“Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy
lived, whose mother
was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek.” (Acts
16:1.)
Every purpose of God the Creator He intended to be achieved
through marriage and the home which He ordained in the beginning. (Genesis
1:26-28; 2:18-24.) From Adam, formed from the dust of the earth, and
imbued with the breath of life, to Jesus “…his Son, born of a woman…”
(Galatians 4:4), the Lord intended that children be born of parents who would
nurture, protect, and train them to know God their Maker, and his purpose for
their life. “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.”
(Psalm 127:1.) It is critically important that the husband (Lit. ‘house+binder’) and the wife (Lit. ‘weaver’) work together and help
one another in this God-appointed task. But often today such cooperation is not
the case.
It was not the case in the home in which Timothy was born
and grew up. His mother was a Jewess and a Christian, but Timothy’s “father was
a Greek.” Hence, Timothy grew up in a family in pagan Lystra which was
divided racially. How, in first century society, did Eunice, a Jewish
maiden, become acquainted with, and respond to the courtship of, an “uncircumcised
Gentile”? How did she explain this to her Christian mother, Lois?
Eunice, a Christian, having married Timothy’s father is
rearing her son in a home divided spiritually. Timothy’s father did not believe
in Jesus, God’s Son, and likely worshipped in the temple of Zeus
in Lystra. He may well have been in the mob which stoned Paul and dragged
him outside the city. Paul had urged the crowd of pagan worshippers to
turn from the emptiness of idolatry “to the living God who made heaven and
earth and sea and everything in them…They stoned Paul and dragged him outside
the city, thinking he was dead.”(Acts 14:8-20. Cf. 2 Timothy 3:10-12.)
Consequently, in a family divided by race and spiritual
faith, Timothy’s family must have often felt the strain of social strain.
Reflect upon the differences probably evident in the pagan friends invited to
the home by Timothy’s father, in contrast to the Christian among whom Eunice
felt comfortable.
It is remarkable that Paul, from a Roman prison, writes
about Timothy to the Philippian saints, “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send
Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I
have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For
everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But
you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he
has served with me in the work of the gospel. I hope, therefore, to send him as
soon as I see how things go with me…” (2:19-23.) Of all of Paul’s
co-workers, the apostle commends young Timothy, saying, “…I have no one else
like him…” – a young man reared in the stress of a marriage and home so
evidently divided.
What does this home, despite its evident differences and
likely daily strain, teach us? What of a practical nature may we learn to
help our families live unto God despite today’s similar stresses and divisions?
1. DEVOTED TO GOD’S
WORD. Eunice likely learned early the added stress of seeking to rear her son
to know and love Jehovah despite the father’s unbelief and perhaps, antagonism.
She must have loved her husband deeply, longing to share with him the
hope of eternal life found in Christ Jesus. Peter the apostle encouraged
a wife in such circumstances¸ “Wives, in the same way be submissive to your
husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over
without talk by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and
reverence of your lives. (1 Peter 3:1, 2.) Still, she accepted the
opportunity and responsibility of loving and teaching her boy the Word of God. Paul
reminded Timothy in Paul’s final letter, “…continue in what you have learned
and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it,
and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make
you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is
God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in
righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good
work.” (2 Timothy 3:14-17.) Eunice began early to teach Timothy from the only
inspired Scriptures she had – the Old Testament, which spoke of the
Messiah-Priest-King-Savior to come - Jesus the Son of God.
It is to be lamented when a child knows how to program a
smart-phone, or is expert in the names of athletes and TV personalities, but
has no knowledge nor respect for the Word of his Maker. Are we aware that
by reading 3 chapters each week-day, and 5 chapters on Sundays we can read
through the entire Bible in a year? The entire Bible may be read by the
average reader in about 80 hours…which would require less than 15 minutes each
day! With our child’s life and eternal hopes in our hands, can we excuse
our/his ignorance of the words of eternal life? Eunice carefully and
prayerfully taught the son entrusted to her, likely with no help from her
husband. We must do the same.
2. DEEP, PERSONAL FAITH IN GOD. Timothy must have loved his
father. But it may be that the stress engendered by the divisions in his
family contributed to his stomach problems “and frequent illnesses.”(1 Timothy
5:23.) Notwithstanding, he found in his maternal heritage a strength and
quality lacking in his father’s example. In Paul’s final letter to his “son
in the faith”, the apostle was “reminded of your sincere faith, which first
lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am
persuaded, now lives in you also.”(2 Timothy 1:5.)
The Hebrew word for “faith” literally means, ‘to lean on’.
Growing up can be a challenge. Life can be hard. We do not succeed
without inner strength. “And without faith it is impossible to please
God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he
rewards those who earnestly seek him.”(Hebrews 11:6.) From the lives and
teaching of his mother and grandmother Timothy learned that there is a God, and
it pays to serve Him. Such trust daily, and especially in times of pain and
trouble, is anchored in God’s righteous character and faithful word. It serves
as a shield to “extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” (Ephesians
6:16.)
Timothy observed the confidence in God and his Word he saw
in lives of his mother and grandmother. And, our children know where our
trust is – in position, wealth, fame, education, power, or, in the
eternal, faithful God.
3. TRAINED TO SERVE
GOD. On the Paul’s second missionary journey he heard when
the “brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of” Timothy. So, he asked
Timothy to join him and Silas in taking the gospel to untaught regions. He
circumcised him (since the Jews who knew Timothy knew his Gentile father would
not have done so.) (Acts 16:1-3.) Thus began for the young apprentice a
life of service unto Jesus his Savior. Churches were strengthened in the faith
and grew daily in numbers.” (vs. 4, 5.) We could well wonder as to
his father’s reaction upon learning of his son’s leaving to join Paul and Silas
in such labors – including traveling into Europe
to share the message of life in Jesus with our barbarian European ancestors.
Eunice had trained her son well. Life may well have many interests. But
God’s gift of eternal life to each of his children has the purpose of enabling
others to be taught the way of salvation found in Christ Jesus. Timothy was
faithful in his life’s task, even when in Philippi
– the first European city into which the team entered, the Roman authorities
arrested Paul and Silas, brutally beat and imprisoned them. We wonder
what Timothy’s thoughts were the night after those violent events. But
God used them to begin the good church in Philippi.
(Acts 16:6-40.) After Paul was driven out of the city of Thessalonica by
a mob shouting, “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now
come here…”, he later sent Timothy (just a young man, Cf. 1 Timothy 4:12) back
to Thessalonica. This young man, when Paul could not return, was sent
back to new saints who had “turned to God from idols to serve the living and
true God…to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be
unsettled by these trials.”(1 Thessalonians 1:6-10; 3:1-5.) Eunice had
done her work well, in readying him for a life of service and hope, despite its
troubles and fears. Like the archer who sends his arrow far beyond where he can
go, so this grandmother and mother released a beloved son to God and his task
(Psalm 127:1-5). Thus Paul would commend his labors in the gospel
alongside his own, “as a son with his father”. So, today we too are influenced
and blessed by the rearing of this godly servant – though it took place in a
divided home.
Mary Elvira, born July 18, 1853, in time became a widowed
mother in a little town. She taught her eight children to know God, as Eunice
taught her son. The Lord’s church began in that small village, in
the heart, home, and family of that widow,. In time her firstborn daughter,
Minnie Isabella, would marry a man named Bouldin, who was not a Christian. He
was a hard-working hill farmer, and a honorable man. But he was not a
Christian, and he had never been inside of a church gathering. Their first
child was a daughter, named for her grandmother Mary, and taught by her mother
as Eunice taught her son. At age 12, Mary was baptized into Jesus. Her
father, Bouldin, became a Christian the same day. He would in time become
a shepherd in the Lord’s church. When Mary grew to years, she married a man
named Frank, from a God-fearing family with roots in a Protestant denomination.
About the time their second child was born, Frank was immersed into the
body of Christ From Mary Elvira, the widow, have come in her offspring
and lineage, four elders of the church, and seven preachers of the gospel.
MOM & DAD
How much is a godly mother worth? One whose life is
fashioned by the Lord.
She whose love and faith enrich her children, planting in
their hearts the sacred Word.
What the value of afaithful father? one whose life example
daily sets.
He whose counsel daily grows more trusted; always giving
much more than he gets.
Rich the child whose heart is gently molded in the way of
truth by parents dear;
If his early training he remembers, what in life or death
need he have fear?
Yet, perchance another’s home is different, furnished with
the lavish things of earth;
But when Parents fail to train their children in the way of
truth, what is such worth?
Fathers, we would well look to our duty, Mothers, do not
fail to meet your test;
Later, when life’s sun has passed its zenith, children will
rise up and call you blessed.
--Ted
Kell
+++++++
(NOTE: Mary Elvira Wilson was the Great-Grandmother,
Minnie Isabella Duvall the Grandmother, Mary Joyce Kell the Mother, and Frank
Kell the Father of this writer. Timothy would have had no knowledge of
God had his mother and grandmother not taught him. And this writer is eternally
indebted to God for the faithful women in my heritage who led their husbands
and families to serve the Lord. )
