2 Timothy 1

You and I who have faith in God's solution to our deepest needs have been given the promise of life, and that life is safe for us in Christ Jesus who is ruling over His kingdom from on high. In that kingdom we have an opportunity even now to learn and to grow, and perhaps even to teach others, It is through the relationship of a Paul to a Timothy, and then of a Timothy to many others, that our knowledge of the Lord's sure promises are received and believed, all of this happening by the grace, mercy, and peace that comes to us from God.

If we have a life of faith, it should be clear that the God who has granted us this faith (Ephesians 2:8) used other people to bring us the news of Christ, directing us in the Word, and helping us to grow in our trust of the Lord. In the case of Paul's disciple Timothy, now serving as a pastoral leader in Ephesus, it was his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice that God used in a formative way in his early years. Timothy is not alone in having this kind of testimony. For so many of the Lord's servants, their earliest motions of belief came at the encouragement of close family members.

This kind of heritage of true spiritual life is such a blessed gift of God. As Paul considers Timothy's story of faith passed lovingly from generation to generation, he is moved to thank the Lord. What is especially noteworthy in the case of Timothy is that these generations mentioned by Paul span the divide between the Old and New Covenants. The faith of our Jewish ancestors in the promises of God secured for His people through the work of a Messiah yet to be revealed was precisely the same as the faith of those who now lived after the coming of Jesus Christ. The New Covenant believer may know more of the details of the Lord's good work because of the coming of Christ and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, but the nature of his faith is identical with that of our brothers and sisters who longed for the coming of a Redeemer and trusted that the Lord would provide. We look to be united with the entire family of faith in the presence of God, so that we might be filled with joy in His presence forever.

Not only was Timothy taught by his mother and grandmother, Paul played a crucial role in his spiritual life. He writes here about a gift that the Lord has bestowed upon this younger man through the laying on of his hands. This gift seems to be associated with Timothy's role as a servant of the Lord's Word and a pastor of His flock. Paul instructs him to fan into flame this gift of God. If it started as a small spark, it does not need to stay that way. As the gift is used, and as the blessing of God is sought, we should expect that the work of God in this man's life will grow. God does not give His ministers this kind of gift so that they can cower in fear in some corner of the world. God is in the gift. Christ is expressing His glorious reign through His ambassadors. Christ is the man of power, love, and self-control. As the ministerial gift grows in the Lord's servants we expect to see it exercised in a way that bears some resemblance to the One who is at work within His servants.

It is Christ who keeps the true servant of the Lord persevering through a difficult calling. There were many throughout the 1st century Mediterranean world who had Saul of Tarsus (Paul) on their most wanted list, and not in a good way. To be on Christ's team was to be on Paul's team, and to be on Paul's team was to face suffering and shame. Timothy needed to face this struggle with the confidence that it was God in Christ who had saved him, God in Christ who had called him to be a disciple of Paul, and God in Christ who had landed him in this challenging ministerial position in the city of Ephesus. To suffer for Jesus Christ and the good news of His cross and resurrection has always been a privilege. We can trust Him with our ministerial life. He has His own eternal purpose and His own powerful grace. His determination to use Timothy or any of His ministers throughout the centuries is not a new decision, but part of His settled plan.

Our Savior Jesus has abolished death for us in His death, and has brought life and immortality to light, first through his own resurrection, and then through the preaching of these truths which are of first importance. To be entrusted with this message to pass on to fathers and mothers, that they might teach it to the next generation, this is such a blessed privilege and such a significant responsibility. Lest we be overwhelmed with the task, we need to do what our ancestors in the faith have done for thousands of years. We need to trust the God who we have come to know.

Until the day that the Lord returns or the day when we go to be with Him in heaven, we need to labor, not to come up with new and different spiritual answers, but to take the one solid answer of Jesus Christ as our only viable message. We have been entrusted with the best of all deposits in Jesus Christ. Though, like Paul, we may feel as if we are all alone in the faith we have embraced, we are never really alone. Christ is with us, and with him are many mothers and grandmothers, many ancestors from among the Jews and Gentiles who have heard His Word from faithful ministers and have believed the sound teaching that they received. Those who have been called to teach that good word to others, have been blessed with a good calling, and we who have believed their words have been blessed by our life-giving Savior.