(A) Introduction (Read the reference.)

As Paul travelled again into Galatia he must have missed Barnabas and even the youthful enthusiasm of John Mark. It wasn't long before the missionary team was strengthened and morale improved.

(B) God's provision.

I think that what Paul needed most for his work as an evangelist was a trustworthy, dedicated and devoted lieutenant. He didn't want a rival but a loyal and loving personal assistant. That is what God provided in Timothy. Paul writes this of Timothy to the church at Corinth: I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. 1Cor4v17. He recommends Timothy, if anything with even more warmth, to the Philippians: 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. Phil2v19.

Paul eventually trusts Timothy completely. Timothy is very unusual in taking no interest in his own welfare. He has no personal ambition. He does not look for recognition or aim to enhance his own reputation and status. Timothy puts Paul's interests before his own. He will remind the errant Corinthian Christians of Paul's integrity. Paul is a man who lives out what he teaches. Timothy is glad to visit the Philippians because of his genuine concern for their spiritual well being. The younger man works with Paul as a son with his father. He shows the great apostle respect, admiration and love. As Paul approaches the end of his life he sends for Timothy from prison: "Do your best to come to me quickly. ...... Only Luke is with me. 2Tim4vs9and11. I always feel rather sorry for Luke when I read these verses. I get the impression that Paul rather under valued the loyal doctor. He longed for the company of his young men - Timothy and John Mark. Many Christian leaders appear to be happiest working with young assistants who give them, perhaps, a bit of hero worship!

God provided what Paul needed. Paul was going to experience many pressures, difficulties and set backs in the years that lay ahead. The company, affection and support that Timothy was able to give would prove a much-needed blessing to the little preacher who suffered so much under rejection. Everyone active in Christian service needs help. Very little is achieved working a lone. My brother has worked hard in an inner London fellowship for 30 years. He has received magnificent assistance from his wife, Ruth. Others, too, have helped him build up the church - Eddy, Ian, Marion Joan ...... .

I just hope that God will supply the needs of the small village church I attend. We could do with a Timothy or two.

(C) Paul's decision.

Timothy was born of a mixed marriage. His mother Eunice was a Jewess and his father a Greek speaking Gentile. Eunice was devout in as much as she encouraged her boy to read the Scriptures. Paul comments in one of his letters to Timothy: and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures. 2Tim3v15. Timothy's father may have been happy to leave religious education to his wife but it is likely that he jibbed at circumcision. He wanted his son to grow up to be Greek rather than Jewish and so he may have forbidden the circumcision Timothy.

The Jews in Lystra, Timothy's hometown, knew that he had not been circumcised. They probably saw this as a renunciation of his Jewish ness. They may even have considered him to be illegitimate as the uncircumcised son of a Jewish mother. Paul considered that this would make it difficult for Timothy to work amongst Jews in Galatia. It was an unnecessary stigma that would hinder his ministry. So Paul tells Timothy to be circumcised. This was not required for his salvation but for his ministry. Paul would never, never tell someone that their personal salvation depended upon circumcision. But he was prepared to compromise for the sake of the ministry. It is counter-productive to antagonise folk without due cause.

One of the reasons Galileo received rough treatment from the Jesuits is that he insulted them in his writing. There was no need for him to write:

I believe that true Philosophers fly, and they fly alone like the eagles. Since eagles are rare birds it is true that they are little seen and less heard, while starlings fill the sky with shrieks and cries and whenever they settle, they befoul the earth beneath them.

The Jesuits did not like being called starlings by Galileo, the solitary, soaring eagle! They began to think in terms of cutting him down to size. As soon as this happens the loser is truth.

At the end of the 16th century Sebastian Vizciano, the Spanish Ambassador to Japan, had an audience with Ieyasu the paramount ruler of Japan. Vizciano would not bow to the Shogun - which was expected. He demanded the free admission of Spanish friars to Japan and the expulsion of all Dutch and English traders. The arrogant Ambassador informed the Japanese Lords that the Spanish King's only desire was to save pagan Japanese from the eternal fires of hell. The consummate insensitivity of Vizciano was in part responsible for Ieyasu and his two successors persecuting the Christian church in Japan out of existence. Mothers and children were roasted alive and priests crucified. Every vestige of Catholicism was destroyed and Japan was closed to outsiders for 200 years. If Vizciano and the Jesuit priests had shown more humility and greater willingness to compromise the whole history of Japan might have been different. Paul would have done everything in his power to avoid antagonising the Japanese hierarchy.

(D) Timothy's concession.

Timothy was probably about 21 when he agreed to be circumcised. It was an unpleasant operation and he would have been in pain for a few days. Timothy's willingness to undergo the operation showed both his commitment to the work of mission and his humility. He was prepared to do as Paul advised. It is likely that Timothy's father was dead. The task of preaching the gospel assumes greater importance than honouring the memory of his father. He has a new father in Christ, Paul, to whom he looks for guidance.

It would test our commitment to Christian service if we had to undergo circumcision first! There are some believers who even object to baptism. It is pathetic how some Christians come up with all sorts of weedy excuses for their unwillingness to be baptised.

We shouldn't expect to be useful to God without having to pay a price. No pain, no gain. None paid a higher price than the apostle Paul as he preached Christ crucified in the Eastern Mediterranean provinces of the Roman Empire.

Church consolidation.

Paul and Silas made the decision of the Council of Jerusalem known to the churches in Galatia. This was very necessary because there had been trouble in these churches over the issue of circumcision. Paul had already written a letter to them about it.

The decision of the Council was to be obeyed. There was an obligation on Jewish Christians to accept Gentile Christians as brothers without requiring them to be circumcised. The Gentile believers on the other hand were to refrain from food and behaviour that Jews found particularly distasteful and offensive. It is clear that Christians in Galatia did what made for unity because Luke tells us: So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers. v5. Unity makes for strength. A united church is a growing church.

Recently I attended a meeting of the Association of Churches to which I belong. A pastor attending the meeting stood up and said, "We should be proud of what makes us distinctive." That made me wince. Christians should rejoice in what they have in common. We should rejoice in Christ - his teaching, his example, his saving work, his glorious resurrection, his ascension into heaven and position of power at God's right hand, his gift of the Holy Spirit, his promised return and his assurance of eternal life to all who believe on him.

Paul wrote this to the Ephesians: Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Eph4v3. The so called 'distinctives' are as nothing compared to glorious truths Christians hold in common - one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father of us all.

The churches in Galatia were growing daily. It is such a long, long time since the Grace Baptist Churches in Suffolk grew daily. Year on year most of them have experienced a decline in membership. It is not because they have failed to preach the gospel or faithfully teach the young about Jesus Christ. It is not because they have rejected the authority of the Scriptures. It is not because they have been complacent or lost their desire to see sinners saved. It is not because they believe in word and not deed. I don't know why it is. I just long for the time when the word of God once again bears much fruit - in all the churches of my beloved land.