1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
2 To Timothy my true son in the faith:
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer
4 or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith.
First Paul remembers his calling and then to his dear son in the faith Timothy he says:
As I told you before stay there in Ephesus.
This is where Timothy is the head pastor or Bishop over the church.
I wonder if Timothy wasn't discouraged from doing ministry there. There were times when the church in Ephesus was healthy and thriving. Paul was a big part of founding the church there and some strong believers and teachers of the gospel had lived there. But it sounds like things had gotten bumpy and the church was going through some hard times. There were teachers leading people astray into false doctrines and other distractions. They had lost there focus on Jesus Christ and the work God called them too.
Sometimes I feel the same way in the ups and downs of ministry. Even as a student leader and more so now as staff the growth or lack there of in the InterVarsity body of Christ often made me discouraged. Just like Ephesus sometimes there are divisions. Sometimes leaders go astray. Almost all the time students push back from the work of mission and evangelism God calls us to. Its hard and scary when we would rather be safe and comfortable in the walls of the church, hiding from the world on a Christian retreat or cuddled up with your closest IV friends. But that is not the work God has called us to. We who are followers of Jesus are called to community that goes out on mission. The church is called to love and serve and go to the people who aren't in it yet.
So what do we do in ministry when the going gets rough? When the community is distracted or divided? When false teachings and distractions are limiting the work we are called to by God?
Paul calls Timothy to endure, To stay, To step into those hard places and stop the people who are disrupting the fellowship and mission. He says as I told you before stay there: ministry often takes a long time, don't give up and leave your people now. The people under our care need us to stay and remain faithful to the calling God has given us. But we have to have the hard conversations and confront the heart issues and the people at the heart of the unhealthy.
God would you give me the strength to remain faithful and endure.
God would you fill me with your hope and a vision to sustain me and help me lead those under my care forward. Lord I can't do this without you. But through Christ who strengthens me I can do all things.
Amen
