Timothy, my dear son, be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus. You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. 2 Timothy 2:1-2
I am quite sure that if Paul the Apostle was alive today then it is perfectly obvious (!) he would have used the examples of Paul Scholes, The NoroVirus and Pylons to demonstrate to Timothy the power of passing things on.
According to popular opinion, Paul Scholes is supposedly the greatest midfielder in the Premier League at the moment. His ability to pass the ball is legendary. The reason he is so effective in the field is that Paul Scholes knows how to pass it on. Affectionately known as the "winter vomiting bug", the infectious Norovirus caused Heston Blumenthal a nightmare recently when it decided to infect 40 of his guests at the £130 a head Fat Duck restaurant. This badboy spreads faster than Anchor butter straight from the fridge. It knows how to pass it on.
According to pylons.org there is a Pylon Appreciation Society for people who "appreciate" electricity pylons. Before you laugh, heed the warning of the clubs creator who says "It's funny how many people accuse me of being mad or geeky - and then they send me photos or ask for more information!" I will give their fans one thing - these pylons really know how to pass electricity on. (You know you wanna join!)
When Paul writes to Timothy with a deep desire for him to create a lasting legacy with his life, one of the clearest points he wants to get across is that he must learn to pass things on to others. It is not just about having a sense of history, we must have a spirit of destiny as well.
The picture of four runners in a relay team is a really good one here. Paul (1) has the baton first, he passes it on to Timothy (2), who must pass it on to others (3). These men (4) must in turn be equipped to pass it on in order for the race to be won. There are four generations and beyond that must be able grasp hold of the baton of truth. It is almost as if Paul does not consider success until eternal truth has been passed down the line.
This makes me want to think ahead. Way ahead. It makes me question what I am sowing into now and wonder if it will last into the future. I often wonder about the church, project, people group or plans I am involved in right now, and if am I building in the capicity for it to flourish in four generations time. It makes me soberly assess the work of my hands and ask if truth in my life really is being passed onto the next generation. If this is how I win the race, then I'd better start passing the baton.
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. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:6
A couple of days ago I decided to burn a pile of personal bills in order to prevent some dodgy bin rustler from stealing my identity. I put the papers into a large metal bin and set them alight. The resulting fire burned steadily for a couple of hours and then after a twilight rainfall the smoke died down and seemed no more. The next morning I went to clear out the ashes and with a large spade I stirred up the burnt papers. Instantly grey smoke began to rise from within the centre of the barrel followed seconds later by a fresh flicker of fire from within. I couldn't believe it was still burning!
A fire which I thought was dead was suddenly fanned back into flame. This is an almost perfect illustration of the words of wisdom sent to Timothy. Paul reminds us to keep stirring up what is inside and never let it die.The first thing he says is to remember the spiritual heritage he has had passed onto him by his Grandmother and mother. But the "passing on" was never meant to end there. "I want you to fan into flame the gift that is in you" says Paul with a passionate sense of urgency. The torch must be passed on by you too.
Who is responsible for the flame within you? It is not your grandmothers job. It is not your parents responsibility. It is not within your cutting edge youth groups remit. There are those around us in life that may give us flammable material, and may even light a match, but you have to stoke your own fire. That's what keeps you burning.Each of us has been given a unique gift that can only be unwrapped by our own hands. Maybe it is time you stopped thinking someone else had to do it for you, and started stirring it up yourself.
One of the biggest things that stops us from using the amazing spiritual and natural gifts God has given us is fear. As one famous quote by Marrianne Wilson puts it “ Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us." Most of us are not afraid of the dark, but we are scared that we might just be amazing.As the quote goes on to say "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God." A spirit of timidity cannot survive the fanning of the flame. Why be left feeling as if we are useless and a failure when we have been given the gift of power? Why feel unlovely, unloved and unable to love others, when we have been given a gift of love? Why feel like things are out of control, and unable to control ourselves, when we have within us the gift of self control?Fanning the flame means it is time to step out in that gift again. Fanning the flame means it is time to revive the dream in you that died. Fanning the flame means it is time to explore that place in yourself which you were scared to go, because there is love and power yet to be released.... "You are a child of God."It is time to Acknowledge what God has given you: Take some time to think about what God has put inside of you that you have either allowed to die down or have not yet put to use.
It is time to Believe that what you have is both a) real and from heaven and b) sufficient for the job you have been given to do... is his grace is enough? Is his power enough?
It is time to Change your behaviour in accordance with what you believe you have been given. When you act as if you have been filled with power, love as if you have experienced the deepest of love, and live as if you have learnt the strictest of self discipline, then this flame will make a difference to the way you live.Paul is writing his final words of hope to his spiritual son, in confidence that his own flame would not be extinguished with time. Timothy is left with a decision to make sure that the torch he has been given will shine in the darkness for generations to come. The fatherly advice of 2 Timothy shows us all that we begin to leave a legacy, when we begin to believe what is within.
"I remember your true faith. That faith first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I know you now have that same faith." 2 Tim 1:5
If you want to leave a legacy, you have to remember your history.
One of the biggest embarrassments to young Christians is often their testimony. Everyone dreads that moment in the youth group or that opportunity at school where you get to tell your story about how you became a Christian. I mean there is always one isn’t there! There is always one girl who was lost in sex, drugs and rock n roll before she was radically transformed after literally hearing the voice of God on the toilet. Or there was always that one guy who used to murder Christians and throw them to lions before he fell off a horse and saw a vision of Jesus glowing like a nuclear lightbulb. You know the type...
When it is your chance to tell your story to the world, your eyes slowly scan the floor, you shuffle awkwardly and beneath muffled hands, you splutter the immortal words “My parents were Christians and I was raised in a Christian home.” It is possibly the least dramatic statement in the universe. I mean you never did drugs, you never even touched a cigarette and the hardest time you ever had at home was when your parents decided to not to go to Disney World one summer (for once).
Yet when we flashback to Pauls letter of legacy to his spiritual son Timothy, we find him highlighting, above everything else, that there is power in this kind of “undramatic” testimony, there is power in multigenerational faithfulness. Whether you hear the message from your horse or your Grandma, the point was always that the baton was passed on. Paul tells it like this: “Your Gran had it. Your mum had it. And now you got it. So don’t forget it.”
Being part of a family of faith is not something to be embarrassed about; it is something to be celebrated. For many young people, if it wasn’t for their parents, they would not have found Jesus. All of us pick up on the characteristics of our family whether we like it or not. And far better than inheriting your Dads big nose or your mum’s eyebrows, is the inheritance of salvation itself. Millions of teenagers are happy to sing out the fact that they want to be a History Maker yet they run from embracing their own history. I trust you feel the challenge to reassess how you may feel about a key part of God’s kingdom plan: your spiritual heritage.
But what if my history is not full of Christians who have invested in me over the years? What if I don’t have Christian Parents? What if my background was actually full of sex, drugs and rock n roll? The answer may be found in Hebrews 11. For in that chapter of the Bible you may, like Paul the Apostle, suddenly find yourself connected to a family tree which you never even knew was yours. You may discover long lost brothers like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You find that history really is HIS STORY. The story of Jesus at work throughout the ages, leaving his legacy and getting you ready to leave yours. Whatever your background: Welcome to the family..."Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Romans 12May we never forget that we did not begin our race alone. The baton was passed to us and so we too, one day, must pass that baton on. Whatever position we end up on the podium, we will only ever get there because we were standing on the shoulders of giants...
“I have fought the good fight. I have finished my race...”These are the famous last words of a man who was chained up, hungry and alone a damp prison cell, yet was not uttering them with a sense of failure or misery, but with the smell of victory. Paul had reached the end of a monumental journey in a life that was radically transformed the day he fell off his horse and met with Jesus.
Perhaps the most exciting thing about the spirit behind these words were that Paul knew it wasn’t over. The dream didn’t end with him. Although he was chained up, his message wasn’t. It was already spreading like wild fire across Ephesus, Corinth, the world. The bell had sounded at the end of his knockout fight, but the battle was destined to continue. A Baton was being passed onto to churches and cities across the nations, but more importantly to individuals. These individuals would take the baton and run harder than ever before for a God that they never even met in the flesh. They may not have fallen off a horse, but they had fallen in love.
Paul had learnt to “consider as rubbish” many of the things that people thought would help you leave a legacy. Paul had no time for monuments, birthrights or titles but instead he chose to invest into spiritual sons. This was the secret to making sure that his race could be so much more than a 100m sprint, it could become a marathon.
In the book of 2 Timothy we find Paul coaching one of his sons as a veteran pacemaker. Paul was at the end of his journey and Timothy was only just beginning his. And so a letter was written by a dying hero to his sidekick and as a consequence, the race marked out for the few, could become the race marked out for the many. The marathon continues...
The question of 2 Timothy is this: If you had one chance to pass on what you knew to someone else, what would you say to ensure that the fight continued into the next round?
Over the next few posts we will explore this question together.
