Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Timothy, Pastor and Confessor

I’ll never forget it. When I was ordained and installed as a pastor I received a letter from “Pastor C”. He was writing to express his joy for the occasion and encourage me in my ministry. This was a special letter to me because if it weren’t for Pastor C (humanly speaking) I wouldn’t be a pastor. When I went to L.A. Lutheran High School as a sophomore Pastor C was beginning his first call at the same time as a teacher. What a great teacher! Smart, great speaker, funny. And I was fascinated with his knowledge of the Scriptures. About the same time my pastor accepted a call elsewhere and our congregation asked Pastor C to be our interim pastor. Now I got to hear him on Sunday mornings as well preaching the Word of God and leading us in worship. I wanted to be just like him when I grew up. So when I received that letter from him it was special.

I wonder if Timothy felt like that when Paul wrote to him. Here Timothy was a young pastor, newly ordained and installed, and Paul, his father in the faith [1 Timothy 1:1-2] was writing to him to express his joy and give him encouragement. I imagine that letter was very special to Timothy.

And the great thing about it all is that we get to be the recipients of it as well. Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is our father in the faith as well through his letter to Timothy and his other letters in the New Testament. God loves to send us people who have a passion for God’s Word. That’s why God placed Timothy where He did. Why he sent Paul to instill in him a passion for the same Word of God. Because it’s not only those people, like Paul, Timothy, Pastor C, that are so important to us but the Person they love to bring to us through their preaching, teaching, and living—Jesus Christ. May God use us in the same way for others.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Paul. I had never thought much about Paul and Timothy's relationship. Very insightful -- and helpful in to "humanizing" Paul (the apostle) a bit more.

Monica

rev.will said...

Thanks Monica. Yeah, there's so much in the Bible I often pass right over that I never really think about. The more I dig into it in fact the more I find things that I had never seen before.