Trench-mates

We really are drawing to a close
in this great difficult time. By God’s grace, the next four
days will be our last. ago, where Paul took great heart
that other people had received the good news as he had. And in a sense, you detect a little
bit of a surprise. Certainly, Paul knew that he carried the very truth of God. He knew that it was going
to bear some fruit. But he acknowledges the Thessalonians and their faith, and is even somewhat but encouraged, encouraged that
the gospel was beginning to flourish. We don’t know exactly what Paul is saying. spread by other faithful men. And I think that was, for Paul,
a great concern. It was a serious prayer matter
for Paul, but it occupied his thoughts, it occupied his deep
concerns. Paul knew that the Gospel was
the truth. Paul knew that this was the means
of salvation But probably what concerns Paul the most is, would
there be others like him? Would there be others to take
up the great cause of the gospel and to do so with the same intensity
and faithfulness that he has? In a very real sense, we have
that answer before us even in this passage. I refer to the passage just in
brief as where soldiers have dug in and
are engaged in a battle. And it is their trench mates
that they look to most. They are partners in a very real
sense in that campaign. Paul says here that with regards
to the gospels, he had trench mates. We begin to read through, wrap
up, the Epistles to the Romans. Would you pick up with me in chapter 16, verse 21? Paul returns, as it were,
to these series of greetings that he had broken off in verse 16, and now he begins to bring greetings from others.
Timothy, my fellow worker, reads you. Paul inserts these additional
greetings, and this would have led some to think that those previous verses, verses 17 through
20, were out of place. They weren’t out of place, as
I said last morning. As soon as Paul got a picture
in his mind of the saints there in Rome, Trust me, this will be proof. Lucius is possibly the same man
as Lucius of Cyrene mentioned in Acts 13-31, but you can’t
even really build a case. Lucius wasn’t an uncommon name,
and so it’s certainly possible that Lucius formed a mob, and set the city
in an uproar, and attacking a certain crowd in the city authority
who heard these things, and when they had received the pledge
from Jason and the others, they released him. So it’s not unlikely
that this is the same Jason. He had been through the fire.
He had been in the trench with Paul. He had shown Paul great
ministry and mercy in opening his home to him. And then there’s
a And in all of these, there’s
got to be some latitude in exactly the identity that we assign to
them or accept. Well, that remains a possibility. The other interesting name that
is mentioned is one of Persians, in verse 22. This is actually
a very fascinating element of this epistle. good use of it. They were pretty
customary for Paul, at the end of many of his letters, to write
a personal greeting in his own penmanship. Paul would write
these parting phrases and comments, partly as encouragement or admonition,
partly as a, essentially as a reading it in my own hand, Paul. In Galatians, chapter 6, verse
11, Paul says it this way, see with what large letters I am
writing with my own hands. Some have surmised that it was
because of the largeness of the letter that Paul would employ
it in the Manumensis, because parchment was very expensive
in those days, and large letters would take up more parchment.
It’s a very simple And then in his second letter
to the Thessalonians, Paul has said it this way. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is a distinguishing
mark in every letter. This is the way I write. And so Paul had this habit of putting his mark,
writing a comma or two at the end of a letter in order to preserve against forgery. of the despair of them is just
as a fascinating element of this epistle. He then mentions in
verse 23, Gaius. And he just says that Gaius is
host to me and the whole church. And what he points to here is
the hospitality that has been shown, not only him, but it becomes
so commonplace that there is a believer that never came through
Corinth stayed at his house. I don’t think you have to do that. I think what
you have here is a man who is so faithful and so eager to use his gifts, his home, his blessings
in ministering to others that it just became commonplace that he was known as a hospitable man. But there are other references
to a number of different men who are called Gaius, not all
of which point necessarily to this one. he mentions the Gaius that he
had baptized in Corinth. And that’s what makes us think
that this was one saint. This man, in his response to
the gospel that had come to him, showed just great enthusiasm
in reaching out to the saints of God. Second, the last one mentioned
is Orascus. He’s known as the city treasurer of Corinth. And as one characterized him,
he stands alone in the apostolic history as a convert from the
dignified rank. This was a very well-to-do, well-known,
very important city official. It would be like the mayor of
the city or the city manager getting converted and being part
of the local fellowship. Well, there’s only one of them. And that’s the extent of what
we know about Corinth. But these men were important enough to
Paul that he passed along their greetings to the Roman church. They were his trench mates. They were
those that stood with him and battled with him and labored with him. Perhaps it’s for titles that
he bestowed upon me. Of Timothy, he calls him my fellow
worker. Paul didn’t consider the gospel
ministry a one-man show. Of Lucius, of Jason, and Socipiter,
he calls him my kinsman. See, the reminder here that the
gospel loudly had begun and with us continually. Gaius,
he referred to as his host, speaking of his hospitality. The gospel bears fruit. The gospel changes people.
It changes their perspectives. It changes their desires. It changes the way they live. The rest is the
city treasure. The gospel not only isn’t a one-man show, The gospel not only bears fruit,
but the gospel knows no bounds. Nobody is beyond God’s reach. And then he closes with just this simple
statement about Corvus. Corvus, the brother. What an encouraging thought that is, that the gospel brings
us into the family of God. That’s about all we know of those men. That is except one, Timothy. And I would, if I could rename,
or if I could name this particular focus this morning, I would call
it a cultivated disciple. Timothy wasn’t called by God
alone, as was Paul. Paul’s conversion was quite unique. at in our brief time together
this morning is this cultivated disciple sighing that the gospel would flourish. Paul just says of him,
Timothy, my fellow worker, greet you, and that is such an understatement. Paul knew that it was an understatement.
Paul knew that here was not necessarily the time or place to give Timothy’s resume, but it’s
rich and it’s bold. Timothy and Paul’s travel was
recorded in 2 Corinthians 1.1. Timothy probably accompanied Paul to Corinth and he was, above
anybody else in Paul’s life and ministry, a beloved and honored disciple, a helper. in spite of natural timidity.
You’d read the book of Timothy and you’d come away from that
first chapter knowing that this guy had shaky knees. Paul spoke
of ministry in those terms, but Paul was unfathomable. Paul said that when he came in
to ministry, there were conflicts without and fears within, but
he’d never know it. thus naturally timid. And yet,
this is the young man who essentially would reveal to Paul and assure Paul that the gospel would go on and
flourish because it was changing people’s lives. Timothy’s name appears in 11 of Paul’s epistles. He
was the recipient of two of them. And in that second epistle to
Timothy, Paul wrote something that really should be at the cornerstone of everything. about passing on. And I always let people decide
which category they fit in. The picture that you come away
with in that chapter is that every one of us should be reaching
up to another godly saint, a disciple, someone to walk with, someone
to encourage us, someone to admonish us. We should not only be reaching
up, we should be reaching down. to face forward. And that would
fall the ministry of the gospel. And
I want to show you this this morning with five simple names that Paul uses for Timothy. Five simple
identifiers that show Timothy’s faithfulness and remind us that the gospel will flourish. Paul the signs that the gospel
would flourish. The first sign is the sign of generational faithfulness. Paul had called Timothy on a
number of different occasions, essentially referring to him as his offspring, spiritual offspring. In 1 Timothy 1.18, just a few
sentences later, he refers to him as my son. Writing the second
epistle to Timothy, if he opens that little epistle, he refers
to Timothy as my beloved son. Timothy was, in a very real sense, Paul’s spiritual
offspring. The scriptures make it clear that children his beloved son. It could point
to the fact that Paul was instrumental in this conversion. We know that
Paul had passed through that region in his first missionary
journey. And quite possibly, he interfaced
with Timothy personally. But he also ultimately would
have a discipleship role in Timothy’s life. actually sharing with him, Paul
came to him and saw him in Christ and took him under his wing and discipled him as he would his own son.
So certainly in his discipleship Trinity became a son. You may remember the scene. Turn if you would to Acts
chapter 16 and we’ll navigate through those chapters in the next few minutes. is already a strong believer.
Look at the verse there, verse 1. Paul came also to Jerusalem
and to Lystra, and his disciple was there, named Timothy, the
son of a Jewish woman, who was a believer. But his father was
a Greek, and he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in
Lystra at Niconia. sought out his family, but he
certainly sought out Timothy, and he appealed to him to join
with him in the great work of gospel ministry. And so, even though it seems
that Timothy already is a believer, possibly due even to his mother
and grandmother’s influence, as Paul would later say, Paul
must have had a significant impact on this young man in his spiritual
development. My true child is the baby, my
son, my beloved son. Just this one sign alone must
have been tremendously heartening to the Apostle Paul. The fact
that not only had the Gospel touched this young Timothy, passion and dedication that hardened
Paul. Paul knew that the gospel would flourish. Paul had to be encouraged that from the proof of his one
individual, Young Timothy, the gospel would begin to take root and flourish, not throughout the region, but
throughout the world. into others. There’s a second
sign that was so heartening for Paul. This cultivated disciple gave Paul signs that the gospel would flourish,
not only a sign of generational faithfulness, but a sign of wholesome plurality. Paul just calls him
here and how important Timothy was,
not just in his partnership in Paul’s ministry, but in his own shepherding ministry, as those pastoral epistles
detail. He calls him a fellow worker. Now, I know that tongue-in-cheek, sometimes church people get the
idea that Sunday is the only day that pastors work. Anybody who’s ever been in or
around the farm knows just how laborious that undertaking is. In Troas, he has a vision, and
by way of that vision, he’s prompted to go to Macedonia and take down
the Gospels. And you talk about a trial by
fire for this young servant of Christ, Timothy. Their next journey
lands them in the city of Philippi. Sounds good so far. Where a church
would immediately be planted, and almost immediately all Now, as you know, that that leads
not only to additional conversions to Philippian jailor and his
household, but it also leads to further trouble. Because Paul, in time, when he
writes to the Philippian church, reminds them of this young man. Listen in your mind’s eye. Jot
down in your mind as you would. may be encouraged when I learn
of your condition, for I have no one else. And to me, as a
pastor, those are some of the saddest words
in all of the New Testament. and others who were painfully
employed and promoting Christ in the gospel,
both as I have known us, of human spirit. No one that thinks like me and loves
God’s people like me, no one that loves a gospel like me that will passionately if you will, that Paul seems
to intimate here, we’re genuinely concerned about the poor. I’ll
go take up this spy. There are far too many pastors like that in
our world out there, who aren’t truly, genuinely concerned
for their welfare. Not like Paul. In the entire world, he didn’t
have many others, and he had no one immediately available
to him but Timothy. And it says in verse 21, For they all seek after their own
interests, not those of Christ Jesus. Isn’t that the case with
most people? He saw how valuable he was, not
only to me, but how valuable he is to the preaching of the
gospel. Now it’s possible, because there
are some gaps. for the giftedness of God in
others, he welcomes it. And not only did he welcome it
and cultivate it, he employed it. He put it to use. He couldn’t
wait to share the ministry of the gospel. And then he commended
him, and he fostered him, and he wrote him epistles and taught
him all for his life in the ministry. And then at that point, they, whoever
they is, and certainly Paul would eventually leave Silas
and Timothy, and he would leave them behind to menstruate. Paul
goes on alone, if you’re tracking through the Book of Acts. In Acts chapter 17, he leaves
and goes alone to Athens, as we saw last Thursday. And the
next time we find Paul, it’s in Berea. Paul leaves Silas and
Timothy there. and Timothy remained there. Timothy eventually joined Paul
in Athens, and then he said, because he was a faithful servant
of Christ, he sent to Thessalonica as an emissary of grace to the
Thessalonians. Paul wrote of him, therefore,
when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left
behind in Athens alone, and he sent As we move into chapter 18, Paul
has moved on to Corinth. He has befriended Aquila and
Priscilla. Silas and Timothy eventually
arrive, and they bring Paul some kind of practical relief, either
a monetary gift or just two extra sets of hands to make tents.
And that’s when he’s pulled up to preach the gospel. to cultivate spiritual offspring. the desire of now cultivating
his own spiritual offspring. But there were other signs that the gospel would flourish in this cultivated
disciple, not only the sign of generational faithfulness and the sign of wholesome morality,
but a sign of holy affection. We pick it up in Acts chapter
19 when Paul returns to Ephesus. He rejoins Timothy, he rejoins
Priscilla, etc. But he soon sends Timothy a foreigner. And he takes up his pen and he
writes his first letter to the Corinthians. And when Paul writes
that first letter to the Corinthians, he says in that letter that he
has sent Timothy to them to remind them. That’s what we need as
Christians. It isn’t so much beginner level
or even advanced information that we need. We need reminders. We don’t need anything new. We just need
reminders of what we’ve already grasped from Scripture. But Paul implores them to continue to encourage
him, rather, in his work. In chapter 4, verse 17 of Corinthians, Paul says this, Who is my beloved and faithful
child in the Lord? He will remind you of my ways to bring He is dear to me. He is beloved
to me. Timothy was, to the apostle Paul,
was likely as surprising to the Corinthians as it is to you and I. Later on in that same epistle, Paul
would write, a second day, Timothy comes, see that he is with you without cause to be afraid. Now that’s practical
love. He loved him so much that he wants to in the Lord’s work as I also
am. Let no one despise me. and Timothy are both. In verse
19 of that same chapter, the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us, by me, Silvanus, and
Timothy. What a ministry. What a privilege to walk together in Christ. But there’s a fourth sign. This cultivated
disciple was called that unfounded dedication. Unfounded
dedication. You see, Paul would eventually be arrested, remember?
Carded up to Rome, where his appeal would eventually be heard. But the amazing thing
is, of all places for Timothy to go, he joins Paul in Rome. Well, that’s with
four epistles, in particular. Williams. Olashun. bond-servant of Christ Jesus. Now, obviously, that language
now is so colored for Paul by his surroundings. That’s essentially
what he was literally, was a bond-servant, in chains, under house arrest,
not free to go here and there as he pleased, not free to go
from Paul was bound to the Lord. Paul
was a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ out of the soldiers of Rome. Timothy here. the gospel of unwillingness to
be afraid of any personal thing in those epistles. admiration for these young men. He gives them marching orders,
as it were. Reminds him in First Timothy
1, I urge you upon my departure from Macedonia, remain on Edessa,
stay there. I know of your willingness to stand with me here at home
when your need is there. Timothy, Paul rather, He cultivated disciples. And
for Paul, providing these signs, the gospel would be purged and he would provide the fifth and the final. Not
only the sign of generational faithfulness, wholehearted morality, holy affection, unbounded dedication, but listen
to this. We’ve alluded to it already. Familial loyalty. Paul just refers to him repeatedly as our brother. St. George is 1-1, Colossians
1-1, Aristotle 1-3-2, Philemon 1. You see, what Paul points out, Paul now grasping like never before the reality. Home duty gospel would flourish.
Hey, we’re going to do that passage in a little moment. Testimonies to the Philippians. They walk over to the time clock
and punch at it. They don’t want to leave. And then I saw this young man come in. The son of the owner.
I’ve never seen him more graphic than this. How are we at cultivating a generational
faithfulness? How are we at recognizing and
working within a wholesome plurality? Recognizing the giftedness of
others and encouraging that, fostering that, feeding that,
nourishing that. How are we about holy affection? Do we really love one another? How are we about our own How are we about our own familial
loyalty? Do we really, truly look at one another as brothers
and sisters?