Introduction To 1 Timothy Series

Series: So You Want to Be the Church?

Intro to 1 Timothy

1 Timothy 1:1-11

Today we are beginning a series over the next 6 weeks through the book of 1 Timothy in an effort to be ever more familiar with the basics of what the Bible has to say about the church. This is important for us to constantly do as a group who gathers at Forest Dale for two reasons. First, we need constant reminders of the purpose of living as a Christian – there are thousands of philosophies and teachings in the world which state they are the best way to live and will direct us in contrary direction than what God’s word says, to keep it straight we have to reiterate it over and over again. Second, we need to be reminded that the reason Jesus has made the church is so that his people would work in unity for his glory. If you believe in God but do not understand why honoring him as a church or living for his glory is of supreme importance then there are large parts of the Bible you either don’t know or have failed to understand. So there is this need to be both refreshed by God’s word and the necessity to learn more in order to live. We are learning God’s word not for the purpose of scholarship but for the reason of discipleship. We are not told to do church or go to church; we are the church and are to be the church when we pray, study, serve, and witness.

So this book of 1 Timothy is all about instructions on being the church – not about religion or worship time, but about much of what the NT says repeatedly - the importance of our individual pursuit of faith and our humble acknowledgement of the lordship of Jesus over everything is the essential point of Christianity and the main goal of the church. While there are many topics covered by this book, my goal in preaching on it is that you would be more familiar with this book after every Sunday and start to see the troubles which the church has been battling for centuries and to make sure you aren’t contributing to the troubles of this church. And also this book shows how to measure your life and to clearly evaluate priorities. This book is commonly referred to as a pastoral epistle meaning it is helpful to know it if you are in ministry or involved in leading people as a pastor or shepherd – and all of you need to know that if you are part of the church you are automatically in ministry and the essence of being a Christian is leading by example people to the person of Jesus Christ. So if you are open to it you are going to learn something important as we study, I know I am going to learn something because God’s word always does that. So let’s begin with the first verses.

I. Background for 1 Timothy.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,

2 To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

A. First who was this man named Timothy? He was an important person in the early church.

1. Proof of that is in how his name appears in 11 of the 27 books of the NT. Part of that reason is because God used the apostle Paul to write a good chunk of the NT and Paul’s work was constantly dependent upon Timothy.

2. He is introduced in Acts 16 when Paul comes to Lystra where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. 2 The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. Timothy had a gift for helping churches and guiding groups of people in living for Christ.

*As you look at the NT, particularly the book of Acts you see how Paul operated. Paul’s role was to come into a city, preach about Jesus, help establish the church there and then he would be ready to move to the next city to do it all over again. He was on a mission to spread the message of Jesus to as many people as his travels would permit him to reach. Timothy was apparently better at keeping things going on the local level – in the book of Acts he travels to various places with Paul and is sometimes sent to areas to encourage the new Christians and teaching them the basics of faith. Eventually he is left in Ephesus to work in the church there apparently to straighten things out and this book was sent to him by Paul to help with that goal.