Today in the Church Calendar we celebrate the lives of Timothy and Titus,
with a thank you to Pastor Johnny Dyer.
Timothy my True Son in the Faith, I have no one else like him. Died AD 97.
The son of a mixed marriage; his mother, who evidently instructed him in the Scriptures, was a Jewess and his father a Greek (Acts 16:1; 2 Tim. 1:5). He was a native of Lystra (Acts 16:1) and was highly esteemed by his Christian brethren both there and in Iconium (Acts 16:2). When he became a Christian is not specifically stated, but it is a reasonable inference that he was a convert of Paul’s first missionary journey, which included Lystra in its itinerary, and that on that occasion he witnessed Paul’s sufferings (2 Tim. 3:11). It is not certain when Timothy’s mother Eunice became a Christian, perhaps before Timothy, but certainly before Paul’s second missionary journey. 1. Timothy often traveled with Paul. Timothy's mother was Jewish and his father was Greek,[4] but he had not been circumcised, and Paul now ensured that this was done, according to the text, to ensure Timothy’s acceptability to the Jews. According toMcGarvey[5] Paul performed the operation "with his own hand", but others claim this is unlikely and nowhere attested.[citation needed] He was ordained[6] and went with Paul on his journeys through Phrygia, Galatia, Mysia, Troas, Philippi, Veria, and Corinth. His mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, are noted as eminent for their piety and faith,[7] which indicates that they may have also been Christians. Timothy is praised by Paul for his knowledge of the Scriptures (in the 1st century mostly the Septuagint, see Development of the New Testament canon#Clement of Rome), and is said to have been acquainted with the Scriptures since childhood.[8] That Timothy was jailed at least once during the period of the writing of the New Testament is implied by the writer of Hebrews mentioning Timothy's release at the end of the epistle. It is also apparent that Timothy had some type of stomach malady, owing to Paul's advice in 1 Timothy 5:23, counseling Timothy to "No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments." Paul commanded Timothy to remain in Ephesus (1 Timothy 1) "I command you to stay there in Ephesus" to prevent heresy from infecting the church in Ephesus. Paul also gave Timothy instructions for establishing Elders and Deacons there. These very guidelines have become the commonly used guidelines among churches across the world to this day. According to later tradition, Paul consecrated Timothy as bishop of Ephesus in the year 65, where he served for 15 years. In the year 97 (with Timothy dying at age 80), Timothy tried to halt a pagan procession of idols, ceremonies, and songs. In response to his preaching of the gospel, the angry pagans beat him, dragged him through the streets, and stoned him to death. In the 4th century, his relics were transferred to the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. 2
Titus:
Died in the year 107, aged about 95 3 Titus (Person).3.
One of Paul’s converts—“my true child in a common faith” (Ti 1:4)—who became an intimate and trusted associate of the apostle in his mission of planting Christianity throughout the Mediterranean world (2 Cor 8:23; 2 Tm 4:10; Ti 1:5). Mentioned frequently in Paul’s letters (eight times in 2 Cor, twice in Gal, once each in Ti and 2 Tm), his name occurs nowhere in Acts, a puzzling silence some have sought to explain with the fascinating, but uncertain, suggestion that he was a brother of Luke, the author of Acts. Unlike Timothy, who was half Jewish, Titus was born of gentile parents. Nothing is recorded of the circumstances surrounding his conversion and initial encounter with Paul. He is first introduced as a companion of Paul and Barnabas on a visit to Jerusalem (Gal 2:3). The occasion appears to have been the Jerusalem Council, about A.D. 50, which Paul and Barnabas attended as official delegates from the church at Antioch not long after the apostle’s first missionary journey (Acts 15). With the hotly contested issue of compulsory circumcision of gentile converts to Christianity before the Council, Paul decided to make a test case of Titus. The Council decided in Paul’s favor against the Judaizing party, and Titus was accepted by the other apostles and leaders of the Jerusalem church without submitting to the rite of circumcision. Thus Titus became a key figure in the liberation of the infant church from the Judaizing party. Very likely Titus accompanied Paul from that time on, but he does not appear again until Paul’s crisis with the church at Corinth during his third missionary journey. According to 2 Corinthians, while Paul was conducting an extended ministry in Ephesus, he received word that the Corinthian church had turned hostile toward him and renounced his apostolic authority. Other attempts at reconciliation, including a personal visit, having failed, he sent Titus to Corinth to try to repair the breach. When Titus rejoined Paul somewhere in Macedonia, where the apostle had traveled from Ephesus to meet him, he bore the good news that the attitude of the Corinthians had changed and their former love and friendship were now restored (2 Cor 7:6, 7). In view of this development Paul sent Titus back to Corinth bearing 2 Corinthians and with instructions to complete the collection of the relief offering for the Jewish Christians of Judea which he had previously begun, but not finished (8:6, 16). In this venture also Titus was apparently successful (Rom 15:26). On the assumption that Paul was released after his first Roman imprisonment, recorded in the final chapters of Acts, it appears that Titus accompanied him on a mission to the island of Crete. On departing from Crete, Paul left Titus behind as his apostolic deputy to consolidate the new Christian movement there (Ti 1:5). The assignment was difficult, for the Cretans were unruly and the struggling church was already invaded by false teachers (vv 10–16). His handling of the Corinthian problem some years before, however, demonstrated that Titus possessed the spiritual earnestness, skillful diplomacy, and loving concern required to meet the present challenge, and Paul was confident that this new commission was therefore safe in his hands. Paul’s letter to Titus, one of his three pastoral letters, was written somewhat later to encourage Titus in his Cretan ministry. The letter closes with the apostle’s request that Titus join him at Nicopolis, a town on the west coast of Greece, where he planned to spend the winter (Ti 3:12). Most likely it was from Nicopolis, or else later from Rome where the apostle was imprisoned again and eventually martyred, that Paul sent Titus on the mission to Dalmatia, a Roman province in what is now Yugoslavia, on which he had embarked when Paul wrote 2 Timothy, the last of his letters (2 Tm 4:10). If later tradition is correct, Titus returned to Crete, where he served as bishop until advanced age. 4
Their legacy for us today.
Carrying the vision of another, and walking in the footsteps of another until you walk in your own.
At 51, if there is one person to whom I am always grateful it is a Pastor Johnny Dyer. Johnny was my father in the faith, he baptised me, officiated at my wedding, and dedicated all three of my children with me to the Lord. He was the one who persuaded the Elders of the Church to raise the cash to send me to Bible College. It was he who set me off on my first failed church plant and helped me to pick up the pieces after. He would put books by Tozer, Spurgeon and other spiritual greats into my hands. He took me with him on my first missionary trip to Romania. He has wept with me, laughed with me, given me the strongest telling off I know. He even stood me down from ministry when I became too puffed up and rightly so. He then re- hired me when I had learned to humble myself. And then, when the time was right he released me into all that God had for me. Today he is in retirement still preaching, writing, encouraging and travelling to the nations as he approaches 80.
I haven't seen him in three years and yet, I still hear his voice when I preach, when I pray, and when I counsel or speak into situations. I hear his stock phrases spoken through me. I will always thank God for him. Was he perfect, far from it. I have seen his strengths and his weaknesses, like all he is flawed, yet in my eyes a great man. I have learnt from his successes and from watching his mistakes. I am grateful to God for his weaknesses and his mistakes they were a tool in Gods hands to form me. When I grow old I pray I will have a legacy of spiritual sons as he has had.
Walking in the footsteps of another is key to being a disciple of Jesus. In our fiercely individualistic age people no longer seek this sadly. I believe this is the key reason churches have such poor leadership pipelines. It is rarely a theological college that produces a minister of the Gospel (although they have a vital training role) It is usually a man or women who makes disciples of others. But to do that you must first walk in the footsteps of another. So as we celebrate these two disciples of the mighty Apostle Paul today; for the sake of the future can I ask whose footsteps are you walking in?
References:
1, Guthrie, D. (1996). Timothy. In D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer & D. J. Wiseman (Eds.), New Bible dictionary (D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer & D. J. Wiseman, Ed.) (3rd ed.) (1189). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
2 St Timothy, Accessed at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Timothy on 26th of January 2013.
3, St titus acessed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_(Biblical)on 13th of January 2013.
4 Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (2072–2073). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
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