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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/gary-sharp/what-made-timothy-who-he-was/
Acts please, chapter 16. Acts chapter 16 and verse 1. Acts 16 and verse 1. Then came He to Derbe and Lystra, and behold, I kind of like that, take notice. He took notice. A certain disciple was there named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess and believed, but his father was a Greek, which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.
Him would Paul have to go forth with him. Verse 4, and as they went through the cities, verse 5, and so were the churches established in the faith and increased in number daily. Over to 1 Timothy chapter 6.
1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 11 says,. But thou, thou emphatically setting Him apart, obviously, not only are we called to behold Him in Acts chapter 16, but here it seems that emphatically He is pointed out very clearly by Paul, but thou, O man of God, flee these things and follow after righteousness.
Verse 20, O Timothy, keep guard that which is committed unto thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings in opposition of science falsely so called, which some professing have erred. They've gone astray.
They've missed it concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen. Chapter 1 of 2 Timothy. And verse 1 please. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Verse 2, to Timothy, my dearly beloved son.
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve. From my forefathers with pure conscience that without ceasing I have remembrance of Thee in my prayers night and day.
How thankful any of us could be for the prayers of God's people. And by the way, it just comes to my mind at this moment, thanks for your prayers for my granddaughter. I know we all have concerns. We all have deep needs.
But we do appreciate it. But here, Paul is saying that he had followed Him with his prayers. He says in verse 4, greatly desiring to see Thee, being mindful of Thy tears, that I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in Thee, which dwelt first in Thy grandmother, Lord, and Thy mother, Eunice.
And I am persuaded that in Thee also, wherefore, I put Thee in remembrance that Thou stir up the gift of God which is in Thee by the laying on, by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God, who professing have erred, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling.
Down, please, to verse 13. Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto Thee, keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
Trust that God will bless what we have read from his own very precious word. I really want to follow on just a little with a theme that I was pursuing yesterday in terms of looking at that assembly in Thessalonica and what made them what they were.
Now, here we have an individual, Timothy. Stands out here and he's brought to our attention in the Scriptures. What made him what he was? What contributed to the kind of a man that Paul would speak of?
Beloved in the faith. A true servant. One who reflected the heart and the humility of the Lord Jesus such as is mentioned in the book of Philippians 2. One that Paul calls a minister of God. Our brother.
And we have read a man of God. A man of God. What was it that contributed to this man being all of this? You know, Paul is writing to his son in the faith. And that's very special and precious. I know we mentioned Adorati yesterday, but there were many ways in which he was just that kind of a father in the faith.
And here we find Paul and his heart is open. I mean, you can tell from the language, from the words that he uses. And his time, he knows it's short. And he wants to pour in all that he possibly can so that others might be blessed.
His intensity in the things of God is undiminished. And I'm so thankful for older men who have pursued the pathway that God set out for them. And they have pursued it with all their might and main. And they're still going on.
They may not be able to do as much as they were. But they still have all that heart and desire after the things of God. And sometimes their labors in prayer go unnoticed, but they're real and they're precious amongst God's people.
Paul's words are full of encouragement. And he wants to stir up what he can. Encourage further this young man. His prayer is charged with expectation. He expects God to continue his work and to use this younger generation.
And as he does, his words are intended to bless a younger generation, to bring them on, to encourage them in their work, to follow after, and to be what God wants them to be in the life that they're living now.
For him. But as I think about this young man, Timothy, I think of qualities that must have been noticed. It says that when Paul came to Derbe and Lystra, behold, there was someone who stood out in his thinking.
And as he observed him, as he looked at him, I am certain that his concern and his interest was confirmed by brethren who had taken notice, who had watched and observed, who had seen Timothy's growth, who had seen his development for God, who had seen his interest in the things of God.
A young man who was going to stand out for years yet to come. Behold, a man named Timotheus, which was well reported of. And I got thinking, that as these brethren observed this young believer, and they watched him through his teen years, like they develop, I have no doubt, but they were noticing what kind of things it was that lit up his life, that got him keen, that stirred his soul, that brought out the very best in him.
You know, as God's people look on, those who are younger, you know what they're longing for? You know what they desire? You know what many godly men and women are thinking and hoping for? They are hoping to see someone whose life lights up when the gospel is proclaimed, and when the word of God is presented to them, and there's truth to follow, and there's older men, perhaps, who are encouraging them, and developing them in the truth, and they're so anxious to follow on.
They're so anxious to drink in the truth of the word. I am certain that there were people, and they noticed in this young man that there were things that truly got him excited. What gets you excited? I remember going, I think it was the mall in Cedar Falls after a gospel meeting one night, and there was about a hundred people standing outside the window of an electronics store.
Boy, were they excited! They're on that big screen. Sports of the world. Just a passing fancy. A few moments of entertainment. Big names spread across the world, and absolutely nothing for eternity. But I think that not only did they notice what lit them up, that as the word of God was unfolded to this young man, they realized that within him, there was a teachable spirit.
He wanted to know. He was willing to face what the word of God said. He longed to be able to apply it in his own life and in his interests. This is something that stirred him and interested him. And I am positive as these older believers might have looked on, who later gave him a good report, they noticed how he worshiped.
They heard him. There was wonder in his soul as he thought about his Savior. And maybe as he learned some of the truths about the Lord Jesus as they were unfolded to him, his wonder grew so that he had to express himself whether it was to friends or whether it was to an acquaintance.
But his meditations of his God were sweet. And there came a moment when he would stand in awe, maybe leading God's people in a very precious way and offering up to God the sacrifice of his lips, giving thanks, praising his Savior.
You know, when we hear brethren and sisters, and sometimes it's done in private conversation, and they speak well of the Lord Jesus, it can't help but be warmed up, can you? And sometimes you see somebody in deepest trial.
Very difficult circumstances. And their hearts are taken up with Christ. And they know how true He is and how caring and kind and compassionate and gracious He has proved Himself to be. And they speak of the Lord.
And there's worship in their very tone. But sometimes on a Lord's Day morning, one of our brethren might rise. And you can tell where they've been. And you can tell that they didn't start meditating on Sunday morning.
And you can tell that their thoughts have been percolating, so to speak, down through the week until at last God's given them the right words to speak. And they praise Him, their God, with worship and adoration.
I tell you, wouldn't that thrill you? Brother, do you ever tell someone? Do you ever go to them and say, I deeply appreciate your worship about the Son? I'm so thankful that God opened your mouth so that you could encourage us and thrill our souls with your meditation of Christ.
I think as these brethren watched over and as the godly sisters amongst them heard, they would no doubt make their way to this young man and encourage him to keep on keeping on. There's enough to discourage in our world that all thank God when you see qualities that are so precious in heaven's coin and eternal value.
Whatever made this man what he was, I'm certain started in private and grew in public and was nurtured by others. And brethren, if we're not seeing growth in our young people, don't point your fingers at them because you set the pattern.
You have become the example. If all you have to offer is something you've gathered from a hymn or something that you've stirred up on a Sunday morning and the heart hasn't been full of worship previously, they'll follow you.
They'll do the same. They won't bring to your soul that refreshing view of Christ that they've been dwelling on and enriched by. I think, too, as these believers would watch this young man, what they had to report was, oh, here's somebody and he's got an attitude.
I know some people have attitudes and sometimes it sticks out all over, but that's not what they were noticing. They were noticing an attitude that cared. Paul says of him, I have no man like mine who will naturally care for your state.
Young people today, show your care. Maybe you say, nobody ever did it to me and you'll be the first. Don't point your fingers at others. Lift your heart to heaven for the grace that it takes to show an interest in others.
And when you perceive some spirituality, some growth, some development, oh, it may not be all that you're hoping it will be, but there's something there. There's a little flame. There's something to stir.
Stir it! They were looking. And they observed. And they saw. And they had to speak. He was well reported up. He had qualities that were precious to the saints of God. I think, too, that they would have seen that this young man had mature thinking about stuff.
Stuff. Thinking rightly about stuff. Child of God, you'll never set your affection on things above if you've got wrong attitudes about stuff. And there's an endless supply of stuff for every occasion, for everything, for every kind of activity, for every entrance.
It's all available. It's all there. And what we need today, what we long to see is young men and women, even older men and women, that sometimes the toys just get bigger, who have a right attitude about stuff.
They've measured it against eternity. They've looked to see its value not on the market, but its value in the presence of God. And I think what they saw in this young man was a young man who could have pursued all the pastimes of life.
He could have had his interest in those things, but he didn't. I think they observed where his values were. Where his values were. How about your values? How about the things that count most to you? Is it the kingdom of God?
Is it things of righteousness and holiness? Is it things whereby another might be edified by your works and deeds and interests? Values. If you were to carry your values today, you say, what do you mean?
Well, what do you consider valuable into the presence of God? How would it look there? This young man, I have no question or doubt about. He had values that would stand the test of the presence of God.
You say, well, nobody else is doing that. I won't fight you there. Nobody else thinks like you, Mr. Preacher. Oh, yes, there was. The Lord Jesus said, what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his life?
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his life? The Lord Jesus had right values about things here and there. You say, well, he wasn't going to be here very long. And neither are we. We're all dying.
The Lord could come. In every effort we've made for God, we heard about rewards. We heard about crowns. Every reward for God will have an enduring and enduring recompense. But everything that we've stockpiled on earth, brethren, it's still going to go up in smoke.
It's still just temporary. It's still just for a little while. And here's a young man, he caught the vision. I think as they looked at him, there was a spiritual incentive. And sometimes maybe he called a brother aside.
He said, what do you think about this? What do you think about trying this in the gospel? How about this effort or that? Or would you join me? And at least, brethren, I think at least they listened to him.
And maybe some of them gave him wise counsel. And with a teachable spirit like he had, he would have listened. But maybe they realized the value of trying something for God. They said, brother, we're right behind you.
Remember when we started children's meetings? Ed Doherty actually got us involved in that just a month after we were in the assembly. He says, let's try it. Thank God for men like that. Let's do it. We tried.
Sunday school been trying to get 25 kids to Sunday school for years. I remember going through this painful thing every single solitary time. We tried something new. Never worked. And we went out. Gave out invitations.
God sent us 100. And as young men, we were trained to take the Word of God and to make it simple. And then they get clear. And they came. And you know who else came? The gray haired. And the elder believers.
It was like they came to see this great sight. But you know what? They got to love it. They got to get behind it. They were as much encouragement to us as it was to see the children attend. Here's a man.
Maybe he spoke of some incentive that would spiritually advance the kingdom. And I am positive that this young man was noticed and recognized. I think that these brethren and sisters would see that about him, there was a sense of God.
Is there a sense of God? About your life and mine? When you come in to the company of God's people. When you lend your strength to the things that the assembly has planned and purposed, that people say, thank God he's here.
Thank God she's amongst us. What an effect she has. How precious to see her interest in spiritual things. Yes, thank God. There was a sense of God. And a sense of God having called him. Maybe the voice was getting louder and louder to these people.
You know, when I think about Timothy's background, well, it was a mixed blessing. Mixed marriage. His father was a Greek. Mother was a Jewess. But you know, in many ways, all of us are a result of mixture of one kind or another.
And in each of our backgrounds, we could point to something that perhaps might hinder us. Someone that failed us. Someone who hurt us. And every one of us could probably point to something and say, you know, at that point in my life, I could easily have just thrown up my hands and walked away.
We're all a result of mixture of some kind. And, you know, because this young man had a father who was Greek and we don't know a lot about him, but the likelihood is he'd come under the censure of some of the strict Jewish element that might have been there.
And, you know, there might be other people and they favor him. And there's always a tendency to get unbalanced if that favor, if that encouragement doesn't come from spiritual men who have their heads on straight and understanding of what's really for God.
But, you know, his mother and his grandmother, they had been an incredible blessing. And as much as a father, a Jewish father might have done, they trained him in the Word of God. I don't know what their gift was.
I know that they had certainly given them a wonderful example of faith, unfamed faith. Just God said it. I believe it. That settles it. That's enough. And whether it was his grandmother that first influenced him or his mother.
But Paul says, I am convinced it's in you too. You know, it's wonderful when we have good examples in our life. But just because, just because there may be mixture or difficulties or challenges or criticism, it doesn't mean we're doomed to failure.
Oh, brethren and sisters, that we might not only witness and encourage young men and young women who have spiritual priorities and interests, but we might fan it to a flame. Recognize it for what it is.
Encourage it. Listen to them. Seek to develop them and stand behind them. Because when he was well reported of, and I'll tell you, it takes something to get the respect of an older generation. But he had it.
And it made him what he was. And it made him effective in the work that he was going to do. He learned to take orders from Paul. He learned to follow and he learned to be corrected. He learned to be directed.
He learned to be used. And may the Lord grant today that from this conference, there will be renewed determination in your heart, young person, for God. And there may be a renewed concern by those who are older to nurture it.
See it grow. To encourage it. To teach and develop and bless, as Paul sought to do, a younger generation. May God bless us.