October 7, 2007 Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Sermon Title: “Stir Up the Gift”

Series: None

Text: 2 Timothy 1:1-14

Dr. Steve Jackson

NewSong Community Church

Delivered on October 7, 2007

 

“For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you….”
2 Timothy 1:6

 

Stir Up the Gift

 

Earlier this week I had an opportunity to spend a few hours with a missionary and his family in Ghana. This twenty-something missionary and his young family went to Africa about seven months ago to begin their ministry way up in the northeastern area, the farthest, remotest corner of that country. His work started with a bang with several great victories including baptizing 52 people into the Christian faith in one village alone. But he’s also had setbacks. He’s had malaria twice in seven months and his wife and seven year old son have each had malaria once. He’s also had to wrangle with denominational executives, even that far away. When I met with him and his wife he was back down in the capital city of Accra where he had come for medical tests to see what was wrong with his stomach (colitis). To be honest with you, they were pretty discouraged.

 

As I listened to his story, I couldn’t help but relate it to this week’s passage from 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy is Paul’s most personal letter. It isn’t deep theology like the book of Romans, or advice to a church he had planted like the ones in Corinth, Thessalonica, or Philippi. Instead it’s simply a tender note of encouragement from a spiritual father to the one he calls his “beloved child” (1:2) Timothy, who was discouraged.  

 

Paul had sent Timothy to Ephesus to handle some problems in that church. But when Timothy got there, he found himself in way over his head. The leaders in the Ephesian church were all older than he was, and they didn’t respect his leadership. To make matters worse, Timothy was shy and timid, so he had a tendency to avoid confrontation and the stress of his ministry assignment was effecting his health. In the meantime, his beloved mentor in the faith, Paul had been arrested by the Roman government and was sitting on “death row” in prison.


The excitement and enthusiasm Timothy once felt when he began his ministry was gone. Somewhere between his discouragement about the church in Ephesus, his bad health, and his fear for Paul’s life, Timothy’s passion for ministry had waned. In fact, he may have even been wavering in his own faith, much like the missionary I met with in Accra.

 

The gist of Paul’s message to Timothy was to “rekindle the gift,” some translations say, “fan the flame” of God’s gift within him in order to be encouraged again. And so today I want to talk about “stirring up the gift” both individually and corporately. We’re going to talk about why we need to have our flame fanned and our faith rekindled. I want to talk about some enemies to our faith, and what we can do to counteract them. As we discuss these, I’d like you to think of a car battery.

 

I’m no mechanic, but I think I understand how car batteries work. Some things drain your car battery: your lights, radio, air conditioning, cranking the car, etc… Who among us hasn’t accidentally left a dome light on in our car overnight only to hear that dreaded powerless click when we turn the key in the ignition the next morning. Like the things that drain your car battery, there are things that drain your spiritual life of its vitality.

 

Other things charge your car battery, mainly the alternator in your car as you drive around. These are the things in your spiritual life that charge your spiritual battery and make you strong.

 

Let’s begin with the things that drain your spiritual battery. Several are mentioned in the passage we read this morning.

 

Drain # 1 TIME

The first of these is the passage of time.  Several time-related words such as “remember,” “recall,” and “remind” are prominent in this passage. Paul is reflecting back over time to recall how things used to be with Timothy and his faith. He’s referring to how strong his faith was when it got started, versus its condition at the time of this letter.

 

Truth is, the passage of time can be a huge drain on anyone’s spiritual life. This is not speculation, it’s a scientific fact, verified by practice. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, one of only three laws upon which all physics are founded, is about entropy, the universal law of decay. Entropy says that over time, everything falls apart and decays. Evidence of this unalterable condition are all around us, touching everything. The sun and stars are all slowly burning out. The earth’s core is cooling off. Nothing stays as fresh as the day you buy it; clothing becomes faded and threadbare, food spoils and rots, and buildings crumble. Ultimately everything returns to dust, including you and me. Humanly speaking, death is the ultimate manifestation of this law.

 

This is, of course, a direct affront to those who claim that the world and all that is in it is ever marching upward. Rather than ascend ever upward, things are actually breaking down over time. Our world is winding down, not up.

 

Spiritually speaking this means that, if left unattended, your faith and mine will wither and die on the vine over time. That’s why Paul reminds Timothy of the great faith he inherited from his mother and grandmother, and of the power of that moment in time when Paul placed his hands on Timothy’s head anointing him for service. The passage of time has taken its toll on that once-strong faith.

 

Many of us can remember the day we first came to trust Jesus—that mountaintop moment when we felt so strong, so alive, and so empowered by our faith. Sadly, many will point to that moment as the highlight of their spiritual life, much like the girl who made homecoming queen in high school who then spends the rest of her life reminiscing over those days instead of moving forward from them. The passage of time is a deadly drain on our spiritual life unless we find ways to regularly renew our faith in Jesus Christ.

 

For me, going to Africa always recharges my battery and reclaims that which the passage of time tries to drain from my spiritual life. In fact, one evening last week the gentleman traveling with me looked over at me and commented that I was literally glowing with faith in Jesus. I felt so alive! But not everyone can go to Africa, so each of us must discover what it is that counteracts the deadly drain of time upon us. It may be serving others, attending worship, Bible Study, time spent in solitude with God, or something else. The point is you need to discover what to do about the drain of time on your faith.

 

Drain # 2 TRIALS

A second drain on our faith life are the trials in life we encounter along the way. Paul mentions the opposition Timothy is facing that is apparently so bad it is making him physically ill. His trials are also inducing cowardice (v. 7), shame (v. 8) and compromise (v. 13) in Timothy.

 

Trials can make cowards and compromisers of us all. It’s easy to stay strong spiritually when the sun is shining and everything is going great, when our prayers are all answered the way we’d like them, and everything is coming up roses. But when trials come, as they inevitably do, they can take their toll on your spiritual life if you let them. They don’t have to though.

 

Joseph Scriven was an Irish missionary who was working in Canada among the Iroquois Indians. He was joined by his fiancé who was also from Ireland. The day before their wedding, she was killed in an accident (drowned). Joe buried her with his own hands, and a broken heart. A year later, in a letter to his mother, he reflected, “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer.” Joseph Scriven was on the road to triumph, even through the deepest, darkest trials you can imagine.

 

I know some of you here this morning are facing severe trials of your own. Cancer or other medical conditions have been visited upon you. Others are facing financial woes, trials at work, or trials with your family. Those trials can drain your faith of all its vitality, or they can make you stronger and deepen your faith. My prayer for you is that you will recognize this fact and take those trials to the Lord for him to heal as Joe Scriven did. Remember the spirit of power, love and self-discipline Paul mentions that God has given you and don’t bow to cowardice. Hold to the standard of sound teaching you have heard and don’t give way to compromise in your faith. Your reward will be great if you do.

 

Drain # 3 TEMPTATION

The final drain on your spiritual battery I want to mention this morning is temptation. Paul’s final words to Timothy in this passage are to “Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us” (v. 14). Think with me for a moment, why do you have to guard something? You have to guard something because someone or something is trying to take that thing away from you.

 

We all understand this on a basic, elementary level. Remember when you were a kid and you played “steal the bacon?” You win that game by stealing the “bacon,” usually a traffic cone, from the other team. But even kids know you can’t send everyone to the other side to try to steal the bacon. You have to keep at least one or two people behind to guard your cone so the other team can’t steal it.  Or consider your favorite science-fiction shows from childhood (or at least mine) Star Trek and Star Wars. When a space ship goes into battle, it has to divert at least some of its resources to keeping its shields up to protect against attack. Armies must retain a portion of their forces at home to guard the home front. When we grow up we recognize the same thing when we purchase automobiles with alarm systems in them, and when we install security systems in our homes and businesses, and when we put anti-virus programs on our PC’s. Bottom line, someone, or something is out to get you.

 

Spiritually speaking that somebody or something are the twin enemies of God, our carnal nature and Satan himself. One of the devil’s most common ways of draining someone’s spiritual battery is temptation involving our carnal nature. Temptation to give in, or to give up and quit; temptation to do what you know God would not have you to do. Temptation to disobey God. Temptation to compromise your beliefs “just this once.” Temptation to blame God for fixes you’ve gotten yourself into.

 

I don’t know about you, but I fall prey to temptation most often when I get tired, or complacent, or cocky about my walk of faith. That’s why in 1 Corinthians 10:12 Paul says, “So if you think you are standing firm, be careful lest you fall!” Keep something in reserve to “guard the good treasure.” Guard the bacon! Keep the deflector shields up! Temptation is an enormous drain on your spiritual life. All I can say further is, “We’ve been warned, God help us lest we fall.”

 

The Answer: FAN THE FLAME BY USING YOUR GIFTS

So what are we to do about these drains on our spiritual vitality? How can we keep a charge on our spiritual battery? Well the answer is found in Paul’s advice to Timothy in verse 6, “For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift that is within you…” Like I mentioned earlier, another good translation of this would be to say “fan the flame” of God’s gift in you so it will once again burn brightly and with intensity. How do we do that? The way we rekindle or fan the flame of our God-given gifts is by using them!

 

Using our God-given gifts is like how the alternator of a car engine works. When your battery is low in your car, if you’ll drive around a bit the alternator charges up the battery. You actually increase the battery’s charge by using it. Do you see that? It’s inactivity with the drains of time, trials and temptation that causes our spiritual battery to run down.

 

Paul is saying here that God gave Timothy all the equipment he needs to be effective as God’s servant. But the fire of God’s gift in Timothy’s life was going out. It was like a fire in a fireplace or at a campsite that hasn’t been stoked and no new wood has been added for a while. The flame wasn’t burning anymore, but instead was just a glowing ember that was gradually losing its ability to do what it was created for, to produce heat and light. Just as a flame loses its intensity through lack of attention, so too do our gifts gradually become glowing embers and go out if ignored. We fuel the fire when we use our gifts. We charge our battery when we drive our car around. That’s why Africa is so good for me, and that’s what we all need to discover in our lives, what kind of use is the “alternator” to our spiritual batteries? What kind of driving around do we need to do?

 

No one can do it for you

But there’s something else I need to mention. And that is that no one can fan your flame for you—it’s something you’ve got to do yourself. The motivation, the fanning, must come from within.

 

I do a silly thing sometimes when I’m cooking a juicy steak on the grill. If I get impatient for the charcoal to get ready (I refuse to cook on gas, by the way), I get my yard blower out and I aim the nozzle at the coals at just the right angle. When I do so, without toppling over the coals, the flame is intensified and becomes glowing hot.

 

There are days when I think about our church and I wish I could turn my blower on us to  “hurry the process” of increasing our faith and intensifying the flame. But the Bible teaches that this increase must be an “inside job.” Paul couldn’t blow on Timothy’s flame to charge his spiritual battery any more than I can yours. All he could do was encourage him. The fanning must come from within the person, with the help of the Holy Spirit.

 

And that is exactly how it is with you and me. We must be aware of the drains on our spiritual batteries: time, trials and temptation. And we must “fan the flame” of our own faith, individually and collectively, if we are to avoid the fire going out all together.

And so as we begin a new year of ministry together let me extend the challenge to us all, “rekindle the gift of God that is in you….fan the flame.” Discover whatever it is that recharges your spiritual battery—I think you will find it involves using whatever gift God has given you—and as we do so may it strengthen our faith and our church in Christ. Amen.