“For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-
discipline.” In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy is one of my very favorite books in the Holy Scriptures. It was a
passage from 2 Timothy 4 that the Lord gave me at the moment of my conversion, and the whole
letter has been special to me ever since. In fact, I’ve chosen that passage to be the epistle reading
at my installation in three weeks.
I believe that Scripture is not simply a collection of historical documents, but has a living nature that
can be used by the Holy Spirit in the here and now. Time and time again in my own life He’s used
words written to people long ago to teach and inspire me. I hope the same is true for you. When I
read it earlier this week, this morning’s passage from 2 Timothy jumped out at me like a neon light. I’
d especially like to focus on verses 6-8. Please allow me to read this excerpt again: For this reason I
remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God
did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. Do
not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in
suffering for the gospel.
I’d like to talk a little bit about the context of these words. Paul was writing in the springtime, probably
in the year 64 AD. He’d been making his way to the church in Ephesus, and was arrested along the
way by soldiers of Emperor Nero. He was thrown into a dungeon, and
he fully expected his trial to go badly.
From that dungeon Paul was writing to Timothy. Timothy was Paul’s young protégé at the church in
Ephesus. In his letter Paul was encouraging him to keep the faith no matter what happened next.
Timothy was one of the next generation of Christians who’d be torchbearers of the gospel in the
early church. This letter to him is believed to be the last letter Paul ever wrote, and according to
tradition, he was beheaded shortly after it was written. That’s the background of today’s words from
2 Timothy.
I’d like to take these three verses line by line and see what Paul has to say to Timothy, and what
these words may say to us as well. The first thing Paul does is to address something that’s already
happened. When he was commissioned for the duties of his ministry in Ephesus, hands were laid on
Timothy, and he’d been anointed and ordained. He was given a gift, a charisma, by the Holy Spirit
through the laying on of hands. Paul actually makes another reference to that gift in his First Letter
to Timothy. In 1 Timothy 4 Paul writes, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you
through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders.” And now Paul’s encouraging
him to rekindle that gift. The Greek word translated into English as “rekindle” is kind of an interesting
one. It literally means to “fan into flame.” So Paul’s saying, “Timothy, that gift that you received when
hands were laid upon you, that ember within you from the Holy Spirit’s special anointing, fan it into a
full flame once again!”
Now please notice something here. Paul’s not saying “Sit back and let God re-ignite the flame.” He’s
telling Timothy to fan it back into flame. Are you hearing that? Timothy has personal responsibility
for nourishing that gift the Spirit has given him. It involves an act of the will on Timothy’s part. And I’d
like to suggest this morning that this speaks to us as well, individually and collectively. Timothy was
facing tremendous hardship. He was placed in charge of a church in which heresy had begun to
take root. People weren’t keeping to the pure gospel message. And at the same time Emperor Nero
was beginning a massive and terrifying persecution of the faithful. All kinds of things are going on
around him.
And now Timothy’s going to get this letter from Paul saying, “Hey, I’d like to be there with you, but I’m
in prison now and things don’t look so good here.” I would imagine that this maybe wasn’t exactly
what Timothy had been expecting when he signed on for the job.
And how about us at Hope? There are some unsettling circumstances around us. There appears to
have been some degree of sifting of people having differing visions of the future of this church body.
Our numbers are a little smaller than they once were, although I trust that will soon begin to change.
We have the Episcopal Church in hot water with the Anglican Communion, and now we hear news
that our beloved Bishop won’t be our bishop for much longer. This isn’t exactly what we signed up
for. But what does Paul say? The Paul whose circumstances are much more traumatic than either
Timothy’s or ours? He says that we have the responsibility to keep the flame burning. “That ember
you received with the Holy Spirit’s anointing, that gift that came to you through prophecy, fan it into
flame once again! Don’t hold back and don’t waver. Press on and claim the prize!”
In fact that’s basically what Paul says in the next line. He says, “For God did not give us a spirit of
cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” The Holy Spirit gives us not
cowardice, but courage. And courage counts for a lot!
You may have heard the story of the man who died and appeared before St. Peter at the pearly
gates. St. Peter told him, “You know, I need to see some evidence that you really are a believer. I
mean, did you go to church? Did you pray?” And the man nervously shuffled and answered, “Well,
not very much.”
So St. Peter asked, “Well, how about helping the needy. Did you give to charity or to missions?” The
man kind of lowered his eyes and replied, “Not really.”
St. Peter frowned and asked, “OK, I’m really trying to help you here. Now think hard. Have you ever
helped your neighbor? Can you think of any good deeds you’ve done?”
The man scratched his head and finally said, “Well, there was this one thing I did. There was this
elderly woman who came out of the grocery store and was quickly surrounded by drunken bikers.
They took her purse and were taunting her. Finally I had enough. I went up to the biggest, meanest,
drunkest biker in the bunch and pushed him and told right to his face how despicable and cowardly
he was.”
St. Peter’s face brightened, and he said, “Wow! That’s impressive! When did all this happen?”
“About ten minutes ago,” the man replied.
That may not exactly be the kind of courage Paul was referring to, but you get the point. God did not
give us a spirit of cowardice, or as another translation words it, “a spirit of timidity.” He gave us a
spirit of power, love, and self-discipline. Let’s look at each of these in turn.
We live in a world in which we’re overwhelmed by the sensory stimulation around us. There’s a
constant source of “stuff” for our minds and our emotions to process. It’s immediate and tangible. It’s
so easy to lose the more subtle things in the middle of all that. It’s so easy to forget that, once we
place our trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we actually have God Himself, the Holy Spirit, living
within us. We drown out his presence with our busy-ness and distractions, and forget that we have
an unrivalled source of power right here. Really, what Paul’s saying is “Remember that God is in you
and rely on His power!”
But there’s more to God’s presence than power. God’s power is given direction by God’s love. God
is love, and the Holy Spirit’s presence within us, if we allow it to be expressed, will broadcast His love.
Think about what’s happening all around us. We have a lot of division. Some feel threatened. And
when we feel threatened (or fearful) in our flesh, what are we most likely to do? When we’re scared,
our instincts are to protect ourselves and our loved ones. But unless we’re guided by God’s love,
this can go badly amiss. It might have been Vince Lombardi who said, “The best defense is a good
offense.” But there’s a danger that we might literally become “offensive.” We may forget that a huge
part of Jesus’ message is to love each other. When we give in and protect ourselves by going on the
attack, we not only violate our Lord’s command that we love our enemies, but we also provide a very
poor witness to the Christian faith.
Paul knew this very well when he offered his advice to Timothy. Timothy was being challenged by
people preaching a false gospel. And on top of that, Roman jackboots were tramping all around him.
Do you suppose he felt threatened? I’m sure of it. So Paul says, “Don’t be afraid because God’s
power is within you. But don’t forget that God’s love is within you, too, and that’s what’s likely to
attract people to the Lord Jesus and His good news.” Whatever winds of threat are howling around
you, remember that God is all about love.
This is where the third gift of this triad comes in. Paul says that God hasn’t just given us a spirit of
power and of love, but of self-control. You see, we don’t have to give in to the often untrustworthy
emotional responses we have when we’re distressed. OK, we can submit our text to the divine editor
before we press the “send” button! The Holy Spirit is ready and willing to do that for us if we give Him
the go-ahead. When things strike fear into our hearts we don’t have to let it control us. For the
asking, the Holy Spirit will restore us to peace, and help us to rein in the temptation to lash out, or to
run away, or whatever the case may be. Do you believe that this morning? The power of prayer and
the power of the Holy Spirit within ourselves and collectively as a body is greater than the power of
“he who is in the world.” That’s a statement of fact given to us by God himself in His word. And His
Spirit is one of power, love, and self-control.
Finally, let’s look at Paul’s words about being representatives of Jesus Christ and purveyors of the
gospel message. From his prison cell Paul writes, “Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about
our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join me in suffering for the gospel.”
Now, I don’t know about you, but when someone invites me to suffer for the gospel, my first impulse
isn’t exactly to jump on the bus and say, “Let’s go!” And I think the Lord understands that. Yet it was
He who called on us to take up our crosses and follow Him. He said we’d have trouble in this world,
but then comes the punch line. Do you remember it? What’s the next line? [“But take courage, for I
have overcome the world.”] Jesus has already won the war. And this war is set against the backdrop
of eternity. Paul writes elsewhere that there’s nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ.
We may suffer for a short time on this earth or in this time we now face, but deliverance is sure and
our obedience will be rewarded. “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and
utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great
in heaven.”
So my friends, I think Paul’s words to Timothy this morning are also words to us. Are we worried this
morning about our Diocese? God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power
and of love and of self-discipline. Are we worried about how we’ll get through the national church
crisis? God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-
discipline. Are we worried about God meeting our needs here at Hope Church? God did not give us
a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
May we remember the Spirit’s presence around us and within us, and may we rekindle the flame of
the gifts He’s given to us so that we can serve Him well, and one day Him say, “Well done, you good
and faithful servant.”
Amen.
discipline.” In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy is one of my very favorite books in the Holy Scriptures. It was a
passage from 2 Timothy 4 that the Lord gave me at the moment of my conversion, and the whole
letter has been special to me ever since. In fact, I’ve chosen that passage to be the epistle reading
at my installation in three weeks.
I believe that Scripture is not simply a collection of historical documents, but has a living nature that
can be used by the Holy Spirit in the here and now. Time and time again in my own life He’s used
words written to people long ago to teach and inspire me. I hope the same is true for you. When I
read it earlier this week, this morning’s passage from 2 Timothy jumped out at me like a neon light. I’
d especially like to focus on verses 6-8. Please allow me to read this excerpt again: For this reason I
remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God
did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. Do
not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in
suffering for the gospel.
I’d like to talk a little bit about the context of these words. Paul was writing in the springtime, probably
in the year 64 AD. He’d been making his way to the church in Ephesus, and was arrested along the
way by soldiers of Emperor Nero. He was thrown into a dungeon, and
he fully expected his trial to go badly.
From that dungeon Paul was writing to Timothy. Timothy was Paul’s young protégé at the church in
Ephesus. In his letter Paul was encouraging him to keep the faith no matter what happened next.
Timothy was one of the next generation of Christians who’d be torchbearers of the gospel in the
early church. This letter to him is believed to be the last letter Paul ever wrote, and according to
tradition, he was beheaded shortly after it was written. That’s the background of today’s words from
2 Timothy.
I’d like to take these three verses line by line and see what Paul has to say to Timothy, and what
these words may say to us as well. The first thing Paul does is to address something that’s already
happened. When he was commissioned for the duties of his ministry in Ephesus, hands were laid on
Timothy, and he’d been anointed and ordained. He was given a gift, a charisma, by the Holy Spirit
through the laying on of hands. Paul actually makes another reference to that gift in his First Letter
to Timothy. In 1 Timothy 4 Paul writes, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you
through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders.” And now Paul’s encouraging
him to rekindle that gift. The Greek word translated into English as “rekindle” is kind of an interesting
one. It literally means to “fan into flame.” So Paul’s saying, “Timothy, that gift that you received when
hands were laid upon you, that ember within you from the Holy Spirit’s special anointing, fan it into a
full flame once again!”
Now please notice something here. Paul’s not saying “Sit back and let God re-ignite the flame.” He’s
telling Timothy to fan it back into flame. Are you hearing that? Timothy has personal responsibility
for nourishing that gift the Spirit has given him. It involves an act of the will on Timothy’s part. And I’d
like to suggest this morning that this speaks to us as well, individually and collectively. Timothy was
facing tremendous hardship. He was placed in charge of a church in which heresy had begun to
take root. People weren’t keeping to the pure gospel message. And at the same time Emperor Nero
was beginning a massive and terrifying persecution of the faithful. All kinds of things are going on
around him.
And now Timothy’s going to get this letter from Paul saying, “Hey, I’d like to be there with you, but I’m
in prison now and things don’t look so good here.” I would imagine that this maybe wasn’t exactly
what Timothy had been expecting when he signed on for the job.
And how about us at Hope? There are some unsettling circumstances around us. There appears to
have been some degree of sifting of people having differing visions of the future of this church body.
Our numbers are a little smaller than they once were, although I trust that will soon begin to change.
We have the Episcopal Church in hot water with the Anglican Communion, and now we hear news
that our beloved Bishop won’t be our bishop for much longer. This isn’t exactly what we signed up
for. But what does Paul say? The Paul whose circumstances are much more traumatic than either
Timothy’s or ours? He says that we have the responsibility to keep the flame burning. “That ember
you received with the Holy Spirit’s anointing, that gift that came to you through prophecy, fan it into
flame once again! Don’t hold back and don’t waver. Press on and claim the prize!”
In fact that’s basically what Paul says in the next line. He says, “For God did not give us a spirit of
cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” The Holy Spirit gives us not
cowardice, but courage. And courage counts for a lot!
You may have heard the story of the man who died and appeared before St. Peter at the pearly
gates. St. Peter told him, “You know, I need to see some evidence that you really are a believer. I
mean, did you go to church? Did you pray?” And the man nervously shuffled and answered, “Well,
not very much.”
So St. Peter asked, “Well, how about helping the needy. Did you give to charity or to missions?” The
man kind of lowered his eyes and replied, “Not really.”
St. Peter frowned and asked, “OK, I’m really trying to help you here. Now think hard. Have you ever
helped your neighbor? Can you think of any good deeds you’ve done?”
The man scratched his head and finally said, “Well, there was this one thing I did. There was this
elderly woman who came out of the grocery store and was quickly surrounded by drunken bikers.
They took her purse and were taunting her. Finally I had enough. I went up to the biggest, meanest,
drunkest biker in the bunch and pushed him and told right to his face how despicable and cowardly
he was.”
St. Peter’s face brightened, and he said, “Wow! That’s impressive! When did all this happen?”
“About ten minutes ago,” the man replied.
That may not exactly be the kind of courage Paul was referring to, but you get the point. God did not
give us a spirit of cowardice, or as another translation words it, “a spirit of timidity.” He gave us a
spirit of power, love, and self-discipline. Let’s look at each of these in turn.
We live in a world in which we’re overwhelmed by the sensory stimulation around us. There’s a
constant source of “stuff” for our minds and our emotions to process. It’s immediate and tangible. It’s
so easy to lose the more subtle things in the middle of all that. It’s so easy to forget that, once we
place our trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we actually have God Himself, the Holy Spirit, living
within us. We drown out his presence with our busy-ness and distractions, and forget that we have
an unrivalled source of power right here. Really, what Paul’s saying is “Remember that God is in you
and rely on His power!”
But there’s more to God’s presence than power. God’s power is given direction by God’s love. God
is love, and the Holy Spirit’s presence within us, if we allow it to be expressed, will broadcast His love.
Think about what’s happening all around us. We have a lot of division. Some feel threatened. And
when we feel threatened (or fearful) in our flesh, what are we most likely to do? When we’re scared,
our instincts are to protect ourselves and our loved ones. But unless we’re guided by God’s love,
this can go badly amiss. It might have been Vince Lombardi who said, “The best defense is a good
offense.” But there’s a danger that we might literally become “offensive.” We may forget that a huge
part of Jesus’ message is to love each other. When we give in and protect ourselves by going on the
attack, we not only violate our Lord’s command that we love our enemies, but we also provide a very
poor witness to the Christian faith.
Paul knew this very well when he offered his advice to Timothy. Timothy was being challenged by
people preaching a false gospel. And on top of that, Roman jackboots were tramping all around him.
Do you suppose he felt threatened? I’m sure of it. So Paul says, “Don’t be afraid because God’s
power is within you. But don’t forget that God’s love is within you, too, and that’s what’s likely to
attract people to the Lord Jesus and His good news.” Whatever winds of threat are howling around
you, remember that God is all about love.
This is where the third gift of this triad comes in. Paul says that God hasn’t just given us a spirit of
power and of love, but of self-control. You see, we don’t have to give in to the often untrustworthy
emotional responses we have when we’re distressed. OK, we can submit our text to the divine editor
before we press the “send” button! The Holy Spirit is ready and willing to do that for us if we give Him
the go-ahead. When things strike fear into our hearts we don’t have to let it control us. For the
asking, the Holy Spirit will restore us to peace, and help us to rein in the temptation to lash out, or to
run away, or whatever the case may be. Do you believe that this morning? The power of prayer and
the power of the Holy Spirit within ourselves and collectively as a body is greater than the power of
“he who is in the world.” That’s a statement of fact given to us by God himself in His word. And His
Spirit is one of power, love, and self-control.
Finally, let’s look at Paul’s words about being representatives of Jesus Christ and purveyors of the
gospel message. From his prison cell Paul writes, “Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about
our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join me in suffering for the gospel.”
Now, I don’t know about you, but when someone invites me to suffer for the gospel, my first impulse
isn’t exactly to jump on the bus and say, “Let’s go!” And I think the Lord understands that. Yet it was
He who called on us to take up our crosses and follow Him. He said we’d have trouble in this world,
but then comes the punch line. Do you remember it? What’s the next line? [“But take courage, for I
have overcome the world.”] Jesus has already won the war. And this war is set against the backdrop
of eternity. Paul writes elsewhere that there’s nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ.
We may suffer for a short time on this earth or in this time we now face, but deliverance is sure and
our obedience will be rewarded. “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and
utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great
in heaven.”
So my friends, I think Paul’s words to Timothy this morning are also words to us. Are we worried this
morning about our Diocese? God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power
and of love and of self-discipline. Are we worried about how we’ll get through the national church
crisis? God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-
discipline. Are we worried about God meeting our needs here at Hope Church? God did not give us
a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
May we remember the Spirit’s presence around us and within us, and may we rekindle the flame of
the gifts He’s given to us so that we can serve Him well, and one day Him say, “Well done, you good
and faithful servant.”
Amen.
Cowardice, Charismata and Courage
(2 Timothy 1:1-14)
(2 Timothy 1:1-14)
October 7, 2007
Fr. Dan Tuton
Fr. Dan Tuton