Not Being Ashamed of Christ, Part 2
2 Timothy 1:7-10
We continue our study this morning in the first chapter of 2 Timothy, Paul's last will and testament, the final of his 13 epistles that he wrote, writing this one from a dungeon in Rome about to lose his life and his ministry is well nigh coming to an end. And as he writes, he writes to his son in the faith, Timothy, because he wants Timothy to carry on the work. Timothy doesn't have the strength of character and boldness and courage that Paul, his mentor, had. And it is necessary in this epistle to endeavor to infuse him with some strength that will hold him true to the task as he faces the opposition and the hostility of an unbelieving world.
So Paul writes this letter to Timothy. It is a very personal epistle. Although its truths, no doubt, would have filtered down to the Ephesian church in which Timothy was ministering, it was not written to them, it was written to him. It is personal. It is written from a man of God to another man of God. It is written from a generation to the next generation. It is a passing of the mantle, prophetically, a passing of the baton or the torch to one who will carry on the gospel. Paul, the Apostle, is a victim of persecution, persecution which he knows Timothy will also face and so wants to be sure that Timothy is strong in the face of that persecution.
The epistle, in a sense, can be seen in three different aspects. The first five verses of chapter 1 have to do primarily with motivation. And Paul articulates through implications the motivation that Timothy must have in his heart if he's going to be faithful to the ministry. Secondly, verses 6 to 18 in which we are now studying deals with attitude. There is an underlying and pervasive attitude that is necessary to one who does what God wants him to do. And then finally, beginning in chapter 2, he launches off into specific exhortations related to his ministry. So first the motivation, then laying down the proper and underlying attitude. And then finally the exhortations come as we approach chapter 2.
Now what then is the attitude which Paul has in mind in verses 6 to 18? What is the underlying driving force that keeps us moving ahead in the extension of the gospel? It is the attitude of not being ashamed of Christ. It is an attitude of courage, or an attitude of boldness. It is an attitude that does not equivocate. It is the attitude of no compromise. It is the attitude of confrontation in the face of hostility. It is the attitude of saying what ought to be said no matter who you're saying it to or what the reprocussions might be. In a word, courage...the courage of one's convictions. And, of course, obviously, it's hard to have the courage of conviction if you don't have any convictions to start with. So we assume that Timothy had the proper theology and the convictions and Paul is calling on him for the courage of those convictions.
He mentions in verse 8 not being ashamed. He mentions it again in verse 12 and mentions it with reference to Onesiphorus in verse 16. Three times references made to not being ashamed. And I believe that that is the indicator as to what the major message of the text is to Timothy. Timothy is not to be ashamed, not to allow himself to be pressured into vaccilating, not to lose heart, lose courage, not to be afraid to speak for Christ because it might cost him his life. He is to be courageous.
In fact, this is nothing new. Paul so lived and did the Apostles as well who followed Christ. And did Christ Himself. All of them who have proclaimed the truth of God have faced hostility. We can go all the way back to the Psalms, as I was reading in the Psalms I came across some interesting statements this week. One in Psalm 40 verses 9 and 10. It says, "I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation, behold I will not restrain my lips, O Lord, You know."
In other words, the psalmist is saying, "Lord, You know I am bold. You know I will not hold back anything that ought to be said."
Further in Psalm 71 and verses 15 and 16, similarly the psalmist says, "My mouth shall tell of Thy righteousness and of Thy salvation all day long, for I do not know the sum of them. I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord God. I will make mention of Thy righteousness, Thine alone." In other words, nothing can withstand my commitment to speak of salvation and righteousness.
And then beautifully stated and concisely in Psalm 119 and verse 46, these words, "For I also will speak of Thy testimonies before kings and shall not be ashamed." So really Timothy is in a long line of the men of God who have not been ashamed to speak His truth. There were men before Timothy and women. During the time of Timothy's life and now even long after, those who are unashamed to speak of Christ.
And, of course, that is the underlying attitude that makes anyone effective. No matter how gifted you are, no matter how prepared you are, how well trained you are, how biblically literate you are, how astute you are, no matter how much opportunity you are granted and how open spiritual privilege is to you, if you do not have courage you will not speak. And so basic to all effective ministry is a certain spiritual courage that says I will live the way God wants me to live and I will speak the way He wants me to speak, no matter what the consequences might be.
So that is that to which Paul calls Timothy...that attitude of courage and boldness that is not ashamed to be identified with Christ, even in a hostile persecuting and deadly environment. But how to do that? How to do that? In chapter 2 and verse 1 he says to him, "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus," but there's more to it than just saying "be strong," there has to be a way to comprehend the reason and the rationale for being bold. And that's what we have in verses 6 to 18. At first reading admittedly, even in my own case, I couldn't quite see how it all was hanging together. But I have found in my own Bible study, I don't know if you find this true, that the more you read a passage and I mean read it and read it and read it and read it and reread it hour after hour, day after day, the more it begins to speak in terms of its content. And I don't mean the specifics, I mean you begin to feel what it's saying. You begin to sense the impact of the whole message. And that indeed in this particular section has to do with Timothy's courage. Therefore all the several parts from verses 6 to 18 relate to that.
Now last week we mentioned number one, Timothy, if you're going to have courage, you have to renew your gift. Verse 6, let's look at it again, "For this reason...that is the reason of your true salvation mentioned in verse 5...for this reason that I know you're genuinely saved and genuinely have a strong faith, I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you, of course confirmed through the laying on of the hands of the Apostle Paul as well as the elders of the church and the confirmation of the prophetic Word of God," those last two being told to us in the first epistle. So he says I want you to renew your gift, that's the idea. Timothy, remember the Word from God in prophecy, remember the elders laying hands, remember my own apostolic hands being placed on you, remember that all of that focused on the fact that God had unusually gifted you for ministry. Now that obviously has fallen into a bit of disuse and you need to renew your gift. That's the first place to start in terms of being courageous, kindle afresh your gift.
Courage, folks, rises out of a sense of giftedness. If I know what I'm equipped to do, then I'm going to be bold to do it. If I know God has said, "you are to do this and I gift you to do that," then I'm going to do that. In fact, I have nothing else to do. There is nothing for me to preserve because the only reason I'm here is to do that. So I'm not going to say to myself, if I preach Christ I'm liable to die. I'm going to say to myself, if I don't preach Christ I might as well die. You understand? In other words, I'm not going to say, I don't want to minister my gift, the cost is too high. I'm going to say, If I don't minister my gift my life has no value. Because the only reason I am here is to do what I'm gifted to do. And that's where the sense of courage and the sense of boldness begins, in understanding who I am. That is the proper kind of self‑image, not a psychological one but a charismatic one in the true use of the term charisma which is the word here for "gift." I am who I am by virtue of my gift. Take my gift away and you have basically just me left in my humanness. So courage rises out of a sense of giftedness.
Secondly, he says consider your resources. Not only renew your gift but if you are to be bold in the cause of Christ consider the resources you have at your disposal. Somebody might say, "Well, if I launch out, how do I know I'm not going to get out there and get cut off from the cords of power? How do I know how long my extension cord is?" to put it simply. "How far can I go, how aggressive can I be in my ministry without sort of pulling the plug at the other end?"
Well, verse 7 says very directly, "For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but...implied...God has given us a spirit of power and love and discipline." And I want you to listen to this very carefully. Timothy, God did not give you gifts and then equip you with cowardice. You understand that? That's what the word "timidity" means, deilia, it's the only time it's ever used in the New Testament, it basically means cowardice, fearfulness, embarrassment, shame, weakness, frailty. He is saying God did not give you a gift to be used in the advance of His Kingdom and then give you an accommodating cowardice which would literally negate the gift. But rather He gave you power, love and discipline in order that it might operate that gift. This is a tremendous statement. Any weakness on your part, Timothy, is strictly just not cashing your check because the resources are in your spiritual bank, you're just not drawing on them. Vacillation and denial and a lack of boldness and being ashamed to speak for the Lord or live for the Lord or serve the Lord simply indicates that you're not using your spiritual resources. God didn't give you cowardice, God gave you courage.
And notice these three things, and we could spend a tremendous amount of time on each of them, but wanting to maintain the flow of Paul's thought we'll resist that urge. Verse 7 says God has given us, past tense, already in the bank, power, love and discipline. When you became a believer God gave you power. Why? Because when you became a believer you received the Holy Spirit and Jesus said in Acts 1:8 you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you. When you became a believer you received divine capacity to love because it says in Romans 5:5 that due to the sufficient justifying work of Christ the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. And when you were saved you received a Holy Spirit who brings with Him His fruit and the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and the last one is self‑ control...or discipline.
In other words, this is something you possess. And if you are timid in your ministry, if you are ineffective, weak and failing to be bold and courageous and aggressive in advancing the Kingdom, it is not God who has given you that, you can assume it is sin because God has given you the resources to do just the opposite.
Now look at the word "power" for a moment, dunamis. That word basically means just what it says, might, dynamic energy. It's among those words in the root word group from the root of which we get the word dynamite, or dynamic. It has to do with dynamic energy producing results. God has given you a dynamic to produce results. It doesn't matter what the opposition is, it doesn't matter how powerful the adversary is, the power of God is there to produce. And, first of all, you have to know you have that power. That's why in Ephesians 1 verse 18 Paul prays for the Ephesians this prayer, "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us." He says I pray that you will understand His power that is working within you, "the strength of His might" he calls it in the same verse. And then in verse 20, the same power with which He brought Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in heavenly places. Resurrection power, ascension power, that is to say supernatural power, power over death, power over natural forces, that's the power that is given to us. Power that is the power of God.
It's a great Old Testament principle, not by might nor by power but by My Spirit, says the Lord. That is not by human might and human power but the power of the Spirit of God. We possess the indwelling Holy Spirit and in Him there is power. That's a tremendous thing to realize. And that does not operate, mark this, in any area of your life other than the spiritual dimension and service to God. You will be as impotent as anyone else, stuck with nothing but your own natural abilities when you're operating outside the spiritual dimension. But when you begin to operate in the spiritual dimension, you begin to operate on supernatural power to effect results that could never be effected apart from that power, tremendous promise. In fact, that power is even beyond our ability to understand. Paul in Ephesians 1 prays that we would understand it. And in Ephesians 3 says, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all you can ask or think, according to the power that works in us." It's a marvelous thing to live your life in service to Christ and see that power, to see the power of God operate to change lives and move the Kingdom and exalt the Lord. And you have that power. There is no Christian on the face of the earth walking around who doesn't have that power. You may not be appropriating it because it comes to the one who is controlled by the Spirit of God, the one who has set sin aside and is submitting to the leading of God's Holy Spirit, that's where the power operates.
Secondly, talks about love. And love also is concomitant with the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Love which is shed abroad in our hearts is shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes in, deposits the love of God which permeates us and we know that love of which Paul also spoke to the Ephesians, that love which is so surpassing, that love he says which can hardly be comprehended as to its breadth and length and height and depth and it is the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. Now we have not only power but love and shouldn't power operate with love so that it doesn't run amuck, so that it isn't abrasive or abusive or injurious? So that it is compassionate and sensitive, we have that love. That means love toward God and love toward others. That means love that is directed toward whomever we direct our ministry. Tremendous thought. And it is the kind of love, agape, it is the kind of love that is volitional love. It's not emotional love like philos or a sensual love like eros, it is that love of choice, that highest supreme love where in character volitionally says I will to love you, that's the highest love. It's not a love that is based only on emotion because emotion changes. It's not a love based only on passion because passion ebbs and flows. It is a love based on volition, will, the mind, the highest love...that love which says I choose to love you. And how is it defined? It is a self‑ denying grace that says I give myself away on your behalf. Directed toward God it means I'll give my life away to serve you. Directed toward others, I give my life away to serve you. It's the same thing. It's that love, Jesus said, that is the greatest love which is willing to lay down its life for the one it loves, John 15:13. It is the love that covers a multitude of evils, Peter says. It is the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, tremendous thought.
And may I add? It is the love that John said was perfect love that casts out fear, 1 John 4:18. Perfect love casts out fear. Let me give you an illustration of that. When I love something supremely I..I lose all fear of self‑preservation. In what sense? One of my children were to fall into the sea and begin to drown, my love for my child would cause me to dive in to rescue my child with no thought of myself because I love my child to the degree that I would have no thought, that is the perfect love that casts out fear. If I loved God supremely I'll put my life on the line in serving God and have no thought of self‑ preservation because I love Him more than I love myself. The bottom line is very simple‑‑what I love controls my action. And if I love God perfectly then I have no fear in serving Him because if I lose my life in serving Him I have lost my life for the one I love. And if I lose my life in serving men and bringing them the gospel, then I have lost my life in serving the one I love and if they and God are more precious to me than I am to me then that's no loss at all. Do you understand that? So that kind of love casts out fear.
If on the other hand I love myself and I will do everything to preserve myself and my own life and my own comfort and my own success and my own reputation and I live to satisfy me, then I will not sacrifice for God and I will not sacrifice for you or anyone else. I will sacrifice you for me. And I will sacrifice what God wants for what I want. My life can be measured by whom I love. But if I love the Lord God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and my neighbor as myself then I fearlessly serve the God I love and the neighbor I love.
You say, "How can you do that?" The love is there, it's a matter of you walking in the Spirit so the love manifests itself. You must walk in the Spirit and these things are the fruit of that walk.
Look at the third one in verse 7. He calls it discipline. It's the word sophronismos, it's a word used only here in the whole New Testament. It's not a word that we have a lot of illustrations of to determine its meaning. But nonetheless its meaning becomes relatively clear in this usage and in what we know about related words to this word. And the basic idea is, it means the control of one's self in face of praise or pain. In other words, it is ultimate self‑control. It is the ability to control every element of your life, whether they're positive or negative ones, whether you're being praised or inflicted with pain. It is that wisdom, that sound judgment, that self‑control that takes every feature of life and makes it positive for the advance of the Kingdom of God. It's a rich term. It's more than wisdom, James says, "If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God who gives to all men liberally and holds back none," it's more than wisdom, it's the application even of that wisdom to every circumstance. In Proverbs 2:7 it says, "He stores up wisdom for the upright." But it's again more than just that. It is that totally ordered life in which wisdom is applied to every situation. It is the ability to prioritize. I can put it, I think, in those terms to give it a best understanding. It means I know my priorities. It means whether my circumstances are positive or negative, I master those circumstances to advance the work of Christ. It is the kind of discipline that says I have no wasted motion in my life. I don't spend my life with trivia. I don't spend my life beating the air, to borrow Paul's expression in 1 Corinthians 9. I don't spend my life shadow boxing. I don't waste my motion. I take all that comes into my life and I use that in a prioritization for the advance of the Kingdom.
Now everyone of us is probably sitting here saying, "I'd like to be that kind of person." And that kind of person you are if you cash in on your resources because the Spirit of God is the divine organizer in your life. And I have thought to myself in thinking this thought that if all of the people who are walking around with an organizer in their hand were totally yielded to the organizer in their heart they might get a lot more done for the advancement of the Kingdom. The issue is not how you keep your schedule written down, the issue is how you walk in the Spirit. And I don't want to belie or make irresponsible...those people who are responsible for schedules, I just want you to understand that you do not learn self‑discipline in this regard. You do not learn it. It can't be taught to you by any human source. You don't go to college to learn it. You don't go to seminary to learn it. Nobody disciples you into it. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is a divine resource, the ordered life, that belongs to those who walk in the Spirit, who are filled with the Spirit, who are led by the Spirit, in whom the Word of Christ dwells richly. But it is that incredible ability to order your life so that everything fits into the priorities and enables you to do God's work, no wasted motion.
And what a triumvirate these three things are. And every one of us who love Christ would say, "Oh if I had power...oh if I had that supreme sacrificial love...oh if I only had that order to disciplined and self‑controlled life that knew only priorities and followed them through." And the word of testimony of Scripture to you is you have it if you want to cash in on it. If you want to yield to the Spirit. These resources belong to us already. Power to do the task, love to fix our eyes on the persons for whom that task is done, both God and man. Discipline to bring every factor in our life into line to accomplish that task, to order every diverse feature of life and put it somewhere in the mix to accomplish the goal. A tremendous approach to life. And again I say they're not natural endowments.
They're not even talking about that in this text, both Paul and the Holy Spirit. They're not talking about the kind of power that some people have in their personality. There are people who have powerful personality, right? That's not what we're talking about, aggressive people, dynamic people. That's not it. It's not love that belongs to some person who just is basically humanly compassionate, tender, generous, kind, thoughtful, sensitive, whatever. And it's not the discipline of someone who would make a good sergeant in the Marines or the discipline of a soldier or whatever. We're talking here about something that's not human at all. We're talking about a divine endowment...not the result of heritage, not the result of environment or instruction but a gift of God. And Paul says, "Look, Timothy, if you'll just consider your resources you can get on with this. You have the power. God has given you the love of God and man that will make you sacrifice your life. God has by His Spirit given you self‑control and a discipline to order your life, to stay on the track of priorities no matter what happens. Now if you'll just renew your gift and consider your resources, you can get on with it."
Then there's a third point in verse 8 and that's accept your sufferings. You have to be programmed for rejection. Are you ready for that? You have to be programmed for rejection. People ask me from time to time, "Does it bother you that people disagree with you?" Well I guess in a sense it bothers me if they disagree with the truth because I like to think people will accept the truth. But my computer is programmed for rejection, you have to know that. We did a radio talk show on Friday and it was interesting. I gave my opinion on the current PTL scandal, some of you may have heard that. I don't know, did any of you hear that on Friday on KKLA, a few of you do...it was a two‑hour thing and they asked me my opinion and then people called in to give their opinion of my opinion. And many people agreed but there were a few who violently disagreed. But I'm programmed for that. I'm programmed for rejection. I'm programmed for animosity. I'm even programmed for hostility. I'm programmed for that. I'm programmed for threats from people who have said that if we don't change our message or stop saying something they're going to sue us, or whatever it is. I mean, we're all...we all in service to the Lord need to be programmed for that because if you're programmed for that it doesn't come as a surprise. You understand?
But if you've decided that you're going to live a life that is completely comfortable and you're going to do everything you can to evade that hostility, you're not going to be able to do it and when it comes it's going to cause you to be collapsed. That's the problem.
Look at verse 8. "Therefore because of your gift and resources, Timothy, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me as prisoner." No reason to be of either of us. "But join with me in suffering for the gospel." Stop at that point. That's the idea. Timothy, don't be ashamed, suffer. Join with me, get in the group, Timothy, we're all in it together. "Therefore because of your gift and resources do not be ashamed." In other words, don't be reluctant to preach Christ. Don't be reluctant to name the name of Christ. Don't be reluctantly...or reluctant to do the work of an evangelist, that is to go out on the streets and proclaim Jesus Christ all over the city and take what comes. Don't be reluctant to do that. Don't be ashamed...notice the phrase...of the testimony of our Lord, marturion, the Christian message as a whole, the witness of Christ, the gospel. Don't be ashamed to take a public stand for the gospel, is what he's saying. Don't be ashamed to name the name of Jesus Christ and to proclaim in a herald's voice publicly His death and resurrection. Don't be ashamed to call men sinners, damned and on their way to a godless hell. Don't be ashamed to call them to glorious heaven.
Now Paul is not saying stop being ashamed in the sense that Timothy was showing a lot of shame. It hadn't come to that point but surely he had drifted some. And the tendency was to be a bit ashamed in all circumstances to name the name of Christ. There was, after all, a serious and potentially deadly stigma in being identified with Christ, specially for Timothy in his society where Christians were being thrown in jail and killed. And the society saw Jesus as nothing more than a crucified criminal and Christians were nothing more than rebellious insurrectionists who had burned Rome. It could not only be humiliating to be identified with Christ, it could be frankly fatal. After all, the cross to the Jew was a stumbling block and an offense and to the Gentile was stupidity. At best they would think you an absolute fool. At worse they would take your life.