Thoughts on 1 Timothy 1:1-2: Timothy

Yesterday I wrote about the author of 1 Timothy, the Apostle Paul. Today I'll write a little bit about the recipient of Paul's letter, Timothy.

Timothy first shows up in Acts 16:

“Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, a the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.”

So Timothy was the son of a Christian and a non-Christian. In God’s sovereignty Timothy became a believer as he is described as a disciple. Luke, the author of Acts, also goes on to note that Timothy was “well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium” and that “Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.” There are two big points in these verses.

First, to the men who want to serve God and be used for his work (myself included): we must live our lives in a way that we will have a good reputation among other believers. When Paul showed up in Derbe and Lystra he was looking for a guy to accompany him on his missionary journeys. He undoubtedly showed up and asked “Who is your best guy?” Because Timothy had no doubt lived his Christian life in accordance with the teachings of Jesus he had gained a good reputation among the brothers there and was given the opportunity to serve in a much greater way. Men, do not expect to live lives of repetitive unrepentant sin and be used by God in a great way. As it is written:

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.”

Granted there are exceptions such as the Apostle Paul, but as a general rule, if you want God to trust you with big things, you must be trustworthy with the most basic things first: reading your Bible daily, setting aside time for prayer, leading and providing for your families, and being an example to your friends and co-workers.

Second, do not let your ego get in the way of your service to God. All men like to be and think they are “the man”. Men like to be the Alpha male, the dominant one, the leader among leaders. As men we need to understand and accept that being “the man among men” may not be the role God has for us in terms of ministry. Please understand that in our own families we had better be “the man among men”. I am speaking in terms of ministry here. Notice that in Acts 16:3 Luke writes “Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him”. Timothy was to play Robin to Paul’s Batman. Timothy was the sidekick. He was not “the man” but he was undoubtedly crucial to the success of Paul’s ministry. Timothy did not let his ego get in the way of God’s calling on his life. Timothy could have easily said, as I’m sure many men probably do, “No thanks, Paul. I don’t want to play second fiddle. I’m going to start my own ministry over here. I want to be ‘the man’.” But that was not the role that God had for Timothy at that time. Men need to understand that in this world there are not many Paul’s out there and for every Paul, God has set aside a number of Timothy’s. Do not let your ego fool you into thinking you are a Paul when you are a Timothy. With prayer, ask God to reveal to you what role He would have you play and thankfully and humbly accept it.

Lastly, (I know I said there were two major points to these verses but as I was writing I thought of a third) we should recognize that Paul chose Timothy because he was called by God, not trained by seminary. Too often today churches call the trained men instead of training the called men. Paul recognized that Timothy was called by God. He did not say to Timothy “Go to Bible school for four years, then seminary for four years and eight years from now I’ll be back to pick you up and we can start doing ministry together.” What did happen? Luke writes that “Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him”. Timothy learned by following Paul, watching Paul, and getting his hands dirty with Paul just as the disciples learned by following, watching, and working with Jesus. Please understand I’m not saying anything negative about seminary or Bible school. I think they are amazing tools for learning and would love to go to seminary one day. I just think churches and pastors need to do a better job of recognizing the call on young people’s lives and training them instead of only calling on men who have already been scholastically trained.

As always we should do a better job of following the examples set for us by Jesus.