Paul’s Greeting to Timothy

Transcript

GR 1379
9/28/2008
Paul's Greeting to Timothy
II Timothy1:1-2
Gil Rugh

Turn in your Bibles to II Timothy. We're beginning a study of Paul's second letter to Timothy. It is Paul's last letter and it is always with special interest to read what people write at the close of their lives, as they realize life is coming to an end. Things are put into proper perspective very quickly, things that mattered a lot now matter less and in the Apostle Paul's life we see a commitment to the ministry that God has entrusted to him that has not wavered in any way over many years of faithful service. And right up until the end where he is facing soon execution, the Apostle Paul is concerned that the Word of God continue to be faithfully ministered.

When Paul writes the letters to Timothy, both I and II Timothy, Timothy is serving as Paul's representative to the church at Ephesus. That church, as we have looked at, really is established and firmly planted by Paul's ministry on the third missionary journey in Acts 19. Now there had been prior contacts with the gospel in the city of Ephesus. At the end of the second missionary journey Paul visited there briefly, the end of Acts 18. When he left Ephesus after that short visit, he left Priscilla and Aquila there, faithful co-workers of Paul who would have continued the ministry. Apollos, a great proclaimer of the gospel as he becomes more educated is also the one who visits Ephesus. It's not until Acts 19 that the scripture indicates that as a result of Paul's three-year ministry there, the church is firmly established and all Asia is privileged to hear the word of the Lord.

In I Timothy 1:3 Paul said to Timothy, I left you at Ephesus. So we know that Timothy was at Ephesus when Paul wrote his first letter. There are indications in the second letter that Timothy is also at Ephesus. May have still remained there, may have left and returned. But the indication in personal references is that Timothy is ministering at Ephesus at this time as well.

We need to bring ourselves up to date. After Paul's third missionary journey, a large portion of which was spent in the city of Ephesus, Paul returned to Jerusalem. When he is at Jerusalem, trouble develops, a riot breaks out in effect, and the Romans intervene to rescue Paul from the violence of the Jews who are upset with Paul. This is in Acts 21. So in effect, Paul is arrested in Acts 21:27. Now the rest of the book of Acts, Acts 21-28, is about Paul's Roman imprisonment. Because what happens is the Romans intervened because there is a mob action going on and they rescue Paul from the mob, they find out he is a Roman citizen. And discussion goes on and so on. He eventually is moved to Caesarea for safekeeping, because the Jews are so hostile toward Paul in Jerusalem, it's hard to secure his safety in such a Jewish center. Paul is moved to Caesarea. For the next two years he is really a Roman prisoner in Caesarea. He'll have great opportunity to present the gospel there to some key Roman officials. Acts 24:27 tells us that Paul spent two years in his imprisonment in Caesarea. Then it takes a good part of the next year for Paul to be transported. They get caught in weather, have to overlay for winter and so on. When you get to the end of the book of Acts, you find Paul imprisoned in Rome.

Turn back to Acts 28:30. And he stayed two years in his own rented quarters, and was welcoming all who came to him. So here you see he is two years in Rome, so he was in Caesarea for two-plus years, a good part of a year being transported to Rome, now he spends two years as a prisoner in Rome. So you have five years of Paul being a prisoner of Rome, by the time the book of Acts concludes. That would have covered the years, beginning in 58 A.D. to 62-63 A.D., just to put you in some kind of time context. We are roughly thirty years after the crucifixion of Christ here.

Now you'll note the special circumstances in verse 30. He stayed two full years in his own rented quarters. Paul was able to provide his own accommodation. So he is somewhat under house arrest, if you will, there is a Roman soldier who is in charge of Paul. But Paul is not a threat. And so he has a certain amount of liberty, he's able to pay his own expenses to secure his own place to live. So he is not imprisoned in a Roman security place, but he has rented his own home. He is in effect, under house arrest, if you will. And during this time he was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God, teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered. So the Romans don't care that he has people coming and going. They can come visit him in the home, so he has secured a place where people can come visit him, he's teaching the Word of God. This goes on over this two-year period.

It's during this time, these two years in Rome, that he writes what are known as his prison epistles—Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. Those four books are known as the prison epistles, and we won't take the time to read the references within those books. But in those letters he refers to the fact that he is imprisoned, that he is in chains, that he is presently confined, that he was at Rome.

So during this time he has a great ministry. It is a different kind of imprisonment that we find when we read II Timothy. In II Timothy Paul is in serious and dire straits. If we read in passages within the prison epistles, like Philippians, he refers to the fact he expects to be released. He writes to Philemon that he's anticipating being released and to be able to visit him. In II Timothy there is no such expectation. He has already had a preliminary trial, it is not going well. He says the process has begun that will culminate in my execution, basically. With this and other indications, almost all commentators agree that Paul was released from his first Roman imprisonment, recorded at the end of the book of Acts, and is free to travel, but is subsequently rearrested. Part of this also comes from the fact that it's not possible to fit all the events referred to regarding Paul's ministry into the book of Acts. It seems Luke carried us up to the end of the Roman imprisonment. If Paul had been executed here, you would surely expect that Luke, the historian, to write that most significant event. But it's not here, and there are other events that don't fit in the book of Acts.

Paul would have been released from his Roman imprisonment around 63 A.D. A major event occurred in 64 A.D.--Rome burns. And a large portion of the population is convinced that the Emperor Nero was the cause of the fire. And it wasn't a fire that just destroyed certain parts of town or the poorer areas. This involved everything—the mansions of the wealthy and everything. The thought was that Nero did this because he wanted to rebuild Rome according to his own plans. But of course this wasn't popular with people who had just lost everything. So to divert attention from himself Nero claimed that the Christians were responsible for the fire. And in 65 A.D. he begins a mass persecution of Christianity. Christianity is declared an illegal religion and there are multitudes of Christians who die horrible deaths. He used them as human torches for light and night, and horrible things like that.

It is evidently in that persecution that Paul is rearrested and subsequently executed. Eusebius, the early church historian, says that Paul was executed in 67 A.D. Nero is going to die, suicide, in 68 A.D. And early church histories agree that Paul died at the hands of Nero, also said that Peter died during that same persecution—Paul is beheaded, Peter is crucified.

So in between those two imprisonments, Paul has a few years to travel, visit other places. It seems after he is released at the end of the book of Acts, he visited other places, including Ephesus, where he left Timothy to continue the ministry there. He visited Crete and left Titus to minister there, later writing letters back to these men. He may have been arrested at Troas, because at the end of II Timothy he asked that they bring some of his personal and valuable belongings from Troas to him in prison in Rome, which might indicate that he was arrested in Troas and did not have opportunity to bring his personal belongings with him. We don't know. So when we read II Timothy, he has been rearrested. In I Timothy Paul is evidently free, writing to Timothy from Macedonia. In II Timothy Paul now is in prison in Rome for the final time.

Several reasons why Paul wrote II Timothy: He wants Timothy to come to him; he wants to see Timothy before he dies, probably for personal reasons and perhaps to encourage Timothy with their personal meeting together. But Paul does not know for sure that Timothy will get there in time. So he also wants to write to encourage and challenge Timothy to be faithful, which you would expect in a last letter like this. The timing of his death is not sure. So with the time involved and potential interruptions, Paul cannot be sure that Timothy will get there in time. So the letter is written to encourage Timothy and challenge him, remind him, an opportunity for Paul to give himself as a personal example for Timothy to follow. And then Paul will also give Timothy some interesting and helpful information regarding what has taken place with some various co-workers of Paul and Timothy.

We're going to look at the opening two verses of II Timothy, so if you'll turn back there in your Bibles. This is what is called the salutation or the greeting of the letter. They are common; we have read and studied other letters in the New Testament. Secular letters of the time among the Greeks and Romans followed the same pattern. In the introduction, the greeting or salutation of the letter, you identified the writer of the letter, the recipient of the letter, and you gave them a word of greeting. Just like we start out, dear so-and-so, and close yours truly, and follow a rather set pattern. So letters of this time, Paul's letters followed the same pattern. So he starts out by identifying himself as the writer. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus. Now you have to be impressed, you start out this really intensely personal letter with a rather formal and authoritative note—Paul, an apostle by the will of God to Timothy, my beloved son. Well, Timothy has been a faithful worker of Paul's. No one was closer to Paul in ministry than Timothy, and you start out by reminding him that you are an apostle and your apostleship is by the sovereign determination of God, which is a reminder that what I have to say has full authority. You understand Paul never loses sight of the seriousness of the ministry. The most important thing in his life, the most important thing in our lives, if you will, is that we are slaves of Jesus Christ. That supersedes all personal relationships, all other matters of importance. The first to be established is my role as a slave of Jesus Christ. It is as an apostle, by divine appointment. This is important for Timothy to know. The letter is not just a sentimental, emotional fond farewell, in case you don't make it before my death. And I think of the good times and I'm going to miss it and I wish I could be here, forget it. There is something more serious at hand. I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ. What I have to say to you is the authoritative Word of God, Timothy, and you'd better pay attention. True, I love you as my son, but I speak to you as God's spokesman, an apostle, one divinely appointed.

The apostles were the authoritative representatives of Jesus Christ. There were certain requirements to be an apostle. Let me just remind you of three basic ones. 1. They had to have seen Jesus Christ after His resurrection from the dead. We won't turn to these passages, but Acts 1, when they are selecting a replacement for Judas. He had to be an eyewitness of the resurrection so they could declare to people, I saw Him in His resurrected body. I Corinthians 9:1, Paul said, am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? He saw Him in Acts 9 on Damascus Road, and he developed that in I Corinthians 15. 2. The apostles were entrusted with new revelation from God. This is important. New truth is being given to the apostles. In Galatians 1 Paul wrote to the Galatians and said that the gospel that I preach, I didn't get it from men; I wasn't taught it by men. I received it by direct revelation from heaven. So Christ had promised in John 14 and John 16 that His apostles would receive truth from the Spirit of truth. That's what we have as much of our New Testament today. So the letter to Timothy will be part of that truth that is God's revelation. 3. Their ministry was validated by miracles, miraculous deeds. In II Corinthians 12:12 Paul says, the signs of a true apostle be performed among you with all signs and wonders and miracles.

So there are no apostles today. There is a movement that is widespread in its popularity that began in the 1990s and continues today to have broad impact around the world, and it is teaching that God in these last days has raised up new apostles to be the authoritative leaders of the church. One of these men, in fact the man who is the key leader in it, says this, back in the 1990s we began hearing the Holy Spirit speaking about restoring apostles and prophets as the foundation of the church as God originally designed. Now wait a minute, you note here what we have? We have direct revelation. He doesn't say we realize this in the Word of God. We began hearing the Holy Spirit. Now we have direct revelation. What is the Holy Spirit saying? He is restoring apostles. And who does it just happen to be? The man who is writing. So guess who is the most important person? So he goes on to say, I gradually came to the realization that God had given me the gift of apostle and that certain spheres of the body of Christ were recognizing that I had the office of apostle as well. I knew this man thirty years ago, had opportunity to spend much time with him. He wasn't claiming to be an apostle thirty years ago. He had spent many years as a missionary, he had spent years as a professor, but in all my conversations with him he never indicated he was an apostle. He didn't know it then, supposedly, he just came to that realization. And so since he's an apostle, you know what that makes him, it makes him the most important person in the church and in the churches. So he has developed a whole movement under him now with, if you will, apostles under this senior apostle. And you have churches all around the world, hundreds. They have meetings in different places in the world to draw large numbers. They have a whole book devoted to interviewing various apostles who are leading huge churches in different places.

But you know what the problem is? We say, maybe that is, look at the vast numbers. Well first you have to look at scripture. What does scripture say is required to be an apostle? Be an eyewitness of Jesus Christ; do various signs, wonders and miracles; and be entrusted with new revelation. It's not happening. Now they now claim to have miracles because bad theology breeds bad theology and one feeds the other. And now they are claiming, let me just read you, God uses, this is a quote from this man I'm talking about. God uses individuals, their messages and their ministries to help propagate new truth. Not new insights into old truth, new truth. So the Bible is not done. Too bad you didn't know that. There are additional things to be added, because we have new apostles, new prophets and new truth.

But there are none. And Paul is clear on that and his role is unique. Not even Timothy was an apostle. That was a unique, select group for God's purposes. It is true the church is being built, Ephesians 2:20, on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. The truth that had been revealed to the apostles and New Testament prophets, which now forms our New Testament, is the foundation on which we are building. We are coming to study the second epistle of Paul to Timothy. We are building on that foundation, revealed through the Apostle Paul. I have no new truth to bring to you. It would give added authority and weight to me, I've wondered if I could work it in, if I can stand up here and say, I am the Apostle Gil and the Holy Spirit revealed to me last night ........ What are you going to say? You have to be in awe to wait to see what comes from my mouth. And how are you going to check it? You're not an apostle. And one of the things we want to stress is this is a new level of absolute authority in the church. And the Apostle Paul and other apostles did have a level of authority that I do not have. So what really happens is these men want to claim for themselves greater power, greater authority. And people follow them by the thousands and the hundreds of thousands. And really, if we just come to the Word of God and say, you're a false apostle, as Paul describes them in II Corinthians 11.

Okay, Paul is an apostle; he's an apostle by the will of God, not because he decided he would be an apostle, not because others decided he would be an apostle. This is the exact same wording that he uses when he begins the letter to the Corinthians, both I and II Corinthians, the letter to the Ephesians, the letter to the Colossians. In fact, nine times, in nine of his thirteen letters he begins by referring to the fact that he is an apostle by the will of God, or by the call of God, or by the command of God. This has nothing to do with human activity.

Come back to Galatians 1:1. Note how he starts, Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead. Look at verse 15, but when God who had set me apart from my mother's womb and called me through His grace was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood. I didn't look to other human beings. Nor did I go to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. I went away to Arabia. Here Paul says this doesn't have anything to do with what I wanted, this had to do with God's sovereign appointment, and you know when this appointment took place? Before I was born. Verse 15, He set me apart, even from my mother's womb and He called me by His grace. This is divine appointment, and I didn't need human recognition for this. When God appointed me an apostle that settled it.

Come back to Acts 9. This chapter records the conversion of the Apostle Paul on the Damascus Road. And then Paul is struck blind for a time and the prophet Ananias is told to go and restore Paul's, who was known at the time as Saul, sight. Verse 15, Ananias the prophet is told to go and see Saul. Ananias says, I know all about him, he is the chief persecutor of the church. Why would I want to go see him? Verse 15, but the Lord said to him, go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake. He is a chosen instrument of Mine. What will he do? Bear My name before the Gentiles, kings, the sons of Israel. And you know what is part of my plan for him? Suffering. I'll show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake. It's a sovereign, divine appointment of Paul as an apostle. That is stressed. For the other apostles like Peter, James and John and so on, that issue is settled during the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ because He personally selected them. So there was recognition of their apostleship from the time of Christ's earthly ministry. Paul is a unique case and accompanied by unique circumstances such as the appearance of Christ to him earlier in Acts 9. But it is no less a clearly divine appointment and was so recognized by the other apostles.

So that's the authority he brings. Come back to II Timothy. It is by the will of God and it is according to the promise of life in Christ. So two things about his apostleship—it is by the will of God and it is according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus. And what he is talking about here is God has promised eternal life to us in Christ Jesus. That is what my apostleship is all about—proclaiming the message of life which is found in Christ Jesus.

Turn over a couple of pages to Paul's letter to Titus, just after II Timothy. Note how he begins this letter to another of his younger associates. Paul, a bond servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness. Now note this, in the hope of eternal life which God who cannot lie promised long ago. But at the proper time manifested even His Word in the proclamation of which I was entrusted, according to the commandment of God our Savior. So the promise of life is the promise of eternal life. This has now been manifested as Christ has come, suffered, died, been raised from the dead. And the proclamation of this message was entrusted to me. What did God tell the prophet Ananias in Acts 9? He is a chosen instrument of Mine to proclaim My name to the Gentiles, to kings, to Jews, and to suffer. So he was called as an apostle to proclaim the message of Christ.

It's the promise of life. You can summarize Paul's gospel with that statement—it's the promise of life in Christ Jesus. Now keep this in mind because Paul the Apostle is giving the word from God in the inspiration of the Spirit of God about his apostleship. But he'll be telling Timothy in this letter, the truth you have received from me, Timothy, you must pass on to faithful men who will teach others also. And that comes down the line to us today. How tragic it is that the church of Jesus Christ would lose its perspective, get all caught up in things.

I was reading an article this past week about a man identified as an evangelical leader, speaking in a nearby city. And his emphasis was that the evangelical church must understand it needs to take on a role in society to deal with the social problems, the physical problems like AIDS, the financial problems. Because if we don't there will be no world. That's not the message of an evangelical, that's the old social gospel recycled. There is something unique entrusted to us as followers of Jesus Christ, and that is to give forth the message of the promise of life in Christ Jesus. You know in a hundred years it won't matter whether a person died of AIDS, died of starvation, died of cancer, or died simply of old age. He just simply wore out and died. But it will matter how he responds to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, whether he has eternal life or not.

Turn over to 1 John 5. You know when we begin to lose our focus on the gospel, things begin to unravel. And here we are at the end of Paul's life, at the end of a long ministry and he is riveted on what God has called him to do. And he is so passionate about it, he addressed Timothy with all the authority of his apostleship so that Timothy will carry on this ministry and see that that ministry is carried on by those that Timothy ministers to. Look at I John 5:11, and the testimony is this, this is the testimony that God has given concerning His Son, from the previous verse. That God has given us eternal life. This life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I want to say, is your church involved in helping the poor? Is your church involved in dealing with AIDS? Is your church involved and concerned about the financial collapse? You know all those things have a place, there are people involved in that, but the church and believers in Jesus Christ have a unique responsibility before God, a responsibility that no one else can fulfill. We have to tell people about the promise of life in Christ Jesus. You know, there are multitudes of people who can help with the social problems, the financial crisis, the medical problems and everything else. But there is only one group of people who can do that which is most important in light of the plan and purpose of Almighty God. That is believers in Jesus Christ are entrusted with the message of the promise of life in Christ Jesus. If you find a cure for AIDS, people won't die of AIDS, but I tell you they will still die. The wages of sin is death. So we haven't done anything, ultimately. I'm not saying I don't appreciate medical developments, but I tell you unless a person comes to believe in Jesus Christ everything else is for naught. What do you have if you do not have life in Christ? Eternal death. This is Paul's passion; it's what God entrusted to me, that message of the promise of life in Christ.

That's where he starts out. I am an apostle by the will of God; this is what my ministry is about. And we won't be very far along in chapter 1 when Paul is hammering it home to Timothy. This better be what your life and ministry is about, Timothy. He's not an apostle, but the message entrusted to the apostle has been passed on to him and he better be just as faithful, just as focused.

Back in II Timothy 1. The message is the promise of life in Christ Jesus. So Paul is the writer. Who is he writing to? To Timothy my beloved son. That's the recipient. Timothy played a special part in Paul's life and ministry. We have to just highlight it, we'll see more of it as we move through II Timothy and refer back. In all probability Timothy was converted on Paul's first missionary journey in Acts 14, when Paul visited Lystra, Timothy's home town. A year later on the second missionary journey in Acts 16, Paul revisits the city of Lystra. There we are told that Timothy is a believer with a good reputation in the community. We are told there that his mother was a Jewish believer, his father was a Greek. The indication would be his father was not a convert to Judaism either, because Timothy had not been circumcised, something Paul will do when Timothy is going to join him in his travels. We know from earliest life Timothy's Jewish mother and grandmother taught him the scriptures. We'll see this in II Timothy. We don't get any insight. We begin to wonder, I wonder how this Jewish woman who came from a Jewish family, at least her mother was a Jew who was versed in the scriptures, how did she end up married to a Greek man? We don't know, there is no information. Sometimes that happened outside Palestine, but she remains true to her Jewish faith. She evidently became a believer on Paul's first missionary journey because in Acts 16 we find her as a believer in Christ. Timothy in that year since Paul has been there has become a solid testimony for Christ. He had a running start, he had been taught the Holy Scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures from childbirth. So when he becomes a believer, he already knows the Old Testament. Now it all fits together with him and he understands its fulfillment in Christ.

He becomes Paul's traveling companion. He was a young man, probably around 20 years of age—18-22, so we'll say 20. How do we know that? In I Timothy 4:12, this is a letter written about 15 years after Acts 16, when Timothy became Paul's traveling companion. He says, let no man despise your youth or look down on your youth. That word youth was used of men under 40 years of age. So if Timothy were traveling with Paul for 15 years approximately, and now he is under 40, we can estimate that he would have been around 20 when he began to travel with Paul. A couple more years have passed when II Timothy has been written. So he's been a companion of Paul for some 17 years, 18 years, somewhere in there. So they have had a long and close relationship.

Paul identifies Timothy with himself in the salutation of six of his letters—I and II Thessalonians, II Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. So you see what a privilege. Here he is with me. Timothy not only traveled with Paul, but he served as Paul's representative. When Paul could not go to a certain area, to a certain church, he would often send Timothy as his representative. He was sent that way to Thessalonica. Paul was driven out in the uproar after he preached the gospel there and the opposition that was stirred by the Jews so he had to leave. He sends Timothy back to see how things are going. That wouldn't be an easy thing to do. He is sent over into the church in Greece as Paul's representative, he was sent to the church of Corinth as Paul's representative. He is at Ephesus when Paul writes him, acting on Paul's behalf because Paul can't be there.

Turn back to Philippians 2. Remember Paul here is imprisoned at the end of the book of Acts when he writes to the Philippians, and note what he says. Paul can't come because he is a prisoner in Rome. But he says in Philippians 2:19, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly. So we see here Timothy is with him on this occasion. So that I may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. One thing Timothy will do is bring back word regarding the condition of the church at Philippi. He also goes because, verse 20, I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. For all seek their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. But you know of His proven worth. Timothy is a tested man and he has passed the test. He served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father. I'll send him immediately, as soon as I know how things are going to turn out with me and then I hope to be coming to see you shortly. So you see that anticipation of his being freed. But you see Timothy here, he is a trusted man, he's proven his worth over years of service.

The book of Hebrews refers to Timothy and says he has just been released from his imprisonment. We don't know where that fits time wise, but Timothy is a man who experienced imprisonment himself as a result of his ministry. So he is a man of strong character, strong convictions, and a man who can be trusted. Remember the Apostle Paul was not one to give second chances to co-workers. He is a gracious man, he is a kind man, but Paul saw his ministry of too great an importance, of eternal significance. He had to have men around him who could be trusted. John Mark started out the first missionary trip with Paul, remember, and he turned back in the midst of that trip. When it came to the second trip, Paul was willing to split company with his close associate, Barnabas, before he would take Mark on a second trip. Some people say Paul was so harsh there. Paul had a ministry that was too important; I have to have people around me that can be trusted. I can't get in the midst of the conflict over the gospel and have someone bail out, go soft, get afraid and run home. At the end of II Timothy he'll have kind words to say about John Mark and want to see him again. But the indication of scripture is Mark never travels again with Paul. Paul has to have an inner circle of men around him who, when the heat gets the hottest, they will be there at the melting point with Paul. Timothy is that kind of man. We ought to keep that in mind because some people say, Timothy was somewhat weak, somewhat timid and so on. We'll look at some of those references as we move through the letter. So Timothy was not in any way a shrinking violet. He was someone who could go and represent Paul when Paul wasn't even there to back him up and be counted on not to fudge the gospel in any way, not to vacillate in any way. Because that would be disastrous for Paul's ministry, to have Timothy go to represent him and then be soft on the truth that Paul had been entrusted with, that he had entrusted to Timothy or be afraid to stand. Good to have someone who would be firm.

Come back to I Timothy 5. You might think Paul picked Timothy because he is a young man; a young man is in the strength of his youth. I like to have young men here around Eddie and me because when we're taking our afternoon nap they can be doing the work. But you know Timothy wasn't chosen because he didn't have trouble. It is striking in I Timothy 5:23 Paul says to Timothy, no longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. Here is a man not advanced in age, still when Paul writes I Timothy he is under 40, but Paul can characterize him as having a variety of frequent, reoccurring ailments. He is a man who stands firm. Sometimes we think, if I had better health I could serve the Lord. Well, Timothy was a man who had frequent ailments; some of it was stomach problems. Paul said a little wine would be a help for that, the fermentation takes care of some of the germs and bacteria. In those days wherever you were, whatever you had to drink, the water wasn't always the best. And it was Timothy's constitution that only created more problems. Paul's concerned for him. What is of interest to me, here is a man with frequent ailments and there is nobody entrusted with more serious responsibilities, more difficult jobs than Timothy. And a man who could be trusted.

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians in I Corinthians 16:10-11, he's going to send Timothy to the Corinthians. And that's a hard place for Paul because they were in somewhat rebellion against Paul's leadership. Now he is going to send Timothy and he says to them, now if Timothy comes, and he is coming because Paul says it, see that he is with you without cause to be afraid. Let no one despise him. If they didn't hesitate to attack Paul and resist his leadership as an apostle, what do you think was the danger for Timothy as Paul's stand-in? If they're not showing Paul the respect they should, what do you think Timothy can expect? Oh, you're Paul's errand boy, aren't you? Are you an apostle? No. I mean, you're a little nobody who comes to do Paul's errands. Don't think we're going to pay any attention to you. Paul tells them, don't you look down on Timothy and don't you try to make him afraid. But you get an idea of the difficult situation Timothy is in. He had to go through some of these difficult circumstances as Paul's representative. And you never get the respect as the representative as you do with the real person that is there. But that was Timothy's job. No wonder he had stomach problems. He's riding the ship over there, already I'm getting nauseous, and I know what they're going to think of me. Oh we got Timothy, Paul didn't come. But you see the character, Paul has full confidence in him and Timothy will be faithful. So when Paul writes this last letter it's not because he's afraid Timothy is going soft, he just wants to be sure. He knows the tendency we all have and Timothy is his representative.

Come back to II Timothy, we'll wrap it up. Timothy, my beloved son. In his first letter he called him my true child in the faith. In I Timothy 1 they translate it child, and in II Timothy they translate it son. The meaning is not greatly different, but it is the same word, techno, my true child in the faith, my beloved son. In I Corinthians 4:17 Paul referred to Timothy as my beloved and faithful child. He led him to the Lord, he had a relationship of love with him, and he is concerned for him and the difficulties he faces.

And he gives a word of greeting, grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. You see here the deity of Christ and we'll talk about this in the book of Revelation in our study tonight. You couldn't say grace, mercy and peace to your from God the Father and the Apostle Peter. I mean, it just falls flat because Jesus Christ is also God. Grace and peace come from Him. The normal Hebrew greeting, peace, shalom, and grace, charis, and Paul adds here mercy because he is concerned that God would provide in a special way for Timothy and his trials and difficulties, knowing that he won't be there much longer to encourage him and to support him. So here we have the preparation for the beginning of the letter.

God's word through the apostles continues to be authoritative to us. It is passed on to Timothy, through Timothy it comes to us. This is the word of the Apostle Paul, it is written to Timothy but under the inspiration of the scripture it has been preserved because it is God's word for us. Let me read you two verses. John 3:16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life. John 3:36, he who believes in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. That's the ministry entrusted to us, to tell people there is life, this life is found in the Son of God. We have a message which is the promise of God to give life to all who believe in Christ.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your truth. Thank you for your servant, the Apostle Paul. Thank you for our servant, Timothy. Thank you, Lord, for their faithfulness, the testimony of their lives. Thank you for the truth that you gave through your servant, Paul that was passed on to Timothy that by your grace has been passed on to us. May this truth grip our hearts and minds. Lord, may we never lose the focus of the truth that only in Christ is there life and we have been entrusted with this message so that others might hear and believe. We praise you in Christ's name, amen.