God Gave Us...

“God Gave Us...”

2 Timothy 1:6-10 (emphasis on verse 7)

Paul wrote these words from prison. His days were numbered, and he knew it. Many had deserted him. The Gospel “appeared”, at least outwardly, to be losing ground.

So, from that backdrop... Paul wrote to encourage and instruct his young protegee in the faith, Timothy, as he would continue the difficult task of laboring in the Kingdom after Paul’s ministry, and life, was done.

Now consider this: in the context that I just laid out for us... what did Paul say to Timothy?

Did he say, “Find your inner strength?” No.

“Believe in yourself?” No.

“Trust your own talents and abilities?” Absolutely not!

What Paul said, is... “God gave us…” - it’s a phrase that regardless to how it’s translated, implies God acts FIRST. God initiates... He gives... we receive.

“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”

This is the grammar (the vernacular) of sovereign grace.

Courage to live-out our calling in Christ is not self manufactured; it’s not something we conjure up, or work up from within. It is Spirit-given.

And the same can be said of every grace of God! Listen: Every saving grace (in this life) originates in the sovereign initiative of God. Regeneration, faith, repentance, perseverance — all gifts. And boldness to live for Christ is no different!

“We are naturally prone to fear,” as John Calvin said, “but when the Lord calls us... He arms us with invincible power.” It’s HIS strength, not ours.

Fear is a product of the Fall... and our fallen nature. But the Spirit who indwells believers produces something altogether different.

The Word of God does not deny that we Christians feel fear - we know the emotion of fear! This is why God calls us to live by faith instead of emotions. Emotions betray us... they take over and rule our thoughts and actions. The Word of God insists that fear does not rule in the life of a believer.

Think about the Apostle Peter... bold, outspoken, rash at times, Peter. Think about the contrast, the reversal, pre-Spirit and post-Spirit in his witness for Christ.

Peter was a natural born leader... but in the just before Jesus’ crucifixion... Peter wasn’t bold at all. He was waffling in fear - even denying Christ three times! His emotions had taken over, and fear ruled his thoughts and actions.

But in Acts chapter 2, after being filled with the Spirit at Pentecost, Peter stood before thousands — some of whom were complicit in Christ’s death — and declared, “This Jesus… you crucified.” His boldness, was restored.

What changed? His temperament? The political climate? The risk involved in following Christ? NO!

It was the Spirit. The change was the Holy Spirit.

The same man. The same potential consequences. But fear no longer ruled his life!

This is the point: the Spirit does not erase our emotions. The Spirit of God removes fear’s dominion.

God’s strength is not bravado. It’s resurrection strength in weakness.

The Bible never says that by being strong we become stronger. By being brave we become braver...

It actually says in WEAKNESS... in our weakness we become strong; because the strength that overcomes our weakness is not ours... it’s the Holy Spirit.

Charles Spurgeon said: “God does not need your strength: He has more than enough power of His own. He asks for your weakness; He has none of that Himself.”

The power promised here is not the power to avoid suffering — remember, Paul was writing from prison. It is the power to endure trials faithfully.

The story is often attributed to D. L. Moody (one of the most prominent preacher of the 18th Century. He established the famous “Moody Church” in Chicago, where, incidentally, Becky’s grandfather, Warren Wiersby pastored in the 1970s).

Apparently Moody was visiting in the home of a parishioner who’d been absent from worship for some time, and the man seemed to believe that he didn’t need the church in order to be a growing disciple of Christ.

So Moody, who was warming himself by the fire, took a pair of tongs, and pick up a single coal from the blazing fireplace, and set it apart from the coal bed. In minutes, it lost it glow... having exhausted it’s power, it’s source, it grew dark and cold. But when returned to the flames, it began to glow again.

The man knew the point without Moody having to say anything else.

Our strength, as believers, is derivative. When we distance ourselves from Christ — neglecting Word, prayer, and the fellowship of believers — fear grows cold around us. But when we abide in Christ, the Spirit rekindles our strength.

Our strength is always found in proximity to Christ.

How close are we to Jesus, our source of strength?

Perfect love drives out fear!

There’s a quote from John Knox that I keep in my “line of sight” in my office... and I read it often. “I have never once feared the devil, but I tremble every time I enter the pulpit.”

FDR, at the beginning of WWII, famously said, “the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.” It may have been appropriate in that context, but it’s actually not true.

The only thing any of us should fear, as Children of God and the Redeemed in Christ... is God Himself.

A healthy fear of our Creator, our Redeemer, our Sustainer... a holy, righteous, respect... is enough to cast aside any fear of anything this life can throw at us.

John Owen wrote: “When the heart is fixed on God, it is not shaken by the storms of men.”

When our hearts and lives are fixed on our Savior... when we come to know Him as our source and strength... we come to understand the power of faith over fear:

God is sovereign.

Christ reigns.

The gospel cannot fail.

The elect cannot be lost.

The ways of this world, and the hysteria of this age loses its grip, on those who have received the Spirit of God that cast out all fear.

“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”

Amen.