I want to turn in your Bibles to 2 Timothy 1. I want to read to you this morning the verse that we are going to focus our time on this morning—READ IT and PRAY.
I want to tell you about someone I know, and his name is Roddy. Roddy went to BBC, and he didn’t always abide by the rules. In fact, one of his favorite things to do was to sneak out at night, when he wasn’t supposed to be outside of his dorm, and go to the kitchen to get some milk and cookies.
Well one night, he got in there, was eating his cookies, when the security guard came into the kitchen. And you have to understand, this is a good sized kitchen, not what you would find in your homes. It feeds over 600 people a day for lunch and dinner, so it is a good size to get them all thru. So Roddy hid under one of the tables.
Well, Ben thought he got his man. He started searching the kitchen, but he did not turn the lights on. Instead, he walked around with his flashlight, saying with a loud voice, "I know you’re here, you might as well come out now." He continued to wander around the kitchen, until he came to the table where Roddy was hidding.
And to Roddy, all he saw was Ben’s exposed ankles. So, he thought he’d have fun--he grabbed those ankles and screamed, "Gotcha" at the top of his lungs. Ben, scared to death, cried out and ran from the kitchen, leaving Roddy, laughing on the kitchen floor.
Later in the day, Roddy went up to Ben and said, "I heard you had a rough night." Ben’s face turned pale, and he asked, "How’d you find out?" Roddy grabbed him by the shoulders and screamed, "Gotcha!"
2 Timothy 1:7 says, For god did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.
Paul is writing to Timothy to encourage him. This is his second letter and his first dealt with how the church should be run—and we will look at that in the coming weeks. But today we are looking at Paul’s second letter, a letter which encourages timothy to continue to work, to be strong and courageous, to not lose hope. And here, he encourages Timothy to not be timid.
The word timid here in the Greek is the word deilia. Now there are 2 greek words for fear: deilia and phobos. Phobos should sound familiar to you; it is where we get the word Phobia from. Phobia’s are fears of certain things, and generally, they can be either good or bad fears.
For example, if a bear suddenly walked into the church, I would be afraid for my safety, as I’m sure most of you would. It’s not an irrational fear in that regard; I know what bears can do, and since I have nothing to defend myself with, I fear that if I got into a tusel with it, I would lose.
By the way, that reminds me of a story of someone who was being chased by a bear. He knew he was about to be caught and eaten, and he prayed in desperation to God, “Oh Lord, please let him be a Christian bear!” And to his astonishment, the bear stopped, bowed his head and clasped his paws and began to pray. “Oh Lord, thank you for this food that I am about to eat…”
It’s a fictional story, of course, but descriptive of the kinds of fear in this world that is okay to have. We teach children to have a healthy fear of fire, why? So they don’t burn themselves. We do the same with knives and other dangerous objects and people. We should instill in our children, and ourselves, a healthy fear of God. Jesus told us that we should fear the one who can destroy both the body and soul in hell.
But here, this is not a healthy fear. This is not a rational fear. The word translated timid here means a timid, cowardly, shameful fear that is generated by weak, selfish character. It is a fear that renders one unable to do what he should do. It’s a debilitating fear that renders us incapable of doing the right thing, standing up for God.
The apostle Peter experienced this kind of fear before. ON the night that Jesus was betrayed, Peter tried to find out what was going on, and in the midst of the group of people where he was, they spotted him, and asked him, “Aren’t you the one who was with Christ?”
Peter, gripped by a fear that rendered him incapable of doing the right thing, denied Christ 3 times; cursed his name even. And after the third denial, as the cock crew and Jesus words came back to him, Peter realized how far his fear had carried him.
Peter would also allow his fear to overtake him once again, when he would not associate with gentile believers. He did so out of fear for his Jewish believers; fear of what they would think—a shameful, cowardly fear that prevented him from doing what he knew was right. You see, these Jewish believers said the gentiles had to be circumcised to be Christians, yet Peter knew that was not true. But when it came down to it, he did not refute their false beliefs; instead, he broke bread with them, and accepted their beliefs.
This kind of fear has crippled many of us at one point or another. It is a fear of what a co-worker might say, or a family member. It is a fear of what may happen if we take a stand and say that I won’t tolerate sin in my life anymore; it is a fear that prevents us from walking through the open doors that God provides in our lives, because it leads to unfamiliar and uncomfortable places.
FOR GOD DID NOT GIVE US A SPIRIT OF TIMIDITY. If God did not give it to you, who did? Satan.
Jesus had something amazing to say to the apostle Peter just hours before he would deny Christ. -- 31"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you[1] as wheat. 32But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."
Satan would love nothing less the to render us incapable ministers of the gospel. If he can get us to fear what may happen, he has won the battle. If we are timid in matters of the Gospel, that timidity comes from Satan.
Here at Berean, we are aware of what Satan is trying to do. 9The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven--if there was anything to forgive--I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
Paul wants Timothy to know that God did not give him a spirit of timidity. You see, people dispised Timothy of his youth. He was not as old as some would have wanted him to be. So they thought that he was incapable of being an effective minister of the gospel of Christ.
If you look in your bulletin, you’ll see an announcement for a young people’s activity for 4th graders on up. Some people would look upon that and see how many young people we have fitting into that age group and call us ridiculous. We don’t have the numbers to do that kind of ministry. You’re just setting yourself up for failure.
Well, I feel this is something that we can do, and I’m not going to let people (perhaps even well-intentioned Christians) keep me from ministering the gospel. I want to see this church grow, as I’m sure that you do as well, and I want to see young people filling this church. I want to see Dorothy and Marie need all kinds of help because of the young people coming to this church.
Not only that, I want to see new groups forming for teenagers and young adults. You see, I told you I don’t want to be a lame duck interim. I think that would be the biggest disservice that I could do for you. I want to see God continue to work here, and I’m looking for to the ministry that we will have on August 3rd, and if you are excited about the possibilities of what might happen as a result of this, can I hear you say AMEN?
You see, God did not give us a spirit of timidity. Paul wanted Timothy to ACT as a minister of the gospel, and he encouraged Timothy with what God did give him—a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.
The word power here is the Greek word dunamis. Any guesses as to what word we associate with that today? DYNAMITE!!! It carries with the connotation of effective, productive energy.
Paul would write to the Roman people “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” God has given us a very powerful tool to use in the ministry, the word of God.
But you see, he has given us not just a powerful tool, but a powerful spirit.
Ephesians 1--18I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
Let me read to you the prayer that Paul prays for the Ephesian church from Ephesians 3:14-21. READ IT. ACCORDING TO HIS POWER!
You see, it is not our power that we need to rely upon, it’s God’s! That’s why we can be unafraid to be ministers of the Gospel. He has given us power to accomplish his work on this earth. But you see, it’s not just power he’s given, it’s love as well.
Romans 5
5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
The word here for love is agape. Many of you know that there are 3 kinds of love, eros, phileo, and agape. Eros is an erotice love, love which is sensual (the word we derive erotic from). Phileo is brotherly love, love we have for the family (the word that is used for the city of Philadelphia—why that is the case, I’ll never understand). But here, it is agape love, a self-sacrificial love, which has at it’s core only the best interests of everyone else involved. For example, if I say that I have agape love for you, it means that on a scale of importance, on a scale of what my priorities are, you come ahead of me. I love you that much more than I love myself.
You see, it is this kind of love that God has given us. It is, as John would describe, “
perfect love drives out fear,”
It is our love for others which will motivate us to minister for the gospel, to not be ashamed of it. If we truly love one another, we will not be timid in our ministry.
Finally, we have been given a spirit of self-discipline.
I enjoy bowling. Not as much as golfing, but I enjoy it nonetheless. Have you heard of cosmic bowling? DESCRIBE IT. It’s a little harder to bowl well in those circumstances, because there is so much distraction going on in the building. It takes discipline that comes from shutting all of that out and bowl that ball down the lane and knock down all the pins.
If you’ve ever seen a basketball game on television, when players line up for a foul-shot, you will see fans waving things in the air—describe it.
You see, the word here used as self-discipline carries with it keeping a properly prioritized mind. IT allows us to shut out the distractions of this world and keep our minds focused on the things we should be doing. Hebrews 12:1-2 “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
1 Corinthians 9
26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
With a spirit of self-discipline, that allows us to be able to run the race set before us, we can accomplish mighty things for God.
You’ve heard me mention before the attack on the pledge of allegiance. The man, Michael Newdow, who successfully argued against having the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance, argued that it caused his daughter great harm to say those words. Now, the mother of this child has spoken, and it seems that Michael lied.
From the sacramento Bee: The Elk Grove schoolgirl whose atheist father successfully sued to have the Pledge of Allegiance declared unconstitutional has no problem with reciting the pledge, her mother said Thursday.
"I was concerned that the American public would be led to believe that my daughter is an atheist or that she has been harmed by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, including the words ’one nation under God,"’ said the mother, Sandra Banning, in a statement. "In our home we are practicing Christians and are active in our church."
Sandra Banning, for whatever reason, remained silent during the proceedings, and immediately after the verdict. But on this Thursday, the spirit of timidity which had silenced the truth was banished from her as she proclaimed that this whole lawsuit was a big lie. She took a bold step forward for the truth and for the pledge of allegiance.
What about you and me? Are we being crippled by fear, an inability to act for the cause of Christ in this world, in this community. Where we work and live, with our family and friends? It doesn’t come from God, my friends.
Peter, the man I mentioned earlier, who struggled with fear, with timidity his whole life, would declare in 2 Peter 1: “HIS DIVINE POWER HAS GIVEN US EVERYTHING WE NEED FOR LIFE AND GODLINESS THROUGH HIM WHO CALLED US BY HIS OWN GLORY AND GOODNESS.”
