Tim’s Mom and Grandma
2 Timothy 1:1-7
INTRODUCTION... What Moms really want for Mother’s Day
10. To be able to eat a whole candy bar (alone) and drink a Coke without any "floaters."
9. To have a 14-year-old answer a question without rolling her eyes in that "Why is this person my mother?" way.
8. Five pounds of chocolate that won’t add twenty.
7. A shower without a child peeking through the curtain with a "Hi ya, Mom!" just as I put razor to my ankle.
6. A full-time cleaning person who looks like Brad Pitt.
5. For a teenager to announce, "Hey, Mom! I got a full scholarship and a job all in the same day!"
4. A grocery store that doesn’t have candy, gum, and cheap toys displayed at the checkout line.
3. To have a family meal without a discussion about bodily secretions.
2. To be able to step on a plane with toddlers and not have some pencil-neck-yuppie-geek moan, "Oh, no! Why me?"
1. Four words: Fisher Price Play Prison
Today is Mother’s Day and is a day that we celebrate the mothers and grandmothers and those who have filled those roles in our lives. One of the things most celebrated on this day is the influence mothers have over our lives. I would like to reflect on a passage today that talks about that very subject: the influence of mothers. The passage is 2 Timothy 1:1-7.
READ 2 TIMOTHY 1:1-7
I. THE CHARACTER OF PAUL’S COMPANION
This person that Paul writes the letters of 1 and 2 Timothy to is an important person in the life of the Apostle Paul. Timothy first appears on the scene in Paul’s second missionary journey when Paul visited Lystra (Acts 16:1-3). Timothy played a major role in the ministry of Paul when he was forced to leave Berea because of an uproar, Paul left Timothy and Silas behind to strengthen the churches. Paul also send Timothy to the church in Thessalonica to encourage them in their faith. Timothy was Paul’s man in Corinth during the third missionary journey and was the bearer of all the bad news about the happenings of that church. Timothy also accompanied Paul to Jerusalem and also stayed with him in Rome. Timothy was a constant and needed companion of Paul in all of the ups and downs of his ministry.
What was Timothy like?
* 1 Corinthians 4:17 tells us that Timothy was faithful to the Lord and a guardian of the Gospel Message:
“For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.”
* Philippians 1:1 and 2:22 tell us that Paul considered Timothy to be a servant of Christ Jesus and one that had proved himself in ministry:
“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons... But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.”
* Hebrews 13:23 tells us that Timothy preached God’s message and was even imprisoned for it:
“I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you.”
What can we say about Timothy? What can we say about his character? We know that he was someone Paul considered essential in ministry which is a big complement. We know that he was faithful to the Lord and worked diligently for Him. We know that he reminded the churches of the correct teaching of the Gospel. I suppose that it can all be boiled down and put simply: he was a young man committed to Jesus Christ.
ILLUSTRATION... Family Survival in the American Jungle, Steve Farrar, 1991, Multnomah Press, pp. 113-114
Over one hundred years ago, G. K. Chesterton asked: “Can anyone tell me two things more vital to the race than these; what man shall marry what woman, and what shall be the first things taught to their first child?” Chesterton goes on to comment that:
The...natural operation surrounded her with very young children, who require to be taught not so much anything but everything. Babies need not to be taught a trade, but to be introduced to a world. To put the matter shortly, a woman is generally shut up in a house with a human being at the time when he asks all the questions that there are, and some that there aren’t...Our race has thought it worth while to cast this burden on women in order to keep common-sense in the world....But when people begin to talk about this domestic duty as not merely difficult but trivial and dreary, I simply give up the question. For I cannot with the utmost energy of imagination conceive what they mean....If drudgery only means dreadfully hard work, I admit the woman drudges in the home, as a man might drudge (at his work)....But if it means that the hard work is more heavy because it is trifling, colorless, and of small import to the soul, then I say give it up....How can it be an (important) career to tell other people’s children about mathematics, and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe?...A woman’s function is laborious...not because it is minute, but because it is gigantic. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness.
II. THE CALLING OF PAUL’S COMPANION
2 Timothy 1:1-7 tells us more about the calling and purpose of Timothy’s life than his character. These verses tell us more about Paul’s desire for his constant companion.
Verse 5 tells us of his sincere faith.
Verse 6 tells us that Timothy was an ordained (laying on of hands) minister of the Gospel and he should “fan into the flame the gift of God.” What does that mean? The flame that burned inside Timothy was to spread the Gospel. The Apostle Paul is encouraging this young minister to use all of his gifts in fulfilling God’s call on his life. He is to persevere and to keep to the purpose that God has for him.
Verse 7 tells us that Paul wanted Timothy to keep cultivating the Holy Spirit in his life to produce fruit. What is the fruit that Paul wants to see in Timothy’s life:
1) Boldness and Power: Paul actually continues to describe these things in verses after verse 7. Paul specifically mentions that Timothy should not shrink back from preaching the Gospel because Paul was in prison or because Timothy himself might be thrown in prison. Paul wanted him to be bold in his proclamation of the Gospel. I think that Timothy listened because of Hebrews 13:23 which records Timothy being released.
2) Love: Paul wanted this young man to know that the source of the Christian life is love. Why would Paul say that? It was for love that Jesus came to earth. It was for love that Jesus performed miracles and healed the sick. It was for love that Jesus willingly went to the cross. It was for love that Jesus died. That same love should be evident in Timothy’s life as one who follows after Jesus Christ. Love is the source and also the outpouring of the Gospel.
3) Self-discipline: Paul does not want Timothy to become discouraged. Paul does not want Timothy to become distracted. For these reasons, Paul encourages this young man to be self-disciplined and to keep himself on the right track. This would keep him from sin and making the wrong things the priority.
The calling of Timothy was to be a sincere committed minister of the Gospel that would show Christ’s love to the world. The beginning of this second letter to Timothy is meant to encourage this young man in all of the things God has for him.
ILLUSTRATION... Godly Mothers, Our Daily Bread, May 8
Many godly men of the past have been richly blessed by what they learned from their mothers. Consider
the biblical characters Moses, Samuel, and Timothy. The maternal influence experienced by these spiritual leaders bore rich fruit in their lives. Think too of men like Augustine, John Newton, and the zealous Wesley brothers. Their names would probably never have lighted the pages of history if it hadn’t been for the godly women who raised them in homes where the law of love and a Christian witness were their daily guide and inspiration.
Susannah Wesley, for example, spent one hour each day praying for her 17 children. In addition, she took each child aside for a full hour every week to discuss spiritual matters. No wonder two of her sons, Charles and John, were used of God to bring blessing to all of England and much of America. Here are a few rules she followed in training her children:
(1) Subdue self-will in a child and thus work together with God to save his soul.
(2) Teach him to pray as soon as he can speak.
(3) Give him nothing he cries for and only what is good for him if he asks for it politely.
(4) To prevent lying, punish no fault which is freely confessed, but never allow a rebellious, sinful act to go unnoticed
(5) Commend and reward good behavior.
(6) Strictly observe all promises you have made to your child.”
III. THE CHANNEL OF PAUL’S COMPANION
By the word ’channel’, I mean his source and where he came from. Paul describes this young man Timothy in verse 2 as “my dear son” and does so in other passages of Scripture. He also describes that he prays for Timothy constantly and always remembers him. Verse 4 also seems to tell me that Timothy is quite attached to Paul and perhaps feels put of kilter when not around his mentor. Yet, in all of this, Paul never claims to be the one that is the source of Timothy’s faith. Paul does not say that it was he who introduced Timothy to the faith.
Who was that? Who introduced Timothy, this sincere committed minister of the Gospel, to Jesus Christ?
Verse 5 tells us, “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” It was not Paul that taught Timothy all about God and Christ and Faith, but it was his grandmother and his mother.
I would like to encourage you mothers and grandmothers out there not to stop teaching your children and grandchildren all about God. Correct teaching about God starts in the home and in the family. Teaching children in the home about God creates sincere faith that is owned by the kids and not just forced on them. I want to encourage you in your spiritual responsibilities... keep teaching, because it does make a difference.
CONCLUSION... Contributed by: Preston Duvall Two young children on mother’s day presented their mom with a houseplant. The older of the children said with a sad face, “There was a bouquet we wanted to give you at the flower shop. It was really pretty, but it was too expensive. It had a ribbon on it that said, ‘Rest in Peace,’ and we thought you would like it since your always asking for a little peace so you can rest.”
