Acts 16:1-5. 7-31-31. The Interplay Between Missionaries And The Local Church – my devotional

Acts 16:1-5                                                                                   Kevin E. Jesmer

Key Verse: 16:1                                                                           7-31-13

“Paulcame also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.” (ESV)

      Dear Lord, thank you for Christian friends. We had such great fellowship, Jason, Myra, Rob and my two boys. It was blessed because of Jesus and faith in Christ. Thank you for providing us with Christian fellowship. I also pray for the Christian fellowship that you have created at the UBF International Bible Conference. Fill my heart with messages related to your love and to your world mission command. Help me to be a missionary one day. I pray that bless all attendants to be strengthened in your love and grace. Come to my heart as I meditate on your word. I thank you and I pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Part 1: Paul Decides To Take Timothy (1-3)

God was forming a missionary team to spread the Gospel among the gentiles. Look at verses 1-3, “Paulcame also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. ² He was well spoken of by the brothersat Lystra and Iconium. ³ Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.”  (ESV)

Paul was looking for a person whom he could come alongside and encourage to grow as a disciple and missionary. He wanted to build a missionary team. Barnabas was already a close team members. Paul had hoped that Mark would have been another, but it was not the will of God. God had other plans for Mark. Not everyone is called to be on certain missionary teams. And so God led Paul to the person of God’s choice. When Paul returned to Lystra, where he had been stoned and left for dead, he met the small group of courageous believers. Among them were Timothy and his mother. Look at verse 3a, “Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him,…” Timothy would be a close team member and through this team God was going to spread the Gospel across the Roman Empire.

I can see the importance of putting together the right team members when one is going to preach the Gospel. We need a team to do the work of God. We can not do it alone. We need to have co-workers, fellow laborers. There needs to be fellowship among us. We need to have people to share the load. The team cannot just be your wife and your young kids. There will be a time when your kids will struggle with their faith for 4 years as they find their personal faith. There will be 15 years of busy-ness, taking care of the needs of the family. It is so hard to make an environment where young believers can have Christian fellowship. They will always be introduced to our busy schedule. There is no time to listen and talk and laugh and share some “God given” moments together. There must be a team of people, spiritually mature people who can be “team” players. That is what we were lacking in the 12 years living as a single family house church at NIU. I appreciate all the people that God did send. But we should have formed a team before we came and our team needed to be open to following the “Missio Dei”…The mission of God.

I am thankful for what is happening with the mission to NW Ontario. The time is being taken to form a gospel mission team. The possible team members graduated from NIU together. They participate in Campus Crusade for Christ. They are receiving two year training at a missions agency and are receiving some field work training together in hard to reach areas. They are even having kids at the same time. There is time for other members of the team to form a relationship, like our family and Pastor Steve and the elders of two churches and a missions agency. It is an amazing team that God is bringing together. It transcends several separate organizations working together. It is also transcending denominations. This team, as it is forming is truly bringing glory to God. I am so thankful that I can actually witness this Gospel team formation. It is unfolding like the book of Acts. It is really happening. Praise the Lord. May God’s will be done.

Paul was involved in the act of choosing a potential team member. Look at verse 3a, “Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him…”  Paul had his eyes open to see whom could share in the kingdom work with. What was his criteria? Was Timothy tall with long flowing hair and a P-90X physique? Did he have a magnetic, charismatic personality that could keep millions glued to his every word? No. What was the criteria? I think that 1 Timothy 2:1-2 reveals Paul’s criteria? “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, ² and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful menwho will be able to teach others also.” (ESV) The criteria is faithfulness. The definition of faithful is, “full of faith; steadfast in affection or allegiance, firm in adherence to promises or in observance of duty, given with strong assurance, true to the facts, to a standard, or to an original.” (http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/faithful) Some synonyms are faith, loyal, conscientious, and binding. Paul saw that Timothy was faithful. Timothy was full of faith. He was steadfast in affection and allegiance (primarily to Christ). He was firm in his sense of duty to the Missio Dei. He had a strong assurance of his calling. He held to the Christian standard, Jesus Christ and God’s word. He was willing to learn from Paul’s example also. These were the spiritual qualities that Timothy possessed, that attracted Paul to make him a member of the team.

I thank God for Pastor Steve, the young missionary families, the elders of KBC and the people of TET, thinking that I can be part of this team as an off site person. I am no “Timothy”. I am “me” with all my sins, faults and weaknesses. But by the grace of our Lord Jesus I can be part of this wonderful Gospel mission team.  Praise the Lord.

God respects our choices. We have the power to choose. In the Garden, Adam was able to choose. And God respected his choices. Paul was scouting around and God led him to Timothy and he chose Timothy. I pray that God may grant the leaders of TET and the missionary couples to choose team members very wisely.

Paul was a good disciple maker. Timothy had not been circumcised because his father was Greek. Paul had just won the theological battle about circumcision, and was visiting the churches with the good news that conforming to Jewish religious laws was not necessary for Christians. But he circumcised Timothy anyway, because of the Jews. He wanted to be able to come among them and preach the liberating Gospel to them. Paul was teaching Timothy to be all things to all people.

I can see the mentoring that Paul was doing here. Timothy may have never understood the necessity to become all things to all people. But Paul wanted to impart this knowledge to Timothy so that Timothy could be a more culturally sensitive and effective servant of the Gospel. As a team member, the ones with more experience in the Gospel can impart their wisdom to others and disciple them. I saw spiritual maturity when I witnessed Pastor Steve’s counseling of the team members. He imparted wisdom. I was inspired to grow as a Christian counselor. He was mentoring all of us and showing us how to mature as disciples.

Part 2: Strengthened In The Faith (4-5)

This team of missionaries was a great blessing to the local churches. Look at verses 4-5, “As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. ⁵ So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.”

As Paul and Timothy worked together, encouraging the work of the greater church body, the believers were strengthened. They were encouraged when they saw Paul’s and Timothy’s faith and, especially, when they learned that all they needed in order to be God’s people was faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The right team, co-working together and following the leading of the Holy Spirit, can be very effective in encouraging to the local churches. The work of God was exciting and the numbers of disciples grew. We tend to think that excitement about Jesus and the work of God and the increase in numbers comes with the more Bible studies we have and the more we deny ourselves to pick up our crosses. But I see the interplay between the missionary team and the local church as they preach the gospel together, as being the exciting part. We, as a team, can be used by God to strengthen the faith of the members of the local church and be used as a catalyst to grow the church. (and I am not saying that we must stick to our own denomination.)  I can see it in the venture that God is leading us into. KBC, TET and the BaptistChurch and the missionaries in PickleLake and the couple in CatLake are all very encouraged. This encouragement will only grow as we follow God’s leading in this mission. Fruit is being born and will continue to be born.

This team was very “local church” focused. They had their mission, but included in the mission, was the strengthening and encouraging the local churches in the various cities. In this way the missionary team and the local churches work hand in hand and mutually encouraging one another.  May this type of mission paradigm unfold in NW Ontario.

Prayer: Lord, establish missionary teams that can work hand in hand with the local churches.

One Word: We need to all work together.