2 Timothy 1:7

This week in ABF, Brad led us in learning about 2 Timothy 1:7. His notes are below incase you weren't able to be there this past Sunday.

2 Timothy is a letter written by Paul to Timothy, a man he had seen grow in maturity and had discipled from the beginning of Timothy's conversion. 

This was the last days of Paul's life, and he knew it.  Paul had been placed in prison again.  Emperor Nero was in power, and he was bringing great persecution to Christians.  They were being tortured and even murdered in many cases.  He writes this letter from prison, and you can feel through the tone of this letter that he knew his time was short.  (2 Tim 4:6 - 9)

2 Timothy 1:1-6.
Paul gives Timothy encouragement in vs 3 through His prayer.  Even though they are separated physically, Paul prays for him often.  

Vs 4 reveals the depth of their relationship and the spirit of love between these two men.  What an incredible bond we can share in Christ with our brothers and sisters.  We should praise God for the blessing of being in community with others who love Jesus.  

Vs 5: Pass on the love and faith you have in God to your family. 

Vs 6: Fan into flame the gift of God. Don't let it be extinguished.  There is this idea of cultivating and maturing your giftings through faith in God.

Then we arrive at our focal verse, verse 7.  

1. First, God gave us a spirit.  The Holy Spirit lives inside of us!  The same spirit that we read about in the scriptures! 

•   Ezekiel 36:25-29 – “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
•   John 14:26 – “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
•   2 Corinthians 3:3 – “You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
•   2 Corinthians 5:5 –"Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” 
•   Ephesians 1:13-14 – “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.”

    2. Not a spirit of fear or timidity.  Earthly fear is not from God.  You will fear whatever your master is. If your master is money and possessions, then you will fear money and possessions.  If your master is found in some idol in your life, you will fear that.  If your master is the Lord, then you will fear the Lord.  That is for another message.  This verse is saying that the SPIRIT that has been placed inside of us, given us by God, is NOT a spirit of fear or timidity.  

•       Psalm 27:1 – “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?”
•       Isaiah 35:4– “Say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”
•       Isaiah 41:10 – “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
•       Isaiah 41:13 – “For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”
•       Romans 8:15 – “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship…”

    3. The spirit given by God is one of power.  

•     Romans 8:11 – “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.”
•     Acts 1:8 – “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
•     Acts 4:33 – “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.  And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.”
•    2 Corinthians 4:7-8 – “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
•     Ephesians 3:20-21 – “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
•     1 John 4:4, 4-5 – “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

Paul says in Philippians that to live is Christ, and to die is gain. You cannot overcome the power of the spirit in such a man.  You can torture, threaten to kill, or even take the life of such a man, but they will maintain strength and power throughout the entire process.  

There is a song that says this line over and over again that I will listen to occasionally to get really fired up, and it says this, “The same power, that conquered the grave lives in me! Lives in me!  Your love that rescued the earth lives in me!  Lives in me!” (You can listen to this song here)

4. The spirit given us by God is one of love.  What draws people to the Lord is unconditional, unexplainable, undeserved love. Theologically explaining things to someone else will not motivate them to repentance.  However, the Spirit of God placed inside of you allows you to extend the love of God to others.  This is what draws them to the Lord.  It is the kindness of God that leads men to repentance!  Not that fact that is he all-powerful, all-knowing, mighty, just, king, sovereign.   He is all those things but it is his loving-kindness that draws men to repentance.

•     Psalm 103:8 – “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”
•     Psalm 130:7 – “Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.”
•     Romans 8:35-39 – “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
•     1 John 4:7-12 – “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us:  He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him…Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

5. The spirit given us by God is one of self-discipline

•     Ezekiel 36:27 – “And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
•     Romans 8:26 – “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.”
•     1 John 2:3-6 – “We know we have come to know him if we keep his commands.  Whoever says, I know him, but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.  But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them.  This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”
•     1 John 4:24 – “The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them.  And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”

I think we sometimes take for granted the freedoms we are given in this nation.  Do we face persecution?  Sure we do, but not like this. The churches at that time were facing great persecution. I want you to imagine that you are meeting in the church, quietly offering up your praises in whispers.  Stories are being shared among the members of things that are going on in other areas in the way of persecution.  Some have been embellished and exaggerated as they have been passed along.  People are scared, and they are turning to Timothy for answers, encouragement, and support.  And these are the words he offers.  “The Lord did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”

Discussion:

1. Read the response of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego that we covered in one of Pastor John’s sermons a few weeks ago in Daniel 3:13-18.  How does their response to King Nebuchadnezzar compare with these words of Paul?  
2. Does the realization that the power of the Holy Spirit of the Living God is inside of you change your way of thinking?  How so?
3. How does this word impact your marriage?