Sermon Tone Analysis

*Stop Being Ashamed Of Being A Christian!*

January 4, 2009

*/“Believing In An Unbelieving World”/*  Message 1 of 4

/2 Timothy 1:6-12  *[i]*/

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Mary Anna Martin grew up during the depression, but her family, despite its poverty, was rich in love and happiness.

Her dad and mom were caring and tender parents, and laughter filled their home.

Her father was a baker, but he lost his bakery shop in the first years of the depression.

He had to take any job he could to pay the family's mortgage and keep food on their table.

He worked at the local YMCA for awhile, then with the WPA*.

*When that job ran out, he found a job as a janitor.

He was an older man, small and gray, and it was hard work.

But he did his best.

Mary Anna said, "My life was happy and carefree until the year I left elementary school and started junior high.

I was 13, and soon became part of a new group of friends.

I knew that Daddy was a janitor, but I didn't know where, until that awful day during lunch break."

It was when Mary Anna was seated at a table with her new friends when she heard a teacher call her father's name in a loud voice.

Someone had dropped their tray, and food and milk covered the table and the floor.

She saw him walk toward the table, carrying a mop and old rags.

One of the girls said to Mary Anna, "That janitor has the same last name as yours.

Do you know him?

"Mary Anna slowly raised her head and looked at the little, gray man cleaning up the spilled food.

She hesitated, then said, "I've never seen him before in my life."

A wave of intense embarrassment swept over her, and she instantly felt ashamed of denying her dearest friend on earth.

She hated herself for those words and tried to make up for what she had done by showing her father that she loved him more than ever.

She sang to him and read to him and spent time with him.

But regardless of how hard she tried, nothing made her feel better.

The years passed, and her father developed Alzheimer's disease.

One day when he was ill and she was sitting with him, she started crying.

Her mother asked her what was wrong, and Mary Anna poured out her heart and told her what had been bothering her for more than fifteen years.

She said, "I have been asking God to forgive me, but I can't get over what I have done."

Her mother drew her close and held her tightly as she wept.

"Honey," she said, "your daddy knew you loved him, and he would have loved you even if he had known about your being ashamed of him when you were so young.

You know –Simon Peter denied that he knew Jesus before he was crucified on the cross, and Jesus loved him just the same."

And Suddenly Mary Anna felt at peace with herself for the first time since she was in junior high.

She knew that because of the love of Christ, it was time to turn the corner.

We have all been ashamed of things as we have passed through this life.

Perhaps it was something we did, some thing we said, how we acted in a certain situation or how we reacted to a certain situation.

We have all experienced shame!

Haven’t we?

I have!

This morning, I want you to Open your Bibles to 2 Timothy… Paul is writing to a young Pastor who is a little discouraged by the things going around him and in the life of his friends.

Paul seems to sense the fact that Timothy is growing ashamed of the Gospel because of the affliction, persecutions and trials that accompany it.

Paul wants Timothy to know that there are some things in life of which we must never be ashamed.

Doesn’t it  seem like we’re embarrassed about all the wrong things.

We live in a society that has made people too embarrassed to stand up for any virtues and good principles.

People are even too ashamed to differ with others on politics and religion, opting for passive indifference.

Many are embarrassed …thinking others will look down on them for their choices.

Or, they are ashamed to be thought of as intolerant, biased, or narrow-minded.

The result is a society that stands for nothing.

Today we begin a series of messages on 2 Timothy.

The theme of this series is—BELIEVING IN AN UNBELIEVING WORLD.

I’ve titled this message—STOP THE  SHAME!

What does that mean?  “Stop Being Ashamed of Being A Christian.”

Look how Paul puts it in

 

!! 2 Tim 1:6-12….

6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of hands.7

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

8 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner.

But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, 9 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.

This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.

12 That is why I am suffering as I am.

Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

 

3 easy principles today…  Lets look at them…

!

1.

I Can Not Be Timid—I Have God’s Power!

One dark night outside a small town, a fire started inside the local chemical plant.

Before long it exploded into flames and an alarm went out to fire departments from miles around.

After fighting the fire for over an hour, the chemical company president approached the fire chief and said,

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"All of our secret formulas are in the vault in the center of the plant.

They must be saved!

I will give $50,000 to the engine company that brings them out safely!"

As soon as the chief heard this, he ordered the firemen to strengthen their attack on the blaze.

After 2 more hours of attacking the fire, the president of the company offered $100,000 to the engine company that could bring out the company’s secret files.

From the distance, a long siren was heard and another fire truck came into sight.

It was a local volunteer fire company composed entirely of men over 65.

To everyone’s amazement, the little fire engine raced through the chemical plant gates and drove straight into the middle of the inferno.

At a distance the other firemen watched as the old timers hopped off of their rig and began to fight the fire with an effort that they had never seen before.

After an hour of intense fighting, the volunteer company had extinguished the fire and saved the secret formulas.

Astounded and full of gratitude, the chemical company president announced that he would double the reward to $200,000 and walked over and personally thanked each of the volunteers.

After thanking each of the old men individually, the president asked the group what they intended to do with the reward money.

The fire truck driver looked him right in the eye and said, "The first thing we’re going to do is fix the brakes on that truck!"

What had looked like courage and unbelievable desire was instead faulty brakes and the will to live.

Do you charge boldly into life because of your faith—or simply because of faulty brakes?

Does your Faith move you beyond what you’ve experienced in the past?

This morning we’re going to look at a letter sent from a Veteran Evangelist to a Rooky Pastor.

The veteran, you may know as the apostle Paul.

He commissioned Timothy, the young pastor, to serve in Ephesus.

Paul’s writings reveal a man who did not seem to struggle much with lack of motivation.

I believe PAUL would be considered today to be a  *"*Type A" personality -- the driven sort who was continually on the move.

When he couldn’t be there personally he burned the midnight oil writing letters.

He was anxious to use every opportunity given to him.

Where he ran into opposition, he usually turned it into an occasion for celebration.

When he attracted trouble, lesser people scattered and ran.

Timothy?

Well…  I think he was a little more like the rest of us.

Timothy was probably a little more laid back, ready to settle into one place.

But Timothy had stalled in at least one area.

As different as the 2 men were, Paul was crazy about his student.

Paul saw the potential and he invested heavily and personally to bring out the best in Timothy.

In light of their personal friendship he will give his young friend a hot spark of encouragement, which may seem to be aimed dead center at many of us: