Introduction to 1 Timothy

TENSION NEEDING REDEMPTION:

The letter of 1 Timothy can seem from the surface a letter of points and corrections

CENTRAL TRUTH EXPRESSED (MAIN POINT):

1 Timothy is a letter of relationship written to see the Church flourish in life together

GOD'S HEART REVEALED:

OUR RIGHT RESPONSE:

1 | How have I experienced the tension?

We concluded our Revive Us series last week that has carried us through the Summer.

So maybe you joined us throughout the Summer for the first time or this is your first time here tonight, so with that our regular rhythm is to go through entire books of the Bible intentionally so that we would discover all the wonder that God has in store for us, and have seen how timely it has been as we started our current series 16 years ago and have continued to right now…

The book of 1 Timothy is only 6 chapters long but is often cited in books, sermons, and podcasts.

Imagine someone walks up to you and says “don’t do it” and walks away. What are you thinking? Does this person know something about me I am unaware of? Did they confuse me for someone else?

You have no context for the statement, so the statement doesn’t carry weight or meaning and is just confusing.

2 | How have you experienced this tension?

This is why at Mosaic we put so much focus into context in each ministry environment, whether that is from the stage or in a group.

The goal is not just to give you fish but how we can all go fishing together!

With any part of the Bible there can easily be temptation to see the truths of the Scriptures as a fish where you eat what is tasty to yourself and spit out what is less appealing. This is the entire concept of a bias. We each have one, the question is what we do with them.

When we give into our biases, we ultimately minimize its intent, misunderstand God’s voice, and see the Bible as a list of dos and don’ts rather than a conversation and revelation of God to his people.

I wanted to start tonight before we get into 1 Timothy by handing you a tool that I have used since seminary to help ensure that I am learning to interpret the Scriptures well and wisely.

It is called the Interpretive Journey and we might end up teaching a class on it some time, but I wanted to introduce the concept to you.

I had my brother who is a storyboard artist reimagine the metaphor for us visually.

Step 1: Grasping the Text in Their Town

Question: What did the text mean to the biblical audience?

Includes literary context and historical context.

Step 2: Measuring the Width of the River to Cross

Question: What are the differences between the biblical audience and us?

Culture, language, time, and situation

Step 3: Crossing the Principlizing Bridge

Question: What is the theological principle in this text?

Continually submit what we are learning and be open to whatever God is saying in this Scriptures by being aware of our biases.

Step 4: Consult the Biblical Map

Question: How does our theological principle fit with the rest of the Bible?

This protects us from easily taking a principle into what we hope for and ensuring that is true and consistent with God’s voice.

Step 5: Grasping the Text in Our Town

Question: How should individual Christians today live out the theological principles?

To truly listen to God’s voice is to obey his voice.

So tonight let’s begin to unearth the riches of this small letter by taking time to sit in the story and relationship of the author and the intended audience and being our interpretive journey of this letter as we grasp the text in their town.

3 | What do the Scriptures say about this tension?

Read 1 Timothy 1:1-2

1 Timothy 1:1–2 ESV

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

So this letter begins with us finding out who wrote it and who he is sending it to.

First we have the author, Paul, You probably heard about him if you’ve been around the church very long…

Paul (Greek name for a Jewish guy named Saul) was a religious member of the governing body of the Jewish people called the Sanhedrin.

He was religiously devout to Yahweh, and was a fierce advocate for swift justice and not afraid to advocate for what he knew to be true.

We don’t discover his name in the gospel accounts, but in the book of Acts we find him storm onto the page like a hurricane…

He was present as the first martyr for Christianity was made, a deacon servant of the church named Stephen.

Soon after he requests to go on a crusade to hunt down and kill these rebellious followers of the Way of Jesus.

He sets off to a place called Damascus ready to make a demonstration of the house churches there and what happens when you stand against God.

Little did he know that he was the one standing against God and his people.

Jesus meets him on the road and reveals himself to him proclaiming, “Saul why do you persecute me?”

Jesus takes one of his biggest opponents and calls him to become an apostle.

Paul begins a process of reconciliation and restoration by the Spirit of God bringing his dead heart back to life!

As he is discipled into the way of Jesus he begins to become known for his love of Jesus and his ability to go into new territory and plant new churches.

During Paul’s 1st missionary journey through Galatia in a city called Lystra he likely meets and likely participates bringing the Gospel to a half Jewish family, a grandmother named Lois, a mother named Eunice, and a half Jewish son named Timothy.

In Lystra, Paul heals a crippled man and he gets up and walks by the power of the Spirit, a Greeks mistake Paul and Barnabas for Greek gods and they start getting ready for animal sacrifices and everything… when Paul goes NO I am just a man, but I can introduce you to a real God if you want…

They instead choose to stone him and leave him for dead outside of the city, the new believers pray over Paul and he gets up and walks back into the city.

On Paul’s second missionary journey he invited Timothy to be his apprentice. Learning what it looks like to make disciples of Jesus, how to share the gospel, how to plant churches, how to shepherd a church.

Paul & Timothy missionary partners traveling together off and on from 49-57 AD. They planted churches in Macedonia, Greece, and Turkey.

Paul loves Timothy, he invests in him, not just as an apprentice but as a son. He builds him up and cares deeply for him.

Throughout their journeys they often go together and they are often sent apart, but their paths continue to cross.

In 53 AD Paul plants the church in Ephesus and spends 3 years there.

Around 57AD Paul travels to Jerusalem and on his way speaks to the elders of the church in Ephesus.

- Was bold in declaring the whole counsel of God

- Shepherd the flock as overseers

- False Teachers will arise from among you

Paul writes letter to the church of Ephesus around 60AD while he was imprisoned… He cares deeply about this church and desires desperately for them to be unified across all the lines they are tempted to create.

- One new multi-ethnic family of God

- Be unified!

- Great spiritual evil… armor up

Likely Paul is released from prison in Rome and goes with Timothy to Ephesus and leaves him there to shepherd those house churches.

Then Paul is later imprisoned again and finds himself far from his beloved disciple and his beloved church in Ephesus. So he and his scribe sit down and pen this letter…

1 Timothy 1:1–2 ESV

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

Paul was the first to share that he was not special, but he was called. So his greatest desire is to fulfill the calling on his life to make disciples and plant new churches, not because he is so uniquely gifted or qualified but because he is called.

We see immediately his deep love and care for Timothy.

This is not just flower

Grace, mercy, and peace.

Grace - receiving what we do not deserve

Mercy - no receiving what we do deserve

Peace - a life of flourishing with Jesus

Wouldn’t that be welcomed if you got a text from a friend or mentor tomorrow just saying “hey I am praying for you to experience grace, mercy and peace from God today”

The letter of 1 Timothy is a highly relational letter.

Written to a spiritual son who has been called to shepherd a spiritual family that he cares deeply for…

Later in the letter we actually discover this purpose…

1 Timothy 3:14–15 ESV

I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, 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.

Paul once again in prison wants to be with his disciple and this church but he can’t so he sends these words so that Timothy would be built up and challenged, and as Timothy would be built up and challenged he would do the same for this beloved church.

Throughout this letter, we will discover ways this church had been living in disunity, following the teachings of false teachers who told them what they wanted to hear, turning against one another in pride, living lives not fully submitted to Jesus, and lacking the organizational and leadership structure for life to flourish within the life of the church. And we will discover Paul’s encouragement so that Timothy can shepherd this community well and wisely.

This is not a letter of random corrections and statements. It is a relational letter written to see the church flourish in life together.

4 | How can the Gospel bring resolution to this tension in your life?

Context really does matter.

We so easily read the Scriptures as a book of disconnected sayings and stories rather than one cohesive story that leads us to Jesus.

We either copy and paste verses into our lives or we delete ones that we don’t agree with or aren’t comfortable with and dismiss them as irrelevant.

Instead we are called to do the hard work of studying and meditating on the Scriptures allowing God’s voice to speak to us in our lives.

5 | What would the world see if the church embraced this resolution?

1 Timothy is a book with a context. It is a relational letter written to help a church flourish.

We are a different church in a different time, but yet God’s desire is still for his church to grow in love and unity together.

Would you pray with me that we would hear and obey God’s voice in this letter and in doing so see this church flourish.