Life in the Holy Spirit

2 Timothy 1:6-8
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, September 20, 2015
Copyright © 2015, P. G. Mathew

Second Timothy 1:6–8 speaks about life in the Holy Spirit, especially in the context of overcoming fear. There are some Christians who are always afraid. They are worried about many things. But for God’s people, there is a cure for all our evil fears. It is life in the Holy Spirit.

Paul begins this passage saying, “because of this reason” (v. 6). We want to be intelligent Christians, exercising our reason. What is the reason Paul is referring to? It is the fact that Timothy, despite his timidity and fear, has true faith.

Paul already certified that Timothy has genuine, unhypocritical faith in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 1:5). That is a great certification to have from the lips of the apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, Timothy is included in God’s elect people. Paul acknowledges that Jesus is Timothy’s Lord (2 Tim. 1:2, 8). Thus, Timothy is regenerate and possesses eternal life, and Paul says that the Holy Spirit is dwelling in him (2 Tim. 1:14). Therefore, Timothy had no reason to be afraid of anything, even death for the cause of the gospel.

Life in Christ Jesus is death-defying. Naturally, Timothy was young, often sick, and somewhat fearful (1 Cor. 16:10). He could become anxious and despondent. He knew that the apostle Paul, his spiritual father, was a prisoner in Rome, in a dungeon, in chains, awaiting death by Nero’s sword for preaching the gospel in obedience to Christ’s command. He knew that he himself could also be facing death soon.

 

Fan into Flame

So Paul counsels Timothy, first, to fan into flame, to rekindle, the gift of God that was in him, given by God. He was saying, “Timothy, don’t be anxious and fearful. You possess genuine faith in Jesus Christ.”

What about you? Have you trusted in Jesus Christ alone for your eternal salvation? That is the one thing needful we must do while we live in this world. We are fools if we have not done that, and we cannot put it off. Elsewhere Paul says, “Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.” We cannot presume on tomorrow; it is under God’s control. We may die today.

Paul was saying, “Timothy, you have indestructible eternal life. The Holy Spirit dwells in you forever through faith in Jesus. Moment by moment you receive grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Paul with apostolic authority was reminding Timothy to fan into flame God’s gift of the Holy Spirit. If we do not have the Holy Spirit, we are not Christians. In Timothy’s case, the flame was about to go out and fear was about to come in.

Jesus counseled the Ephesian church, which had fallen from the height of her first love for Jesus, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” (Rev. 2:4–5). He gave three commands: remember, repent, and do the works of their first love. Jesus Christ sees us and knows everything about us. Elsewhere he said, “If you love me, obey my commands.” Christ loved the church and died to save her. And we are to love Jesus with all our heart, and live and die for him.

Paul was telling Timothy to stoke the fire and stir up the smoldering embers. Elsewhere, he told the Thessalonian church, “Stop putting out the fire of the Holy Spirit” (1 Thess. 5:19). The Lord told the Laodicean church, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Rev. 3:15–16). He concluded, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent” (Rev. 3:19).

We are baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire. Therefore, we must not grieve the Holy Spirit. Rather, we must be filled with the Spirit, led by the Spirit, and controlled by the Spirit. As we walk in the Spirit, we will not sin.

Timothy was baptized in the Holy Spirit when Paul laid his hands upon him and prayed for him. Remember what Acts 19:1–6 says about the Ephesian church. Paul saw twelve disciples there, but they had not even heard about the Holy Spirit. Paul asked, “What baptism did you receive?” They said, “John’s baptism.” He said, “‘John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.’ On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.” And later Paul wrote in his epistle to the Ephesian church, “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:13–14).

We must live by the Spirit and be governed by the Spirit. The greater the fire of the Holy Spirit, the greater will be our love and fearless service to Jesus, who told us the truth. What truth did he tell us? “Follow me and you will get a lot of money? Follow me, and you will go to Harvard or MIT, or become president of the United States?” No. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24). He also said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). That is what Jesus declared. He put out the price, the cost, of discipleship for all people to see and make up their minds.

If we have become lukewarm, worthless, and useless for our Master, we must heed Paul’s counsel to Timothy: Fan into flame! Fan into flame God’s gracious gift of the Spirit by repentance, confession, reading God’s word, praying, and obeying God by Holy Ghost power and guidance. Paul was saying, “Timothy, experience a Holy Ghost revival in your life. Don’t be double-minded. Love Jesus alone, who was delivered over to death for our sins and raised for our justification.”

God did not give us a spirit of cowardice that runs away from trials, persecution, and death itself. Elsewhere Paul wrote, “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’” (Rom. 8:15). If you are a child of God, you have access to God. God is for you, and you are for him. You are not alone as you live, as you go and as you come.

As people get older, they tend to become more fearful. And eventually, they do not want even to go out. They want to lie in bed and stare at the ceiling. The songwriter said, “It was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.” So we can become afraid of many things: afraid of getting pregnant and giving birth, afraid of going to work and raising a family, afraid to drive or fly. Yet in all these things, we are with God, and God is with us.

Jesus baptizes us in the Holy Spirit and fire. John the Baptist said, “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Matt. 3:11). And we read, “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). Peter declared, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear” (Acts 2:32–33).

 

Spirit of Power

Fear causes us to shut our mouths and not speak of Jesus, the only Savior of the world. Fear causes paralysis. Fear says, “There is a lion out there”; “It is going to rain”; “It is hot”; “I think I am coming down with a cold.” Associating with people who are gripped with fear will paralyze us.

Those who do not bear witness to their faith are afraid. The fire of the Spirit in them needs to be fanned into flame. What shuts our mouths? Too much money. Worldliness comes into us like the London fog; we need to resist it.

The Spirit-filled believer says, “To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” It is better, blessed, and precious. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So we need to examine ourselves to see if the fire of the Spirit is going out in our own lives. If we discover this is true of us, let us heed the counsel of the apostle to return to our first love.

We have no need to fear. God is with us. The Holy Spirit is with us. Jesus, the world conqueror who has received all authority in heaven and on earth, is with us. God appeared to fearful Abraham. The Lord said, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward” (Gen. 15:1). To Joshua he said, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go” (Josh. 1:9). And the Hebrews writer says, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Heb. 2:14–15). Our great fear is the fear of death. But Christ destroyed our death. John tells us, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment” (1 John 4:18). Fear has to do with hell. Jesus saved us from hell so that when we die, we will go to heaven.

The Holy Spirit is the opposite of servile fear. God gave us the Holy Spirit, who gives us power to live and die in the service of God. It is the same incomparably great power that God exercised when he raised his Son from the dead. This is the power we possess in the Holy Spirit.

Paul speaks about this Holy Spirit power working in us: “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 1:18–20). He also writes, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Eph. 3:20).

This power was at work in the early church. We read, “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all” (Acts 4:33). Jesus himself counseled his disciples, “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say” (Luke 12:11–12).

Thank God, the Holy Spirit is in us! And the power the Holy Spirit gives us is never-failing power that stares at death in victory. So Paul wrote, “I can do everything through him who pours into me strength” (Phil. 4:13). He is in prison, yet he says, “I can do all things.” And it is power to witness. Paul writes to Timothy, “[Everyone forsook me.] But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed” (2 Tim. 4:17). The Lord himself stands with us and opens our mouths so that we can bear witness to Jesus Christ through the gospel message.

God is looking for people who are weak in themselves so that he may put his power in them and make them adequate, competent, and more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. Paul readily acknowledged his own weakness. Then he wrote, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10).

God’s power is available for us to meet our every need. It is the power by which Jesus accomplished our redemption. So we read, “When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased’” (Luke 3:21–22). Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and his entire ministry was by the Holy Spirit. He suffered the death of the cross by the Holy Spirit and was raised from the dead by the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit is dwelling in us, and he will make us competent to live for God. The Holy Spirit gives us power.

 

Spirit of Love

It is the Holy Spirit who also gives us divine love so that we can love God and do his will. Paul wrote, “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Rom. 5:5). In the Greek, it is, “He has poured out love immeasurably.”

Love is powerful. The fruit of the Spirit is love (Gal. 5:22). Paul writes that we should “Walk in love” or “Live a life of love.” Then he gives us the example: “just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:2).

John writes, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 John 3:16). When one person suffers, everyone suffers. When one person rejoices, everyone rejoices. John also says, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). God loves us, and with that love, we love him, and die for him.

Demas was a temporary believer. He was a fake. He abandoned Christ because he loved this present world. We see such people in the visible church. In due time, the temporary believers will go away to eternal punishment.

 

Spirit of a Sound Mind

The Holy Spirit gives us a sound mind, a good mind, that we may think God’s thoughts and delight in the word of God, so that we may hear and do the will of God. Remember the legion-demon man? Thousands of demons filled one person, yet God saved him. And afterwards, he was clothed, sitting down, and in his sound mind (Luke 8:35).

A sound mind is a mind that thinks God’s thoughts, loves God’s thoughts, and does God’s thoughts. To know what a sinner’s mind is like, read Romans 8:5–8. A sinner’s mind is enmity toward God. Every unbeliever has a mind that hates God and his word.

A Christian is pneumatikos; he is a Spirit-filled, Spirit-controlled person. Such a person understands the gospel. He has a new mind because he is a new creation. Paul writes, “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us” (1 Cor. 2:12). He understands the gospel, he delights in the gospel, he meditates on the gospel, and he acts on the basis of the gospel. And whatsoever he does will prosper (Ps. 1:3).

Not only does a Christian have a new mind, but he also has a new will. Thus, a Christian can make correct judgments about all reality based on the word of the Lord. Paul writes, “The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment” (1 Cor. 2:15). In other words, Christians can make judgments on all reality because they see all reality through the lens of God’s revelation. Whatever good unbelievers do in this world, they do through common grace. But in their minds and hearts, they are enemies of the gospel. So Paul writes, “We and we alone have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16). As Christians, we know what is right and what is wrong. And we choose what is right and do what is right. We do all of this by the power of the Holy Ghost.

A Christian sees reality as Christ himself does. He feels as Christ feels. Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians 6:10 of being “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” We can do so by the Holy Spirit. A Christian can rejoice in sufferings. He sings and makes music in his heart always. How can a Christian come to worship our great God and be depressed? He cannot. A Christian is a Spirit-filled man, not a Stoic with a stiff upper lip. So a Spirit-filled man has wisdom, understanding, counsel, and knowledge of God (Isa. 11:2–3). He is a man of sound mind.

Every unbeliever in Jesus Christ has an unsound mind. Therefore, he will make wrong judgments on the ultimate issues of life. Such people will run after the things of this world without ever thinking of eternal issues in Jesus Christ. They do not want to do the one thing needful, which is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that they may be saved.

 

Don’t Be Ashamed

Because the Holy Spirit indwells believers, they are fearless, even when facing persecution and death. Paul wrote to Timothy, “So do not be ashamed” (v. 8). Timothy was not to be ashamed or afraid of anything. What was the reason? In Timothy was dwelling the Holy Spirit forever. (PGM) He would never leave him nor forsake him. And the same Holy Spirit who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will raise up all who die in Christ.

This is why Paul was not afraid of dying. “Remember Jesus Christ, Timothy, raised from the dead,” he was saying to his timid friend (2 Tim. 2:8). Elsewhere he wrote, “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who lives in you” (Rom. 8:11). And John writes about seeing the risen Christ, “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades’” (Rev. 1:17–18).

The Holy Spirit will cause us to be fearless. Peter was ashamed of Jesus and denied him three times. But later, without fear, he preached the gospel and suffered martyrdom. So he told the authorities, to the Sanhedrin, “We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him” (Acts 5:29–32).

If you are a Christian, you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and you will obey the Holy Spirit. Paul was not ashamed of the gospel. He told Timothy, “That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard [my soul, my body, my life] what I have entrusted to him for that day” (2 Tim. 1:12). This is what faith in Jesus Christ means. We entrust ourselves to Christ to save us, to forgive all our sins, and to give us eternal life.

So Paul told the Roman church, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). And consider his words to the worldly wise and powerful King Agrippa II: “Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?’ Paul replied, ‘Short time or long—I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains’” (Acts 26:28–29).

If we are ashamed of Jesus, it is because we are afraid of the world. We do not want to suffer for the testimony of our Lord because we know that the people of the world will hate us. So we say nothing about Jesus. But if we do not witness for Christ, one conclusion we can make is that we do not believe Jesus destroyed our death and brought to light indestructible, indefectible eternal life. To such, Jesus is asking, as he asked Peter, “Do you love me more than this passing world, more than your own temporal life?” May God help us to say, “Yes,” and not be ashamed of Christ and his apostles. And may we, by the power of the Holy Spirit, bear witness to the gospel and suffer our share of suffering for Christ, who loved us and was not ashamed to die the death of the cross for our sins.

The Holy Spirit continuously bears witness to Jesus. His mission is to glorify Jesus, and we must do so also. Jesus spoke about this: “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:26–27).

If we are true Christians, filled with the Holy Spirit, we have no choice but to proclaim the gospel by our lives and our words. And we will have nothing to fear in this world because in Christ, we live eternally. Jesus himself said, “I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one is able to snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). He also declared, “Whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Then he asked, “Do you believe this?” (John 11:26). Jesus is asking us the same question: “Do you believe this?”

We have nothing to fear. Paul writes, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). Paul says at the end of Romans 8, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37). Then he concludes that nothing in all creation “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:39).

Paul therefore counsels us as well as Timothy, “Do not be ashamed of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. But by the power of the Spirit, suffer with me for the gospel.” That is a command, not a suggestion. The so-called faith movement rejected this apostolic invitation to suffer. Its adherents use their “faith” to become wealthy, healthy, and mighty. But they do not preach the true gospel of Jesus and his apostles.

Suffering for righteousness is part of true Christianity. Consider this: Young Stephen was stoned to death. The apostle James was beheaded. Peter was crucified. Paul was beheaded. So to Timothy, and to us, Paul is saying, “Do not be ashamed, but suffer with me for righteousness.”

Read 2 Timothy 1:8; 2:3, 9; 4:5. These verses use the words, “suffer”; “endure”; “suffer by the Spirit.” Jesus himself warned his disciples, “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me” (Matt. 24:9). I challenge all false preachers to preach from these verses and see if their followers want to believe in Jesus.

The Hebrews writer speaks of true believers: “Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground” (Heb. 11:35b–38). We can face such things by power of the Holy Spirit. That is why we must fan into flame the gift of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, as Jesus said, “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). That means he will send them to hell.

It is the will of God that every child of God must suffer. Paul wrote, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). He also says, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Rom. 8:17). People are looking for a good life in this world. But it is Jesus Christ alone who gives us a good life, which is indestructible, eternal life.

To avoid suffering, we must avoid shining. We must hide our lamps under a bushel. We must become friends of the world. But we cannot serve two masters. We will either serve Jesus or the devil.

Jesus was not wealthy or famous. In fact, he was homeless. Isaiah calls him a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. And, eventually, he was crucified, in accordance with God’s will. Satan says, “Avoid the cross and follow me.” Jesus says, “Deny yourself, take up the cross, and follow me to death, so that you may live, and live forever.”

Paul was exhorting Timothy and all of us to suffer evil for the gospel by the power of God. We can do so, not in our own power, but in God’s infinite, resurrection, Holy-Ghost, ever-present power. He is the one “who comforts us in all our troubles” (2 Cor. 1:4).

So Paul says, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body” (2 Cor. 4:7–11).

 

Questions to Think About

Let me ask you some questions:

1. Are you a true believer in Jesus? That is the one thing needful for your life. Do you have genuine faith in Jesus? Do you have the life of Jesus in your soul? Do you have the Spirit of God dwelling in you?
2. Do you have daily family devotions? Are you daily building yourself and your family up in the most holy faith?
3. Are you afraid, anxious, or despondent? Then fan into flame the fire of the indwelling Holy Spirit. And be careful not to grieve the Holy Spirit by disobedience; that will not benefit you at all. In Isaiah 63 we read of God’s people, “They rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them” (Isa. 63:9–10). It is not a winning counsel to tell you to resist or grieve the Holy Spirit.
4. Do you bear witness to the gospel of eternal life and suffer for the gospel in God’s power? Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:14–16). Friends, we are the light of the world.

 

 

May God help us to fan into flame the gift of the Holy Spirit whom he has given us. And if we have not been experiencing life in the Holy Spirit, may we remember the height from where we have fallen, and repent and do the first works, for the glory of God.