A Good Reputation
When we are selecting spiritual leaders,
we should look for individuals
whom people trust.
Here's Dr. Gene Getz:
Now this Principle is clearly related
to another Principle we looked at,
Principle number 27 earlier when we talked about
appointing qualified spiritual leaders.
But in this particular situation,
the focus is on Timothy and gives us
a wonderful illustration of that Principle.
Now in order to understand this,
let's take a look back.
Let's go back on the first journey.
Let's go back to the persecution
that came to Paul and Barnabas,
but particularly to Paul, on that first journey
when he was in Timothy's hometown Lystra.
And we read about it
in Acts chapter 14, verse 19:
Some Jews came from Antioch...
And again, now this is Antioch of Pisidia.
This is not Antioch of Syria.
This is on the first journey.
...Some Jews came from Antioch
and Iconium, and when they won over crowds,
they stoned Paul and dragged him
out of the city, thinking [that] he was dead. ...
Now notice the scene.
Notice what happened:
...After the disciples gathered around him...
Now again, who are the disciples?
The disciples are those who put
their faith in Jesus Christ.
They were called disciples
before they were called Christians.
So it says:
...after the disciples gathered around him,
he got up and went into [the] town.
The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.
Now what I want you to imagine is
that in that circle of disciples,
no doubt was a young man named Timothy.
See this was the first time Paul came
to his hometown preaching the gospel.
So Timothy had seen what happened.
Timothy had seen Paul stoned.
And no doubt he's standing there
with his mother. And standing there
with his grandmother--
Lois was his grandmother.
And Eunice actually was his mother.
And we know the names of these two women
because in his--Paul's last letter to Timothy
he mentions them by name.
So evidently, they were standing in that circle
and we read about it in Acts 16:1:
Paul went on to Derbe and Lystra,
where there was a disciple named Timothy...
Now this is the return trip.
This is the second journey.
And they come once again
to Timothy's hometown.
And notice we have an identification here:
...the son of a believing Jewish woman...
That was Eunice. That was his mother.
But notice it says:
...his father was a Greek.
An unbeliever.
And it could be that at this very moment
when Paul came back to Lystra,
Timothy's father may have been
worshiping in the temple of Zeus,
which was right outside of the city of Lystra.
We know there was a temple of Zeus.
So he was a pagan, an idolater.
And so we have an identification here
relative to this young man.
And the fact is, he's beginning
to grow spiritually, obviously because
notice in verse 2, we read these words--
Timothy's reputation:
The brothers and sisters at Lystra
and Iconium spoke highly of him.
Now something has happened, you see,
in Timothy's life from the first time
that Paul came to Lystra preaching
the gospel and was stoned.
And now with Paul and Silas coming
back to that city on the second journey.
His reputation as a believer,
as a disciple, has grown significantly.
Because when Paul came back,
people recognized him.
You can imagine the reunion they had.
Talking about the first experience.
Talking about the time that he was stoned
and how God healed him.
And meeting Timothy maybe for the first time.
He may have met Timothy casually.
He may not have remembered him.
But boy, the brothers and sisters
from both Lystra and Iconium--
although it was just fifteen miles away.
That was a long way in that time.
[They] spoke highly of Timothy.
His reputation was growing.
And it was because of that reputation
that Paul made a decision.
And here we have it in verse 3 of Acts 16:
Paul wanted Timothy to go with him; ...
Why? Because he had a good reputation.
It doesn't say that the Holy Spirit said to Paul--
though the Holy Spirit could have:
I want you to take Timothy with you
because I've chosen him to be your companion.
We don't read that.
What we read is: Paul wanted him
to go with him because he had
a good reputation.
And again, I want to point out the fact
that as the story unfolds,
God puts more human responsibility on us
to make decisions based upon what
we already know from the Scriptures.
Now we'll find out as we go along--
we get into 1st Timothy and into Titus--
Paul really spells out
what it means to have a good reputation.
But the fact is, he had that good reputation.
And because of that Paul decided that he wanted
him to be a missionary companion.
And you know what happened.
Timothy joined the missionary team.
Became a very, very faithful companion,
until finally Paul lost his life because of Nero
and the martyrdom that took place there.
Now here's a little bit of parenthesis
in relationship to the Principle.
Because the Principle relates
to good reputation.
It relates to choosing people
based on good reputation.
But I want to just underscore
something that's fascinating
that introduces us really to another Principle.
But I am simply going to point this out
because we read that when:
Paul wanted Timothy to go with him;
so he took him and circumcised him
because of the Jews who were in those places,
since they all knew that his father was a Greek. ...
Now isn't it fascinating?
They went all the way to Jerusalem.
And they had this intense discussion
with the believers who were Pharisees
who said: You have to be circumcised
in order to be saved.
And Paul and Barnabas argued in a
very straight forward way, along with Peter,
and James the Lord's half-brother,
that circumcision had
nothing to do with salvation.
But here, Paul decides to circumcise him.
Why? Because of the Jews.
This, you see, is a very interesting
insight into Paul's methodology.
Let me finish the paragraph and
we'll come back to that:
...[he] circumcised him because of the Jews
who were in those places, since they all knew
that his father was a Greek.
As they traveled through the towns,
they delivered the decisions reached
by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem
for the people to observe.
So the churches were strengthened in [the] faith
and grew daily in numbers.
In other words, these local
churches were maturing.
And they were growing spiritually.
But they were also reaching out.
Because more and more people
were coming to know Jesus Christ.
Now back to the issue of circumcision.
You see, as I said, this is freedom
in methodology.
In 1st Corinthians, Paul wrote these words:
To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; ...
That explains why Paul
had Timothy circumcised:
. . . To those who are without the law, [Gentiles]
like one without the law
. . . I have become all things to all people,
so that I may by every possible means
save some.
In other words, as far as Paul was concerned,
circumcision had nothing to do with salvation.
And we see this very clearly.
If they were going on to minister
primarily to Gentiles,
Paul wouldn't have probably had him circumcised.
But because they were ministering
primarily to the Jewish community,
he simply didn't want that to be
a stumbling block in the sense of
communicating the message
of salvation by grace through faith.
So here you have freedom in methodology.
Here's the Principle.
Now let's come back to the Principle.
I just wanted to insert an explanation
of what happened there.
There's no contradiction between
the discussions they had in Jerusalem
about circumcision and salvation
by grace through faith.
It had nothing to do with it.
This is methodology.
And Paul never compromised his message.
But he was always free in the area of methodology
in order to win people to Jesus Christ.
Now back to the Principle--A Good Reputation:
When we are selecting spiritual leaders,
we should look for individuals
whom people trust.
And that's exactly what we see here
illustrated in Timothy's life.
He was well spoken of.
When we get to 1st Timothy,
and this was written many years later
from the apostle Paul. After he got out
of prison the first time.
And he wrote to Timothy who
was in Ephesus.
And he gave him these instructions
regarding the appointment of spiritual leaders.
And he said this--1st Timothy chapter 3:
This saying is trustworthy:
"If anyone aspires to be an overseer,
he desires a noble work."
An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach..."
Which simply means a good reputation.
And that's what Timothy had.
He was well spoken of.
And there were reasons for that
good reputation, obviously.
But the important thing is,
he had a good reputation.
He was well spoken of by the brothers
in Lystra and Iconium.
We see the same thing when
Paul later wrote to Titus.
Here it's translated blameless:
The reason I left you in Crete was
to set right what was left undone and,
as I directed you, to appoint elders
in every town.
[And then he says:]
An elder must be blameless...
Or he must have a good reputation.
By the way, when he wrote to Timothy
and talked about elders or spiritual leaders,
he talked about overseers.
He used the word "episkopoi."
But here when he wrote to Titus,
when he was in Crete, he used a synonym.
He talks about elders
which would be "presbuteroi."
In other words, he used these words
interchangeably to refer to the
spiritual leaders of the church.
But the important point here is,
a good reputation is very, very
important relative to spiritual leaders
in the church.
[It] leads to a question for application,
which we call Reflection and Response:
What specific things do you think
these [brothers and sisters there in Lystra]
may have been saying about Timothy?
Cause when Paul arrived back there
on that second missionary journey,
it says: the brothers and sisters
spoke well of him.
What do you think they were talking about?
Well that opens the door,
I think for speculation.
But I like to go back
to the passage that Paul wrote to Timothy.
The last letter that Paul ever wrote.
And he knew he was going to die.
And he wrote these words to Timothy
in chapter 3 of 2nd Timothy:
But as for you, [Timothy,] continue in what
you have learned and firmly believed.
You know those who taught you,
and you know that from infancy
you have known the sacred Scriptures,
which are able to give you wisdom
for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ...
In other words, there he's referring to
his mother and his grandmother.
They were God-fearing Jews who came to Christ
no doubt on the first journey.
But they had taught Timothy from childhood.
Even though his father was a pagan--
probably worshiping in the temple of Zeus.
He had a faithful mother
and a faithful grandmother
who believed the Old Testament.
And so he goes on to say:
...All Scripture [Timothy] is inspired by God...
Not just the Old Testament
but the New Testament.
...All Scripture is inspired by God
and is profitable for teaching,
for rebuking, [for] correcting,
for training in righteousness,
so that the man of God may be complete,
equipped for every good work.
I believe that here at this point
in time when Paul's writing in this letter,
he's really commending Timothy
for his teaching regarding godliness.
For rebuking those who are walking
out of the will of God.
For correcting those who have false doctrine.
For training them in righteousness.
But I believe it's also a reflection of what
the people were seeing in Timothy.
There when Paul came back to his home town
when everyone spoke well of him.
Already he was becoming this man of God.
He was already reflecting "training
in righteousness" that he was learning
that gave him that good reputation.
Now beyond that we can speculate
as I reflect on the question:
What were people saying about him
when people Paul came back?
I think they might have been saying:
Timothy's a good son.
I think they might have been saying:
He really loves his mother
and his grandmother.
And I think they might have been saying:
In spite of the fact that his father
is a Greek and a pagan,
and an idolater and an adulterer,
and a worshiper of false gods;
yet Timothy has been respectful of his dad.
Even though he hasn't walked in
his father's lifestyle, he still has been respectful.
Because Paul taught him, probably,
to respect your father and your mother.
And even though he's an unbeliever,
I think that the people there saw his attitude.
And without compromising his faith,
he still respected his father
because he was his father.
I'm conjecturing. But I think that's
a very possible scenario.
And one other thing I think that
they may have been saying about Timothy
that gave him that good reputation:
Here is a real servant of Jesus Christ and others.