Title: Keeping the Flame Burning
Text: 2Timothy 1:1-12
1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,
2To Timothy, my dear son:
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 6For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
8So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, 9who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.
These words are the last famous words of Paul to Timothy. Probably this is the time when Paul is about to be executed.
Things by which Paul needs to keep burning.
I.His Spiritual Heritage (v.3-5) – 3I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.
We can see here that Timothy has a good spiritual heritage, first from Lois his grandmother then from Eunice his mother.
If we dig deeper here we can also see that Timothy has a good family heritage. From his grandmother, he had this very sincere faith.
Lois passed a good legacy to her daughter Eunice then to Timothy. Here we can see that passing a good legacy of our faith in Christ Jesus really does matter.
How many people became criminals because they were not able to inherit good character? There are many children even if we walk outside this church and even in this church perhaps, some of us are not giving a good legacy to our children. If we don’t, then I think it is just the right time to think about this that we have to work on our legacies to our children.
If we are teaching our children not to go to the church because they are noisy, then they will not go to church when they grow up. If we are teaching our children to have a vice then they will grow up having a vice. It is us who influence our children greatly.
If we will teach them to behave in the church and give respect to elders, if we teach them to love others by heart, if we teach them to fear God above all else, then they will grow like those people.
II.His Spiritual Gifts (v.6-7) – 6For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
There are two facts about spiritual gifts: 1. God never takes away spiritual gifts (Romans 11:29 29for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.) The spiritual gifts of God are irrevocable as the scripture says. However, it will be gone if we will not use it. Like for example the bolo. If we have a bolo and we are not using it, the tendency is that it will be rusty. Then later on the rust will eat the bolo slowly until time comes that it cannot be used.
2. The Bible instructed us to use our gifts for the benefit of God’s people (1Peter 4:10 10Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.) Gifts were given not for our own benefit, not for others to clap their hands to praise you but to God and God alone.
It is not intended for our glorification but of God’s. Many people fall into this kind of temptation. If we are leader for example in this church and then fall into this temptation, tendency is that fire burns out and then it will be cold until there is no heat left. And it will be a dead church.
Three things that has been given to us, spirit of power, of love and of self discipline. Remember that these three things are very important to Christians. With spirit of power, we were given the power to win over spiritual battles. However, why is it that we are always defeated? We were given the power to endure hardships, why is it then that as if we were not enduring it.
We should have love and I believe most of us have this. But how about self-discipline? Of course I don’t have to reiterate again the emphasis of self-discipline but just a reminder that it is very important for us to have self-discipline.
III.His Spiritual Message (v.8-12) - 8So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, 9who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.
What is the message of Paul that was passed to Timothy? It is the gospel: 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. It is the gospel is of first importance. Why is it then it is of first importance?
1.It has the power to save v. 9
2.It has the power to change life. V.9
3.It has the power to preach v. 11
4.It has the power to endure v. 12
But do we carry the same message as Paul did?
Paul suffered a lot because of the message that he carried in Christ Jesus. The Bible says. Do not be ashamed in carrying the gospel.
Conclusion: Are you tired in your walk? Are you new in the ministry? Keep the flame burning inside.
