1. A pastoral epistle and a dictionary for servants

2. Chapter 1 What can we learn? 1. We are called by God to serve him: “ 1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope”. This concept was clearly indicated in Mathew 4:19: “Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” If we face failures or disappointments in our ministry, we should remember that we are called by Him who can lead us in our ministry. Thus, we should not lose heart facing difficulties. He said “God our Savior…our hope” to remind Timothy that it is God who saves both the servants and those whom they serve. This thought is very comforting and empowers servants.

3. Lessons for servants 2. “Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord”. When you experience success, it is because of His grace. The more humble you are the more grace, mercy and peace you get as “the humble finds grace”. St. Mary was “full of grace” because of her exemplary humility. Be merciful and gentle to those whom you serve, as there will be no mercy to those who do not have mercy towards others.

4. Lessons for servants (cont.) 3. Paul’s charge concerning doctrine He warns Timothy (and consequently all servants) against false (non-orthodox) teachings and teachers. Therefore, servants should know their orthodox doctrine very well. False doctrines included Legalism and genealogies by Christian Jews, and Gnosis & Gnosticism by some pagans who became Christians

5. The heresy of gnosis and gnosticism Gnostic heretics believe that intellect not faith dictates doctrine. Therefore, they have obscene bizarre beliefs that included: Their belief in 2 gods: one for evil & one for good; the body belongs to the former god and the spirit belongs to the latter god. They believed that it is inappropriate for God to incarnate as the body is evil, so they denounced incarnation (similar to the Muslim belief). Alternatively, they introduced the idea of gods that are of intermediate nature between God and Man and believed that Christ is one of those intermediate kind of gods (similar to the heresy of Arius 100 years later that claimed that Christ was not a complete god and denied the divinity of Christ). Therefore we say in the Creed: “true God of true God”.

6. The heresy of gnosis and gnosticism (cont.) They also believed that God is known by intellect, therefore He is only appreciated by philosophers and intellectual people (opposite to what the Lord said that the simple are those who grasp faith). Also, they said as long as the body is evil, let it do what it wants and worship God with your mind, therefore allowing permissiveness (a remnant of which today is saying “one hour for God and one hour for your heart). On the other hand, a second group of gnostics claimed that if the body is evil, it should be tortured thereby banning marriage and “abstaining from food that God created to be received with thanksgiving”.

7. Lessons for servants (cont.) 4.Even though you have to defend your faith, make sure you do that with the aim of “godly edification which is in faith” avoiding endless unproductive disputes. 5.The most important message that servants have to convey to those they serve is “love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, 6 from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm”. The true Christian is the person who loves God and people and does not waste time in idle disputes.

8. Lessons for servants (cont.) 6. Do not desire to be a teacher as James said in his epistle “ 1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. 2 For we all stumble in many things”. If you teach be humble, merciful to people, and do not put on people burdens you cannot yourself bear, giving people hope. If you do not know, say I do not know…I will ask and find out…..rather than give wrong teaching.

9. Lessons for servants (cont.) 7.Humility: After he said “ 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust”, he humbled himself by remembering and reminding Timothy with his past. Despite the fact that he is a great apostle and a miracle worker, he does not deny his past (30 years earlier): “ 12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, 13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man;”. Every servant should know that it is God who gives him/her the power to serve His name and that they should thank Him for entrusting them with ministry. We are not worthy to serve the Lord but through His mercy he counts us faithful putting us into the ministry despite our sins. This is an example of God’s great mercy. If we remember God’s mercy to us all the time, we will be always zealous in our ministry. God could have selected other people who are more righteous than us to serve him, yet he selected us. This is a great privilege.

10. Lessons for servants (cont.) “but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief”. Even though he was very knowledgeable about the old testament, he did not make the connection between the scripture and Jesus Christ. But after the Lord appeared to him, he became the best person to see how the old testament talked about Jesus Christ (Hebrews). The gratefulness of Paul is shown in “ 14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus”. Servants should have this feeling towards God to have counted them worthy to serve Him without being worthy. This is grace. He also gives love and faith.

11. Lessons for servants (cont.) “15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. This is the message to every one we talk to. God has come to save us. However, at a personal level every one including the servants should feel that he/she is the chief of sinners and this salvation is personal. If you do not feel you are the chief of sinners, you will not ask for salvation. When you preach, apply it fist to yourself. Do not say this does not apply to me. Paul said that close to the end of his life, i.e., at the peak of his ministry. Yet he still considered himself the chief of sinners. This is amazing. It is not right to categorize the congregation into believers and sinners. All those in the church are sinners. We all fall and rise up again. To the end of our lives we should ask God to save us from sin, saying forgive me Lord I am a sinner (story of tax-collector and Pharisee).

12. Lessons for servants (cont.) “16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life”. Paul wonders why God did that to him. Out of humility, he said that God chose him to give hope to all sinners no matter what their sin is. Those who feel God’s grace to them, they praise him: “ 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen”.

13. Lessons for servants (cont.) 8.Fight the good fight: “ 18 This charge (verse 5) I commit to you, son Timothy, that ……you may wage the good warfare”. To fulfill any command is basically a fight you have to go through asking God’s help. Examples: love, avoiding judgment…etc. You may preach people to love each other and not to judge each other but you yourself is overcome by hatred, and judging others. IF heresies are not strongly fought the church becomes a shipwreck, e.g., Constantinopole (currently Turkey). In 2Tim 2:16, Hymenaeus believed in gnosis as mentioned earlier in addition to proclaiming that resurrection has already happened (resurrection of the souls )but no resurrection for the bodies. Paul as a Patriarch excommunicated the heretics thereby delivering them to Satan. Outside fellowship of the church=being delivered to Satan.