The Spirit God Has Given Us

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7, NKJV).

The word “spirit” has several uses in the New Testament. It sometimes means “breath” or “wind.” It is also used often of man’s spirit or soul. Other times it is used of the Spirit of God. But here Paul uses it in yet another sense, referring to an inner quality or disposition that God develops within the Christian. In A. T. Robertson’s words, the apostle is describing “the human spirit endowed by the Holy Spirit.” What kind of spirit does God give to his people?

Not a Spirit of Fear

“Fear” is being just plain scared. Sometimes we keep our faith in the closet for fear of being criticized, ridiculed, rejected, or mistreated by the people around us. But such things are often the cost of discipleship. Jesus told His apostles that they would be hated because of Him, but that they should not fear those who would turn against them (Matthew 10:22,26). He explained, “Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell” (verse 28).

Paul’s description of the Christian spirit comes as he admonishes Timothy to “kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you” (verse 6) and to “not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me His prisoner” (verse 8). Timothy faced pressures that could frighten him into neglecting his role in God’s kingdom. So do all of us. Commenting on our text, David Lipscomb called it “a grave reminder…that all cowardice, all dread of danger, all shrinking from doing one’s duty for fear of man’s displeasure, proceeds not from the Spirit of God.” I believe it is just this sort of “cowardly” person who is described in Revelation 21:8 as a partaker of the second death. Christianity is not for the spineless.

Jesus calls us to live courageously. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Instead of fear, He offers us boldness and confidence — not in ourselves, but in Him. “But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul” (Hebrews 10:39). “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’ ” (Hebrews 13:5,6).

A Spirit of Power

“Power” is strength or ability. In the Bible, this word usually describes the work of God. Here it is God’s power instilled in His people — not miraculous power, but the power of a transformed life. It is “vigour [sic] and resolution of mind in all we are called to do…a spirit of energy in all that concerns the work of God, in opposition to everything like indifference, unsteadfastness, unfruitfulness” (Brewster). Paul reminded the Philippians, “it is God who works in you” (Philippians 2:13), and prayed that the Colossians would be “strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might” (Colossians 1:11).

Every Christian should feel an undying sense of urgency in carrying out the commands of God. When we are faced with souls that are lost, disciples who need uplifting, or people who need compassion, we are compelled to act. Jesus’ disciples are tireless as we “engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs”(Titus 2:14; cf. Galatians 6:9). What’s more, we have God’s promise to supply the power to overcome every obstacle and see the task through. His people choose confidence over cowardice. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

A Spirit of Love

The love Paul has in mind is that purposeful, selfless love which he so deftly portrays in 1 Corinthians 13. Without it, our praise is hollow, our devotion is shallow, and our sacrifice is vain (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). We need more than power to achieve spiritual victory. We cannot overcome without the love that “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (verse 7). “The love of country, and wife, and children, and home, makes the most timid bold when they are assailed; and the love of Christ and of a dying world nerves the soul to great enterprises, and sustains it in the deepest sorrows” (Albert Barnes).

A Spirit of a Sound Mind

Paul’s term here denotes good judgment and self control. The NRSV renders it “self-discipline.” This word family appears several times in the New Testament, especially in the letters to Timothy and Titus, where it is applied to Christians in various walks of life. R. C. H. Lenski calls it “the exercise of a sane, balanced mind” which “guides our power” and “applies the intelligence and the purpose of our love.”

Christians are people of prudence and discretion. God instructs us to “think so as to have sound judgment” (Romans 12:3). Energy and compassion are useless if they are unrestrained and unguided. We are to think, not merely feel and act. Lots of religious folks want to live in a fuzzy, feel-good, dream world with no tough choices. But Christianity is not a sedative. Our Lord wants us to be sober and alert (1 Peter 5:8) and “have our senses trained to discern good and evil” (Hebrews 5:14). That training is found in “the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15).

Conclusion

I like Brewster’s comments on this verse in The Preacher's Homiletic Commentary: “All its principles are calculated to support each other and to form by their union a complete and consistent character. We see the spirit of power, without love, hardening into austerity, and, without soundness of mind, rushing into extravagance. We see the spirit of love, without power, sinking into a soft timidity, and, without soundness of mind, yielding the most sinful compliances. We see the spirit of a sound mind, without power, settling in sloth, and, without love, souring into selfishness. Without the spirit of power, all is feebleness; without the spirit of love, all is ferociousness; without the spirit of a sound mind, all is foolishness. The first is the acting hand, the second the feeling heart, the third the directing head.”

Counting Sheep

A recent news report on a big metropolitan church in Ohio mentioned that the church’s Sun­day attendance is over 500, with membership over 2,000.

Look at those numbers again. See anything amiss?

Are that church’s leaders bothered that on any given Sunday at least three-fourths of the members are not there? I don’t know. I do know that even among God’s people there is definitely room for improvement when it comes to attending worship.

Knowing this, many congregations make some effort to keep track of members’ attendance at the assemblies. This always makes some folks mad (namely, the chronic absentees), but it’s a healthy habit. At one place where I visited recently, a table in the lobby held a stack of attendance cards and a sign that read, “We count sheep, because sheep count.” I like that thought. It’s a good sign when the people in a church pay attention to whether or not their brethren are with them for worship.

The writer of Hebrews said, “…let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25).

Note the contrast in this passage: “forsaking our own assembling together” is opposed to “stimulating one another” and “encouraging one another.” God doesn’t ask us to meet together out of mindless habit or ritual performance; He shows us that it’s a vital means of building each other up.

Other passages make the same point about worship. “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs…” (Colossians 3:16). “Let all things [in worship] be done for building up” (1 Corinthians 14:26). If I choose not to gather with my spiritual family for worship, I rob them of the strength they would draw from my presence, and I rob myself of the strength they would impart to me.

Of course, the focus of worship is God. The writer of Hebrews also enjoins us to “continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name” (Hebrews 13:15). The New Testament shows that God wants Christians not only to praise Him in individual, daily life, but also to worship Him together with one another. If I choose not to do so, I rob God of some of the praise that is rightly His.

These reasons alone ought to answer the question, “What’s the big deal about worship attendance, any­way?” God commands it, it glorifies Him, and it strengthens us. It follows, then, that my brethren have every right to expect me to assemble with them for worship.

Furthermore, my brethren have every right to be deeply concerned if I am in the habit of missing those assemblies. Churches that monitor worship attendance do so because they know it’s a good “barometer” of spiritual interest. They know that when a Christian starts going to worship less often, or stops going at all, it is just an indicator of deeper troubles in his life.

And it’s just here that we often fail each other: we try to treat a symptom (poor attendance) instead of the disease (spiritual weakness). If brother Smith is missing most of the assemblies, we try to encourage him to be there more. And we should. But brother Smith’s absence from worship is probably due to a deep-seated spiritual problem, and that problem is not addressed by merely telling him he should be at church more often.

A Christian’s attendance at worship may suffer for all sorts of reasons. He may be just plain worldly and not really very committed to the Lord. (Personally, I suspect this is most often the culprit.) But there may be other reasons. A brother might be de­pressed over some tragedy or difficulty in his life. He might be fighting a losing battle with temptation and feel unworthy to worship in God’s presence (hence the common explanation, “When I get my life straightened out, I’ll come back.”) He may be caught up in the deceitfulness of sin and want to avoid his fellow Christians, knowing that they may try to get him to change.

Now, these may not be good reasons for someone to miss worship assemblies, but they are reasons nonetheless. And while we definitely need to encourage such a person to be present with us, that alone may not be enough. We need to try to help him overcome whatever it is that has taken away his desire to be there.

Of course, whenever this subject is raised, someone objects that perfect attendance doesn’t always mean spiritual maturity. True, some disciples who occupy their pew every time the doors are open are still weak and worldly. But does anyone seriously think that persistent absence from the assemblies is a sign of spiritual strength?

Paul instructs us to “admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak…” (1 Thessalonians 5:14). All three of those conditions may cause a brother or sister to miss worship frequently. When a disciple starts disappearing from the assemblies of God’s people, we need to take notice. We need to recognize that he has a problem. We need to find out why he is absent and respond accordingly. Is he apathetic or negligent (“disorderly”)? Then we need to admonish (warn) him. Is he discouraged or struggling (“fainthearted”)? Then we need to encourage him. Is he weak or immature? Then we need to patiently help him grow. Anything less is putting the proverbial band-aid on a bullet wound.

When a congregation keeps track of who is missing from worship services, it is not to exert control over people or to single someone out for embarrassment. It is because brethren care about one another’s souls. We count sheep because sheep count.

Fishers of Men

“And walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men’” (Matthew 4:18-19).

I love saltwater fishing. It’s been some ten years since my father-in-law took me on my first trip, and I’ll never forget it. I’ve learned a lot since then, including this: whether you fish for a living or just for fun, there will be days when you catch nothing. When that happens, you can give up fishing, or you can try again another day. One thing is certain: you’ll never catch anything if you’re not out there with a line in the water.

When Jesus called Simon and Andrew to follow Him, He used the image of their old work of fishing to describe their new work of saving souls. How is evangelism like fishing? We might think of all sorts of comparisons involving bait or tackle or techniques, but a different incident from the gospels suggests another likeness.

“And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the multitudes from the boat. And when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ And Simon answered and said, ‘Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but at Your bidding I will let down the nets.’ And when they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish…and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink” (Luke 4:3-7).

Like fishing, sharing Christ with the lost takes patience and persistence. There are some days—lots of days—when we catch nothing. But Jesus still asks us to try again tomorrow. When we, like Simon Peter, have “worked hard…and caught nothing,” we may feel discouraged and want to quit. But we need to trust that if we labor, God will give the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6-7). Like Peter, we should say to Jesus, “At Your bidding I will let down the nets.” That next cast may bring in a great catch.

Even on days when I catch nothing, I still love to fish. And even on days when I see no visible response to the gospel, I still must keep on doing my part to proclaim it. That’s what it takes to be a good fisherman—and a good “fisher of men.”

Building Jericho

After the Israelites destroyed the city of Jericho, Joshua pronounced a warning from God: “Cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho; with the loss of his first-born he shall lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its gates” (Joshua 6:26).

Five centuries later, when Ahab was on the throne of Israel, “Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his first-born, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun” (1 Kings 16:34).

Amazing, isn’t it? Surely this man knew about the curse of Jericho that had caused it to lie in ruins all those years. But he rebuilt it anyway. His oldest son’s death must have made him realize that God meant what He said. But he kept building anyway. I don’t know exactly what his reasons were—he probably wanted to accomplish something great. Imagine! Here was a father so driven by personal ambition that he sacrificed his own children’s lives rather than give up his “dream.”

As appalled as I am at the callousness of this man, it’s even more unsettling when I realize how easily I could become like him. Many of us parents sometimes resemble Hiel the Bethelite more than we’re ready to admit. We’re just so busy. We work long overtime hours to provide more money. We have our hobbies, our distractions, and our “toys.” We have lots of things we want to accomplish. And for these mundane concerns we often trade the time and attention that our children so badly need from us.

What’s even scarier is that we can be great, loving parents and still sacrifice our kids without even realizing it. We spend time helping them with Tonka trucks and Barbie dolls, with math, baseball, and fishing, with dating problems and SAT’s; but do we do anything to cultivate a genuine love of God in their hearts? We may work so hard to make our children “good people” that we forfeit their souls in the process.

Fathers and mothers, we need to be careful. Let’s not build Jericho at the expense of our children. The price is just too high.