New Testament depictions of Timothy

Acts 16:1-3. While Paul is on his second missionary journey, Christians at Lystra in Asia Minor commend Timothy to Paul, and Paul decides to take him along on the journey. Luke tells us that Timothy's mother was a Jewish believer but his father was Greek and apparently unbelieving. Paul had him circumcised to avoid scandalizing Jews. Based on the ensuing silence, it appears that Timothy accompanied Paul and Silas during their journey to Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea.

Acts 17:13. Timothy stays with Silas in Berea while Paul is taken to the coast to escape from Jewish opponents.

Acts 18:5. Paul had gone to Athens and then Corinth. Silas and Timothy meet up with him in Corinth. From silence in the narrative, it appears that Timothy was with Paul for the next year in Corinth and then accompanied him on his trip to Ephesus and his 3-year ministry there.

Acts 19:22. Paul sends Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia while he remains at Ephesus. Paul later travels to Macedonia himself and meets up with Timothy in Macedonia for the sail to Jerusalem. From subsequent silence in the narrative, it may appear that Timothy was with Paul during his trials in Jerusalem, his trip to Ptolemais, and his voyage to Rome.

1 Corinthians 4:17; 16:10-11. Paul tells the Corinthians he will send Timothy to act as his representative/advocate in encouraging the divisive Corinthians. He urges the Corinthians to show hospitality to Timothy as they would to Paul himself.

Doing good for somebody without expecting something in return makes me think of parenting. When your child is 3 weeks old, you feed her when she cries in the middle of the night, and you don't expect her to give you a kiss to say thank you. When she is 2 years old and can give you that kiss, she is saying "No!" to simple requests. You discipline temper tantrums with restraint and patience and don't expect her to respond "OK, Dad" to every instruction. When she is 5 years old and no longer throws tantrums, you answer her questions about everything and don't expect her to give you a moment's peace to think. When she is 13 years old and you finally have that moment's peace, you have to dedicate it to coming up with ways to help her work through the emotional turmoil of puberty, and you don't expect her to just "stuff it." When the emotions begin to subside and she enters young adulthood at last, you face the risk of grave disappointment as she begins to make major life decisions in ways you didn't expect or prepare for and certainly don't approve of .... Somebody once said, "When I was 15 years old I thought my parents were idiots. Now that I'm 25 my parents are geniuses. How did they get so smart so fast?"

The essence of parenting is sacrifice. Sure, there are rewards. Sometimes they even come from your kids. But if you expect to be rewarded for parenting at the time you're doing it, you are an idiot. More often than not, the only "reward" you experience from doing good for your children is the inner satisfaction of knowing that you're doing the right thing. If you can be content with that, you're ready to be a parent. Apply that same principle to the rest of your relationships, and you have what Jesus was driving at.

Making Decisions

Course Outline

Week	Topic	Text(s)
1	Why this class?
2	What I should want out of life: the glory of God.	Exodus 32:1-14
3	What I should want out of life: the well-being of everybody	Luke 14:1-14
4	How I get this stuff: discipleship	Philippians 2:1-11
5	How I figure out what I'm supposed to do	Proverbs 1-3
6	How I put food on the table	Luke 12:22-34; 1 Corinthians 12
7	How I build my family	1 Corinthians 7; Ephesians 5:22-6:4
8	How I spend my wealth	2 Corinthians 8-9
9	What I do with my "free time"	Luke 10:25-37
10	How I deal with the consequences of my decisions	Luke 19:1-10

Watch for follow-up posts each week, in which I will post more details on issues brought up in our sessions together and raise more questions to think about.