Andrew Johns - Examples of Youth in Service & Action - Class 6 - Timothy - Serving His Brethren in Youth

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   Thanks for that reading, Andrew. That chapter portrays the young man Timothy as a sensitive person who instinctively thought of others, and so we look forward to learning more of this young man and how he bore the yoke in his youth. Timothy serving his brethren in youth. Brother Andrew, my dearly love to brethren and sisters and our dear young people. Timothy’s name means valued of God, and indeed he was, and at a very young age at that.

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   In fact, I would go as far as as to say at the commencement of our study tonight, young people, that Timothy is one of the greatest characters in the New Testament.

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   Perhaps the evidence of that will unfold as we go along, but his life basically is a testimony to the power of the Word of God to change us so that God can use us. Let me say that again, because that’s the essence of his life. His life is a testimony to the power of the Word of God to change us so that God can use us.

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   You know, we know of no words that ever came from his mouth recorded in the New Testament, and yet we see his character clearly imprinted in the epistles and in the historical sections in the New Testament. And we not not only see his character, brethren and sisters and young people, but the powerful effect of his words and his life amongst his brethren.

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   It stands out in bold relief. From the Epistles and from the Acts of the Apostles. Though we don’t. Read of his name very many times. He truly is one of the great individuals that took up the yoke in youth in the time of the 1st century and that’s the essence of his life. I believe that the truth was believed and manifested in his life in youth.

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   That’s bearing the yoke. That’s what bearing the yoke is all about. And we meet him in Acts. Chapter 16, first of all, and it’s always very interesting to see how this how the scriptures introduce us to various characters, and we’ve already seen that in the past week, and this one is no exception. Because in acts.

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   Chapter 16 On Paul’s second journey while he comes to Lystra, we find in verse one of Acts 16. Then he came to Derby and Lystra, that is, the apostle Paul, with Silas, who was his companion at this stage. And behold, a certain disciple was there named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess and believed, but his father was a Greek, which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium and him.

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   Would Paul have to go forth with him? It’s a very interesting introduction. Do you know this little incident here that we read when he came to Derby and Lystra? In fact, it was at Lystra that he picked Timothy up. Is the only thing that’s recorded in any detail in Paul’s second epistle until he gets right over into Philippi on the other side of the Aegean Sea.

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   There’s nothing recorded apart from just a very summary comment in all his dealings all around through, through Asia Minor, Syria and Silesia, except for this one thing that he picked up into his party, the young man, Timothy. But notice very carefully. We’ve got to read our Bibles carefully. Young people, look at this.

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    Let me read this again, verse one. And he came to Derby and Lystra and behold, a certain disciple was there. If you want a little exercise, when you go home, you get a coloured pencil and you colour in the word behold in the acts of the apostle. And you’ll find that on every occasion Luke is using it to introduce something that we’ve got to take notice of, something that’s either unusual or surprising, something that ought to catch our attention. And here, talking about going off onto the second journey, they came to Lystra and behold, there’s a certain disciple there.

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    His name happened to be valued of God, and he had a Jew for his mother and a Greek. For his boy like that from a mixed marriage ever be valued to God. So the Jews would have thought, but. We’re already told here that he’s a disciple already. Now that’s interesting. His mother, we are told, already believed. And the Apostle Paul, we know, came through this region on his first missionary journey only about 18 months before this this particular time.

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    And we know this too, though we’re not told it here, that he was young. He must have been young because do you know 15 or 16 years later, after this time, the apostle Paul wrote a letter to Timothy near the end of his life, that is near the end of the apostles life.

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    And he said to him, let no man despise thy youth, Timothy. Now, if we put him into his mid 30s at that stage, the very least he must have been is his late teens at this point. And so if we take him at being say 17 or 18 at this time, we ought to be fairly safe in assessing his age, though we can’t pin it exactly. There’s no question that at this stage he was young. And at that young age, look what verse 2 says. He was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium, not only his hometown young people. And you don’t get a reputation like that overnight. You don’t get a reputation like.

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    That just because. You happen to make a commitment to be baptized into Christ. Here’s a young. Lad, who at 17 or 18 is already already known to your own ecclesia in Lister and. To the next town’s ecclesia. Does that mean that he went over and helped them? I think it’s highly likely. When we have a look at the character of this young lad and him, Paul wanted to come with him. Well, that was possibly because of the prophecies that went before.

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    Just make a note of it. But in first of Timothy 1 and at verse 18, which we won’t look at at the moment, the apostle speaks of the prophecies that went before on him. And it could have been a reference to a prophecy that that was made before Paul even got Solystra on this occasion.

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    We know that Silas, in fact, was a prophet. And had the gift of prophecy whether. It came through that means. Whether in fact that had anything to do with this or not, we do not know for sure. It may have been, but we know this. That Paul. Obviously had noticed this young lad as well. If he was well.

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    Reported of the brethren at Lithgra and Iconium. The Apostle Paul in his, with his astute mind, would certainly have picked up on talking and seeing and hearing that young man. There was some considerable potential in him. You know, it’s never ever recorded in the rest of the Acts of the Apostles that the Apostle Paul picked up anyone else on any occasion like this.

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    Now we know that he did. We know that he had many followers. We know that he had many very faithful individuals. Who pursued the work of the truth in many places. And did a great deal to extend the gospel to the far-flung reaches of the empire. But this is. The only time in all of Acts that it tells us that Paul stopped and said, lad, I want you to come with me. There was something about this lad that God valued and that the Apostle Paul saw in him as well.

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    Well, what do we know about him? We know this, that he came from a divided family. It obviously wasn’t a difficult, it was a difficult childhood that he had because his father was a Greek and his mother believed being a Jewess. And there was a conflict in, in customs, in beliefs, in all sorts of things in that household.

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    There must have been, as inevitably would have been the case when a Jew, Jewess married a Greek. But he was of good reputation, as we saw a moment ago amongst the brethren in that place. I’d like you to come to 1st of Timothy, Second of Timothy, sorry, chapter 1, because we get a little insight into some of the characteristics of this young man by what Paul tells us here.

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    We’re no doubt very familiar with these words, but let’s just glance our eyes across them again. Verse 5 in what was in fact his last letter, his final message to Timothy before his death, the apostle says, when I called to remembrance. Verse 5, The unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice. And I am persuaded that in thee also. It’s a strange word, isn’t it?

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    This unfeigned faith in the Greek. The word is an Hippocrates. Sounds like hypocrite, doesn’t it? It’s the word from which hypocrite comes. But it’s got the Greek word for not on the front. Hypocritical without hypocrisy. Without. Pretense. And the apostle Paul remembered his unfinded faith, his sincere faith that was without the tense, without hypocrisy, which he said dwelt in his mother Lois, and his in his grandmother Lois, and in his mother Eunice. What is unfeigned faith, Young people? We know what faith is, a belief, a belief in those things that have been revealed or that are coming. But here’s a faith, young people, that’s matched by action.

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    His life. That’s what the Apostle Paul’s saying. His life was consistent with his profession and his belief absolutely consistent, and we none of us find that an easy thing to do, do we? He was an in. He was evidently a very impressive young lad and this. Was a characteristic. That as soon as the apostle had walked into that house, as he obviously did, maybe on his first journey, but almost certainly here now on his second, when he decided to take Timothy with him, it was a characteristic that deeply impressed the apostle. Now, we don’t find anyone else being called or being having that called of them in the New Testament. But here we have Timothy, his mother Eunice, and his grandmother Lois.

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    All. Being told that they have unhypocritical faith. Now what that’s saying to us parents is, is this that unfeigned faith, faith that’s matched by action, can be passed on from one generation to the next. Because here was his mother, his grandmother first, who had that same faith, that same character of faith, who passed it on to her daughter, who passed it on to her son. What a marvellous thing that is, to see that in that little household, as difficult as it was to to to hang on tenaciously to the truth, at least there was no hypocrisy there. And his mother steadfastly holding on to the promises. And once he came in contact with the apostles preaching and understood that.

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    Truth in Christ hung on tenaciously to the hope of the Kingdom and her belief in Christ. Their life matched. There was no pretence. There was nothing that she wanted to hide. There was nothing that anyone else could know that wasn’t open. If only our lives were always like that. But we find that he was also timid, possibly rather retiring in nature, because the apostle goes on to say in that same chapter that we’re looking at here in Second of Timothy chapter 1, he says, verse 6.

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    Wherefore I put thee in remembrance, that they’ll stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear or timidity, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore. Ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner.

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    But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel, according to the power of God you. Know there’s no indication anywhere wherever. We look in the New Testament. That Timothy was anything else but faithful to the apostle. That he was faithful to his calling. But he ever shield away from the functions which came his way on many occasions.

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    There’s never a hint of any of that, and the. Apostle is not saying here that he was often like that. He knew. What his disposition was like. That’s all he’s saying. God has not given us the. Spirit of timidity, Timothy, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind. The Word of God has to put on top of your natural characteristics.

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    Don’t be ashamed. Get out there and suffer the affliction. If it comes, too bad, you’re a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Accept it. And he did. His faith was without hypocrisy, and if he believed young people, his faith was so great that his. Actions matched it in every respect and he stood up in circumstances that he didn’t feel comfortable in.

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    What a remarkable individual. He was unassuming and we believe he was sensitive because in verse four of second of Timothy 1, the apostle says that he was greatly desiring to see him, being mindful of his tears that he may be filled with joy and on their parting, obviously their last parting, there were tears of affection and emotion. The great apostle to the Gentiles. That’s incredible intellectual.

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    Who could bring the Jews down with the the? Power of his mind and reasoning. On the Old Testament himself was greatly desiring, mindful of the tears of this young lad on their previous passing. He was a sensitive boy. He didn’t have a strong constitution because the apostle says in first of Timothy chapter 5 and verse 23, which we won’t look at the moment, that he was often sick, often sick.

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    And that wouldn’t have made life in Paul’s company very easy. A lad who would have had to travel many hundreds, nay, thousands of miles with the apostle round and round in very trying and difficult circumstances. But he was sympathetic and compassionate and encouraging. Wherever we find him. We’ll come back to that characteristic of his a little later.

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    But perhaps when Paul met him, one of the dominant characteristics was his deep conviction in the power of the Word of God. Just turn the page to 2nd of Timothy chapter 3 to words that we can all recite, no doubt by heart, I hope in verse 14, the apostle says, and this is his last words to to Timothy says, but continue thou underline that word. Continue thou on the things which thou hast learned. It wasn’t as if this is an.

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    Exhortation for him to start doing anything. Continue thou on the things which thou hast learned has been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child, from an unborn babe. The word means thou hast none. The Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus.

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    Because all. Scripture says the Apostle. And the youth think Timothy didn’t know this. Why was he telling him? Why did he tell him that all Scripture Timothy is given by inspiration of God? It’s God breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect.

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    Truly furnished, properly equipped unto all good works. Do you think Timothy didn’t know that? Having been in the company of the Apostle Paul for 15 years of. Course, he knew it. But he reminded him again of the power that had already driven his life. That’s all the apostle’s doing here, reminding him of the driving force of his life, his own life as well as Timothy’s. It was a characteristic that he saw in that lad at the age of 16 or 17 in the town of.

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    Lystra in that home where he lived with his mother, where faith had been born UN hypocritical faith. But the word that we find in verse 15 there which are able is in the Greek. A word which means powerful. It’s the word from which we get our English word Dynamo. And he’d seen this effect in this lad.

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    Paul had already seen it. He’d seen it from a lad when he picked him up in Lystra on those 15 or 16 years before this time. And he’d seen it ever since. He’d seen the Scriptures as a Dynamo in the life of that lad because he knew there was power there, power to change the natural characteristics that we actually have. Into something that.

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    God can use and didn’t notice where it ends that the man of God may be perfect. Truly furnished unto all good works, young people, the Scriptures are powerful, more powerful than we give them credence, because we don’t tap that power very often. And brother and sisters, we’re all in this situation, aren’t we?

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    Very often in our lives, we lack power. We lack power to push them into the direction we know they ought to go. But it’s only because we don’t give our minds to it. But the scriptures will not just. Affect our minds, they’re. Powerful to fit, to affect the whole man. The whole being character is going to be affected if we allow that. Power to generate in our minds.

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    And it will end up in. Good works inevitably. And if there’s no. Good works in the end if we’re not thoroughly equipped in every good work in the. End The power of the Scriptures hasn’t been working. We can rest assured of that. In the end, God is going to look for. Developed characters with faith, with endurance, without hypocrisy.

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    Lives that have been changed by the power that’s in this book. And upon that young lad who’d known the Scriptures from a babe, the Apostle Paul, at the age of 16 or 17, laid a yoke upon his neck, a yoke that yoked him and Timothy together.

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    And if we think that Timothy really didn’t understand at that stage what that yoke meant, and that when the Apostle Paul came to that town on that day, totally unexpected to him and said, lad, I want you to come with me. If we think that young lad didn’t know what that entailed, then we just have to think again and read the Scriptures because a couple of chapters earlier in Acts chapter 14, we know that the apostle came to that region and we won’t look at it now, but he came to that region, young people.

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    And he was stoned and taken out of the city to dead and left him in heat. And you know what? Around him we’re standing. All the believers have just accepted the truth. And we find when he came the second time, that his mother. And he are called disciples. That means that that young boy Timothy, maybe 15 or 16, watched those angry Jews stone the apostle.

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    To to almost to death. Drag him like a piece of rag and dump him outside the city. And he went with tears in his eyes and stood outside that city. And what’s that problem? Just heard? That man found the truth and his heart burned, and he watched that man get up by the parallel growth.

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    He’s resurrected in front of his eyes, and he went back and they bathed. His wounds and he didn’t rest there for three months. There’s work to be done. He’s got to sit around. This man had work to do and on that first journey he moved on to the next town and the next and then came back and followed the same.

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    Path again, And Timothy knew all of that. And the apostle tapped him on the shoulder, and he said, Timothy, I want you to come with me. What do you think that did to that?

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    He knew what it meant to deny self, take up the cross daily, and follow him. And as the Apostle Paul was was Christ to the Gentiles, so now the Christ to the Gentiles had yoked this young man to him. And he said to. Him in effect, Timothy, bear this yoke in your youth.

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    Take this yoke upon me. Remember from our study last Saturday night. Take this yoke upon me, and learn from me and the. Apostle was now saying just those words to this young lad, because this man to whom he was now to be yoked. Was able to say like no other could ever have said no history be he follows of me as I also am of Christ and to walk in his steps or to be LinkedIn yoke with him. Was to be LinkedIn yoke with Christ. And so began young people, the greatest and most productive partnership.

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    In the history of the New Testament, and that’s no exaggeration, during the next eight years, the apostle Paul founded over the world, all over the world. You know the story of Acts. He cared and nourished with him. He travelled back, he stayed up all night in prayer times on behalf of those Aquinas. He recalled that he wrote messengers all over the world. And every eight years Timothy is yoked to him. Do you know that half of the New Testament? Was written more than half of it was written by the apostle Paul, but half of it also has Paul and Apostle and Timothy unto the. Timothy, a young man at that stage, has his name as one of the authors of half of the New Testament. Because he’s yoked inseparably with the great apostle Paul. Because that man tapped him on the shoulder and said, I want you to learn in youth what it means to bear the yoke. Now, the Apostle Paul was a unique individual. He was prophesied right back in the times of Isaiah. And he was called by gods to fill up the sufferings of Messiah.

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    He was Christ to the Gentiles, and he even used the language of Messiah on occasions. He was a remarkable man, absolutely remarkable in every respect. He was a man of powerful intellects, of incredible conviction and determination. We can scarcely imagine the determined will of steel. That man had pushed him all over the then known world. He was a man of vision, a man of incredible drive. And you know, brothers and sisters and young people, anyone that.

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    Fell. In. To that company with the Apostle Paul. Was profoundly affected for the rest of their lives, and no one’s ever stayed in his company who was unprepared to put the truth before all personal comforts, all personal considerations. You couldn’t be in the company of the apostle and travel around the world and be thinking of your own personal needs. Couldn’t do it.

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    That’s the sort of man he was. He set very tough personal standards and with a great inspiration to all those in his company. You know, if anyone, it doesn’t matter who it was, came into Paul’s company. They would very quickly learn the meaning of self denial, of sacrifice, of the meaning of service.

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    They’re things that we really, in this soft and savvy age, know very little. About. And we ought. To know more, they knew how to abound and how to suffer need. They would very quickly learn what it was to suffer unjustly for the name of Christ. They would learn what it meant to be patient, to endure in well doing. They would learn very powerfully how to rightly. Divide the word of truth and.

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    They’d learn the thrill of the scriptures. Then you imagine sitting down at night with the Apostle Paul as he began to sow his tent to make some money so that the party that he was travelling with were were cared for, as he began to talk about Isaiah, the visions of of Ezekiel and the glory of the Kingdom. Can you imagine the exhilaration of of that time, those times, precious though they must have been to a young lad of 17 who was soaking up all that he heard? No one could be in the company of the apostle and not know what it was to be committed to Christ. At the end of the apostles life.

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    He wrote to Timothy. We’ve got the words open here, haven’t we? Chapter 3 of Second Timothy. Let’s read them. This is what the apostle said. Verse 10 of. 2nd of Timothy. Three. But thou hast fully known my doctrine. Look at the margin. A much better translation. But thou hast been a diligent follower of my doctrine, of my manner of life, of my purpose to win Christ, of my faith, which is the same as yours, Timothy, without hypocrisy.

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    Of my long-suffering, of my love. Of my patient endurance in well doing, of my persecutions, of my pressures and afflictions that came unto me at all these other. Places out of which the Lord delivered me. Timothy, you’ve been a patience and diligent follower of all of those things in my life. What a testimony and eight years. After leaving Lystra, the apostle Paul was locked in a yoke with that young man, and Timothy went. Through all the pressures, all the troubles, all the sufferings, all the joys in founding new eccleses, and seeing this spontaneous response of brethren who turned from the world and come to.

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    Christ, but the anguish of those, the Jews particularly, who fought him at every step. Let’s just follow the early part of the life of this young man when he’s in his youth, probably still his teens. Come back to Acts Chapter 17.

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    They left the little town of Lystra and moved across Asia Minor. They were prevented of the Spirit. We know the story of of these journeys. No doubt they came across being prevented by the Spirit until they got to Trois. Where they saw a. Vision and they went across the sea and into Macedonia and came to Philippi and there we know what happened, Paul and Silas. Were put in prison.

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    They weren’t just put in prison, they were beaten with many. Stripes, the record tells us. And I ask you. Where was Timothy in all that? He was in that party, along with Luke and possibly others. We don’t know, but Silas. And and Paul were taken. Being quite clearly the leaders of that group and beaten with many stripes, so much so that their backs were bleeding and raw, and they went into that prison house that night. And Can you imagine the this young lad, Timothy, only months out of his mother’s home at 17, perhaps standing up to that and staying awake all night wondering what was going to happen next?

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    What had he got himself into? You know, I don’t believe he thought like that at all. I believe that night he would have been praying earnestly, praying earnestly for the apostle and Silas. But he saw. It all and he saw the response. When they eventually, after the earthquake, had come out of that prison.

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    He saw the the joy and. Power in that ecclesia, the enthusiasm of that little ecclesia that formed around Lydia’s house in Philippi, and Paul and Silas, still with very deep wounds, still in very bad shape, made their way on. They couldn’t rest for too long. Verse 1 of chapter 17 And now when they had passed through Anthropolacan Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was the synagogue of the Jews.

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    And we find that in the next two verses the apostle Paul goes to reason in the Sabbath and. And with great courage and dexterity. He out reasoned the Jews opening in alleging verse three that Christ must needs to have suffered and risen from the dead. Wouldn’t you like to have been in that?

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    Audience and nor was the young Timothy listening to. All those words, these things are the. Masterly handling by the Apostle Paul of the Word of God in. Public divide in defence of the truth, upholding Christ as being the center of all the prophets and of all God’s revelation, in fact the center of His purpose. Then the evidence of God’s love into the world and then there’s an uproar starts because the Jews get word of it and they come and try and looking for Saul and Silas, and they attack Jason’s house in verse 5.

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    And they sought to bring them out to the people, but they weren’t there. Verse 6. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren under the rulers of the city crying. These that have turned the world upside down are come. You know, hit her. Also. Now who did they take? Of course, there were some who had accepted the truth in those in the little time that they’d been in personal like her, but they didn’t find Silas and they didn’t find Paul. That’s who they were.

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    After we read it, we don’t even read that Timothy was here, but we definitely know that he was because just a little further down the column we find that he appears. But he must have been around somewhere, and perhaps brethren and sisters and young people. Perhaps he was one of those certain brethren in verse 6 because they said to the rulers, listen to these words, these that have.

67. 37:40

    Turned the world upside down. They didn’t find Saul, Paul and Silas. So who were they talking about? Had they grabbed? Luke and and possibly young Timothy well on bail. They let them go, and the brethren in verse 10 went away and to Berea after that narrow escape like you to remember that they were just in Thessalaika.

68. 38:05

    And that was a close shave for Timothy, because we’ll come back to that in just a moment. And they come to Berea. And there, as we well know in verse 11, they were more noble than those in Thessalaika in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so. And you can just imagine young Timothy in his absolute. Element here was not the.

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    Rough and tumble crowd. Because he wasn’t. He wasn’t a boisterous and and strong and dominant character at all. He was rather the reverse. And here in Berea he sat down quietly and searched the scriptures daily. The. Scriptures that had been inculcated. Infused into his mind since he was a young lad were. All now being put into place and he’s finding that he’s teaching already at. The age of possibly only 18, but you know that didn’t last too long and we find that though many believed in that place and it must have been a thrill to his heart to see those turning from from idols unto the living God. Yet the disruption of those fanatical Jews from Thess and Alaika soon bursting on that town. They followed them down the track and eventually they got there and they were asked to pull and we find in verse 14 and then immediately the brethren sent away. Paul to go, as it were by.

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    Sea, but Silas and Timotheus abode their still. Aha, here he is. This is the second occurrence of his name in the record. Now why was it left out and why is it now here? Brethren and sisters. Surely. Something has changed. Now he’s being called in the record. He’s being named in this record as one that’s staying back here with Silas. Clearly, these Jews were.

71. 39:57

    After the head of the Apostle Paul, he was their number one target, but now he’s mentioned Notice as a partner in the. Work. Up until now, it’s only been Paul and Silas, and even though we know that there were others in that party, they’re never mentioned. But now, once Paul’s taken out of the way the record.

72. 40:20

    Tells us that. Silas and Timotheus are standing there. They’re left. There to hold. The foot to stand up for the truth. To be a witness in that place and Paul was taken off, as we find, down to Athens. And how long he was there, we don’t know, but it doesn’t seem as though it was very long before he called Silas and Timothy back to him. And though he.

73. 40:43

    While they were absent, went up on to Mars Hill and gave the speech that we find in Acts 17. Let’s turn straight over that and come to chapter 18 where we pick up the thread of the story because here we find that after these things, but from Athens and came to Corinth, Paul departed from Athens.

74. 41:03

    Where’s Silas and Timothy? He had. When he was there in in Corinth, oh sorry, in Athens had called for them to come up to him. And now we find that he’s moving on alone down to Corinth. And there he met Aquila and Priscilla, we find in verse 2. But verse 5 And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.

75. 41:35

    So they obviously hadn’t got there, or so it seems. That Paul had moved on. Already before they got there, you know. That’s not actually the. Case because we’re told in Thessalonians that Paul called them back when he was still there in Athens. To give them a Commission to go back into Macedonia, into the region of Thessalonica and Philippi, to strengthen the president there because he was deeply concerned that the fanatical. Jews who had chased them all the way down to now he’s being at Corinth had chased him all the way down the Aegean Peninsula would likewise be putting great strain and pressure on the brethren who had only just newly accepted Christ. You know, the apostle Paul had this enormous breadth of vision and concern.

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    It’s a tremendous spirit to to emulate brethren and sisters and young people. A concern for his brethren, wherever they were. If they didn’t belong to the equation that. He was in. It didn’t mean that he had nothing to do. With them, that didn’t mean that he didn’t. Pray for them. He was always.

77. 42:45

    Concerned for his brethren wherever they were, and the breadth of his vision was astronomical. You know that young lad Timothy learned to view the whole ecclesial world in the same way. It’s a remarkable thing that we find Timothy eventually having the same spirit as this great apostle. The apostle didn’t. He could hardly. Think this was fair?

78. 43:09

    This Timothy ended. Only picked up six months before. Taken him through and seen all these horrendous events down through the track and he calls him through here to Athens and he says to him now Timothy, I’ve got an assignment for you 6 months in. He’s 18 young people and he says I’ve got assignment for you too, Silas. Silas, I want you to go back into Macedonia and to strengthen the ecclesias up there in Philippi. You remember where we got beaten? I want you to go right back into the lion’s mouth. And Timothy, do you know where I want you to go? I want you to go to Thessalonica, where the opposition was its fiercest and Timothy would have weakened at the knees, but and especially alone. And the apostle must have said to him. Timothy Silas will accompany you there and then go on. And I want you to gather up the Ecclesia. You have a look at what he says.

79. 44:10

    About this lad in First of Thessalonians. In chapter Chapter 3. The apostle himself couldn’t go back. We’re told that in Thessalonians, first of Thessalonians, chapter 3.

80. 44:24

    Suppose first of all in chapter 2 and verse 18 he says there that even I Paul once again we’re just going to come under them, but Satan hindered. US. The Jews, that’s who. Satan is there. Those fanatical Jews had prevented him going. He knew that he’d lose his wife and. Possibly he’d been given a vision to to say not to go, but he knew that it was very dangerous for him to go.

81. 44:48

    But he could send Timothy and he could send Silas. Silas. And in verse 1 of chapter 3, and this is a letter written not long after. He says, Wherefore, when we could no longer for bear, we thought it. Good. To be left at Athens alone. The Apostle Paul never ever wanted to be alone, never ever wanted that.

82. 45:09

    But he thought it good to be left alone, and he sent Timotheus. Our brother and minister of God, and our fellow labourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith, that no man should be moved from these afflictions for yourselves. Know that we are appointed thereunto.

83. 45:25

    For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that you could suffer tribulation even even as it came to pass. As you know, what an amazing thing. Did you notice what the Apostle Paul says about this 18 year old lad that he’d picked up six months before? He calls him our brother, the minister of God, and our fellow labourer in the Gospel of Christ.

84. 45:58

    What an incredible testimony. And he sends this young lad of shy and timid disposition right back into one of the worst areas of persecution and. Uproar in order to gather up. The brethren and to do 2 things to establish we find here to establish. You or to establish. You in the. Faith in your faith, as the RSV says, and to comfort. You that no man should be moved by these afflictions, and he sent Timothy, but all to comfort and exhaust them, that they shouldn’t be moved by afflictions. And here’s the poor young lad skating in his boots. No, it wasn’t an easy thing for Timothy. Did you go back there?

85. 46:48

    Not an easy thing at all. He was often sick and the Apostle Paul told him to take a little wine for his stomach. So just settle his stomach. And here his stomach must have been an absolute NOx as he trudged out that ring. He didn’t argue with the apostle. He had a faith that believed so implicitly in God that he’d.

86. 47:08

    He’d go the road that the apostle had told him. He was yoked with that man, and though he had to stay back there and the apostle was unable to go, he would go himself alone and would go he did. And despite his natural reticence and and natural lack of courage and boldness, he goes to that little ecclesia. Why did the apostles send him?

87. 47:32

    Why did he send one of the other companions that were there? Oh, for a very good reason, rather than sisters and young people. For a very good reason. He sent him precisely because he was timid, because he was naturally scared. Of those circumstances. Because he wasn’t a as bold as a lion. He wasn’t going to March into that ecclesia and say, now listen, don’t worry about them, God will deal with them.

88. 48:01

    And some time later, he. Didn’t March in and say that. He came in, knees knocking back into them, and gather that little. Group together and he opened the scriptures and he got excited by what he saw and it gave him courage and he said, brethren. This is what God has for us to develop our characters. We have to overcome our natural, our natural fear of those awful faces out there.

89. 48:30

    Don’t be afraid of them. I’ve come all the way back here. Brethren, lift your eyes onto the Kingdom. If they took your next moment will be with Christ. And so he continued to exhort them. And they knew that he was terrified. They knew he was terrified in that place, but it didn’t stop him going there and it didn’t stop him encouraging him.

90. 48:52

    It didn’t stop him opening the word of God and being excited by that. You know what that’s saying, young people, the word of God has power to change us. It’s got power in to change our natural behaviour. Never ever let it be simple. We can’t do this or that that. It’s not in our makeup wasn’t in his either.

91. 49:14

    And the apostle Paul marched him into that city and said. Timothy do this for me, and he did it. And the Apostle Paul is sitting on the edge. Of his seat. All the time pacing up and down in Corinth, wondering what to do, how things are going. Were there any brethren left in any of those centres?

92. 49:36

    How was Silas? Managing And what about Timothy? And every night and every morning, he was on his knees in. Prayer for their safety. Come back to Acts 18, Acts 18 and verse 5 and when Silas catch the. Spirit of this When Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was urged on in the Word, as Rotherham says, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.

93. 50:10

    He’d been waiting anxiously, and when they arrived invite his spirits because he saw them again, His beloved companions who had faithfully carried out his will, and they brought with with them a message of joy and hope that the desert had tenaciously hung on and held the faith and they. Weren’t weren’t being pushed around by those wretched Jews and being afraid by them. And it inspired him to greater efforts. But they were in Corinth for 18 months and moved across to Ephesus, across the sea.

94. 50:51

    And then Paul went to Jerusalem. We don’t know whether Timothy actually went to Jerusalem. Paul had a vow. And he went back to the feast. We don’t know whether Timothy was left in Ephesus or not. Paul left Aquila and Priscilla, who he took with him there in Ephesus and. We do find Timothy appearing again in Ephesus.

95. 51:13

    On the 3rd journey, whether he went with Paul all the way and back through to Ephesus, we don’t know, but that’s where he ended up with him in Ephesus again. Because Ephesus in the third journey of the Apostle was the centre of a tremendous campaign throughout all Asia, a tremendously a successful campaign that saw the truth going all directions. So much so that.

96. 51:41

    Even the opposition could say that. All. They in Asia have heard the truth, and there for 2 1/2 years or three years, the Apostle, alongside many faithful brethren, laboured to extend the Word and the Apostle. Wrote to the. Corinthians and he said about this time. He said a. Great door and effectual has been opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.

97. 52:11

    You know, if we just. Read Acts. We get the impression that it was a time of great expansion and great happiness amongst the Eccleses, but when you read the Epistles you find that it was an absolutely. Terrible. Time for the apostle, poor a draining time for him, because he said on another occasion concerning that same. Period.

98. 52:34

    All we fought with beasts. At Ephesus he said, and this was written under the pen of not only Paul but Timothy as well. And these words come from the RSV of Second of Corinthians chapter 1. Don’t turn to it now. Second of Corinthians chapter one, verse 8 and 9. The apostle said this about his time in Ephesus.

99. 52:58

    He said we were so utterly and unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Why? He says we felt that we’d received the sentence of death in us, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God, who raises the dead. And the we there included the young lad Timothy. They were so utterly and unbearably crossed that they at times.

100. 53:35

     Despaired of the life itself, great apostle, with this indomitable spirit was almost crushed to death. By the opposition that they experienced there in Ephesus. Ah, and there’s the young lad. Locked with this apostle in the yoke of his youth. And then, across the sea, Paul heard of all the problems that were arising in the new ecclesias. That he’d established on the Grecian Peninsula. There was a Corinth party factions the the Ecclesia. Was putting itself a glass fighting in the midst. What a crazy thing to do for a new. Ecclesia there were.

101. 54:17

     What did he? Give you all against the police. There were brethren taking others to court. There was idolatry in the midst of the ecclesia. Can you believe it? There were problems with the Spirit gifts. There were problems with the status of women. There were problems of all. Kinds in moral areas. And you know what?

102. 54:34

     The Apostle Paul said they need a visit, and you know who he picked? I’ll tell you who he had with him. He had Aquila and Priscilla. He had. Titus he had. Digitus. He had Erasmus, he had Trephemus, he had Apollus. An eloquent odor and you know. Who he sent come to 1st of Corinthians chapter 16.

103. 55:00

     What an amazing thing this is that he sent Timothy, and look at what he said to the Corinthians when he was sending him. First of Corinthians 16 verse 10. He says Now, if Timothy has come, see that she may be with him without fear, don’t you make him frightened, for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do. And let no man therefore despise him, but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come back to me, for I look for him with the brethren.

104. 55:36

     What an amazing thing, the testimony to the to the natural timidity and and lack of forthright boldness of this young man. He wasn’t a man to put himself in front of the ecclesia. He wasn’t a man to go around lauding it over other people. It wasn’t his nature, young people and brethren and sisters, but the apostle Paul picked him.

105. 55:59

     Why send Timothy? Well, the apostle tells us, come back a few pages to chapter 4 from first of the Corinthians chapter 4. And at verse 14 he says, I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons, notice that phrase my beloved sons read carefully as my beloved sons, I warn you, for though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore, wherefore I?

106. 56:39

     Beseech you be. Followers of me and so has our father. He appealed to them as His beloved sons to follow him as the Father, because He generated their life in Christ when he was there amongst them. But the next verse goes on to say, for this cause, for this, ’cause I am sending as the RSV margin says, I am sending unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son.

107. 57:10

     Notice the link back to verse 14. And faithful in the Lord, as some of you are not, who shall bring you in into remembrance of my ways, which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every ecclesia. What an amazing thing that was, you know, because he couldn’t go himself. Brethren and sisters, he picked Timothy, who was his beloved son, to go to his other beloved sons for the very ’cause. That he himself could not.

108. 57:40

     Go. And he knew that that. Son would so faithfully represent him. That it was as if he was there himself. But it’s, there’s more in it than that. You see what he says in verse 17. Who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways. He wasn’t just going to remind the Corinthians of all the things that Paul had taught. Of all the doctrines, of all the moral issues, he said this man when he comes.

109. 58:16

     We’ll put you in remembrance or we’ll remind you of my ways. The problem generally wasn’t in Corinth, wasn’t that they didn’t have a knowledge of the fundamentals of the truth. The problem was the practice of it. And now the. Apostle Paul sought out of all his companions to send not one with boldness of speech.

110. 58:44

     But to send a living demonstration of how to live the truth, unassuming, unfeigned, sincere, unhypocritical and devoid of all self-interest. You know, brothers and sisters and young people, that it is concern for self that’s at the root of most of our own personal problems and ecclesial problems. You think about that, it’s. Concern for self.

111. 59:20

     That’s that the root very often of very many family problems and of very many. Problems that occur in the equator of God not all. But that’s at the very root. And the apostles sent into their midst a young lad who was yoked with him, who had learned what it meant to give up his own life in service to others. Timothy had been so changed by the truth that he could now be a witness of how to live it.

112. 59:54

     And he’s only 21 years old. The apostle Paul knew very well that if he sent an Apollo into their midst, and and with mighty. Oratory He’d got up on the platform and told them what they had to do and outlined. This Scripture and that Scripture put it all together that it wouldn’t have made any difference in Corinth.

113. 1:00:16

     It would have gone straight over the heads. But they’re putting the young man Timothy, who would behave and react exactly as the the apostle Paul himself would have in those circumstances. There was power indeed, because they could see the power of the Word of God to change lives, to fix behaviour, to mould it to Christ.

114. 1:00:46

     What a marvellous man of insight the apostle was, but what a tremendous testimony that was to the character of this young 21 year old. You know the might the the yoke of Christ was mightily at work in Corinth there on that occasion. You know what we need brethren and sisters and young people. Is a spirit like that a spirit young people that can learn in Co operation yoked together with older experienced brethren? Who know what it means to have to have borne the heathen burden of the day, who have their lives down to a fine art who are not. Seeking self anymore, as the apostle himself was not seeking himself anymore.

115. 1:01:38

     But Timothy very quickly learnt, and he’s only 21. He learnt the meaning of living the truth. Oh yes, he had his head in the Bible, young lads, he had his head in the Bible. He didn’t spend his Saturdays surfing or playing sport. His life was devoid of self and now devoted to others. That’s real leadership, real leadership and in an age that’s devoted to self worship because there’s nothing else that this generation around us all about is doing but worshipping the God of self and the God of Mammon.

116. 1:02:24

     In an age where they’re worshipping their own lusts and their own desires and doing everything for themselves. What we desperately need is the spirit of this young man who, when the apostle said the brethren, needs something over here, in timidity he went to. Endeavour to encourage and his very example of selflessness in their midst fixed many of their problems. That’s bearing the yoke and it could be born in youth. Young people and the ecclesia’s need desperately need young people bearing that yoke in youth. Come over to Timothy, First of Timothy chapter 4. 1st of Timothy, chapter 4.

117. 1:03:27

     The Epistles to Timothy. Were written very late in Paul’s life. And we find his advice, the apostles advice to him in verse 12 of chapter 4. He said, let no man despise thy youth, Timothy, but be thou an example. And he was a tremendous example, a leader in many ways, though he never, ever put himself forward and never felt confident to take a lead.

118. 1:03:58

     In many respects, he was one of the greatest leaders in Apostolic times. But be thou an example, he says, to the believers in Word, in way of life, in love, in faith, in purity. And he’s talking to a young man be an example, young people and till I come, he says give attendance to reading through exhortation to doctrine.

119. 1:04:26

     Verse 15 meditates upon these things. Give thyself wholly to them. It’s. Something that few people do. In this age, give themselves wholly to them. Be habitually in them is what it really means, that thy profiting, profiting may appear unto all. And take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine, continuing them. For in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear them. You know, devotion to spiritual things, young people will make progress or profiting apparent to all. It’s very apparent.

120. 1:05:07

     You know, I could name. I could name. I’m not going to. And there are many other older brethren and sisters in this hall who could name the young sisters and the young brethren who are serious about the truth. Within our young. People’s Group, It shows young people. It’s seen in Ecleses.

121. 1:05:30

     Take note. Give thyself wholly to them, said the apostle. He’s only encouraging that this. This mighty young man to continue doing what he’d always done, that the property might continue to grow and continue to appear. But he says in verse 16, take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. There’s two things there. You empty yourself, Timothy, as you have done, and take. Hand to the doctrine, to the attention to the service of God and the service of physicalism, to the service of one another. Take heed to that.

122. 1:06:03

     And in so doing, he says, you’ll save yourself. And those that hear you and see you, you know that’s the essence of the atonement. Brothers and sisters. And young people, it’s the essence of the truth. If we can only take 10 here to our own selves and to get rid of self and fill ourselves with the doctrine, the doctrine of God that’s out to manifest his character in US, that will be.

123. 1:06:31

     Outgoing to others. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. God didn’t sit in heaven and say, now fix yourself. It’s not the spirit of our God. And that doctrine working in him, would outwork a spirit of service, selfless service. Oh, sometimes young people, we ask the wrong questions about life.

124. 1:06:57

     We say why? Can’t we do this? Why can’t we go there? Why shouldn’t we do this? Instead of asking. What should I do to give more glory to God, and will this or that activity or this action develop the Spirit of Christ in me? Will this help my brethren and my fellow young people to get to the Kingdom? That’s the spirit of this man, it’s the spirit of the apostle, and it’s the spirit of his true yoke fellow that was bound together with him.

125. 1:07:34

     Come back to Philippians chapter 2. Because when the apostle got into Rome in prison during his first imprisonment, Timothy came to see him. He’d been separated from him probably for some time. He’d been for two years in Caesarea in a prison, and now he was two years in Rome. And at about the age of 27 or 28, Timothy seeks Paul out. And the apostle speaks in a letter that he wrote for the Philippians.

126. 1:08:11

     And he says in verse 2, verse three, Sorry, let nothing be done through strife and Vainglory, but in loneliness of mind. Let each esteem other better than themselves. And look not every man on his own things, but every man on the things of others. And let this mind, the very epitome of those characteristics be in you which was in Christ Jesus.

127. 1:08:35

     Because verse 7 He made himself of no reputation, and he took upon himself the form of a servant, and humbled himself in verse 8 and became. Obedient unto death. That was the Spirit of Christ and he says. This mind be in you. That’s essentially the essence of a yoke, is it? Remember the spirit that we were talking about last Saturday night?

128. 1:08:56

     That’s essentially the point of the yoke of Christ of. Lowliness of mind. Of humility that God might raise us up and use us. Usefully to bring forth the fruit to the glory of His name. And then the apostle gives 2 living examples, many of these in Philip. I had never, ever seen Christ. They’d only heard about him, but he gives. Them two examples.

129. 1:09:21

     That they knew one from their own ecclesia and one who was there when the ecclesia started and had been back many times before. And it’s not other than Timothy, he says in verse 19. But I trust he says in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly to you. That I may be of good. That I may also be of good comfort when I know of your state, for I have no man like minded who will naturally care for your state.

130. 1:09:47

     For all seek their own, and not the things that are Jesus. Christ’s see the powerful. Link with what he’s just been saying about the mind of Christ not seeking his own things. And here he holds up Timothy at the age of 27, a man they knew amongst them whom had seen on many occasions and he says I have no man like minded. The Greek is isosukos 1 sold.

131. 1:10:17

     There was no other man that he felt so much at one week as if it was the same person as this man who he says will genuinely care or anxiously care for your welfare. What an amazing thing Timothy had so. Carefully followed the apostle, that the apostle. Himself now. Could completely. Identify with this young man as if he was the same person, and if he sent him he could have complete confidence that he wouldn’t. Sit his own if he wasn’t a man.

132. 1:10:49

     That was out. For everything that he could get, or for any glory in. Himself. That had all been worn off by the yoke of Christ that had come upon his neck at the age of 16 or 17, and now he’s quite content 1. Soul. In that yoke to go forward with. With Paul and with Christ.

133. 1:11:10

     And it didn’t matter where’s Paul sent him around the Roman world. He could have. Complete confidence in his, in Him, and you know what he said in verse 22, He said, But ye know the proof of him, that as a son with a father, he hath served with me in the Gospel. You know. Philippians.

134. 1:11:32

     You know, experience that what I’m saying is true. This man does not sink himself and he has a genuine concern for all the brethren, not only in all around the world because the gospel of God has lodged in their hearts and that is all he’s concerned about and he loves them because of that and he won’t seek his seek his own. Oh.

135. 1:11:59

     He is a man who’d borne the yoke. That’s the essence of the yoke. Who’d lost his identity and service to Christ and. It was visible. Evident to all. What a marvellous. Picture, that is, of ecclesial life. Young and old yoked together, labouring in the service of the truth in the. Service of the.

136. 1:12:19

     Brethren, young people, get alongside some of the precious older brethren and sisters in your ecclesia and yoke yourself to them. It’s a spirit we need to cultivate this self thinking, godless age. And there’s nothing of that. And we are so easily distracted by it. We go to work or school or wherever and we come back thinking like that, wanting things ourselves, making ourselves the centre of attention, but not this. We’ve got to pull our eclizes together and between the Cleeses young people and brethren and sisters, young and old, all together, we’re the deep and caring concern that was seen in this 27 year old.

137. 1:13:04

     We’ve got to learn to encourage. It’s easy to pull down. It’s easy to criticize. There’s plenty to criticize. But it’s so difficult to build, so difficult to encourage. And we all desperately need each other, don’t we? We all desperately in this age, need each other. We’re not going to get into the Kingdom as individuals who stand on our garden and fail on our own path in the Kingdom.

138. 1:13:32

     We’re going to get there together because we’ve served the brethren, because we’ve lost our own identity. We need to foster a feeling of of fellowship amongst us. What a wonderful opportunity we have in this city that we ought. Never to throw away. Never to throw away. That’s the words of the. Apostle over the page in chapter 3 and verse 17, he said, Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them, which so. Walk as ye.

139. 1:14:00

     As ye have us as an example. Oh, what a spirit. Mark them out, he said. In your ecclesia, who’ve got the same spirit as me, who are walking the same path as Timothy and as I have? The same spirit as of our Lord, who came not to be ministered unto, but to give his life a ransom for many. Do we think it’s one thing to the Master and another for your servants?

140. 1:14:34

     No, mark them out. There are truly great examples in our midst. Truly great brethren and sisters whose stature is enormous in our midst, and they don’t have to be on a platform, and many of them are not. Because they’ve got their eyes fixed on the interests and needs of others, and their lives are totally bound in the work of Christ devoted to the ministering of the.

141. 1:15:00

     Saints for whom the truth is more than words on a page, but living power because it’s changed their natural. Characteristics into something that God can use. He says and it’s all worthwhile. Mark those men out and women out in your ecclesia, he said and follow them verse verse 20 for our conversation for our citizenship is in heaven for once. Also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodies that.

142. 1:15:29

     May be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working where money is. Able even to do subdue all things unto himself. We’re not playing around with my insignificant things. If only we can bear that yoke for a little time. What an enormous vision we had before us. As he went on to say to them, isn’t it all wet? Sisters and young people, who of you or I deserve any of that? They have these vile bodies, which is what they are, bodies of humiliation that pull us down every day. Who of us deserves the honour of having that transformed into a spirit body forever?

143. 1:16:11

     Who? Yeah. That’s what God has held out. The love of God has been shed into a shed abroad into. Our hearts as a powerful motivating force in our lives with faith that can make that real faith unfeigned. Who will separate us, said the apostle. From that will the pressures of this large young people. I say no, they will not.

144. 1:16:36

     Will this stress or persecution will the difficulties of an age? Where do they stand in relation to all of that? If God be for us, said Paul in Romans 8, if God be for us, who can be against us in all things? We are more than conquerors. Through him that loved us and gave his life, we’re bound together. There’s not a distinction between young and old, between male and female.

145. 1:17:06

     We’re one we’ve got to see each other as heart of that beauty with one marvellous hope. And by God’s grace all changed one day. Oh, we desperately need each other. Brothers and sisters and young people. To encourage and to inspire by example and word, by little things and big.

146. 1:17:31

     And to take the spirit of this marvellous young man, the caption of whose life would have to be selfless service of his brethren, motivated by an unfeigned faith and the love of God, if only we could all. Cherish. That same spirit there would be none lost. None. Let us stir our hearts. Therefore, and enliven our faith and widen our vision.

147. 1:18:10

     To incorporate all the household of God encourage each other young and old and everything you have opportunity and rejoicing the joy of the truth. What that has put into our hands and in the fellowship of the Saints. It’s a great thing that we’ve that we have. And patiently bear the yoke of Christ, young and old, together, the yoke of selfless service. That will bring.

148. 1:18:37

     Fruit to the glory of God, What do? We say that we should make the Word of God our daily delight as the young man Timothy, but unplain faith without hypocrisy, change our natural characteristics, and have a powerful influence on others. That our devoted attention to the Word of God and the service of others, especially in youth. We’ll save ourselves and others, always be an example to the believers, and learn to look outside of our own interests and minister to the needs and the concerns of others and young people.

149. 1:19:38

     Youth is the best time, the best time to bear the yoke of self denial and service. Take up the challenge and I’d like to leave you with a prayer of the apostle when he said, now the God of patience and consolation grant you all that. You be like minded one toward another, after the example of Christ Jesus, that she may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.