“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.”
1 Timothy 1:1-2 ESV
Paul loves his “son” in the faith, Timothy with a love that informs us as to what Christian fellowship truly is. The love is familial. It’s deep and authentic. To be separated from one so loved – especially in an age where you couldn’t FaceTime whenever you wanted – was painful indeed. In this case, Timothy is in Ephesus. He’d been sent there by Paul to deal with the troubles of that particular church. False doctrines were tearing it apart and the work of a man of God was to go and put out those fires of heresy with the truth of the Word. Every Christian who believes and knows God’s life-giving Word is a Patton and a Washington. We rightly hang portraits of such great warriors on our walls. I have Washington at Valley Forge and Andrew Jackson in military dress above me as I write this, in fact.
Nevertheless, the victories such men gain ultimately pass. They’re never complete and even the best of them are temporary victories only – wars to defeat the evils of sin and yet sin itself is only defeated by Christ. This is why Timothy, Paul’s beloved son in the faith, is, like his father, the great warrior in that any man who speaks the Word is going to do battle. The Enemy is active and he hates the truth. Thus, the man or woman of God is always in a fight. With sin…and yet sin is defeated through faith in Christ and logical-faithful wielding of His word/law.
Our Lord warned us. In His high priestly prayer in John’s gospel He spoke openly of the struggles that awaited His disciples. Yes, believers will have their Valley Forges or shiver and shake in the cold drama of Ardennes. We certainly will. “…A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me (John 15:20-21).”
This is the context in which we should read and understand Paul’s opening to his beloved son, Timothy. They’re separated due to the struggles caused by the forces of darkness against the light. They’re separated like Washington was from Lafayette. The great general sent the young Frenchman, whom he had grown to love, into the fray. There was worry because there was true love. But there’s steel there too and that solid and unshakeable foundation is there because of the “hope” we have in our undefeated champion, Jesus Christ.
Paul’s letter to Timothy are an extrapolation, a corollary if you will, of Jesus’ prayer in the upper room, before His arrest and crucifixion.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you…These things I command you, so that you will love one another (John 15:12,17).”
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you (John 15:18-19).
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world (John 16:33)
The love that Paul and Timothy have has its basis in the truth of Jesus Christ. Their love isn’t mere need. It isn’t the love of the world – of the mutual using of people for gains in career or for escape from aloneness. It’s genuine, and genuine love is founded only on Christ because in Him alone there’s hope. Why hope? Because there’s deliverance from sin. In Him there’s release from the threefold nature of sin – its presence, its penalty, and its power. Genuine love is, therefore, that which is consistent with John 15:12-17 and anything contrary to it is, even at its best, betrayed and ultimately destroyed by sin. See the ruins of divorce and shattered families everywhere? See the horrific fallout of shattered hearts and dreams due to the lie of sexual freedom? Man simply cannot find true love outside of Christ.
The tribulation he sends Timothy to fight (with the truth of the gospel) in Ephesus, as we’ll see in the coming verses, is due to the Enemy infiltrating the church. We note that Christian men and women must not fall prey to the vacuous theology of doctrinal pacifism. An attempt to be neutral in Satan’s war against the Bible makes one a Benedict Arnold, not a George Washington. The false teachers then and now have cagey arguments that appeal to our emotions. The thing to note is that they all hate the stumbling stone doctrine of salvation through faith alone, by grace alone.
So, how do we overcome? How do we stand on that bridge, in the gap, between our Enemy, his hordes, his vicious minions, and our children, our friends and our church? How do we fight? We stand on the solas! We stand with Christ alone. Saved by faith alone and through grace alone. And we know truth through Scripture alone for it only is our final standard of appeal, through which all other truth is evaluated. And we seek God’s glory alone. This is the way and all those who stand with us are our brothers and sisters in the family of God. The King has come. His victory is sure because the tomb is empty and He ascended into heaven. But for now we have these tribulations…our personal battles with sin…our sanctification…our growth in personal holiness as we seek deeper and deeper fellowship with Him. Personally.
Yes! With Him.
It’s this love…His love for us and His covering of all our sins that breaks our heart anew everyday and teaches us the great truths of life.
God isn’t angry at you anymore, Christian.
You have peace; you have more than that in Christ, you know. You have love. True love. All the sin is gone and with it all the fear because you stand before the Father in the unblemished robes of His righteousness, shining in perfection, no matter how many times you’ve fallen in the mud of life. No matter how dirty you are, you’re washed, you’re clean, you’re sanctified. The war is over and God is not angry with you, Christian. No matter what you have done nor how many times you’ve failed, you are His through faith alone, not by works. Let all of that shame and guilt go forever and look upon Him…who…died…for….you.
“And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 6:11)
So, this is the only path to true and lasting love. Unless we’re in right standing with God through faith, our sins and guilt will chew threw every relationship we have. Jealously and alienation will reign rather than true intimacy and friendship. A man of sin is always hiding from himself and from others. He’s always holding something back. The thing he truly needs and wants – acceptance and love – is now lost. It’s forgiveness in Christ that breaks those self-imposed shackles. And it’s this very thing that brings true peace to our hearts and homes. It’s this simple.
So, rest in Christ, Christian. Bathe in all that grace that’s yours and let go of your past, your hurts, your failures and all that dreadful shame and disgrace. There’s no reason to hide anymore – not from God, not from yourself, and, no, not from others.
You are free.
You are loved.
You are forgiven.
Stop hiding. Start living. Stop worrying. Stand now, Christian. Stand on the sure foundation of Christ and get ready. He isn’t done with you. He didn’t do all this and then leave it at that. You’re now a part of the King’s army…His church.
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