SAVED TO SERVE - Flagstaff Christian Fellowship

1 Pastor Steven J. ColeFlagstaff Christian Fellowship123 S. Beaver StreetFlagstaff, Arizona TO SERVE2 timothy 1:6-7 BySteven J. ColeAugust 20, 2006 Steven J. Cole, 2006 For access to previous sermons or to subscribe to weeklysermons via email go to: otherwise noted, all ScriptureQuotations are from the New AmericanStandard Bible, Updated Edition The Lockman Foundation1 August 20, 20062 timothy Lesson 2 SAVED to Serve2 timothy 1:6-7A farmer had a team of horses in which one horse consis-tently worked harder than any of the others. The farmer said, They re all willin horses. The one s willin to pull and the rest arewillin to let him.

2 Sadly, that is often an accurate description of the local fact, pastors often refer to what they call the 80-20 rule, whichstates that 20 percent of the church members do 80 percent of thework. But God never intended it to be that way. He intended thatall whom He SAVED should SERVE His cause in some are many reasons that Christians do not SERVE the don t SERVE because their commitment to Christ and Hischurch is half-hearted. They attend church occasionally, but theirreal interests are in the world. Serving in the church would be aninconvenience for them.

3 Others have tried serving, but they lackedtraining and grew frustrated and quit. Some quit because otherchurch members criticized them. Others burned out trying to dotoo much. Some quit serving because they were serving out of thewrong motivation. They were looking for commendation frompeople, not from God. But for whatever reason, many Christiansgrow weary of the hassle of serving the Lord and retreat to a morecomfortable seat on the seems that timothy had a tendency to retreat from thefront lines of serving Christ. He was rather shy and timid, and notin the best of health (1 Tim.)

4 5:23). His relative youthfulness causedhim to be a bit unsure of himself when difficult issues requiredconfident leadership (1 Tim. 4:12). Once Paul had to write to theCorinthians (1 Cor. 16:10), Now if timothy comes to you, seethat he is with you without cause to be afraid. Paul knew that therowdy Corinthians might run roughshod over this insecure Paul sat chained in a Roman dungeon, awaiting execution,he knew that he had to hand off the torch to timothy . So he wrotethis final letter to encourage timothy to keep running the race in2spite of difficulties and opposition.

5 He words should encourageany of us who may be tempted to draw back from actively servingthe Lord to persevere. And this book exhorts all who know Christ,but are not serving, to get into the 2 timothy 1:6-11, Paul is encouraging timothy to continueserving the Lord with all of his strength, in spite of opposition. Hisflow of thought goes like this: Because you are SAVED , you mustserve (1:6-7); but when you SERVE , be prepared to suffer (1:8); whenyou suffer, remember your salvation and God s call to preach thegospel (1:9-11). Then Paul points to his own example of servingin spite of suffering (1:12) and to the example of Onesiphorus(1:16-18).

6 The theme here is, even if you suffer for serving Christ,do not be ashamed of the gospel or of those who preach the gospel(1:8, 12, 16). Today we can only look at the first section (1:6-7):Because you are SAVED you must SERVE Christ. For this reason (1:6) points back to 1:5, to timothy s salva-tion. Paul is saying, Because I know that you have a sincere faithin Jesus Christ, you must kindle afresh (or, keep in full flame) yourspiritual gift by actively using it in serving the Lord. sure that you are SAVED before you try to is the foundation for any genuine service that we canoffer to the Lord.

7 It is a huge mistake to think that you can offerGod anything before you first receive His gift of salvation. For ex-ample, people fall into this error by thinking that if they give finan-cially to a church or a Christian organization, they are doing some-thing that will commend them to God on judgment God will not be indebted to anyone. He will not let youinto heaven as a payment for anything that you do for Him. Salva-tion is a free gift. If you can do anything to earn it or deserve it,then it is no longer a gift of God s grace, but a wage or a rewardthat is due (Rom.)

8 4:4-5). Good works follow salvation, but theycannot in any way earn it (Eph. 2:8-10). So, before you get involvedin any way to SERVE the Lord, make sure that you re gifts every SAVED person for you re thinking, I already know this. timothy knewit, too, but Paul reminded him of it again (1:6): For this reason3[because you are SAVED ], I remind you to kindle afresh the gift ofGod which is in There are two ways in which God giftsevery SAVED s main gift is the Holy Spirit Christian receives the Holy Spirit to indwell him or herat the moment of salvation.

9 In Romans 8:9, Paul asserts, But ifanyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong toHim (see also, Gal. 3:2, 5). In the context of spiritual gifts, Paulwrites (1 Cor. 12:13), For by one Spirit we were all baptized intoone body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and wewere all made to drink of one Spirit. Some scholars argue that when Paul says (1:7), God has notgiven us a spirit of timidity, Spirit refers to the Holy Spirit andshould be capitalized (Gordon Fee,New International Biblical Com-mentary, 1 & 2 timothy , Titus [Hendrickson Publishers], pp.)

10 226-227). Others understand it to refer to the inner spirit or demeanorthat should characterize every believer. Whichever view is correct,it is clear that power, love, and discipline are qualities that comefrom the Holy Spirit. But God s main gift to every believer is theindwelling Holy Spirit, who empowers us to SERVE Him. We needto walk daily in dependence on the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16). Holy Spirit imparts spiritual gifts to every is significant that in each of the four main biblical refer-ences to spiritual gifts, it specifies thatevery Christian has a gift:Romans 12:3: For through the grace given to me I say toeveryone among you not to think more highly of himself than heought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as Godhas allottedto each a measure of faith.