Power, Love And Self-Discipline (Part Two Of Two)

POWER, LOVE AND SELF-DISCIPLINE (part two)

Recap: 2 Tim. 1:7, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." Timidity and fear are debilitating. Paul wanted Timothy to overcome being timid so he could fulfill his calling and operate in the spirit of power, love and self-disciple.

Last week we looked at how we need to operate in the spirit of power. When we're convinced of the power that is at work within us through Christ we can overcome temptations to operate in fear and timidity. Today we will see how we need to overcome timidity if we are going to operate in the spirit of love and self-discipline.

1) Love.

God has not given us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of love. We might more readily see how having a spirit of timidity gets in the way of operating in the spirit of power but how does timidity get in the way of operating in the spirit of love?

Paul suffered for the gospel. The message of salvation through Christ started when God so loved the world he sent Jesus. Jesus dealt with the temptation to operate in fear and timidity. I don't know if Jesus dealt with insecurity, shyness or nervousness, but if he did there was no way he could reach out and love people unless he overcame that.

Whenever he needed to confront the Pharisees in love he couldn't have done it if he had caved in to fear. Fear could've kept him from approaching the Samaritan woman. He knew Jews and Samaritans didn't like each other. But Jesus wanted to minister to Samaritans, regardless of how they may have viewed him.

Timidity could've kept him from telling the mourners that Jairus' daughter wasn't dead, but asleep. He knew he would be laughed at. But his spirit of love overrode any element of timidity he may have had to not go through with the situations he faced.

If we know we need to speak into someone's life about something; love is the force that enables us to overcome our fear of their response. Jesus had to overcome any apprehension to die for our sins. But his love for the father and his love for us compelled him to wipe away the drops of sweat and blood from his brow and go to Golgotha.

1 John 4:18, There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

Part of the reason God's perfect love drives out fear is because when we're convinced of his forgiveness and love for us then we know we have nothing to fear. When we know God is our protective, caring, loving Father then we know we will have no reason to fear, worry or doubt. We don't have to play the 'what if' game; we don't need to be consumed with how things will turn out. God's love washes away our fears and replaces them with peace and assurance.

When John says, 'fear has to do with punishment' he's talking about how we truly see God. Are we afraid of God? Do we see him as a God who is waiting for us to sin so he can punish us? That's not a healthy view of God. That view of God will immobilize us and not allow us to operate in a spirit of love.

But what about Prov. 9:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom"? This is a different kind of fear than the fear John is referring to. The fear John is talking about is being afraid of God resulting in running away from him. This fear is rooted in shame, guilt and worldly sorrow. This fear is rooted in believing the lie that God won't forgive us. This is the fear that pushes us away from God.

The fear of Prov. 9:10 is the Holy fear that causes us to take God and his word seriously. This fear draws us closer to God. Heb. 11:7 says that Noah had holy fear. But Gen. 6:9 says Noah walked with God which means he was close to him. Noah's fear didn't push him away from God, it drew him closer to God.

If we go about in fear then we haven’t understood or really trusted in God’s love that saved us through Jesus. If we are still in fear of his judgment then we haven’t allowed his perfect love to assure us that we are his.

However, although we don’t walk around in fear of judgment, that doesn’t mean we don’t fear God’s discipline. That's why we are self-disciplined; we don't want to have to deal with God's discipline. We know God's love and forgiveness but we also respect his holiness and power.