4. 1Tim. 1.1,2 A True Child in the Faith

1 Tim 1:1,2 My True Child in the Faith

1Ti 1:1-2  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,  (2)  To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Introduction – Last Sunday we considered Paul and his other title as father in the faith. We saw in the text a fatherly watch care, interest, instruction, and genuine love for Timothy by Paul. And by example we are to imitate that within the context of the church. It is Gods appointed means of His Fatherly watch care by providing Shepherds, elders, and more mature Christians to instruct the younger generation in the faith.

We see from the context that the letter is addressed to an individual but just because it was written specifically to Timothy doesn’t mean it doesn’t have application to us. We must all remember that all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness and as a result if it is in our Bibles, it is God’s word to us. This letter is written by Paul but authored by the Holy Spirit.

This morning we will not focus so much on Timothy as much as we will on how he is described and from there glean how this will apply to us. We will take our time to examine this simple phrase that is packed with so much meaning.

I. A Child who Belongs – My True Child

We should be encouraged by the very first word all the way to the last. ‘My’ is a first person possessive pronoun. It tells us we belong to someone else. It is Paul’s free declaration to Timothy as to his status in relation to Paul. If you are in Christ Jesus this is also God the Father’s free declaration to you regarding your relation to Him. We belong to our Father who has loved us with a steadfast love before the world was and ordained human history to secure and apply that salvation to you. Were you the only person on the planet your Father’s course would have been the same in His sending His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for your sin. We who are in Christ have been redeemed and purchased as a people for His own possession. What a blessing it is to be His own possession.

A thief will size up a home to determine whether it can be broken into and possessions stolen, but no one breaks into our Father’s house. All that is His remains His.

Joh 6:39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

Joh 10:28-29 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (29) My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

We are not only His possession but we are His children. The Greek word used here for children is the one used in familial relation to parent to child. We are His by His adoption. When we consider adoption it is of a child whose mother cannot keep even if the will is there to do so. But consider for just a moment who our parent is before we came to be in Christ? We are children of the devil and this one has no desire to see any of his children depart from the fold and embrace Christ and will fight to keep them his own. It is with violence our heavenly Father brings us into the household of the faith for those whom He has appointed to salvation. It was in the violence of the cross and the application of the Spirit in the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit bestowing on us the very faith we need to believe for our salvation.

Rom 8:16-17 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (17) and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

If you are in Christ Jesus this morning there is no is no securer place for your soul to be found. Not one of His can or will ever be lost no matter what evil may come our way. We are often robbed of the joy of this great truth when we focus on this life and not the eternal life to come. Paul wrote in Romans 8 that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to follow. Unless the Lord returns we will all one day draw our last breath. I often think of my dad. He fought in the Korena War and was wounded in action. He was shot in the shoulder but the bullet could not be removed because it has bounced of bone and lodged to near his spin for the doctors to risk removing it. Later in life he got a blood cancer and as a result of the medication he was on to control it brought on his Alzheimer’s. He passed away due to the cancer coming back. The point I am making here is that we live and no matter what struggles we go through in this life the result is the same for all. It only makes sense in light of God’s salvation and adoption of us into His family.

He is not only pleased to save but He is pleased to dwell in us. These earthen bodies that day by day get older are the habitation of the living God.

1Co 6:19  Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

Eph 1:13-14  In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,  (14)  who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

II. A True Child in the Faith

Switching back to Paul’s perspective he calls Timothy my true child in the faith. What does Paul mean here? The Greek word can be translated as legitimate, genuine, or true. Legitimate as opposed to illegitimate, genuine as opposed to fake, true as opposed to false. It is used as an adjective here but can also be used as an adverb. The arrow flew true to it’s mark. True can mean path as well as destination. How do you think Paul arrived at his conclusion that Timothy was his true child in the faith? By observation. In Timothy he saw outward fruit of an inward faith. It could be weighed and measured objectively so that Paul could pronounce this affirmation of Timothy with confidence. Was Timothy perfect? No. Were there no issues Timothy would not be directly addressed in this letter, but he is.

Timothy is a true child based upon the work of salvation God has done in him. Whatever Timothy’s doubts about himself were Paul reminds him of the objective truth of the real work of God in him. There are those who make a profession of faith and never have repentance associated with saving faith.

Mat 7:13-14  “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.  (14)  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

But Paul saw in Timothy the fruit of faith. The Christian life is a life of struggle. We struggle against the power of remaining sin, we struggle against the world, the flesh and the devil with all its promises of ease and pleasure. In Timothy’s life his faith was real.

2Ti 1:5  I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.

When Paul writes ‘in the faith’ he is not pointing to a general salvific faith though that is certainly included. He is talking about a particular set of doctrines found in God’s Word of God, man, sin, salvation, the church, it’s work and worship.

2Ti 3:10-15  You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,  (11)  my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.  (12)  Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,  (13)  while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.  (14)  But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it  (15)  and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

There are many that want to minimize the importance of doctrine, criticize it saying that it is divisive. Others will say ‘No creed but Christ’ which is a creed in and of itself. Sound doctrine leads to a right understanding of our God and how we are to rightly life in accordance with our right understanding of God. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not preaching or advocating legalism. What I am preaching and advocating is living carefully as prescribed in God’s Word, not to earn our salvation, or to justify ourselves before the Lord, or to prove what holy people we are to others. It is pouring ourselves out as a living and holy sacrifice, which is our reasonable service of worship in obedience to the God Whom we love because he has first loved us and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins.

1Co 9:24-27  Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.  (25)  Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.  (26)  So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.  (27)  But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

What are the qualities we look for in a child. 1. Faith in Christ. 2. Humility and 3. Obedience. We see this in the texts we read from 2 Timothy. By way of application let us focus on these three things. It is always good to take a spiritual accounting of ourselves before the Lord. Paul tells us in Php 2:12  Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

2Pe 1:10  Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

Ask yourself this question. If you were to stand before God in heaven and He asked why you should be allowed to enter, what would your answer be? My hope is that your answer is not in your service, or your good works, or your faithfulness in attending church but that you have placed your soul squarely and securely in what Jesus Christ has accomplished on the cross, in shedding His blood for the forgiveness of our sins and it is in Him and Him alone that we have our hope for heaven and eternal salvation.

What about humility, humbleness? Defined it means lack of arrogance or pride. But there is really more to it. It is a willing placing yourself under the authority of God We are to humble ourselves before God. Part of that is being in willing submission to those whom God has sovereignly appointed over us in government. We learned that in 1 Peter. But specifically when being taught or trained in the church it is your attitude in receiving it. If there is something said you don’t understand or may not believe how do you approach it? Do you stir up strive within the congregation or so you in humbleness of heart take your questions to your Pastor with your Bible in hand and be willing to learn from him? Are you an earnest learner or do you have the attitude that you know it all and have no need for further instruction. This humility is not only in regard to instruction but also governs the way we live withing the community of the saints.

Php 2:3-4  Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  (4)  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Are you obedient? We are not talking about blind obedience to anyone. We are talking about to the Word of God specifically and to those whom God has appointed as elders and shepherds among you. 1 Peter 5:5 Likewise, you who are younger submit to your elders. This is not an age thing it is within the context of the Peter’s command for elders to shepherd the church in the previous verses. The elders are to shepherd and those who are not are to submit to their authority. In our obedience, especially within the context of the church we are to be like the noble minded Bereans who searched the Scripture to see if what Paul was telling them was the truth. Why is this important in being a true child in the faith? The mark of the child of God is obedience.

There may be a day when you or your family requires counseling? Will you respond in humble obedience to the counsel given or will you harden your heart? We all here would say that we will obey the commands of God, if so, then why do we have trouble when those same commands are spoken from the pulpit? John writes in 1 John that you cannot love God whom you do not see if you do not love your brother whom you do see. The principle is this. You will not obey God who you can’t see, if you reject His word from those you do see.

In closing I want to point you to the purpose of this letter. 1Ti 3:14-15  I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that,  (15)  if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

There may be things we do in the work and worship of the church that do not conform to the Word of God but rather the traditions of men. That may be difficult to accept to change something we have done for so long. There may be things that we are not doing that we should include in the worship and work of this church.

But if we conduct ourselves as true children in the faith then we will with unity of heart and mind move forward in the grace of God to order and grow His church for His honor and glory.