Week 19 Day 3

May 17, 2023 | Be On Mission

Following the Right Leaders

Scripture: 1 Timothy 1(NIV)

¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,

² To Timothy my true son in the faith:

Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

³ As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer ⁴ or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. ⁵ The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. ⁶ Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. ⁷ They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.

⁸ We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. ⁹ We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, ¹⁰ for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine ¹¹ that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

¹² I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. ¹³ Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. ¹⁴ The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. ¹⁶ But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. ¹⁷ Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

¹⁸ Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, ¹⁹ holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith. ²⁰ Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.

Devotional

For the next few weeks we will look at Paul’s letters that he wrote to Timothy. We have just left the chronological narrative in the book of Acts, where Paul found Timothy in Lystra and took him along on his years-long missionary journeys.

At times, Timothy was right at Paul’s side, being mentored by the best. At other times Timothy was paired with Silas (Acts 17:15; 18:5), Erastus (Acts 19:22), and many others (Acts 20:4). Paul mentioned Timothy by name in eight of his epistles. While Paul saw Timothy as “my son whom I love” (1 Corinthians 4:17), he also saw him as “my co-worker” (Romans 16:21).

By the time Paul wrote 1 Timothy, it was some fifteen years after they began their missionary journey together. Upon receiving the letter, Timothy was one of the key leaders of the church in the city of Ephesus. Paul’s purpose was to give Timothy instructions for how to give leadership to the Ephesian Christians.

Ephesus was a tough assignment. We will learn more about it later in this study, but for now just know that the church there took root in an extremely pagan and hostile environment. In just the third verse of this first chapter, Paul urged Timothy to stick it out in Ephesus. There may have been better places, but there was no place better for Timothy. The Ephesian Christians needed Timothy to pull them away from the lure of false doctrines and turn them back to the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul then gave a thumbnail version of his own journey from blasphemer and persecutor to evangelist and missionary, saying, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” Nobody was worse than Paul. Nobody is better than Jesus.

Have you ever wondered if you were too bad for even God to forgive? Rebuke that thought. Elsewhere Paul wrote, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Nobody is too good that they don’t need God. Nobody is too bad that they don’t deserve God.

Offer yourself to God right now, the good, the bad and the ugly. Allow the Lord to take it all and make it a beautiful life in Christ. To God be the glory!

Poem

My True Child Of Faith

If you only knew
My inner prayers
Lifted to God’s
Throne-room
The joy you bring
The tears I shed
The hopes and dreams
I have for you
The stripping down
The letting go
The turning over
The sighs
My true child
My child of faith
The one I love
With tears of blood
Throughout the night
Throughout the day
I pray not for wealth
Or beauty
Nor fame
But the charge of love
From a pure heart
A good conscience
A sincere faith
That Jesus
Be your first love
That service
Be your great joy
Christ’s glory
Be your sole aim
Whatever it takes
Whatever it takes
Whatever it takes

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