Growing. Empowering. Together.

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. (Acts 18:1-3 NIV)

Throughout his ministry, we see Paul meeting people, connecting with people, and working side by side with people.  Whether they are mentors, encouragers, or protégés, Paul is constantly working with people, growing in his own walk through the process.

Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. (Acts 18:4-5 NIV)

We even see times when his preaching and teaching is enhanced by the presence of these friends and coworkers.  Paul often greets friends at the beginning and/or end of his letters.  People helped Paul be the person and minister that God called him to be.  People still help us today.  We are empowered by God, but equipped and encouraged by people.  By the end of Luke’s account, Paul is accompanied by a significant list of people.  They are not just walking with God.  They are walking together.

He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, where he stayed three months. Because some Jews had plotted against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia. He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. (Acts 20:2-4 NIV)

How about you?  Is your walk with God also together with others?  Which people help your walk?  Which people help your ministry?  Are you walking together with God?

A Timothy or Titus

When we think about relationships that help us walk together with God, it’s easy to let the mind go to a mentor who has made a real difference in your life.  Maybe you think about a best friend who was there for you in thick and thin.  Usually, though, we don’t think of a third type of relationship that can spur us on more than the first two.  This is the relationship you have with a mentee, protégé, a Timothy or a Titus.  These are the people into whom you are building a walk together with God.

To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. (Titus 1:4-5 NIV)

Notice how Paul refers to Titus: “my true son in our common faith.”  Titus is not Paul’s biological son.  He is, however, a spiritual son – the one who is younger in the faith and learning from the more mature Paul.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God's work--which is by faith. (1 Timothy 1:1-4 NIV)

Timothy has the same “true son” designation from Paul in his letter.  Both of these young men learned from Paul and eventually became pastors of their own churches.  Paul writes letters to them to instruct them on how to recognize true, God-following, leaders.  They needed to recognize God’s design for leadership so the church would continue on as Christ intended.  They must have learned well, because we are still here.

When we build our faith into someone else, it helps us grow.  Something happens when we move from the place of believing something to the next step of teaching that same thing.  Teaching requires more understanding.  Mentoring requires more patience.  Building requires more grace.  I’m sure that a big part of Paul’s maturing process came from his work with people like Timothy and Titus.  The same is true for us today.

The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. (1 Timothy 1:5-6 NIV)

How about you?  Do you have a protégé – a person whom you teach and build up in the faith?  Does mentoring others cause you to grow?  How?

A Barnabas or Silas

We already looked at the role Barnabas played in Paul’s life:

When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. (Acts 9:26-28 NIV)

Saul would not have been accepted at the Church in Jerusalem were it not for Barnabas.  Barnabas was not someone who needed to be mentored by Paul.  Paul was not someone who needed to be mentored by Barnabas.  They were both believers, walking together with God.  They did, however, need one another in ministry.  Remember how Jesus sent out the twelve?

Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits. (Mark 6:7 NIV)

How about the seventy two?

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. (Luke 10:1 NIV)

There is something powerful about working together with another person in ministry.  Jesus sent them out two by two.  Jesus also told them the power that would come when they were together with others.

"Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them." (Matthew 18:19-20 NIV)

The two do not need to be mentor and protégé.  In fact, the two can simply be family or friends.  Paul and Barnabas were two who ministered together for a season.  In another season of ministry, Paul and Silas were these friends.

Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. (Acts 17:4 NIV)

They spurred one another along.  They helped each others.  They walked together as they walked with God.

How about you?  Do you have friends who spur you on as you spur them on in the faith?  Do you walk together with them as you walk with God?

A Paul

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. (Acts 16:6 NIV)

All of us should have a Paul in our lives.  Paul was a mentor to Timothy, Titus, and many others.  He ate with them. He travelled with them.  He taught them.  He walked with them.  Paul was a good mentor to them all.

When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. (Acts 16:7-8 NIV)

Mentors are different from pastors, teachers or theologians.  They are people who spend time with us.  They may be pastors, teachers, or theologians, but the important distinction is that mentors spend more time with us.  They are friends, but friends who know more, have lived more, and have more to offer us than we have to offer them in return.

During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:9-10 NIV)

Paul took his companions with him.  He was their mentor.  They learned from him as they travelled with him.  Our mentors may be in the form of coworkers, best friends, parents, teachers, bosses, or next door neighbors.  Mentors are around enough to ask questions, because they are already a big part of our lives.  Mentors walk with us like Paul did with his disciples and Jesus did with his apostles.  Mentors help us apply Godly wisdom to everyday life circumstances.

From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days. (Acts 16:11-12 NIV)

How about you?  Do you have mentors who are close to you?

A Mentor

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 NIV)

My parents had what was considered a “mixed marriage” back in their day.  Mom was Protestant.  Dad was Catholic.  Mom’s side of the family had problems with dad being Catholic.  The Catholic Church had problems with mom being Protestant.  They got married anyway.

My parents’ situation was similar to that of Timothy’s parents.  Timothy’s mom was Jewish.  Dad was Greek, which carries with it a wide range of possibilities.  He could be anywhere from atheist to polytheistic.  Timothy grew up in their “mixed” household.

The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. (Acts 16:2-3 NIV)

When I grew up in Cincinnati, I knew the “secret handshake” among Roman Catholics.  When we met somebody new, we would ask, “What High School did you go to?”  When they answered, it told us if they were Catholic or not.  If they were, we could follow up with, “What parish are you from?”  Our friendship was immediately sealed and trust was immediately given.  That person was one of us.

Paul understood a similar “secret handshake” in his day.  When speaking to a Jewish audience, he had to used Jewish terms and make sure they would trust him as another Jew.  Timothy, however, would bring doubt into their relationship, though.  His father was Greek.  This is why Paul had Timothy circumcised.  It would help the Jewish audience trust them more as they came to teach.

As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. (Acts 16:4 NIV)

Paul was mentoring Timothy.  He was helping Timothy learn how to get an ear with a Jewish audience.  This got them into several churches in various towns.  It also earned them the right to speak to those churches.  Ironically, though, they were travelling from town to town to tell Christians that they didn’t have to be circumcised to be a Christ-follower.  The Old Covenant had passed away.  The Churches would never have listened to this decision, though, if they didn’t trust in the Jewish heritage of both Paul and Timothy.

So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers. (Acts 16:5 NIV)

How about you?  Have you learned how to live out your faith with different audiences?  Did you have someone help you learn how to do this?  Do you have a mentor?