Date: Jul. 20, 2025
2 Timothy 1:1-18
Key Verse: 2 Timothy 1:7
It feels like, in recent years, every time you go to the store, the things you want cost even more. In July 2001, the average price for a dozen eggs in the US was under a dollar, about $0.86. At the start of the pandemic the average price was $2.02. More recently, the average price for a dozen eggs $6.23, and that was in this passed March. It’s not just for groceries, either. If you want or need a new car, prices have skyrocketed. In 1995, the average price for a car was $17,959, and today, the average price for a new car in the US is $48,699. It’s crazy. There are somethings that have gotten so expensive that people think that it is not worth the cost. People choose to go without, because it is so expensive, especially things that are related to recreation. Tickets of any kind are expensive. My daughter has a basketball tournament this weekend. She gets in free because she is an athlete, but a parent spectator was at least $30 a day, or if you bought the whole tournament, you could pay $100. It’s a bit ridiculous. There are many things that we think that are not worth the cost. I’m not paying $5000 for tickets to a game, no matter the game, no matter the team, no matter the sport. I am also not going to buy a car for $100,000. It’s not worth it. However, there is a flipside to this. There are things that we will do no matter the cost. If it is something you wanted to do your whole life, then you might pay for the experience no matter what. Also, if someone close to you is sick and in need of treatment, you will not hesitate to pay whatever is necessary for that treatment. The cost does not enter the equation. We are starting a new series in a new book: 2 Timothy. Our theme is No Matter the Cost. Many times when we hear that term, we tend to think about giving the ultimate sacrifice, but the main purpose is for us to look at the things that hold us back from boldly sharing the gospel and holding fast to the word of God. We don’t have to give the ultimate sacrifice for Jesus, but there is a cost to believing Jesus and following him. However, when we take a closer look at that cost, it is not really an issue.
The book of 2 Timothy is a letter from the apostle Paul to his protégé Timothy, who was serving the church in Ephesus. The letter was probably written between the years 64 and 67 AD, during the reign of the emperor Nero. In 64 AD, Rome was set on fire, and Nero blamed the Christians for the blaze. This set up a series of arrests and persecutions against Christians. It was after the fire that Paul was arrested and placed in a dungeon. This was his second arrest, and, unlike his first imprisonment, Paul was not under house arrest but chained up like a criminal facing execution. It is widely believed that this is the final letter that Paul wrote before his death. Timothy was from Lystra in modern day Turkey. During Paul’s first missionary journey, he stopped in Lystra to preach the gospel. During this time, he was stoned, taken outside the city, and left for dead. Those, who came to believe, surrounded him and he got up and went back into the city, then left for Derbe. That was the big event recorded in the book of Acts. Timothy’s mother was a Jew, while his dad was a Greek Gentile. While Paul preached on that first missionary journey, Timothy’s mother and grandmother came to believe and that influenced him. So much so, that by the time Paul returned to Lystra in his second missionary journey, Timothy was a believer and respected member of the church in the region. After that, Timothy journeyed with Paul and became like a son to him. Timothy traveled with Paul, went on his own journeys, and eventually became the leader of the church in Ephesus. Since this is Paul’s last letter, it acts as sort of a last will and testament of Paul, passing the torch and encouraging Timothy to stand firm in his faith, but to hold on no matter the cost. In this series, we want to encourage ourselves to boldly proclaim the gospel and to prepare to serve God in the mission he has given us, without excuse and without fear or complacency.
Obviously, we are at the beginning of the letter, and it is introductory. It begins, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” (1-2) This is a standard greeting from Paul, indicating the author of the letter, who is Paul. He denotes that he is an apostle, one sent by Christ by the will of God. The greeting also shows who the recipient of the letter is, Timothy, whom Paul calls his son. Paul wishes grace, mercy, and peace on Timothy. Again, all of this is pretty standard. Afterwards, Paul goes into a section of thanksgiving, which, again, is pretty standard for one of Paul’s letters. This part begins, “I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.” (3) Every time that Paul thinks of Timothy, he is reminded of all the good God has done and is thankful for Timothy’s faith. Paul peppers little thing in here, like reminding the reader that he, Paul, serves God and has a clear conscience. These little thoughts become important later in the letter, but they serve as a reminder that Paul did not desert God, and he was sincere and adamant in his service to the Lord.
Paul continues, “Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy.” (4) Paul remembers a time where Timothy was in tears. It is not known what the occasion was, but some speculate it was when the last time Paul and Timothy parted company. Paul and Timothy were close and it may have been very hard for Timothy to leave Paul when he was probably in a very difficult situation, like getting arrested again. Paul was in a dungeon, at this time, and did not get many visitors. He was alone and lonely, and longed to see those he loved, like Timothy. The thought of seeing him again, warmed Paul’s heart, and seeing him again would bring Paul joy.
While writing the letter Paul remembers things about Timothy, as noted in verse 5, “I am 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.” Timothy had great faith, and Paul is reminded that his grandmother and mother also had this faith before him. They were there during Paul’s first visit to Lystra. Through their faith and guidance, young Timothy came to believe and flourish in his faith. For those parents here, this gives hope that our children can come to believe, in part, because of our faith. Now, faith is not hereditary, just because I believe and have faith, does not mean that my kids will have faith, but being in the presence of someone with faith can have a profound effect on someone when the faith is sincere.
Remembering Timothy’s faith is important as Paul continues, “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.” (6) Paul reminds Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God. This is not lighting something anew, but a rekindling of the gift of God. The gift didn’t go out but needed some work to be flourishing. We are not sure what that gift was, but it could be preaching or leadership. Timothy had seen much opposition to his leadership in Ephesus, and it could be taking a toll on him, but Paul wanted to remind him that his gift should not die out. I think that this is something that many of us can relate to. It’s easy to be zealous when we are new to our faith. We want to do much for the Lord, but over time, the reality of the world and the weariness of life dull that zeal. We’ve been worshipping here for eighteen years, and we were bubbling with excitement then, but when we look around, our worship size seems about the same. We’ve seen many leave and that can be discouraging, sometime, especially when we need to find a new Bible Club president. It feels like almost every year that we have to do that. That repetitive nature can bog you down and make us feel like “what is the point?” Plus, there are so many other things going on in life, that it can be difficult to retain the same level of passion for ministry that we once had.
The gifts that God has given us can wither and atrophy, like a muscle that does not get any exercise. As Paul mentioned to Timothy, we must fan in to flame the gift of God. The gifts aren’t dead, but they need tending to. We need to get riled up, fired up, to serve the Lord. I have mentioned this in private a few times, but in UBF, many times the messages are biblically sound and really feed our understanding of the word of God. The same holds for our Bible studies, but, many times, we lack inspiration. Our heads are filled with the knowledge of God, but our hearts don’t feel the tug. Our emotions aren’t saying, yes, to the word of God. We are not getting fired up in the word of God. It feels only cerebral, but we are meant to have our faith be fanned into flame. The word of God is to be a fire in our soul, compelling us to action. I sometimes, get teased about my emotions during my sermon delivery, but I feel like it is important that I give my emotions to God to maybe fan into flame somebody. It is important to expand our knowledge of God, but our souls need more than knowledge. Our souls need to feel the word of God and light our hearts aflame, getting excited for gospel. We need to dance like David and not be afraid.
Paul agrees with this. He wrote, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” (7) The gift of God, that manifests itself in many ways, is, in fact, the Spirit of God. This was first witnessed in the original disciples after Jesus’ ascension at Pentecost. The Spirit of God came upon them like tongues of flame and empowered them to preach the word in all the languages of those visiting Jerusalem. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would come after his ascension to dwell with believers and serve as a counselor to guide them. The Holy Spirit is part of the trinity of God. It is God, and since it is God, it has the same qualities of God. As Paul says, it does not make us timid. In some translations, the word used is fear. God’s Spirit does not make us fearful or timid. Instead, it provides us with power, love, and self-discipline. Timothy might have been naturally timid, or recent events may have caused him to withdraw, but neither of those things come from God. Timidity comes from fear, and fear is not a tool of God, but of the devil. It is Satan that uses fear and doubt to paralyze us and prevent us from serving God.
Instead, the Holy Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-discipline. Each of these is widely important to combat fear, doubt, and complacency. The power that the Spirit gives us is the very power of God, the power of truth to dispel all the lies that we are taught to believe. Those lies are that we are not good enough, that we can’t change things, we are too small and insignificant, and even if you do try, you will fail. The truth is you might not be good enough, but Christ is good enough, he can change things, he took five small loaves and to fish and fed five thousand, and nothing that the Lord does is in vain. We don’t need to live in fear of what could be, because of who he is. We can be bold and powerful, but that power must always be tempered with love and self-discipline. Love helps us see the needs of others and know if our truth is overwhelming someone. There are people out there that are very blunt with the truth, and they just say that they are speaking the truth, but they have no love and hurt others. With love, the truth can be shared powerfully, but not harmfully. The same can be said about self-discipline. When I water some of the plants outside my home, I use the hose, but I can’t just let the water flow full force. It would kill the plants, so I only use a part of the pressure to provide the plants with water without killing them. We must be wise to use the power given to us. We have been given so much, but we cannot and should not use it indiscriminately. Sometimes it is not good for us to use our power to trample others, so we need to know when to hold back, so that others may grow.
I like this verse. In fact, it is the verse that grounds my prayer for my son Lucas. His middle name is Timothy, after the recipient of this letter. Our prayer for him is to grow to be powerful, filled with love and self-discipline. His first name means “light” and it is our prayer that he may be a powerful light for Jesus. It is a wonderful prayer for him, and a reminder for my wife and I to be an example of this to him.
But let’s get back to the passage. Next Paul calls on Timothy to overcome. “So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.” (8) Paul urges Timothy to not be ashamed of the testimony about Jesus or of Paul who is in chains. In his timidity, Timothy might have withdrawn. He might not have talked about Jesus and what he has done, and he may have distanced himself from Paul because of his shameful state. We’ve seen things like this before. There are churches that rarely speak about Jesus and what he has done. They talk about God’s blessing, but not about the one who saved them. Shame or the fear of shame holds people back. We don’t want to suffer, but Paul calls for Timothy, and by extension to us, to join with him in suffering for the gospel. I mean, who really wants to suffer? Who really looks at the paths before them and chooses the one that leads to suffering. Sure, there are some people out there that are gluttons for punishment, but no one actively chooses suffering if they can avoid it. But here, we see the cost of being bold for Christ. The cost is shame and suffering.
That shame and suffering is a cost that is not as great as it first seems. Paul continues, “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (9-10) Jesus saved because of his own purpose and grace. Jesus came to this earth to give us a new life through his blood and resurrection. By his sacrifice, Jesus destroyed death and gave us new life and immortality. We live in a new reality, one where death has been put to death. No matter what we are afraid of, it stems from a fear of death. The cost of shame and suffering is but small, momentary discomfort in light of immortality. When we are very young, we cry at every little injury, but as we grow older, we can get cuts and bruises, and we don’t even realize it. In the same way, as we accept the gospel and the eternal life it brings, shame and suffering take on a new meaning and they don’t seem as daunting as they once did. It is a cost that we can easily bear.
Paul bore that cost. He was an apostle for the gospel, and it was the reason why he was suffering. Nero had Paul imprisoned simply because he was a Christian. He was in chains, but not ashamed. He wrote, “Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.” (12) Because Paul knew who he believed, that is Jesus, he knew that Jesus has the power to guard the good deposit, and he was destined to enter eternity. Paul was not ashamed because he held on to the gospel, but saw the power behind it, the power that helped him not to fear or withdraw, but to continue on, even in the face of certain death. Earlier in the letter, Paul mentions that he serves God with a clear conscience. This is important because it means that Paul’s imprisonment is not because of some shady dealings, but because of sincere faith.
Quite a few people abandoned Paul in his need. Paul was put in a horrible position, but people were denying him left and right. They didn’t want to be associated with a criminal and ignored Paul’s need. Paul said in verse 15 that everyone in the province of Asia had deserted him. Most of the province was first heard the gospel through Paul on his missionary journeys. He was the founder of their churches, but the people forgot about all that he had done for them. They started to turn away from the gospel and began to add to it and subtract from it. They abandoned both Paul and the gospel. However, there still were some who were loyal to Paul and were not ashamed of him and his chains, like Onesiphorus. He visited Paul a few times while he was imprisoned, but he had to search very hard to find him. It was not an easy task, but Onesiphorus did not back down in his quest to find Paul.
It is important for us to keep our eyes on what is truly important, to know the author of our faith. We weren’t saved to sit on a couch and binge watch. We weren’t freed from our sins to peruse YouTube or TikTok or get caught up in Instagram. We weren’t called to browse Amazon for junk. Christ died for our sins, so that we could inherit his Spirit and advance his kingdom. We were given power, through the Holy Spirit, to live a new life, a life different from the one we lived in this broken world. We don’t need to live with fear or complacency. We don’t have to worry about shame and suffering. We have power, the power to change the world. We were given the power to leave hate behind, to leave self-serving behind, and to leave our tiredness behind.
There was a time where I was more vocal and more active, but over the course of the years, I have withdrawn myself. Some of it was because I felt like my contributions were immaterial: they didn’t matter. Other times, I felt like I was too vocal and didn’t give others a chance. Still more times, I just started feeling too tired to do anything. As I’ve gotten older and my kids have gotten older, there is just too much to do and too little time. You see this thing on my wrist? It allows me to get into a basketball tournament for my daughter. She has six games over four days, and she has two more games today. All of this running around is wearing me out, and those other things I mentioned just compound the complacency. I don’t want to do anything, and I feel like it doesn’t matter if I do. What difference have I ever made? But that is fear talking, that is doubt talking. I am weak, but Jesus is strong. My cost is that I just don’t want to, and it doesn’t matter if I do. But, that is a dumb cost. Lord, strengthen me and help me to live with power, with love and self-discipline. Help me to move forward, boldly, no matter the cost.
That’s the rub, right? We try to weigh the cost of following Jesus. We say that we follow him, but our actions show hesitation. We aren’t giving everything, because we don’t want to pay the price. We might pay a little bit, but the total cost is too much. We don’t want other people to talk about us at work or school. We don’t want to shame and ridicule. Or we don’t want to exit our comfort zone. When we calculate and scheme, we don’t trust in God. The gift of God is God, specifically, his Spirit. That Spirit is not one of calculation and self-preservation. Jesus suffered and died for us. He gave up everything, so that we could be renewed and redeemed. The same Spirit was given to us to serve our Lord. The Spirit to withstand, to endure, to triumph. We cannot be worried about the cost, but we have to live in power, love, and self-discipline.
