RESULTS THAT ARE BETTER THAN ANSWERED PRAYER
(I Tim. 3:14)
OVERVIEW OF I TIMOTHY 1:1 to 3:13
1:1-2 – Overview of Christian Faith based on names for God and the blessings He bestows on His people.
1:3-4a False teaching in Ephesus and how humanistic philosophy effects us today.
1:4b-6 – The goal of the command is love. (Loving God, fellow Christians, the non-Christian world)
1:7-8 – The law is good if used properly. (The law’s deterrent, punitive and educative purposes)
1:8-11 – “Whatever else …” The Gospel Ethic. (Law-Philia University)
1:11 – Our Relationship with “The Blessed God.” (Causing God pain or joy)
1:12-16 Why Paul considered himself the worst of sinners.
1:12-16 Conversion of the apostle Paul.
1:12-16 Paul’s call to ministry.
1:17 Paul’s doxology of praise for his conversion.
1:18-20 How to avoid shipwrecking our faith.
2:1-3 The Christian is to pray for all men.
2:4,6 Comparison of Calvinism & Armenianism.
2:5-6 The man, Christ Jesus, the only mediator.
2:1-7 The vision, the message, the means.
2:8-15 Treatment of women in the ancient world, the early church and the Bible.
2:8-15 Three key hermeneutic principles to follow when studying the Bible.
2:8 Praying Men with Peaceful Hearts
2:9-10 A First-Century Christian Woman’s Dress and Deeds
2:11-12 Does Submission Demand Silence?
2:13-15 Paul’s Logic for Requiring Women to Be Silent in The Ephesian House Churches.
3:1 Why Aspiring to Church Leadership Can Be a Good Thing.
3:2 Spiritual Gifting Required of an Ephesian Elder – Teaching
3:2 Spiritual Gifting Required of an Ephesian Elder – Hospitality
3:4-5 Spiritual Gifting Required of an Ephesian Elder –Leadership
3:2-7 Ethical Demands of the NT and the Ethics Tests for Elders
3:2-7 Ethical Qualities Required of an Ephesian Elder
3:8-13 The Ever Present Danger of Ethical Disconnect in a Christian’s Life
3:8-13 The Ministry of Deacons in the Early Church
3:9 Keeping Hold of the Deep Truths of the Faith
3:11 An Official Deaconesses in the NT Church?
3:14 Results That are Better Than Answered Prayer
Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:
He appeared in a body,
was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world,
was taken up in glory.
I. PAUL’S PASSION FOR THE CHURCH
“I don’t want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) …” (Rom 1:13).
“… out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. For we wanted to come to you – certainly I, Paul, did, again and again…” (I Thes. 2:17).
“Although I hope to come to you soon I am writing you these instructions …” (I Tim. 3:14).
“I became your father through the gospel” (I Cor. 4:15).
“I am now again in the pains of childbirth until Christ be formed in you” (Gal. 3:19).
“As apostles of Christ … we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children … you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God …” (I Thes 2:6-7, 11-12).
Paul’s activities from prison (II Tim 4:9-18).
ASK: What is Paul doing while he awaits his execution?
Asking Timothy to come to him, telling him to bring Mark who can help him. He sends Tychicus to Ephesus, asks for his cloak, scrolls, parchment, is writing a letter, giving advice, sharing a testimony, passing on greetings etc.
We deride people for cynicism, unbelief, skepticism but maybe the worst sin of all is apathy. We are passionless. The real question is “What makes me get out of bed in the morning?”
II. PAUL “HOPED” TO GO TO EPHESUS.
Our “longings” and “desires” always end up as prayers. I am sure Paul prayed sincerely that God would take him back to Ephesus to see Timothy.
Question: What are five ways God can respond to our longings / prayers? How might a wise father, when asked for a gift from his child, respond?
1. Give the gift immediately.
2. Give the gift at a later date.
3. Decline to give the gift.
4. Put conditions on the gift.
5. Give a gift that is better.
Have you ever thanked God for a gift / request that has been declined?
Have you ever seen a “better” gift come your way instead of the gift you had been praying for?
III. PAUL’S EXPERIENCE WITH GETTING A BETTER GIFT
17But, brothers, when we were torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. 18For we wanted to come to you–certainly I, Paul, did, again and again–but Satan stopped us. 19For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? 20Indeed, you are our glory and joy. 1So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. 2We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God’s fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, 3so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we were destined for them. (I Thes. 2:17-3:2)
1. Paul just planted a church in Thessalonica. He is now in southern Greece. He is a good church planter and knows that the two-three weeks he spent in planting the Thessalonian church was inadequate.
2. He longed to visit them but Satan stopped him. He could have said (1) Satan won this one; (2) God didn’t answer prayer; (3) Satan is more powerful than God; (4) I guess it doesn’t matter if we minister to the Thessalonians or not; (5) ??????
3. Paul was convinced that the Thessalonian church needed shepherding and he was convinced that Satan stopped him from going there. So he worked through a solution:
i. He sent a letter, I Thessalonians
ii. He sent Timothy.
4. I Thessalonians is the earliest of Paul’s letters to enter the NT canon. If he had given up, not followed through in seeking to meet the need of the Thessalonian church, we would not have I Thessalonians.
5. Paul was forced to start delegating ministry into the hands of his trainees. This may be one of the earliest examples of him delegating ministry.
6. Timothy became a strong Christian worker and eventually the key worker in Ephesus and recipient of two of the letters in the NT.
7. Paul’s unanswered prayer request / longing netted the church I Thessalonians which has been a blessing to millions during the last 2,000 years …. And also gave us a Biblical Model for delegation and training which has been a model for the church for the past two millennium.
8. Often our goals are right but our methodology wrong. God answers our prayers with better solutions, better gifts
9. Memorizing I Thessalonians in Indonesian in 1991. At the same time I was perplexed on how to reach the 12 million Muslim Madurese of East Java and the 34 million Sundanese of West Java. A fellow Christiana d I set up a strategy meeting at his training center in Lawang with all workers interested in the Madurese. I shared with them the verses above. We went on from that to produce a correspondence course that focused on Muslims (sending a letter) and also cultivated the idea of setting up indigenous Indonesian missions. We also were burdened for the Sundanese but Western missionaries were having a hard time getting visas into Indonesia. We believe God showed us based on these verses that an Indonesian Indigenous Mission that focused on the Sundanese would be one way to involve the Indonesian church in reaching the Sundanese. Thus, by God’s grace PARI was founded.
IV. PAUL’S UNFILLED DESIRE TO VISIT TIMOTHY IN EPHESUS
1. “Although I hoped to come to you soon, … I am writing you these instructions ….” (I Tim. 3:14).
2. “Thus by a deliberate providence of God the New Testament letters came to be written and have been preserved for the edification of the church in subsequent generations. If the apostles’ directions regarding the doctrine, ethics, unity and mission of the church had been given only in oral form, the church would have been like a mapless traveler and a rudderless ship. But because the apostolic instructions were written down, we know what we would not otherwise have known, namely how people ought to conduct themselves in the church” (Stott, pg 103).
SO WHAT???
1. We must learn to thank God for unanswered prayer.
2. Also we must learn to discern other, better answers to prayer than the answers we desired.
3. We need to remind ourselves that our loving Father will always give us what we need but not always what we want.
4. When we know we have a goal that is in line with God’s will we must keep praying and trying until we find God’s solution and way of working.
5. We must check our heart continually and flee apathy and develop a passion for the work of God.