2 Timothy 1:1-7
part one of a nine-part sermon series on 2 Timothy
The Rev. Dr. Robert S. Langworthy, preaching
September 29, 2025
Two years ago, journalist Jemima Kelly wrote an article entitled, “The West is Suffering from a Crisis of Courage”. She noted that, while there is a lot of “virtue signaling” going on, few are signaling the virtue of courage. For being courageous involves taking scary risks and enduring heavy costs – particularly these days when forthrightly expressing certain opinions can expose you to character assassination and social ostracism. In many contexts, only the brave come completely clean about where they stand.
Kelly reported that even just mentioning courage is diminishing. According to a study on the use in literature of words related to moral excellence, words such as “courage” and “bravery” have, over the past century, declined in frequency by two thirds.
Virtuous courage, Kelly noted, is not fearlessness. (Fearlessness is just a foolhardy, reckless suppression of feelings.) Courage is being afraid and doing the right thing anyway. It is, as Plato said, having your fears properly ordered, so that higher fears overcome lower ones. For example, a courageous Christian fears disappointing God more than losing popularity – or, to put it positively, the desire to please God trumps the desire to please any crowd.
If we want to do right by others, we must be courageous enough to stand up for what we believe is right. Kelly concluded her article by quoting Maya Angelou who said, “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue.”
Christ calls His followers to embody every virtue, and thus calls them to act courageously.
Paul was a courageous man, and very much wanted his spiritual son, Timothy, to be courageous as well.
When Paul wrote this letter, the last letter of his that made it into the Bible, he was – after 30+ years of serving and suffering for Christ – in prison once more. Only this time he fully expected to be executed at any moment. He was “chained like a criminal” in a dank, dark jail cell. Many on whom he’d once relied for support had turned away from him. No one was there for him but Luke.
No wonder then that Paul yearned for a visit from the young man whom he had spiritually raised and mentored, whom he called “my beloved child”, and about whom he said, “I have no one like him”. For a decade and a half, Timothy had been Paul’s constant, dedicated companion and co-worker in the cause of Christ.
Yet, while Timothy was a person of authentic and deep faith, he wasn’t naturally courageous. He was by temperament timid and meager in fortitude. Since Paul knew he’d soon be passing on his ministry to Timothy, Paul strove to build him up into the bold and brave leader God meant him to be: someone strong in the strength of the Lord who’d stand up for the truth, righteous living and the proclamation of the good news of Jesus everywhere.
So Paul began his letter by reciting reasons Timothy should be confident before the challenges ahead. His grandmother and mother had embodied for him “sincere faith”. Paul himself had prayed for him “constantly…night and day”; thought so highly of him as to view his arrival with joyful anticipation; and knew, by having laid hands on him, that Timothy had within him a “gift of God” for ministry.
The greatest gift of God to anyone is God’s gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit ignites in the open-hearted, not cowardice, but courage – and that gift of courage enables them to make the most of all the other gifts God gives – such as the gifts “of power and of love and of self-discipline”.
First, it takes courage to dare to claim one’s power and use it try to better a world that is deeply invested in injustice and lies. The effort to make a difference exposes you to opposition and to much danger. For instance, in owning up to the power God gave him and employing it to defeat the evil of racism, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. lost his life. It may not cost any of us that much, but to take on any evil puts us at risk of suffering defeat, frustration and persecution. But God’s spirit imparts the courage not to give up despite the price of staying the course.
Second, it takes courage to dare to love people, for caring about their welfare puts our heart on the line and makes it vulnerable to being broken. It also instills in us empathy, which causes us to feel the pain of others as our own. Before the Spirit got ahold of me, I couldn’t have cared less about, say, the starving children in Africa or the unhoused in America. The Spirit enlarged my circle of concern and gave me enough courage to let their trouble, trouble me.
Third, it takes courage to dare to take responsibility and to exercise the necessary self-discipline to fulfill your call from God. To become like Christ in character and conduct, we must become brave by the Spirit and gain self-mastery from the Spirit, that we might put our fear in its place and endure the sacrifices required to bring about the good in a world that’s often bad. Betting our life on Jesus’ promise that, in denying ourselves safety and many a nicety for Him, there is great gain for us that makes us people who won’t ever back down, and cut and run.
Just sixteen months ago, a young couple, Davy and Natalie Lloyd, lost their lives for Jesus.
Davy had grown up in Haiti. He spoke Creole before he spoke English. From childhood, he’d helped his parents run a Christian mission that educated 450 children and housed 50 of them on a compound in Lizon just north of Port-au-Prince. As a teenager, Davy became convinced that God had called him to dedicate his entire life to serving in that orphanage, there in the poorest country of the western hemisphere.
When Davy and Natalie married in June 2022, they made their home in Lizon, Haiti, despite the fact that the country was descending into a death spiral of political dysfunction and violent anarchy. Their dream of spending a long life together there making a difference for the neediest of the needy was shattered a month before their second anniversary, when gangs attacked the missionary compound and killed them both, along with its Haitian director, Jude Montis.
Davy and Natalie courageously embraced their call from God with their eyes wide open to the risks and with no regrets possible. For they had bravely and resolutely determined never to cut and run, because they believed they were where they were supposed to be and doing what they were supposed to do – giving hope to a community in despair.
May the Spirit who gave them courage give us courage, that we may remain where we are supposed to be and do what we are supposed to do!
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