Paul’s Encouragement to Timothy and Us
Knowing that Timothy was young and insecure, the Apostle Paul encouraged him with these words >
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” 9 (Now this, “He ascended”–what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head–Christ—16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working
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by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. 17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:1-18.
There is much more to Paul’s encouragement, but these selected verses conveyed the truth that the Lord created specific offices for the vitality of the church and gifted certain men to administer the function of each office. Paul pointed out that even though each office had a different function it was a unified the work. The purpose of which “was the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”
Paul wanted Timothy to be mature in his ministry, not tossed about by every wind of doctrine and he wanted Timothy to lead the church in that same direction.
Isn’t this what the Lord wants of the church today, to equip and mature the saints, all persons who are truly possessing Christians? There is after all only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father. We will not be effectual in this cause if we are ourselves are tossed about by every wind of doctrine and not unified in our faith.
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