Dr. Bill’s sermon last week was titled “Be the One”. The scripture was from 2 Timothy 1:3-12 where we hear Paul (the author) encouraging Timothy to remain strong and faithful even though he is being challenged by the suffering and public shame associated with being a Christian at that time.
Timothy was a follower, partner, and disciple of Paul in his efforts to spread the gospel. They traveled extensively together and Timothy is credited with co-Authoring (with Paul) six books of the New Testament. Paul even wrote to the Philippians about Timothy and said “I have no one like him” meaning he was a critical member of the early Christian Church. Timothy was in many respects Paul’s right-hand man.
This passage indicates that Timothy suffered under a heavy burden. While theological traditions might insist that suffering leads to glory, when you are actually experiencing suffering it can be very challenging – even for the strongest among us. Because of his Christian beliefs, Timothy lived as a second class citizen, probably lived a life of poverty, and probably feared for his physical well-being daily.
As a result, Timothy questioned his beliefs and gave serious thought to abandoning his role as a Christian leader. Paul wrote this letter to encourage him to stick with it. And what better way to communicate this idea than to use the examples of his grandmother, Lois, and his mother, Eunice, who were both strong in the Christian faith.
A central theme of Paul’s message to Timothy was that his mother and grandmother were faithful, Paul was faithful, God is faithful, so Timothy must in turn be faithful. Paul’s effort was ultimately successful and Timothy continued his life-long work of preaching the gospel and bringing others to Christ.
Without the strong influence of his mother and grandmother, Timothy may have abandoned his faith and his good works. In the same way, each of us have been influenced by faithful people and we in turn may have been an important influence on others. Here are a few questions to further explore the idea of the importance of spiritual influences:
Who are the spiritual giants of your faith? Who has mentored and guided you? Who has set the example?
Who looks up to you in the faith? To whom are you a spiritual giant?
Have you ever been let down by a leader in the faith or a spiritual mentor? What was your reaction?
How is faith passed from one generation to the next?
Is it easier to pass faith down within a family or to spread it anew outside the family?
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