Hear the Word of the Lord. grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve as my forefathers did with a clear conscience. As night and day, I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you. so that I may be filled with joy. I have been 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. For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline. Let's pray. Father, this is Your Word. Apply it to our hearts and to our minds. May it be presented faithfully in accordance with Your truth and for Your glory and for Your honor. Open our hearts and minds that we might receive and that we might apply. For we ask it in Jesus' name, Amen. As our kids were growing up, one of our favorite summer activities was to go to a nearby state park for a couple of weeks and to rent there a small rusty cabin. And at night we would usually sit around the campfire, and Gretchen being our campfire expert in our family, when the fire would get too low, would take a newspaper and try to fan the dying embers into a flame. And usually she was quite successful. And it's this idea of fanning into flame that Paul here uses in communicating to us what we are to do with the gift that God has given to us. Paul here communicates with Timothy and with us as well to fan into flame God's gift to us. If Paul were alive today, he would, of course, include us in this when he says here to Timothy, "'For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.'" So what is this gift that you and I are to fan into flame? There could be several answers, but the answer I want to focus on this morning is the one found in verse 7. It is a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline. But before we look at the gift that God has given us in Christ, let us focus on what God has not given us as believers in Jesus Christ. And Paul says here in this passage that God has not given us a spirit of timidity or a spirit of fear. Fear is the devil's tool to make Christians ineffective in the use of God's gifts. Fear can actually immobilize us and paralyze even the bravest among us. I remember one particular situation in my time in Vietnam when we were being attacked by the enemy and the fellow next to me had just come into country so he was quite new, green behind the ears as all of us were actually, but he was a big brawny fellow and as the bullets started flying he was lying next to me on the ground shaking, panicking. He had an M16 lying next to him. He had grenades on his backpack, but he lay there immobilized, totally useless to himself and to us. That's how it is for us as believers, with the gifts that God has given us if we are intimidated, if we are controlled by fear. Fear prevents us from using God's gifts effectively. What are some of the things that make us as Christians afraid? What are we afraid of? Why are we afraid? Certainly, circumstances or situations beyond our control can cause fear to exist within our hearts. Illness or death can be causes for great fear. We've had a lot of illness and even deaths in our congregation or in families here within the congregation, often sudden, unexpected. And what is our natural reaction? Isn't it fear? So often it is, isn't it? With a serious illness, we fret and wonder, what will be the outcome? Or with death in our family, we wonder, what will I do now? What will happen? How can I go on? The uncertainty of the future, perhaps because of financial hardship, can certainly frighten us, can't it? Some years ago, a good friend of mine found out that because of politicking within his office, within his company, He was laid off. He was fired. This man had a wife and young children. They just bought a house a few years before that. And it's understandable that this could result in fear. The weather can be terribly frightening. I'm sure that all the people in Colorado who saw all their earthly possessions swept away this past week have lived with a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety. In many U.S. cities, people live in fear of people. And there's certainly good reasons for that as we read the newspaper reports of gang rapes, murders, hold-ups, drive-by shootings, etc., etc. Rejection by friends and family can also certainly be very frightening, can't it? My stepfather was an atheist, my second stepfather. I'll never forget the rage that he flew into when we shared with him that Gretchen and I had become Christians. My mother and he had just arrived for Thanksgiving from Milwaukee by train. We were in St. Paul, Minnesota at that time. And after a long and sleepless night of pacing up and down the floor in our living room, he had my mom pack up their bags, and the next morning we had to take them back to the train station. They went back to Milwaukee. We were more than a little shaken, I can tell you. What does the Lord say to us in our moments of fear, in our moments of anxiety, or in our seasons of anxiety? Because sometimes they can last a long time, can't they? In Psalm 27, the Lord comforts us and encourages us with these words. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? And in Isaiah 51-7, we have these beautiful, comforting words. Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts, do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults. And in Isaiah 35, verses 3 and 4, the Lord has these beautiful words for us. He says, And as I get older, I identify with that more and more. In all the circumstances of life which can frighten us, which can perhaps even terrify us, the devil is actively involved seeking to undermine our faith and our trust and our witness, while the Lord at the same time, in that same circumstance, designs for that trial to strengthen us in our faith, in our trust, in our dependency. Here's some good questions for us to consider when we struggle with fear or perhaps when we're overcome with anxiety. Do we truly believe that God has his hand on us and is leading us? Do we truly believe that there is nothing in this universe that can ever separate us from the love of God? Or that there's nothing that can enter into our lives unless God has ordained it? Do we truly believe that God is all-powerful, all-sovereign, and always completely loving toward His children? If we do, and I'm sure most of us do here this morning, why then do we still worry? Why are we still afraid? Why do we allow those fears sometimes to control us? Whether those fears are the result of an illness, or death, or an uncertain future, or the forces of nature, or broken relationships or financial insecurity. Why do we allow those fears still to control us so intensely? When we come to face-to-face with our fears, I think one of the things that's important for us is to confess it as what it is, ultimately sin. Because ultimately our fears, our anxieties express the fact that we're not truly trusting in our faithful and trustworthy God. At that point, we have to confess our frailty. We have to come face to face with our frailty and pray for the grace to trust Him, not allow ourselves to feel condemned because of it, but come to Him and say, Lord, I'm afraid. Forgive me. Help me. To trust Him that He knows what is best, to trust Him to do what is best, to trust Him to use this particular situation in our lives as a beautiful channel of His grace into our lives, to deepen our dependency upon Him, to deepen our Understanding of the fact that he is in control, that he does love us, that he wants to glorify himself through the situation. Instead of a spirit of fear and anxiety, what has God given to us? Paul says that God has given his children a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline. That's what he says here in verse 7. Paul is trying to encourage Timothy, his son in the faith. And apparently from what I read in the commentaries, Timothy was a timid person, easily frightened. And we see this here in verses 6 and 7. It seemed that Timothy's zeal was burning low. He was discouraged, perhaps even ready to throw in the towel in the spiritual battle. And Paul is trying to encourage him not to give up but to press on. And we see this even more apparently if we look at some of the other passages between Paul and Timothy. And it's somewhat ironic, isn't it, when you consider the fact that Paul is the one who was in prison and knew that his execution was imminent because this is the last epistle shortly before he was executed, and yet he is the one trying to encourage Timothy. This would be Paul's last letter. And yet here he's trying to encourage Timothy, saying to Timothy, Timothy, look to the Lord, trust him. He will give you the power and the love and the self-discipline. Remember the gift that God has given you, Timothy. And what was that gift, both to Timothy, to Paul and to us as God's people in general? Paul says in verse seven that God has given the Christian a spirit of power. Let me just flesh it out a little bit by looking at 2 Corinthians 10, verses 3-5, where Paul also speaks about what kind of power that really is, 2 Corinthians 10. Paul writes, therefore, though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. You and I have been given weapons with which to destroy strongholds. We should be completely humbled because we know that it is certainly not our power that would ever do that. And we know that the weapons that we have at our disposal also are not because of our own fabrication. They've been given to us by the Lord. They're God's gifts to us. In 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9, the Lord says to Paul, actually, as well as to us, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. God's power is made perfect in our weakness. When we see our weakness, when we see our helplessness, and as a result lean on Him God is glorified through that. You've perhaps heard of David Wilkerson. He's the one who left a nice country parish in Pennsylvania and went into the inner city of New York to work with gangs. He expressed or he wrote in one of his books that on one of his first walks through the city when he was in the ghetto in New York, his first year there, he suddenly realized he was being followed by three thugs. And at first he felt frightened, but then he felt this surge of God's Spirit empowering him to do what he normally would not have done, but he turned around and he faced the thugs and said, listen, there's nothing you guys can do to me apart from God's will for my life. And they were totally blown away, turned around, and walked away. The Greek word for power is dynamos, from which we get the word dynamite, and that's a lot of power, and that power is ours. I don't think we should ever interpret this, however, to think that God will give us the power to remove all frightening situations, because that's not what He promises. Although God could certainly do that. But however, He gives us a power that is much more intense, much more powerful, much more amazing, and that is this. He gives us the power to trust when the situation seems completely hopeless. He gives us the power to believe when we think the situation is hopeless. He gives us the power to press on when we want to give up. And He gives us the power to courageously fight our battles in every realm, in the physical realm, in the emotional realm, in the moral realm, and especially in the spiritual realm, without despairing and without giving up. And that power is ours in Christ. And that power is only ours in Christ. So why do we still so often give in to fear? Too often we don't utilize this power. Just like my soldier friend in Vietnam had his weapons but couldn't use them because of fear. And why is that? I believe it's because we so readily focus on our circumstances, on our afflictions, and on ourselves and not on Christ. Paul also tells us in our text this morning that God has given the Christian a spirit of love. What does that look like? It's this spirit that throughout the centuries and even today in much of the world has allowed Christians to go to the cross or to go to the stake to be burned or to do whatever their persecutors have commanded without feeling bitter. Here's a prayer that John Huss sent to his friends from Constant, Germany, shortly before he was burned at the stake back in 1415, because of his faith in Christ. This is what he wrote. O loving Christ, draw me, a weakling, to yourself. For if you should not draw me, I could not follow you. Grant me a brave spirit, that I may be ready. If my flesh is weak, may your grace surround me. For without you I can do nothing, and especially I cannot go to a cruel death, even for your sake. But grant me a ready and loving spirit, a fearless heart, a right faith, a firm hope, and a perfect love, especially for my enemies, that for your sake I may lay down my life with joy and with patience. Amen. It is this spirit of love That is our defense as well against bitterness, against despair, against resentment, against hatred, against rejection, against abuse, against misunderstanding and against persecution. And it is this love that is the key into people's lives, into people's hearts. No matter what people may do to us, this amazing gift, this spirit of love, is the key that gives us victory because it enables us to forgive. It's the spirit of love that enables us to take our focus off ourselves. And instead, it allows us to see the needs even of our enemies. This is the love of Christ. You and I can't love like that, but we must remember that this love is God's gift to us. It's not our love. It's his love to us. And because it is his gift to us, you and I can do what is humanly impossible to do. Paul also tells us in verse 7 of our text that God has given the Christian a spirit of self-discipline. God has given us the power to become masters of our often irrational emotions and sinful desires. Our emotions and desires can control us to do what we know we should not do. And they can also keep us from doing what we know we should do. I've mentioned my best friend from seminary days before, and in a tragic scenario, he uses sexual orientation to leave his family, his wife, and three kids. In his intentional unwillingness to forget that God's grace is always sufficient to do what his word calls us to do. He destroyed his family, scarred his wife and his three kids for life. The ultimate question that we wrestle with in regard to self-discipline is this, isn't it? Do we really desire self-discipline to control our emotions and urges? But another question we need to ask is this one. What is the motive behind our desire to be self-disciplined? There are many, many self-disciplined individuals who have no knowledge of Christ. Think of all the athletes who spend hours every day training for that one short moment of glory. Or the musicians who spend hours every day training for that short spotlight on the stage. But what's their motive often? Is it God's glory and God's honor or is it their own? Christian self-discipline has its foundation in a totally different place. The foundation for our self-discipline must be the joy of Christ. Nehemiah says that the joy of the Lord is our strength. The greater our joy is in Him, The greater are our desire and ability to live for Him and not for ourselves. And I would say, conversely, the smaller our joy in Christ is, the smaller is our ability and desire to live for Him, to be surrendered to Him. It is this gift, this spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline, all of which God has given us, that Paul says we are to fan into flame. When Paul first laid his hands on Timothy, it was to set him apart in a special way, as a testimony, to be a preacher, to be a teacher. And yet if we're believers in Jesus Christ, all of us have been set apart in a special way. That's what it means to be holy, and we are God's holy people. Not because of our holiness, but because of the holiness of Christ imputed to us. We've been set apart. This gift of the spirit of power and love and self-discipline belongs to every Christian. And this is the gift that you and I are to fan into flame. The Greek meaning is that we are to become consumed by it. Paul says to Timothy and to us that we are to exert all of our energy in order to fan this gift into flame while always realizing that it is God's strength that enables us to do so. Paul's exhortation to Timothy is strong and intense. Again, as I said already, Paul is close to death. The situation is urgent and critical. Persecution is ferocious under Emperor Nero. Timothy could not afford to be timid in this situation. He had to be strong. And humanly speaking, the survival of the church depended upon the boldness of the early Christian leaders. But in a sense, the same is true today, isn't it? The church is under attack, physically, emotionally, morally, and spiritually as never before. And whether it's physical persecution in China, in North Korea, in Vietnam, in Nigeria, throughout the Muslim world, or whether it's psychological pressure because of the mockery that we might receive because of our stand for God's truth from the media, Or whether it's the spiritual warfare that all of us are under in this world because of Satan's attack. Or whether it's because of the temptations from within. What are we to do? We too must fan into flame this gift, this spirit of power and love and self-discipline. But how do we do that? With a fire, too, you take a little newspaper, you blow. But how do we fan this spirit of power, of love and self-discipline into flames so that it really helps us to do what God is calling us to do? I think the starting point and the ending point is being consumed by God's grace. We need to understand what Christ has done for us, that He died an excruciating death because of our sin. But understanding that is not enough. We need to be awed. by the gospel. But in order for that to happen, we need to be horrified by the depth of our own sin. Without a deep understanding of our sin, we will never have a deep understanding of the gospel. We need to be humbled and overjoyed by what God has done for us in Christ when Christ went to the cross. We need to be consumed more and more as we meditate upon this reality by the desire that God would be glorified through our lives, that He would be honored through us, that we would live our lives in such a way that He would truly receive honor and glory. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5 that it is the love of Christ That compels us. It's the love of Christ that's our power, our motivation, our compulsion for loving and serving Him, and also for loving and serving one another. Isn't it the love of Christ that is the embodiment of God's grace as it extends to us? So we could really say that it's the grace of God through Christ that compels us and motivates us and empowers us. This has to be the foundation of all that we do. If we're to fan into flame the gift that God has given to us by His Spirit, we must be overwhelmed and consumed by the gospel. by God's amazing love for us in Christ, in light of our own unworthiness. That's where it begins. That's where it ends. But as we look more closely at Paul and Timothy here in 2 Timothy, we can gain some helpful insights into how Paul addressed Timothy that also help us to learn how we can, in our own effort, by God's grace, But what we can do, Paul was certainly never an innocent bystander, an inactive bystander, but what you and I can do to fan this gift into flame, which is what Paul commands Timothy and thereby we are also commanded to do, what did Paul, frankly speaking, do to accomplish this? One thing that we see in Paul in every epistle is a grateful spirit, a thankful spirit, a thankful heart. And here, too, in this particular passage, Paul writes to Timothy, I thank God for Timothy, for other things as well. In 1 Thessalonians 5.18, it's a broader commandment. He says, Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Give thanks in all circumstances. And the spirit of gratitude was certainly one of Paul's trademarks, wasn't it? Again, picture Paul's circumstances, a gloomy dungeon, his last days on earth, facing the death sentence under Emperor Nero, and yet he did not complain. Instead, he's thankful because he knew that his God was faithful. I'm touched and encouraged by so many of you here in our midst who are undergoing intense affliction. Your countenance and your perspective speak of a deep and abiding trust and a spirit of thanksgiving. And I'm so grateful for that. And for some of us, I think our flame would burn much more brightly if we would sincerely plead with the Lord to take away ingratitude or fear and instead help us to focus on God's blessings to us in Christ. I think it's a wonderful exercise for us to stop and think back over our lifetimes and count God's blessings to us year after year after year. And those blessings include the trials and the afflictions of life because we recognize by God's grace that they too are really a channel of God's grace into our lives to make us more dependent upon our faithful and trustworthy God and Father and Provider. We also stir into flame God's gifts to us by serving, as Paul here says, with a clear conscience. Paul knows that his faith is real. He knows that he's not just pretending. He knows that he's not just simply following some empty tradition because there was no tradition. He had just come to know Christ, and this was still living within him. Paul is very honest at the same time, however, very transparent about his own sin, about his own struggles. In Romans 7, we can see his anguish over his own sin. He wants to honor Christ. He wants to serve Christ. And his sin causes him anguish because he wants to serve Christ without hypocrisy. He wants to serve his people without hypocrisy. And for us, too, as God's children, there's nothing that destroys our witness more quickly than a guilty conscience. The sin which causes a guilty conscience will hurt relationships. It will hurt families. It will hurt churches. And it will certainly dishonor God. I think so many Christians experience spiritual atrophy and destroy their witness because of an unwillingness to confess, an unwillingness to repent, an unwillingness to ask for forgiveness. It's like water to a fire. It extinguishes it. and especially true for those who seek to be leaders in the church. We also stir the gift that God has given us into flame through prayer. Paul was a man of prayer, as we see here in verse 3. He says, I thank God whom I serve as my forefathers did, as night and day, I constantly remember you in my prayers. Prayer is the fuel that keeps our spiritual life fervent and alive. Paul prayed day and night here, he says, and that was not unusual, I'm sure. He trained himself to use his time well. Paul prays for Timothy. He prays for the churches that he established by God's grace. He prays for his persecutors. And if we recognize that our spiritual fervor is getting dimmer and dimmer and dimmer, we too need to pray, even though that may be the last thing we want to do. But God hears a sincere prayer of a sincere heart. Lord, help me. I want to know you more intimately. God will answer those prayers. But again, to be motivated to pray, we need to focus on the gospel. We need to focus on who God is. We need to focus on who we are. We need to focus on what God has done for us. And instead of casting us away forever, He adopted us as His children. Prayer allows us to get to know this God better. To come to understand better just how amazing He is, how amazing His grace is. It allows me to get closer to the heart of God. It's a privilege. It's a joy. And yet, why do we forfeit that so readily? We also stir God's gift into flame through a deepening love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul loved his fellow Christians intensely. We see this here with Timothy. Listen to verse 4. He says, Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. Paul realizes that he probably won't ever see Timothy again in this world. But he's encouraged by the love that they share as brothers in Christ. He's encouraged by the amazing fellowship that they've enjoyed because of Christ. And he's encouraged by the sincere and secure hope of an eventual reunion in heaven with Timothy and all those whom Paul loved and who loved the Lord. And that same kind of love, fervent love, is ours as brothers and sisters in Christ. It should be ours. It should be what we experience here on a weekly and daily basis. But often we don't. Why? Because we're so caught up with our own needs. We're so caught up with our own struggles that we don't focus on the needs of those around us, whether it be within our families, our church, or even our community. Or perhaps we focus too much on those things that are not essential. And we can all, in our mind, imagine what they are. Think about Jesus, what an amazing example He is. He's so much more than an example, of course. But He tells us to imitate Him. We're told to take on the mind of Christ. So what does that mean? What did He do? He emptied Himself, didn't He? He emptied Himself so completely that He became man. He condescended to become one of us. And not just that, but He took upon Himself our sins. So His love might transform from being self-centered, being prideful, being egotistical, to becoming people who desire, not perfectly, but who desire to be humble servants, to honor their Lord, their Savior, to honor their Maker, to love their neighbor. So how then, in review, do we fan into flame this gift that God has given us? We focus on the most amazing gift of all, which is God's grace to us in Christ. That's the starting point. That's the ending point. That's the middle. And out of this greatest of all gifts flows the gift of the Spirit of power, of love and self-discipline. And then by the power of the Holy Spirit we fan that gift into flame so that we might serve Him and one another more faithfully and more fervently. And we accomplish this practically by doing what? By cultivating a grateful heart. by serving the Lord and one another with a clear conscience, by seeking to be people of prayer, and may I also add, people of the Word, and lastly, by seeking to cultivate a deep and genuine love for our physical and spiritual family. So, are we here at Covenant Presbyterian Church fanning into flame God's gift to us? That is our call. That is our mission. May the flames in us and among us burn so brightly that they will provide light for those who still live in darkness. And may they burn so intensely, so warmly that they will provide heat for those who are still cold in their sin. That's what Jesus meant when He commanded us in His Word in Matthew 5, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your God, your Father who is in heaven. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you are a gracious God who condescended to redeem broken sinners and to call them sons and daughters. We're overwhelmed. We confess that we're totally unworthy, and yet, Father, we thank you. And we ask that as we meditate upon your grace, as we meditate upon the gospel, as we meditate upon the cross of Christ, that you would overwhelm us with a deeper and deeper love for you, as well as a love for one another. That You would overwhelm us with a deeper and deeper hatred of our sin that we might grow in righteousness and holiness and obedience. Father, we ask all this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen. Let's sing together our closing hymn, hymn number 339.