PASSING CHRISTIANITY DOWNAN EXPOSITION OF FIRST TIMOTHY
Copyright 2004 by Bob Marcaurelle
freesermons@homeorchurchbiblestudy.com
Sermon 3
ENCOURAGING YOUNG PREACHERS
(1: 2, 18-19a)
“To Timothy my true son in the faith, Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” (1:2)
“Tmothy my son I give you these instructions thinking about the prophecies made about you. If you follow them you will fight the good fight as you hold on to faith and a clear conscience.”
(1:18-19a)
6. Timothy the Encouraged.
Timothy did not make it without human help and neither can we make it without the help of others God gives us. That is what the church is all about. All through chapter 1 of this Letter Paul is encouraging his young friend. No matter how difficult the assignment God will always send people who believe in us and who will encourage us in His work.
Illustration: When I was eight years old, an uncle took me fishing and when I asked him to teach me to swim; he threw me off the bridge into a creek. I swallowed half the creek, but I made it to the bank. I realized I could paddle and stay above water, and not long afterward, I was swimming. But all I felt between the bridge and the water, on my way down was panic.
I’m sure Timothy felt the same way when Paul left him in Ephesus. He may have been ready to teach the faith but stopping popular and respected men from teaching error was no child’s play. He would be opposed on every side and live in constant conflict. That’s why Paul encouraged him. But the rest of the story was I had an uncle who knew I could make it to the bank and who stood ready to come and get me if I couldn’t.
Illustration: In the 1940’s the largest Southern Baptist Church in the world was The First Baptist Church of Dallas. George Truett, the greatest Southern Baptist Preacher of all time had been there for half a century before he died. In the providence of God the church did not call a famous Pastor, but a relative unknown, W. A. Criswell, a young man like Timothy. He had been recommended by a man who heard him speak at a small Associational meeting.
After Criswell arrived, he was overwhelmed by the size and complexity of his new assignment. Sensing his fears, Mrs. Truett called him to her home. She told him she believed he was God’s man for that church. She also told him it was not her husband who had built the church, but God, through her husband. She said, “Trust that same God, young man, and you will do just fine.”
Dr. Criswell, inspired by her faith and encouraged by her words, did just that, and the rest is history. God, through him, most of us believe, built the finest church in the earth in the last half of the twentieth century.
1. The Need of Encouragement.
Pastors, young and old, need encouragement because of their strategic position in the church of God. People look up to them and if the devil can defeat a pastor, he can damage hundreds of tender young Christians.
2. The Nature of Encouragement (1-3: 18-2)
1) The Fact of Our Uniqueness
The name “Timothy”, like our names “Bob” or “Sue”, set us apart as someone different and unique. We are one-of-a-kind human beings. God made us special to fill the special place he sends us. Illustration: A mountain was making fun of a squirrel and said, “Can you carry a tree on your back?” The squirrel answered, “No, can you crack a nut?” The OT Timothy was Jeremiah. When God called him as a Prophet, he told God he was too young. But God told him He had set him apart in his mother’s womb and “appointed him a prophet (Jer. 1).
All that we have experienced and all that we are make us exactly what God needs in the place He sends us. Our weaknesses make us strong because we are more prone to trust in God rather than ourselves. Even our besetting sins, we hate and fight and can’t quite shake, make us more tolerant and understanding of others. We still have our unique weaknesses and temptations. If our problem before conversion was anger or lust or worry, our problem after conversion will be dealing with these as a Christian.
Maybe Timothy’s lack of self confidence came from being the son of a Jewish woman and a Gentile father, like Paul. Maybe he had been looked down on and made fun and felt like he did not belong anywhere. Whatever the reason, He was exactly what God wanted and needed at that time.
2) The faith of others in us
We are encouraged by those who believe we can do the job. Paul believed in Timothy when He sent him to Ephesus (1:3) and called him a man of God (6:11). Timothy knew every time he shook with fear and told himself he couldn’t do the job, that Paul, the finest, bravest Christian he knew believed he could.
The friends back home believed in him (1:18) The “prophecies” made about him probably refer to the folks back home who watched Timothy grow up, “Spoke well of him.” (Acts 16:5) and predicted he would do well. It could include Pastors of the area who participated in his ordination (2 Tim. 1:6; 1 Tim 4: 14)
One thing that keeps us keeping on in hard times as Pastors and Laymen is what our quitting God’s service would do to so many people. The tortured soul in Psalm 73 could not understand “Why good things happened to bad people”. He was about to slip off the path of duty. Listen to what stopped him from throwing in the towel. He said, “I said if I speak of this I would have betrayed this generation of your children.” (73:15)
All our roots run deep- to the neighborhoods where we grew up, to the friends we made in seminary, to the people we have encouraged to never quit, and to the people we have won to Christ. Sometimes we stay in hard times because of the harm our quitting would do to people we care about. Every time Timothy wrote his resignation letter in his mind, he no doubt thought of the people who believed in him. As the song says, “I would be true for there are those who trust me/ I would be true for there are those who care”
3) The Faith of God in Us
Paul and others ordained Timothy but Acts 20:28 says it is God who calls His pastors. Paul said of his own call, “God considered me faithful” (1:12). God calls those He can trust. When the going gets rough and we don’t feel rough enough to keep going, one thing above all others that keep us keeping on is our sense of call. If we “know that we know, that we know” God has called us, most of us will die before we leave our post.
4) The Faithfulness of God to Us (1:1-2)
“Paul- an Apostle of Christ Jesus our hope: to Timothy, grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” (1:1-2)
The final encouragement for this young preacher who did not feel up to his task was the faithfulness of God who gave him grace, mercy, peace and hope. When we surrender to God He assumes responsibility for us. His “will” never put us where His power cannot keep us. What does God promise Timothy and us?
(1) Grace: Grace is what we need but don’t deserve. God is patient with our weaknesses, our sins and our foolish mistakes. Every Christian, including every Pastor, knows that if it weren’t for the grace of God we would have been put on the shelf and replaced many times.
(2) Mercy: Mercy means He does not give us what we do deserve- punishment. We have all been Jonahs who run from the will of God; Noahs who act like fools in front of our families; and Simon Peter’s who cower before a crowd.
Illustration: In one of my churches a man was causing a great deal of trouble. I told a pastor friend I wished God would take some shots at all the trouble makers in my church. My friend said, “Not me, I’m afraid He might start with me!”
(3) Peace: Peace is what everybody wants but few find. Peace is not the absence of trouble, but strength, and joy in the time of trouble. And it comes from knowing that in the highs and lows of life, God is our father and our life has meaning.
Illustration: A dear friend of mine, while in college, lost her professional quality singing voice. Since she felt this was her way of serving God, she was confused and felt hurt by God. As a group was singing one day in Chapel she felt incredibly low and left out of God’s will. In her pity party, later, in her room, her eyes fell on Eph. 5:19, “Sing- making melody in your heart to the Lord.” (KJV) God “touched” her and she knew her life, with or without a professional singing voice, had meaning. She stills sings beautifully in her local church but her ministry is writing Christian materials for children.
(4) Hope in Christ- This letter to Timothy was a testimony to hope. Paul was at the sundown of his life but it was sunrise for Christianity. Paul would soon be buried but God’s church would be above ground and marching to victory. Paul’s light was about to go out but Timothy’s was about to shine like never before.
