A Gospel Worth Suffering For

The Apostle Paul’s Priorities in a Short Life

Second Timothy is one of those books that provides to us an insight into how we can truly focus our attention into what is truly most important in the thoughts of the Apostle Paul. When you know that your time on this earth is short, you are going to focus upon important things.

And as I was considering our own situation in the world today, it struck me that here you have the Apostle writing to the next generation. Timothy is child in the faith, and he knows he's not going to be around much longer, and so he communicates those things that are most important, knowing this, that Timothy is going to face difficult times.

Timothy is going to face persecution. Timothy is going to face difficulties within the church, and of course we know that Timothy is going to be living at that very time when persecution begins to become most severe against the Christian faith.

And so I think this might be why the people of God over the years have found these books, Timothy and Titus as well, to be so encouraging because they speak to us. Yes, they had a particular context in history, but they speak to us today.

Godly men seem to be far and few between these days. The godless multiply upon the face of the earth, and yet the church continues. It experiences difficulties. Men rise up within their ranks, preaching false doctrine which distracts people from the truth.

All these things were happening then, and they continue to happen today. And so the exhortations that Paul gives to Timothy can become our exhortations as well, and that's what I want to look at in the first chapter of 2 Timothy this morning.

Fan Into Flame the Gift of God

You'll notice that he begins by commending Timothy, the faith that is his, that he has learned from his grandmother and from his mother. And on the basis of this, beginning in verse 6, because of this I want to remind you to fan into flame, to stir up the gift of God which is in you by the laying on of my hands.

For God, he says to Timothy, has not given to us a spirit of cowardice, literally, or timidity, but the opposite of that, he has given to us a spirit of power and of love and of discipline or a sound mind.

Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor be ashamed of me, his prisoner, but join in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God. As soon as he says God, he then describes what God has done.

The one who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us, granted to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time itself, but now has been made manifest, has been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished or nullified, destroyed death, but brought life and immortality to light by means of the gospel.

Unto which also I have been appointed a herald, a preacher, a proclaimer, and an apostle, and a teacher, for which reason also I am suffering these things, but I am not ashamed. For I know in whom I have trusted, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him, my trust, to guard my trust unto that day.

Then he returns to speaking to Timothy. Hold fast, hold to that example of sound words, healthy words which you heard from me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus, and the good deposit guard by the Holy Spirit who dwells in you.

These are the words of Paul to Timothy. Now it seems as we look at this text, and I want to look at it in two parts basically. We'll take up the entirety of our instruction today, this morning and this evening.

It seems as we begin that Timothy might, like many of us, had a little bit of a problem being confident in the face of opposition. It seems there at the beginning that we have some indication given to us that Timothy would be one of those who might be a little bit hesitant to speak as he should speak.

Why do we say that? Well, because Paul reminds him that he needs to fan into flame that gift of God which is in him. That spirit which has been given to him, possibly this might refer to specifically his role as a leader, the laying on of hands of the elders and his being set apart.

He's in a situation where he is leading a very important church, a church that if you recall we read a little bit about last week in our regular Sunday morning reading, the church in Ephesus. Paul clearly believed that the Ephesian church was a very important church strategically.

That because of its centrality that having a healthy grounded church in that place could not help but result in the spread of the gospel all through Asia Minor. And so Timothy is in a difficult spot because when you have a church, Paul had spent three years there, there was a multitude of elders there, there was a plurality of elders established in that place.

Well, that's going to bring pressures upon young Timothy. There's going to be political problems within the church when you get a bunch of even redeemed sinners together. There's going to be divisions, there's going to be difficulties.

So you have that kind of pressure and then of course the pressure that would come upon the church especially during the life of Timothy in the form of persecution from the Roman Empire. And so he reminds him to fan into flame that gift which is in him and that he reminds him that the spirit that he has received is not a spirit of compromise, cowardice, timidity.

That's what the word refers to there that is found in the original language to describe this spirit. It is not a spirit that is marked by cowardice. The spirit of God never causes us to be cowardly in the face of the challenges of that which would come against us.

But the exact opposite is that the spirit that has been given to us is marked by notice three things, power, love, and a sound mind. A disciplined mind, a mind of good judgment, of moderation. Now it is interesting that Paul would describe the spirit in these ways.

First he says the spirit of power which makes sense as the opposite of cowardice. And so the spirit he's saying to Timothy will encourage you, the spirit will empower you to do what you need to do as the man of God there in Ephesus.

Any believer who possesses the spirit of God, was it not the promise of our Lord himself that when we would be persecuted, when that first generation of believers would be brought before the synagogues and the rulers of the synagogues to give an answer for their faith, what was Jesus' promise?

Don't give mind to what you'll say. When it happens, the spirit will give you utterance. The spirit will give you the words to testify. And so the spirit of God, the very same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, active in the life of the believer, will empower the believer.

Those of us who have walked with the Lord for any amount of time can tell you there are times when you go through difficulties and trials and tribulations and if it were not for the spirit of God, you just wouldn't make it.

You would not be able to hold firm your confession. So the spirit is a spirit of power. But when you hear about power, is that not something we hear much about in the various religions of men, even in the false Christian religions that are out there?

There's much promise of power. Do you want to have power in your life? Well, you need to buy this book and you need to confess this way and go to this church. There always needs to be some kind of a balance because mankind wants power.

And when someone would hear this promise of power, remember Simon? Oh, I want this power too. Can I give you some money to get this power? I see the spirit working miracles. I want this power. But you see, the reason the spirit empowers us is to do what?

Suffer. Join with me, Timothy, in suffering for the gospel power to get out of all the world around us. That's what magic is all about. That's what all the dark arts and the pagan rituals are all about is to give us power to control the material world around us.

That's not what the spirit of God is about. So notice the perfect balance that is given me. Not a spirit of cowardice, but of power and love. They see those in the Roman world would hear power. They think of the march to cross all the known world there in Europe and two words together in that kind of economy.

But the spirit of God, yes, he empowers us, but he's a spirit of love as well. The source of love that we have for the brethren, certainly the source of love that we have for God. Spirit, Timothy, that is within us, has been given to us.

It's a spirit of power, also spirit of love. He changes hearts. He causes us to love things the world cannot begin to love, cannot begin to understand. And he empties us of that self love that the world is so focused upon flaming up within us, causes us to love service to others, worship of God.

And unlike so much of the ecstatic kind of experience that you see in men's religions or in so much of false Christianity, this spirit who empowers, who causes us to love also brings about moderation, discipline, a sound mind.

You see people promoting a spirit that does not result in a sound mind, does not result in a mind that is focused upon the word of God, that is seeking to be wise in light of God's revelation. When you see a spirit that results in chaos, that results in behavior that moves one away from the gospel and the truth of God, that is not the spirit of God.

People may call it that, but let me stand before you this day to say that so much of what we see in our land today, the parades and the name of the Holy Spirit of God, is not even part of the Christian religion.

You know why I say that so strongly? It has amazed me and it has saddened me. That as I have turned so much of my attention to the proclamation of the gospel amongst the Islamic people, that I see those who defend Islam and they use the very same kind of media we use, and they put up videos and it's very easy for them to mock the Christian faith because all they've got to do is just go out and pick up some of the recordings of what people do in the name of Jesus and the Holy Spirit today.

And oh, the foolishness, the utter mockery of the Christian faith that is found in so many places today. You want to know the spirit of God? Yes, but it's love, sound mind, moderation, control. That's the role of the spirit of God in the Christian faith.

So Timothy, we have access to a source of power, a source of love, a source of steadfastness the world knows nothing about. The world knows nothing about. Therefore, Tim, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.

Be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. We know that in the days of the to proclaim the message of a crucified savior. Is that not what we told the Christians? Is that not what Timothy had heard Paul preach so many times?

The message of the cross is foolishness. Those were perishing. The idea of a crucified savior. There were people in that day that would even use that word crucified because it was so offensive. And so when we know we have a message is going to offend people, we're going to talk about sin.

We're going to talk about God's wrath judgments coming. There's only one way of salvation. So you all know the feeling. Every true believer in this room knows the feeling. You hear the words said, you know, you're in a situation where it'd be perfectly legal, morally right before God to speak about the gospel.

Someone says something, they open the door and there's that delay. There's that feeling. How are people going to look at me? How are people going to respond to me? Maybe you're trying to get to know some for some folks and they may not like what I have to say.

There is the temptation to embarrass concerning the testimony for Timothy. Timothy was so closely connected with the apostle. Notice that Paul says, don't be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord or of me as prisoner.

I'm associated with that Paul. He's a chain to a smelly Roman soldier, but he's an apostle of my Lord. Did you see why there would be an increased my possibilities of advancement in society in every generation?

There's someone who will offer you that. It's rarely, if ever Paul says, Timothy, don't, don't be ashamed. The testimony by that spirit loves our mind that by that spirit resist that temptation. Don't be ashamed, but rather do what?

Suffer together. Some translate that as to suffer together with me because he just mentioned me as prison, but other translations just simply say suffer together. It's something all Christians do suffer together for the sake of the gospel.

And notice just a couple of things. When Paul refers to himself, notice what he says, or of me is insane. The unjustly held prisoner of Rome. I've got my rights. He could have said that he was unjustly held.

His freedoms have been taken away on trumped up charges. And those who've charged him have been doing everything in their power to try to kill him. Those who charged him should have been the very ones who were in prison, but they were free.

It would be so easy for Paul to become bitter. Oh, I could have done so much more of the kingdom if I had just been free. There's no sign of this. And he doesn't take it out on Rome. All this terrible, horrible Roman system.

Righteously and himself is an unjustly held Roman prisoner. He explained it to Frye died. Conviction amidst of the. Timothy was nothing to be ashamed of. Instead of being together and together inside the apostle felt.

Say at the end of this chapter, um, everyone in Asia has abandoned me. There's another time that he mentions that no one stood with him in his first defense when he was in Rome. So there were times when Paul was physically alone.

Oh, yes, certainly spirit was with me. The Lord was with me. That's a great comfort. But Paul recognized that his suffering could never be alone because he's part of the Bible. And as long as there is a body of people who have been made alive by the spirit of God, they are going to love the gospel and they are going to be willing to suffer.

Not just suffer for the sake of suffering. Suffer for the gospel. Does that not go directly back to Jesus? His own work. Anyone follow me and deny himself to join the death march. We call people using the ways of the world to convince people to say the right words.

But here you have it. Inspired by the spirit. Timothy, join together with me, with every believer in the body, suffering together for the gospel. Well, what does that tell us? You see, if we are just suffering because we're focused upon ourselves, we're focused upon our own advancement, God doesn't grant us the things we want along those lines, that's not the suffering that is being described.

Paul was where he was because of what he was preaching, what he was proclaiming. Timothy, join me in that. You might be sitting there going, well, that's nice, what does that have to do with me? I'm not an apostle, I'm not an ethicist, but you see, wherever God has placed you, vocationally, in the home, the school, you are still called as a servant of Christ, to live in such a way as to promote, communicate, show your love for the gospel.

Sometimes, some churches that are very proud of their evangelism, cheapen this because they reduce the gospel down to, well, something you can fit in a little yellow tract about a day. But that's not the gospel that Paul is suffering for.

He's going to tell us the gospel here in a moment, and it's beautiful. It's amazing how many people don't want to suffer for the gospel that Paul initiated, because they don't want that gospel. It's a God-centered gospel.

But the gospel is bigger than what you can put into a little teeny tiny tract. Yes, you can summarize the gospel, but the gospel that Paul is talking about is something that every believer can suffer for.

This gospel should determine how you work, where you work, who you're married to, what your career is, how you live every day of your life. That's the gospel that we are called to suffer together for.

It's a gospel that challenges the world. Anyone who proclaims the gospel, the world can just simply take or leave because they're proclaiming the gospel of Christ. But we don't do this suffering alone, and we don't do this suffering without God's assistance, for notice it says, suffer together for the gospel according to the power of God.

This isn't, okay, just work up a bunch of stuff within you, and I'm going to become a martyr. That's not where it comes from. You are called to suffer in the name of Christ the amount of power, the amount of dunamis, will come from God and will enable you.

It will come right when you need it, not before, not after, right when you need it. I'm looking in the faces of people who know that story, who know that there have been times you went through stuff and you just didn't think you could make it.

But when you needed it most, the power of God was there. Suffer for the gospel according to the power of God. Then we have in the next two verses, one of those many places where it just seems that Paul was a little bit, because sometimes I'm more of a teacher than anything else, and sometimes I'll be going along in my outline as I'm teaching and I make mention of something, and I just can't resist the temptation to follow a rabbit trail for just a moment.

Maybe because it's just so important to me. I just want to expand on something, because I want my students to understand this. Paul does this a lot. It's important that we notice this. As soon as he says according to the power of God, the next two verses, he's off into a description of the gospel.

Now it's not like Timothy didn't know what the gospel was. Timothy certainly had heard this many times. But he talks about the power of God and he just simply has to remind Timothy of how glorious the gospel really is.

And this isn't the only time he does this. In fact, it's interesting. One of the greatest controversies of our day really focuses around whether this is exactly what Paul did in 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

Remember in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, he's talking about the work of God in Christ and what the apostles have done and things like that. And then there's this section where he starts talking about what God has done in Christ.

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And then he continues on. And down through the ages, Christian interpreters have seen that as sort of like right here.

He's talking about the apostles, but then he talks about what God has done and then continues on with his point. Here he does this as well. One of the great controversies of the day is engendered by a particular individual over in England who says, no, no, no, no.

He's not just doing a little side thing here. This is only about the apostles. This is only... The church has always misunderstood this. I'm the only one who's come up with the right answer to this. Actually, this has nothing to do with how we're made right before God or anything.

All he's saying here is that we apostles demonstrate that God has been faithful to the message of Jesus. That's all it's about. So the entire beautiful text of being made sin and we become the righteousness of God, all that's gone.

Well, because Paul would never just simply go off and talk about something for a moment and then get back to his point. And yet he does that all the time. And here is an example of it right here in 2 Timothy.

Salvation by Grace, Not by Works

I wouldn't think that Paul wrote 2 Timothy. And we could spend the rest of this hour and all this evening just on this. We want to get to verse 12 of the seed. So I have a description of God. Notice who's the one who has saved.

Did we save ourselves by taking advantage of a system God set up? No. Who saved us? And he called us, and it can be translated, he called us to a holy calling or he called us with a holy calling. And which one is it?

Well, as I work through the text, I try to think of it in both ways. If it was called us to a holy calling, then maybe you could look at this as having something to do with God's, having set Paul and Timothy and those in leadership apart.

But I just don't think that's the way to look at it. Especially when Paul immediately says, not according to our works. That is a phrase that he uses over and over again in reference to salvation and the grace that is found in the Gospel.

And so I believe it is called us with a holy calling. That calling that we saw in Romans chapter 8. Those who he foreknew, he predestined, called, justified, glorified. There's the call, that special call.

Not the universal call of the Gospel, but the special call that always results in the dead sinner coming to life. It's a holy calling. He saved us and called us with a holy calling. But he did so, not because he looked down the corridors of time and saw that we would be smarter or more receptive or more sensitive.

Not according to our works. Same thing he said, look over when he wrote Titus. Titus chapter 3, verse 5. It's almost exactly the same phraseology. Not by words of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us.

Through the washing of regeneration, the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Romans 9, the twins, not because of anything, over and over and over again, Paul keeps pounding this drum. And why must he do so? Because it is the madness of man.

The madness of man, to want to steal just a small portion of the glory of God. Madness of man. 99 of it, but you see, my ego just won't allow me to say that it's all of God. I need to control this. According to our work.

His own purpose. Ephesians 1, Romans 8 and 9, 2 Timothy 1, Titus 3, they all say the same thing. How many times does the inspired word have to say something before we go, yes Lord, we care. And man's ego, man's pride, so stands in the way.

And he asks the question, why this one and not this one? Often we are attacked, just this week I was playing comments from a very, very well known evangelical leader. And on a radio program where they like to go after reform theology, they once again describe this God arbitrarily going through mankind, going you in, you go, you not, you in, you're out.

Oh, it's just this arbitrary thing. And yet here's your action. It's not of the man who wills or runs, Paul says, but of God who shows mercy. Here, if you want to know the final answer to the question, why one and not another, according to His own purpose and grace.

If that's not a good enough answer for you, I really have some questions as to what would be sufficient. I'd like to ask you, why do you want it in man's control? Why would you even bother praying? For anyone, if it's in man's control, if God's doing everything He can, why pray?

His own purpose and grace. But while that in and of itself is enough to astound the mind, Paul then takes it right out of any realm that we could ever fully plumb in this life and says, which was granted to us in Christ Jesus, never outside of Him, no pluralism, in Christ Jesus, from before the beginning of time.

It's literally before time eternal. Before time even begins. This grace was granted to us in Christ Jesus. We will always have reason to give thanks to God for this gospel. But isn't it wonderful the gospel doesn't stay just in eternity?

Has been manifested now in time through the appearance of our Savior Christ Jesus. He came at a certain time in a certain place. And in His coming, He has abolished, nullified, destroyed death. The great enemy.

Death. He destroyed death. The form of the word that is used here I think points us again to that instant in the cross. The sacrifice in the cross. He's destroyed death. And in its place, He's brought to light.

He's illuminated. He's revealed life. And in corruption, immortality, as death, the opposite of life, that destroys that which is alive. He has brought life into mortality. The light, how? Through the...

I didn't see any word in there where it says God is trying real hard. He's trying real hard. We've got to pitch in to help on the basis of His own purpose. He granted us grace in Christ Jesus. God manifested the Son, the Savior.

And He destroyed death. And He brought immortality and life to light through the gospel. He doesn't leave much room for man's self-glorification. That's the gospel that Paul says to Timothy. That's worth suffering.

That's worth standing firm. That's worth experiencing the frowns of men. That's worth having an eternal perspective in all of life for. It's this gospel. My friends, as we sit here, almost 2 ,000 years after these words were written, bound together in a common love for the gospel.

Can you imagine anything more miraculous than in a different language, on a different continent, we are here bound together from all of our different backgrounds in a common love. The message of that prisoner.

You want a miracle? You want to see supernatural power? I pray that God, by His Spirit, will cause us to see, to spiritualize what He's about in this world we build in His church. Indeed, our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gospel.

And we thank You that before time in the morning, in Christ Jesus, You granted us amazing grace. Wonderful grace by which we live and by which we are saved. Lord, if we in this week of busyness that we've just come through have been guilty of letting our eyes drift from the high calling, may You once again stir to flame within our hearts the love which should be ours in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ by which we are saved.

We rejoice in it yet once again and we pray in Christ's name.