There’s Nothing More Important than Your Christian Faith!

20th Sunday after Pentecost, 10/2/16
2 Timothy 1:3-14


There’s Nothing More Important than Your Christian Faith!
I. Hold on to it!
II. Use it!
III. Guard it!


How long has it been since you’ve cleaned out one of your home’s closets or a drawer? It’s not a particularly enjoyable task, but you feel better once it’s done. However, one of the enjoyable aspects of it—at least for me—is the discovery of things you had forgotten you ever owned. You hold them in your hands and wonder, “Why in the world did I keep this? I never use it. I don’t look at it. It doesn’t have any sentimental value. It’s just part of the junk that fills this space.”

But the fact that you kept it at one point in your life is an indication that you placed enough value and importance on it that you thought it was worth keeping. But not anymore. Your life has changed. What you value has changed. There are other things and people in your life now that have replaced that forgotten item.

And that’s OK. We’re free to make decisions about what’s important to us and what’s unimportant at any moment of our lives.

But not when it comes to our faith in Jesus as our Savior. There isn’t a single second of your life when your Christian faith isn’t critical to everything that you are. You can lose every earthly thing you have, but if you still have your faith in Jesus, everything will turn out blissfully for you. In the final analysis, there’s nothing more important than your Christian faith. Period. The inspired Apostle Paul shared that truth with his co-worker Timothy in the words before us this morning. May the Holy Spirit convince you that there is nothing more important than your Christian faith.

Part I.

When Paul penned these words, he was in prison in Rome for the second time. About 5 years earlier he had been released from prison when it was determined that he was doing nothing illegal. But a horrifying change of events had occurred. Nero was now the Roman emperor and he had declared Christianity illegal. Paul had been arrested once again for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, a capital offense. In this letter, Paul knows that his end is near. It won’t be long before he suffers a martyr’s death and enters eternal life.

Now, if you were a young pastor, as Timothy was, what might your reaction be? Paul had given Timothy the task of carrying on his work in the congregations that Paul had established. But Christianity was now illegal and punishable by death. What would your reaction be? “I think I’ll get a new day job.” Or, “OK, we’re going to have to take this underground.” Or, “If this is where my Christian faith is leading me, I’ve got to find something else to believe, something that won’t get my head severed from my shoulders.” Timothy may have even wondered if this would be the end of Christianity.

Listen to Paul’s encouragement, “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 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. So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner.”

Paul reminds Timothy that his faith is something that he shared with his mother and grandmother, who were Jewish and held to the promises of the Messiah. It was likely Paul who shared the good news of Jesus with them on his first missionary journey. Paul’s point was that Timothy’s faith is something he had possessed for a long time and it extended back in history. This faith in the one true God who promised a Savior and then sent that Savior isn’t something new or illegal. It’s not something that hasn’t stood the test of time. Timothy’s faith was built on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God who is the Savior and the Ruler of all things in heaven and on earth. So, hold on to it! Don’t let it go! There’s nothing more important than your Christian faith!

Are you tempted to let your faith go? I’m guessing your presence here this morning is a solid indication otherwise. You do consider your Christian faith to be important to you. And, at least for now, it’s not likely that we’ll face the same pressure to deny our Savior as the Christians did in the days of Paul and Timothy. But our faith is still under pressure from without and within. When our world slings so many of its deadly deceptions our way on a daily basis, it’s hard to keep up the fight. We’re pressured to give in a little and go along. Meanwhile, our sinful nature pressures us from within by constantly resisting everything that God says and does. And then we begin to think, “If I just change what I believe a little bit, things will be a lot easier for me and, in the long run, I’ll be happier and God wants me to be happy, right? When that’s how we think, we’re losing our grip on our God-given faith. Our faith centers in the truth that our God loves us so much that he sacrificed his Son for our sins, even for our sins of diminishing the importance of what he has revealed to us in his word and what we, therefore, believe. With the help of the Holy Spirit, hold on to that faith!

Part II.

If you’re like most people, you enjoy giving gifts, especially to loved ones. You may even expend a great deal of effort to get them a gift they’ll enjoy and appreciate. But you can’t be sure, can you? That gift could become one of those items that gets placed in their closet and forgotten.

Paul had rejoiced over Timothy’s God-given gift of faith. But he not only wanted him to hold on to it, he also wanted him to use it and the spiritual gifts that accompanied that faith. Paul states, “I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” The Greek word that Paul used for “gift” indicates the spiritual gifts that Timothy possessed. Paul encouraged Timothy to recognize those gifts—leadership, evangelism, teaching or preaching—and put them to good use. Obviously, the best way to use spiritual gifts is to proclaim the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul says it like this, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner.” Testify about Christ. That sounds like a no-brainer. But remember what Timothy was facing. Testifying about Christ got the greatest missionary the world has ever seen a seat on death row. The temptation was huge to keep quiet. Paul urged Timothy to proclaim Christ with Christian courage and boldness.

And if that brought suffering, so be it. Paul writes, “Join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.” Jesus stated that Christians would suffer because of their connection to him. Paul wore that suffering as a badge of honor and he urged Timothy to do so as well. Timothy would be empowered by God to do that when he recalled that there is nothing more important than his faith. That faith was a gift of God meant for him to use. So is yours. So use it!

Is your faith your most important possession? Is it God’s great gift to you? I’m guessing you would say it is. If so, what are you doing with it? How are you using the gifts God gave you to glorify him and to share his saving word with others? Do you tend to put your faith on a shelf in a spiritual closet and barely get it out for an hour or two once a week? Is your response to opportunities to serve Jesus with your gifts something like this? “That’s not my thing. Someone else will do that.” Or is it the other extreme? “I’m using my gifts, why don’t they?” There’s more than a little sinful pride there. You see, the last thing Satan wants is for us to use the faith God gave us. The last thing he wants is for us to get involved so that more people hear the gospel. None of us uses our gifts in a perfect way. Only Jesus did that. And then he suffered and died to redeem us, to make us his own, to give us the gift of faith and the spiritual gifts that accompany that faith. He gives us the blessed opportunity to use what’s more important than anything else—our Christian faith. So use it!

Part III.

If something is important and valuable to you, you probably take measures—sometimes extreme measures—to protect it. Security is a huge issue in our personal and business lives.

If there’s nothing more important to you than your Christian faith, how are you guarding it? How will you be any match for the Master of Lies, Satan himself? How will you fend off the world’s relentless attacks on your faith? Listen to Paul’s advice, “What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” There is no such thing as an unimportant truth of God. Paul instructed Timothy to teach and preach everything Paul had shared with him. How could Timothy possibly hope to do that with Christianity now declared illegal?

He had the power of the Holy Spirit on his side. It was the Holy Spirit himself who inspired Paul to write these words to Timothy and the Holy Spirit would use these words to strengthen Timothy’s faith and instruct him in the truths of the Christian faith. We’re confident that Timothy agreed with Paul—there’s nothing more important than your Christian faith. We feel the same way about our Christian faith. So guard it!

The history of the Christian Church on earth is littered with those who have not defended the faith, who have caved in to Satan’s lies, who have denied the truths of God’s word. But by God’s grace the true Christian faith has been planted in your heart by the Holy Spirit and that same Holy Spirit will guard that faith as you use his word and receive our Lord’s sacrament. Cherish that faith! There’s nothing more important!. Amen.