About this sermon
Paul calls Timothy “my true child in the faith,” and Timothy’s life is a model for believers. Raised in the faith by his mother and grandmother, timid by nature, he became Paul’s trusted coworker, a yokefellow who shared his labors and genuinely cared for the churches. The fruit of the Spirit and the character of the Beatitudes were seen in him. Grace, mercy, and peace from God transformed Timothy, and the same Spirit who dwelt in him forms believers today to lay down their lives for God’s glory.
Sermon transcript
Not that I’m a Whitfield, but Whitfield never had to worry about recording devices or things like that. Our scripture reading is the same as this morning. It’s in the book of 1 Timothy. And there we looked at the second verse, the apostolic greeting. Grace, mercy, and peace be with you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Tonight we want to look at a few things about Timothy. I know you know a lot about the Apostle Paul. probably the best known person within scripture, maybe other than David, or of course the Lord Jesus Christ. But there’s a lot about Paul that you know and perhaps we can review. But then we want to look at the life of Timothy as a model of the kind of person that you ought to be. As we’ll see, Paul loved Timothy. Timothy, we can honestly say, was worth his weight in gold to Paul. Paul said, and we’ll read something about Timothy that said a few other people in the scripture, and by no one else, by Paul’s reckoning.
So listen carefully, then, to this greeting and the letterhead to this letter of 1 Timothy. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by command of God, our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, our hope, to Timothy, my true child in faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God, the Father, and Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Let’s pray. Father, we read of these people. We know about them. But Lord, the same Holy Spirit that dwelt in Paul and Timothy dwells in us, and you want to form in us, and you will form in us those fruits that are to your glory. So please, Lord, as we briefly reflect on Timothy, Paul’s true spiritual child, we pray, Lord, that we may think this week how we relate to one another in general and particularly to our pastors or our leaders. We pray in Christ’s name, amen.
So you know a lot about Paul. And just real quickly, when I preached this at our church plant, I went through four sermons on Paul just to refresh people’s mind. Remember, Paul was a Pharisee taught under Gamaliel. His birth, his education, his law, his zeal, his self-righteousness that he reflects on in Philippians. And all of that went out the window. He said, I count it as dumb. I count it as refuge. I count it as nothing, garbage, compared to the excellency of Jesus Christ.
And you know the story of Saul becoming Paul on the road to Damascus, where he’s going up to kill Christians. And you remember the trouble he had when he went down to Jerusalem. Remember, Barnabas had to get him in, right? They’re thinking, oh boy, this is the ultimate traitor here. Now he’s acting like he’s a Christian so he can get in here and get us and kill us. But Barnabas says, no, it’s the real deal. God’s done something to this man. And remember what Ananias was told. I’m going to show him how much he’s going to have to suffer for my sake and the gospel. And then his three missionary journeys and his imprisonment and his martyrdom. as at least church history says it.
But Timothy, we may not know as much. And a sophisticated congregation, biblically sophisticated like this, probably knows a bit about Timothy. But our review may be helpful about his childhood, his character, and his relationship to Paul. And I think there’s things that we can reflect on that may help us to think about our relationships in terms of to the pastors or to the elders or to the leaders. Well, Timothy, you know, was, we’re told, had a, probably a Greek pagan father.
Wasn’t probably converted. He wasn’t circumcised. He did have his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois were what? We’re told they’re believers. So this young man in his childhood was what? We’re told in section, you know the scriptures that you knew from childhood, okay?
And I won’t go off on what we want to, the catechism and memorization of scripture, but that’s important. And I might say, you know, we talk about common grace and saving grace. Well, there’s covenant grace. It doesn’t guarantee that you’re saved being born into the covenant, but you know, it’s a great privilege. Right? Paul argues about that, doesn’t he, in Romans 1 and 2. Romans 1 is what? The pagans go to hell apart from Christ, right? And chapter 2, the Jews go to hell apart from Christ. And so then the question comes up, and Paul answers in chapter 3. He says, well, then what good is it to be a Jew? What good is it to be God’s covenant people?
And he says, in every way. The first thing is they have the scriptures. And that’s Timothy’s life. He grew up with a mother and a grandmother who told him, in that time, of course, the Old Testament scriptures. And we know somewhere in there he was converted, and he knew the truth from youth, and God used it. So interestingly, just think about the contrast. Not for long, but I think it’s worth thinking about.
Here’s Paul, who literally gets knocked off his horse, by the power of the risen Christ, blinding him. And here’s Timothy, no big spectacular conversion probably, just raised in a believing home, at least with a believing mom and grandmom, and God’s pleased to work in his heart. And here’s Paul, and they must be yin and yang, they’re very different. Paul’s an in-your-face, fiery guy, and Timothy needs to take a little bit of wine for his stomach’s sake, because he’s kind of, you know.
I can see him saying, Paul, you left me down here in Ephesus. What am I supposed to do? Dan laughs at that. Anyone who’s been trained. I can remember sitting on steps at midnight saying to Jay Adams, what did I get myself into? What am I supposed to do? I have no idea what to say to these people or how to help them.
You know, he had, here’s Paul, and here’s Timothy, and they team up. And it’s apparent. Paul comes through his city, and he says, I want Timothy to go with me. And so he has him circumcised. Now, Paul makes a stand. No circumcision for Gentiles. But since he has a Jewish mom, he says, look, We’re going to get you circumcised so that we’re not going to run into trouble. So here they are. But most important, what’s he like?
Now, that’s dangerous when we kind of try to read things into scripture. We’re not to do eisegesis, read things in. You know, the latest psych information, people, I won’t even tell you who the heretic was I was just reading, but it frustrated me no ends because here’s all this pop psychology being read back into Jesus’ life. And I’m going, oy vey. You know, Jesus would roll over if he heard this. This is not the God of the Bible.
But, you know, looking into his life, there’s things. He was teachable. I confer that from what? I can’t imagine him giving the raspberries to his mother and his grandmother going, nah, I’m not going to memorize the scripture. You know, he’s teachable, okay, and pliable and that sort of thing. We know in Acts 16 that he has a good reputation. When Paul comes back through, everybody speaks well of Timothy. Timothy is a wonderful young man. He loves the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s the real deal.
We know from 1 Timothy 4, and we can argue about this and we’ll get into it, he’s young. Don’t ask me how young. I don’t care. He’s young compared to what a normal pastor would be, okay? And some people argue he must have been in his 40s, you know, young. But whatever it was, he was young culturally at that point, and we know that Paul says, hey, look, Timothy, don’t let anyone look down on you because you’re young.
Now, how do you do that? Do you get in their face? No. You become what? An example. Every Christian character, Every trait, you know, may the Holy Spirit develop that in you so that really, in a sense, you are in everyone’s face, but in such a way as they can see the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, meekness, self-control. They can see the beatitudes.
You’re poor in spirit. You mourn over your sin and the sins of others. You’re meek. You hunger and thirst after righteousness. You’re a merciful peacemaker who pure-heartedly, single-mindedly sticks at peacemaking even when you’re persecuted. You outdo everybody in the fruits of the spirit. We know he’s somewhat timid and fearful, isn’t he?
Paul even says to one church, will you treat him right? I don’t have many guys like this. He doesn’t say it, but someone’s like, don’t scare him off. Now, Brett didn’t pay me to do this, or Mary Ann did this, but don’t scare off this young man, okay? I don’t know whether he’s timid or not, I don’t know him well enough or not, but treat him right, okay?
Because, why, you know? Timothy, you know, publicly he may be okay, but privately he’s there, and I don’t, you know, what am I doing? You know, and he’s timid and somewhat fearful. 1 Corinthians 16, 1 Timothy 5, 2 Timothy 1, 2 Timothy 2, 2 Timothy 4, you get the picture.
Paul mentions it many times, the implications are there. But the thing I want to focus briefly on tonight is he was precious to Paul. Paul, the apostle, appreciated this young man. This young man, again, was worth his weight in gold to Paul. Paul said, I don’t have many guys like this.
So look at 1 Timothy 1, again, our text. To Timothy, my what? True child in the faith. Genuine. That’s what the words really mean. My beloved, genuine, loyal, And that’s the character. This Timothy is doggedly loyal to Paul. As we would say, he’d go to the mat, he would put his life on the line for the Apostle Paul.
If you’ll turn or listen, Hebrews 13 says an interesting thing about his character. Hebrews 13, verse 23. Let me just read the context. I appeal to you, brothers, as the writer of Hebrews, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly.
You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon. So Timothy did time for the gospel. He was arrested. I’m assuming it’s the same Timothy. I mean, not too many Timothys. And obviously, he must have been known to the churches, so he didn’t have to say, oh, this particular Timothy. It’s Timothy did jail time. He was not afraid to suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ.
But particularly, particularly, listen to this. Turn over to Philippians chapter 2. And this is really the summary of his character, as I think it’s recorded for us kind of peripherally, and we pick it up as we read. Philippians chapter 2, verses 19 through 22. Well, 24, just read this section. Philippians chapter 2, starting with verse 19.
I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon. so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, that’s a statement, I have no one like him, not Titus or these other guys, I have no one like him who will be what? Genuinely concerned for your welfare. They all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father, he has served with me in the gospel.”
Wow. I wonder if there’s anybody in the world that would say something like that about me. Isn’t that incredible? I have no one else like this guy. Why? Here’s the character that’s important for us to grasp. He will genuinely be concerned about your welfare. As timid as he is and everything else, he genuinely loves people. I don’t want to pit doctrinal accuracy against that. They have to go hand in glove. But let’s face it, and you know who they are. It’s not me. There are people out there sitting here that, you know, as much as you love Pastor Dan and Brent, you know, if you were in the hospital, you wouldn’t see them. Why? You’ve met them, right? Every time you meet them, you get this strange impression.
They really mean what they say and they really care about me. You know, when they ask, they don’t just ask the question and then just go off. They look me in the eye and they wait for an answer. If I don’t come up with a good one, they ask me other questions. Until finally, you know, I come clean and, you know, I’ve been blessed. See, that’s Timothy. And as wonderful as Paul is, Paul was totally human, and he suffered. I can hardly keep from weeping when I read 2 Timothy. Remember how he ends, 2 Timothy? Hey, at my defense, guess what? You remember? Tell me.
How many people stood with him? No one. This is the Apostle Paul. There’s no Christian groupies around. Nobody even wants to hang with him. He’s at his last defense. And Paul, who mentored Timothy, said what? I pray that it won’t be held against him. Wow. What a Christ-like response. And you see, that is the kind of character that was in Timothy. I have no one else like him who will be genuinely concerned about your welfare. Now do you know why Paul liked him? It wasn’t because he was a great speaker, had great jokes, whatever, you know, wonderful. It wasn’t powerful presence. This was a genuine guy who loved people and the Lord Jesus Christ and he loved Paul. Paul sent him all over the place, Rome, Philippi, Corinth, Ephesus. I mean, this guy bounced around all over the place, you see.
And what was that relationship? He’s a spiritual son. Lois, Eunice, perhaps converted in Paul’s first missionary journey, and then they begin to teach him, and Paul comes through and teaches Timothy. He picks him, and he works with him, and he now becomes what?
A yoke fellow. Now, I don’t know if this is accurate. When we say a yoke fellow, this is the picture I get. And I get this picture when Jesus uses those terms. He says what? Take my yoke upon you and learn of me because my yoke is easy, my burden is light. Now a yoke is what? It’s something that goes around an animal, an oxen particularly, right? And that’s attached to the wagon and it hauls the burden. And I always picture Christ when he says that with his head in the yoke of the law saying, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Christ is not asking you, beloved, to do anything that he didn’t do first. And in the same way, Paul says, this is my what? Yoke fellow. We served together. We suffered together in Rome, in Corinth, in Thessalonica, in Ephesus, at Philippi. You name it, Paul sent him there, and he suffered and served with Christ. So the final thing is to say, Timothy is a great encouragement to the Apostle Paul. A unique father-son relationship.
Let me say this. You’ve heard the saying, haven’t you? Blood is thicker than water. Right, okay. What’s that mean? Your family relationship is the most important thing. Now let me flip that around. I think water should be more, should be thicker than blood. And what I mean by that is the water of baptism. Your spiritual family, we were talking the way over here, right? Millie and I, we were talking as we drove over, and she was mentioning some things. I won’t give you the details. She can if you want. But, you know, hey, why should I be near my physical family when my, what, spiritual family means more to me? You see?
That’s the relationship that Paul had with Timothy. You see, and I would simply apply this very quickly. You and I need to have that character that Paul and Timothy had. A loyalty, a love for Jesus Christ, a love for his servants so that people would look at us. We need to have Timothy’s character to please God, of course. We need to have Timothy’s character to encourage our elders. Now again, you can say that, but in the discouragement and despondency of still struggling with the remnants of the stroke, Brent still learning the ropes of being a pastor, do they get encouragement from you?
And just fill in the blank. Do they say, oh, there’s nobody like Sam. I have nobody else like him. He could say that to everybody at Grace, OPC, to everybody at Moon Township, over at Redeemer, anybody in the precinct. I mean, I have nobody in my congregation like, fill it in, man or woman. Why? Because of your character and your loyalty to them. See, blood is not thicker than water, although normally it is.
I found that out in my first OP pastoring. step on one person’s toe, and the rest of the clan gets up in arms. That was interesting. That was in Harmony, New Jersey. There was this big clan over here, about 120-some people, all interrelated by marriage. And this other clan over here, about 75. And I thought, you know, boy, if they ever intermarried, it would be one big family. Well, I found out that there had been a divorce about six years before I got there. And actually, all had been interrelated. You know, and whatever I said over here, why’d you talk to my grandmother like that? So what do you mean when I talk like your grandmother like that? Da da da da da da da, you know? You know, that’s not the way it ought to be in the church.
That’s the way it really is. And that’s where we get the saying, blood is thicker than water. And I found out that that blood relatives often became more significant than what the Bible said, you know, and people would protect their DUI cousin, you know, from the consequences legally and from the church because they wouldn’t repent. The water of baptism ought to be thicker than blood. I wonder, just simply, about myself too. I’m convicted by this sermon myself. Are there people that would say that about George Sipioni? There’s nobody like him. Yeah, he may be a little rough around the edges or anything, but man, there’s nobody that’ll be loyal to you for your Christian commitment like him, no one else will lay down their life like him.
You see, that is the kind of relationship that Paul had with Timothy. And so, when Paul was dying, or soon to die for the faith, he writes to Timothy, and he tells him, hey, you know, everyone else left me. May God not hold that against them. But you know, Timothy was a soulmate.
I trust that there’s relationships in this congregation that are like that. I think this is a key to relationships between elders and sheep, between older women and younger women, older men and younger men, all these things that we’re told in these pastoral epistles that ought to be going on in our churches. But it doesn’t happen unless there is that character been softened, by grace. So I end where I started this morning.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you. Grace, mercy, and peace came to Timothy. God’s riches at Christ’s expense came to Timothy. It transformed him, and he became a Yoke fellow with Paul. Timothy also experienced mercy. May the eternal riches of Christ be yours. the covenant mercies of God, which will enable you not to protect yourself, but to lay down your life for God’s glory and for the good of your brothers and sisters in Christ, even when they step on your toes. And above all, the peace of God. that can allow you to be martyred. The powerful presence of the Prince of Peace may it ease and erase all crushing experiences. When you taste of that grace, you can be loyal to other people and be a spiritual child.
For you older people, I plead with you to be mentors, not only to your own children, but take on some young Timothys. Love the OPC for having the Timothy conferences. That’s exciting to hear. But more than just a conference, they need an older man to take them aside and teach them how to love Christ and how to love others. May it be said to you or about you, I have no one else like you. because they will lay down their life. They have a genuine concern. I think above all, that’s what we need to learn from the life of Timothy and his relationship to the Apostle Paul. Again, the text is clear. The text is clear. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by commandment 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.
May you, may I, become Timothy’s so that again, someday we can be mentors like Paul. Let’s pray. Father in heaven, we properly so, land down usually on the side of doctrine. And we can never, ever, ever cut corners there. But Lord, in our Reformed fellowships, we often forget how important friendships and human love and character are as they come from the Holy Spirit. Lord, we pray that we will take this implication from this introduction and see the depth of love between Paul and Timothy.
And Lord, whatever side of the Rubicon we are in terms of age. May we desire to become spiritual fathers and mothers to younger people. And or, Lord, may we desire to have a Yolk Fellowship relationship with an older Christian. Lord, I think, and I want to thank you publicly, I think of Jay Adams and I think of Lou Grotenhaus, Lord, My sins are mine, my failures are mine. Lord, anything that is good has come from the mentoring from men like that and Bob Atwell. And so, Lord, may we all have, not just pastoral relations. But may all of us have these kind of accountability and relationships so that we have rich love for one another.
Bind us together in prayer, bind us together in service, bind us together in love, we pray in Christ’s name, amen. Let’s take our hymnals and stand and sing our closing hymn. Jesus, the very thought of thee, receive God’s benediction. And then we will sing hymn 86, verse 3. Let’s stand together, sing in closing.
Jesus, the very thought of thee. ♪ Jesus, the very thought of thee ♪ ♪ With sweetness fills my breast ♪ But sweeter for thy face to see, And in thy presence rest. can claim, nor can the memory find, a sweeter sound than thy blessed name, who saved your home and pride. Oh, To those who call, how kind thou art. Thou art good to those who seek. Thou art wise to those who find thou mist. ♪ Work the poor man and show the love of Jesus God ♪ ♪ It is not but this love one knows ♪ ♪ Jesus, our only joy, be there among us always ♪ People of God, receive God’s benediction. Now may the grace Mercy and peace of God, our Father, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and the seven spirits be with you now and forever. Amen.
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