Hello my ‘Walking with Jesus” friends,
I wonder if as an adult you’ve been told by a physician that you needed something, perhaps an inoculation, that you should have had as a child, but because your parents didn’t have it given to you then, you need it done as an adult? Of course, injections in 2023 are quite simple, but what if it was something much more traumatic? Something like circumcision for a man?
I left you yesterday with Paul, Silas and Timothy in Timothy’s hometown of Lystra in the late part of the year 49ad. That town was quickly becoming very significant to the apostle Paul. A few years before Paul and Barnabas had visited there and a great number of people in that town had believed in Jesus as their Savior, especially after Paul had healed a crippled man as he put his faith in Jesus.
That remarkable event had resulted in a spontaneous celebration but suddenly the celebration had turned very bad, and the crowd had turned on Paul. Picking up rocks off the ground the crowd had stoned Paul and left him for dead. That story is found in Acts 14:8-20. By God’s grace, Paul was badly injured but not dead, and after some healing, Paul and Barnabas had left Lystra, moving on to the next town.
Now a few years later Paul and Silas are retracing Paul’s journey and they have come to Lystra. They have met a young man named Timothy and his Jewish Christian mother Eunice. Yesterday we looked very closely at WHY Paul circumcised Timothy as a young Jewish Christian man.
If you missed “Walking with Jesus” yesterday, I urge you to go there now to read or listen to it, and then return here as we pick up the story and explanation today.
Yesterday I left you wondering WHY Paul had urged Timothy to receive the Abrahamic covenant mark for all Jewish men, which had been refused for Timothy by his father upon his birth? Had not Paul very strongly opposed any notion that a man needed to be circumcised to become an authentic Christian? Wasn’t that the main focus on the Acts 15 Jerusalem council?
YES! But Timothy’s adult circumcision had nothing to do with his salvation. Timothy’s circumcision as an adult man was to cast off the shame of his father’s refusal for Timothy to refuse that mark on the 8th day after his birth, as commanded by God for all Hebrew boys.
Timothy’s father had made a very powerful declaration with that decision: His family was NOT Jewish; they would NOT give their son the Hebrew covenant mark. Timothy’s father was rejecting God and God’s command for this family! By his circumcision as a man, Timothy was rejecting that decision by his father and was declaring his identity as a Hebrew young man and his commitment to God.
Luke, the author of Acts 16 writes this: “The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of Timothy. Paul wanted to take Timothy along on the journey, so he circumcised Timothy because of the Jews who lived in the area for they all knew that his father was a Greek.” (Acts 16:2,3) Evidently, despite this shame with which Timothy had lived as a boy and young man, still he lived such an upright, God honoring life, Timothy had a very good reputation with everyone who knew him both in his hometown of Lystra and the nearby town, Iconium. Luke refers to Timothy as “a disciple” (Acts 16:1) so evidently Timothy and his mother Eunice, had become Jewish Christians, Messianic Jews, as they trusted in Jesus as their Messiah.
But did you notice the phrase “because of the Jews who lived in the area”? Timothy was circumcised so that in the eyes of his fellow Jews the shame of his father would be removed, and like the young men in Joshua 5, Timothy took adult responsibility to cast off his father’s shame and re-establish his right relationship with God as a circumcised Jewish man.
And now as a circumcised Jewish adult who had trusted in Jesus as his Messiah, Timothy was able to communicate the Gospel of Jesus the Messiah to the Jews of these towns from a position of humility and restored respect.
But didn’t Paul refuse to have Titus circumcised (Gal. 2:3) when Paul had taken Titus to Jerusalem as a witness to the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15? Yes, but Titus was a Gentile, Timothy was a Jew. Circumcision for Titus would be meaningless, for he was NOT becoming Jewish as Titus trusted Jesus Christ for his salvation.
Years later as Paul wrote his letter to the Christians in Ephesus, both Jewish and Gentile Christians, Paul spent almost the entire 2nd chapter explaining this great mystery of God that Jewish and Gentile Christians both come to their salvation through Jesus Christ in the same way and are united by Jesus into ONE people of God, all redeemed by the blood of Jesus!
We don’t know how long Paul stayed in Lystra, but we do know that when the day came that Paul and Silas picked up their walking sticks and slung their bags over their shoulders, Timothy did the same, leaving his family in Lystra to join the missionary team of Paul and Silas on this Paul’s second missionary journey. The record says: “As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem…So the churches were strengthened in faith and grew daily in numbers.” (Acts 16:4,5)
While we are not specifically told here that Paul went next to Iconium, I presume he did so, because he was retracing his first journey steps and that was the next town to which he and Barnabas had gone a few years earlier. Acts 14:21-23 says: “They returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith…Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in each church and with prayer and fasting committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.”
If that was Paul’s last visit to Lystra, Iconium and Pisidian Antioch, a few years before with Barnabas, I doubt we can imagine the excitement, the anticipation with which Paul approached each of those towns, this time with Silas. Can you see them sitting around tables, long into nights, listening to the reports these elders would share with Paul about all that had transpired since he had appointed them to their leadership roles years before?
Story after story of people whose lives had been transformed by the miracle power of the Holy Spirit as they had understood the Gospel of Jesus and trusted Almighty God to save them as they repented of their sin fully trusting in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Then as Paul and Silas told of the Jerusalem Council meeting and the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem that Gentiles need NOT become circumcised and Jewish before trusting in Jesus for salvation, but rather Gentiles and Jews are both equally saved by God’s grace through their faith in Jesus! I’m sure rejoicing and celebration broke out in every meeting when Paul shared that great news.
I’m sure Paul stayed in each town for an extended time giving him the chance to teach more and more of the deeper truths of the Christian faith which the Holy Spirit was revealing to him and which he wrote later in his letters. I’m sure Paul gave news of what God had been doing in Syrian Antioch, and Silas gave news of what God had been doing in Jerusalem, and Timothy gave news of what he had experienced in his town of Lystra.
I’m also sure the same question came up in Derbe, Lystra, Iconium and Pisidian Antioch… ‘Where is Barnabas? Why isn’t he with you on this trip, Paul? How is Barnabas?’ And of course each time those questions arose, Paul once again had the opportunity to humbly explain that even the great apostle Paul made mistakes, allowed himself to be emotionally caught up in a discussion and even made some wrong choices. But then Paul had the opportunity to discuss the power of repentance and God’s forgiveness and restoration.
Are you able to celebrate that in your life my friends? Can you remember your mistakes, perhaps harsh words spoken in anger, or selfish choices made that hurt others? But can you also remember your repentance before God and God’s forgiveness of you and His restoration of His blessing upon you, and your involvement in what God is accomplishing in your part of the world?
It’s not difficult for us to imagine how these gatherings of Paul, Silas, Timothy and the Christians in these towns, were so memorable, so encouraging, so celebrative of the life transforming work of Jesus in these places. So, let’s pause here, thanking God for what He did in each of these towns, in all these reunion meetings, and let’s thank God that HIS forgiveness and restoring power is still changing lives and families and entire towns in our day. I think it’s time for a wonderful worship song of great celebration and thanksgiving, how about you?
Today’s Scripture is Acts 16:4, 5.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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