Do Not Walk Away From Your Faith

Want to start this morning by reflecting a little bit on an article I read this week that gave some quite disturbing statistics, but I guess not surprising statistics on the rate at which young adults and youths are leaving our churches. And I don't necessarily mean just the CRCA churches, the church in Australia, full stop. Australian research is showing that fifty thousand youth and young adults are drifting away from the Christian faith per year. 50,000. That's about 21% of Australia's entire Christian population.

So roughly a fifth of Australian Christians are walking away from their Christian faith. It's something that is very sad for me to read as a pastor, but I think even more so, and I know from experience more so, it is especially difficult for the parents and the family members of those young people. This morning I want us to look at a little bit at the scenario or the situation of another young man, another young Christian who would have been in this category of a young adult. His name was Timothy. Timothy who was a student or disciple of Paul.

Now at face value, this Timothy wasn't very special at all. The Bible indicates that he was in fact not particularly strong or courageous. He was a pretty ordinary guy. He didn't have an amazing testimony like Paul, the great apostle who had been called very radically, saved on the road to Damascus, had a vision of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, who came to him and caused him to be blind for three days, and was miraculously healed, was spoken to and said, you are going to be my messenger now to the Gentiles. Timothy didn't have anything like that.

In fact, Timothy was a lot like us, a lot like me. I want us to have a look at a few verses in Two Timothy this morning. Some words of encouragement from this great apostle Paul to Timothy. So we're gonna read from Two Timothy chapter one, verses three to seven. Two Timothy one, verse three.

Paul says this: I thank God whom I serve as my forefathers did with a clear conscience. As night and day, I constantly remember you in my prayers. Paul's writing to Timothy here. Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded now lives in you also. For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline. So far our reading. What we see just briefly, and we will look at the context a bit more. What we see in this passage in particular is that Timothy was the son of a believing mom. He also had a grandmother who was a believer as well, and how many of us can put up our hands for those believing moms in our lives, those believing grandmothers in our lives that, you know, was praying for you, that you know was on their knees for you.

Timothy was like one of these individuals. He probably went to church. He grew up in church. He was one of the our kids colouring in with crayons, doing Sunday school activities, bringing home, I don't know, objects that they created for mom. A crown or whatever.

He was one of the little young guys that sits in our pews. He was like that. He was raised in a Christian home like me. But there's a reason Paul is writing a letter to him. There's a reason Paul is writing this letter to him.

You see, Timothy had grown up in church, but he had become aware of a sense of calling on his life to be a pastor. He was given the role of a pastor of a church in Ephesus. The church in Ephesus. But what we find in this letter, in the letter that Paul is writing, is that he was in serious danger of walking away from it all. He was in serious danger of giving up on it.

He had serious doubts of his ability to go on as a pastor. Ephesus was not a healthy church. The church of Ephesus had people, would have had people bombarding him with all types of different teachings and different theologies. Mature people, elders in that time, people that had a status, who had authority, would have been telling Timothy what you're saying, what you're teaching is wrong. Timothy would have had very influential people trying to undermine his message.

And Timothy was a young guy. He would have been in his early twenties at the most. He was timid by nature. He was shy by nature. One Corinthians 16, verse 10 says this, another passage of the New Testament.

Paul writes this to that church there. He says, if Timothy comes to you, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you. For he is carrying on the work of the Lord just as I am. No one then should refuse to accept him. Paul has to speak out on behalf of Timothy.

Paul, by contrast, he is the complete polar opposite. Paul is a fighter. He is a street fighter. He's tough.

He's old. He's mature. He's gnarly. We know some of those old Christians, they just know what they believe and they're gonna believe it. And they're gonna fight for it.

Paul is at that stage. He's got nothing to fear. He's got no one to impress. Paul is resilient. He's stubborn.

Timothy is shy. He's soft-spoken. Friend, if you have a quiet faith in God, you may know God deeply and be aware of Him in your life, but you are perhaps naturally introverted or shy, and you may feel overwhelmed by the fact that you don't speak eloquently about your faith, you can't articulate these emotions, these feelings you have about God, you may find that very hard. You may in fact be the only Christian in your family. Don't lose hope.

Don't lose hope. And don't let it be an excuse to give up. Don't let it be an excuse because we'll see that God is calling in the life of a believer. His calling in the life of a believer is always too great for us to do in ourselves, in and of ourselves. God's calling to you and to me is always much more than we can do in our natural ability.

If He calls you, He will equip you, and that is what we're going to see here. We see in verse five, Paul reflecting back on Timothy's faith. He says, I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded now lives in you also. See, Timothy's father was an unbeliever. He was a Gentile.

His mother Eunice was a Jewess. She was a Jew. And their understanding of Christ had come very quickly. They had come to a very deep and genuine faith very early on. Their faith was sincere, he says.

It was genuine. It had penetrated every part of their life. Their thought life, their emotions, their feelings, the way that they would have interacted with people, how they would have done business, everything was coloured by their faith. It was a sincere faith, Paul says. But what Paul is more than anything reflecting on here is this.

He says to Timothy, I believe in your faith and I believe in you. Parents, the effect of godly people who believe in us is beyond measure. Godly parents who believe in their children is beyond accounting. The kind of confidence that Paul, who he calls himself, labels himself a spiritual father of Timothy because he didn't have a spiritual father. The spiritual father of Timothy and the kind of confidence that Paul had in him would have been so heartening, and he needed to hear that in that moment.

You hear of pastors and missionaries, you hear their stories of people who were in the deepest, darkest myths of their ministry, of the most negative times in their ministry, who were carried by this fact that someone out there believed in them. Someone out there was cheering for them. And I have a little brother who, by the remarkable grace of God, came to faith only recently, a few years ago. Grew up in a Christian home. Grew up in a Christian home where a pastor came out of it and walked very, very far away from God.

And his testimony to you is that he had a mom who believed in him and who prayed for him daily, sometimes hourly. Paul says to Timothy, I remember your sincere faith, your genuine faith because it was a faith similar to your parents. So similar to your mom at least, similar to your grandmother. I remember their faith, and I remember what God has already done in you. And I know what He is planning for you.

I know that it's gonna be great. It's gonna be amazing. And so I have hope that God is not finished with you. He's not finished with you. Sometimes, sometimes that needs to be said.

Sometimes, mom, dad, you need to say that to your son or your daughter. God is not finished with you. Paul moves on after this, and he says the first thing we see that Timothy needs to do, his first encouragement or his word of advice to Timothy is this: be obedient to God. Be obedient to God. Fan into flame the gift which is already in you.

I prayed for you, Timothy, and I ordained you by the laying on of my hands on you. I knew that you were called to this mission of being a pastor. I know that this is your calling, but now you must obey it. You must believe it and you must obey it. You may doubt it now, but you have a reason for being you.

You have a reason for your personality. You have a reason to be where you're at in Ephesus now. Paul was saying to me, you've been created for something. Now exercise it. Now do it.

Go through with it. Give it some wings, this gift of yours, and let it fly. Fan it into flame. Whether you believe it or not, God has created you for a purpose. Friends, God has created you for a purpose.

There are no accidents in God's world. There are no accidents in God's world. Your personality, your characteristics, your family line, your heritage, there's absolutely no accidents. The single most important purpose to which He has called you and me is the relationship with Him, is to accept His love. But secondly, He has also placed you in a kingdom, in a context to be an active participant in it.

God has called you to be His, and then He has called you to be used by Him. Your life is to be a life that makes a difference to other people. Is a life that lives according to the teachings of Christ. It is a life that is filled with joy and peace no matter what your surroundings may be. So how do we do this, KJ?

How do we fan into flame? And we all know that metaphor, don't we, that Paul was using. You know, people that love building bonfires, people like that love barbecuing with coals. You know what happens if you blow onto that fire. You can feel the heat increasing instantly.

This is what Paul is trying to say. Blow that fire into a red hot heat. But how do we get there? Starts the same way as what Paul is saying here to Timothy. It says, by listening, by being obedient to the instructions given to us, by living a life of discipleship following Jesus Christ.

Because you know all those things I said about a life that makes a difference? Well, that was Jesus' life. That was Jesus' ministry. That is what He lived to do. That is how He lived.

If we stay close to Christ, as close as possible to Christ, we will make a difference. There's no two ways about it. The second thing we see is not only that we are to inflame this gift or this calling, but that we can do this by a very particular reason or agent. Do you know one of the biggest things I like about Batman? Biggest things I like about Batman is that he's just so cool and confident.

He knows deep down who he is. He is the Batman. So when he's even when he's Bruce Wayne, the alter ego of Batman, the millionaire, he's always cool. He's always calm. He's always collected.

Why? Because he knows he's got the intellect. He knows he's got the martial arts. He knows that he's got the money. He knows that he's got the fighting moves to get out of any situation.

He's always confident. But Paul tells Timothy here, be confident. Fan into flame this gift, this ability that you have. Why? Because you have a spirit of power, not of timidity.

You have a spirit of power and not of timidity. Now what we see in our NIV 1984 translation, which I read from, the spirit of power here is a small lowercase s. Lowercase spirit. But there are many, many good scholars that actually say that this is meant to be a capital S spirit. The Holy Spirit that's being talked about.

Same word, pneuma for both. We know that lowercase spirit, we talk about that even today. People can have a mean spirit. They can be mean-spirited, which means their attitude, you know, their attitude is bad. So you can have an attitude of power, some are saying.

But good scholars, people like Gordon Fee have said that, no, what Paul is talking about here is the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit of power that is at work in you, and you have that Holy Spirit. Paul says that God has given us this spirit of power and love, and there's real energy in those words. We have an incredible confidence.

Why? Because our alter ego isn't Batman, it's Jesus Christ. That's what Paul is saying. You have the Spirit of Christ in you. The Bible says that it's Christ who lives in us, the powerful Holy Spirit which is in our souls.

Paul says the same powerful spirit that raised Christ from the dead made Him a victor over sin and death. This same spirit is a spirit of power in you. What incredible words. What an incredible promise.

Paul says to Timothy, timid Timothy, there is no need to be shy. There is no need to doubt your ability because you've been granted strength and power. And friends, I wanna say to you this morning, wherever you are, and I know I've started this morning by talking to our young people, but there are so many reasons and so many excuses and so many rationalisations we can give to quit, to give up on this thing of Christianity. There's so many reasons, and it feels like it's getting more and more difficult all the time. But if we understand the power that is at our disposal, the power that God offers us by understanding and opening our lives to the Spirit, not resisting His work in our lives, there's no way.

There's no way we can fall. There's no way we can walk away. But He says, this is not just simply the power or the spirit of power at work in us. He uses three words, the spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline. Interesting why He uses those three.

Why does He use those three to describe the work of the Spirit in a believer? Well, I wonder, wonder, of those twenty percent, one fifth of Christians leaving the Christian faith each year, how much of that walking away has to do with self-discipline? How much of it has to do with bad decisions which then force your hand to walk out of church? The shame, the guilt, the response from a really disappointed mom or dad who blew their top, who said horrible things about their faith, who questioned everything about who they are and said they are. How many of those twenty percent of Christians who walk away from their faith was a result of a lack of self-discipline?

Friend, I wanna say to you this morning, if you have sinned greatly against God, then you have sinned greatly against God, but don't bind to the lie from Satan that you are too far gone. You are never too far gone. You can never walk away from Him. But stop sinning as well and return to Him. Come back to Him.

Change your life. Change your routines. Change your circle of friends, because walking away from God is the silliest thing you'll try and do. And it's the most irrational way of to overcome the guilt that you feel in your heart. Self-discipline means we practice our gifts and our faith even when we don't feel like it.

It's a conscious decision. That's what it is. It's a conscious decision to be faithful to God when we're tired, when we doubt our ability, when we're frustrated, when we feel distant from God even. The Christian who has the spirit of power also has the spirit of self-discipline. This is why Paul can also talk about love in this same way.

He says in the New Testament many times that love is much more than a feeling. It is almost always what you do. It is almost always an act of service to others, and it is always linked to the empowering spirit of Christ. The love that the spirit gives stands tall and it perseveres over everything. Love is patient.

Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not self-seeking. These are action words.

They are verbs. That is what love is. And so the spirit of power, the spirit of self-discipline is also the spirit of love, and they are all mutually complementary. They all fit together. It has been the fire of the Holy Spirit, Paul says, that will give this to you.

It is the same fire that melted our cold hearts towards God. It is the same fire that melted the hearts of stone and turned them into hearts of flesh towards God. This same spirit who was able to miraculously change us like that towards Him is able to see us through. It's a heart. It's a spirit that can give us the ability to love the unlovable, to be patient with the impatient, to overcome hatred with grace.

Jesus has taken our hearts of stone and He's turned it into these hearts of flesh. Hearts that bleed for the oppressed, bleed for the lonely. Hearts for those who need to hear our Saviour's love for them. Hearts who will drive every Sunday morning to pick up a man and can't get to church. We have spirit of power, of love, of self-discipline that works in us.

God did not give us a spirit of timidity. God did not give us the Holy Spirit that gives us a quality of cowardice, of faint-shrinking violet faith. The spirit never gives fear. The fear that was causing Timothy to doubt his calling. That was not from the Spirit.

Rather, Paul says, the spirit breathes power into the weak. Oswald Chambers wrote this and it's so fitting. He says that all through history, God has chosen and used nobodies. All throughout history, God has chosen and used nobodies because their unusual dependence on Him made possible the unique display of His power and grace. But He chose and He used somebodies only when they renounced dependence on their natural abilities and resources.

And the amazing thing is you read and go through history, you see your Martin Luthers and your John Calvins and even your Charles Haddon Spurgeons, and they were all sickly, amazingly. They died early. Why did God use these people in this way? Because they depended on Him. They knew that the only source of continuing on in this fight was always going to be in God.

God used nobodies. Do you feel weak and inadequate and unable sometimes? Are you tempted to walk away from the calling that God has placed on you? If so, guess what? You are the best prospect for the Holy Spirit.

If you call upon Him, He will fill you with that power. He will fill you with that self-discipline. I know I've been speaking to this, you know, group of younger people this morning, but this message is for everyone. Don't become another statistic. Don't become another person walking away.

Don't be disappointment. Give your life over to Christ. Let Him be your King. Let Him reign in you. Let Him look after you.

Let Him provide for you because you are worth more and your relationship with Christ is worth more than anything else this world may be trying to sell you, trying to draw you with. You are worth far more than that. Christ is worth far more than that. Fan into flame the gifts and the calling that God has given you and watch how you will continue to live faithful, joyful, peaceful lives towards God. For you have received the Spirit not of timidity, but of power, of love, and of self-discipline.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for these words this morning. Thank you for the encouragement. Father, we know that when we don't sense these things in our lives, it is often to do with our eyes not being on You. When we feel distant from You, Lord, we know that there are often causes in us, sin in our lives that have driven a wedge between us.

Lord, we know also that it's not always the case. Sometimes, Lord, You do send us into the wilderness, and You remain quiet to refine us and to draw us nearer to You, to bring us to a deeper level of dependence on You. This morning, I wanna ask for that You will not give up on us, that You will not stop working in us, on us, through us. I wanna pray for our children. I wanna pray for our young adults.

I wanna pray for those in the universities and high schools. And Lord, we have been there as well, and we know that perhaps some of us have also made mistakes and bad decisions in those times. We understand, Lord. We also know, Lord, that there is nothing worth compromising. Well, there is nothing worth claiming or attaining that will come at the cost of You and a relationship with You.

It's just not worth it. So Father, we pray for our young Christians. We pray, Lord, that You will keep them safe. Father, we also pray that You will draw them to Yourself powerfully, that You will melt hearts of stone and turn them into hearts of flesh. Father, pray that You will give us patience and love and unwavering diligence towards them, and that You will also give us opportunities to share and to speak of Your grace and Your mercy in our lives.

Father, pray for this nation, and we pray for the next generation of like we prayed for, young men in particular, who come to take over the leadership of this country, of morality, of ethics in this country. And we pray, Lord, that You will be kind to us and gracious, that You will raise up men, leaders, who will love, who will sacrifice, who will discipline themselves. Father, above all, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for His kindness. We thank you for His patience.

We thank you for His invitation to cast our burdens, our cares upon Him, to take up His yoke which is easy and light. Thank you that You have washed away our sin and that You will preserve us by the Spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen.