“Fan The Gift Into
Flames” 2
Timothy 1:1-14
Intro.: Here in our church we have an “eternal
light” hanging prominently above the chancel.
Every year, when I conduct chapel for the preschoolers, we talk about
that light and how it reminds us that Christ is always present here and His
love for us never dies. On more than one
occasion after telling them this, a preschooler has noticed that the light has
gone out. What should I tell them?
If the presence of the light means
something, then surely its absence must mean something also. Maybe the darkened candle can serve to remind
us of what happens when Christ is absent from our lives because for one reason
or another we have neglected to fuel our faith and use the gifts God has given
us.
As we begin this month of reflection and
commitment regarding the management of the gifts God has given us, let us
consider
I.
God Has Given Us Wonderful Gifts.
Each and every one of us here this morning, no less
than young pastor Timothy, have been given tremendous gifts by which we are
able to set our world ablaze for Christ!
A. First and foremost among the gifts we have
been given is our faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ.
1. It is vital that we remember that this is not
something we worked-up or formed in ourselves; our faith is, as the apostle
writes, “the gift of God…so that no one can boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9)
Our faith and salvation are not the result
of our own intelligence, goodness or noble effort, but the working of “God’s power”
(v.10) by the Holy Spirit. As it says in our epistle, “[He] has
saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of our works but because of
his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus.” (v.9)
Some receive this gift of faith from God
through godly parents and grandparents who love them enough to pass it on as
their family treasure. This is how
Timothy first received his faith, as Paul writes, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a
faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now,
I am sure, dwells in you as well.” (v.5) If you are a
parent or grandparent, make sure that you do not neglect to share the gift or
your faith with your children. Passing
on the gift of faith is even more important than providing your children with
food, shelter and clothing and it is more precious than all the silver and gold
you could leave them. If you children happen
to live in a home where the love of God in Christ is shared, discipline and
forgiveness is offered in His name, and you are “forced” to come to worship and
Sunday School, do not turn away from it.
Your parents are offering you the most valuable thing God has given them
and are blessing you with the greatest inheritance of all, God’s gift of faith.
In addition to, or in the case of some of
us in the absence of, devout and loving parents God also places the gift of
faith in us by His appointed messengers like Paul, Timothy and our own
pastors. While I owe much to my dear
neighbors who shared their faith with me and carted me off to worship and
Sunday school, it was the clear, Christ-centered message of a faithful pastor
that finally planted God’s Word in my heart and placed the gift of faith in
me. Through his humble proclamation of
God’s love in Christ the Holy Spirit brought me to faith, through his frail, human
hands Christ washed away my sins, gave me a new birth and adopted me into His
family, and at the altar that man whom God had appointed fed me with the body
and blood of my Savior to nourish my gift of faith so that I could take hold of
the forgiveness and salvation offered me.
2. By God’s mighty power you and I have received
God’s great gift of faith - a gift that brings us life and peace.
Our faith is not in ourselves, or in any
created thing, but in “[God’s] purpose and grace.”(v.9) By faith we take hold of His Word and promise to save us and
bring us into an everlasting life of holiness and blessedness. We believe that God’s anger over our sin has
been turned away, and that He does not want any of us to perish, but instead to
know the truth and be saved. We know
that what we are unable to do because of the weakness of our sinful flesh God
does for us and will do in us.
We received His grace in His Son as our
epistle says: “This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the
ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior
Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel.” (vv. 9b-10) Our faith is
not in some distant God whose purpose and attitude toward us remains a
mystery. The gift of faith God has given
us is in His Son Jesus Christ who has loved us, known us by name, and fulfills
the purpose he has planned for us since before the creation of the world. We believe in the God who has come close to
us, even taking on our very nature, to save us from ourselves and from our
sinful rebellion. We believe in a God
whose attitude toward us is one of undeserved love and mercy. We believe in a God who loved us enough to
die on a cross to pay for our sins, and who rose again to destroy death and
bring us into a new and eternal life with Him.
By God’s grace and the gift of faith we
have all received a new life of grace, mercy and peace. Through faith we have been made a new
creation to live the righteous and holy lives God had planned for us, now and
forever. The gift of faith that God has
given us is by far the greatest gift we have, but along with it…
B. We have received special gifts for service to
the Lord.
1. Some like Paul and Timothy receive the gift
of word and sacrament ministry. Paul
received it directly from the Lord when he was appointed by Jesus to be a
preacher, apostle and teacher for the sake of the Gospel. Timothy received that same gift when he was
appointed and ordained through the Church by the laying on of hands to be a pastor
and teacher of God’s people. God gives
gifts to such men and such men as gifts to His Church so that others may be
equipped through them for works of service.
2. These men, however, are not the only ones who
have received special gifts from God for service. All of us, every one of us here this morning
and the many who are not, have received some gifts which are intended for the
Lord’s service. As the apostle writes, “There are
different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the
same God works all of them in all men.
No to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common
good…in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets,
third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing,
those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those
speaking in different kinds of languages.”
(I Cor. 12:4-7, 28) Of course the
list does not end there. Along with our
faith, the Lord has given to each of us unique and abundant gifts with which to
serve him, in our homes, in our jobs, and in our church. We all have been given the gifts of time,
special talents, and worldly treasures to use in faith to serve the Lord. But are we?
Is our gift of faith growing dim?
Are our gifts growing cold?
In the words of
II. All These Gifts Need To Be Fanned Into
Flame.
Paul’s statement about “fanning into flame
the gift of God” reminds us of the nature of faith. Like fire it is a powerful force for the
destruction of the old sinful self, and the purification of the soul which
takes hold of the forgiveness of Christ.
And yet in its beginning stages it is so fragile, and so easily put out. Anyone who has ever struggled with getting a
nice flame going in the fireplace can relate to Paul’s words to Timothy. As the sparks begin to take-off the new fire
takes great care. The infant flame is
endangered when too much foreign material is piled upon it, and too many
burdens smother it out. Tender faith,
like a new flame, needs to be nurtured, and gently fanned into flame by the
constant application of God’s Word.
God’s Word of justice and mercy, of sin and grace, of repentance and
forgiveness, breathed from our families in love and proclaimed by the Lord’s
appointed servants can result in tremendous flames to light the way for
many.
A. Paul, in our lesson reminds Timothy and us
that this world is hostile to our faith.
And the gifts we have been given are in danger. Through the cares and troubles of this life
the devil hopes to smother our faith, and snuff it out, and along with it bury
all the gifts the Lord has given us. Some of the struggles are demonstrated in
our lesson.
First there is the danger of our faith
being drowned by tears. Timothy seems to be in tears over the sufferings he saw
his fellow servant, his father in the faith undergoing as He was imprisoned for
the second time, this time most certainly facing death for espousing an illegal
religion. In the same way the world can
be so cruel, so hard, so unforgiving. We
see it swallow up the best of people, at times our
faith is nearly smothered as we weep for ourselves and our fellow Christians
who suffer.
Another danger to our faith and life of
service to the Lord is that our gifts are underused because we are too
timid. We are afraid to let our faith
burn brightly and to let the light of our life shine as a beacon to bring others
to Christ. Maybe we are worried that
they will treat us like the did Paul and that we will
be ridiculed and mocked.
Then there is always the danger of hiding
our faith and Christian life under shame.
As Timothy seemed to be ashamed of Paul’s weakness and imprisonment and
even ashamed of the foolishness of the cross, so are some of us. Our faith grows cold and our gifts remain
relatively untapped because we fail to see in our weakness the working of God’s
power and in what the world considers foolish the wisdom of God for salvation.
And
finally there is the danger of our faith and spiritual gifts being stolen because
we have neglected them. When we do not
fuel our faith with regular worship, Bible study and a strong devotional life
the flame is in danger of burning out.
When we forget or refuse to utilize the gifts we have been given to walk
in and share the light of Christ, we risk losing them. Something I have always been told, and have
found to be true in matters of math, science and foreign languages, is: “If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.” Nowhere does this axiom apply more than when
it comes to faith and godly living.
B. All our gifts need to be fanned into flame.
1. It all begins with our gift of faith which is
in constant need of being fed and nurtured and fueled from above.
This faith needs to be fanned from infancy
in the home and in the church. Each of
us have been called to create a virtual wind-tunnel in our homes so that the
movement of the Holy Spirit is heard and felt at all times even as it was by
Timothy through his mother and grandmother.
As a congregation we must continue to fan into flame the spark of faith
the Lord ignites in our children through us in Holy Baptism, loving them,
encouraging them, teaching them, and showing them how to live the faith and use
the gifts God had given them.
This faith is fanned into flame with the
scriptures which are the very breath of God, as Paul says to Timothy in the
next chapter of our epistle: “…from
infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise
unto salvation through faith in Christ.
All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly
equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim.
3:14-17)
This
gift of faith, once fanned into flame empowers us to be the people God always
intended us to be and to do what it had always been God’s purpose to have us
do. As our epistle
says: “God did not give us a spirit of fear,
but a spirit of power, of love and of self-control.” (v.7) In these
words Paul tells us who we really are – spirit filled people of God gifted with
the power of faith to uproot trees and cast them into the sea and a faith that
burns brightly to bring the light of Christ to others.
2. With this kind of red-hot faith the Holy
Spirit fans our gifts of service into instruments of blessing for all people
and into testimonies that bring praise and honor to God.
In
faith we can now use our gifts with power, love and self-discipline. We know that we can do all things through him
who enables us, and that nothing is impossible for the Lord who works in
us. So we can boldly and courageously
sacrifice ourselves and all that we have in loving service to other as an expression
of our love for the Lord who first loved us.
In
faith we use our gifts of time and talents and treasures not greedily and
selfishly as if they belonged to us, but understanding that they have been entrusted
to us from the Lord, for Him to use when and where He pleases.
In
faith we can now use our gifts with confidence. We know that God has a purpose
for us which is greater than any plans we could have
for ourselves. And that he will guard
everything that we entrust to him for the day of his return and our
resurrection into glory. No suffering or
sorrow can shake us. No loss or set-back
can put us to shame. The gifts the Lord
has given us are under his protection because the Holy Spirit lives in us.
Concl.: What a wonderful
faith we have been given, and what tremendous gifts with which we can serve our
Lord! By the power of the Holy Spirit
let us continue to fan into flame the gifts we have been given, and guard the
good deposit that has been entrusted to us until that day. Amen.