TO TIMOTHY

2 Timothy 1:1-2

So far as preparing my messages is concerned, one of the most challenging things I have to do, especially when I am preaching and teaching a series of messages, is to develop fresh and original introductions for each message.

I prepare three or more messages per week to be preached to, for the most part, the same people every week.

And I have been doing that here in Puyallup, for well over sixteen years now.

For that reason maybe, I am interested in observing how the books of the Bible begin.

First and Second Timothy are especially intriguing to me because they are written:

• By the same person
• To the same person
• Fairly close together 

There are Bible students who disagree with this, but I believe that Paul was already thinking about 2 Timothy by the time he finished 1 Timothy.

I think he wasn’t done with his final instructions to Timothy wen, for whatever reason, he was forced to stop and cut the first letter short.

2 Timothy is the completion of what he had begun in 1 Timothy.

Rather than beginning by saying, “Picking up where we left off…”

He has a two-verse introduction that sounds very similar to the first letter;

1 Timothy 1:1-2 (KJV)

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;

Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Timothy 1:1-2 (KJV)

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

*

• In both introductions Paul addresses his position as a apostle of Jesus Christ.
• In both introductions Paul hints at eternal life in Jesus Christ.
• In both introductions Paul pronounces, “Grace, mercy and peace” upon Timothy “from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.”

I want to spend the bulk of our time addressing the differences between the two introductions.

*I. A WORD ABOUT GOD’S WILL

1 Timothy 1:1-2 (KJV)

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;

Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Timothy 1:1-2 (KJV)

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

In the first epistle Paul says that he was an apostle by the commandment of God.

In this he says he is an apostle by the will of God.

Both, of course are true. I think we can learn something about how to view God’s plan for each of our lives.

I ought to do what I do for the Lord:

• Because God commands it and
• Because it is God’s will

I am not positive that the order is key but I do think it is suggestive of spiritual growth.

At first a child might obey their parents because their parent make them do it. As the child matures, however, hopefully they will begin obeying because it is right to do.

I cut my teeth in the ministry listening to Jack Hyles preach:

• I traveled as far as I needed to, to hear him
• I got cassette recordings of his preaching when I could
• I read his sermons as fast as I could get hold of them and
• I bought and read every book he ever wrote

He used to illustrate the difference between obeying a command and doing God’s will by telling a story from when he was growing up.

Jack Hyles grew up in Texas where Okra grows.

My wife and I both like Fried Okra but boiled or caned Okra is another story. When its boiled Okra produces a slimy substance very reminiscent of mucus. I would say a raw egg white, but its worse than that.

Anyway, as Hyles was growing up as a little boy, he didn’t like Okra but his momma made him eat it. He said:

• When he was 5 his momma made him eat okra
• When he was 6 his momma made him eat okra
• When he was 7 his momma made him eat okra
• When he was 8, 9 and 10 his momma made him eat okra
• When he was 11 his momma made him eat okra
• When he we 12 and 13 his momma made him eat okra
• When he was 14, 15, 16 and 17 his momma made him eat okra

But something happened when he grew up. Somewhere along the way, he started to like okra.

He always ended by saying, “Today, if you gave me a choice between a steak and okra – I’d take both! But I would want the okra.”

I don’t know that it would be fair to say that Paul ever obeyed God just because he was commanded to do it. But Paul did write and say,

1 Corinthians 9:16 (KJV)

For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!

A sure sign that you are growing in your faith is when you come to the place that you don’t obey God because you feel like He makes you obey Him, but you obey because you know it is His will.

Secondly there is,

*II. A WORD ABOUT CHRIST’S OFFER

1 Timothy 1:1-2 (KJV)

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;

Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Timothy 1:1-2 (KJV)

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Christ offers us hope through a promise.

A. Hope

Hope is maybe the biggest difference between the Christian and the lost person.

Christ is our hope. On the other hand the Bible says of the lost,

1 Thessalonians 4:13 (KJV)

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

That’s why I like to summarize my ministry with three words:

• Salvation
• Instruction and
• Hope

When a person gets saved, they immediately have hope. But it requires instruction in the Word of God before that hope becomes a help to them.

*B. Promise

The hope that we have as Christians is not wishful thinking.

I can’t tell you how many of my family members have told me that they bought a lottery ticket and, if they win big, they promised they would give our church a million dollars.

That is wishful thinking on their part, with just a little bit of bribery of God sprinkled in for good measure.

The hope we have as Christians is steadfast and sure because it is based upon a promise from God, who cannot lie.

• It is still hope because we do not yet possess it. It awaits us in the future.
• But it is a sure hope because it is founded upon the promises of God.

My salvation testimony is in my own opinion, a bit unorthodox.

• I wasn’t saved in a church service
• I wasn’t led to the Lord by a fundamental Baptist
• I wasn’t baptized until almost three years later

And for those reasons, after I got serious about living for God, I kept wondering if I was really saved.

For several years after I got saved, I would get under conviction and stricken with fear that I really wasn’t saved.

• Every time a guest preacher came to our church I would ask them to show me the plan of salvation, just in case there was something I missed
• I would have gotten baptized a hundred times if I needed to, but I knew that would make no difference in the turmoil I experienced
• I went to Bible college to train for the ministry but in the back of my mind was the thought, “Maybe someone there can show me how to really be saved.”

One Monday morning we gathered in college and one of the students, a man, who was already pastoring a church and who I thought was already a spiritual giant, announced that he had held a revival service in his church and he had personally gotten saved and baptized over the weekend.

I wanted to speak with him, not to challenge what had happened to him but maybe to find out how to be saved like he had just gotten saved.

As we spoke, a light came on in my heart.

I knew I had already done what God required for me to be saved. 

What I didn’t know is if God had done what He promised He would do.

As soon as I realized that, I knew I could trust God to keep His promises and the doubts disappeared.

*III. A WORD ABOUT PAUL’S LOVE FOR TIMOTHY

1 Timothy 1:1-2 (KJV)

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;

Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Timothy 1:1-2 (KJV)

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Notice that Paul changed his terminology from

• My own son to
• My dearly beloved son

I can’t tell you for sure this is what happened but I have a guess as to why Paul became more “emotional” in the second letter.

If Paul saw his execution as more imminent in the second letter, it may have made him more emotional.

When I pastored in Astoria we had a man in the church named Ed Jasper.

By they time I met Ed he was an already retired Longshoreman.

At 72 or 73 years old, Brother Ed was still as strong as an ox.

You had to be careful shaking his hand because he hurt you if you didn’t have a good grip.

Ed was gruff, tough and outspoken.

But we really go along.

He and I, and some of his old Longshoreman buddies would go fishing in the Columbia a lot. 

I used to joke that the only reason they took me along was I was still young enough to pull up the anchor against the Columbia River current.

But that was only a joke and I knew it.

We spent hours together, Ed and I.

One day, while out fishing, a nuclear sub came into the river, escorted by all sorts of navy ships. Ed got so nervous navigating his boat around them all back into the docks that he had a heart attack.

It wasn’t long after that that his health started to quickly decline.

• Ed became much more emotional. 
• He would cry almost about anything.
• He had been born a twin, but while they were teenagers his brother had been killed in a car wreck. Ed was the one driving. 

Ed wanted me to see the spot where his brother died.

Ed and I both thought of ourselves as “men’s men.”

We were not emotional kind of guys.

But as Ed reached the end of his journey on this earth and as I knew my days with this friend were coming to a close, it wasn’t hard for either of us to tell the other “I love you”.

Maybe that is what was going on in Paul’s heart.