Conversing the Kingdom: Remembrance to Good Work

Sermon Preached at the Old Schoolhouse 15/09/2013

Remembrance to Good Work

“2 Timothy 2:20-26”

As you know Cath and I have the privilege to be bringing up two lively boys Josh and Noah. Josh is now at the stage where he is beginning to ask the why questions. Yes I see a few knowing nods. Noah however is only really just getting to the stage where we can begin to train and discipline him on the small things. And as with Josh one of the first battles is stopping Noah throwing the food he doesn’t want off his high chair. The other day at dinner we were going through a little episode with Noah and telling him “No you don’t throw your food over the edge, rather give it to me if you don’t want it.” It was at this point that Josh piped up with “Why are you doing that Daddy?” and I came back with a quick reply “Because Noah is being naughty Josh” and Josh being at that stage came back with just as quick a reply “Why?” and after a moment's pause I replied “Because of original sin Josh” Which funnily enough seemed to satisfy Josh and to which he replied “Oh. O.K. Daddy.”

Those of us here that have had kids know the truth of the Bible’s teaching of original sin that we see in our kids. We have never had to teach them to be naughty. And as we train and discipline our children in the ways of the Lord the big tool at our disposal is repetition. The art of saying the same thing day after day reminding our kids no you don’t do that this is the way to go.

This section of the book of Timothy that we are looking at this morning runs from verse 14 through to verse 26. The first half you looked at last week I believe and the second half we will be looking at today.

Remind them of these things Paul says to Timothy in verse 14. You know we come here this morning not to have our ears tickled by something new, something profound but we come here this morning to be reminded of the truth of the Gospel. And if you are not a Christian here this morning, the gospel is not something out of this world but it is something that has been written in the very fabric of creation and hearing it should be like coming home. Because the gospel is what we are built for it completes us. The Gospel is the restoration of the relationship that we were all made for.

So Paul to this point in the letter has been encouraging Timothy in his suffering for the gospel and now turns his attention to his work as a minister of the gospel, to bring the gospel to continual remembrance before the people. Not to tell people of that which they never knew before but to put into mind that of which they do know.

So in this section of the letter we read in verse 14 Paul calls Timothy to bring to remembrance and warn  them before God against quarrelling about words. And why is Paul so strong about this because says Paul the quarrelling over words is destructive to the things of God, leads to ungodliness and is a sign of the false teacher. It is infectious and can shake the faith of some.

Despite the presence of false teaching Paul says in v19 God’s solid foundation stands firm and is seal with two messages.

The first is for our comfort:

“The Lord knows those who are his.”

Despite the plague of false teachers in our time, despite all the destructive talk and quarrelling those who are saved by the Lord have a firm foundation and he owns them and he will never lose them.

The second is for our duty:

“Everyone who confesses the Name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness”

Those of us who are Christians and name Jesus as Lord of our lives we must be conscious of our duty to turn away from wickedness.

And it is to this second point of our duty that Paul now expounds in verses 20-26 that we might better understand three things:

The True Church

The True Faith

The True Corruption

So first The True church. Here Paul gives us an insight into exactly how we should view the church. Think of it as a large house Paul tells us and think of the people who make up the church as the items that we find within the house the bowls the dishes the jugs and cups.

Paul makes a distinction between two types of items. The first set is the items of gold and silver. Think of that fine china tea set you keep in the glass cabinet or the set of crystal glasses you keep in case the queen ever came round for tea. And second set is the items of wood and clay. Think of the chewed plastic knives and fork you keep in the back of the cupboard for when young kids come round or that battered cardboard box you keep all those bits and bobs in you don’t quite not what to do with shoved in the attic. One set for honourable use and the other for dishonorable use.

Now it could be easy to mistake that Paul here is talking about those inside and outside the church, or our life before we met Jesus and after. But as we look at the context we see that Paul here is talking about the visible church. Now what I mean by the visible church is those who confess the name of the Lord as we read in v19. Those who claim to be christians. Those people who fill the churches in scotland every Sunday, or even those who go less regularly, once or twice a year even but still confess the name of the Lord. This is what I mean by the visible church.

And we can see here that Paul is saying that the visible church is made up of two different types of people. Those the Lord has set aside for noble purpose or honourable and those the Lord has set aside for ignoble or dishonourable use.

The first set of people we can class as the invisible church, the elect of God those that as we read in v19 “The Lord knows those who are his” and “those who turn away from wickedness” and the second set Paul warns us about are those who quarrel, those who indulge in godless chatter, those who have wandered away from the truth like Hymenaeus and Philetus that Paul mentions in v17.

These same two sets of people that can be distinguished within the visible church are the same two sets of people that we see described elsewhere in the Bible. Here they are described as the two different types of household articles the gold and silver verse the wood and clay. In Matthew 13:12 it is the wheat and the chaff. In Matthew 25:31 it is the sheep and the goats. In Matthew 13:24 It the wheat and the weeds growing together. In Matthew 7:17 its the good tree producing good fruit and the bad tree producing bad fruit. In Matthew 7:24 the house built on the sand and the house built on the rock. In fact the whole sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 is contrasting the difference between these two types of people. Both looking the same on the outside but on the inside completely different.

But the interesting point that comes out each time we see these two types of people described and likewise here in our text is that the two exist side by side. The wheat and the weeds grow together, the sheep and the goats graze together, the gold and the wooden articles are together in the one household. The Lord in his sovereign plan has the two types of people existing together in the visible church. It is only on judgement day that the two will be separated the sheep to eternal life and the goats to eternal destruction.

So the question that reads from the text is this which are you. If you confess the name of the Lord what type of fruit are you bearing? In Philippians 2:12 Paul encourages us “In obedience to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” Here in v19 we see that one aspect of working out our faith and showing it to be genuine is to turn away from wickedness. The context of this wickedness in the passage as a whole is the striving after words, the corrupt opinions, the spiralling into ungodliness.

This is the truth of the church there are genuine believers and there are false teachers and each confess faith each looking the same on the outside. But as we learn from the book of James. Faith without works is dead. If we are not turning away from wickedness, not cleansing ourselves, setting ourselves apart as holy then we will not be useful to the Master for good work but only for dishonour.

This brings us onto our second point the true faith. Paul calls us to flee the evil desires of youth. Basically grow up, mature Paul is telling us, put childish ways behind us and live in the freedom that the Lord has given to us. Do not put ourselves back under the bondage of the sinful ways that we have been set free from when we gave our lives to Jesus.

It is so easy for us to slip back into childish ways, the evil desires of youth. One of the big areas of bringing up children is moving them from a position of where everything is about me, me, me through to coming to know Jesus and becoming servant hearted in maturity considering other first above ourselves.

Now as we grow older these things that we should be fleeing from are not as obviously displayed. You will not normally see an adult on the floor in a supermarket having a tantrum or whining to get there own way. But its not because we don’t do it but we have learnt rather sneakier ways of doing it, under cover, not so obvious. We cut people off, we look down our noses at people, we make things difficult, we withhold, we threaten we are altogether more sophisticated about it but it all boils down to the same thing the evil desires of youth.

Remind them Paul says to Timothy. Its not because they don’t know that they shouldn’t be acting this way but they need reminding to stop it.

Stop condemning people on how they look or how they dress. Stop condemning people for their sins. Stop taking offense. Stop threatening people from a position of power with your money. Stop guilt tripping people into doing what you want. Stop giving the silent treatment, bullying or nagging. Stop your foolish talk looking to stir up trouble, causing quarrels. In conclusion stop doing what breaks down, what in the end puts people down and raises you up.

The gospel, the new life of a Christian is about building, up restoring the brokenness of sin.

There is one solution that can put all this immaturity right Paul says and it is this. Pursue righteousness that is setting things straight and true. Pursue faith that is living life trusting in the promises of God. Pursue love that is a life poured out for the good of others. Pursue peace that is a restoration of the fullness of the life lived for God’s glory and our joy. But warns Paul don’t do it alone and don’t try and do it non-christians or dead christians and think it will succeed because they have a completely different agenda. Paul says pursue these things along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

But lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater here. Paul is not saying remove yourself from those who don’t profess to be christians or those in the church teaching false doctrine. Jesus himself said that it is right the the wheat grows up with the weeds, that is the way it should be. The church is not some squeaky clean social club for got it together people. But a battlefield hospital full of the sick and the hurting realities of life.

The true faith lived out in pursuit of holiness is that we are prepared for the good works that the master has for us to do. And what is that? We read it is v24. And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful, gently instructing those who oppose the truth. That is the good work that we are called to do and what is the fruit of this?

The fruit is that those whom the Lord has called, those that are his sheep, his elect, they will hear his voice and God will grant them repentance and lead them to the knowledge of the truth. They will become Christians. The fruit of good works is salvation for the invisible church and it is our privilege that we can be a part of reaping a harvest. This is the will of God.

But finally the third point is The True Corruption. We read in v26 where people are rescued from. They are rescued from the trap of the devil, they are rescued from being captive to his will.

This is the true corruption the reality of the evil desires of youth, the quarrelling, the godless chatter is that in doing these things we are doing the devil’s will. We are breaking down where we should be building up. We are destroying the faith of others where we should be shoring it up. We are spreading false teaching where we should be preaching the truth.

This is the reality of corruption, the reality of immaturity in faith.

If you are not a Christian this morning  maybe take time to consider what is the fruit of a life lived in opposition to God. It is a life lived for self just like that of a child causing division and breaks in relationships. It is a life that is actually lived captive to the devil’s will. The only way to break the cycle is to come to Jesus in repentance that you might come to a knowledge of the truth. I would encourage you this morning to not to leave here until you have made that decision for yourself. Come and speak to me afterwards or to someone who you came with.

For us Christians this morning this is a sobering message and a remembrance to good work. We know what our comfort is that the Lord’s knows who are his and we know what our duty is that we turn away from wickedness. Let us consider the true church and on which side we sit. Have we cleansed ourself that we might be an instrument holy and set apart, useful to the master for any good work. Let us consider the true Faith that it is not a case of trying harder to turn from sin but instead to grow in maturity through pursuit of all that is righteous and good. Do we understand the true corruption that by pursuing the evil desires of youth, living for the self we are putting ourselves back under the slavery of sin and doing the will of the devil.

Let us truly take to heart Paul’s remembrance to good work.

Let us pray together.

Conversing the Kingdom: The Glorious Ever After

Message preached at Grangemouth evangelical church 25/08/2013

1 Peter 3:18-22
“The Glorious Ever After”
If I started my sermon this evening with the words. "Once Up a time" you might think to yourself this guy is about to tell us a fairy tale. And if that was true  the fairy tale wouldn’t be complete until I had ended it "and they all lived happily ever after."
You are hopefully please to know that I am not going to tell a fairy tale this evening but I might like to suggest to us that often in life we all secretly wish that we were living in one.
Now I'm am not talking about wanting to be the knight in shining armour or the damsel in distress but we are all looking to get to the happily ever after stage. We realise that like in our fairy tales life is not straightforward, there will be trouble along the way but if we can just overcome those few obstacles we can walk off into the sunset on our very own happily ever after, our very own heaven on earth.
Maybe that happily ever after for the single is if I can just get married, for the unemployed if I can just get that job, For the parent if only my child walk or talk that quickly turns into if only they would stop walking/ stop talking. For the employed if I can just reach retirement. For the retired if I can just get my golf handicap to single figures.
I wonder what is your happily ever after? The point at which you say if only I could... Then I can have peace, then I can rest. Well the longer we live the more we realise that life is not a fairy tale and the happily ever after is just a mirage. Something in the distance that never gets any closer.
The truth about life that we learn in the Bible is of a different story. It doesn't start Once upon a time it starts In the beginning God. And it doesn’t finish happily ever after but instead glorious ever after. And it’s not our glory but the Lord’s. The story begins with God, and ends with his glory.
It is this great encouragement that Peter was simply and profoundly setting out in his letter to the elect exiles, the Christians, of Asia Minor. Those who persevere in faith while suffering hardship and persecution should be full of hope because of the glorious ever after to come when Jesus comes back or we go to meet him whichever is sooner.
If you are a Christian here this evening you are born again into a living hope. That living hope is the glorious ever after. 1 Peter 1:4-5
“an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. And you ... by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”
Therefore says peter in v13. Prepare yourselves because in the meantime as we wait for the last time we are called to be holy v15 loving one another from a pure heart v22 Do good Peter tells us this is the will of God ch2 v15 but in doing good you will suffer and for this you have been called v21 do not retaliate but entrust yourself to God the Judge. Instead bless those who persecute you ch3 v8 always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. The living hope. This is the message of Peter’s letter so far.
And the verse just before our passage that sets the scene is this
v17 For it is better to suffer doing good, if that is God’s will, than for doing evil.
What a statement to make. We know that life is tough that this fairy tale ending that we are all looking forward to might require a little bit of struggle. You know fight our way past an evil dragon or two to get to the damsel but we do not expect to ride back into town and get thrown into prison and tortured for saving her?
But this is the inbetween that we are called to as Christians to suffer for doing good. And Peter tells us at the beginning of the letter ch1 v 6 to rejoice in it. Wow that is a big ask? Or is it?
It was God’s plan that Christ should suffer in this way. Jesus suffered he went through trials whilst he was here on this earth. He was the righteous one he did nothing wrong and yet by God’s will he suffered. He took on the unrighteousness of us all and was judged in the flesh for that unrighteousness judged to death. Bearing the wrath of God as the punishment of our sin. And what was the result of that? The result was that we the unrighteous might be brought to God.
Now that is what I call a glorious ever after. The process was tough but do you know what got Jesus through it? We read the answer in Hebrews 12:2
“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Who was the Joy set before him. Do you know? It was you. Jesus was up in heaven in glory lacking nothing. But what he was sort was you. He came down to Earth and suffered. He suffered in his life for doing good and he suffered in death as he took on our sin. That wasn’t fair, that wasn’t just. But he did it for you he did it for me. He didn’t just say I love you he came and proved it.
It was God’s will that Jesus should suffer that the result of the suffering was that we could be reconciled to him.
God has a will for us too and his will includes suffering and we learn earlier in Peter what the results of that suffering is to be. Christ suffered for the joy set before him. That was us, you and me. We are also called to suffer for the joy set before us too. Peter tells us what that looks like.
1st we learn in ch1 v 7 that the we can endure the test of suffering for the joy that is proves our faith genuine. Secondly we learn in ch2 v12 and 15 that we can endure suffering for the joy of knowing that suffering well, will glorify God. And thirdly we learn in ch2 v15 we can endure suffering for the joy that through our suffering we silence the ignorance of foolish people, the ignorance of the world that says there is no God.
Now out of the suffering that Jesus went through on the cross the victory came when Jesus defeated death. Though he took upon himself as the righteous one, all our unrighteousness. Though he took upon himself the death judgement for our sin. Death could not hold him and he rose victorious. Made alive in the spirit and in that spirit he proclaimed his victory of triumph over the spirits in prison as we read in the passage v19.
But who are these spirits and why are they in prison? These we are told are those who disobeyed God and did not receive the gospel message preached during the time when Noah was building the Ark.
You see in that time the coming judgement was proclaimed by God to Noah and by Noah to the people but God did not enact it straight away, his patience meant that they were given time to repent. But they did not repent so now they are receiving a different message. A proclamation of victory and in that victory they are condemned.
This is the same message that we all will hear and have been given an allotted time by Jesus in which to respond just like those in Noah’s time. We all have a limited timespan in this life. God is patient whilst we are in our disobedience but one day, and that day could be soon or it could be in many years, he will require our life from us and if we have not repented as those in Noah’s day did not the only message left for us to hear is the proclamation of jesus’ victory over death and our judgement.
There were however those that heared the message and were saved. They were saved through faith we are told by Peter in what Jesus would do for them thousands of years into the future. They were brought safely through water. Which Peter tells us was a picture of the death burial and resurrection that now saves me and saves you. Which is the same picture that baptism gives us now. Baptism is the physical act that represents with the going under of the water and the coming back up again the death, burial and resurrection to new life that a believer goes through in salvation. Baptism represents our appeal to God for the forgiveness of our sins, for a good conscience is how Peter describes it.
We go down into death with Christ and we rise up to new life. The death cuts off the old life and the new life raises us up to live in the spirit the way God does. We read this in Chapter 4 v6.
And this is where we get our difficulties. If in death our old life is cut off, those around us are going to feel that and if in new life we live in the spirit the way God does, the way Jesus did in his earthly ministry people are not going to like it.
As a Christian when we make a stand for Jesus, as we give our life to him, we die to the old life of sin and we are infilled with the Spirit of God. That means that we get a new set of desires. When previously we would never have wanted to read the Bible suddenly we have a desire to learn about Jesus. When previously we only prayed in an emergency suddenly our prayers are relational as we communicate with our heavenly Father. When previously life would have been about seeking our own personal happiness now its about bringing glory to Jesus.
However this type of life is totally counter cultural, it is the reverse of everything that the world preaches. The Bible calls the worldly life living in the flesh where the flesh is everything that is opposite to the spirit. God is Spirit, the flesh is everything that God is not. In the life of the Spirit Jesus is Lord, in the life of the flesh we try to become the lords of our own life.
So we are called to do good by living in the Spirit the way God does. But as we all know the world, and the flesh are against God, they are in rebellion to God. The whole of mankind running around on this planet in not keen that there is a higher authority that will call them into account. They would rather be their own judge.
So the the flesh looks to put to death and kill the world of the spirit because the world of the spirit is standing in judgement. As we make a stand for Jesus as Christian the Holy Spirit present in our life will convict the world of its sin, and of God's righteousness, and of the coming judgment. John 16:8.
Sometimes we don’t even have to say anything but on the other hand often we are called to make a stand vocally. As we make such a stand there is a cost. It could be the cost of reputation, it could be a financial cost and most difficult of all it could be a relational cost.
I personally at the age of just 27 have felt the cost of standing for Jesus. The cost of loss of reputation, the financial cost but the most difficult to face is the relational cost. And the most difficult relational cost is family turning their back on you because of Jesus. To know deep down that the only hope that they have in this life, they are running away from. But not just running away but striking out against and the wounds of a loved one are hard to take.
Maybe your story is similar to mine. Maybe you have another story of cost, another story of trial. Maybe there are many things that weigh on your heart. These are trials that the Lord has brought into our path that our faith might be tested as genuine. These are trials that might silence the ignorance of the world of flesh. That in the end they might result in the praise and glory and honour of Jesus at his revelation in the last day.
We need to hold on to these truths because trials are hard, very hard! We need to hold on to the truth knowing that our Lord is trustworthy. In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
But if we are not continually holding on to these truths then the trials of life can weigh us down if we don’t release it and lay it at the foot of the cross. Maybe the Holy Spirit has been reminding you of a trial that has wounded you deeply. It may have been years ago but you know that every time you think about it again the wound is still fresh, it still hurts. Maybe there is someone that you have never been able to forgive, perhaps its God that you blame for the hurt and the pain.
Jesus invites us to lay these things down. To put to death the bitterness, that settled anger because these are the fruit of the flesh life and Jesus died to put to death the flesh life. We are no longer to live in the flesh life, we are called to live in the spirit life. In Jesus we have the power to overcome the flesh. It no longer needs to rule our lives. In the Spirit Jesus proclaims victory over the flesh. That same spirit lives in us through our baptism, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This evening I would like us to remember that it is God’s will that we should suffer in this life because Peter says Ch2 v 21 Christ also suffered for you leaving you an example so that we might follow in his steps.
Jesus’ job is now complete, he has completed the will of the father. He came down from heaven as the righteous one, suffered for doing good. Suffered for the sin that he never even did in our place and now he has been raised up to his glorious ever after, his rightful place in heaven at the right hand of God. He has triumphed over the angels, the authorities and powers and all are now subject to him.
We for now though are still here facing trials and as we live in the spirit we can say the same as Jesus from the cross "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." and in so doing suffer well because in the end there is not a happy ever after but the living hope of a glorious ever after to the praise, glory and honour of Jesus.
So let us bring the fruit of the flesh life to Jesus and put it to death that we might live the fruit of the spirit.
Perhaps this evening you are like those in Noah’s day. You have heard the preaching of the gospel but you have not yet responded. Let me urge you that although the Lord is patient now his patience has a limit and in the end we are all called to account. If you have not given you life to Jesus do it tonight. Because there is no such things as a happily ever after, walk off into the sunset and you know that. The reality is there is a glorious ever after and that glory is not our own but that of Jesus. The judge of all who has authority of all things and will be coming back to judge the living and the dead.

Conversing the Kingdom: Spiritual Reality Check

Sermon Preached 11.08.13 at The Old Schoolhouse, Morningside. Part of the 2 Timothy sermon series preached by the Edinburgh Young Preachers Group

 MP3 Audio Link

2 Timothy 1:8-18

“The Spiritual Reality Check”

“Do not be ashamed... but share in suffering for the Gospel”

I wonder if you can remember that last time you had a reality check moment. When you suddenly realised something and it humbled you. Maybe it was something as simple as realising that you are just not that supple anymore. Or like me you now realise that you can’t write more than a page of text with a pen without you hand cramping up because you’re too used to writing on a keyboard.

I recently experienced a bit of a reality check. You see my wife Cath, when we meet new people has on occasion sneaked into the conversation that one of my hobbies is breakdancing. Now often to my dismay the first response of people is “Really? But he doesn’t look like a breakdancer?” But then the follow up question is directed at me “Come on then let’s see some.”

Now usually the location prevents me from performing a move and I manage to make my excuses. The floors not right or I’m not exactly dressed correctly (Which by the way if you ask will be today’s excuse) but recently I did take up the challenge and decided to perform a few moves, three to be precise, and each one ended progressively worse. In the first I overbalanced and fell to the floor. In the second I hit my head and in the third I pulled my groin!

You see I am a breakdancer, or more precisely I did breakdance and I trained quite regularly all through university. But the thing is that was almost four years ago now and I have not kept up my training well enough since. So I had a bit of a breakdance reality check.

Some reality checks can be funny and some can be sobering like the parables of the prodigal son in Luke 15:17

“And when he came to himself (That is the prodigal son), he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!”

Sometimes we can have a spiritual reality check, sometimes we need a spiritual reality check. We have all these symptoms, things are not going right, we are worried, we are fearful, we are drained, we are overwhelmed and what we need is someone to come in and give us a spiritual reality check. This is the situation we find here in our passage.

Timothy is a leader in the Ephesus church battling false teachers and lack of godliness. Timothy was struggling and he wasn’t able to see the solution so in comes Paul with his diagnosis and his spiritual reality check.

So we are going to look at this diagnosis of Paul and we are going to look at it in three parts. The calling vs5-7, The Stalling vs8-14 and The Falling v15-18.

So let us first look at the Reality Check of Timothy’s Calling

2 Timothy 1:5–7 (NIV)

5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

6 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. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.  

We can see from this passage that Timothy is in a blessed position in relation to family members. Although his Father was not a Christian he had the great example of his mother and his grandmother from which to observe a sincere faith. And Paul makes comment that he also observes the same sincere faith in Timothy.

So Timothy is a Christian, he is not an atheist, or an agnostic this is a man with a sincere faith. This is a man who has gone through the first Spiritual reality check. He has spent time observing his father who did not have faith in Jesus and he has spent time observing his mother and grandmother and he has seen the reality of faith. He has given his life to Jesus, he has become a Christian.

It maybe your position this morning that you are yet to make the first step of a commitment to Jesus. Well I would encourage you to look around find someone with a sincere faith and observe what they are like and start to think. Why do they do the things they do? What is different about them? They have a security about them a peace that is not present in my own life.

Listen this is not a magic formula this is an understanding about reality. We are made to be in relationship with Jesus and if you don’t know Jesus today is a good day to begin.

For most of us here this morning I think we would relate to Timothy. We have witnessed the sincere faith in those around us and have made the conscious decision to follow Christ at some point in the past. We have a sincere faith we are certainly not an atheist not an agnostic but our faith is not making the impact on the hostile world that is should. We seem to be stuck, serving faithfully in the church but any impact beyond that is minimal at best because to take our faith beyond the walls of the church or even within the church is costly we are far more likely to experience opposition than acceptance. This has certainly been a realisation for me recently and something the Lord has been convicting me of this past year. This chapter has really challenged me to check my own position as Paul calls Timothy to.

In the Christian life we go forward or we go back. Timothy has chosen the former. He is shrinking back from the opposition that he is finding within the church. He is fearful we read it here in verse 6 and 7.

Listen Timothy Paul says, you have been given a gift, as all Christians have, you have got to fan it into flame. There is no use just sitting on it, protecting it for dear life, keeping it safe, fearful of what might happen to it. You have to fan it into flame.

Remember the parable of the talents Matthew 25:14-30. A master entrusted to his servants his property. To one he gave 5 talents, to another he gave 2 talents and to the third he gave 1 talent. The first two went out boldly but the third dug a big hole and sat on his talent in fear until the master came back. And when the Master came back it did not go well with the third servant “You wicked, lazy servant” His one talent was taken from him and he was cast outside into the darkness.

We are the servants in that story and Jesus the master. Each of us has been given a gift. The gift is not ours but is given to us that we might boldly go out with it, not bury it and sit on it with fear. Society around us tells us that faith is a private thing best kept at home. Well that is a lie a deception of the Devil to keep us fearful of the gift we have been given.

What does Paul say to Timothy. God did not give us a spirit of timidity. See the way Paul has wiped away our excuses. He doesn’t say stop being timid he says you have not been given a spirit of timidity. Within our gift we have been given the very means by which we are to be bold.

Now we all have different characters, some are quiet and some not so much but that has nothing to do with how bold or timid we are. We can be the most outspoken center of attention person in the room but timid in faith. We can be the quietest, wouldn't say boo to a goose, type of person and be bold and courageous in our faith.

We have been given a new spirit and that spirit as we read in v7 is a spirit of power, of love and of self discipline. If you are a Christian in this room you can be sincere in your Faith, Timothy was, you can have in your possession the spirit of power, of love, and of self discipline, Timothy did but like Timothy, like the servant with the one talent we can be sitting nice and comfortably on a pile of freshly dug soil because we have gone ahead and buried the greatest gift the world has ever seen. We tell ourselves, we are just keeping it safe.

This is the reality check of our calling. If you are a Christian here this morning you are gifted, you are empowered but unless you are fanning that gift in to flame you are just stalling. And that brings us to our next point. If we don’t understand the spiritual reality check of our calling we are going to get hit with the spiritual reality check of stalling. v8-14 read along with me.

2 Timothy 1:8–14 (NIV)

8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. 9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

13 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.  

So we have seen Paul provide the reality check to Timothy of his calling and the gifting that he has been given. Fan it into flame is Paul’s encouragement because if you don’t the next reality check is that of stalling. The reality check of stalling is twofold we read first Paul says that stalling causes Timothy to be ashamed to testify about Jesus. And by extension of that he is ashamed to associate with Paul because he is so outspoken about Jesus.

So what does it look like to be ashamed to testify of Jesus or ashamed of his most faithful servants. It means that we believe what Jesus has done in our lives but we don’t believe he has the power to change anyone's else’s life, we don’t believe that Jesus is the answer to the world’s problems.

We shy away from talking about Jesus with the people we meet, we don’t make it a priority and if someone else is talking about Jesus we cringe inside. We are like the Father in the story in Mark 9. Jesus had just come down from the mountain with Peter, James and John his disciples after the transfiguration. His disciples had been trying to heal a boy of possession by a spirit but they couldn’t.

Jesus in frustration cries out “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?” The father then approaches the Jesus and says “if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” Jesus replies “ ‘If you can’?” “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Then Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed with the well known phrase, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

If we are stalling as Christian’s we are part of that unbelieving generation we are walking round with a spirit of timidity instead of a spirit of power, love, and self discipline. We are walking around saying to Jesus “well, maybe if you can, please help me, if you possibly have the time, if you could just take pity on my situation.”

And this leads to the second consequences of stalling in our Christian calling where we shrink back from suffering for the gospel. We can do that as Christians we can work very hard to organise and control our lives in order to minimise any possible upset, any rocking of the boat. We keep our faith hidden internalised and avoid any conflict and this all flows from the spirit of timidity that we are clinging on to.

Because the reality is that if make a stand as a Christian we will be persecuted, perhaps not to the extent that Paul was in prison facing death but in this current political climate imprisonment for our faith may not be far off. So the reality check of stalling Is it causes us to be ashamed of the testimony of Jesus, it causes us to take a step back from Jesus’ faithful servants, like Paul and it causes us to shrink back from suffering for the gospel.

But if we meditate on the truths of the gospel as Paul outlines here our gift should should be having the reverse affect on us. The reality check of our gift is we have been saved by the power of God, we have been called to a holy life. A life separate from the world, standing for the truth. We have been chosen not because of anything that we have done but because of the grace of God and for his specific purpose. He has gifted us and not gifted us to to go and sit on it.

This was not just a second thought on God’s part either this grace was given to us before the beginning of time. This was truly preplanned and has now been revealed in our time through the appearing of Jesus who has destroyed death.

Death now for the Christian is no longer some unknown to be feared but a joy to be embraced as through death we get to be with our Lord and Saviour. And Jesus has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.

This Paul tells us is why we have no need for a spirit of timidity but instead we can be heralds of the Gospel because this is the greatest news the world has ever received. And we have no need to worry because as with Paul we can fully trust Jesus that whatever this world throws at us Jesus is able to guard us until the last day.

So what does Paul call us to do? He calls us to guard this gift that has been entrusted to us. Not to bury it but to guard it that it would not be distorted through false teaching but that it would be kept pure. And this is not in our own strength but we are to guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives within us as Christians. And it is that same Holy Spirit that enables us to have the spirit of power, of love and of self discipline.

These are the fruits we should be observing in our lives if we are fanning into flame the gift that God has given us not the fruits of timidity, shame and flight.

To have a spirit of power as a Christian means that we let the Spirit of God flow through us to impact the lives of others. Like we see demonstrated in the life of Jesus and Paul. People never came away from encounters with Jesus or Paul unchallenged ot unchanged. The Holy Spirit that was present in their lives did the work of convicting of sin, righteousness and judgement and people just could not sit on the fence. There was a decision to be made. left or right, one way or the other. This is not some big charismatic effect but simply boldly a declaring the truth and allowing God to work in people lives. That is the spirit of power.

The spirit of love is not some kind of wishy washy love but the kind of love that we see Jesus model. A love that drove Jesus from up in heaven, down to earth to be born in humility that he might live and die for his bride the church. This is a love that rolls its sleeves up and gets down in the dirt, touching the sick, confronting the pharisees, patiently teaching the people, driving out the money changers in the temples, eating with tax collectors and sinner and rebuking his disciples. Jesus lived and breathed a gritty love that got in and did the business. This is the Spirit of love we are called to.

The Spirit of self discipline is not some kind of strict religious obedience but a living of life on purpose, being self controlled. This is a life that keeps on top of the practical aspects of life that we might be more effective in our spiritual call. This is a self discipline of staying far from converting and jealousy removing greed and overreaching from our lives, staying sober minded right down to the practical aspects of running our households well, staying debt free and being spiritual disciplined. This is the spirit of self discipline.

We have been given a great gift, we have been given the spirit of power, love and self discipline and we have been given the Holy Spirit as our helper. This life is not to be lived in our own strength but we need the reality check of our calling and the reality check of avoiding stalling. We need to be people who fan into flame the gift God has given to us.

If we do not then we will fall into the trap of the final reality check that we see in this passage the reality check of falling.

2 Timothy 1:15–18 (NIV)

15 You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. 16 May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. 17 On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. 18 May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.  

If we neglect to fan into flame the gift God has given we do not understand our calling, we end up stalling and finally we end up falling as we see the Phygelus and Hermogenes did. Falling away from the work that the Lord is doing. Deserting the faithful servants of the Lord.

This may look practically like stopping to meet with other faithful believers, stopping going to church, or simply straying so far from the gospel that you begin to deny the key doctrines of our faith. It is in this dangerous territory that one would even need to question salvation. Not that we can lose our salvation. We did not gain it of our own merit and we cannot lose it but a judgement can be made to the reality of a saving faith.

People like this can still be found in churches, there can even be whole churches of them, these people can be Elders and Pastor even. There is no way to stand still in the faith. Either we move forward or we slip back. Being ashamed of Jesus will eventually lead to abandonment of Jesus altogether. Stalling leads to falling.

Instead Paul points us to Onesiphorus. This is a man who displays all the qualities that Paul has been encouraging for Timothy. He was not afraid of Paul and his suffering and he was an encourager, often as we are told, refreshing Paul. Not only that but he goes out of his way. This is a man who does not shrink back but actively lives out the spirit of the gospel. You can just imagine him going round all the prisons. Is Paul here, nope. next next. Is Paul here Nope next.

And finally we see that Paul comments to Timothy in v18b. You have seen what this looks like you have observed Onesiphorus for yourself in the many ways that he help me in Ephesus. You know the theory Timothy, you have seen it in practise, in my life and in Onesiphorus and so we read in the first verses of chapter 2.

2 Timothy 2:1–2 (NIV)

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.  

Model this life yourself Timothy and don’t just stop there, entrust it to others. That is our calling as the church that is our spiritual reality check. We have a calling and if we are not living in the spirit of it in power, love and self discipline then we are stalling and run the risk of falling. Instead let us mirror the examples of Paul and Onesiphorus as they follow Christ.

But let us not forget that this reality check is not about feeling guilty, it’s not about trying harder. We can no more save ourselves that we can live the life of the Christian by ourselves. We need the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us take time today to check ourselves. Are we aware of our calling? Are we stalling? Or have we fallen? Jesus has saved us and we have a joyful job to do as heralds of the gospel!

If you are not a Christian here this morning but perhaps the Holy Spirit has been working in your life to give you that reality check, that this world is tough, that there is a relationship missing, there is a life purpose missing, we no longer have to be far from home feeding the pigs on the farm hungry for more as the prodigal son was. Jesus said I am the bread of Life, I and the water of life all who hunger and thirst come to me and be satisfied. We were made to be in relationship with our creator and this morning I encourage you to give your life to Jesus as Paul says in the chapter he is the only one you should trust with it. Let’s face it we can’t even trust ourselves.

Luke 17:33 (NIV)

33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.

So I would encourage you to give you life to Jesus today.

Let’s Pray.