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by Sandy Shaw
At the end of Acts 15 we read of rift between Paul and Barnabas, resulting in two missionary teams instead of one! Now, I am not saying the rift was good, but we do see that God used it for good. Is there anything which separates Christians worth holding on to? Is there anything worth dividing over?
This rift arose and Paul and Silas move off to Syria and Cilicia. They go, confirming the churches, strengthening every fellowship, reassuring them, grounding them in the faith, and encouraging each group.
When they come to Derbe and Lystra Paul meets a young man who had been converted under his ministry on that first missionary journey - Timothy.
Timothy comes from a divided home. His mother and grandmother were Jewish and had come to faith in Jesus. His father was a Greek and not in the fellowship there. Timothy was well spoken of by the believers in his home town, and also by those who lived in the neighbourhood. "Isn't it lovely to see how he is growing?"
Paul wanted him on their missionary team and he took Timothy and had him circumcised - not to save Timothy - but so that Timothy could be used by Jesus Christ to save others - so that Timothy would be acceptable to the Jews. Now he could go into the Jewish culture - into the synagogues, that otherwise would have been closed to him.
It was done for social cultural reasons, not spiritual reasons. There is an amazing lesson from that incident.
Paul and Silas and Timothy went off together in the name of Jesus Christ - two mature men and one apprentice. That was the pattern of New Testament ministry, and later Timothy becomes a Pastor - converted under Paul - trained by Paul - discipled by Paul - and having learned from Paul by observing the variety of experiences which he would have witnessed.
Barnabas and John Mark have gone off elsewhere, and God provides Silas and Timothy to be alongside Paul, in what is to become quite a remarkable mission - and Luke, the writer of Acts concentrates on the travels and ministry of Paul and Silas.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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