Ah, Timothy!

Good morning as we move on into Acts chapter 16 verses 1 through 10 here we definitely turning a huge corner in Acts of the Apostles and Just to kind of review, you know, what have we seen and what's coming next here? well, we've seen that the law of Moses though it is holy and righteous and good that's a Apostle Paul, out of Romans 7, is not how God wants us in the church to live. Okay? We're not under law, but under grace.

And this had come out repeatedly in smaller statements early in the book of Acts, but it certainly came out very clearly as we went through Acts chapter 15, and we're going to see that truth some more. We've seen that in order to talk with unbelievers, we must bring them to a biblical worldview. This is what the Apostle Paul does in chapter 14 as he is on his first missionary journey. And he will do it again in chapter 17 in talking with the philosophers on Mars Hill.

Next, we've seen how the apostles and elders brought a godly harmony to what was intense conflict. We've seen that in a couple situations. One is dealing with the, are we under law or not? So that was one area of conflict. And then what we find in the next part, we've seen how the sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas ended up with a doubly good outcome. In the short term, there was an area of great and sharp conflict.

In the longer term, this disagreement actually resulted in greater spreading of the gospel and greater development of spiritual growth in the lives of different believers. So then, we're going to see how the sharp division between Paul and Barnabas will result in each of them bringing a younger man along in growth, training, and maturity for even more effectiveness, We're going to be seeing guidance for parents, church leaders, and for all believers as we proceed through the passage and the chapters ahead of us in the book of Acts.

So that's one thing I think to be looking at here. There's actually lots of guidance for people in a lot of different circumstances, including parents, including church leaders, and individual believers of all walks. And we're going to be taking a look at some of that at the very end of today's lesson. Okay.

So here we have Acts 16, 1 and 2, And he came also to Derbe and to Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman, who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. And he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. Sorry about the picture jumping over there. You do have on page one of your handout a kind of zoomed in map of the area where Paul and Barnabas had gone on their first missionary journey.

They went to the city in Antioch, Iconium, to Lystra, and to Derbe. And so as they went along here, Paul and Silas, and then Timothy joining them, As they went through these same cities, they, as the passage tells us, did a couple of things. One is they passed along the letter from the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem. Secondly, in addition to passing along the letter, they also strengthened the churches, as we'll soon see here. Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium were three cities in the southern part of Galatia. They were the larger cities.

There were certainly smaller cities and towns in the area. Paul and Barnabas had established churches there, and the way they did it is they first went in and established churches by evangelism, and then they made a return loop through, and they appointed elders in each of these young churches.

So Acts 13.51 and 14.21 record Paul's first missionary journey along with Barnabas and gives us the details in there. But that's the quick, simple outline. Lystra and Derbe, excuse me, Lystra and nearby Pisidian Antioch were established as Roman colonies. So one of the things that becomes clear as you go through the Book of Acts, having Roman colonies and being Roman citizens is something we find increasingly and continues to be very important and significant.

Though the population was mostly Gentile, a lot of Greek background, but also other local cultures and that sort of thing. Jews were present as a minority in these cities, some more than others. So you have these cities. We also have a supplement that gives more detail on these cities, if that's something you'd like to pursue. This is a series of cities that the Apostle Paul will go through on his third missionary journey as well. So he will go back again to this place.

Now, one of the things to tell you is Timothy was half Jewish, right? I thought it was fascinating not only to find this little kind of, you know, I'm not sure it was photoshopped, but somebody did an interesting and creative picture there. But it's interesting as you look at some of the different, for example, celebrities who are half-Jewish. And interesting how they handle it.

But he was born of a Jewish mother and a Greek father. Officially, one had to have a Jewish mother in order to be truly Jewish. not just have a Jewish mother or father, but in order to be truly considered Jewish, had to have a Jewish mother. And generally speaking, if that were true, then it was the father's tribe that described tribal identity. Timothy's mother and grandmother, also believers, taught Timothy out of the Old Testament.

1 Timothy 1.5 describes that.

Oh, by the way, I've got one question. Let's see if we can answer it. How old was Timothy when Paul first brought him along? Real tough. We're not sure. What it amounts to is he was probably, at the youngest end, about 16. He may have been that young. However, he may have been quite a bit older than that. Because later on, here in 1 Timothy, Paul's writing to him about, let no one despise your youth. And this was after some years had passed. So, now, how old is a youth? Well, they had a range of that. So, he'd be as young as about 16, or quite a bit older, maybe even closer to 25 or so. So, anyway.

Now, he was called a disciple, as we go through the Book of Acts, we'll see that the word disciple, or plural disciples, 30 times from chapter 6 to chapter 21, and this is very interesting, the word disciple or disciples occurs from chapter 6 and keeps occurring, including this very passage here, and then ends in the middle of chapter 21. just suddenly ends. No more. And we're going to see why when we get there. But you'll have to wait until we get there. Alright. There are some things, two things, for us to keep in mind along the way.

One, being a disciple as is used in the Gospels in most places, exception being John 13 and 15, as it is used in the Gospels doesn't have anything really to to say about what a disciple means in the book of Acts. So people will go and they'll look at the Gospels and they'll say, Jesus says, unless you do this and that and that and that, you can't be my disciple. If you don't do this and that and that and that, then you can't be my disciple. And they'll say, okay, that must be true of me. No. Not true. What Jesus was speaking of in the Gospels was with respect to Jewish disciples, under the Jewish system of rabbis and disciples. But Jesus told them in the week right before he was crucified, you will have no rabbis.

And it was customary for there to be a challenge. Not everybody could be a disciple in the Gospels. But everyone who believed from the moment they believed, Gentile, Jew, male or female, at whatever age, was called a disciple from chapter 6 to chapter 21. So, next point, being a disciple in the rest of the New Testament is all about learning and knowing Christ and depending upon Christ so as to bear fruit by dependence and not by our best efforts.

It is not God's intent that you try really hard to be a good Christian. It is not God's intent that you try to be a disciple. Not at all. It is independence upon Christ. that one proves to be a disciple, but not by our own trying to produce fruit. By the way, don't try this at home. People will try to produce fruit and they go, and they'll check. And see if there's their fruit. Oh, let's see. No, I didn't see. And I'll try harder. And they'll check again. And that's not what God has in mind.

Acts 16.3, Paul wanted this man to go with him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews that were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

So what's going on here? Here's Paul who was urging the Galatians just months before about the law. You're not under the law. He says, if you so much as get circumcised, You sign up for the whole thing. Is that what's happening here? Uh-oh. Okay, we got a question. Don't wait here. It wasn't because Paul was trying to help Timothy fulfill the law of Moses. By the way, what day were you supposed to get circumcised? The eighth day. This was a little late, right? This was a little late. He was not thinking that everyone ought to get circumcised.

Paul knew that in order for Timothy to have accepted testimony among the Jews, being a Jew with a Jewish mother, he would have to be adult circumcised. The very definition of Jewishness among the Jews is circumcised. A male Jew who is not circumcised was just flat out considered an apostate Jew. There would be no credibility or acceptability. Here's 1 Corinthians 9, and the passage here that we quote, I won't read all of it, is 9.19-23, and that was written early spring of 56 AD, which is in Paul's third missionary journey, so this is a little later, but he gives the indication.

In verse 20 he says, To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews to those who are under the law, as under the law, though not being myself under the law, so that I might win those who are under the law. He circumcised Timothy so that Timothy would not be considered an apostate Jew, but would in fact have credibility. That's why this took place. He was not suddenly thinking, oh, we've got to get Timothy under the law. It was simply a matter of saying, Timothy will not be respected by any of the Jews if he is looked upon as an apostate Jew.

So, we're going to find this passage is just the beginning of spiritual growth and training of Timothy. One of the things that's amazing, and it's on the schedule for us to look at a little later, one of the things that's rather amazing is to think about, here's Timothy, we find him for this first time mentioned in Acts 16, this passage. That's the first time we ever hear of him. But what's fascinating is we know more about Timothy than most of the other apostles in terms of what happened to them. If you find Timothy in Acts 16, did you find anything out about Matthew in the rest of Acts? In any part of Acts, other than just listing him now. And so one of the things is to go down the list of the apostles, other than Paul and Peter and John and the death of James, Timothy is the one that you find mentioned.

Timothy is either listed as a co-author or is listed inside most of Paul's letters. So here is a guy who is very significant, and he is mentioned as just getting out of prison in the book of Hebrews. So fascinating. So we're going to take a look at that later. Because of God's Word, we know more about what happened to Timothy than most of the apostles. That is fascinating.

This is also just the beginnings of showing us how God used Barnabas to disciple John, John Mark, and He used Paul to disciple Timothy. The sharp disagreement resulted in Barnabas taking John Mark off and bringing him along. The sharp disagreement also resulted in Paul, instead of having Timothy come along, excuse me, having John Mark come along by a compromise, selected Timothy and now had Timothy as a helper to bring along and now two young men were going to be growing in ways that God intended and he used the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas.

Here's Acts 16.4, and while they were passing through the cities they were delivering the decrees which had been decided upon by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem for them to observe so here they go back through Iconium and Derbe and Lystra and those cities so they delivered the decrees from the apostles so Paul had written the letter to the churches in Galatia in the fall of 49 so months earlier here now in this following spring of 50 AD Probably roughly six months, half a year later, Paul and Silas were bringing that letter, and we saw what that letter was, it's there quoted in Acts chapter 15, from the apostles and elders to these churches.

They were telling the believers in the churches that they were not under the law of Moses, nor the Gentiles to convert to Judaism. That's what getting circumcised for the Gentiles would mean. You're converting to Judaism. They said, nope, we're not following under that. We're not falling under that. And so this message was entirely consistent with the letter Paul had already written to the churches in Galatia.

So, Acts 16.5 says, So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, And we're increasing in number daily. Here's what's interesting. So the churches, which is a gathering of the brethren, and we're called disciples, the ones that Paul had established before alongside Barnabas there, on the first missionary journey, they were what? They were strengthened. They were strengthened.

That's related to a word just used previously with regards to the churches, Acts 15.41, where it talks about strengthening the churches. So this is a related word.

So making the churches stronger was a key aspect here. The ministry of Paul and Silas made the churches stronger, spiritually speaking. which included telling them that they were not under law. Now think about that. Why would it make the churches stronger to go around and tell them you're not under law? Hey, that makes the church stronger.

So let's think about that. A little bit of logic here. If telling the churches that you're not under law makes them stronger, if you tell the churches that they are under law, it makes them weaker. Isn't that something? It's really rather clear logic here. They were under grace, saved by grace alone. Saved by grace alone.

One of the other patterns we see in here is a pattern that continues and flows through the Book of Acts. We have on page 3 the number of different passages. We won't read them all, but what you see is a pattern of increasing in the number of souls saved, talking about more being added, talking about multitudes were added to their number, that kind of thing.

And so here we see a continuation of that pattern in Acts 16.5. So the churches are being strengthened in the faith and we're increasing in number daily. We see that continues in Acts 19, which is, by the way, in Paul's third missionary journey.

We're not there yet. One of the other things we see here is strengthen in what? The faith. Now, fortunately, we had a very good elective here just recently, and some of that theme is continuing, where we talk about what's the difference between the different definitions of faith. And we're not going to go into that and try to cover that all today, but this.

What we say as an analogy here is, faith in the facts is like the train in the track. So this is personal faith in the facts of scripture. Personal faith in the facts of scripture, the spiritual facts that God has revealed, is like the train in the tracks, and like the caboose, the feelings follow. And what you can't hear is the screeching sound that these words make as they come onto the scene. So, faith in the facts is like the train in the tracks, and like the caboose, the feelings follow.

One reason for bringing this along is much of our culture doesn't understand this, and then much of Christendom does not understand this. Much of Christendom does not comprehend this truth here. As a matter of fact, increasingly the tendency of the world's message, and increasingly the tendency of many Christians, is to follow the feelings. Faith in the feelings instead of faith in the facts. Do feelings matter? Yes, they do, but the sequence matters even more.

Next, the faith in the New Testament is a specific set of teachings of the apostles. There are a few instances where that's an exception, but these, and including this particular use of the term the faith, is the set of teachings of the Apostles, and that continues from several times here in the book of Acts, all the way into the book of Revelation. The faith is the set of teachings of the Apostles. And we have to look at each context to make sure that that's what it's saying. But as a generalization, that's what it's pointing to.

Acts 16, 6-8, and they pass through the Phrygian and Galatian region, had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the Word in Asia. And when they had come to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them. In passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas." Now, a few very interesting things to look at here. This is fascinating.

Can you imagine being forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the Word? That's unthinkable! Why would the Holy Spirit forbid speaking the word? That just is hard to imagine. So how can the Holy Spirit forbid Paul and Silas from speaking the word? That's just astounding. How can the Spirit of Jesus not permit them to do that?

There is an answer to this. It does not speak in these contexts about a general prohibition or forbidding to speak the word of God, but rather about the direction and location they were to head. See that? He didn't just say, you guys can't speak the word. Period. But what he said was not here. And we're going to have some further clarification very quickly here.

Paul would later go to Asia, the head of which is Ephesus, so that it was not a matter of total prohibition, but of timing. They were not to go right there then at that moment. In 1 Peter 1.1, Peter wrote to believers, God's elect strangers in the world scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, So these were not forbidden, were they? Here's Peter writing to churches there. Somehow or another, people went there. And Paul himself would spend a few years of time in Asia, right?

So we have that pretty clear. Okay. The story of the Trojan horse is told at length in Book 2 of the Aenid and is touched upon in the Odyssey. Why do I bring that up? Because Troy, where they sent the Trojan horse, the enemies of the city of Troy sent in this horse as a supposed gift. Well, inside it were a bunch of soldiers, right? And so that story, and the actual events behind it supposedly took place about 1200 BC, They were written down by Homer as a myth several centuries later, near the time of Isaiah. But this is where that name Troas comes from, so this is the place. Troy was near where the city of Troas was and that's the origin of the name.

So, Acts 16.9, "...And a vision appeared to Paul in the night, a certain man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us." So, this is where we have the positive part to give us some insight into the negative part. The Holy Spirit forbidding, the Spirit of Jesus not allowing them. So this vision was an apostolic era miraculous means for God to provide specific direction to the apostles and to the prophets when the church did not have the completed New Testament.

So in Acts 16.6-9 the Spirit was telling them not to go to Asia or Bithynia But to go instead, see that? Positive statement, to go instead to Macedonia, which would be to establish the churches in Europe, as we call it. The churches in Macedonia, beginning with Philippi, the one we have the account of, would be the beginning of the establishment of churches on the continent of Europe.

Here's Acts 16.10, and when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

So, one of the things we're going to see, in this verse we have the first instance of we and us, telling us that Dr. Luke included himself among those with Paul, taking the gospel to the European continent, and that is beginning with the city of Philippi. And so this fellow who plays Dr. Luke, you might recognize him. He's also in the Herbie movies. So anyway, that's the guy, Dean Jones. And so as we continue through, we'll see that.

God also made it clear where he wanted them to go next and where he didn't want them to go next. By both negative and positive messages. Don't go here. But he didn't just say don't go here, don't go here. He also said don't do go there. And he did that by vision. So that God's direction was very clear.

So one of the things we find in Ephesians, as they get farther on in the letter to the Ephesians, they're going to find, don't do this, but instead do that. So a negative statement and then a positive statement. We've looked at in recent weeks the big picture on God's will and this passage, even though it has some kind of miraculous revelations, it has some important things to tell us on that. The outside circle of this target, if you will, God's sovereign will is fixed and irreversible and includes your position and possessions in him. One of the things that's really great is that the Romans elective is going to start off with things that are about position and continue with that, especially in the middle. The Ephesians elective is much about that, and then we have the unfathomable riches, and that is also about our position and possessions in Christ. So this is the outside circle.

This is God's sovereign will for each believer. Now, so I don't say, well, God, let me know if I'm supposed to be in Christ. Why? Because as a believer, that is God's sovereign will. Next, God's moral will is revealed in scriptures intended to be lived by the life of Christ. So we have a scripture laying those things out, but it is not ordained that each believer will do or not do certain things. A believer, in fact, has choices.

And finally, God's individual will, and that's really the character of what was happening here with Paul and Silas and Timothy. God's individual will consists mostly of learning to make wise decisions with godly wisdom rather than worldly wisdom. Okay, now, so, principles of knowing God's will, and one of the things you'll see, this is 1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3, okay? And so one, though God will very likely not use the same methods and means with us as he did with Paul and his companions, In other words, having visions was the way the Lord spoke to them.

They knew that, and by the way we don't know how, that the Holy Spirit prevented them, prohibited them from heading off in certain directions. There are some valuable principles that we can draw from this passage, even though we don't live in an era where things are so miraculously revealed most of the time. Principle 1. The first principle in finding and knowing God's will is to walk in fellowship with Christ, abiding in Christ. And we might use some other similar and related terms, like walking in the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit, beholding Christ. So those things. Next, the will of God is not about, this is principle two, the will of God is not about looking first for the direction where to go, but to Him.

People can get real focus on, you know, picking the right direction, and so much so that they're not looking to the Lord. You know, it's kind of like the Wizard of Oz phenomenon, you know, follow the yellow brick road. We're not looking for the yellow brick road. That's not the point here.

Following God's will is not something separate from a focus, a personal focus on Him. God is not delegated to us to simply find His will. It is also, if you've ever been through like a treasure hunt, or here's a treasure map, or something like that, and there's clues. You know, have you ever been through that? That's not what it's about either. We're not playing a game of finding the yellow brick road or the golden path or such things as that.

Here is principle three. Oh, by the way, I forgot almost just about principle. What's a principle? Aside from that guy at the head office who's supposed to take care of things and discipline students, etc. So a principle is either a fundamental truth or the way things work. A fundamental truth or the way things work, or both. So we might have, for instance, a fundamental truth about the way things work. So that would be following the definition of a principle. So, principle three, God may indeed use the circumstances to lead and guide us, both negatively and positively, but the circumstances are not a substitute for fellowship with Jesus Christ or a substitute for his word.

God may, for example, completely close doors. Three different times in my life, starting at age 18 or 19, I tried to go into at least some sort of short-term missionary service in Latin America. Nancy knows this story. Every single time, the Lord slammed the door shut. And in some cases, it was inexplicable.

First time, I thought, man, it'd be great to go down to HCJB down in South America, in Quito, and work for them. And the draft board said, yeah, you could do that, but you'll get a draft notice as soon as you arrive. So, I guess I better not do that. And then, another time, I applied to HCJB and said, I can do this and this and this and this and this. And they wrote back and said, we don't need any of those things. We later talked to somebody who worked for HCJB and they said, You're kidding me! We're desperately in need of all those things! This is the Lord's way of saying, No Vern, I don't want you to go. Very clear.

So the Lord can guide with circumstances, negatively and positively, including closing doors and opening doors, The circumstances are not a substitute for fellowship with Christ or His Word. An open door is not the only thing I'm looking for, right? A closed door is not the only thing I'm looking for. Circumstances may be, in fact, what God uses. It's not the only thing.

Principle number four. God has also provided those who may counsel us in areas where they can bring in their experience and their foresight and insights into God's Word or their expertise in certain specific areas of life. So godly counsel. Ever seen a situation where you realize, you know, I don't know what I don't know. You see that? Or you may have seen it with somebody else, you know, they don't know what they don't know. This is a matter of recognizing what we don't know and looking for godly and good counsel to help with those areas where we recognize, you know, I'm not sure I know, you know, the edge of what I know here.

So this would be principle number four. Principle number five if we're walking in fellowship with Christ and are seeking guidance from his word and godly counsel Then if God does not seem to provide direction that God may be leaving the choice to us. Oh One of the things that believers may be in a position of doing is simply you know, what are the facts examining the What are the facts here? And in the midst of those things, making a wise decision.

If we don't have other things that are pointing us one way or another. Principle six, even if we follow principles one through five, we should not expect that God's will is going to be proven out by our path being free of trials, obstacles, pains, and challenges.

So here is the Apostle Paul with Silas and with Timothy, and they head to Troas, and then as they go from there into Philippi, their visit to Philippi is just wonderful the whole time, right? No, as we're going to see. The visit to Philippi is not wonderful the whole time. The visit to Philippi, in fact, has great difficulties.

So, this is important for us to look at. The Lord may, in fact, bring things that are difficult as a matter of discipline, just because we have followed God's will by every other principle that's there does not mean that we won't have trials and difficulties.

That's not the primary sign. So it's important to look at that because some people will think, you know, what do I got to do to get God off my back and to get the rock out of my road? Well, guess what? That's not what God wants. He may in fact put the rock in the road. That may be in fact what he's doing.

So as we go through this, they're just starting off on the missionary journey. They've been through the churches there in Galatia that they have visited on the first missionary journey and on return trip established elders. They came to them there with this letter that says you're not under law, you're under grace.

And then we see some very good examples and instances of knowing God's will. These are very, very valuable and helpful things for us to learn for ourselves, things to teach our kids, and things to pass along. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you as we look at this passage, as we look at what has been communicated in the book of Acts so far, and for what we're looking ahead to. We thank you just for all that you have given us and provided for us in this, and as we continue our path, stepping our way through the book of Acts. We just look to you for insight and understanding. We pray these things Lord in Jesus name. Amen.