FAN INTO FLAME THE GIFT OF GOD
October 22, 2006 - PENTECOST 20 - 2 Timothy 1:5-14
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
Each and every one of us enjoys getting gifts. The fact is we may even enjoy getting them a little too much. Gifts are very often something we look forward to and expect. When comes right down to it, you and I don’t deserve any gifts at all. Let’s face it--just because we get another year older or because we are married for another year, does that really earn us another gift? Not really. But that is the definition of a gift, isn’t it? It is something which is unearned, undeserved and at times can be very unexpected. Most of the time people don’t like the unexpected. When it comes to gifts and presents and when there is something wrapped up and hidden away in that box or envelope, they are anxious and excited to open it. An unexpected gift! That describes gifts, and we know how we like them.
Today, the Lord talks to us about his most precious gift to--the gift of faith. The gift of faith is the beginning. We know from faith there are all other gifts that God gives to us. Without this gift of faith, we would be lost. Without this gift of faith, we would sit in darkness. Without this gift of faith, we would suffer the eternal pangs of hell. Just like every gift, it is an unearned gift, an undeserved gift. As we grow in the knowledge of salvation we discover how this gift is unexpected. We do not deserve faith and cannot earn it. Since faith is a gift from God, it is an important gift, a valuable gift. James writes: "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" (James 1:17). We know at times some gifts are not as valuable in the end as they first seemed. God’s gift of faith is the most valuable gift we possess. We are going to use the words of the Apostle Paul as he writes these words of encouragement to Timothy. God through Paul encourages us to: FAN INTO FLAME THE GIFT OF GOD.
God gives to each of us: I. A simple, saving faith, and; II. God guards our strong, simple, saving faith.
I. GOD GIVES A SIMPLE, SAVING FAITH
Paul was thankful that this young man Timothy had faith. This didn’t just happen as an accident, but the Lord provided him with faith. Timothy did not live in Jerusalem. He was not raised at the feet of the scribes and Pharisees or in the shadow of the temple. He lived in Lystra, far away from the center of the Jewish knowledge of God’s word and salvation. Timothy was a Gentile, an unbeliever. The chance of him believing was not very good. Yet, Paul writes: "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." What had God done? God had provided Timothy with a faith. First of all God provided Timothy’s grandmother with a simple, saving faith. Then she passed it on her to her daughter and her daughter passed it on to Timothy. God gave that simple faith from generation to generation to generation.
Now as Paul knows that Timothy has this faith, he writes: "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." Fan into flame the gift of God – faith. We want to remember first of all that Timothy began as an Old Testament believer. He had been taught the faith of the Jews from his grandmother and mother. They taught Timothy God’s Law and God’s Gospel that looked ahead to the promise that God was going to send a Savior. Timothy started with that Old Testament of faith of hoping for the Savior to come. Then when Paul on his missionary journey came to Lystra, the Gospel was preached. Timothy then became a New Testament believer. He knew and believed the promises of God that had been revealed to him through Paul’s gospel preaching. The simple promise of God, Paul says: "This grace has 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." The same Christ that died and paid for the sins of Paul was the same Christ who died and paid for the sins of Timothy. Christ destroyed death and into the light he brought immortality through the message of the Gospel. This simple, saving faith belonged to Timothy and Paul as a gift of the Holy Spirit. As you hear Paul say time and time again, it was God who did it, God who gave him that gift.
Paul writes: "God 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." It was God’s purpose and God’s grace that saved Paul and Timothy. It was not their works. Faith was unearned, undeserved as God’s gift to them. Then he says: "This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time." God knew who were his, who were going to believe that saving faith, from the very beginning. Now Paul thought he would never be a preacher of the Gospel, but God knew he would be. Paul says God has called us to a holy life. That was the message of Paul that Christ lived, died and rose again. It was a new and profound message, because people of Paul’s time were still living with that Old Testament faith looking ahead to the Savior. Paul was sent out as a preacher and a herald and a teacher to tell them that Christ had come.
He says to Timothy: "What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus." There was the resurrection of Christ, faith in Christ and love in Christ. That was what Timothy was to fan into flame. The little spark or ember there is to be fanned into a flame and into a roaring fire. Timothy would eventually do that. Paul had done that, because God had given to him the simple, saving faith.
We, today, have that same, simple saving faith. It is so very sad that people become so wrapped up in the complexity of life today. Many concentrate on the difficulties of life situations so much that some begin to think that salvation is also difficult. They miss the point. One thing about not being in church on a Sunday, is the opportunity to look at all the other teachings and the preaching that go on in the world. It is clear that many miss the point. It is always that man has to do something and they miss the point that God has done it all. The world misses the point that salvation is simple and we don’t deserve heaven. The world misses the point that salvation is simple but we can’t buy our way into heaven nor live good enough lives to earn heaven. What does Paul say in Romans? He says: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). Salvation is not by works, not by trying to live a good life, not by being nice to our neighbors or friends. That doesn’t work. Eternal salvation is a gift of God, by grace, by faith. That is God’s simple, saving message.
The problem is that God’s simple, saving gospel can seem too simple. It is still only the powerful word of God that changes men’s hearts. God’s word changed Paul’s heart and his life. God’s word changed Timothy’s heart and life. It has changed our hearts and lives. The problem is that sometimes we have been believers so long. We are just used to being a believer. We don’t know what it is like not having Christ. There are people around like that. They are scared of life and scared of living. They are terrified of what might happen next, because the message of God is foolishness to them. Paul writes: "But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:23,24). This is the simple, saving message--Christ crucified. Christ died for my sins.
We hear it over and over again in our sermons--the Law and the Gospel. We heard it in our readings today. The Lesson from Hebrews (2:9-11) would be good to read every day--Christ suffered for us. It is the reason for you and I have for living. No matter what mankind might teach, there is still only one way to heaven. Christ says, "I am the way, the truth and the life." There is only one way to heaven--not through good works and not through our good character. It is not even really through the church. It is through the gift of God. God says to us this morning to fan into flame the gift of God. Each one of us has a spark in our heart and maybe even a flame. The Lord tells us today to fan that spark into a flame and into a roaring fire that others may see in us the joy of our salvation, that others may see in us that we know and believe in our hearts that simple, yet saving faith. "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Salvation is in Christ and Christ alone. The blessing there is the fact that it doesn’t depend on us. Salvation is too important that God would leave us to decide or make a choice. God has called us to a holy life. He has called us to follow him.
Today our loving Lord reminds us as New Testament believers to fan into flame that gift of God. God has given to us a simple, saving faith. Then as if that were not enough, if eternal salvation were not enough, God also guards our simple, saving, strong faith.
II. GOD GUARDS OUR STRONG, SAVING FAITH
We go back to Timothy. By rights he should have been like the rest of the Gentiles. Most would walk off the cliff into the depth of destruction, to be eternally condemned. God had guarded that young man’s faith, by guarding the faith of his mother and grandmother. For two generations and now the third generation God had guarded the faith that would save Timothy.
Paul was writing these words to encourage Timothy, and he says: "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (or fear), but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." God did not want Timothy to be scared or frightened. He wanted Timothy to go forth with a power of love and self-discipline that came to him because of God’s grace for him in his life. Why does Paul write this? Verse 8: "Do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner." That is right--Paul was in prison the second time. This was the last time for Paul in prison. Paul thought that the end would come when he was in prison for the first time, but was he freed. Paul did more missionary work. Paul felt this second time would be the last time, and it was. He knew that he was at the end of his life. 2 Timothy is one of the very last letters that had been written by the hand of the Apostle Paul. Paul did not want Timothy to think, "Oh no, look at Paul who gave up his life to preach the gospel and now he is in prison and will soon be put to death." So Paul writes to Timothy, "Don’t be ashamed of the Lord."
He knew what Timothy might think so he says, "Don’t be ashamed of my because I am in prison, because I am going to die." He says: "But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done." Paul suffered, but he counted it a great joy to be able to suffer for the sake of Christ and the Gospel. He knew Timothy would suffer. They would not suffer alone. They would suffer with the power of God. Their motivation, which is often overlooked today, is that God had saved them and called them to a holy life, to preach and teach God’s holy word, to be ambassadors for Christ.
Paul writes in verse 11: "And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher." Paul mentions this to remind Timothy that is how he has spent the rest of his life. But at the beginning of Paul’s life, he was self-appointed as a persecutor of God’s followers. In the end God grabbed Paul and chose him by grace. God thrust Paul into that holy life to be a preacher, a teacher and herald, an ambassador of Christ. He says: "That is why I am suffering as I am." That is why I am in prison. Paul now explains why as he says this matter-of-factly: "Yet, I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day." Paul knew whom he believed. God gave him the simple, saving faith. Paul writes that God is able to guard that faith until the very last day--Judgment Day or his last day. Paul would lose his life for the sake of the gospel. Paul had already given up prosperity and wealth to follow Jesus -- to be a preacher, teacher and ambassador. Paul knew Christ Jesus came, lived and died and rose again, for him and his sins.
At the end of our text, Paul says to Timothy: "Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you--guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us." Just as Paul knew that God would guard his simple, saving, strong faith, God would help Timothy to guard his faith as he continued growing in faith.
The Lord is our salvation. He has saved us. From before the beginning of time, as it says in our text God has known us and has chosen us. From before the beginning of time, God has given us a holy life to lead and live. By the virtue of the simple, saving faith that is in our hearts, the spark, the ember, or the flame that is there, God has given us a strong faith. A saving faith is a simple faith is a strong faith. To have a saving faith is to be saved for eternity. It makes us strong--we are saved for eternity. What else do we need? What gift is there that would surpass that? Proverbs says that the Lord gives us this faith and guards it in our lives. There is nothing or no one in this world who can take our faith from us except ourselves. "He (God) holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones" (Proverbs 2:7,8). We have had the opportunity, because we know the difference between what is right and what is wrong.
We now have the opportunity to choose and walk in what is right or what is wrong.
Because God has given us faith, we also have the privilege and blessedness to be able to strengthen our faith. In other words to fan into flame that gift of God. God gives us a gift, a gift of faith. To faith we can add lots of things--patience, hope, kindness, gentleness and the lists go on. That simple, saving faith we possess is also our strong, saving faith. The hymn writer says, "One little word can put the devil behind us." That is the power of God’s word that is living and active and living in us. The disciples, once when they were with Jesus, thought all things were lost. They couldn’t drive out demons and they wondered why. God says, "You need to believe in what you do and say." Then Jesus describes how all things are possible with him. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew: "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ’Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you’" (Matthew 17:20). That is the faith that we have. It is there. As a mustard seed, we water this faith with God’s word of life. As an ember, we fan faith into a spark. We fan faith into a flame and then into a roaring fire.
In Isaiah: "Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation" (Isaiah 12:2). We know that many times we have put trust in other people, our wealth, our own decisions or ourselves. How very often these misplaced trusts have left us disappointed. We know that when we put our trust and confidence in the Lord our salvation, how blessed we are!
Gifts--we don’t deserve them, yet we get gifts from those who love us. Faith--we don’t deserve it and cannot earn it. Our God gives the gift of faith to us that is unlike any other gift that we have. For God’s gift of faith is alive. It is a good and perfect gift. Faith reminds us that this is just the beginning. Faith can grow and increase. The Lord says to us today to fan into flame that gift of God. We are reminded that first of all God gives us this simple, saving faith. We are also reminded that God guards our simple, saving, strong faith.
Paul prays for the believers at Ephesus which is, of course, a prayer for us today: "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…" (Ephesians 3:16, 17a). By faith, in total agreement we say, "Amen." Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
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Pentecost 20 readings: GENESIS 2:18-24; HEBREWS 2:9-11; MARK 10:2-16
