To Timothy, My True Child in the Faith

Heavenly Father, we once again come to Your Word and are humbled and grateful and thankful that You would give us Your Word.  Among all people, Lord, we have access to know what the Bible has to say to us.  So we thank You again this evening that we can approach Your Word and we pray that we would do so with humility.  I pray that You would speak through me, to us, and that it would be the words of Christ that we hear.  Would You bless the preaching of Your Word?  In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.   

Well, good evening and once again welcome to Christ Covenant.  As has been mentioned, we are beginning a new series on the book of 1 Timothy.  So over the course of the next several months the pastors and myself will be working our way through this book in the evenings.  So if you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn to 1 Timothy, chapter 1.  We will look at the first 11 verses together.  1 Timothy, chapter 1, verse 1 down to verse 11.  Hear the Word of the Lord. 

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy, my true child in the faith:  Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.”

“As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.  The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.  Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.”

“Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.”

As we begin our study into this book, we are going to look at a number of different aspects of the text.  Just like in the morning, we are starting a new series and so it’ll be helpful for us to take a few extra moments to examine some of the context of this letter.  I think that will better help us understand not only this passage that we’re starting in but also the book as we go on.

We’ll begin by looking at the context of which this letter is written and then we’re going to look together at the content.  What is Paul actually saying?  What is he saying in these first 11 verses?  Then finally we’ll consider any closing consequences for us today.  We’ll look at the content of the letter, the context first, the content, and then finally the consequences of this letter in our lives today.

So first our context.  As you may have guessed, this is a letter written from Paul to his protégé in the faith, Timothy.  While recently some critical scholars have raised concerns and doubted the authenticity of this letter, that it was indeed from Paul, it is important to know that there was virtually no one within the first 1800 years or so of the Church that raised such suspicions, and these included those in the early Church who may have actually known Paul and Timothy, or maybe have just been one generation removed.  So it’s with good reason today that we have every assurance that this was a letter indeed written from Paul to his protégé in the faith, Timothy.

Many scholars seem to agree on an early to mid 60s date, believing that Paul may have written this letter after his first imprisonment from Rome, which was recorded in Acts 28, but before his second imprisonment in which he wrote his second letter to Timothy.

So who was Timothy?  Who was this young pastor that Paul was writing to?

We know much more about Paul, but it is important to understand more of who he is writing to if we are to understand the context and therefore the content of this letter.  Timothy was still a young man.  He was a young pastor.  Paul even calls Timothy “my true child in the faith.”  Undoubtedly, Paul is referring to the spiritual relationship between Paul and Timothy.  But later in chapter 4, verse 12, Paul again makes explicit mention of Timothy’s age – let no one despise you for your youth.  Let’s set the believers an example in speech and conduct, love, faith, and purity.

Timothy was a young man.  He was born to a Jewish-believing mother, Eunice, but he had a pagan Greek father.  He grew up in the town of Lystra and some have speculated that Timothy may have even been converted while he was a boy during one of Paul’s first missionary journeys.  It was, indeed, at Lystra that Paul was almost stoned to death.  At some point young Timothy joins Paul’s missionary band.  Paul had spent considerable time in Ephesus where Timothy was and where he was pastoring.  Paul eventually leaves Timothy there to pastor the church while he continues ministry elsewhere.

By the time this letter is written, Timothy had likely been pastoring there for four or five years.  By the time that Paul is writing to Timothy here, it’s a time where Timothy, a young pastor, was needing help.  Here he was, a relatively inexperienced leader, facing a very difficult situation.  There was false teaching entering the church.

So Paul writes this letter to Timothy to strengthen his young protégé by teaching the church how to order itself and also how to conduct itself.  Paul’s words were needed because not only was Timothy young in age, but it was also likely that Timothy struggled with timidity.  Paul was brash and confident, but Timothy was a little more shy.  He was probably averse to conflict.  He was certainly more unsure of himself than Paul, maybe because of his youth, maybe because of the context in which he was ministering to, and his mixed ethnic heritage.  We aren’t exactly sure, but we can see pretty clearly that Timothy was pretty timid.

1 Corinthians 16, verses 10 and 11, Paul tells the Corinthian church when Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord as I am.  Let no one despise him.  Help him on his way.

Later, in 2 Timothy, chapter 1 verses 6 and 7, Paul writes to Timothy, “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying of hands, for God gave us a Spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

It seems as if Timothy might have been so timid that maybe at one point he was even contemplating leaving Ephesus.  Paul says this isn’t the first time we’ve talked about this.  Remember when I was going to Macedonia, I told you the same thing – remain at Ephesus.  Paul’s words could literally be translated, just like I told you back then that you needed to stay at Ephesus when I was in Macedonia, I’m telling you the same thing now – you need to stay.  You need to remain at Ephesus.

Timothy was a young pastor.  He was unsure of himself.  He was facing significant theological opposition.  He needed help.  He needed encouragement.  He needed reassurance.  So right out of the gate, Paul gives him all of these things in his opening greeting.  Just look back at verses 1 and 2.  Paul reminds him of the authority that he carries.  He says, “I’m Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by command of our God and Savior, and of Christ Jesus our hope.”  Here is Paul’s only greeting in which he claims that his apostolic position was given to him by divine command.

Why would he do that here and maybe not elsewhere?  Well, it’s because he knew that Timothy needed that right now.  He needed reassurance.

Kent Hughes says that Paul’s greeting was confident, authoritative, and encouraging.  In other words, Paul’s short greeting here in these first two verses was everything that Timothy needed to hear to keep pastoring and keep leading in the challenging context that he found himself in.

What were those challenges that Timothy was facing?  Well, you can see it right there in our heading, above verse 3.  It was false teaching within the church.  Here we see the context of what Paul is writing about.  Look at verse 3 – as I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrines nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than stewardship from God that is by faith.

Many of Paul’s letters begin not only with some kind of greeting but also an offer of thanksgiving.  Not here.  Paul gets right into his concern which underscores the urgency of the situation.  Timothy, the people who are teaching different doctrines, you need to put an end to it.  Who were these certain persons?  Well, we don’t know with absolute confidence.  But some have made the case that it could have been some of the elders in the church.  A few reasons.  For one, they presume to be teachers of the law in verse 7, and from later in this letter, in chapters 3 and 5, we see that responsibility is specifically given to elders.

Second.  There are two men who have been excommunicated later in chapter 1, Hymenaeus and Alexander, and these men seem to have been excommunicated by Paul himself rather than the elders of the church.  Maybe that’s a clue that Paul didn’t fully trust the elders to do that work themselves.

Finally, the qualifications of an elder are repeatedly expressed concerns of Paul’s in this letter, again in chapters 3 and 5.  We don’t know with absolute surety who these certain persons were, but you can imagine how much more difficult of a situation this might have been if the challenge was from inside the church coming from the elders of the church, the men who had been charged to lead and shepherd the church alongside Timothy. 

Though we have been blessed with a tremendous amount of unity here at Christ Covenant between our elders and our pastors, so we don’t have to see this lived out in front of us.  It does not take too much imagination to envision the stress and the strain and the difficulty that a split in church leadership would have had on the congregation.  This was a significant threat to the church.  Timothy needed help. 

What were these certain persons teaching?  They were teaching different doctrines than what Paul and Timothy were preaching and teaching.  Doctrine that was contrary to the message of the gospel.  Again, there’s much that we don’t know, a bit of ambiguity here, but Paul does command Timothy to put an end to myths and endless genealogies.  These were running rampant in the church. 

Paul refers to myths elsewhere in the pastoral epistles, most notably 2 Timothy 4:4 – for the time is coming where people will not endorse sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.  Paul also refers to myths in Titus 1:14, and on every occasion where myths are referenced by Paul in the New Testament, it is done so with an explicitly negative connotation.  It’s possible that these myths were being used to excuse a moral licentious behavior.

Likewise, we aren’t exactly told what endless genealogies were referring to, but theologians have believed that they could be used for speculative purposes, giving people and events allegorical meaning.  It’s also possible that they were used to make others feel superior because of their family backgrounds.

So what is the problem with these things?  It doesn’t sound too bad, myths and endless genealogies.  Does this doctrine really seem so bad?  So worth getting upset over?  Worth writing a letter?  Worth not even the thanksgiving?  Straight to the point.  That’s what Paul was doing.

The problem was evident in the fruit that it was bearing in the life of the church.  They were promoting speculations rather than stewardship.  Again, maybe that doesn’t seem so dangerous on the surface, but therein lies another reason for the current concern that it may have been the elders of the church that were promoting different doctrines.  Because the elders of the church should have been entrusting with stewarding the message from God.  Instead they are charged with revealing, with teaching, with instructing myths and genealogies when they should have been building the body of Christ up.

The pastors and elders are the ones who study God’s Word and then make known what God has to say to the people of God, when we see that theology that leads to speculation is not good theology.  Why is that?  Well, it’s because we worship a go who has made Himself known to us.

Pastor Kevin spoke about this this morning, that we should meditate on the book of the law day and night.  Throughout history God has made Himself known to us through His Word.  He has made Himself known to us through Jesus Christ, the Word incarnate.  So friends, the people of God should not have to wonder about what God’s Word has to say, it is clear in Scripture what God’s word and God’s will is.

So when there are leaders and teachers, possibly even elders in the church, promoting speculation instead of stewardship, it is a direct attack on the character of our God who has made Himself known to us.

In addition, it seems as if these teachers were twisting the purpose of the law in the process.  They were desiring to be teachers of the law and therefore Paul seeks to clarify what is the purpose of the law, because you guys clearly don’t seem to be understanding it.  Paul says the law is good, the law is not to be laid down for the just but for the lawless and the disobedient.

The issue is not whether God’s law is good but it is how the false teachers understood the law and then applied it to their lives.  Paul even begins to track with commandments five through nine to underscore his knowledge and use and purpose of the law, knowing the use and purpose of the law.  The fifth commandment tells us to honor our parents, so Paul says that the law condemns those who kill father and mother.  The sixth commandment tells us not to murder.  The seventh commandment tells us not to commit adultery, so Paul says that the law condemns the sexually immoral, those who practice homosexuality.  The eighth commandment, thou shalt not steal, so enslavers are condemned.  The ninth commandment is not to bear false witness, so liars and perjurers are condemned.

Today among evangelical Christians, God’s law can sometimes get a bad rap.  Maybe it might be common to hear, “I’m not really under the law, I’m under grace.”  But here Paul says the law is good as long as it is used lawfully and rightly understood. 

Historically, theologians have seen three uses of the law and you can actually see some these elements, though maybe not explicit in the text.  First, the law is used to restrain sin in the world.  By itself, the law can’t change the human heart, we know that.  We know that we need the Spirit of the God to come and replace our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh.  But the law can restrain sin and evil in the world.  It can protect the righteous from the ungodly.

I grew up here in Charlotte, North Carolina.  I remember getting my driver’s license when I was 16 years old.  At the time there were no limits on the amount of people that you could have in your car.  I think there are limits now.  Those are probably good limits.  None of us, myself or my friends, had a DeYoung or Baxter-sized van so there was no party buses going around.  But we did exhibit some immaturity.  What we would like to do is we would like to find roads that had no posted speed limits on them and we would joke to ourselves, we can drive as fast as we want, for there is no posted speed limit here.  We’d find a back road out in the country and then we would say let’ drive as fast as we can.  We did not do that, just for clarity, and neither should any of you here. 

Even then I was reminded of I think I took a driver’s ed class and I think they told me that it was 35 when there was no posted speed limit.  That was in the back of my head.  Either way, when we drive around, most of us, most of us, somewhat, somewhat, adhere to the posted speed limit, the law.  Whether or not we follow it all the time, the posted speed limit is a restraining factor for the majority of drivers.  Some may be tempted to go a little over the speed limit, but we hope that no one is treating their neighborhood like the Autobahn.

The law has that use to it.  It restrains sin in our own world.  We can even draw analogies to the 2016 Obergefell decision, which was the 5-4 decision of the Supreme Court, requiring the granting of rights for all 50 states to perform and recognize same-sex marriages.  Since that decision when the law was changed, we’ve all witnessed what’s come to be known as the 21st century sexual revolution, the celebration of the LGBTQ agenda has increased exponentially since that time.  The law can be used to restrain sin.

We see that in our own world and we see that in the Scriptures as well.

Second.  The law is used to convict us of our sin, driving us to Christ.  The law is the perfect reflection of God’s perfect character.  It teaches us about who God is and what He’s like.  When we look to God in His holiness and His beauty and his perfection, and we see God as revealed in the law, we quickly see how sinful, how wretched, and how far short each of us is from God’s perfect standard.  It convicts us of our sin. 

But because of Jesus, the law does more than that.  It does not leave us in our own sin and our conviction.  The Old Testament’s sacrificial system was always meant to point to a better sacrifice, a perfect sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  So when we look at ourselves in the mirror and see our sin, the law drives us to Jesus, who despite perfectly fulfilling the law bore your sins and my sins on the cross.  For when we are weak, He is strong, and we praise God for that.

Finally, the law is used to teach us how to live.  It tells us what is pleasing to God.  It instructs us on what is right.  Jesus tells us in John 14:15, if you love Me, you will keep My commandments.  The law is therefore still an instrument that God uses to conform us more and more into the image of Christ.  No, we are not justified by our ability to keep the law.  We know from the second use that we have no ability to do such things.  It is only by faith in Christ and His perfect work that we can be justified. 

But the law does teach us how to live.  We are not justified because of our ability to keep the law, but we should seek to obey God’s law because we have been justified and are now being sanctified by the work of the spirit indwelling all believers.  It’s clear from verses 8 through 11 that the false teachers had a distorted view of the law.  So Paul reminds Timothy of what he already knows – now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully.

The law has three uses.  It restrains sin, it convicts us of our sin, driving us to Christ, and it teaches us how to live.

Admittedly, this can be a difficult passage for us to study together because so much of it is based in the unique set and circumstances of the day, the specific context that Paul was writing to.  This is a letter from one person to another person almost 2000 years ago.  So it’s natural to have a little bit of difficulty in saying how does this apply to Christ Covenant Church almost 2000 years later.

As far as I know, Christ Covenant Church isn’t struggling with these specific issues, though of course we have our own.  I don’t think there are any elders who have devoted themselves to myths and genealogies are not a very hot topic of conversation these days.  It can be very easy to brush off a passage like this, maybe even an entire book of the Bible like this, as not being relevant to our Christian lives because the context is so different.

But I want to end our time by proposing three ways that these first 11 verses have very important applications and consequences for us today. 

First, these 11 verses show us how older saints are needed in the lives of younger ones, especially in ministry.  As I mentioned, Timothy seemed like he was drowning.  Here’s a young, timid pastor facing a mountain of a challenge with a divided session of elders in front of him.  He may have even considered throwing in the towel and leaving his ministry post because of the stress and the strain.  At that moment, Timothy needed an older man in his life to help him, to encourage him, to assert himself in the situation.  Timothy needed Paul.  Though he did not have Paul by his side, Paul’s words of encouragement and exhortation were exactly what Timothy needed.

It should teach us something, that the example and the encouragement of older saints in the faith can be so pivotal in the lives of younger men and women in the faith.

I am very firmly in the in-between years of my life.  There are times where I am the youngest person in the room and there are times in which I am very aware that I am the oldest person in the room.  I am in the in-between years very much so, especially still in college ministry I feel being the oldest person in the room quite often in my job.   

But I’m no longer the youngest person in the room either.  When I reflect back on my younger years, especially in ministry, I can look back and see what an encouraging word from an older saint has meant to me.  I’m not just saying this because it was his birthday this weekend, it was a big birthday, wasn’t it, Bruce?  I won’t share which birthday it was.  But recently I’ve thought about Pastor Bruce and how Pastor Bruce has always been an encouragement to me in my ministry, always telling me to keep delivering the goods, as Pastor Bruce would like to say.

And I can’t help but be thankful for those words of encouragement because in times of doubt, of timidity, of feeling like I personally have very little to offer, words from an older saint can keep younger ones going.  Paul’s example of encouragement and help and reassurance can aid young Timothy, and they did aid young Timothy.  Someone further along in life and ministry has a lot to offer young Timothys in the faith, and Paul’s example would be one that we would do well to emulate.

Second.  1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 1 through 11, teaches us that doctrine really matters in the church.  It’s very common to hear that doctrine and theology, it’s very common to hear how doctrine and theology are given a bad name, maybe even pitted against our love for God and others.  Maybe you’ve heard the words of Jesus used against sound doctrine.  All we really need to do is love God and love others.  We don’t need to worry about this or that.  Can’t we just be a church about love?

What Paul shows us is that what we believe and what is taught in the church is of utmost importance.  Though there may be some unknowns and some ambiguity around what Paul was so concerned about, the fact remains that he considered different doctrines to be a major threat to this church. 

Sound doctrine was a major, major theme in all three pastoral epistles. 

1 Timothy 4:16 – Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.  Persist in this, for by doing so you will save both yourself and your hearers.

1 Timothy 6:3-4 – If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.

2 Timothy 1:13 – Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Titus 1:9 – An elder must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

Over and over again, Paul and really the entire testimony of the New Testament, affirms that what we believe really matters.

Just consider the Ephesian church.  This was a place that Paul had personally labored for over two years in.  I mean, the Apostle Paul personally was there for two years.  If any church should have the doctrine box checked, it should be the one that Paul was pastoring.  Right?  But here we are less than five years after Paul’s departure and already we see heresy beginning to creep in the doors of the church and into the leaders of the church.  Less than five years later.  We should never take sound doctrine for granted and we should pray for God to continue to be gracious to us, to our church, to our denomination, as we seek to rightly know him.

Entire letters are written by Paul devoted to helping churches understand, know, and believe the right things about God.  Right doctrine really matters.

Third point.  These first 11 verses show us that though theological precision is necessary, without a heart of love, we don’t see that modeled by Paul.  We see Paul modeling the utmost importance of theological precision in a church, but with a heart of love as well. 

We skipped over, very deliberately, verse 5.  You can go back there and look at it.  Paul writes, “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”  The aim of our charge, why I’m writing this letter, why I’m concerned about what is being taught, is because I love you. 

Paul’s desire for theological precision was not motivated so that he could be proven right.  He wasn’t trying to win an argument.  It wasn’t a debate.  It wasn’t to position him as superior in any way to those around him.  Paul’s love for the people in the Ephesian church compelled him to pursue theological precision.  It was love that drove him.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 7 beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Paul is looking after for this flock because he loves them.  He’s concerned for them because the wolves are vicious and they will tear the sheep apart.  Paul loves these sheep.  He loves this church.  He does not want to see them torn apart by the ravenous wolves that are making their way in. 

Do we love God’s people?  If so, we will seek to protect them from wrong beliefs about our God.  Many try to make right doctrine opposed to true love.  In large part, that may be because of how we have conflated love in our day to simply an emotional response or feeling.  But love is more than just butterflies in our heart.  We can think back to how Paul describes love in another one of his letters.

Here’s what Paul writes about love.  We see that it is far more than emotional responses or feelings.  He says that love is long-suffering.  He says that it is other centered.  He says it’s not selfish, it’s not demanding.  He says that love doesn’t take pleasure and joy in evil or injustice.  Rather, love rejoices with what?  The truth.  It is marked by commitment, endurance, hope, and perseverance.  1 Corinthians 13, obviously not a direct quotation.

1 Corinthians 13 is most often read in the context of a wedding ceremony and rightly so.  But we would do well to remember that those words that Paul wrote about love were written not to a bride and groom, but to a church.  It’s easy to see that the motivation of love on display here was true.  Paul loved them.  He is genuinely concerned about the church that Timothy was pastoring, so true love will always care about what God’s people believe.

Friends, we must be concerned about sound doctrine.  There may be no quicker path to ecclesiastical destruction than theological heresy.  But if we are doing that at the expense or maybe with a different motivation than love, than we are not following the path that Paul has set for us, because Paul cared deeply about theological precision because he cared for and loved the people of this church.      

Three consequences for us today.  Three things for us to consider as we enter in this letter of 1 Timothy.

One.  Older saints are so needed in the lives of younger ones today.

Second.  What we believe really matters.

Third.  Love and doctrine are not to be pitted against one another but rather because we love our church we should care deeply about its doctrines. 

Let’s pray.  Lord Jesus, we thank You for the Apostle Paul and his ministry.  We thank You for his encouragement to Timothy.  We thank You that he did not stand idle but rather entered in to this situation and helped a younger pastor.  So we pray, God, that as we consider these words we would apply them to our lives.  They can be difficult to understand centuries later, but there are still real, relevant applications in our lives today.  Implications for our church in the way that we treat one another, how we think about You and Your Scriptures.  How we interact between believers, how we can encourage one another.  We thank You for Your Word.  We thank You for 1 Timothy.  Pray God for Your blessing on this word and as we study this in the weeks and months to come.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.