I Hope to Send Timothy Unto You

Introduction: Paul's Affection for Philippi and the Sermon's Focus

0:04 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, July 19th, 1981, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now will you follow, please, in your own Bibles as I read this morning from the second chapter of Philippians. For those who are visiting with us, you may wonder why the scripture reading was in Philippians 1, and our meditation in Philippians 2. Well, it is our practice to read through the New Testament consecutively in our Lord's Day morning worship, and it just so happened in the providence of God that our regular consecutive reading found us in Philippians chapter 1.

0:45 But in our regular consecutive expositions, Lord's Day mornings, we are in Philippians chapter 2, and I would ask you to follow as I begin reading with verse 19. Philippians. Philippians 2 and verse 19. But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know of your state.

1:14 For I have no man like-minded who will care truly for your state. For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. But you know the proof of him, that as a child, a child serves a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the gospel. Him, therefore, I hope to send forthwith, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me.

1:45 But I trust in the Lord, that I myself shall come shortly.

1:53 In the course of our studies in this epistle, I have often referred to this letter to the Philippian congregation, as a warm, intimate, and joyful communication from the great heart of the Apostle Paul to a congregation which held a special place in his affections. And the section we begin to examine today is another vivid reminder of this fact. In chapter 1 and verse 2, the Apostle spoke concerning the things pertaining to his life, and the things pertaining to his death, and the things pertaining to his death, and the things pertaining to his death, and the things pertaining to his own circumstances. You will remember, I trust, those who were with us,

2:37 that the Apostle, as anyone who is sensitive to the demands of love, did not want the Philippian congregation unduly apprehensive about his state. And so he wrote, in verse 12 of chapter 1, I would have you know, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather to the furtherance or proportion, or to the progress of the gospel. So he spoke concerning the things touching himself. He spoke concerning his own circumstances.

3:17 But now in verse 19, after a series of exhortations to the Philippians, he turns not to the things about himself, but the things concerning them. A literal rendering of two of the phrases in this section would be that I may be of good comfort when I know the things concerning you. And then again in the following verse, for I have no man like-minded who will care truly for your things. So the Apostle having said, now my dear Philippians, I've told you the things about myself, I've relieved your mind that all is true,

4:02 transpiring to the progress of the gospel. Now, my dear Philippians, I have a calculated purpose to set afloat a series of actions that will result in your being able to convey some consolation and comfort to me as I find out the things concerning you. And it is in that conjunction that we are introduced to these two men, Timothy, and the verse is read in your hearing, and in the latter part of the chapter, this man called Epaphroditus. And he, of course, will be the subject of subsequent expositions.

Paul's Intention Regarding Timothy: Essence, Motive, and Conditioning Factors

4:46 Now in these words concerning Timothy and Epaphroditus, the men themselves, their identity, their disposition, their relationship to Paul and to the church at Philippi, there is to be found, some of the most beautiful, some of the most profound, some of the most practical and searching lessons on the Christian life to be found anywhere in the word of God. This morning, we limit our attention to this man, Timothy. And what I purpose to do, conscious of how difficult it is to concentrate on a warm and an oppressive day, is to seize your minds while they are the most fresh

5:30 and, and to work through the exposition of the words themselves and then having done that, when you begin to run out of mental steam, we shall move to the application of those things and usually application is easier to follow in terms of mental concentration than close and careful exposition. So I've done my best in dependence upon God in preparation. I fully intend to throw the full weight, the weight of my mind and soul into these things in dependence upon the Spirit. Please join me with equal effort in seeking to grasp the exposition

6:13 and to feel the weight of the application. Now everything that the Apostle says about Timothy in verses 19 through verse 24 can be subsumed under two simple headings. We have first of all, Paul's intention with respect to Timothy, verse 19, verses 23 and 24, and then secondly, Paul's evaluation of Timothy's character. So we have two things with respect to Timothy.

6:48 Paul's intention as it touches Timothy. Secondly, Paul's evaluation of the man Timothy. First of all then, Paul's intention with respect to Timothy. Try to reconstruct the situation.

7:07 Paul is in prison at Rome. Though his life is in danger, he has a very strong level of conviction that the verdict that has not yet been forthcoming will be one which will allow him to be freed from this condition of imprisonment. You remember, as we heard in our reading this morning, that he is relatively confident, chapter 1 in verse 25, that he is going to live and that he will even be able to make a subsequent visit to the Philippians. He is chained to a Roman soldier, but he has a good degree of what we would call

7:50 house freedom and liberty. And while there at Rome, he has received a message from the church at Philippi in the person of Epaphroditus, you read about this in the fourth chapter, and Epaphroditus has come with gifts from the Philippians so that the apostle now abounds and has all of his needs met. But anticipating the fact that though he may be released, he does not know when he will be released and is not even absolutely certain that he shall be released, this concern now focuses upon the plotting out of a course with religion, with respect to these two men,

8:33 Timothy and Epaphroditus. Now what is Paul's intention with respect to Timothy? Well, the essence of that intention is given to us in the language of verse 19. I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you.

8:54 According to verse 24, he says, I trust in the Lord that I myself, shall come shortly, verse 23, him therefore I hope to send forthwith so soon as I know how it shall go with me. Now the apostle knows that if he sends Timothy immediately, the first question that people will ask is, is Paul going to be executed? And he says, rather than have you full of apprehensions, I'm going to keep Timothy with me and as soon as I find out what disposition is going to be made with respect to Timothy, with respect to me, I'll send Timothy along in the first train. I'll get him on the first plane in your direction.

9:38 I'll have him come so that he can come fresh from Rome and say, I have it straight from the horse's mouth. I've talked with the horse himself. He's going to live. And he would be the conveyor of this good news.

9:51 So the essence of Paul's intention is to wait for a while until the disposition of the Roman governed with regard to him surfaces, then to send Timothy only in anticipation and in preparation for the intention of his own personal visit. I hope in the Lord Jesus, he says, to come and visit you myself. So much for the essence of Paul's intention. Now, what was the motive that lay behind that intention?

10:24 Well, the motive was twofold. He tells us in verse 19, I hope in the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy in order that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state. Literally, when I know the things pertaining to you. Now, you see, it's obvious he was not sending Timothy to be a permanent minister among the Philippians, but a temporary messenger.

10:54 He says, I want to send Timothy who will come with good news about me, and then he'll get the good news about you. He'll come back with it, and I'll have a glory fit here in my Roman prison. He said, I'm sending Timothy that I may be of good comfort. Imagine having such confidence in the spiritual state of the Philippians that he said, when Timothy comes back with an honest report, I'll have a glory fit.

11:23 My spirit will be of good comfort because I know he will come back with good news of your obedience, to the gospel. So the first motive behind Paul's intention to send Timothy is that Paul's own heart may be made glad upon receiving first-hand information about the spiritual prosperity of the Philippians. But he has a second motive. And that second motive is that this man of God, Timothy, might actually minister and contribute something to the well-being of the Philippians.

11:59 Verse 20, I have no man like-minded who will care genuinely for the things pertaining to you. So that in sending Timothy, Paul is not thinking only of himself, that Timothy will receive information that will constitute good news to glad in his heart, but that Timothy as a man full of the Spirit and full of the truth of God and full of selfless love will care for the things of the Philippians, he will have a keen eye to discern those areas where there is spiritual need. He will have a well-furnished mind and heart with the truth of God impelled by holy love

12:43 to give himself in selfless ministry to the Philippians. So the essence of Paul's intention is to send Timothy as soon as he knows what will happen to himself. The motive is that Paul might receive good information back from Timothy and that Timothy might minister to the well-being of the Philippians. But then we have the conditioning factors of Paul's intention.

13:11 And two of them are mentioned. What are the conditioning factors of this intention of Paul? Twice he says, I hope to send Timothy. But notice his language.

13:23 He says, I hope in the Lord Jesus. His intention is conditioned first of all by a realistic submission to Jesus Christ the Lord. When he says, I hope in the Lord, he is saying this, my aspirations, my ambitions, and my intentions with regard to Timothy are all framed out of the context of my conscious union with and submission to the great heaven. I hope in the Lord Jesus.

14:07 That is, the motions of my heart which have framed this intention are not carnal motions. They are not motions conceived out of the raw materials of my own fancies. They are the motions of a mind of affections and will in union with, communion with, and submission to the Lord Jesus Christ. The man who could say, to me, to live is Christ is the man who never made plans for himself or for others without drawing upon the realities of his union with and submission

14:51 to the Lord Jesus Christ. So the first conditioning factor of his intention is his submission to Christ and then second, his sensitivity to divine providence. Verse 23, Him therefore I hope to send forthwith so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. He said, I don't know what the turn of providence will be, but I will take my clue with regard to the timing of Timothy's visit, not from my own anxious, fervent, beating desire to send Timothy to help you and to come back

15:36 with good information. You see, Paul would not allow even holy desires to create self-will, but he indicates this sensitivity to divine providence as soon as I see how it will go with me, then he says, I will follow through with my intention. So that's the first unit of thought in the text. Paul's intention with regard to Timothy.

Paul's Evaluation of Timothy's Character: Positive Assertion

16:04 Its essence, its motive, its conditioning factors. You hanging in there? Good. Alright.

16:11 Now, the second segment of thought or division of thought is Paul's evaluation of Timothy as a man. Verses 20 to 22. Notice verse 20 begins with a little word, for. This word is a connective.

16:28 And the apostle is going to tell us why it is that he intends to send Timothy and no one else. And in the original, and this is something you cannot get in an English translation, there is in the structure of the original a forceful emphasis upon the fact that it's Timothy that he hopes to send, and it comes through in the opening verse, and it comes through again later on in the passage. Now, was Timothy the teacher's pet? A few kids know what we mean by teacher's pet, don't you?

17:02 Sometimes teachers seem to have favorites in the class, and it's not that they do anything to earn it. The teacher just likes them. Maybe they like the color of their hair, the way they put their ponytails in place or something else. And when you sense that somebody's the teacher's pet, it kind of gets under your skin and gets you upset, doesn't it?

17:19 And you see them out in the playground. You shouldn't do it, but you say, yeah, yeah, teacher's pet, teacher's pet, and then you have little rhymes that you say about them. Well, the reason we don't like teacher's pets, is because we feel that the teacher has not been fair. She's showing special attention for no good reason.

17:37 Well, was Timothy the teacher's pet? No, no. Paul says, I purpose to send Timothy not because he's my fair-haired boy, not because he is the darling of my heart for carnal or personal reasons. No, no.

17:53 He's going to give to us in verses 20 to 22 a frank evaluation evaluation of Timothy's character which was the fundamental reason for choosing Timothy and no one else for this mission to the Philippian Christians. Now, his evaluation of Timothy's character has three parts. Number one, he makes a positive assertion, verse 20. Then he gives a negative contrast, verse 21, and then in verse 22 he gives the account of a proven record.

18:27 So you have three things. Positive assertion, negative contrast, proven record. Let's look at them. Verse 20.

18:35 For, I'm going to send Timothy to you for I have no man like-minded, literally, I have no man of the same soul who will care genuinely for the things pertaining to you. Now, this is an amazing assertion. Paul is saying that in his presence and circumstances at Rome there is not to be found among all of those who could be possible candidates for this mission anyone who shares the mind and spirit of this man Timothy.

19:20 Now, the exegetes, that's a big word for the men who give themselves to understanding the word and meaning of scripture, they're divided as to whether Paul is saying I have no man like-minded with me but Timothy or there is no other man who is like Timothy in the area of his strength. No matter how you cut it, Paul is saying that Timothy is chosen for this mission because Timothy stands alone in the quality most needed for that mission. And he describes that quality in this language for the I have no man like-minded

20:05 who will be anxious genuinely for the things pertaining to you. Now, that word anxious means to have the kind of solicitous continuous concern that consumes you. It's the very word he used in Philippians 4 when he said be anxious for nothing. Here it's a virtue, there it's a vice.

20:30 Isn't that amazing? In the same epistle, he says be anxious for nothing. Here he says I have no man like Timothy who is genuinely anxious for everything that pertains to you.

20:46 There's a positive assertion that Timothy stands in a class all his own in this particular area of Christian grace. Genuine, instinctive, spiritual anxiety for others. That's the positive assertion. Then you have the negative contrast, verse 21.

Paul's Evaluation of Timothy's Character: Negative Contrast

21:11 For they all seek the things of themselves and not the things of Jesus Christ.

21:24 What a tragic statement. They all are seeking their own things, not the things of Christ Jesus. As they anticipate, that is, those who might be qualified for this mission to the Philippians, as they anticipate what it will cost to leave Rome, take the hazardous journey to Philippi, be separated from loved ones and friends, and run the risks of self-giving service, not of all the Christians in general. Paul is speaking of all those who would

22:08 be qualified for this task, who would have the standing in the church, who would have the graces and gifts necessary to be entrusted with this mission. He's not speaking of the whole church at Rome. That would contradict some of the very statements of this epistle. It would contradict much that is in the epistle to the Romans.

22:28 But what he is saying is this, as I anticipate my burden to send someone who can tell you about myself and set your mind at rest, someone who can accurately assess where you are and minister to you in self-giving love and then come back with a joyous report of all the workers who would technically fit the job description. There's not a one of them I can send. And do you know why? They are in these matters dominated by self- seeking instead of seeking the things of Christ.

23:14 Now how this must have pained a man who had just written the words we examined last Lord's Day, who said, I am prepared to have my life poured out as a libation upon the sacrifice and service of your faith. I am so consumed with selfless love, I'm prepared to die. And now he has to say among the eminent leaders of the church is my spirit.

23:53 It must have crushed him to think that this apostle who had set the standard of self-giving love, who had preached and taught self-giving love, now has to give a negative contrasting statement. No one like-minded who will naturally care for your state, they all seek the things of themselves. Not the things of Christ Jesus. Well then, from the positive assertion about Timothy's character, the negative contrast, then you have his proven record, verse 22.

Paul's Evaluation of Timothy's Character: Proven Record

24:33 But you know the proof of him that as a child serves a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the gospel. Him, therefore, I hope to send. Notice what he says about his proven record. He says, you know the proof of him.

24:55 And the word he uses is the very word you would use if you were talking about testing a metal or a coin. Now we have all kinds of coin collectors in our day. Substantial goods are the in thing for economic stability in the minds of many. Well, do you have a genuine Mexican fifty peso piece?

25:18 Well, you see the expert in coins will examine it and know having put it to the proof that it's the real thing. You have something that looks like gold, feels like gold. You want to know if it has the real worth of gold and someone who is a metallurgist puts it to the test and then says, yes, it is real gold. That's the word Paul uses.

25:41 You know the proof of him. He's been put to the test. He didn't say, you know his reputation. You know the proof of him.

25:49 His character has been tested. And on no fewer than three occasions and possibly more, you can read it in Acts 16, Acts 19 and Acts 20, Paul had been in the very presence of these Philippians and he had proven his character and noticed the specific aspect of character that Paul underscores. You know the proof of him. You've seen him put to the test and he's come out real that like a child serves a father, so he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel.

26:30 As an obedient child, counts it his joy to accept the model that his father sets and to follow the pattern of his father's precepts. Paul says, you saw Timothy in the spiritual realm as such a son to me. Paul loved to call him my genuine son. It's the same word as he has earlier.

26:56 No man will genuinely care for your state. He says, Timothy is my genuine son. And with a heart that was submissive to my spiritual leadership, I was his model and he followed that model. I see my own spiritual image in so far as I have followed Christ.

27:15 My own spiritual image and likeness is being reflected from the countenance and labors and attitudes and disposition of my son Timothy. It's no accident that the man who says in verse 19, I'm ready to be poured out for others, could say I have a son who seeks the things of Christ. He bore a son after his own image and his own likeness.

27:49 And he says, you know that as a father, a son with a father, so he has taken the place of a bond slave with me. That's the force of the Greek word. In the furtherance of the gospel, Paul delighted to call himself what? Paul, the bond slave of Christ.

28:10 Not the occasional servant. Not the servant who serves when it's convenient. But bound in bonds of covenant love by Christ. And bound to him in the pouring out of response of unconditional love because of his love to him.

28:29 He says, as a son with his father, so he served like a slave with me. Not for the furtherance of his own ambition. Not for the furtherance of his own reputation. Wherever he went dropping names saying, you know, Paul and I were here.

28:49 No, no. He served with me for the furtherance of one thing. The gospel. Now he says, that's the man I'm going to send to you.

Paul's Sacrifice: Sending His Dearest Son

28:59 Now that's the exposition. I trust I've opened up all the relevant phrases in the text. That is Paul's evaluation of Timothy's character. And he has such an esteem for the Philippians that though it'll break his own heart to lose his dearest son in the faith, he loves the Philippians enough to send him.

29:21 A man who was so socially sensitive that he had to say God who comforts those that are cast down comforted us by the coming of Titus. And I can only imagine the bitter tears that dear Paul must have shed when the time came for him to embrace Timothy and say, Timothy, go. Go to my dear Philippians, my dear Timothy, and tell them all is well. Oh, Timothy, pour yourself into that congregation.

29:49 Come back as soon as it is expedient and make my heart glad. And how he must have convulsed and sobbed with tears as he released for the sake of others the Darlene's spiritual son of his own heart. Well, brothers and sisters, that's the exposition. But now I had the temerity to say that these words were words full of beauty, searching, comforting, instructing exhortation.

Application 1: Challenging Romantic Idealism about the Apostolic Church

30:21 What's the relevance of all this to us? Well, will you gird up the loins of your mind as I seek in the remaining fifteen minutes to bring this home to where you and I live? First of all, these words of the text strike a devastating blow at all romantic idealism concerning the true state and condition of the apostolic churches. All the romantic idealism about the apostolic church.

30:52 People wax eloquent if they have the ability. Oh, that we could be like the apostolic church.

31:01 Paul, the great apostle, had to say, I have no man like-minded. Everybody's doing his own thing.

31:14 Imagine people who were close enough to the spiritual energy of a man like Paul. Close enough to a man of such knowledge and passion. A man of such prayer and fullness of the Holy Ghost. Close enough.

31:32 All his companions. And he says they're all seeking their own thing.

31:43 You've got romantic notions about the apostolic church. This is a kind of passage that will bless them. The human heart was just the same in the presence of apostles as it was in the presence of our Lord and in the presence of all of his lesser servants in every age of the church down to the present hour. And it is a sad thing when this romantic idealism gives birth either on the one hand to a hypocritical and hyper critical, I'm sorry, a hyper critical censorious spirit or on the other hand when it paralyzes people with discouragement.

32:23 We've had people leave Trinity Church because there was no experimental religion here. We've had people leave Trinity Church because there was no spirit of prayer. There was no passion for evangelism. They couldn't stay here and grow in grace because we were so utterly and tragically and terribly unspiritual.

32:42 We were not like the apostolic church.

32:46 God, knows I don't pray as I ought, nor do you. We're not as zealous as we ought to be. We don't love Christ as we ought, but my friend, there's real religion in this place. There's real prayer.

32:59 There's real devotion. I thank God I don't have to say what Paul did. I can say concerning my own fellow laborers in leadership in this place, I have more than one man of like mind who naturally cares for your state.

33:16 It is my privilege to labor with fellow elders and with deacons who I know deny themselves daily and every passing week and month without getting a dime in return from you, without ever having their names emblazoned on the pages of church history who have such a selfless love for the members of Trinity Church that they live and they die for your well-being. And God the Holy Ghost has created that and we ought to bless him lest by a hypercritical spirit we grieve and quench the spirit or lest because we see so much selfishness

34:00 and alas I wish I could say that this text were not equally true. Many seek their own things, not the things of Christ Jesus. Written over some of your lives are the words, you seek your own things, your own things and whatever those things are like the X in algebra, make them what you will, it's what you seek and it's not the things of Christ Jesus.

Application 2: Devotion to Christ and Indifference to His Church are Incompatible

34:32 But then there is a second very necessary word of application in this passage and it's this. These words strike a devastating blow at the notion that we can be devoted to Christ while we are indifferent to the concerns of his church. Look at the connection in the text. Paul contrasts two things.

34:54 Verse 21, verse 20, I have no man like-minded who will genuinely care for your things, is a literal rendering, for all seek their own things, not the things of Christ Jesus. You see, he makes a transition from the things of the Philippians to the things of Christ. Well, which is it that Timothy seeks? The things of Christ, or the things of the Philippians?

35:24 Well, there's no difference, because Christ is joined to his people in indissoluble bonds of living, vital relationship. You remember he said, inasmuch as you did it unto the least of these, my little ones, you have done it unto me. This notion that you can have a heart beating with love to Christ, while indifferent to his people, is utterly unfounded in Scripture.

35:50 If you love Christ, you'll be where Christ people are. Sunday, Wednesday, when you have the chance to choose your social relationships except for bridgeheads of evangelism, you'll choose Christ's people. Why? Because Christ is in his people.

36:08 Christ is bound to his people. There is no such thing as true devotion to Christ and indifference to his church. Not according to this text. And then there is a third vital line of application.

Application 3: Exposing the Ugliness of Self-Centeredness

36:22 These words expose the wickedness and the ugliness of self-centeredness.

36:29 The ugliness and the wickedness of self-centeredness. There is nothing in the text that says they all seek greedy gain. Paul says that elsewhere even in this epistle. He talks of people whose God is their belly.

36:46 No indication that they were immoral. No indication that they were indulging in vile gross sins. All he needed to say, and it's shocking when you hear it, they all seek their own things. Things that may have been innocent in themselves.

37:02 Relationships to husbands and wives and children and family and things. But when Paul thought of what was involved in having the right man to go to Philippi and when he thought of the sacrifice, when he thought of the jeopardizing of life, when he thought of the pull of the heartstrings of loved ones, everything involved, he said, I don't have a man like Timothy who is cross-centered enough to . . .

37:28 to take this task and to fulfill it in a manner that will please my Heavenly Father. Doesn't selfishness appear ugly in a passage like that? I hope it looks to you as ugly as sexual perversion. I hope it looks to you as ugly as thievery, as ugly as total indifference to social acceptability.

37:53 I hope it looks as ugly to you as a scraggly haired person just reeking body odor with moth-eaten clothes. If God will make selfishness appear as ugly to us as it does to God,

38:13 is selfishness in those who say they're the recipients of the benefits of the selfless love of the Son of God who in that selfless love died for his church.

38:29 Where does the selfishness surface? The deacons make an announcement for help. And back come the words I pray they have me excused. I've got my own plans for Saturday morning.

38:45 Now, this gets pretty concrete, doesn't it? I'd have to adjust my plans for a church need.

38:53 Yes, that's right. And if you're seeking the things of Christ and not the things of your own, you'd count it a privilege to do so.

39:03 How ugly, how ugly. But now then,

Application 4: Paul's Love Proven by Sacrifice

39:08 in a more positive vein, a fourth line of application.

39:13 These words manifest the reality of Paul's professed attitude to the Philippians, do they not? He said in verse 19, I'm sorry, verse 17, and if I am offered, poured out as a libation upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and rejoice with you. And in the same manner, do you also rejoice and rejoice with me. Now, was that just high-blown rhetoric?

39:43 When Paul said, I rejoice at the very thought that your spiritual sacrifice of love and faith and service will be completed by the libation of my own life being poured out, I ask you, was that high-blown spiritual rhetoric? No, no, he's put his hand where his mouth was because for him to send Timothy was indeed pouring out something of his very self, his precious son and companion Timothy. He said, I love him, but I love you more. And I love you enough to send him.

40:18 Isn't that a beautiful display of love where it counts? Willingness to part with a legitimate relationship and friendship that others might benefit. And then there is this word of application. These words manifest the path to credibility among God's people.

Application 5: The Path to Credibility Among God's People

40:38 And oh, listen to me, will you listen to me please, you young people? What's the path to credibility among God's people? Listen to the language. You Philippians know the proof of him that he served as a son with his father.

40:56 How did Timothy get credibility? By the long-range consistent pattern of selfless service amongst the people of God.

41:10 It all started when Paul said, Timothy, you're going to be my companion. We've got to take you down to the local rabbi. You've got to be circumcised. Timothy didn't rear back and say, wait a minute, I wasn't born a Jew.

41:22 You've taught me, Paul, from the Bible that circumcision is nothing. That's all swallowed up in Christ. I've got circumcision of heart. Why do I have to go through the ordeal of circumcision?

41:32 Why do I have to take upon myself the external mark of a Jew? There is no moral obligation. There is no legal demand. No, no.

41:42 Paul had instructed him that he was to live for others, and if by going through the ordeal of circumcision he could thereby gain entrance to even one more Jewish heart, he was willing to say no to himself that he might serve others. And that first act was but one of many, and again and again, Paul says he was put to the test, and when he was put to the test, he said no, until finally Paul said it's his spiritual instinct to care for others. That's the force in some of the pagan writers. They would translate, use the word in the sense if you're trying to describe someone who's acting instinctively, Paul could say I

42:26 have no man who will instinctively, genetically care for your state. It became such a dominant characteristic that Paul said it's like the outcropping of a genetic strain in Timothy's spiritual constitution.

Application 6: The Benefit of Careful Parental Nurture and Example

42:44 You want credibility amongst God's people, then you've got to pay the price of consistency, and that means cross-bearing daily, daily, daily, taking up the cross and following Christ. And then finally, and I've stuck within my 15 minutes for application, got two and a half to go, these words underscore the benefit of careful parental nurture, example and instruction. How did Timothy become such a man as this? Well, from the data in the Bible, we answer it in three ways.

43:28 He became what he became by the grace of God, granted. But he became what he became by the grace of God, working through, number one, the nurture of his grandmother and his mother from infancy, and, thirdly, from the nurture of the apostle Paul by precept and example. That's what makes men like Timothy. Grace working the fundamental qualities in the heart, but all the benefit of that nurture from a babe you have known the sacred writings, unfeigned faith that dwelt in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded

44:12 in thee also. And then he could say, Timothy, mine own son, my very son, who served with me as a father, who watched carefully what I was and what I did, and followed me as I followed Christ. Oh, what an underscoring of the benefit of careful parental nurture and instruction, both in the church and supremely in the home. What's the hope for the future, dear people?

44:45 God better give us some Timothys or we've had it.

44:50 God better give us some Timothys or we've had it. And where do Timothys come from? They'll come from the homes of some of you dear young couples if you're willing to pay the price. Willing to pay the price.

45:07 Willing to pay the price. Let everyone around you become passionately absorbed with things and things and things. Your kids quite to snuff with the latest styles. And be a bit ignorant of this or the other, but you say this one thing we're and shall do.

45:32 We shall mold character by the grace of God at any cost. Mold it first of all by blameless example. And until you're willing to pay the price there, keep your mouth shut.

45:51 And when you're paying the price to mold by blameless example, then by gentle, loving, prayerful, painstaking instruction and nurture, with admonition and the rod of correction. Well, you see how practical a little description of a young man is. Many other lines of application, but I made a contract of 15 minutes and I'm going to keep it and I'm done. May God be pleased to make us look to the Lord Jesus that he would create in us the spirit of a Timothy.

46:28 Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for your holy word. We thank you for your grace that can take natively selfish, self-centered men and women, boys and girls, and make them into Timothys, those who will genuinely care for the things of others. Oh, God, baptize our hearts with that spirit that suffused the heart of Timothy until it becomes, by a native spiritual instinct, our delight to seek not our own things, but the things of others.

47:09 For those who are full of self and full of sin and devoid of grace, oh, holy Father, may they be driven to seek that grace in your Son, which alone can change them. And we, your people, are ashamed. Oh, God, selfishness has appeared ugly to us this morning. God, make us beautiful with a selfless heart and with a self-giving life.

47:38 Hear our cry. Answer us for Jesus' sake. Amen.