Acts 16

Love

Today is our last Sunday of Advent and this Sunday the Advent theme is love. And as such I would like to look at our next passage in Acts through the lens of love, to witness together how love does indeed lie at the center of all ministry and in fact all of life, for God IS love in His essence, in His being, perfect and eternal love.

I want to start by reflecting on the love that God gives His people, the Church, for each other, not in a theoretical or philosophical sense, but the actual love that God gives us for each other, as a sustaining gift, and as a sign of the glorious love that awaits us in that better place.

So let us look at Paul and look at what the Lord gives Paul for sustaining love in this life.

This is the beginning of a journey, to be specific it is the beginning of Paul’s 2nd missionary journey that takes him farther West than he has ever gone before.

And Paul is traveling with Silas. We don’t know all that much about Silas but we can gather from how Paul refers to him in his letters that Paul has respect for Silas, but not necessarily much affection, or at least he never refers to him in close familial terms. He is a fellow missionary, and a man of God, but not necessarily particularly close to Paul.

Paul is grieving at the beginning of this journey. The text does not state that anywhere but we know it is true. Because Paul’s mentor in the faith and closest companion in his life, Barnabas, is no longer with him, and their relationship ended badly with harsh words exchanged. The closer you are to someone, the more painful such a schism is. Barnabas had been a mentor of Paul’s, a teacher and a friend, and he had essentially chosen John Mark over Paul, and by so doing had in some sense publicly rebuked Paul for not being forgiving enough, which had to sting.

So there was a void in Paul’s life. He had lost a relationship he valued deeply. And especially if you are, as Paul was, unmarried and without children, it is precisely those kinds of friendships that are sustaining and fulfilling in life. We all feel the need to be loved and to love others in kind. This is part of what it means to be human and to be made in the image of God.

The Lord is not blind to our need to have love in our lives- the love of other human beings to care for us and to alleviate our loneliness. And the very next chapter of the story that unfolds in the book of Acts begins with a new relationship that the Lord gives Paul- his friendship with Timothy of Lystra. Timothy is God’s gift of love to Paul, and Paul is God’s gift of love to Timothy. And it is crystal clear from the text that the relationship they form is that of a father and son.

I want to pause here to mention that my family has a very strange Christmas tradition. Every year we watch together the movie Arthur Christmas. Probably most of you have not heard of it, it’s more popular in England where it was made, but it is a movie that we just enjoy watching together - it has nothing to do with Arthur the Aardvark, by they way, which is what many Americans assume when they hear the name.

But my family delights in watching it with me in part because it never fails to make me tear up no matter how many times I watch it, and my family enjoys my sufferings. But the reason it makes me cry, and one of the reasons I enjoy the film, is because it deals with a subject that, frankly, not many movies deal with, much less animated Christmas movies, and that is the subject of mentorship, fatherhood, and the passing of responsibility and leadership from one generation to the next. My own family of origin carries a lot of pain for me with some of these issues as does my church history so I am easily moved by these kinds of narratives.

I bring this up in part because there comes a point in a person’s life, man or woman, when there is a shift and you may or may not notice this shift, and it may happen gradually or abruptly, but it is the shift from apprentice to teacher, from mentee to mentor, where you realize that your internal identity as a student and follower needs to shift and you need to recognize that people are going to start looking to you for answers and leadership and wisdom and so forth.

Laura and I noticed this several times I think especially in our early 40s and we even found language for it, we called it becoming the Suttons. Because for us Bill and Jane Sutton were our mentors and father/mother figures in the faith who taught us and cared for us and loved us as, indeed, a father and mother should, and this brought us both tremendous healing and comfort in life. They embodied the love of Christ for us, and therefore gave us the greatest gift that one human can give another in this life, which is love for Jesus Christ.

For Paul, Barnabas was his Bill and Jane Sutton, if you will. Barnabas ‘discovered’ Paul’s gifts and encouraged him, and brought him to the attention of the disciples. You might recall that when Paul first arrived in Jerusalem the disciples wanted nothing to do with him because of his history and also because they feared his supposed faith was a trap. It was Barnabas who convinced them to trust Paul.

It was Barnabas who remained at Paul’s side and suffered with him on the very 1st missionary journey outside of Israel that the Holy Spirit led the church to embark upon. Barnabas watched Paul get beaten nearly to death, and he watched God heal him.

But now what has happened to Paul? Well, in the language of the Kerlins, Paul has become Bill and Jane Sutton. And here is a hint of something, a kernel of truth that I would like to dig into a bit here.

Because here is an interesting question: If Paul had not had his schism with his mentor, and if he and Barnabas had NOT quarreled, would Paul still have been looking for another missionary partner on his journey? And would Paul have felt like he could or should be Timothy’s mentor when Barnabas was there who was, in Paul’s eyes, older and more wise, etc.? Obviously we cannot know the answers to those questions, but what we do know is that God does not delight in quarrels or division in the Church, but that He can and does use any and all circumstances, good and evil, to further His aims and to accomplish His purposes.

It was Paul who wrote

Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Indeed I can’t help but wonder if perhaps Paul was thinking about Barnabas and Timothy and that whole time in his life when he wrote the passage surrounding this verse, so I will quote it in its entirety here:

Romans 8:26–28 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

So Barnabas and Paul quarrel and split, and in the very next passage Paul gains a son and Timothy gains a father, spiritually speaking. And so do their journeys continue, as they strengthen and support each other with the love they have for each other.

And we know about this father son relationship because Paul speaks of it in his letters, in ways that are powerful and give us a glimpse into Paul’s personal life and the gift that Timothy was to him: SLIDE

1 Corinthians 4:17: Paul calls him, "my beloved and faithful child in the Lord." He is sending Timothy to the Corinthians to act as a living embodiment of his own character.

1 Timothy 1:2: Paul addresses the letter to "Timothy, my true child in the faith."

2 Timothy 1:2: In his final letter, Paul greets him as "Timothy, my beloved child."

Philippians 2:22: Paul tells the church, "But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a child with a father he has served with me in the gospel."

However, this father/son relationship is neither controlling nor condescending. Paul loves Timothy as a father loves a son, but he also respects him as a fellow minister of the Lord.

2. The Language of "Equal Soul"

One of the most profound expressions of Paul’s love is found in Philippians 2:19–20. When Paul is deciding whom to send to the Philippians, he says:

"I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon... For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare."

The Greek word Paul uses here for "no one like him" is isopsychos, which literally means "equal-souled" or "of kindred spirit." Paul is essentially saying that Timothy is his "other half" in ministry; they think, feel, and love in the exact same way.

The Lord gives us our community. He gives us people to love and people who will love us. Before I go on, a word or two here about marriage.

One of the great sins of the North American church has been to insinuate or sometimes even say outright that you have somehow failed at life or failed at love if you never get married or never have children. How ironic it is that our great wedding passage of all time, 1 Corinthians 13, was written by a man who was not married, never had his own biological children, and even said, in his writings, in his opinion, it’s better to NOT get married. Of course that wasn’t a command he says that explicitly, and his concern is that with the persecution of the church having children and being married will be potentially much more devastating than being single, but nevertheless it is abundantly clear that Paul does not feel that in order to reflect God’s love and to be loved requires marriage in any regard and he says that marriage is a gift, given to some and not to others. But, of course, the implication is that those who are not given the gift of marriage are given OTHER gifts. But I believe, brothers and sisters, that just as the Roman Catholic church made an idol out of celibacy, so has the Protestant church frequently made an idol out of marriage. I am married and have children and I am grateful for all these things but I have every confidence that were I unmarried and without kids that the Lord would fill my life with friends and families that would give me the love I need if I am only open to it.

There are variations of a common saying among pastors- the 2 most common conversations in a pastor’s office are Help, I am single, and Help, I am married.

Back to Paul and Timothy. Let’s talk some about the painful bit. Paul circumcised Timothy. Why did he do that? The text is clear on this point- as we might expect ,it has nothing to do with salvation or obeying the law in order to be righteous. It was because his father was Greek and there was some question as to whether or not Timothy was Jewish or not and where does Paul go first in every town in order to preach Christ? He goes into the synagogues- to speak. And while in most places Gentiles were allowed to attend services in the synagogue they were almost never allowed to speak. Paul, an established Pharisee of the Jewish faith, was essentially making Timothy fully ‘Jewish’ not because that gave Timothy any merit or benefit in the eyes of the Lord, but it literally would open doors to Timothy in terms of outreach and mission. It’s a practical choice, not a spiritual one.

And yet there is something that fits here as well that has nothing to do with the mission but is about Timothy and Paul. In those days before hospitals and professional mohels it was always the father who circumcised his son, by his own hand. So Paul was being practical by performing this procedure, but it also created a kind of bond between Timothy and Paul. It may sound to us like just a painful and embarrassing moment for them, but we must remember that modern society is still generally much more prudish in real life than people were at that time. They were by nature much more comfortable in and with their bodies and were quite blunt about discussing them. And it fits, given their father/son relationship that they will have the rest of their lives, that Paul would be the one to circumcise Timothy. It is not cause for embarrassment, it is appropriate and creates a bond between them.

In fact, and I will go a bit off topic here, prudishness in general is a fascinating topic. It is a very recent phenomenon unique to European culture that really took shape in the Victorian era when it became considered bad form to discuss bodily things or be open about sex, etc. And, not coincidentally, in my view, this is also when pornography began to be a cultural phenomenon as well. And these realities are tied together at the hip, if you will, that when we repress parts of our humanity or fail to address directly aspects of our humanity, such as our sexuality, then they will go underground and flourish away from the light, as it were. And here we are now in postmodern America where pornography is everywhere and in every home and on every computer and we all know it and children become addicted to it, but parents are still terrified to talk to their kids about sex.

At any rate, Paul and Timothy were not embarrassed about Paul’s circumcision of Timothy. They wanted people to know that Timothy was now ritually Jewish and Luke was not embarrassed to put it into his history and the Holy Spirit was in the event and in the recording of the event. If it seems too forward try reading Song of Songs and get back to me.

But let us get back to the greater topic at hand: Love.

Because during their worldly lives Paul and Timothy loved one another as father and son and that was good, holy, and sustaining for them both. But it was not their first love. They loved God, first and foremost, before and after all other things. And it was God’s love that united them in purpose to go forth into a cruel world and declare out loud to a people who were often violently opposed to the message, that Christ loved them and died for them while they were yet sinners.

All love that does not find its source and resting place in the love of Christ becomes, in the end warped and misshapen, because it is God and God alone in whom we find love that is pure, holy and eternal.

As I mentioned many sermons ago, some people consider the title of the book of Acts, “Acts” to refer to the Acts of the Apostle, and some to the Acts of the Holy Spirit, both are accurate of course. But it would be just as accurate to describe the nature of the Acts, and you could call the book of Acts the Acts of Love. Acts of Love. Because Paul is pouring out his life (he refers to it as pouring himself out like a drink offering) in love and service to all who would hear his message. And he is doing that because he has been transformed, completely changed by the love of Christ, who perfectly reflects and contains the love of the Father and this love is worked out in and through us through the love of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:30 “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf,”

The heart of a Christian does not love the world or the things of this world. In fact, the deeper your walk with God goes, the greater will be your weariness and wariness of this world. But we love, fiercely, and to the point of death, our friends, our enemies, and everyone in between and the greatest expression of that love, for us, is to somehow, in some way, be a witness to the only source of love in this universe, our Triune God. If the greatest thing in your life is your relationship with Jesus and His love for you, and I hope it is, then it is only natural that the greatest thing that we have to share with others, indeed the ONLY thing we have to share that will last and will not be swallowed by the grave, is the love of Christ.

Paul and Timothy knew this and this is what bound them together more than anything else.

2 Timothy 1:1–7 ESV

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. 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. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.