August 25, 1999
LIFE & WORK SERIES:
A discipler's ministry can impact generations
___Acts 16:1-4; 1 Timothy 1:18-19; 4:11-16; 2 Timothy 2:1-3
___By Brett Younger
___Lake Shore Baptist Church, Waco
___Most days there aren't enough hours to finish our list of things to do. We constantly decide what and who is worth our time. With whom will we spend our time talking? Who deserves our attention?
___However busy we feel, our lives are no more crowded than Saint Paul's. Like most tentmakers, he was always one tent behind. The churches demanded his attention.Wherever he was, he also needed to be somewhere else. Yet in the midst of his busyness, Paul spent time with a young disciple.
___Paul met Timothy while visiting the church at Lystra in Asia Minor (Acts 16:1-4). Timothy's mother and grandmother taught him the Hebrew Scriptures. As the product of an interracial marriage, Timothy was not a logical candidate to be Paul's apprentice. Some strict Jews would have nothing to do with Timothy, because his father was Greek.
___Nonetheless, the more he was around Timothy the more Paul thought of him. Paul took him to Thessalonica, Philippi, Berea, Corinth and Ephesus. Paul even took Timothy to prison. Inviting an impressionable young man to prison seems questionable, but Paul was preparing the next generation.
___Paul's admiration and Timothy's responsibilities grew. When Paul was run out of Berea, he left Timothy behind to hold the church together (Acts 17:14). When problems came up in Thessalonica, Corinth and Philippi, Paul sent Timothy.
___First and Second Timothy describe Timothy's responsibilities as a young minister. Timothy is urged to fight the good fight, set an example in love, faith and purity, preach and teach. The letters sound like that of a father to a son, a teacher to a beloved student and an experienced follower to a young disciple.
___Paul began helping Timothy, but as time passed, he saw Timothy was helping him. Paul calls Timothy his "son whom I love" (1 Corinthians 4:17). Paul writes, "I have no one else like him" (Philippians 2:20). As Paul waits to die in prison he asks for Timothy to come as soon as he can (2 Timothy 4:9). Timothy was the promise that Paul's ministry would continue. The time spent with this young disciple was well spent.
___A Japanese proverb says, "To teach is to learn." We learn our faith as we pass it along. In sharing with others we discover what we've been given.
___Did you have a great aunt who kept telling you that you were her favorite? Was there a Sunday School teacher who thought you were the smartest child in the world to have learned the books of the Bible? Did an elementary school teacher take a special interest in you? When you were a teenager were there people at church who went out of their way to speak to you? Was there a neighbor who helped you when you were first out on your own? Have older people treated you like a friend?
___If we're fortunate, we can recall the voices of caring mentors who enriched our lives. The next generation needs to hear our voices.
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!