This isa new sermon seires Called “Perseverance”. Partners! 2 Timothy 1:2-7 You can watch more here.
Last Sunday was great. We looked at verse 1. That was fun! We were
reminded that every day is a fight, because God’s Word makes it clear our
battle isn’t against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of darkness.
I know it might creep some of us out to think about spiritual forces of
darkness, but this spiritual battle doesn’t have to be like demonic movies that
are scary.
Spiritual battles can be that slow pull on our life away from Jesus, away from
people and toward things that aren’t true. It can be the temptation to avoid
conflict resolution. It can be that spiritual drift of turning from the Lord. It
can be those moments in life when we decide we want to do what we want to
do instead of what the Lord wants us to do, so that God’s Word is calling us to
fight for the life we have been given in Christ Jesus!
This morning we are going to see the God of Scripture didn’t intend for us to
be in this spiritual fight alone. One of the most common things I hear as a
pastor is, “I am about to tell you something you’ve never heard.”
Let me tell you, “I’ve heard it!” We assume we are the only one going through
this battle. We assume we need to figure this battle alone, and the God of
Scripture is constantly teaching us to get shoulder to shoulder with other
followers of Jesus, and fight!
Listen to me, men are notorious for going into this fight alone! If I told a group
of women there’s a threat on their life they would call authorities, get friends
involved, get trained in hand-to-hand combat, but you tell a group of men
there is a threat on their life and the majority of men are like, “I’ll figure it
out.”
Look, I get it. My wife and I can be walking through a store we’ve never been
in and she will ask for help to find what we need but I have this core part of
me that says, “Nah, I can find it on my own, I can sense where it is located.”
It’s like a game that I play with me vs. me! And, I win every time!
Therefore, men and women might approach this fight against spiritual forces
of darkness differently, but none of us were meant to go alone. Let’s look at 2
Timothy 1:2:
2 Timothy 1:2, “2 To Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord.”
Last Sunday we saw 2 Timothy is written by the Apostle Paul. This is in the
New Testament. This is all taking place after Jesus’ life, death, and
resurrection, so that the Apostle Paul is taking the name of Jesus around the
Roman Empire.
The letter of 2 Timothy is written to Timothy, and mind blown moment, this is
the second letter. There is also a 1 Timothy! And, in verse 2 Paul refers to
Timothy as his son, but they aren’t physically related!
You can read the book of Acts to see where Paul and Timothy get connected,
but over time Paul and Timothy have formed a deep friendship where Paul
helps Timothy learn the Scriptures, learn how to share the gospel, learn how
to spiritually fight for his faith in Jesus, and Paul is so invested he refers to
Timothy as his “beloved son in the faith.” Isn’t that beautiful?
This is a unique part of the local church throughout history. The Christian life
was never meant to be a solo fight. It is always presented as a side-by-side
fight where men and women are helping other men and women grow in their
faith in Jesus and fight for their faith in Jesus! We’re like the original fight
club!
I know in my life, I didn’t grow up around Jesus, I didn’t grow up around
church, so when I come to faith I had a lot of areas of my life that were upside
down. As a result, there were men and women who helped fill in some
character gaps that were missing in my life.
I remember one person who was maybe 4-5 years older than me, and he
moved me into his house with his wife and kids when I was 20-years old. I
lived with him for a year and during that time he helped me learn what it
means to spiritually fight for my faith in Jesus.
I remember a few years later there was another man, again, just a few years
older. He worked at IBM, but he would meet me at 6am before work once a
week, and teach me how to study the Bible and walked me through practical
areas of marriage.
I remember when I was 30 I would meet with another guy once a month and
he would talk to me about what it means to raise children and manage your
finances. I remember when I started the North Village Church, once a month I
would sit down and with another guy and he would talk to me about my
character, my marriage, and my spiritual life, so that it didn’t get lost in the
chaos of starting a church in Austin!
I am 51-years old today and I still seek out other men to learn from in all areas
of my life, but especially the spiritual part of my life. It’s because I know I
don’t need to go alone. I need to be side-by-side with other men in my life
where we are spiritually fighting together.
Therefore, this morning, all of us need to be thinking, “Am I taking steps today
to form these types of relationships in my life?” Getting connected to a local a
non-denominational church in Austin is a huge step! Praise God! You’re here
this morning! Getting connected to a community group is a monster step!
Getting involved on a ministry team is fantastic! But the goal is to
intentionally takes steps to build these types of relationships in our life.
Because look at the next phrase in verse 2, “Grace, mercy and peace.” Do you
see that in verse 2? Grace, mercy, and peace originate and come from God in
our vertical relationship with Him, but we can also experience grace, mercy
and peace in our horizontal relationships with one another.
And, we’re going to need grace in our relationship with one another, because
when we get below the surface with each other we’re going to see character
flaws, and we’re going to need to extend grace to one another.
We’re going to need mercy in our relationships with one another. Grace is
getting what we don’t deserve, but mercy is NOT getting what we DO deserve,
so if we actually treated one another based on our character…none of us
would want to be around each other. It’s mercy that keeps us in the spiritual
fight with one another.
We’re going to need peace, because when we’re fighting for something that
matters there is going to be tension, frustration, and misunderstandings along
the way, so that peace allows us to persevere when those relationships get
strained!
If we’re going to fight together… we’re going to need something stronger than
personality and hobbies holding us together. We’re going to need His grace,
His mercy, and His peace in our life.
Therefore, we need to be asking ourselves this morning, “What would it look
like today for us to experience those types of relationships in North Village
Church?” What would it take to begin to establish those types of relationships
in our church family?
I can tell you, we weren’t meant to go alone, and when we choose to go alone,
we are choosing to put ourselves in a place to be spiritually vulnerable,
therefore, we need to be intentional in this area of our life to build these types
of side-by-side relationships. Look at verses 3-4:
2 Timothy 1:3-4, “3 I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly
remember you in my prayers night and day, 4 longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be
filled with joy.”
Remember, the Apostle Paul is writing this letter from prison in Rome and in
the opening letter he writes, “I thank God.” Paul is at the end of his life. He is
probably sitting on a cold, dark floor trying to find sun light through a
window, and he’s writing, “I thank God!” Isn’t that great?
Yes, Paul can write those words because of his faith in Jesus, but also, we can
see in verses 3-4 that Paul is finding significant joy in his friendship with
Timothy, “As I constantly remember you in my prayer’s night and day, longing
to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy!” This is
God’s Word telling us how important our relationships are to one another, and
when we don’t have them in our life we are missing out on tears of joy! We
are robbing ourselves of the promise of life we have been given in Christ
Jesus!
Have you seen those moments on a reality TV when the contestant has been
disconnected from friends and family, and then from behind the wall someone
steps out to surprise them? Every time those contestants start crying and
running to hug those people. It’s because we all desperately need men and
women in our life who are in our corner cheering for us and fighting with us,
but we need to take steps to build these relationships into our life today!
Because life is hard! And when those hard parts of life show up it is so easy to
turn to bitterness and anger and jealousy and hurt, but it is through the
sharpening of other men and women in our life that helps us persevere
through those hardships. Amen?
This model of men and women helping men and women fight spiritually
started 2,000 years ago. It didn’t end with Paul and Timothy as a “unique
outlier.”
It’s why we are in the room today! Therefore, if we look at our faith in Jesus
today and our faith in Jesus is mostly in our head and not in lived
relationships, that’s not the kind of relationships being described in Scripture.
Our faith in Jesus was meant to be grounded in side-by-side relationships,
therefore we want to take tangible steps to grab them, build them and fight for
them. Look at verse 5:
2 Timothy 1:5, “5 For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois
and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.”
In verse 5 we see the words, “Sincere faith” and it means Paul had seen
Timothy’s faith lived out in the good and the hard, because when we
spiritually fight for one another we are going to see the highs and the lows,
and I think this is the biggest hurdle that keeps us from spiritually fighting for
one another in North Village Church.
We love showing off our best sides. We love highlighting those great
moments, but it is so hard for us to open our lives to one another so that we
see the ups and the downs / good and hard. It’s not that we struggle to be
around people. We struggle be known by people. Amen?
As a result, we build up walls, we build up personas, and we start acting like
religious people around one another. Instead of living out a sincere faith we
end up living out an “insincere faith” with one another. We end up playing
church with one another. And we never get a chance to spiritually fight with
and for one another, because we won’t let down our guard.
In our city we are supposed to put up a façade. In our city we are supposed to
try to impress one another with our accomplishments. But the local in Austin
is filled with a group of people who believe someone raised from the dead.
That’s a fun group! We’re the people that get together and confess our sins to
one another and pray for one another. That’s a fun group!
That’s why when it came to me being a pastor, I decided a long time ago, by
God’s grace, I don’t want to have to “act like a pastor on a stage” and then be
someone else when I am off the stage. I wanted there to be a “sincerity” to my
faith in Jesus. I wanted there to be consistency between my private and my
public life, but it comes at a cost!
It sounds great on paper, but I can’t tell you how many times I have heard
people say things like, “Aren’t you supposed to be a pastor?” Which means on
some level they are expecting me to look or act a certain way, and on some
level, I am not meeting their expectations!
Listen to me, it doesn’t mean I take lightly this role as a pastor. I think deeply
about the holiness of God in my life. But who wants to be a part of a faith
where we have to “act” like followers of Jesus. That’s exhausting!
Therefore, in verse 5 when we see this sincere faith “first dwelt in your
grandmother and your mother” it doesn’t mean we need to have grown up in
a Christian home.
It means Timothy’s faith didn’t grow in isolation. His faith grew in
relationship. His faith was sharpened in relationship, which means our faith
in Jesus was never meant to be private.
Therefore, we need to ask, “Am I able to be myself at North Village Church?” It
doesn’t mean we stay that way and never grow, but we’re able to acknowledge
this is where I am, and by God’s grace this is where I want to be, so that we
spiritually side-by-side growing together. Look at verses 6-7 as we finish:
2 Timothy 1:6-7, “6 For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the
laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”
Look at that phrase in verse 7, “God has not given you a spirit of timidity, but
of power and love and discipline.” Isn’t that good? This is who we are, in
Christ, a people who are indwelled with power, love and discipline!
Some of us can be here this morning and thinking to ourselves, “I want these
types of relationships in our lives and still not take tangible steps to move
toward those relationships.”
It’s because our challenge this morning is not a lack of information. We might
agree, this is important, but our challenge this morning is the fear that comes
with these types of side-by-side relationships. That’s what’s going on in
Timothy. The word “timidity” means fear and cowardice, so that some of us
are not lacking opportunity. We’re just afraid!
What will happen if people actually get to see my struggles and challenges in
life? What will happen if people disappoint us? What will happen when trust
is broken? What will happen if it’s not reciprocated? What if the relationship
asks more of me than I am ready to give? In those moments, we’re giving into
fear!
Some of us are doing that right now. Even as I bring up those excuses we are
saying to ourselves, “Michael doesn’t know my difficulty and challenges in life.
If he did he wouldn’t…” For some of us, we’ve told ourselves those excuses so
many times that we begin to believe they are true and we are filled with
timidity.
Listen to me, God’s Word doesn’t respond to our fear and say, “Suck it up, try
harder!” Instead, Jesus comes to punch fear in the face! In Luke 22 Jesus
comes face to face with fear. Scripture tells us Jesus is praying that the cross
wouldn’t have to take place. He is praying that there would be another option.
He is praying so fervently that He is sweating drops of blood, and yet it is Jesus
who confronts the greatest fear at the cross as He takes our wrath of God’s
judgment upon Himself.
It isn’t judgment for His sin. It is judgment for our sin, so that Jesus confronts
the greatest fear. He takes the curse we deserve. He is cast into darkness that
for us. It is He that is abandoned into terror. And He conquers it all with the
resurrection! King Kong!
That is why Jesus can say, “Do not be afraid.” That’s why Paul can write, “God
has not given us a spirit of timidity.” It’s not because we need to fake it till we
make it!
It’s because Jesus has conquered fear. He has conquered death. He has taken
our judgment so that we need not fear God, and if we need not fear God, then
we need not fear anything. Amen?
But we can’t go alone! We need other men and women in our life, side-by-side
fighting together. And it all starts with turning to Jesus. It is in those
moments we acknowledge our fears, our inadequacies, our limitation, our
what-ifs, and bring those fears to Him, confess those fears to Jesus, and turn
from those fears to receive His power, love, and discipline on our life.
Because I’ve been walking with Jesus for 32-years and I have experienced
some hurts and disappointments in my relationships with others, but it pales
in comparison of the joy, goodness, and delight that I have seen and
experienced in the side-by-side relationships in my life. Not even close!
It’s why verse 6 says to “kindle afresh” or “fan the flame” in the NIV. It is
language that is active and intentional in the stirring up of our side-by-side
relationships with one another.
I love this language, because the fire doesn’t start with us. The first starts
through faith in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, and in that moment the
flame is lit!
We can’t create the fire but we can fan the flame of the fire. Amen? We can
flame the flame of one another through prayer, worship, service, inviting,
encouraging, texts, hugs as we sharpen one another in the Word for His glory.
North Village Church
This sermon is brought to you by North Village Church, a non-denominational church in Austin. established in 2009 and built around Jesus and Bible teaching.
Are you looking for a church in Austin? At North Village Church we put Jesus at the center of our church family. We worship together every Sunday at 10:30am, encourage Christ centered fellowship through groups, and host special events such as Bible studies and Theological Training, to ensure that we are rooted in in God’s Word. We also serve our local community in association with several Austin based organizations.
North Village Church is made up of professionals, married couples, singles, and families who are wanting to experience the life-transforming power of Jesus. If you are a family with children or teens, we can support you with either or both our Kids Ministry and Youth Ministry.
You are welcome to contact us if you would like more information.
NVC Online
Unable to attend this Christian Church in Austin? Don’t worry, because, through God’s provision, we have created NVC online, an Online Church streaming a worship service every Sunday from 10:30am Central Time. You can also watch our short, powerful sermons on demand and follow us on Instagram for daily Christ centered content.