the dead! And that is the vey power we need! For when we engage in the same old sin, we are stuck on a slippery slope that just leads to death. We need the power that overcomes death. That is the power of God!

The Spirit gives us power to overcome sin.

When are facing the struggle of sin… When we are facing the fear that we couldn’t use our gifts to serve the Lord. When we are tempted to be afraid of what people will think, That is when we need to stop relying on our power, and turn to the Lord. We need to learn His power for us.

Galatians 5:16–17 NIV

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.

We need to know the power of God that overcomes our sin. The fire of the Spirit will consume the fear and replace it with Power…

And, not only does He wage war against our flesh and its desires, the Spirit does more!

Paul wrote to the Ephesians again about the power of God...

Ephesians 3:14–21 NIV

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

The Spirit will work in us with power to know Him, and to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine!!

The Spirit gives us power to work for the Lord.

God saved us to do good works which He prepared for us to do before the Creation of the world.

But He does not just expect us to do it on our own! He provides the Spirit and power to do the work!

Like the Steam engine that needs the fire in the box to work, we need the Spirit to be the fire within us, providing the power to do the work.

As Keith shared a couple weeks ago. God has given us each gifts to use for the good of the body. Each of us has work to do to help the others in the body. And, no one else can do your part!

If you are the knee, the hand cannot do your work. The foot cannot do your work. The eye cannot do your work. And if you do not do your job, well, those of you with bad knees, does that help or hinder the rest of the body?

We all have work to do. Gifts God has given us through the Spirit. But listen to how those gifts are described in 1 Corinthians 12.

1 Corinthians 12:4–6 NIV

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

Who is at work? God! Through the Spirit!

Paul knew this, and described his own ministry this way:

2 Corinthians 3:5–6 NIV

Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Our competence comes from God. He goes on to say...

2 Corinthians 4:7 NIV

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

We are weak. We cannot do this on our own!

Praise the Lord, He has given us the Spirit!

The Spirit who does the fighting to overcome evil.

The Spirit who provides the power to work for the Lord!

Illustration

Live in Love

Paul told Timothy that the Spirit does not make us timid, but gives Power, Love, and… we’ll get there.

Let’s pause on love for a moment.

Timothy was serving in Ephesus. He faced a lot of opposition, and grew discouraged. I imagine, anger, resentment and bitterness may have become a part of his life as he endured this opposition.

It is hard to love those you serve, when they ill-treat you.

It can be hard to continue to love those who are working to make you look bad, or hinder your work. It can be hard to love those who just continue to ignore what you are doing. It is hard when the ones you counsel turn on you.

That is why as we serve, the Spirit gives us love.

Remember the fruit of the Spirit?

Galatians 5:22–23 NIV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

The Spirit has to produce this in us. It does not come naturally from our flesh.

But I think there is more.

Sometimes, when serving, we can grow impatient. We work with these people over and over, and they just don’t get it.

At that point, if we are doing the work, but do not have love… well, Paul said it this way:

1 Corinthians 13:1–3 NIV

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

He said this after describing the gifts in 1 Corinthians 12.

We can get excited about the gifts He gave us. However, the moment we start taking credit, or losing patience, or angry, those gifts are offensive.

The Spirit will give us the power to overcome sin, but let’s not be arrogant like we did it ourselves, or impatient with someone else who is struggling with their sin.

The Spirit will give us power to work for the Lord, but let’s not do it in pride, or impatience. Let’s not be unkind, or self-seeking. Let’s do it in the love that the Spirit provides.

The Spirit gives power, love and self-discipline.

Live in Self-discipline

The word used here for self-discipline in the NIV, is also translated as sober, and sound judgment.

The full area of meaning for this word encompasses having right thinking, which leads to right actions. Or, proper control of thought that leads to proper control of actions.

The Spirit is at work to renew our minds to give us the right thinking.

Titus 3:5 NIV

he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

What is the Spirit renewing?

Romans 12:2 NIV

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The Spirit is renewing our minds that we might have the right thinking. Instead of viewing things as the world would have us view it, we view it from God’s perspective.

As we think correctly, we will then act according to what we think.

And one of the things we need to remember is that pride is always right there with us.

Just as the Lord gives us victory over sin, or gives us the blessing of using us, we can very quickly start to think we did it. We can start to think we are winning over sin. We can start to get proud of what we have done for the Lord.

When that happens, we begin to think we are doing really well.

However, just the time we begin to think we are doing so well, we can quickly fall in to sin again because our eyes are off of the Lord.

Paul warned of this in 1 Corinthians 10.12.

1 Corinthians 10:12 NIV

So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!