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Good Thursday morning to you dear “Walking with Jesus” friends!
Have you ever ‘fanned into flame’ cooling embers or coals? Maybe a campfire or even a fire over which you were trying to cook a meal, but the fire was struggling to ignite and needed a fresh wind to burst into flame? Have you ever heard someone say their love for another person or even for God needed to be ‘fanned into flame’?
Let’s start right there… sitting beside a fire that needs a fresh wind to ignite, and along with Mr. Timothy, let’s open our Bibles to 2 Timothy 1:6 “For this reason I remind you to FAN INTO FLAME the gift of God, which is in you…”. Timothy, who probably is in the city of Ephesus, has just received this second letter from his mentor and friend the Apostle Paul who was imprisoned again in Rome. Already in the opening words of this letter Timothy’s heart has been touched deeply, by Paul’s very personal words about Timothy’s faith; Timothy’s mother and grandmother; and even Timothy’s tears. Now Paul touches a very special place in Timothy’s heart.
Timothy had grown up in the town of Lystra (Acts 16:1-3) the son of a Greek man and Jewish woman. From the time they first met, Paul had become Timothy’s spiritual father and mentor, and we can probably assume his best friend. They had traveled extensively together and Timothy had seen some remarkable things in those years. Now in the tone of this letter I think Timothy is realizing he may never see Paul alive again, and he is challenged to think deeply about the impact Paul has had on his life and what it will mean for him to be entrusted with Paul’s legacy and the mantle of ministry. One thing for sure. . . Paul was a PASSIONATE and courageous man, willing to face any hardship in order that the name and Gospel of Jesus Christ would become famous all across the Roman Empire in the first century!
While I do not find an exact account of the event Paul refers to here, and in 1 Timothy 4:14, it was obviously very significant in Timothy’s life. We have some modern day similar ceremonies: “Ordination”… when someone is ‘ordained’ into the ministry. Normally they have prepared and pass some type of testing and when found acceptable, are surrounded by those who already have been in that ministry and they are prayed over and ‘ordained’ and commissioned into the “Pastoral ministry”. “Commissioning” is something often done when sending out a full time missionary or someone ‘commissioned’ to a special spiritual task. “Installation” is when a ministry leader accepts the call or assignment, and is prayerfully ‘installed’ into that responsibility.
In all three of these there is an expectation that the people are acting on behalf of God, in their authorizing the person to live out the ministry privilege and assignment, to which God has called them, with the blessing of God and His people. Prayer and usually a ‘laying on of hands’ is involved in these ceremonies and gives the one ordained or commissioned or installed a profound sense of affirmation by those already in ministry, and being launched into the calling of God on their life. I know in my case, these times have profoundly impacted my life.
This matter of ‘laying on of hands’ has deep roots in Bible history. Do you remember the great patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob each laid their hands on their sons and prayed God’s blessing over them before they died. In the case of Joseph and his sons Manasseh and Ephraim, Genesis 48 gives us a very special story. Old Jacob, Joseph’s father, was nearing death and he blessed his grandsons with inheritance equal to one of his own sons. He said to Joseph, “…your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here, will be reckoned as mine. Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Rueben and Simeon are mine. Any children born after them will be yours.” (Gen. 48:5) And then Jacob placed his hands on his grandsons and prayed for them. It was a sacred and very significant moment, do you know why? 400 years later, when Joshua led 2 million Hebrew slaves, the descendants of Jacob and his family, into the promised land and they divided up the land among all the tribes of Israel, Ephriam and Manasseh’s descendants were given land equally with the other sons of Jacob! And there’s much more in that scene in old Jacob’s tent that day, but I’ll save that for another time we are together my friends. . .
The point is, this matter of a Godly man, being led of God to place his hands on the head of a younger person, whom God has called to a special assignment, and pray over them, is found throughout history. Moses put his hands on his brother Aaron’s sons and ‘ordained’ them to be the first priests of God’s people. (Leviticus 8). Samuel anointed young David with oil as God commanded him, commissioned David to be king. While it doesn’t specifically say so, we presume that included prayer and Samuel’s hands of blessing upon David. (1 Samuel 16:13).
One other thing my friends, often in the Bible fire was an important part of a special work of God. Fire fell from heaven and consumed the prophet Elijah’s sacrifice on Mount Carmel, remember that in 1 Kings 18? Fire fell from heaven when King Solomon was dedicating the great Temple in Jerusalem and burned up the sacrifices the people had brought before God (2 Chronicles 7:1). Remember the ‘tongues of fire’ which came upon all those gathered in the upper room during Pentecost as the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 2:3)?
So my friends, can you imagine the thoughts swirling around in Timothy’s head as he reflects on this one, powerful verse Paul has written to him “…fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands…” (2 Tim. 1:6).
Timothy knew the Holy Spirit of God within him was gifting him to teach and preach God’s truths and to lead the Christians in Ephesus to become a vibrant, dynamic, powerful force for God in that city, but it would require Timothy to become impassioned and courageous like Paul. He would have to regularly take steps to ‘fan into flame’ his passion for living God’s commission to him.
The truth is my friends, one of the great challenges which faces EVERY Christian, in all places, is that our spiritual fervor cools, our intensity wanes. Yesterday I received something from one of you which fits right here. This dear friend had taken the core truths of a message that I preached in her church more than 20 years ago, about spiritual drift, and she made a bookmark and sent it to me in a pdf. I think it fits perfectly right here and I urge you to print it out and make a bookmark for yourself my friends, because Spiritual drift is dangerous and the best antidote is: to ‘fan into flame’ our spiritual passion and our relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit in our lives.
As Timothy continued to read the letter he’d received from Paul I wonder if he could hear Paul’s voice in his mind… “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me His (Jesus’) prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the Gospel, by the power of God, who 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.” (2 Tim. 1:7-9)
I imagine Timothy set the scroll down, and started pacing the floor, as he had seen Paul do so often, looking off into the distance. . . the distant past and all his adventures with Paul and what he had seen, heard, suffered and learned. His own journey, as Paul often sent him off, as Paul’s ambassador, to visit the towns where they had started churches, sometimes bringing one of Paul’s letters with him and then explaining that letter to the people, line by line. I think Timothy then looked into the future… and imagined it without Paul, only the memories, the letters and the power of the Holy Spirit to keep guiding and empowering Timothy to carry on Paul’s work.
Paul was right… the journey they had walked together was not for the faint of heart, not for the weak of character, and certainly not for anyone who was ambivalent or unsure about God’s truth. No, the path God had called Paul to walk and Paul was now challenging Timothy to carry on, was a path of struggle against the darkness of those opposed to God or those who would distort God’s truth. It was a path of persecution as he proclaimed God’s truth in a society which was rejecting God. It was a path of injustice, unfairness, even imprisonment and torture and his only crime. . . bringing the hope and help of Jesus to people. But when light penetrates darkness there is a reaction, isn’t there my friends?
John the disciple whom Jesus loved deeply, recorded that Jesus had said “God so loved the world that He sent His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but shall have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in Him stands condemned already because He has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth, comes into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he has done has been done through God.” (John 3:16-19)
I feel as though God just put up His hand like a stop sign in front of my eyes. He knows I’m getting fired up as I write and read this to you… but I sense God is saying to me, “that’s enough for today Doug. Let ME take it from here. Let ME talk with My people who’ve been listening to what I’ve been saying through you. Now it’s time for ME to meet privately with each of them. We have some things to talk about… each of them and Me, their God.”
So, I urge you to read over those three verses again, slowly and listen to God and what He wants to say to you. I’ll be ready to meet with you again tomorrow morning.
I think He has some things He wants to talk with me about too. . .
Click to read today’s chapter: 2 Timothy 1:5-7. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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