Posts that reference the book of 1 Timothy

1 Tim

Emmanuel

By Paula

God was manifested in the flesh… 1 Timothy 3:16. That’s Emmanuel.

We tell the story every Christmas. It is as familiar as it is foundational.

But don’t pass over it. Consider it.

GOD

The God who thundered on Sinai, whose train filled the temple, who spoke the world into existence…

Chose

To reveal Himself to us (That’s amazing enough)

He chose to reveal Himself AS one of us.

He chose to identify Himself WITH us. (Our Emmanuel)

So that He could ultimately call us His very own.

God did that.

The Old Testament opens with God.

The New Testament begins with God with us.

Scripture ends with us in God’s presence for all eternity.

Key Ingredients for Growth: Dirt

By Paula

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:18

Late last year, my husband took a different job and we moved back home. Home where we spent the first seven years of our married life, where he had grown up and just across the river from where I grew up. For the intervening twenty years, we lived in a rural community surrounded by farmland (with an oil refinery, too). Now we’re back where the farm is right outside the door. My husband’s family farmed and his brothers still do. We don’t have the acreage so we garden. All of this gives us plenty of opportunity to see how plants grow. Those lessons help us understand how we grow as believers and give us some things to consider that will help us grow. So over then next weeks we’re going to look at the things a plant must have in order to grow — like good dirt, water, light and protection — and think about how that applies to us.

We’ll start by considering the soil we plant in. To give our plants the best chance to grow and thrive, they need good soil. Not hard, compacted clay. Not loose sand, but rich dirt, full of nutrients and organic compounds. We need dirt that will allow the roots to grow, that has a balanced pH, and that’s not full of rocks and other junk. But before we can plant anything, the soil must be plowed, disked, and dragged. So composition, constitution and preparation.

Now the best analogy in the lives of believers for the dirt we plant in is the church. What kind of composition, constitution and preparation can help us grow?

Composition – The body of Christ needs to be rich and full of nutrients so that believers grow. Rich in mercy, like God (Ephesians 2:4), rich in good works (1 Timothy 6:18) and rich in faith (James 2:5). The Word of God must be the source of our nourishment, whether from the pulpit or in a small group. Just like the soil pH has to be balanced, we have balance uplift and encouragement with correction and admonition. (2 Timothy 3:16)

Constitution – How is the body put together? Is it difficult to learn and grow? The body of Christ needs pastors and teachers gifted by the Holy Spirit who rely on Him as they prepare. (I’ve had occasion to visit a lot of churches and classes in the last few years. They have all been led by sincere people who love Jesus, but that sincerity does not always lend itself to being a good teacher or expositor.) The curriculum or subject matter should be sound, well-written and relevant. Our small groups need to be organized so that everyone has the opportunity to take part, to ask questions, to participate and grow. We also may have to make sure that peripheral issues, church politics, personal preferences and other rocks don’t interfere with learning and growing?

Preparation – I put this one last, because it often falls last in our thinking. We don’t do any planning or preparation for growth and then we are surprised and disappointed when people don’t progress in their Christian walk. Farmers and gardeners will tell you, if you just sling out some seed and hope for the best … you’re going to be disappointed. I’m afraid that’s how we sometimes approach our Commission. We’ll just throw the gospel out there and good things have to happen. It could work that way, but let’s think about how Jesus did it. Jesus taught His disciples, sent them out to practice what they learned, helped them download the experiences, taught them deeper stuff, then handed off responsibility to them. Paul used the same progression with Timothy, Titus and others. This was intentional and purposeful, not accidental. It is hard work but it is a critical step if we want to see growth. When people come into the body of Christ, we have a responsibility to make sure they progress to a place of service and not let them languish as spectators.

Are you growing? Is your church good soil? What can you do to improve the composition, constitution or preparation of the soil?

Next week: Water

Read the other posts in the series

Underappreciated Virtues: Maturity

By Paula

We’re continuing our look at some underrated traits that are no less necessary in the body of Christ than some of these other fruits. Last week we looked at encouragement. This week we’ll think about maturity.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. Hebrews 5:12

What does spiritual maturity look like?

Hebrews 5:14 tells us the mature are those have “trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” They have taken the time and put in the effort. And implicit in distinguishing good from evil is choosing good consistently.

In 1 Timothy 3:6, among the qualifications for pastor, Paul says that the candidate “must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.” So, in contrast, humility is a mark of the mature. So is resisting temptation.

Perhaps the most straightforward lists are in Titus 2. Paul describes how older men and women should conduct themselves within the body of Christ. There is an underlying assumption that the physically mature are also spiritually mature. You can read the lists for yourself but I want to highlight a couple of broad characteristics.

The mature are reverent. They hold God and His Word in high esteem and show the respect due.

The mature are even-tempered. They aren’t given to angry outbursts. They think before they speak.

The mature mentor. They lead by example. They welcome the opportunity to help others grow and benefit from their wisdom and experience. (They aren’t bossy, know-it-alls, or demand that things be dome their way. Remember humility is a key characteristic of the mature.)

How do we become mature?

The short answer – the hard way. The slightly longer answer is that maturity happens as we commit ourselves to learn what it means to be Christlike. More practically, we let Christ stretch our faith. That means going through challenging circumstances. There is no shortcut or instant formula for maturity. Granted some mature more quickly than others. I think this may be because some are more surrendered to the Holy Spirit working in us. Some are more willing to renounce the things the Spirit asks us to change. Some are more willing to walk through the doors the Spirit opens.

Peter gives us an outline of the process. “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. (2 Peter 1:5-7). I won’t take the time to walk through each of those virtues, but I will point out the instruction to “make every effort.” It must be a high priority, worthy of our sustained efforts.

Why does the church need mature believers?

For the answer to that, let’s go back to the verse at the top of the post. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, Hebrews 5:12. The church’s ability to function, to carry out its mission is hampered by immaturity. How can we disciple others if we haven’t moved past the very basics of our faith? How can we live by biblical principles if we don’t know what those are? We will be governed more by our emotions than by the Holy Spirit. We will be influenced more by the culture around us than the example of Christ. Paul and James both warn of the dangers of not detecting false doctrine because we are immature and easily swayed. Once false doctrine takes over, the church is in real spiritual danger as the letters in Revelation attest.

Maturity is necessary for the church to carry out the Commission. We have to make sure we are doing all we can to reach it, as well as not fighting God when He works in our lives to bring it about.

Next week in the Underappreciated Virtues series: Equity

He Loved Us

By Paula

And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 1:14

He laid aside His glory

He took on human flesh with all its frailties and frustrations.

Salvation was accomplished
Because He loved us.

Salvation required the Incarnation.

Immanuel is one of my favorite names for Jesus.
God with us. God who became flesh and dwelt among us.
A Savior who wanted to understand our grief and sorrow.

Because He loved us.

The love that began the moment God created us
Speaks most clearly through Jesus Christ.

At Christmas the boundless love of an infinite God speaks through a baby’s first cry.

All because He loved us.

(I’ll be back blogging on January 4. I wish you and yours a wonderful Christmas and a blessed new year. From the bottom of my heart, I offer my deepest thanks to you for reading blog posts and books – especially Touched – for leaving reviews and recommending books to your friends, and for being part of this adventure. I never imagined God would connect me with such a gracious and supportive community. It is a privilege to write for you.)

Station Identification

By Paula

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 1 Timothy 1:15

The FCC requires that every television and radio station identify itself hourly with its call letters and city. The idea is that there are so many signals coming over the airwaves in America, that the listener should be able to identify the source of the broadcast. Often the stations will add a tag to that identification, so you know what to expect. “The Party” is going to serve different music than “The Valley’s Best Country.” We probably wouldn’t expect any music on “The Fan” or “All News and Talk.”

Acts 11:26 tells us, “And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” Christians. Christ-like. At Antioch. After that, the culture had an expectation when they heard that identification. Christians. In Rome. In Corinth. In Philippi. In Ephesus.

They expected commitment, passion, generosity, hospitality.

I’m not sure that expectation still holds. Think for a moment of the words most often used to describe Christians these days. Usually, it’s intolerant. Self-righteous. Fake.

Perhaps that’s because the way we identify ourselves has changed. It makes us uncomfortable to suggest that we’re as depraved as everyone else, that it’s only the amazing work of the Holy Spirit bringing us new life that separates us. And that was a gift.

How would the perception of Christianity change, how would we change if humble … serving … compassionate became our identifiers?

Where do our thoughts, actions and motives originate?

How are we best known?

What if we took a few moments throughout the day to consider our own “station identification”?

Study Tip: Edify

By Paula

Let’s do a quick word study of an old word, a good word, that doesn’t get a lot of attention: EDIFY

According to the dictionary, to edify means “to instruct and improve, to uplift.” Most theological contexts pull from its old Greek and Latin roots, to build up. You may have heard preachers or others talk about the “upbuilding of the kingdom.” This is where it comes from.

It connects to a metaphor, a word picture that runs through the New Testament especially, that compares the body of Christ to a building. Peter writes about it in his first letter.

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,

“Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”

Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,

“The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone,”

and

“A stone of stumbling
And a rock of offense.” 1 Peter 2:4-8

Christ is the cornerstone, and we make up the other stones. It would make sense, then, that we shouldn’t undo all the hard work Christ did to build up His house. Instead, we should be imitating His work and building each other up, that is, edifying each other.

How do we edify each other? Let’s look at some New Testament references to learn more.

Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. Romans 14:19
Pursue the things which will edify somebody else. Pursue them. That requires focus, tenacity and expending a lot of energy.

Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. 1 Corinthians 8:1
It makes sense that love would build up. I like the contrast between the temporary, fragile “puff” and the solid brick of “edifies”.

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. Ephesians 4:29
Our speech is one of the primary ways we edify others. And did you catch the word “necessary”?

Nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. 1 Timothy 1:4
The ultimate goal of edification is building our faith. Arguing about nit-picking details won’t do that.

1 Corinthians 14 mentions edification more than any other place in the New Testament. It emphasizes two major ideas. First, your gifts were given to you to edify the body of Christ. Second, corporate worship is when that happens. Skip church and you miss your big opportunity to edify and be edified.

In modern usage, edify has largely been replaced by encourage, but that’s an incomplete translation. Encouraging is mostly emotional, helping you feel better about something. Feeling better is more of a side effect, or a bonus with edification. Instead, it primarily strengthens faith by reminding us that we fit into the spiritual house Christ is building.

This is hardly an exhaustive study, but let me leave you with one last word on edification — it is one more result of God pouring out His grace on us.
“So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” Acts 20:32

Emmanuel

Key Ingredients for Growth: Dirt

Underappreciated Virtues: Maturity

What does spiritual maturity look like?

How do we become mature?

Why does the church need mature believers?

He Loved Us

Station Identification

Study Tip: Edify

How do we edify each other? Let’s look at some New Testament references to learn more.

Encounters Series

Covenant of Trust Series

Foundations Series