In 'The Making of a Minister,' Peter Allison discusses the Biblical account of Timothy's calling and preparation for ministry under the Apostle Paul, as found in Acts 16. The sermon explores Timothy's mixed heritage, being the son of a Greek father and a believing Jewish mother, Eunice, along with his grandmother Lois, who played pivotal roles in his early faith formation. Despite not being raised in an ideal religious environment, Timothy is portrayed as a testament to God's grace and ability to overcome adverse circumstances through faith. The sermon highlights that the term 'minister' in the New Testament, often translated as 'servant' or 'waiter,' is a humble title that describes someone who serves others. Paul circumcised Timothy to remove barriers to ministry among Jews, demonstrating the use of Christian liberty for the sake of the Gospel. Timothy's character, reputation, and connection with local and regional churches were crucial for his role in the ministry. Despite his weaknesses, such as timidity and frequent illness, Timothy's exemplary conduct and spirit-filled life made him an invaluable partner to Paul and a significant figure in the early church.

Our scripture reading is Acts chapter 16. Paul, beginning at verse 1. Then he, that is Paul, Then he came to Derbe and Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted to have him go on with him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek.

And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily. May we long for His commandments as one who pants with an open mouth longs for air. Almighty Father, sanctify Your Word to us, set us apart, to be vessels for your service. Lord bless the hearing of Your Word and instruct us out of it, out of Your Word.

And please sanctify my sinful lips that they may proclaim your truth and only your truth. In Jesus' name, Amen. Our topic this morning is the making of a minister. What does the word minister mean to you? Is it a lofty title in your mind?

Like the minister of defense? Those who sit on the king's or the president's Close Council? Or is it a clerical title? It's interesting how words can change their connotations through the character of those associated with the word. Maybe you don't like a name because of someone's character, or maybe you love a name because of somebody's character that had that name.

The word cross is another example. It was a thing of shame in the Roman world. To die on a cross in the Roman world is like dying in an electric chair today like a criminal. But of course today we wear crosses around our necks as ornaments of beauty because of what was associated with the cross, namely our life. And the word minister is like that.

Almost all the time that it's used in the New Testament, it is diakonos, which is a servant. It's a servant. Particularly one who waits on tables. We would call them a waiter today. A waiter.

It's typically the lowest entry level job in our culture. If you're a teenager and you're looking for your first job, it's one you can get with very little skills. You've got to be able to walk and hold things. And you can get a job as a waiter. Paul calls himself a bond slave, a doulas, a slave.

And he calls himself a slave, a bond slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, Paul calls himself and Timothy a minister in 1st Thessalonians 3 2, saying that we sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the Gospel of Christ to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith. And by that he means he's saying, we sent a servant of God to you. That's what a minister is. Now this chapter 16, or the previous two verses in chapter 15, begin Paul's second missionary journey.

But it's at least the third time that he is visiting these churches that he mentions here. And it's at this point that this lifelong partnership in ministry begins between Paul and Timothy. Paul begins here to train Timothy for the Gospel ministry, to be a minister of God, a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, a servant, one who waits on tables. He would have met Timothy on earlier visits, and so he's likely known Timothy for several years at this point maybe as many as five at the at the most and so acts here provides the historical narrative that undergirds his epistles which were written to various churches and to the men that he trained for the ministry. Timothy and Titus are two of the men that he trained for the ministry.

And this passage provides a window into Timothy's qualifications and his training to be a minister of God. And also why Paul would have chosen him or did choose him for his ministry team. And the first thing that we are told about Timothy is that he did not come from the ideal family situation, two believing parents who brought him up in a godly church. Timothy was from a mixed marriage. He had an unbelieving gentle father, but a believing mother, Eunice, and a believing grandmother, Lois, whom Paul respected.

And Paul credited these two women with leading Timothy to the Lord in 2 Timothy 1.5. Paul spoke there of the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and I am persuaded he told Timothy is in you also it was the ministry of the word by believing mother and grandmother that Paul credits with bringing Timothy to faith in Christ. That's what the Lord used. Ministry of Parents. These women were not converted under Paul's earlier visits because Timothy was taught the faith from his childhood by his mother and grandmother.

Which would have been before Paul was even converted. Timothy would have been at least 20 years old at this time. And many think that he was much older when Paul selected him at this point. Possibly as old as 30. But at least 20.

And so Paul had only been at this point a believer for slightly less than 20 years. So these women were not converted under Paul's ministry. Timothy, it says, is from Lystra, a city that doesn't appear to have had a synagogue. In every other city, throughout the first missionary journey, Luke records that Paul preached in the synagogue, but not in Lystra. In fact, this was where Paul was stoned, you know, and left for dead.

It was Jews from Iconium and Antioch that came to Lystra to persecute Paul. Those were long ways away. So we have believing Jewish women living in a city with no church and no synagogue. Now how Could that happen? The Scriptures don't say anything about Timothy's maternal grandmother, that would be Lois' husband.

But there are a couple of scenarios out of which this could have developed, this situation, this rather difficult situation. Lois's husband may have been a believing Jew who made an unwise decision. Remember there have been others that have made similarly unwise decisions. He made an unwise decision to move to a city without a synagogue for whatever reason. Maybe there was a nice job there.

Maybe he thought there was opportunity there. Whatever. Whatever. There was no church there. And so this was not a good decision.

And so his daughter Eunice grew up surrounded by pagan Greek and Roman culture, and she married a pagan, contrary to the command in Deuteronomy 7 verse 3 which says, Nor shall you make marriages with them, referring to the Canaanites, the pagan Canaanites that were around Israel. Nor shall you make marriages with them, you shall not give your daughter to their son nor take their daughter for your son so but somehow Eunice is married to a pagan maybe maybe those his husband died young so that Eunice grew up without a father and lacking fatherly guidance married an unbelieving Greek. Maybe Lois' husband pretended to be a God-fearer to get, or maybe Eunice's husband pretended to be a God-fearing Greek to get Eunice to marry him. I know many men who pretended to be Christians in order to marry a Christian girl because they wanted a Christian girl. There are employers like that.

They want to hire Christians, not because they're a Christian, not because they care anything about being a Christian, but they want their employees to be Christians so they won't steal from them. There are men like that. They want to marry wives like that. I know. I know of some cases like that.

And then after the marriage, they say, well, I'm not really a Christian. They quit going to church and they quit pretending. And the wife is stuck in a very difficult situation. We don't know. I tend to think Grandma Lois's husband was at best a nominal Jew, or even an unbelieving Greek, because the name given to their daughter Eunice was a common girl's name in pagan Greek culture.

In Greek mythology, Eunice was a daughter to the sea god Nereus. So the name itself means good or blessed victory. So it would be a logical choice for a Jew who had syncretized their culture, their religion with the religion of pagan Greek, because it's a name that could work in both cultures. But we ultimately don't know. But what we do know, what this text does tell us, is that Timothy grew up with an unbelieving father, a Greek, somebody who was opposed to the Jewish religion, to whom circumcision would be anathema.

So he refused to allow his son to be circumcised, as I'm sure his believing mother would have wanted. And so, for whatever reason, we don't know exactly how it came to be, Timothy grew up in a pagan Roman culture with an unbelieving father, without a synagogue where the scriptures were read and preached and taught. But Timothy did have a believing mother and grandmother from whom Timothy learned the faith. Timothy's mother Eunice gave him a name that reminded him of his chief purpose in life, to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. His name comes from two Greek words, timao and theos, and in the Greek it is those two words put together, to ma theos.

It means one who honors God, God honoring, to honor God, or honors God, or one who honors God. And so every time Timothy heard his name, it was one who honors God. And these two women, in very difficult circumstances, married to unbelieving men, taught Timothy the word from his infancy. The word is for childhood where Paul says, and that from a child you have known the Scriptures. That word is brephos, which means infant.

The first meaning is unborn infant. The second is a very small newborn infant. Every other place in the New Testament where this word is used, it refers to unborn babies or very newly born babies. Like John the Baptist leaping in the womb. That's unborn baby.

That's a breath loss. And that's the word that Paul uses for Timothy. He heard the Scriptures from infancy, and even before he was born, he heard the Scriptures. God is able to bring faith to our unborn children. Like John the Baptist leaping in the womb for joy.

Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Joy implies some cognition in the mind. And the Bible says that John the Baptist had that as an unborn child. And Timothy then had the word because of a believing mother and grandmother from his infancy, from even before he was born. You see, Timothy is a testimony to the power and grace of God to overcome our bad decisions and all the disadvantages that we may face in our life, like having unbelieving fathers growing up in unbelieving cultures because of bad decisions that our parents made.

I think this is a great encouragement to single mothers or unequally yoked mothers, mothers married to unbelieving husbands, that God is able to bring good fruit from their labors as they persevere in a difficult situation. So often, children of unbelieving fathers grow up to be unbelieving themselves. And I can think of several examples, just in the churches in which we have been members, where that's the case. Even one case where man was an elder and then later turned away from the faith. All his sons, all his children, became unbelievers.

The mother remained faithful. The statistics are not good when fathers are not Christians. I think I have heard quoted that when a father is converted, I'm talking about an unbelieving home, when a father is converted, over 90% of the time the rest of the family is also converted. But when children are converted first, it's very, very rare. A couple percent.

When mothers are converted first, it's still single digits that the husband is converted. But this is a testimony that God is greater than all of the circumstances. It's a testimony also that God's covenant blessings are promised to mothers and fathers with unbelieving spouses so that their children are holy, set apart from the children of unbelievers, and that their children are clean. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 7. Where there is one believing parent, mother or father, the children are holy and clean.

And that's why we baptize children of one believing parent. It's a testimony also of God's power to break the chain of unbelief and all the things that perpetuate, that that perpetuates. To break that and to establish a new dynasty. Timothy grew up to be a trophy of God's grace. A lifelong friend and co-laborer with Paul.

A co-writer with Paul of six New Testament letters and a recipient himself of two New Testament letters. 1st and 2nd Timothy. Paul considered him a beloved son in the faith, a fellow worker and minister of the Gospel, a man of God and a brother in the Lord whose presence he greatly desired, whose labor He greatly appreciated to the end of his life. What went into making this minister of the Gospel? Well, some of the qualifications are listed here in the text.

In verse 1, It says that he was a disciple. He's a disciple. It means he was a baptized member of the church even though he'd never been circumcised because his father being Greek would not allow it. He, Timothy, was a disciple. That means he studied for the ministry under a minister.

He learned from Paul. He was a disciple who carefully followed Paul's doctrine, Paul's manner of life, Paul's purpose, Paul's faith, Paul's patience, Paul's love, Paul's perseverance, Paul's persecutions and afflictions from his very first missionary journey. Because remember all those things that he lists about happening to him, many of them happened on that first missionary journey at Lystra and Iconium. He would have observed Paul's, these trials during Paul's missionary journey. And in 2 Timothy 3 verse 10 and 11 he says, But you have carefully followed my doctrine, my manner of life, my purpose, my faith, my long-suffering, my love, my perseverance, my persecutions, and afflictions which happened to me at Antioch, Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, and out of them All the Lord delivered me." Timothy saw all that.

He witnessed that. He knew what he was joining. But he was a disciple. And he was filled with the Spirit. He had exemplary character.

It says that he was well spoken of by the brethren at Lystra and Iconium. He had a good reputation. He was well spoken of because he had exemplary Christian character. And that reputation, That character was the result of him being filled with the Holy Spirit. So he's one, a disciple.

He followed Paul. He followed his doctrine, his teaching. Secondly, he's filled with the Spirit as shown by his character. He had the fruits of the Spirit. He's well spoken of.

Third, he's connected to the church in verse 2. He's connected to the local church and the regional church. And This is shown by the fact that He's known by the church. Not only was He well spoken of by the members of the local congregation, but He's also well spoken of by brethren in the Presbytery, in the regional church. Those at Iconium also knew Him.

We need churches that are family integrated, meaning where families worship together, where the family's authority is recognized, and where the primary discipleship focuses with families as families and individually with husbands and fathers equipping them to disciple their families and not trying to take that role from them. But we also need church-integrated families. Families that are integrally connected with the church. Meaning where the family is involved in the ministry of the church. And where the church's authority is also recognized and appreciated and valued by the family.

Timothy was connected to the regional church. His gifts were recognized by the church. And This is a key qualification for anyone who would be a minister in the church. That the church, the congregation, the people to whom they will be ministering recognize their calling and gifting. It's provided for in biblical church government, which requires the approbation of the congregation for a man to be ordained.

It's not enough that other elders think well of a person. It's easy to play up to them and possibly to fool them. But the congregation, God's people, must also think well of such a person and recognize His gifting, usually because they are exercising that gifting even before they become a minister or an elder or a deacon. They're serving. They're just naturally, that work is flowing out of them.

And so he was recognized by these churches in Lystra and Iconium. And they spoke well of him. He's also proven his exemplary conduct. Paul has known Timothy for several years, but he didn't take him immediately. He didn't say, oh, you're a good person.

Let me come. He didn't take him on either of his first two trips through this church on his first journey. And he had a need. Remember, John Mark had abandoned them on that first journey. So he had a need for somebody like Timothy.

Timothy would have been probably a good match for what John Mark was doing. But he didn't take him on those first journeys. He waited to be able to observe this character over some years. He waited for his character to be proven. And that's another instruction that he later wrote to Timothy, that Timothy shouldn't ordain anyone quickly, but they should be tested first.

So Paul did that. He waited for his character to be proven. Now, Timothy's circumcision shows, I think, two significant qualifications. It says that his father was a Greek, so that's why he wasn't circumcised. The circumcision was loathsome to the Greeks.

It says Paul took him and circumcised him. Now Timothy is a full-grown man, so he obviously was fully compliant with this. This statement is recorded right next to Luke's statement that the decrees from the Jerusalem Council were delivered to the churches that they visited. The decrees, you remember, were what had been determined by the apostles and elders at the Jerusalem Council. And what had been determined was that Gentile believers did not have to be circumcised to join the church.

They only had to be baptized. Notice that these decrees were not by apostolic authority. They were determined by a presbytery, a general assembly of apostles and elders. The apostles Peter and the apostle John identify themselves as elders. They are apostles, but they also call themselves elders.

And so the apostles were elders, and in this meeting they functioned as elders at that assembly. They did not exercise apostolic authority as Paul exercised when he wrote the letter to the Galatian churches just before that meeting. In that letter, he gave direct authority, direct commands about what they should do and shouldn't do. He made judgments about who was believing and wasn't and weren't believing. But that's not what happened in the Jerusalem Council.

They didn't exercise apostolic authority. They debated and they discussed among themselves for quite some time. They listened to each other. And the decree that was issued was something that seemed good to the entire assembly. It was something that they worked out and came to a unified position on, much like what happened at our summit last week, two weeks ago.

Notice also that this determination, this decree of the Jerusalem Council was binding on the churches. The determination of the Jerusalem Assembly was a decree to be obeyed. It wasn't just a suggestion to the churches. It wasn't just a statement of this is what we think. See, the church here is functioning in a Presbyterian fashion.

It's not in a congregational fashion. And it's not functioning in a hierarchical fashion. The churches here were not just an association where the association had no binding authority over the member churches and presbyteries within the association. These were decrees for the churches to keep there was authority that was being exercised From that general assembly over the churches It wasn't just a suggestion. It wasn't just a well, this is what we think the scripture teaches And as we just saw it wasn't a decree imposed by apostolic authority.

It was a decree that came from what today we would call a general assembly. And the result of this decree was that it confirmed and strengthened the churches. Far from being a burden, an imposition or a restraint on their liberty. The Bible says the churches were encouraged in the faith, and it resulted in them growing numerically every day. So here's the picture that is being presented to the churches.

On one hand, there's a decree rebuking and condemning the Judaizers for troubling the church. And unsettling souls by demanding that the Gentile believers had to be circumcised to join the church. And on the other hand, one of the most outspoken defenders of the faith on this point, and just think of Paul's letter to the Galatians where he says he didn't yield submission to the Judaizers for one instant, for one hour, that the Gospel might not be compromised. Because we are saved by grace alone, through faith in Christ alone. Through faith alone in Christ alone.

This defender of the faith against Judaizers is at the same time delivering this decree, he's also circumcising a Gentile believer. Now isn't that an interesting picture? He's not doing it because a law required it. He's not doing it because he had to. He's doing it because they wanted to.

And Timothy obviously had to want to as well. He had the liberty to do so. And we think of Christian liberty as what we can do for our enjoyment. But Paul and Timothy, who submitted himself here to being circumcised, used their Christian liberty to do something that benefited others, in this case the Judaizers. All the Jews in that region knew that Timothy's father was a Greek.

That's what the text says. And therefore Timothy had not been circumcised as an infant because the Greeks were adamantly opposed to it. But by circumcising Timothy, Paul was removing an obstacle that would have prevented Timothy from being able to minister among the Jews. They would not have allowed Him into their synagogues as an uncircumcised person. They wouldn't have eaten with Him.

They wouldn't have listened to His messages. See, this was an act of love for the Jews, so that Paul and Timothy could reach them with the Gospel. It was an act of love. In 1 Corinthians 9, I will read this somewhat lengthy passage that elaborates on just what Paul did here. He said, For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, a minister to all, that I might win the more.

To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews. That's why he circumcised Timothy. To make Timothy a Jew to those who were Jews. So that he might win Jews. To those who are under the law as under the law that I might win those who are under the law.

To those who kept the ceremonial law. He kept the ceremonial law so that he might win them to Christ to those who are without the laws being without law, not being without law toward God, but under the law toward Christ. So he's clarifying on he's not living. He's not this is not an excuse to break the law. He's keeping the law of God, the moral requirements.

But He is being all things to all people. That I might win those who are without the law. To the weak I became as weak that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men that I might by all means save some. Now I do this for the gospel's sake, that I might be a partaker of it with you." That's what love is, to sacrifice for the good of others.

Timothy loved the people to whom he was ministering. It's an essential qualification. Now we might ask, is it proper? Was it permissible for Paul to use a vain sign, the circumcision, that had been abolished? Doesn't the regulative principle of worship we like to talk about that a lot, Doesn't it mean that what's not commanded is forbidden?

Well, we should first note that this was something that had been commanded before Christ's coming and was made obsolete only by Christ's sacrifice. But there was a transition period between Christ's ascension and the destruction of the temple. And in that interval, the Old Testament ordinances were permitted to continue. Paul even keeps the Old Testament ceremonial law in Acts 21 in order to placate Jewish believers who were still keeping the ceremonial law and they were offended because they thought Paul was desecrating the temple. So This was appropriate.

This was an appropriate use of Christian liberty and it was motivated By by their love for the people and that's what's important Purpose and motive also are important factors and if we want to evaluate the morality of something. Some Christians today practice circumcision of infants for social reasons. Something that has nothing to do with keeping the ceremonial law. Paul's purpose was to open doors of ministry to his countrymen being saved. Of course, it's not possible, but it demonstrates his love for those to whom he's ministering.

And so Timothy's circumcision evidenced a true love for the people to whom He desired to minister. Secondly, His circumcision evidences discernment. Discernment is the ability to distinguish between two things that are different, but may appear the same. To make distinctions. It's the ability to make distinctions where boundaries might be hard to see.

In the case of Titus, Paul said he did not yield to the Judaizers even for an instant. He did not allow Titus to be circumcised. He withstood extreme pressure in order to uphold a doctrine on which the Gospel depended. He told the Galatians he didn't yield submission even for an hour that the truth of the Gospel might continue with them. But now these same people, this is Lystra and Derby and Iconium, these are the same churches to which the book of Galatians was written, to these same people He's now circumcising Timothy because there's a difference in the two situations.

Paul and Timothy had the discernment to see the difference. In one case, people were coming to the church telling people that they had to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses to be saved. And they didn't budge in that case. But in this case, they were the ones going to the Jews preaching the Gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And they didn't want anything to distract from that message.

These are the kinds of distinctions that we can be faced with, and discernment is necessary. Number of years ago, we were attending a new church plant and when we asked to become an organized particular congregation in this denomination we were given a list of additional requirements that we had to agree to out of the blue. We didn't know they existed before and one of them was that we would refrain from drinking wine or alcohol and so when we asked where that was in the Bible we were told that well we just wanted to party with our fellow sailors So the church found another Presbyterian and Reform denomination to associate with. But a very few years later, a couple years later, a Christian school board in the Bible Belt, after much discussion, changed their bylaws, which had prohibited staff drinking alcohol, and they offered me a job. They did that because I had told them in my application, thinking that this wasn't a place the Lord was calling me, I said, no, I won't abstain from these things.

And so they offered me a job which I accepted. Well, they immediately received stern letters from the churches in which their school met. It was a very big school. Hundreds and hundreds, 700 students. These churches, once they met, wrote them a stern letter saying if they were going to hire a wine-bibbing Calvinist in their school, then they couldn't meet in their buildings.

So they had to backtrack because they had no other place to meet and but I quickly informed the board that if Paul had been willing to circumcise Timothy I would be happy to refrain from drinking alcohol during my time there, which I did Now Timothy also had weaknesses He was timid and somewhat prone to fear. And Paul admonished him in 2 Timothy 2, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and of a sound mind. Therefore, don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me as prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings of the Gospel according to the power of God." There was a temptation on Timothy's part because of fear and timidity to want to draw back from recognizing Paul when he was arrested or imprisoned. It's like when Christ was arrested, everybody fled. They didn't want to be connected with somebody who's getting arrested.

That same is true today. When somebody gets arrested, just watch. Nobody's their friend anymore. I've seen it happen. He wrote similar letters to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 16.

He says, And if Timothy comes, see that he may be with you without fear. Help him. This is a weakness he has. Help him in that weakness. Let him be among you without fear, for he does the work of the Lord as I also do.

And therefore let no one question him." He also commanded Timothy himself. He said, don't let anyone despise your youth. Why? Because Timothy probably had a tendency to timidity and fear. You see, in picking, Paul wasn't picking somebody that was perfect.

But he was picking someone who had the gifts of ministry and whose gifts and weaknesses complemented his. You see, Paul was anything but Timothy. In fact, he was just the opposite. He publicly opposed even leading apostles to their face when they did something wrong. And so this weakness of Timothy would be well compensated on that team.

And Paul does come to value Timothy as a fellow worker, as a brother in the Lord. He saw him as a co-laborer, as an equal with him in the Lord. Timothy was also prone to physical sickness, So Paul instructed him to take a little wine for his stomach's sake and for his frequent ailments. But we see then in Timothy the character of one who is filled with the Holy Spirit. The character of one who perseveres, and his character is proven.

And Paul sees then these gifts and takes him to be his protege, to train him for the ministry. And in this way, through the labor of a mother and a grandmother who were in a very difficult situation, God raised up a mighty man of faith, a mighty man of God, who was greatly used in strengthening and the equipping of the early church in that very first century. May the Lord raise up in our midst men of God equipped for the gospel ministry. Heavenly Father we thank you for your word for the examples that it gives to us. Lord, may we learn from these examples.

May you also encourage us and strengthen us in our times of doubt, in our times where We are tempted to be discouraged, to lose hope. Lord, may you remind us that there is nothing too hard for you to do. There is nothing that is impossible for you to do. There is nothing that can stop you from being able to raise up from the stones a witness to yourself. We pray, Lord, that you might raise up in our midst such mighty men of faith and call them to the gospel ministry, to be your servants and your messengers and your heralds.

We ask this in Jesus' name.