Not a Spirit of Fear

All right, we are in lesson three of 2 Timothy study. I don't know if everybody has it. Hopefully it was mailed out. So lesson three in this passage, basically it's 7, 8, and 9, but I cite it for context. I'm going to read 1 Timothy, verses 6 through 9. So again, lesson will be 7, 8, and 9, beginning in verse 6 of 2 Timothy. For this reason, I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me. his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.

Good passages there. Again, I added the first part. Again, this is when Paul is encouraging Timothy. And remember that this letter is the last letter or epistle that Paul is writing. He's going to die soon, he's going to be martyred. And so this is a very personal letter to Timothy. So he's he's telling him, reminding him of fresh, kindle afresh the gift of God.

And then he says, for God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. So, again, the encouragement he's giving to and the exhortation to Timothy. So question one, when the word spirit is used with the word timidity or fear, how is it to be understood? So from verse seven in the New American Standard, it says, for God hasn't given us, God has not given us the spirit of timidity. but of power and love and discipline. In the New King James, this verse is translated as, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind. So a little bit different in the translations between New King James and the New American Standard. So, is this referring to, not giving us a spirit of timidity, is this referring to the Holy Spirit?

Brink it. This shouldn't be a hard question, hopefully. In my Bible, the Spirit is capitalized. It is capitalized. Interesting. Yeah. This is NIV. Oh. Is your student? No. Mine is NIV, but it's a small s. This is the new NIV. better than the old resolve? Has the dude improved? Well, I go with the New American Standard, which is the most literal translation, I think, of the Bible from the Greek. And it is a small s.

So I don't think this is the Holy Spirit. He's talking about Timothy's, you know, that God gave him a spirit or, which we'll get into what the word means. So I don't think this is he gave us a holy spirit of timidity or fear. I think this is talking about his personal response or actions.

So, that's interesting, between the two ennemies. They're going to prove they rethought it, I guess. So then, what does the spirit mean here? I can do the Greek. The Greek word for the spirit here is pneuma. And it's referring to a disposition, feeling, or temper of mind. So then, if you look at the Greek, it is not spirit as in holy spirit. temper. That's more his disposition. He didn't give you a disposition of timidity. So I don't think it's the Holy Spirit based on the Greek. So that's interesting. The new one has changed that.

So Paul says to Timothy and by extension to us, I said, do not have a spirit of fear or timidity. That means we should not have a disposition or mindset of this. We shouldn't have that mindset of being timid or fearful. So if this word Spirit were capitalized, then you could say that the Spirit of God is capable of giving us a spirit of fear. Or being timid. Everything you understand about the Spirit of God is, I don't want to use the word positive, but it has to do with, like he says in the verse, power, love, and discipline.

That's what I'm going to get at the second half of the verse, is that he didn't give us a timid spirit, well if it was a holy spirit, we're all kind of, if you don't know, we're all kind of bootstrapped here. Our internet's down, so we're running off my iPhone on the hotspot. But this was just an update for the computer and everything else that we're dealing with here. So no, yeah, it's not, by the back half of the verse, he didn't give us this, but he gave us this. And so, again, the power of the Holy Spirit to an individual gives us power.

So, Paul says that Tim and Becks do not have a spirit of fear or timidity. So, he says that to us too. So, why should this be true? Why should this be true from this verse that we shouldn't have a timid or fearful spirit? Because of the source. The source. source. Yeah, if the source is the Holy Spirit, then it wouldn't be fear, timidity, or anything negative. That the Holy Spirit is always on the positive side. And remember, it says, God gave us this. God gave us this. Not a spirit of timidity, but of power So because God did not give us that temperament or mindset or disposition, we are to be bold and secure in handling God's word and truth.

So this is again Paul telling Timothy, Don't shy away from the word. Don't shy away from giving. Remember, he's leading the church at Ephesus in Asia Minor. Don't be timid. Don't be fearful. God is giving you power. He's giving you love. He's giving all of these things to you.

Don't be timid. Don't shy away. If you remember in the first letter he had a lot of challenges from men and different doctrines that were coming out and Paul kept encouraging him to stay strong to the word that Paul told him. Stay strong to that. Now he's reassuring or reassuring.

Reassuring him or encouraging him again to stay true to the word don't don't be timid You know what the Word of God is don't be timid so Again, can we by extension use that same encouragement? Or is this just for Timothy? It's for us You know, don't be timid. You know, I look back at my life and there's so many instances where I probably shied away from sharing the gospel or letting people know that I'm a believer.

And that's what he's talking about. Don't be timid. Don't be fearful. You have the Holy Spirit in you. You have new life in Christ. Don't be fearful. So I think by extension that's the call to us. When you have a chance to share your faith or let people know you're a believer, let them know. Don't be fearful.

Do you think most all human beings have a disposition, kind of the way that they are, how they think? Some are real aggressive, some are real passive, some are But when a person becomes a Christian and he's indwelt by the Holy Spirit, one of the things I think the Spirit does is he changes the temperament of the person to be more forthright when it comes to the gospel. But that's part of the gift that he gives You can be the most timid person in the world, but boy, you're not going to get moved on the Gospel at all. And you're not going to be fearful where you may have been fearful just to speak up in any situation with any group of people. You know, there's always a person, and you get a group of six, there's always somebody who never says anything. The Spirit of God would encourage that person with a gift to speak about the Gospel.

Yeah, I think you make good distinction between personal attributes and the attribute associated with a believer. They're two different things. And I think what's saying here, though, is that for a believer, never shy from the gospel. And I think also the body concept, hands, feet, eyes, ears, all the different things. Some of us are loud and noisy. Hey, I take that as an agreement. You're in the same, huh? Yeah, there you go. Okay. You're in agreement with yourself, too.

And there's some that are more quiet than others. But when it comes to the Gospel, you know, you shouldn't be shy. It doesn't mean you have to be boisterous and that. But you and your own temperament, again, I go back to the body concept. Some are going to be very quiet in how they share the Gospel. and others are going to be more boisterous and loud and out front and that. That's why we're not all the same. And there are some that, you know, get run over by somebody like me, but somebody who's more quiet, they settle down and have a perfect conversation.

So God uses it all, but the underlying principle is don't be shy of the gospel. Don't be shy of who you are in Christ. Don't be shy if somebody asks you, Why you're different, you know anything like that. Don't be shy. Don't be fearful God is it you know, the Holy Spirit is in you and so don't have a spirit of timidity or fear That's what Paul is saying Timothy and by extension to us so All right So question two, why is this an issue for Paul regarding Timothy? What's Paul what's Paul's concern? That's right. He's not like us. Speak up. That's exactly right. You know, his concern that Timothy may be timid or fearful in his teaching at Ephesus in an Asian minor. So remember, Paul's counsel to Timothy in first Timothy 4, 11, and 12. Prescribe and teach these things.

Let no one look down on your youthfulness. Remember, he gave him the warning. But rather, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself as an example of those who believe. So remember, he was in the first epistle. He was telling them, Timothy must be young. He was in a church that had a lot of old people, older people in it. as well as young, I assume. And he's saying, don't let these old guys who have incorrect doctrine influence you or silence you.

That was in the first epistle. Now he's reassuring him again. Don't be fearful. Don't be timid. You have the word of God. You have what you need. the teachings that Paul gave, you have all these things. Don't be shy about sharing it. Don't back down. Don't be timid.

I'm thinking about 40 years ago in Miles Stanford when he was here. He was a very quiet, unassuming man, but he would sit with Merriman And if Merriman said something from the pulpit that wasn't right, Miles would say something about it out loud in church.

You're giving the message today, right? Well, yeah. So that's fair game? No, I mean, it was cool how he did it. He would start out by saying, well, brother, it's more like, and he would just make a statement. And you know, he's famous for for writing these polemic papers against people. I asked him one time, I said, you know, you're such a mild-mannered guy. How do you write these papers? He said, well, I have to do it. He said, it's my job. And he said, I go into my office, shut the door, and I know I'm going to hurt the man.

And it almost brings tears to my eyes, but I have to do it. He's got the spirit. Well, and I'm going through my data reads in Corinthians. I think what Paul says, I gave you a letter, you know, and I really don't want to make you cry. praising them for what they evidently responded after the second letter that's missing. So he had the same thing. He said, you know, I write to you hard and I don't want to come to you and beat you up or anything. I want to be loving and much more calm.

Doesn't it seem that as a believer learns the doctrine, the truth, and settles down on it, that there is a courage about that. You don't shove it down people's throat, but you know certain things that are truthful, and you'll speak out when someone refutes what you know to be true. Yeah, I think it's a lot more, and that's the spiritual growth. As you grow we're able to share, we're able to refute and do all that.

And again, what we'll see in the last part of it, I'll go back up there, for God has not given us the spirit of timidy, but power and love and discipline. So the love part we'll talk about. And so again, when you say don't cram it down their throats, you do it with love.

So, this is first addressing Timothy's possible being shy and maybe not standing up to these older men. So, I think from your notes too, fear is the word. Tim's not here, so I'll butcher these, and he won't be smiling back there when I butcher these Greek words. Delia is fearlessness, timidity. Expositor's comments. There was an element of delilia, fear, in Timothy's natural disposition, which must have been detrimental to his efficiency as a church leader. The word translated timidity carries with it the idea of cowardness. It is an attitude that would allow one to shrink from duty. It points to the danger of changing convictions when it is perilous for them to hold it. Remember three times, I'm with you, cut off the ear of the soldier and did all this. And then three times disowned his relationship. So again, in a perilous situation, do you deny? So this is, again, kind of another warning.

He's given you power and love and discipline. Stick to the gospel. Stick. And he's telling this to Timothy, but also to us. Stick to it. Don't have a spirit of timidity. When somebody challenges you, are you a Christian? You know? Yeah. And don't be shy about it. You know, and we've talked about how you share it, but don't shy away from it. So again, that's the warning to Timothy, again, is just don't back down from all the people who are gonna challenge you. Stay true to the word.

God has given you power, the love to be able to share this, and the discipline to do it. So, all right, question three. What word in this verse makes the gift effective? We touched a little bit on this. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. What gives this gift of power and love and discipline? Well, let's say first the negative side of this. What did God not give us?

Fear. Timidity and fear. Timidity and fear. Okay, that comes from our flesh. So, what gives this verse effectiveness? Or the power from? The Spirit. God. Yeah. So, if it didn't give us fear or timidity, then what did God give us? What was the back half of the verse? What did he give us? power, love, and discipline. So, again, the contrast is very stark.

From somebody who is caring and fearful to somebody who has power and gives it in love and is disciplined about it. And that's in the New King James, I think it's in Sound Mind. And NASB has it as Discipline. And we'll get into a little bit of that too. So, God gives a disposition or mindset of power, love, and discipline.

The Greek word for power is Dunas, which we always say, what is the English equivalent? dynamite, so the power is like dynamite. So power, in the Zodiac it says power, especially achieving power, I like that. All the words derive from the stem, from Duna, having the meaning being able or capable.

So, again, achieving power. I think that's, you know, he's saying you have the power, you're being capable, you're able to do this, is the word power. So, also in the Greek, the verb given is the eris tense. So what does that mean? It's done, and it's active. So God gave us this. And it's a fact. I think it's indicative. So this is a fact. He gave it to you. It's past tense. I mean, it's a past completed action. So do you have to wait for this power? No. Do we usually wait for this power? Do we think we don't have this power? Like most of us, we don't think we have this power.

But it's given to us. God has given it to us. Now. Right now, not later. which I think all of us have a struggle with. He's given it to us now. And he's given us the disposition of love. He's given us the disposition of discipline or sound mind now. It's a done deal. And it's, I think, our flesh that tends to go to the front half of this verse, which is, really? I don't think so. It's fearful. It's timid.

But he's given us power to love and discipline or sound mind. Don't you find it interesting that when the Spirit of God gives you, or just God gives you a spirit like this, with your temperament it may be something totally new. At the same time, it takes power to live the Christian life. It takes divine power to do it.

You know, those are all those things we talked about. Can you do a lot of what God has given you without the Holy Spirit's power? No. Totally incapable of it. Yeah. So he's reassuring or restating this again, that he's giving you the power by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to do this. It's not up to you.

It's just walking in the Spirit, walking in trust and faith in what God said is true about you. That gives you the power. because the Holy Spirit is working through you at that point. You also had something in your notes. My God is the author and giver of power, which points to that which makes a gift effective.

For that position is needed a force of character, which is not natural, may be inspired by consciousness of a divine appointment. Love, which is not softness. That's a good point. Self-discipline, which is opposed to all easy self-indulgence, which issues in laxity of administration. So again, it's kind of the power that he gives us is through the Holy Spirit, which gives us love and the discipline. I just had a thought.

Lots of forceful believers will tell you, read your Bible. And if you think, well, no, thank you very much. And then next week, read your Bible. And you really come to the conclusion, I just don't seem to have the desire to do it. What he's telling Timothy, I think, is that you've been given these gifts, and one is the forcefulness of character. You've been given the gift of love and discipline. You have what it takes. to live the life, like, for a believer to say, well, Lord, I really would like to start reading the Bible, but I don't have it within me.

Well, okay, but I gave it to you, and if you trust me about that, you'll be in the Word. Which, you know, is, again, I've said this many times, and I puff him up all the time, but it's probably the best advice he's given me, is just read the Word. You don't need to have to study it, just in the Word. And every day I read, you know, a chapter a day, and read The Hungry Heart. That's my start of every day.

And it's amazing how much just reading, well, I'm just going through Corinthians right now, all the things Paul has given to the Corinthians. They're the worst of the worst. To be a Corinthian was a cuss word, that you were a terrible person if you came out of Corinth. But Paul, in his teachings, is encouraging them and doing all this.

Again, just reading the Word daily, getting in the Word daily. We're not law-based here at all. I think, though, getting in the Word every day is just feeding. You know, if you don't feed your body, you die. And I think, I dare to think how many people don't get into their Word every day, just somewhat, just something. And, you know, you're not feeding. We kind of had a discussion down in Florida, which is kind of interesting. They're going through a study of sobs during the summer. Summer of sobs down there. And with Davis and Mace, we kind of got I do.

I started John because John was the gospel that was after all of Paul's and he really focuses on the deity of God. And then I read through all the way to Revelation. That's my one chapter a day and everything. The reason I do that is because that's where we find out who we are in Christ. We don't find who we are in Christ in the Old Testament. We would find out lots about him, and as in Galatians 3, 23, 24, it all pointed, the law pointed to Christ in all the Old Testament. But it's the New Testament where we find out who we are in Christ, and that's what I focus on. And I think the Psalms, a lot of times, it's great to show the character of God, some things, but it doesn't tell us who we are in Christ.

And so Ingrid reads through the Bible cover to cover over the year. be in the Psalms all the time. And I think there's great things in the Psalms, but a lot of it is for Israel. It was a songbook for Israel. But, you know, maybe we should, this is really a rabbit trail, and I apologize for this. It was funny, because then he brought up, Paul says somewhere that we should pray with Psalms, hymns, and song. And I'm like, well, does that mean we should be in the Psalms? But I think Psalms were just songs. Because he says, look at it, Psalms, hymns, in songs, I think is the way it's written there, that translated.

So, anyway, a bit of a rapid trail. I think we really have to find out who we are in Christ, and that's in Paul's epistles. And that's why I think it's very powerful to look at Timothy and all these epistles that we have been going through. Because that really tells us, just like what we're talking about, we don't have a spirit of timidity. We have a spirit of power, love, sound mind, or discipline. Yeah, as you talk, I'm thinking that I would think every human being or Christian has that battle where you get up in the morning and what's the first thing you're going to do?

Are you going to turn on the tube and watch the news? If you're a workout person, are you going to go for a run and listen to whatever you're going to do? And so you go to the Lord and say, well, Lord, I would like to spend more time with you, and his answer is, I've already given you that spirit.

Just trust me to do it. And so I think, because when it comes to spiritual things, I think we're naturally lazy, and it takes power to do it, a love of God and a discipline to do it, and that's the reliance on the spirit of God to do what he's been sent to do.

You know, well, for me, for me, it's the it's funny because I first thing in the morning before I see anything doing anything and I get fingers up before and she's in the kitchen or has the news on. I don't even go to the kitchen because I don't want anything to start because once I start on the world. I'm the same way. Just me. That's for me. If I start, I'm already into the world and what about the work I'm doing? What's going on in the world? Iran attacking? that to anybody else, but that's just how I see it. Well, and that's the desire that came from the Spirit of God. Yeah, oh yeah. That's where it comes from.

And it's, you know, the more I read, I just miss that if I don't get into it in the morning. I just miss not getting into His Word every morning. You know, it's just like, you know, just refreshing. Refreshing way to start the day for me. So, anyway, I think we have, we'll see if we can get one more quickie here. Question four.

Notice the word love. What contribution to Timothy's gift does it provide? I should say love. What does it give to the gift? He's given us power. Now he's talking about love, spirit of love. What does that add to Timothy's gift? You know, if I go up and I yell at you and tell you you're a crazy person and you need to do this and I'm going to beat you into the ground until you accept this. Is that what he's talking about here? That's the spirit he gave you?

So the word for love is agape, which means love, affectionate regard, goodwill, benevolence. So he's giving you the power, but with that power he's telling you do it with love, do it with affection. That you're sharing the love of God with somebody. You're sharing that in a manner that is loving. So God gives us a spirit or mindset of love towards others. If you know you're doing it out of love, you know it's from the Spirit.

And that's what he's telling him here is that God is the giver of a loving attitude which would assure that the exercise of Timothy's gift would be properly motivated. So it's not out of anger, not out of malice, not out of, you know, counting numbers. You know, I need to get five people saved today. You know, it's not out of that, it's love. so have we seen this before with Paul about love yeah Romans 8 15 for you've not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again but you have received the gift of adoption as sons whereby we cry Abba father daddy yeah well but we you know talk about Paul is telling Timothy, you've got to do it in love. Don't do it in everything else. Has he given that counsel somewhere else? Everywhere. Huh? Everywhere. Well, yeah, he's very specific in what I'm thinking about, since we're late.

1 Corinthians 13, the chapter about love. If I speak with tongues of men and angels, but do not have love, I become a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. If I have a gift of prophecy and know all the mysteries and all the knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions and feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. in 13. But now faith, hope and love abide these three. But the greatest of these is what?

Love. So Paul's in making sure that we share in love. So again, just I think it's very powerful. Paul knows the way we share and show Christ is through love. So anyway, we need to close. Thank you again for this time. We open up your word and counsel that Paul gave to Timothy, which by extension applies to us. We don't have a spirit of timidity when it comes to the power and the attitude of love and the discipline or the sound mind to share about Christ and who we are in Christ to others. And again, we're not supposed to be fearful or timid of that. So we just thank you that you have done that by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Father, we just pray for the next meeting. As Mike gives us the message, just be with him to bring us the word accurately and prepare our hearts to receive it.