Our Charge is Love
Anna, who is also known to many of us as “Mimi”, is one of our trainees and she shares what she has learnt about discipleship through this traineeship. She reflects on 1 Timothy 1, a passage that the trainees studied together.
Aside from reading, reflecting and discussing books, one of the things we do in the traineeship program is to reflect on Bible passages. 1 Timothy 1 is a passage that stood out to me since it made me meditate on discipleship and the heart of ministry. I will share my reflections under three main headings:
Discipleship needs relationship
Attributes of love in the context of discipleship
Waging the good warfare
Like modern writers, Paul also used literary devices to give emphasis on certain statements. One such device is called chiasm where a sequence of ideas are presented and repeated in a reverse order. Usually the main idea is at the center of the chiastic structure. You can think of it as the patty to the burger; the main point from which the letter was expounded. We see this in 1 Timothy 1:3-7. Let me demonstrate…
A - As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, (1 Tim 1:3)
B - nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. (1 Tim 1:4)
C - The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Tim 1:5)
B - Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, (1 Tim 1:6)
A - desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. (1 Tim 1:7)
Thus, A talks about people who desires to teach but is teaching a wrong doctrine while in B, Paul presented what are vain discussions that diverts the focus from the charge for those who wants to teach or disciple. C is the patty to the chiastic burger of Paul’s letter to Timothy for this chapter. As such, this “charge” will be the theme of my reflection.
Discipleship needs relationship
As Paul was “charging” Timothy to do (or not do) certain things, Timothy ought to also charge the people in his local church to teach sound doctrine (1 Tim 1:3). It struck me how commanding Paul was with Timothy, but then I noticed the closeness of their relationship in 1 Timothy 1:2 and 1 Timothy 1:18. Paul refers to Timothy as his child. It is believed that Paul and Timothy’s relationship spans around 20 years. Discipleship can only happen when there is a relationship and relationship takes time to build.
In an era of instant gratification, I often fail to build my muscle of perseverance. I want to see immediate change in people whom God had given me the opportunity to disciple. I often find myself frustrated that I am not seeing the return for my investment of time, which is a changed heart. However, I realised that even in Paul and Timothy’s case, Paul’s mentorship was built upon the sincere faith that Timothy’s grandmother and mother had modeled to him. I am reminded of 1 Corinthians 3:6, where different people could be given the opportunity to do discipling with a person in different seasons of one’s life. So let us be encouraged that our discipleship also has its times and its seasons. We ought to be faithful in the task given at this point and time and let God worry about what comes next.
Attributes of love in the context of discipleship
Coming back to the charge that Paul issued to Timothy, which is “love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” Paul gave three attributes of this godly love; pure heart, good conscience and sincere faith. Instead of defining what these are, he illustrated the opposites of each in 1 Timothy 1:9 (also is chiastic manner; starting from the last attribute mentioned).
Sincere faith, the opposite is lawlessness and disobedience
Good conscience, the opposite is ungodly and sinful
Pure heart, the opposite is unholy and profane
Paul even mentioned examples of people who exhibit these opposite attributes. How easy it is for me to think that I am not one of those listed in 1 Timothy 1:9-10. But in 1 Timothy 1:12-15, Paul confessed that he was a blasphemer, persecutor and insolent opponent of the faith. He is basically saying that he was not any better and it was only by the strength of Christ and the mercy and grace of God that overflowed for him with the faith and love that are in Jesus that he came to serve Christ.
The sins mentioned are at its worst heinous but at its least insidious. It is the latter that got me examining my own life and if I can be totally honest, I too have been lawless and disobedient, ungodly and sinful, unholy and profaned the law of God. Indeed I need God’s law to remind me of how I fall short as a Christian. How can I even do discipling or teach others when I do not qualify? This is where the Gospel lifts the burden of my sinfulness and empowers me to serve Christ. Like Paul, Christ’s perfect patience is displayed in our realisation of sinfulness and inadequacy for service to Him. It is not by my qualifications but it is that Jesus qualified me. Like Paul in 1 Timothy 1:17, I am reminded that the glory is God’s and not mine: “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Therefore, let us confess our sins and weaknesses to God who is patient and full of mercy and grace. Let us be empowered to proclaim the Gospel that is at work in each of our lives. Hoping and praying that others may also have the same experience of forgiveness and salvation. It is with this aim that we love others out of a sincere faith that we have received mercy and grace from God through Christ, a good conscience that we have been saved by Jesus, and a pure heart that is set apart for the work of Christ. “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (1 Tim 1:5)
Waging the good warfare
We “wage the good warfare” because there are those that have made shipwreck of their faith and who will suffer the full consequences of sins by abandoning faith and their good conscience. Satan is the great accuser in Revelation 12:10-12, and so being handed over to Satan is to suffer the full consequences of sin for the mercy and forgiveness of God has been refused. It is good to note that in the context of chapter one, Timothy’s charge is to his congregation. In 1 Timothy 1:20, Hymenaeus and Alexander (who blasphemed) were part of the flock that Timothy shepherds. Paul knows the consequences and pain of being a blasphemer, for he was one (see 1 Timothy 1:13), and so he advised Timothy to not do the same mistake he did and to charge others not to go down that route as well.
This is the kind of warfare that needs to be waged, the kind where our lives display the Gospel and we lovingly urge others to have their lives impacted by the Gospel as well. As sinful human beings, we lean towards the opposite of the godly attributes of love and so we constantly need to remind ourselves of the Gospel and confess. The Gospel reminds us that we are forgiven and empowered through Christ to serve Him. So as we wage this war let us keep on praying Psalm 139:23-24:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!"