Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing
May 23, 2024 | by: Dale Thiele | 0 Comments
Posted in: Pastoral Encouragement
This is part one of a six-part study series on Paul’s first letter to Timothy. This personal letter gives us clear teaching on how the gospel transforms our lives. I encourage you to read through 1 Timothy with this series. Today we are looking at chapter 1.
The book of Acts ends on a cliff-hanger. The apostle Paul has just arrived in Rome on house-arrest. He is awaiting his trial before Caesar. What comes of that trial? Will Paul be released? Or will he face execution, as his Jewish accusers desired? The Bible never answers those questions, but writings of the early church indicate that Paul was released from that imprisonment about AD 62 (see 1 Clement 5:7 and Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 2.22.2-8). He continues his ministry for a few years (possibly visiting Spain, cf. Rom. 15:24) and then is imprisoned again in Rome. Under Nero’s persecution of the Church, Paul is executed in AD 68.
During those years between imprisonments, we believe Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy. Timothy first joined Paul at Lystra during Paul’s second missionary journey (AD 48-49; Acts 16:1). Timothy became such an integral part of Paul’s ministry team during that journey that Paul includes him as a co-author in the letters he writes to those churches (see 2 Cor. 1:1, Phil. 1:1, Col. 1:1, 1 Thes. 1:1, & 2 Thes. 1:1). After more than a decade of training and mentorship under Paul, Timothy now is being sent out on his own to minister in the churches. Paul has urged Timothy to remain in Ephesus (1 Tim. 1:3), a church that Paul established during his third missionary journey (Acts 19).
By studying Paul’s letter to Timothy, we gain insight into the nature and purpose of the church and gospel ministry. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 3:14-15, “I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God.” As a pastor in the church at Ephesus, Paul wants Timothy to clearly understand how the gospel directs how one ought to live and behave. The gospel ought to shape the teaching of the church, the posture of the church to the outside world, the worship of the church, the leadership of the church, honor and relationships in the church, and how the church thinks about and uses money. The gospel is transformative and highly practical.
Paul begins the letter by charging Timothy to keep the main thing the main thing. He says in multiple ways in chapter 1. “I urged you [to]…remain in Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine” (v. 3). “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (v. 5). “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (v. 15). “This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child…that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience” (v. 18-19). The main thing in Paul’s charge is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Timothy’s ministry and teaching must center and launch from the gospel.
Several implications spring from this:
- Effective Gospel Ministry Must be on Guard for False Teaching. The “certain persons” that were teaching a “different doctrine” may have been the spark that encouraged Paul to write in the first place. Throughout the New Testament and the history of the Church, false teaching sought to creep into the church in many different forms. It is part of our sin nature to drift away from the truth of God’s word. It is part of Satan’s strategy to attack the church. We cannot grow lazy in our vigilance against the teachings that would “promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith” (v. 4).
- If we Lose the Gospel we Make Shipwreck of our Faith. This is the warning Paul gives Timothy in order to charge Timothy to stay centered on the gospel. Paul says in verse 19, “By rejecting this [namely, the truth of the gospel], some have made shipwreck of their faith.” When Paul charges Timothy to stay centered on the gospel, he is talking about both the teaching of Timothy and the application of the gospel to all areas of life. If we do not let the gospel permeate throughout our lives, we are at risk of making shipwreck of our faith.
- The Church Never Graduates from the Gospel. After nearly 30 years of following Christ, Paul stills emphasizes the gospel as the center of his ministry calling. He explains in verse 11 that he has “been entrusted” with the “gospel of the glory of the blessed God.” He goes on to say that it is through the gospel that he has been transformed, stating, “the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (v. 14). Like Paul, we grow in “faith and love” through the grace of the gospel.
Paul’s charge to Timothy is just as applicable to us today as it was then. We must be wary of losing sight of the gospel. Our lives and our church must center on the “trustworthy” news that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
