“For God has not given us the spirit of cowardice, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7).
The spirit of cowardice lives and thrives in churches these days. It has a corner in the office of many a pastor, and makes whimpering sounds familiar to many of us….
“You don’t want to do that. It might rock the boat.”
“Deacon Crenshaw will be upset if you preach that. I wouldn’t.”
“Back off on that vision God gave you. You’re going to lose some members if you push that.”
“Pastor, you must not oppose the power group in your church. They ran off the last three preachers.”
“The biggest giver in the church is threatening to withhold his tithes if you persist in letting those people come to our church.”
We surely don’t want to offend anyone, do we?
We don’t? Show me that one in the Bible. Jesus didn’t mind offending those who were dead-set on flouting the laws of God and blocking the ministries of the faithful.
Jesus did not mind offending those who were stealing from widows and burdening down the hurting and scoffing at the hungry.
Go ahead and offend them, preacher. Even if you lose your job–and many a faithful pastor has indeed found himself out of the pulpit and selling used cars for a time as a result of his obedience to God–you will have all eternity to be glad you were faithful.
In fact, if I may be so bold as to say so, you will be a hero in Heaven.
The Holy Spirit makes you courageous. Not cowardly. Bold, not bashful. Strong and solid, not weak and wishy-washy.
Pastors and Bible teachers who know almost nothing of the Greek language know that “phobia” is Greek for “fear.” And, it usually is. But not here in Second Timothy 1:7.
Forty-seven times, when speaking of fear the New Testament uses “phobos” and twice uses “eulobeia.” But, here in Second Timothy 1:7, the word is “deilia.” There’s a difference in the meanings of these words.
The first, phobos, can be good or bad fear. The second, eulobeia, is always good (a fear of God, for instance).
But deilia is bad fear.
Most translations of this text make the word to be “timidity,” “fear,” or “cowardice.” I like the last.
There is a ton of cowardice among the Lord’s people, and it needs to go.
Cowardice in the pew looks and sounds like this….
–“I can’t start tithing my income. Why, whatever will we do if we run into a financial crisis? But if I ever have any extra, I’ll start tithing.”
–“I can’t go public and commit my life to Jesus! What if He sends me to China? Or my friends laugh at me? Or my family punishes me?”
–“I can’t let the people in our group know I go to church or read my Bible. They will tease me and I’ll be embarrassed.”
–“I can’t speak up and protest when the school group wants to schedule some event for Sunday morning when we all ought to be in church. I’m afraid of what they will say.”
God has not given you a spirit of fear of those people, a spirit of cowardliness about speaking up and standing forth, or a spirit of shyness about confessing Jesus.
He has given you the spirit of power!
He has given you the spirit of love!
He has put within you a sound, clear-thinking mind!
But you have to choose. He forces nothing on you.
Up to you, friend.
Final thought. When Joshua succeeded Moses as the leader of God’s people, over and over he was told to be strong and of good courage for the tasks before him. At least half a dozen times. Toward the end of Deuteronomy, it was Moses telling him this. And in the first chapter of Joshua, it’s God telling him, later the people themselves.
Wonder why? Why did everyone–literally everyone!–feel they had to remind this good man to “be strong now!” and “be courageous!” over and over? We argue from silence here–as we do from Paul’s constant admonition to Timothy to be strong (“let no one despise your youth” and similar statements). There must have been a natural timidity about both men. And they would have to work against that.
God’s leaders must know when to be quiet and when to speak up. When to let others take the lead and when to step out in front themselves and assert their God-given prerogatives. When to tell a congregation “enough is enough” and even lay down some laws he feels strongly about. (I said that and meant it, but the pastor had been know God is leading so he will not be acting in the flesh.)
So many reasons to pray for our pastors. This is a biggie.
