We Need Timothys

Jeff Peper
Written By Jeff Rybacki
 

“As I [Paul] urged you [Timothy] when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. 

Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.” 

1 Timothy 1:3-11

As Paul continues his travels and crosses the Aegean into Macedonia (Greece) he leaves Timothy to remain in Ephesus (Asia Minor, or Turkey) to lead the church that has been planted there. Both men are far away from home at this point and while Paul certainly would have been accustomed to traveling from his youth, this may not have been the case for Timothy. Paul sends this letter, addressed to Timothy, as a note of encouragement as well as caution. 

While God calls some to be traveling missionaries who plant churches, it is of greater importance not to neglect the local churches. Paul’s understanding of this is implied in that he left Timothy, his greatest co-laborer in ministry, in charge of this church as he traveled the Mediterranean planting new churches. While we may all admire/appreciate Paul, or perhaps a Billy Graham, don’t forget the church needs far more Timothy’s who are capable of staying and overseeing a local body of believers and assisting in the placement of elders/overseers, which Paul goes on to address later in the letter. Perhaps, like me, sometimes you become bored with Somerset and you wish you could travel or live in other parts of the country or world, however, just as God was at work through Paul’s travels and Timothy’s shepherding of the church in Ephesus, so too are we have been placed in Somerset for a purpose and we should watch with expectation to see what God will do through the Bridge. 

The first thing Paul addresses with Timothy are false teachers. While I don’t discredit any of the other things Paul wrote to Timothy, this is the subject Paul chose to write about first. Certainly there was no shortage of issues in the 1st century church of trying to reconcile the Law (Old Testament) with this new Gospel of Christ. It took centuries for the early church to work through several theological issues before they came to a point where we had a theological base to work from. However, the issue here is not just doctrine but also people who just really liked to hear themselves talk. Ephesus, while in modern day Turkey, was culturally Greek, so if you think about a bunch of people who 

want to sound like Greek philosophers starting to preach you’re on the right road. Paul’s note specifically calls this out for Timothy to be on guard against. 

I don’t believe we’ve ever gotten away from this problem. There are preachers who spend a lot of time talking about nothing in particular. They may expound on virtues of scripture, but they rarely preach through scripture and wrestle through complicated issues on their way to growing in their faith. Just as Paul warned Timothy about teachers who “wander away into vain discussion” we too should be on watch for messages which hardly resemble the Gospel. Spurgeon spent considerable amount of time addressing this in his sermons, my particular favorite is when he said, “Do not go where it is all fine music and grand talk and beautiful architecture..Go where the Gospel is preached. And go often.” 

Paul then moves on to his next point which is to make sure that Timothy does not take away from the Law in his message either. Without the law and an understanding of our sin we can not be made aware of Christ’s sacrifice. Paul and Timothy have moved into a group of people that have to be taught the law differently than Jews need to be. To be Greek (or Roman) meant a much different set of principles than to be a Hebrew, particularly as it related to sexual sins. The Ephesians would need to understand what God’s design for intimacy was and incorporate that into a changed life of holiness. Does this sound familiar? Similar to Paul & Timothy finding themselves in a culture more and more removed from the law so we find ourselves in a similar situation in the US. Generation by generation we lose a common understanding of scripture and things that are plain to us and previous generations are now, again, being challenged. It will not be long until more things from the list above find their way back into our society. As they say, “History has a way of repeating itself.” 

The great news is many of these things have been dealt with before, they are recorded in your Bible. We know where to find truth, we need only open our Bible and read. Don’t discredit this, don’t allow this to be the thing that gets pushed to the back-burner when you’re tired or busy. We risk much by a neglect of scripture.

Jeff Rybacki
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