Heavenly Father, we thank you for your grace in our life. We thank you for loving us with an everlasting love, though we certainly did not deserve it. Lord, thank you for rescuing us from the domain of darkness and transferring us into the kingdom of your beloved Son, a kingdom of light, a kingdom of glory and holiness and majesty. Lord, you have given us everything and we thank you and we praise you for it. And now we humbly ask Holy Spirit that you will be with us as we look at your word together as a body of believers known as Three Rivers Grace. Lord, speak to our hearts, meet us where we are and help us to be the people that you've called us to be. And we ask this in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen. Well, as you can see, our text this morning is 2 Timothy 1, verses one through seven. And though Ben has already read this this morning, I will be reading it once again. Paul writes this. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus. To Timothy, my beloved child, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Are you hearing what I'm hearing right now? Thank you. I thank God whom I serve as did my ancestors with a clear conscience as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now I am sure dwells in you as well. 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 gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. If you were asked as a student of the Bible to give a brief description of the Apostle Paul, you'd probably say something to the effect that Paul was a highly educated man with an alpha disposition and no-nonsense attitude who, as a passionate follower of Jesus Christ, worked tirelessly for the advancement of Christ's church. Now, if this sounds like the kind of answer that you'd give, then your answer would be very understandable in light of what we find in the New Testament. But having said that, as spiritually stable and zealous as Paul was, he was also a man of deep feelings and compassion. Behind Paul's spiritual toughness peaked the heart of a man who actually felt pain, both physical as well as emotional, and who possessed a genuine concern for the welfare of others. This is the particular side of the Apostle Paul that we're going to be seeing emphasized throughout this second letter to his beloved son in the faith, Timothy. As you know, this morning is our very first study in the Epistle of 2 Timothy, which is one of three letters written by Paul, along with 1 Timothy and Titus, historically referred to as the Pastoral Epistles. They have been called the Pastoral Epistles going back to the 1700s. To put it simply, the pastoral epistles are so called due to the predominant emphasis on pastoral duties and responsibilities. And yet, even though these letters are rightly classified together, there is something special about Paul's second letter to Timothy. The particular thing that makes 2 Timothy so special is the fact that it's Paul's final New Testament letter before his martyrdom. The epistle of 2 Timothy serves as a sort of farewell discourse of the great apostle to the Gentiles. After approximately 30 years of faithful Christian service, Paul was arrested by the Roman government for the final time and then thrown into prison where he would await his inevitable execution. Paul, of course, knew that his ministry had come to an end. And in knowing this, he wrote to Timothy in order to encourage his young protege, as well as request from Timothy a final face to face before his own imminent departure to be with Christ. As we consider the passages before us, we're going to see the Apostle Paul encouraging Timothy to maintain his Christian devotion and to do this in spite of the various difficulties that he was presently experiencing. Difficulties that he would continue to experience to the very end of his Christian commitment. Well, this brings us now to our immediate text. Unlike our modern custom, it was common practice in ancient times for an individual to place his name at the very beginning of a letter. And whenever Paul wrote a letter, he generally made it a habit of not only writing his name, but also his peculiar calling, which just so happened to be the calling of an apostle. Paul begins his second and final letter to Timothy with the words, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. For the most part, Paul began his letters in this way because he needed to emphasize to the various churches that he was a man who spoke and wrote with the authority of God. Paul always felt the need to do this because there were always some in the churches who questioned his right to lead. After all, Paul was not a part of the original twelve like Peter and John and the others. Unlike the twelve, Paul had never really known Jesus. This being so, Paul continually found himself throughout his ministry defending his apostleship. Yet even though Paul emphasized his apostleship in order to confirm his spiritual authority, I also think it's reasonable to conclude that Paul did this as an expression of his self-image. All of us presently live in a culture where self-image is defined by things like amount of income, the kind of car we drive, The kind of clothes we wear, the kind of house we live in, or the kind of people that we rub shoulders with and hang out with. These are the kind of temporal things that define a person's image or self-worth in 21st century America. For Paul, there was really only one thing that determined his worth as a man, and that was his relationship with and service to Jesus Christ. Notice from our text that Paul wasn't merely an apostle. He was an apostle of Christ Jesus, Messiah Jesus. Paul never really saw himself as Paul the spiritual giant or Paul the soul winning evangelist. We could easily make the case that he was both. No, Paul really only saw himself in one way. He was a willing and loving servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. By emphasizing his apostleship, Paul was, in essence, emphasizing his passionate devotion to the long-awaited God-sent Messiah. Now, Paul's mindset here is one for all of us to emulate. Like Paul, all of us as believers need to make it a habit of measuring our self-worth solely on the basis of our relationship to Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter how poor we might be, or how unattractive and untalented we might be, or even how unsuccessful we might be in the eyes of the world. Through our union with Jesus Christ, a union that is based solely on God's grace, We are the most valuable creatures in all of God's created order. And the reason this is so is because we've been chosen by God to experience the full blessing of His redeeming love. The fullness of blessing that is strictly limited to those chosen by God in eternity past. As a professing believer in Christ, You should never really struggle with a poor self-image. Because regardless of what the world may think, the Lord considers you as His child to be exceedingly special. To be united to Christ is to be rightly considered by God as one of His beloved children. to be united to Christ is to be assured that God the Father couldn't possibly love us with a higher love because there is no higher love than the love that the Father has for those in union with his beloved Son by grace through faith. Those believers who doubt their true worth need look no further than the unsurpassed worth of Jesus Christ Himself and then realize once and for all that in Christ Jesus they are in fact the most valuable possession of God Almighty. There is no greater love, nor can there be, than the love of God for His own. Well, from the encouraging truth regarding our great worth in Christ, Paul's words lead us next to the encouraging truth concerning the benefit we receive through the spiritual service of others. Notice Paul's words in verses three through five. I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. I think it's safe to say that One of the motivations behind Paul writing this letter was the practical reality of his loneliness. Paul's gospel ministry was in its final days and he knew it. He was languishing in a Roman prison where he was constantly in the presence of hardened criminals. According to verse 15, all of his supposed Christian friends in the province of Asia had turned away from him. In spite of his close communion with Christ, Paul was a lonely man, a lonely believer who longed for the encouragement of his spiritual companions. Now, it's easy to conclude that Paul and Timothy had a very close relationship. In 1 Timothy 1-2, Paul refers to Timothy as his true child in the faith. Paul's reference in verse 4 to Timothy's tears only gives further credence to the strong spiritual bond that existed between these two fellow believers. Paul probably considered himself to be Timothy's spiritual father, and because of it, he was especially desirous of seeing Timothy one last time before his own earthly departure. Not even the great apostle Paul was exempt from needing encouragement during his last days. Now, as Christians, it is imperative that we understand just how much we actually need one another. The Lord never intended for the Christian life to be lived out in isolation. Too many believers have a mistaken understanding of the Christian motto, all I need is Jesus. Jesus Christ is all the believer needs, but it's also the will of Jesus that believers take full advantage of the edification and spiritual giftedness of other believers. The Bible refers to the church metaphorically as a body. And within this body, every individual member plays a vital role in not only serving others, but also in being served by others. To borrow Paul's metaphor from 1 Corinthians 12, the hands need the feet just as much as the eyes need the ears, and vice versa. In order for the church to function properly, every believer needs to be mutually dependent on every other believer. It says in Proverbs 27, 17, as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. It's only within the context of community that believers are capable of maximizing their spiritual potential. In order to progress in our practical sanctification, we need to be committed to the relational aspect of Christian living. It was the poet John Donne who famously stated that no man is an island. This is something especially true within the church. Isolated living is one of the greatest hindrances to spiritual maturity. If you expect to grow in Christ and to be the man or woman or young person that God has called you to be, then you need to be plugged into the local church. You need to find a Bible-believing, God-honoring church and give yourself to that church in the service of God and Christ. This is God's will for all of our lives as the people of God. Now, as important as Christian fellowship is to our spiritual development, it's also equally important to be spiritually edified by our immediate family. This was certainly the case for Timothy. According to Paul's words in verse five, Timothy's grandmother and mother apparently played a significant role in his spiritual development. There's much to be said for growing up in a godly home. Since we know from Acts 16 that Timothy's father was not a believer, it seems safe to assume that his knowledge of Scripture, which he possessed from childhood, which is something alluded to in 2 Timothy 3.15, was the primary work of his mother. There's a very good chance that it was Timothy's mom who ultimately convinced him from the Old Testament Scriptures that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the promised Messiah. On the topic of godly parenting, it says in Ephesians 6, 4, fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. And of course, maybe the most off-quoted verse concerning Christian parenting is the one found in Proverbs 22, 6. Train up a child in the way you should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it. The fact is the family unit is one of the most fertile of all places for the acquisition and development of Christian truth. I mean, generally speaking, people will receive even the hardest of spiritual realities from those they know genuinely love them. And who do we actually believe loves us more than our very own family? As believers, we need to take full advantage of the familial bonds of love because it will be within this relational context that the power of the gospel will be potentially most effective. Timothy never would have been rightly described as a man of God apart from the great influence of his mother and grandmother. Exactly how Christian parents raise their children is supremely important. Therefore, parents, always be deliberate in your child's spiritual instruction. It will never be a work in vain. And let me also say this. Children are very smart. And many of you know that more than I do. They may not understand the word hypocrisy, but they understand the concept. And as they grow up and they get older, they're going to understand most clearly the difference between what is real and what is false. So as you live out your Christian life publicly, make sure that your public Christian walk is the same as it is in private, because your kids see this. If you truly love your children and you truly want to have an impact on their lives, spiritually speaking, Your prayer is to see your children come to Christ. God himself is sovereign over salvation. Salvation belongs to the Lord. That's at the very center of the book of Jonah. That's the great lesson that Jonah needed to learn. Salvation belongs to the Lord. But as a Christian parent, you are responsible to do all you can to see your child come to Christ. And the greatest impact that you will have in your child's life is being a for real believer. all the time. There are many parents today that know how to fake it. You've probably met many of these parents. Hopefully you're not one of them. It matters how you raise your kids. It matters that your own life is as holy and committed to Christ as it needs to be as you seek to make an impact in the lives of those you love so much. Family matters. Take advantage of that. Well, as solid as he was as a believer, Timothy nonetheless had his fair share of weaknesses. Like all of us, Timothy was a man with feet of clay. And according to our passage, Timothy seemed to be especially weak in the area of spiritual courage. Listen to what it says in verses six and seven. 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 gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control." Now, I didn't mention this at the beginning of the message, but when Timothy received this letter from Paul, he was still in Ephesus working to get the church there operating in a God-honoring way. Those of you familiar with the book of Ephesians know that the church in Ephesus was struggling because it had been infiltrated by false teachers who were teaching things contrary to what Paul had taught. It was one of Timothy's chief responsibilities to deal with these false teachers, and he was obviously having a hard time fulfilling this task. Unlike Paul, Timothy didn't seem to possess the same will of iron needed to deal effectively with troublemakers in the church. It seems reasonable to conclude that Timothy possessed more of a gentle personality, one that could be readily overcome by those with a more aggressive temperament. As we focus our attention on the final two verses, I think there are two main truths most profitable for edification. First of all, it's important to understand that our spiritual giftedness is something that needs to be exercised and developed. Every believer has at least one spiritual gift, and whatever that gift may be, it needs to be put into use. Otherwise, it's going to grow weak and become marginally effective. All believers are responsible to fan into flame the spiritual gift or gifts that God has given to them. Now that being stated, one of the best ways to fan into flame our spiritual giftedness is by intensifying our spiritual devotion, our devotional time. For example, instead of reading our Bibles silently, we may need to read them out loud in order to sharpen our focus. Or instead of reading our Bibles sitting down, we may need to read them while on our knees. This was something that the great George Whitefield did and it certainly served him well. Maybe we need to add a time of praise to the singing of hymns or familiar worship songs. There are a number of different things that we can do to shake off the dust of our spiritual apathy. But the important thing is that we do whatever it takes to rekindle our spiritual zeal. I mean, spiritual gifts can become dull when they're not being rightly used. And this can become a significant problem because the Lord expects us to rightly use what He's given to us, not to waste it or to allow it to become weak. Again, all of us have been gifted by God. Find your niche in Christian living, find your niche in the church. What do you love to do? What are you passionate about? Then give yourself to that and do this all to the glory of God. God has given all of us the same opportunity to glorify Him. Now you may not be able to glorify Him publicly in the same way that others can. You may not have the showy gifts like preaching and teaching, but that's okay. Because the only one that you need to be seeking to please is God himself. And God sees the quiet things. God sees what's going on behind the scenes that nobody else sees. And God is glorified in that. And the day is coming when you are gonna be fully rewarded for the commitment that you have given to Jesus Christ. the commitment of using your gifts and talents for the furtherance of God's kingdom, that the name of Christ might be magnified here and now. It matters what you do with what God has given to you. It matters how you live as a Christian, a Christian who has been equipped to serve the Lord accordingly. And then secondly, I also think it's important to notice from Paul's words here that God himself provides us with all the qualities we need for the fulfillment of our spiritual calling. Everything had been in a difficult task, had been given a difficult task in Ephesus. And Paul knew that he was struggling. Everything was having a hard time. Paul attempts to alleviate Timothy's struggles by reminding him of what he truly possesses as a genuine disciple of Christ. Notice again the words of verse 7, For God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. There are four spiritual truths that Paul points out here, and these are words not only applicable to Timothy, but to every believer, meaning you and me. Paul says what he does using one negative truth and then three positive. The first truth is a negative one and it's stated like this, For God gave us a spirit not of fear. Not of fear. The attitude of fear that Timothy was apparently experiencing was of his own doing. According to Paul, the Lord doesn't instill his people with the paralyzing attitude of fear. to being spiritually renewed by the indwelling Spirit, the believer possesses a boldness for Christ that will certainly be noticeable where the Spirit is given dominance. In other words, to walk by the Spirit is to live boldly and courageously for Christ because fear can find no place in the heart where the Spirit of God is reigning. We think back to what happened in Acts chapter 2 after the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. When the Spirit fell upon the people of God, they exhibited a boldness for Christ that was unmistakable. Vacillating Peter suddenly became a bold preacher for Christ and his fellow disciples quickly followed suit. The same men who fled at Jesus' arrest were suddenly preaching Christ without any fear whatsoever of Jewish or Roman retribution. Such a dramatic change had taken place because the Spirit had come. And when the Spirit comes, fear is replaced with a boldness for Christ that is rooted in spiritual joy. According to the New Testament, fear isn't the norm of Christian living, but rather a consuming Christ-centered zeal. That's the norm for Christian living. At least that's the norm for deliberate Christian living. Whenever believers are where they need to be in their spiritual lives, they will be characterized not by fear, but by a holy boldness that the Spirit supplies. Now, I'm guessing that all of you who truly know Christ in here understand what I'm saying right now, because you too have experienced that boldness. You may not have that same boldness all the time, but you know what it's like to be so in love with Jesus Christ that you are burning on fire for the Lord. You want to serve the Lord. in whatever way He calls you to. You're always looking for ways to glorify Him. And you do not care about what might come back against you. You're not concerned about the pushback that's coming at work, or anywhere else for that matter. You're on fire for Christ. And this is the way that it should be for all of us. And we can be there. Maybe not always, but we can be there. as we deliberately live for Christ, submitting to His will, walking in obedience based on the indwelling strength of the Holy Spirit of God. We do not need to be fearful because fear is contrary to Spirit-empowered living. Well, this brings us now to the final three positive truths that Paul shares, the spiritual truths pertaining to power and love and self-control. And in light of the context, I think each of these qualities is meant to serve as a further remedy to Timothy's fear. In regard to the believer's spiritual resource of power, it says in Ephesians 3.20 that God is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us. Now think of the ramifications of that verse. Every single believer has all the power they need to fulfill their particular spiritual calling through the work of the indwelling Spirit. And what this practically means is that no believer can justifiably complain to God that a spiritual calling is too much to bear. Oh Lord, I can't do this. You've called me to a task that is too great for me. No, no. God does not call anybody to a task that is too great for them, because whatever God calls you to, He fully equips you for. That's how God operates. This is the greatness of our God, the compassion and love of our God in our lives. As Augustine said, God gives what he demands. If he demands you to serve him on the mission field, in the middle of nowhere, he will give you all that you need to do this to the praise of his glory. And that's what success is, my friend, not numbers, not success in the world's eyes. but it's about faithfulness, serving God right where you are, using the power that He Himself has given to you, because this is in accordance with His will for your life. Whatever the Lord calls us to do, He provides us with the power to accomplish it. And this is something that is true without exception. Now, as a qualification, I want to give the impression that the power we possess as spirit-filled believers is a power that makes the Christian life easy. That is definitely not the case. No, the spiritual power that we possess as Christians is a power that is always sufficient in terms of our Christian service. It's a power that is always sufficient in terms of our Christian service. In other words, God gives to his people power sufficient and not necessarily power overflowing. This is an important distinction. No believer possesses the power to live as a super-Christian, a Christian unaffected by the normal cares and concerns of daily living. The power that we possess as believers is a power for accomplishing our duties. This is the primary point that Paul's making here. As Timothy possessed the power to fulfill his particular duties in Ephesus, so you and I possess the power to fulfill our own peculiar duties, whatever those duties may be. And in this we have cause to be most thankful. Whatever it is that God has called you to, he has certainly given you the ability to see it through. So please never forget that. Because this is exactly what the Bible teaches. According to Paul, another positive spiritual resource resident in believers is the resource of love. According to Romans 5.5, God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Such a love practically affects Christ's church in at least two ways. One, it instills us with a love for God, and two, it instills us with a love for others. And this would have been an encouraging truth for Timothy to grasp, because such a love works to actually neutralize fear. As you've already seen, fear was a significant issue for Timothy. In fact, it may have been Timothy's fear that was causing his stomach issues. issues that Paul mentions in 1st Timothy 5.23. The point seems to be that if Timothy's love was where it needed to be in regard to loving God and others, then such a love would serve him well in the performance of his various spiritual duties. In other words, as Timothy practiced the kind of love that he was capable of practicing as a spiritually renewed man, then such a love would rightly kindle his devotion to the extent that fear would no longer prove to be such a hindrance. To put it simply, the more deeply a believer loves the Lord, the more effective he'll be in serving the Lord, leading to a practical devotion where fear is virtually impossible to find. This is why the people of God should always be going hard after God, with the goal of loving Him accordingly. Oh, you see, if you love God in the right way, there is nothing too great for God to call you to. There is no sphere of life that is too difficult for you to maintain faithfully for the Lord. If you're a true believer, then you do love the Lord. That's a fact. but there are greater degrees of love. And for us to love the way God expects us to love requires a deliberateness in our own lives. We have to be focusing on Jesus Christ. We have to be focusing on His atoning work. We have to strive to fall more and more in love with the Lord on a daily basis because it's far too easy for us to be distracted in this world. There are so many things going on in each of our lives. So many things that draw us away from Christ draws our attention to something else. That's why the mind is so vitally important to Christian living. Every day needs to be a day that begins with thoughts of Jesus Christ, with thoughts of who He is and what He has done for us as His people. He has given us everything. And therefore, we need to feed off of that great reality. And as we feed off of that truth, we will continue to love the Lord the way that we need to love the Lord. And as we are loving the Lord rightly, we will continue to serve him in the right way. We will not be fearful, but we will be bold for Jesus Christ because we love him that much. And then finally, the last quality or resource that Paul mentions in our verse is the resource of self-control. This particular word in the Greek refers primarily to a self-controlled mind. A self-controlled mind. Paul's point is that through the influence of the Spirit, every believer possesses the ability to have a properly prioritized mind capable of making sound judgments. Timothy may have been suffering from mental fatigue in his battle with the false teachers in Ephesus. from these encouraging words, he would realize that he actually possessed all the mental strength he needed to faithfully persevere in the midst of the battle. Like Timothy, all of us, all of us are susceptible to feeling confused and even lost at times in the midst of our spiritual struggle. But what we need to be reminded of is that we possess a renewed mind, a spiritual mind, a mind that's capable of receiving the very wisdom of heaven. It'll be from the reception of such wisdom that fear and confusion will be duly eradicated, leading to a well-ordered mind that makes the kind of decisions that are most pleasing to the Lord and also most beneficial to our own spiritual well-being. Paul was very much aware of Timothy's struggles, and he also knew what Timothy needed to hear in order to overcome his struggles. Serving the Lord can be an exhausting task. And yet as tiring as it can be, God's grace is always sufficient because from God's grace comes God's provision, a daily provision for all who ask and seek for it. Whatever our peculiar calling, God gives us what we need to fulfill that calling. Fear may come knocking at our door, but we're to meet that fear with the resources of God, the resources of power and love and a self-controlled mind. In doing this, we will never go wrong. In doing this, we will be the people that God has called us to be, the people called and saved to the greater praise of God's glory. That's what life is all about. May God help all of us to truly understand that. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your holy word. We ask now, Lord, that you take these various truths and apply them to our hearts and minds. Lord, we love you. And we ask that you might increase that love more and more each day. And we ask this humbly in Christ's name. Amen.