89
Acts 16:1-5  PAUL ENLISTING TIMOTHY INTO THE MISSION WORK

Introduction:

	In our previous text Paul started his second mission tour and this time he 
took Silas with him instead of Barnabas.  In our text today we will see him 
enlist the aid of Timothy as an additional helper.  

I.  Paul at back at Derbe and Lystra 

	V. 1, “Then came he to Derbe ...”  Derbe was the very last city which Paul 
and Barnabas had visited on theiir first missionary trip.  Paul had gone there 
after being stoned at Lystra.  He and Barnabas had a very successful ministry at 
Derbe.  Unlike their stay in other cities they had a very peaceful time at 
Derby.  There was no violent effort made against them by unbelieving Jews.    
	You will note that Luke here mentions Derbe first because as they 
approached these cities on an overland route from Antioch of Syria they came to 
Derbe first.  According to verse 5 they further strengthened this church in the 
doctrinal and moral matters.  So they must have done more than make just an 
overnight stop.  They stayed long enough to teach this church on doctrinal and 
moral issues before they moved on to Lystra.  In verse 4 Luke explained in 
greater detail the procedure which they used in all of these churches to 
strengthen them in the ways of truth and righteousness.  We will get to that 
verse shortly. 
	  (V. 1), “...and Lystra...”  After leaving Derbe they then moved on to 
the city of Lystra and went through the same procedure teaching the church there 
the ways of truth and righteousness.  The structure of the sentence leads me to 
believe that it was at Lystra that Paul persuaded a third man to join their 
mission team.  
	(V. 1), “...and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, , 
the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed...”   The word 
“Timotheus” is a little different spelling of the word “Timothy” with which we 
are more familiar.  In this message I will use the spelling that I am more 
familiar with.  I will use the word, Timothy. 
	 It is stated in our text that Timothy was a disciple.  That is, he was a 
disciple of Christ.  He was a believer in Christ.  It is also stated that his 
mother was likewise a believer.  She was a believer in Christ.  We are not told 
when they became believers, but it is very likely that they were both saved 
under the ministry of Paul and Barnabas during their first mission trip.  
Timothy’s mother was a Jewish woman and likely heard the gospel message from 
Paul and Barnabas when they visited the Jewish synagogue at Lystra.  Paul later.  
In fact, it is likely that both Timothy and his mother were saved under the 
ministry of Paul and Barnabas.  In 1 Timothy 1:2 Paul referred to Timothy as his 
son in the faith.  
	(V. 1), “...but his father [was] a Greek.”  There is no indication that 
Timothy’s father ever became a Christian.  The implication here is that he was 
at least not a Christian at this time.  Luke tells us that Timothy was a 
believer in Christ and that his mother was a believer in Christ.  If his father 
was a believer at this time, Luke would have said so.  
	We can just be grateful that Timothy’s mother had a greather influence on 
her child’s religion than his father did.  If Timothy had been influenced 
religiously by his father he would have been a wordhiper of idol gods.  But 
according to what the Apostle Paul said later in his second letter to Timothy it 
was Timothy’s Jewish mother and grandmother who taught him the Holy Scriptures 
from his earliest childhood.  Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas came along 
preaching that Jesus is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies about the 
coming of a Savior, Timothy and his mother were familiar with those prophecies 
and were receptive to the message that Jesus is the Christ.  We can thank God 
that he was not led by his father to worship idol gods.  He might have never 
come under the gospel message and even if he did, he might not have believed it.  
	We can see from this the benefit of getting children under the influence 
of the word of God as soon as possible in life.  The word of God becomes like a 
seed that is planted in their minds that can bear good fruit in later life.  It 
can make the difference whether that child will spend eternity in heaven or in a 
place of torment.  
	V. 2, “Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and 
Iconium.”  This verse speaks not of Timothy’s non-Christian father, but of 
Timothy himself.  The father may have had a reputation as a good neighbor and a 
good citizen, but Timothy had a reputation among the Christians as a good 
Christian.  He had this kind of reputation not only at Lystra, which was his 
place of residence, but also aming the Christian brethren in the city of 
Iconium.  

II.  Timothy asked to join the mission team

	V. 3, “Him would Paul have to go forth with him...”  Luke says that the 
Apostle Paul asked Timothy to join his missionary team.  This indicates that 
Timothy had already been called to preach.  He was not only a good young 
Christian, but he had been active in the ministry at Lystra and at Iconium.  He 
was the kind of young preacher that the Apostle Paul wanted on his team.  
	Now this doe not mean that Paul was choosing him instead of Silas, but 
rather it means that he was asking Timothy to go with him and Silas.  When Paul 
and Barnabas had left on their first missionary trip, they had a third man with 
them.  They had John Mark.  Paul thought that it would be to the advantage of 
himself and Silas to have a young preacher like Timothy to help them.  
	(V. 3),  “...and took and circumcised him...”    We learn an interesting 
thing here about Timothy and his mother.  His mother had evidently regulaarly 
carried her son with her to attend the worship services at the Jewish synagogue, 
but she had never had him circumcised and brought into the membership of the 
synagogue.  I suspect that the reason was that her Greek husband had objected to 
his son being circumcised and officially becoming a Jew.  But now Timothy was a 
man and could make a choice for himself and under the persuasion of the Apostle 
Paul he was circumcisde.  
	Now at first this raises a question in our minds.  The question is:  Why 
would Paul want Timothy to be circumcised.  Paul was the chief one at Antioch of 
Syria who had so strongly objected when the men from Judea had said that 
Gentiles could not be saved unless they were circumcised.  Now he wants to take 
a man who is at least a half-breed Gentile and have him circumcised.  Has Paul 
changed his mind and now come to believe that Gentiles must be circumcised in 
order to be saved?  
	The answer is:  Most certainly not!  In no way did Paul believe that 
Timothy needed to be circumcised in order to be saved.  So why then would he 
want Timothy to be circumcised? 
	Luke tells us why.  (V. 3), “...because of the Jews which were in those 
quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek.”  The reason was that 
they were going to be witnessing to a lot of unsaved Jews and the Jews would not 
accept Timothy and the gospel which he would be preaching unless he was 
circumcised.  Circumcision was not at all necessary for Timothy in order to be 
saved, but it was necessary in order for him to be accepted by a large 
percentage of the unsaved people to whom he would be witnessing.  In Timothy’s 
case circumcision was necessary for a successful ministry.  Therfore, Paul 
circumcised him.  
	According to Paul’s writings to the Corintians Paul made it a practice 
that when he was among Romans he would adopt Roman customs as much as he could 
without doing that which was sinful and wrong.  So now that Timothy was going to 
be preaching largly to Jews, he wanted Timothy to adopt Jewish customs as much 
as he could without doing that which was sinful.  We must take a lesson from 
this.  When we live and work and witness among a certain people, we should adopt 
their customs as much as possible when we can do so without doing that which 
would be wrong doctrinally or morally.  We shoud never sin in order to be 
accepted by others, but we should learn to adopt to their customs when we can do 
so without sinning.  

IV.  Paul using the letter from the Jerusalem church to strengthen the churches          
        
	V. 4, “And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the 
decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at 
Jerusalem.”  The Greek word which here is translated “decree” could be 
translated “doctrine, teaching.”  In other words Paul read to them the letter 
which had been sent to the church at Antioch of Syria by the church at 
Jerusalem.  This was a letter which had been composed by the apostles and elders 
who knew firsthand the teachings of Jesus.  
	From this letter they taught the churches that salvation is by the grace 
of God trough faith in Jesus Christ and that it is not necessary for anybody to 
come under the law of Moses in order to be saved.  It is not necessary for 
anybody to keep the law of Moses in order to be saved.  
	From this letter he also taught the churches that the Gentile people in 
those churches should make a complete break from their old lifestyle and not eat 
meats which had been dedicated to the worship of idol gods.  If idol worshipping 
people should see them eating meat which had been dedicated to the worship of 
idols then they would conclude that the Christians were endorsing the worship of 
idol gods.  Therefore, as Christians they ought not to engage in any kind of 
activity that would encourage unsaved peopel to remain unsaved.  
	Also from this letter Paul taught the saved Gentiles, that they should 
make a break from their old adultrous lifestyle.  When they were worshipping 
idol gods then committing adultery was a part of their lifestyle.  It was 
actually a part of their religious worship services.  Paul taught them that they 
ought not to commit adultery any more.  They ought to live clean moral lives.  
	There are people today who have engaged in sexual immorality before they 
got saved or maybe even in the early part of their life after getting saved.  
But they ought not to do so any more.  Now that they are saved, they ought to 
put such sinful deeds out of their life forever.  Let me say to you that 
whatever kind of sinful practices we had in our lives before we were saved we 
ought to put it out of our lives for good.  We ought to live clean godly lives 
for Jesus sake.  
	V. 5, “And so were the churches established in the faith...”  As a result 
of Paul’s visit to these churches on this second missionary trip the churches 
which he and Barnabas had started on their first missionary trip were 
strengthened in the doctrinal faith.  This alone made it worthwhile for him to 
make this second trip.  It is not enough to start a new church.  If it is 
possible, the missionary and the sponsoring church should see the new work 
through their early years seeing to it that the new church has an opportunity to 
become strong in Bible doctrinal truth.  Do not just start a church for the Lord 
and then turn it over to the Devil to fill with his erroneous teachings.  In I 
Timothy the Apostle later wrote to Timothy and warned that some churches would 
depart from the doctrinal faith.  He said they would give heed to seducing 
spirits meaning evil demon spirits.  He said that they would be led to believe 
doctrines of devils.  
	(V. 5), “...and increased in number daily.”   Yet Paul was not interested 
only in teaching the true doctrines to those who were saved.  He was also 
vitally interested in winning souls.  Lost souls were being led daily to trust 
Christ as Savior and then they were and then to join the churches so that their 
membership grew rapidly in number.  
	I am sure that all three of the missionaries joined in the effort to reach 
out to witness to the unsaved and lead them to trust Jesus Christ and be saved.  
But equally as important as their own efforts to win souls was their 
encouragement to the members of those churches to witness and win souls.  You 
see Paul and Silas and Timothy would soon be gone on to other cities, but these 
churches would still be left behind and all of the soul winning effort in their 
cities would be up to the members of those churches.  So I am convinced that the 
great increase in membership that is spoken of in this text was to a large 
measure due to the efforts of the church members.  The main part which the three 
missionaries played in the effort was in encouraging the members to witness and 
training them how to do it.