Welcome to Ephesus ( 1 Tim 1:1-11)

We know the church from Ephesus from the book of Ephesians, that Paul wrote to the church based in that city. This church received a letter from Paul, who planted them, was affiliated with Timothy and later, John (who wrote 1-3 John while at Ephesus). Few churches can say they have received this kind of apostolic attention

We would therefore think that this church is solid, established and prized. But by the time we reach Revelation 1-2, Ephesus is not mentioned. What happened and what went wrong? Did the problems in the church overwhelm it? What do we do, knowing that churches grow and then seem to fall into disrepair? What does this mean for us as we think about how we ought to grow in Christ and be established, to be rooted in Christ.

This is the first of a series in the book of 1 Timothy, a letter that is a wonderful resource for young people, seeking to be established in the faith.

What would you say to a young person to encourage them to be rooted and established in the faith? Paul writes 3 things — there are things to remember, there is doctrine you need to know and there’s godliness you need to pursue.

(A) Welcome to the work of remembering (1 Tim 1:1-2)

As we begin this letter, we see how Paul introduces himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God (1 Tim 1:1a). He is therefore not an apostle of his own making and neither was he chosen by vote. He was not an apostle because he was the most qualified. Who can make one an apostle? Only Christ.

Paul is establishing his apostleship as one that is divine. The first apostles were picked by Jesus, all 12 of them. Paul was one untimely born after. Paul never forgot his encounter with Jesus. He recognised that his ability to serve and bear witness to Christ is entirely God’s gracious choice. This is different from what we are used to today, when all the authority and credentials are derivative by human institutions.

This is a letter to Timothy, who is addressed as Paul’s “true child in the faith” (1 Tim 1:2a). Paul thought of himself as a father to Timothy. In his mind, Timothy is a young child in the faith that he has to care for and take under his wing.

Would anyone call you their true child in the faith? What would it take for someone to call you their true child in the faith? That relationship would have to be regular, reasonably familiar and intimate. This person needs to see you through different spiritual seasons, including ups and downs, and one who talks to you through the faith, models how to live the Christian life and is constant in your life. Paul and Timothy are two real followers in space and time and they model for us the kind of relationship we ought to have with other Christians in the church. 

Is there someone like this in your life or have you cut off all relationships so that it’s impossible for someone to father you? What’s your relationship with other believers like? It is superficial? Do you only go to the leaders in the highs and not the lows? Have you closed off all spiritual teaching such that you only learn from podcast preachers? These cannot call you “my true child in the faith” because they do not know you.

How does Paul address the God He serves? He calls God “our Saviour” (1 Tim 1:2b). What would you call God? We get into habits and patterns of how we address God and what we think of Him. Those phrases reflect what we think of God and ourselves. What we say reveal what we think about God.

 Thus, what does Paul think about God? He knows that God is our Saviour, a Saviour to both Paul and Timothy.

 He also describes Jesus as “our hope” (1 Tim:2c).

Paul goes on to greet Timothy. He says “grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord” (1 Tim 1:2d). This is slightly different from the usual Pauline greeting. What is the message he is trying to bring? Paul is stamping his letters with Christian context. Therefore, we should take everyone of Paul’s letters that begin this way and see that Paul is writing clearly about the gospel. Before he goes into the content of the letter, he seeks to remind them that they are Christ, and they are to remind each other of what matters the most.

Do we see this in our relationships with one another? Before we talk about anything else, let us first remember that we are Christians. Because we are Christians, let us remember that we have grace, mercy and peace from God. This is perhaps the best thing that we can say to each other and to remind each other that we have all these in Jesus.

This Sunday, as you head to your churches, even if you don’t like the people, may you be able to greet them with a gospel greeting. Recognise who they are in Christ. But first, you have to recognise who you are in Christ.

The work of remembering is hard work. We need to remind ourselves of the gospel every day. We need to remind ourselves that we are not a worker/loser/failure/our social media identity. We belong to Jesus Christ because we have trusted in Him and have been covered in His blood. Will you say this to yourself tomorrow as you wake up and start your day?

(B)  Welcome to the work of doctrine (1 Tim 1:3-7)

Paul shared his travel plans with Timothy — he was heading to Macedonia — and gave Timothy a task. He told Timothy to remain in Ephesus (1 Tim 1:3). Paul wanted him to have a sustained ministry in Ephesus.

He also gave specific tasks to Timothy. He was to charge people, indicating that he was to command or instruct the people in the church. Now, we may not use such a word today. Thus, this action is not casual or incidental. It is a serious, urgent and vital need. This is why he must be charging them to do something.

Timothy was to charge them not to teach a different doctrine (1 Tim 1:3b) and to stop devoting themselves to myths and endless genealogies (1 Tim 1:4). There are some things in the church that needs to be killed by way of teaching AND there are also people that need to restrain themselves from consuming false teachings. Thus, there are responsibilities to those who are teaching AND also to the listeners. What are you listening to?

Timothy was urged to do that when Paul was there and now, Paul is encouraging him to stay on to do it. (c.f. 1 Tim 4:11-13) Timothy, as a young man, may not like to rock the boat, Paul is doubling down on his instructions to teach and manage the church well.

Why? There are 2 different outcomes. This promotes speculations rather than the stewardship of God that is by faith (1 Tim 1:4b). They could be spending time on myths and endless genealogies — maybe trying to trace their history etc. Instead, the stewardship from God that is by faith (revelation given by God) is certain, true, can always be confirmed and objective because it was given by God.

Paul is speaking about the faith that Christians are to have, but real faith is not a blind trust in what we wish were true but turns out not to be. Rather, it is the confidence that what God has said, He will do. Our faith is certain, as it is in what God has promised and said.

What do you trust in and what do you prize? There are many practical applications for us. What do you come out remembering and talking about after the sermon on Sunday? Do you only remember the controversial bit or the illustration? Or the plain, straightforward, even boring, meaning of the text? When you talk about it, are you a steward or do you spend your time on speculation? We are drawn in our flesh to the speculative and exciting. But could it be that you should spend your young adulthood in doctrine that is the stewardship of God.

Paul also told Timothy to confront a problem in 1 Timothy 1:6-7. Timothy needs to deal with the false teachers of the law and to bring the church back to love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 1 Timothy  1:5 tells us what sound doctrine brings us back to!  It results in “love that issues from a pure heart”, a heart that has responded to the gospel, has peace with God and is able to love Him. It also results in  “a good conscience” — cleansed and confident that we are washed clean — and a “sincere faith” — a faith that is genuinely from the heart, not concerned with just the form, but also with the essence.

In contrast, we can infer that false teachers are not interested in conscience, faith or heart. Instead, they have wandered away into vain discussion and they desire to be teachers of the law. It is also worth speaking to those that teach in the church. If you are teaching or have any opportunity to do so, beware that you are not seeking the wrong things.

Paul reminds us that doctrine must be grounded in what God has revealed about who God is, what He has done, how we are to live and what is coming. These are the broad sections.

What does false doctrine in your vicinity look like? Would you know if someone was teaching you lies? Young people, work out your doctrine and figure it out in person. Do not embark on a personal YouTube study and end up developing an affinity and attachment to someone you do not know. Go to a local church, submit to the authority of elders there and come under their leadership. Ask them the hard questions and allow them to mould your theology.

(C) Welcome to the work of godliness (1 Tim 1:8-11)

The verses in 1 Timothy 1:8-11 reveal the heart of Paul’s correction. We can also infer the problems and false teachings that they were being confronted with. False teachers were likely that they were teaching that the law is bad, thus Paul sought to correct this and wanted Timothy to teach that the law is good (1 Tim 1:8). The law refers to the moral, ceremonial and civic law written down by Moses.

Paul wants the law to be used positively for godliness.  The law is to be used lawfully, and is laid down for the unjust, not the just. For the just, the law doesn’t add anything to them and doesn’t make them just.

Paul also gives a list of the kinds of people that need the law (1 Tim 1:9-10). We are taught that the law is given so that we may know God’s righteous standard. It cannot make us righteous and neither can it change hearts, but it can only show us that we are not righteous. As Romans 3:19-20 tells us, without the law, we would not know what sin is. The law gives us that clarity. It is the yardstick by which we measure our shortcomings. It is the way that we know that we need a Saviour. We are to use the law in our repentance and confession of sin! It helps us to see what Jesus did. Don’t try to do the law, but use it to see how Jesus is and why we need Him because of the law.

The law, used positively, requires us to hold up God’s righteous standard in our pursuit of godliness.It helps us to flee sin, pursue Christ and know Him.

Today, if you identify with this list, the law calls you to repent right now. If you have not taken your sins, brought them to Jesus and left them behind, do it now. Make no friends with these sins. Bring them to Jesus and leave them there. Only then will you be saved. When we do so, we find in Jesus all the righteousness we require.

Young person, live a life of repentance and faith. Cling to Christ daily, and trust in Him to make you clean, fully aware that you have no ability to make yourself clean. If this your desire, work on it in your young adulthood. How do you remember the gospel –- what reminders and helps can you look for every day?