The Ups and Downs of a Christian
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
It is a mistake to imagine that those who walk with Christ will find a level pathway without any valley or any mountain top, a pathway foreign to hills and dales. Such is far from the case.
1. Difficulties by the way. When Paul addressed his Second Letter to Timothy he made it plain enough that the Christian is not only called upon to believe in the Lord but also to suffer with Him.
Paul did not shun to set forth the fact of enemies by the way. He gave Timothy his own experiences with certain ones who made difficult his travel.
The Apostle, however, did not only set before his son, Timothy, the difficulties by the way. He also explained how the Lord would deliver him from every evil work, and with glowing prophetic words he told of the glory which would await on the other side.
2. Our guide among the wreckage. We have sometimes thought that the expression above, which we have used for our second thought, is an appropriate one to cover Paul's two Letters to Timothy. If we have ups and downs, hills and dales, turns and curves, we need carefully marked directions lest we should swerve from the main course, and become lost in the wilds of some bypath.
Our God never leaves us unpanoplied for the battle, or unprepared for the onslaught of the enemy. Of old, the Lord led His people Israel with the cloud by day, and with the fire by night. He went before them to choose out the pathway of their journey and to select the place where they should camp. He gave them laws of hygiene, ethical laws to instruct them in morals, and in no way left them exposed and unprotected against the wiles of the devil.
Thus, also, did Paul give God's leadings to Timothy and God's protection against the enemy. It will be the purpose of this lesson, first, to show somewhat the character and the call of God to the young man Timothy, and secondly, to set forth God's directing hand as to how he should preach and suffer and contend for the faith in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation.
3. A call to the young men and women of today. As we close our introductory words we want to extend to every young man and young woman an earnest plea to join with Timothy in the service of the Lord. We set him before you as a model of young manhood. We give to you Paul's instructions to Timothy, with the one thought that each of you may profit thereby.
Who is there who, today, will bend the knee before God and join with the young man Timothy in a full consecration to the Word and the work of their Master?
I. THE YOUNG MAN TIMOTHY (2 Timothy 1:2-5)
1. Timothy was a young man dearly beloved by Paul. To us the statement above carries two suggestions. The first is that Paul the valiant Apostle had a loving disposition toward others. He knew how to love as well as how to preach.
The second thought is that Timothy, Paul's son in the Gospel, was worthy of being loved. Not only of being loved, but of being dearly beloved.
Some people wonder why they are not loved by other people. As a rule, they are not lovable. We do not talk of looks, but of characteristics. If we want people to love us, we must be kind, gentle, considerate, and not selfish, crabbed, and filled with faultfinding.
2. Timothy was a young man for whom Paul prayed. Again, we have two things; First, the man who prayed. Paul was more than a preacher and an instructor. Paul prayed. Paul prayed for individuals, Paul prayed by day and by night.
Secondly, we have the man for whom Paul prayed. Paul prayed for Timothy because Timothy had knit himself around Paul's heart. Paul saw in Timothy the possibilities of a real workman, and Paul prayed for him.
3. Paul greatly desired to see Timothy. Here is an expression of the genuineness of Paul's love, but not of that alone. Timothy, likewise, loved Paul, we catch this, when Paul tells of how Timothy wept, when Paul was taken from him. These tender touches in the Bible record, make Christianity glow with beauty. They show that the Christian life is not foreign to those marks of tender affection of sympathy, and of love, which make home and comradeship a joy forever.
4. Timothy was a young man of unfeigned faith. According to 2 Timothy 1:5 Timothy had a faith that was unfeigned. It was not a faith that was affected or professed. It was not a faith that was a counterfeit. It was real, it was genuine, it was unfeigned.
II. THE GIFTS OF THE YOUNG MAN TIMOTHY (2 Timothy 1:6)
"Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands."
1. Gifts are given of God. We read in the Epistle to Corinthians of the gifts of the Spirit. "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit." "For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit,"
There are other gifts mentioned.
Concerning the gifts of the Spirit, Paul says: "Covet earnestly the best gifts." If a young man or a young woman desires a special gift of the Spirit, they desire well.
2. Gifts may be received by the laying on of hands. Paul wrote to Timothy definitely of the gift that was in him by the laying on of his (Paul's) hands.
When Paul, himself, was saved, Ananias under the instruction of the Lord visited the young man Saul, and said: "The Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." Let us observe, however, that, as Ananias spoke, he put his hands on Saul. In the Book of Acts we frequently find the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Somehow or other we believe that it is entirely right for us to lay our hands upon the heads of young men, and young women, and to pray for them that they also may be filled with the Spirit and receive definite spiritual gifts.
3. Gifts are for service. If we ask God to impart unto us some gift, it is that we may be used of God by this gift. He who would seek the gift of the Spirit in order that he may enhance his own honor or glory, is along with Simon, in the gall of bitterness and distress.
We do not seek the Spirit nor the gifts of the Spirit in order that we may use Him or them, but that we may be effectually used by Him and because of them.
III. A CALL TO TIMOTHY FOR AN UNEMBARRASSED TESTIMONY (2 Timothy 2:8; 2 Timothy 2:12)
1. God never gives the spirit of fear. This is the statement of 2 Timothy 2:7. He who walks tremblingly and timidly and dominated by fear knows nothing of the power of the Spirit. When Peter trembled before the maid, he was moving in his own strength; when Peter, at Pentecost, thundered out, "Jesus of Nazareth, * * ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain," he was walking in the Spirit.
2. God does give the Spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind. There is a holy boldness resting upon those who are Spirit-filled. That boldness, however, is not rashness, because it is the Spirit of love as well as of boldness, which God gives. That Spirit also is not the spirit of fanaticism, neither of wild sayings and wild actions.
3. God makes us unashamed of our testimony for Him. We do not preach the Gospel with an apology for the Gospel we preach. We do not preach the Gospel as though we were ashamed of the Gospel. The Gospel is our glory, our joy, and our crown. The god of this world may blind the eyes of the unbelieving against it, and the sinner may deride it, but we know that it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.
4. God makes us unashamed of our brethren who suffer for Him. The Apostle said to Timothy, "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner." It is sad indeed when Christian people are unwilling to align themselves to God's honored, but persecuted and despised servants.
5. God calls us to suffer the afflictions of the Gospel, but He calls us to do it according to the power of God. This assures us that when we suffer for Him and are not ashamed of Him, He will not be ashamed of us, but will prepare us to suffer, and clothe us with power as we suffer.
IV. A PLEA FOR SOUNDNESS IN DOCTRINE (2 Timothy 1:13)
"Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."
1. The tendency to belittle the importance of the faith. There was, even in Paul's day, a turning from the faith on the part of many. Paul particularly mentioned this fact in his Epistles to Timothy.
(1) In the First Epistle we read, "The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." Do you marvel, therefore, that in the same Epistle and the same chapter Paul urges Timothy to be a good minister of Jesus Christ, "Nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine"?
(2) The Apostle Paul also speaks of certain ones who have cast off their first faith. These he says have turned aside unto Satan. Then he urges once more that God's servant should not blaspheme the Name of God, nor His doctrine. He also says, "If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; he is proud, knowing nothing." Then he adds to Timothy, "from such withdraw thyself."
(3) In the First Epistle Paul urges Timothy to fight the good fight of faith and to keep the commandments without spot unrebukable concluding with this statement: "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and opposition of science falsely so called: which some professing have erred concerning the faith."
2. To the young people, we urge that at this hour there is the same tendency which Paul saw in his day. If he urged Timothy to study, "rightly dividing the Word of Truth," and to shun profane and vain babblings, so do we urge you. False teaching still eats as does a canker, and men who err concerning the truth, still overthrow the faith of some.
V. FIDELITY IN KEEPING THE TRYST (2 Timothy 1:14)
1. The young man Timothy had entered into a covenant with God. That covenant was sealed the day that the Apostle put his hands upon Timothy's head, when God's gift was imparted to him.
Can we remember the day when we brought ourselves to God and entered into a covenant to serve Him?
2. The Holy Ghost had placed into the young man's keeping both His Word and work. What a solemn tryst was his; and, what a solemn tryst is ours. The Apostle Paul said on another occasion, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." If God is faithful in keeping His tryst with us, shall we not be faithful in keeping ours with Him? May God grant that that which He has committed to us, may never be maligned by any infidelity upon our part.
3. The Holy Ghost had entered into Timothy to enforce His "keeping" power. Thus it was that Paul said to Timothy that he should keep that which was committed, "by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us." If we think that alone, in our own strength and in the energy of our flesh, we will prove faithful we will be certain to fall. We must remember that God who gives us a tryst, imparts unto us the Spirit of God to enable us to keep our tryst.
VI. THE FIRST OF FOUR CALLS (2 Timothy 3:5, l.c.)
The first call is in our key verse. The Apostle in the Spirit, had described the last days with their perilous times. He had told how men with a form of godliness, but denying His power thereof, would be "lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, * * lovers, of pleasure more than lovers of God": then he added: "from such turn away."
The call of the whole Bible is a call to separation. How can two walk together except they be agreed? How can believers be yoked together with unbelievers? How can righteousness fellowship unrighteousness? What communion is there between light and darkness? What concourse is there between Christ and Belial? Hear the Words of God as they thunder out their command: "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you."
God has written unto us, "Not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat."
Have we, therefore, any right to remain in company and fellowship in a church which houses and succors such people?
God has said: "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." Shall we call Him Lord, and refuse to obey His command?
VII. THREE OTHER SPECIAL CALLS (2Ti 3:10; 2 Timothy 3:14; 2 Timothy 4:5)
1. The first call. In 2 Timothy 3:6 Paul goes on to describe those who have a form of godliness, and deny its power. He says: "Of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts."
He says that these, like Jannes and Jambres who withstood Moses, also resist the truth; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. Then follow the ringing words: "But thou." Shall Timothy follow with these reprobates, or shall he, who had fully known Paul's doctrine, manner of life, purpose, and faith, follow with Paul?
2. The second call. In 2 Timothy 3:12, Paul says: "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." In 2 Timothy 3:13 he adds: "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived."
Once more Paul sounds forth the same remarkable word, "but * * thou," and he says: "Watch thou in all things, in spite of increasing darkness, to continue in the things which he had learned, and had been assured of.
Thank God, that from a child Timothy had known the Holy Scriptures, and now he is encouraged by Paul with the statement that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God.
3, The third call. The Apostle goes on to show Timothy that "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
With these words spoken, once more Paul sounds forth, "but * * thou," and he says: "Watch thou in all things, endure affliction, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry."
If our young people desire God's guiding hand mid the wreckage of present-day apostasy, let them study these admonitions which Paul gave to Timothy and gives to us, and they will know His will.
AN ILLUSTRATION
Some men are afraid of being too religious. What we need today is men who believe down deep in their soul what they profess. The world is tired and sick of sham. Let your whole heart be given up to God's service. Aim high. God wants us all to be His ambassadors. It is a position higher than that of any monarch on earth to be a herald of the Cross; but you must be filled with the Holy Ghost. A great many people are afraid to be filled with the Spirit of God afraid of being called fanatics. Fox said that every Quaker ought to shake the country ten miles around. What does the Scripture say? "One (shall) chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight." It takes about a thousand to chase one now. It takes about a thousand Christians to make one decent one now. Why? Because they are afraid of being too religious. What does this world want today? Men men that are out and out for God and not halfhearted in their allegiance and service. D. L. Moody.