PAUL'S CHILDREN

S.McCallum

Philemon 8-11; Titus 1: 1-4; 2 Timothy 1: 1, 2

It is very interesting that there should be these three references of Paul's to individuals as his children. I want to refer to three particular qualities that come out in these three children of Paul. They are remarkable persons, and each brings out a very distinct quality. lt is a wonderful thing to be in Paul's company. The Spirit of God in the Book of the Acts speaks of Paul's company (see chap 13: 13). It is a wonderful thing to be in it and to learn from being in the company of a man like Paul. What an embodiment of Christ he was, how like Christ he was! He could say in regard to certain, "Be my imitators, even as I also am of Christ", 1 Cor 11: 1.

Now the first child of Paul's I wish to speak of is a very interesting one, and it is a very interesting letter that is written about him. What I want to bring out briefly is how this child, of Paul brings out the feature of love. He is a little like David in the Old Testament. One thing that David brings out in quality is love, and if there is one thing that all our assemblies need, dear brethren, it is the bringing out of the feature of love. We can always do with more and more love in relation to divine Persons and in relation to one another, and in relation to the truth. Mr Taylor Sr made an astounding statement, if I remember rightly (as getting older the memory does not serve so well, but you learn to rely more on the Spirit than on your memory, although I am not saying anything about memories, it is a good thing if you can remember things, but we need the Spirit); he said that the love of the truth is morally greater than the love of the brethren. I would have thought a few times and maybe would not have made a statement like that; but he said that, and we need always to remember it. I do not mean by saying that to detract from the love of one another, the love of the brethren, because oftentimes difficulties arise - and where is the locality where difficulties have not arisen? - but love never fails: many things may fail but love never fails. So what can we do in our relations with one another? Can we promote the idea of love? Or, would we promote something else? Now Paul says of Onesimus that he beseeches, he enjoins Philemon "for love's sake ... being such a one as Paul the aged ... I exhort thee for my child, whom I have begotten in my bonds, Onesimus". So this letter is what you might call a love letter, it is a letter that is steeped in love; it exudes love nearly all through in Paul's desire to see a person who was converted, affected under his influence and his service, reinstated in the affections of Philemon. He was a runaway slave, but Paul had affected him spiritually. Can we affect one another spiritually? Sometimes we affect one another naturally, but can we affect one another spiritually? And can we be of such character and quality that we can set love in motion. That is what happens here, love set in motion in Paul, and love is set in motion, we might say, in this local assembly by the way that Paul writes in regard to Onesimus; and this is what we want, dear brethren. We have little time left and we want to love one another, and promote love. I know it is a test at times, our personalities naturally are so different, but it is a great thing to draw out love and to work on the principle of love, because love never fails.

Now I want to say a word about Titus. Titus is quite different from Onesimus, and he is quite different from Timothy, and yet the three of them - and it is a three-fold cord that is not easily broken - are all children of Paul. The quality I would bring out in Titus is boldness; he was a bold person, bold as a lion. This epistle as you go through it - and it is quite an epistle, how Titus was left to set certain things in order and particularly stressing the matter of eldership and the like - brings out the feature of Isaiah. Do you remember how the Spirit of God says through one writer in the New Testament, "But Esaias is very bold". Rom 10: 20? It is a remarkable statement in regard to Isaiah. Titus brings out that feature. He does not appear in 1 Corinthians, but he appears in 2 Corinthians. Paul speaks of him in connection with the preaching and in connection with walking in the same Spirit and in the same steps. How bold Paul was! How bold he was on Mars hill, how bold he was in relation to Corinth, his is not the boldness of natural effrontery; what I am referring to is spiritual boldness in relation to issues, in relation to the testimony, as we have had it in this excellent epistle our brother has before him, in Timothy. We have not received the "spirit of cowardice"; that surely can be said of Titus. He was very bold, Paul says of the Cretans, quoting one of their own prophets, that they are "lazy gluttons", Titus 1: 12. He even speaks in this letter of a lawyer. You may say there is no room for lawyers in Christianity, but Paul says in this letter, "Zenas the lawyer and Apollos set forward diligently on their way, that nothing may be lacking to them", chap 3: 13. In the Acts of the Apostles the Spirit of God emphasises boldness, speaking "the word of God with boldness", chap 4: 31. Isaiah certainly spoke with boldness, and we want this quality of spiritual boldness. In a world of men such as we are in we do not need to be timid and apologetic, we want to be bold in the confession of Christ. You young brothers and sisters, be bold in the confession of Christ, in the workshop, in the office, and at school! Also in matters related to the assembly, when issues are at stake, have spiritual boldness. I do not mean fleshly boldness - there is such a thing referred to in the New Testament in relation to that side of things - but I am referring to spiritual boldness that appears in Titus, a child of Paul, and I am sure he learned it from Paul who would never turn his back in the conflict in relation to the maintenance of the testimony and the maintenance of the truth. So let us not be afraid, dear brethren. Have we not the Spirit? Think of having the Spirit and of having the support of the Lord. Paul refers to it: "The Lord stood with me", 2 Tim 4: 17. What boldness that man had before the authorities as well as in the assembly!

Now I just want to refer to Timothy. If the epistle to Philemon and the child of Paul in Onesimus makes way for the love side as in David, and if in Titus the child of Paul, Titus, brings out the idea of spiritual boldness, what does Timothy bring out? I think Timothy brings out the spirit of Jeremiah. What a man Jeremiah was! He was bold too, of course, but what marks Jeremiah is tears, feelings. What a man he was! Are we feeling, dear brethren? Are we true sons of Paul, children of Paul in our feelings, in the way we care for one another and relate ourselves to one another? You think of the feelings of Paul in regard even to his ancient brethren, how he speaks of them in that dispensational section, Romans 9, 10 and 11! How his feelings come out in regard to Israel, but how his feelings come out in regard to the assembly at Corinth and the recovery of a man that had gone wrong, and how he exhorted the brethren to see that the man was fully restored! What a spirit of Christ there was in Paul, and how it is in Timothy. He may be timid but Paul speaks of him to the Corinthians as putting "you in mind of my ways as they are in Christ", 1 Cor 4: 17. How Timothy set out the feelings of Paul, the feelings of Christ! You think of Paul's tears in Acts 20 in watching over the flock! Reference was made today to tears in the last few years. If only we could see the record of heaven as to the tears in families, the tears in local assemblies because of persons lost; how we feel in regard to these things, and how we can shed tears! Think of the Lord weeping over Jerusalem because they had not accepted the gain of His patient service and ministry. Think of how He wept, his feelings in His Spirit antagonistic to death invading the human family - "Jesus wept", John 11: 35.

Well, that is the children of Paul, dear brethren. Think how the Spirit of God in three epistles is making so much of the sons or the children of Paul! Let us be in that company, and a strength and a support to the testimony in our local positions, for His Name's sake.

TORONTO

1 June 1973