Timothy’s Mom

Well, for a time of study in the word this morning, let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1, we are going to be looking at what amounts to three passages of scripture. And as I Preach to you moms. My goal this morning is that you would walk away encouraged.

And yes, you may feel convicted at some points here or there, but if you don't walk away more encouraged in your role, then I will assume personal responsibility for that. It will be because I failed to convey the heart of God sufficiently, to you. In this way, and what, what fits beautifully with what we've been doing is we've been doing a series through First Timothy, a letter written to a guy named Timothy, and so I think it's appropriate this year for Mother's Day to preach a message on Timothy's mom.

OK, and that's what we're going to do.

Her name was Eunice. And you may be surprised at how much is revealed in the text of the Bible about Timothy's mom, and we're going to describe her as a woman who won a good victory, and you'll understand why I chose that. in just a few minutes. Now, I know that sometimes moms are on edge on Mother's Day when they come to church because, especially if they're being directly preached to, because they worry about, being, being beaten down, being shown their failures, especially in front of their husbands or or children, and you may think, oh man, he's going to tell us about Eunice, Timothy's mom.

She was probably this completely amazing woman. And so here we go again. We're going to get this incredible vision of this woman, and I'm anything but that, and my children are going to see what I'm supposed to be, and they're going to know how I fall short and what a discouraging time this is going to be. I don't want you to think that way.

In fact, as we look at the example of Eunice, it's going to be a blessing. It's going to be an encouragement, and I want it to be an inspiration to you. I want you to look at that example and say, what, devil, you lie to me when you say I can't do that. This can be done, and your word in the person of Timothy's mom shows this to me with great clarity.

in fact, let me, let me start off with an athletic illustration. Something that's perfect for Mother's Day that will really resonate with you ladies. this past week, we passed right through May 6th, and that is an anniversary of what Forbes magazine describes or voted on as being the single greatest individual athletic achievement. In the history of sports, some of you may have a guess as to what that is, and it is the, it was on this day in 1954 that Roger Bannister broke the 4 minute mile barrier, and on that day he ran the mile in 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds, a very significant.

Event and what's interesting about that is leading up to that day, May 6, 1954. 9 years, the previous record had stood. 9 years earlier, a Swedish runner had run the mile in 4 minutes and 1.4 seconds, and that record amazingly stood for 9 solid years in such a way that scientists and other athletes began to speak like it is humanly impossible to break that 4 minute barrier. But there were others such as Roger Bannister who refused to believe that, and they were thinking, good night, if someone can run the mile in 4 minutes and 1.4 seconds, certainly someone somewhere can beat that by 1.5 seconds.

And so Roger Bannister changed his routine and really trained and just made it his goal to break that 4 minute. A barrier and sure enough, nine years after the previous record was set on May 6th, 1954, he ran the mile in 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds. The reason Forbes magazine said this is the most significant individual athletic achievement of all time is not just because it was a colossal achievement in and of itself, but because of the impact. Of that achievement on other people.

You see, when Roger Bannister broke that record and, and ran the mile in less than 4 minutes, other runners and athletes who heard about that and who watched that, they didn't look at that and go, man, he ran it faster than 4 minutes, and that makes me feel inadequate. They didn't think that way at all. what they thought? I can do this.

And other runners and athletes began to believe that they could do it, and over the next 3 years, 16 other runners ran the mile in less than 4 minutes because they began to see that it is humanly impossible. And I want you ladies to look at the example of Yunice and Realize that it is a lie from hell to believe that this is not possible for a woman in any age that you can be the mother that God wants you to be. In fact, thinking about Eunice's name. Eunice sounds like a girly name, nice and pretty, but actually it's a name that conveys a sense of triumph and strength.

In fact, let's break the name Eunice down. the name Eunice is, it's the prefix you that means good, right? We've seen that a number of times in the Bible. For example, a eulogy, Lagos is the word for word or message, and then you means good.

So if I'm delivering a eulogy at your funeral, that means I'm speaking a good word about you, right? And so you means good, and then the second part of her name. Is Nikkei, Nikkei, or as we pronounce it, Nike. Does that ring a bell?

Nike, which, which literally means victory or triumph or it has the idea of conquering. In fact, the company Nike basically when looking for a name, they went back into the Greek language and they lifted this exact Greek word and said this is going to be our brand because it means victory. They were drawn to the meaning of the term and so unique or Eunice literally means good victory. She is a woman who She won a victory.

She won it well, and she won the right victory. That's the meaning of her name and her life story as it unfolds in the pages of the New Testament actually fits beautifully with the meaning of her name. And what we're going to do today is with the time we have is I'm going to make 6 observations from the New Testament about Eunice's child rearing victory that she experienced in raising Timothy. Before we look at those observations though, I want to read to you the 3 passages that we're going to draw all of our information from.

All right, here's the 3 passages we'll be making. Observations from and the first passage is in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 5. Paul says, For I am mindful to Timothy. I am mindful of the sincere faith within you which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.

And then in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 14 and following, Paul says to Timothy, You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood, you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Paul is making reference to Timothy's childhood and something about that which gives us insight into the way that he was brought up by his mother.

And then a very revealing passage is found in Acts chapter 16, verses 1 through 3. Paul is on his second missionary journey and he comes into the city of Lystra where Timothy lived.

And look at what it says. Paul came also to Derby and to Lystra, and a disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, and he, Timothy, was spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted this man to go with him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. Now there's a ton of stuff in these, in these verses, but let's just break it down as I said by, scooping together 6 observations about Eunice's child rearing victory that she enjoyed and experienced with her son.

Timothy, and the first of the observations is this number one, she experienced many challenges in raising Timothy for God. Whatever word you want to use, challenges, hindrances, obstacles. She was a woman who did not have a free and an easy path to raising her son for the There were a tremendous amount of challenges both from without and from within that made it extremely difficult for her to raise her son for the Lord. Let's try to breeze through what some of these challenges are as indicated by the text of the Bible.

First of all, we know that she was in a racially mixed marriage, right? It says in Acts 16:1, Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, so Eunice was a Jew and her husband was a Gentile. There's a number of things we can infer from just this by itself. It would indicate that in all likelihood Eunice and her husband never found complete acceptance in either Jewish circles or Gentile circles.

They were probably always left feeling not quite at home. And whenever Eunice was maybe feeling really at home with her family, her husband wasn't, and When her husband might be feeling at home in his environment, she wasn't quite at home. You guys know how that tends to happen. Also, we don't know this with certainty, but I got a strong suspicion that what this reveals is that in all likelihood, when Eunice chose to marry, This Gentile, that she did so without the approval of her parents and the Jewish community that she was raised in.

Trust me guys, in the Jewish community, just like today, and especially back 2000 years ago, no Jewish parents, no Jewish community ever raised a Jewish girl with the dream that she would marry a Gentile dog. It just didn't happen. And so there's some likelihood that during this particular season of her life where Eunice married this Gentile, that she was not in the best of places spiritually and did this perhaps against the counsel or the desires and did this to the disappointment of her parents and the community of which she was a part.

Now certainly we have indications she would have come back to, to the Lord, in a, in a big way, but this probably was not the season of her life about which she would have been, the most proud.

also, it would have made it difficult for Eunice to teach her son the Judeo ethic that is based upon revelation that we find in our Old Testaments because her husband would not have shared that ethic and so Eunice would have had to That alone, knowing that her husband from his Grecian perspective would be influencing her son in a way that is often very contrary to what Eunice would have been trying to influence her son with. So this is a, this is a difficult situation, and when you add it to some of the other challenges, it becomes even more compelling.

Here's another challenge she had to face, and that is her husband was not a believer in Jesus. Her husband was unsaved.

Eunice was a believer, her husband was not, and she had to deal with that difficulty. Look at this in Acts 16:1. Timothy was the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. The idea is, look at the language.

That Timothy was the son of a woman who was a Jew and a believer. His father, though, he was just a Greek. And what's left out? He's not a believer.

So Eunice had to, her thought had to have been, if I'm going to I raised my son for the Lord. I'm the one who's going to have to do this. And no doubt there were times where she tried to lead her son in a way that her husband may have been resistant to and not supportive of. And so this is a major, this is a major difficulty that she had to deal with.

Another challenge would be that the city in which she lived was utterly pagan. I'm not going to belabor this for the sake of time, but read Acts 14. And you'll find out how radically pagan this particular city was. It was so radically pagan that when Paul and Barnabas showed up in the city and did one miracle, everyone thought, This is Zeus.

And Hermes, the gods have come down, and we better worship them. And they started to take animals and sacrifice them to Paul and Barnabas, and Paul and Barnabas were barely able to restrain them. So this is not just a pagan city. This is a passionately pagan city that is devoted to paganism.

The temple, there was a temple to the god Zeus that was just outside the gates of the city of Lystra. there's another challenge she had to face, and that is not only did she have to deal with the, paganism amongst the Gentiles in her city, but also the Jews of the region were extremely hostile to the gospel of Jesus Christ. not just given the cold shoulder to the gospel, they hated the gospel to such a degree in this whole region, not just Lystra, but in some of the surrounding cities also.

They were so passionately against the gospel that Last time Paul the apostle went through Lystra, what they did to him?

They stoned him and they dragged his mangled body outside the city and left him for dead. That gives you an idea of their opinion of the gospel that he preached. Another possible challenge she had to deal with, and I would put a question mark by this because we don't know this for sure. And that is that her son may have been a timid and sickly child.

We know that as an adult, Timothy had issues with this. When you read Paul's epistles to Timothy, Timothy, Paul has to say things like, God has not given us a spirit of fear, Timothy, but of power and love and And a sound mind. And Timothy, don't be ashamed of me, the prisoner of the Lord. Timothy, fight the good fight, be a good soldier.

Don't let anyone look down on her despise your youthfulness, which implies Timothy was letting people, look down on him and disrespect him. And Paul's like, you better stand up to that and not allow that to happen. so at least later in his life, and it may have been caused by the difficult task at hand. in leading the Ephesian Church, but we know later in life he almost certainly had some anxiety and fear issues, and we know that as an adult he had frequent ailments.

Paul, in all of his epistles never once dishes out medical advice to anybody except in First Timothy chapter 5 verse 23, where Paul says, Hey Timothy, stop. Drinking water exclusively, drink a little wine for the sake of your stomach and for your frequent ailments. Timothy was frequently, physically not at his best or ill, and it had something to do with his stomach, which honestly fits with anxiety and fear, but again, we don't want to make too much of that. We know as an adult, Timothy struggled with these issues.

and it's possible that those later struggles with health issues and anxiety and fear, were things that he also struggled with as a child. So it's possible that as Eunice looked at her son, she looked around and there's all these robust boys full of life and, and outgoing, and she looks at her son and she sees this withdrawn, somewhat anxious, and sickly child. this, are you guys getting the feeling this isn't really very promising? There's a lot of challenges that are here.

And this is not found in Acts or Timothy, but it is revealed in the Bible. I'm going to insert this theological truth. And that is that her son, here's another obstacle or challenge, her son had a sin problem and so did she. Every mother that I talk to, they're all going into motherhood.

They have high dreams of the mother that they want to be. My wife has said this so many times that before I was a mother, I like, I dreamed about the mother that I would be, and she, she had that vision, but she has fallen by your own admission, so far short of that, and I don't know of any mom who's been a mom longer than a couple days who doesn't say exactly the same thing. why? Because we underestimate the power and the fierceness of the forces that work against good motherhood and fatherhood.

Forces from without and from within. She looked at her son Timothy, and as he grew older, she realized this boy's got a sin problem. Like David said that I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me. She, she looked at her son and this boy was brought forth in iniquity.

He has a sin problem. Proverbs 22:15, foolishness is bound up in his heart, and I'm going to have to deal. With that, and then to make matters worse, Eunice, like every other human being, would have looked at herself and realized, and I've got a sin problem too, and my own indwelling sin makes it hard for me to be the mom that I need to be. Every time the spirit's telling me to do something, my flesh.

I screaming out against it, the good I want to do. There's a big part of me that doesn't want to do it. There's indwelling sin inside of her that is working counter to her being the mom that she wants to be. Any of you ladies familiar with that struggle at all?

I, I see two hands over here. I see those hands. OK, Chris Johnson, thank you. This is a common experience.

In fact, there are women that have told me, I never knew I had an anger problem until I had my 3rd child. They, they had sin problems they didn't know about until God gave them children. Those children didn't make them angry, those children simply pushed the right buttons to surface the sin that was there. And many a mother has been profoundly shocked and disappointed over not only how they've fallen short, but at times the, the sin and the darkness that's even come out of them.

It's not what they dreamed. Ruth Cusk, who I don't even think she's necessarily a believer, but she's a woman who sought to be honest and just interacting with how motherhood changed her and what it revealed about her. And listen to this admission that she made a few years into parenting. She says, as a mother, you learn what it is to be both martyr and devil.

In motherhood I have experienced myself as both more virtuous and more terrible and more implicated in the world's virtue and terror than I would from the anonymity of childlessness I ever thought possible. I, she's, I've seen beauty in me that I would have never dreamed I was capable of, virtue in me, but I, I've seen evil in me and motherhood, it demands the best, but it's brought this out of me. This no doubt would have been Eunice's experience as well. So this is a woman that is facing a tremendous amount of challenges and yet amazingly, here's the second observation.

Amazingly, she experienced victory in raising Timothy for God. That's clearly the revelation of Scripture. She tasted deeply of victory in raising Timothy for God. You say, Well, where is that revealed?

Well, let's Let's go to Acts 16 and let's make a few quick observations. In Acts 16, Timothy, most commentators will say Timothy was some, was somewhere between 18 to 20 years of age. he was really young, probably in his late teens at the point where Acts 16 rolls around. And at this age, we observed that Timothy was a disciple of Jesus.

Look at this verse one, Paul came also to Derby and E Lystra. And literally in the Greek text, it says, and behold, a disciple was there named Timothy. In other words, this is not just a disciple or an ordinary disciple. This is the genuine article.

This was not some kid that made a profession of faith and fit with everyone else in the culture, the Christian culture that he was a part of. This is a true genuine article, a true disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ. 1819 years old, and he is a solid disciple. Not only that, but we observed that he was well spoken of by the Christian brethren, verse 2, and he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium.

Obviously, his integrity and maybe his ministry had touched the lives of enough people to where people were talking about this kid behind his back, not only in Lystra, but in Other cities as well, and they all spoke highly of him. And I'm sure it was a blessing for Eunice to have people come to her and say, what, your son is a blessing. Here's what your son did or said, and we thank God for your son. She tasted deeply of victory.

Also, another indication that she tasted a victory and raising her son for God is that Paul the apostle wanted Timothy to travel with him as a missionary. So Paul is on his second missionary journey and he comes into Lystra and he looks at this 1819, 20 year old kid and says, I want him to go with me in my missionary efforts, my missionary journey. Now think about it. Paul has every reason to be almost cynical about a young, about young people, right?

On his first missionary journey, Paul took a young man with him as a traveling companion, as a missionary aide, as it were, whose name was John Mark. How did that work out for him? It didn't work out well. In fact, very early in the journey when they got to the city, I believe, of Pamphylia, John Mark abandoned Paul and went back home to his mommy in Jerusalem.

And the indication later in the book of Acts is that Paul was pretty upset about this, so much so that when Barnabas on the 3rd missionary journey said, Hey, let's take John Mark, Paul said, Absolutely not. And so Paul could have easily at that point said, what, I'm fed up with this younger generation. I'm not going to take someone. that's, that's young anymore.

I'll take a 30, 40 year old or whatever. Paul had every reason to be all the more careful in his selection of the next person that would travel with them. He comes into Lystra, and he, he's looking at this 1819 year old and he says, this is the guy I want to take with me. Wow, the great apostle Paul, who's been burned before by a young Missionary aide is looking at Timothy saying, I want this guy to come with me.

Imagine the blessing as a parent of raising your child, your child is now 18 or 19, and the greatest missionary you've ever known comes through town and says, I want to take your son with me. What a blessing that would be. Obviously, Timothy is a really remarkable young man. And there's another thing about Timothy that we'll point out from the text, and that is that Timothy, he wasn't just a disciple, well spoken of, and someone.

Paul saw as useful for ministry, but Timothy was willing to step out of his comfort zone for the cause of Christ. way out of his comfort zone for the cause of Christ from a couple standpoints. Think about it. Paul says to Timothy, Hey, I want you to travel with me.

And Timothy would realize, Wait a minute, this guy gets into trouble everywhere he goes. The last time he was in our city, he got stoned. and it says they dragged him outside the city and disciples stood around him. And Timothy very well may have been among those disciples staring at the mangled body of Paul.

And now this guy's saying, hey, I need help. I'd like for you to travel with me. Timothy obviously said yes, that he would go. In fact, he did go.

And there's another way, I don't want to elaborate too much on this, but there's another way Timothy was willing to step out of his comfort zone in a remarkable way. And then Paul would have said, hey, Timothy, before we go, there's, there's a medical procedure that, that I'm going to need you to undergo. What is that, Paul? I'm going to need you to get circumcised.

And, don't want to go into too much detail here, but, it, it's painful, and on average when someone of this age underwent that procedure, they were laid up in bed for 3 to 5 days. And experiencing anywhere from a mild to a severe fever, it's a miserable experience. And Paul says, I'm going to need you to get this done before you go on this short term missions trip. I want you to imagine I get up here and say, Hey, we've got a short term missions trip coming up here in a couple months, and And we would like volunteers and maybe we get a lot of volunteers and we're in the modular building and going over some of the stuff that needs to be done to prepare and one of the things that's brought up is, by the way, you're going to need and imagine you needed this to be done and you're told you're going to need to be circumcised.

How would you respond? I think some of you would say, what, pastor, I'm feeling like the Lord wants me to serve him here in Riverside. And I could hardly blame you for that. Timothy was like, OK, OK.

I'll, I'll have that procedure done, and I'll travel with the most dangerous man I know. Who is out there preaching the gospel of Christ. What a remarkable 1819, 20 year old. Timothy went on to become Paul's closest, most beloved associate in ministry.

No other name appears more frequently, along with Paul's name at the beginning of his epistles than Timothy's name. He became a pastor of churches. He became an evangelist, and he became a sufferer for the cause of Christ. The writer of Hebrews speaks of him having been in prison and recently released from prison.

I think it's very clear that Eunice tasted deeply. Of the fruits of victory in raising her son for God. All right, now that raises the question. All right, so she faced a lot of challenges, and we now see Timothy at the age of 1819, or 20 and beyond, and he's a remarkable young man.

Is there anything in the pages of Scripture that tells us anything about what Eunice did during that time period where she was bringing up Timothy? And the answer to that question is yes, quite a bit in fact, and that's what our remaining observations are. She tasted a victory. but what was her role in that victory?

Look at the 3rd observation that we can make, and that is that Eunice contributed to this victory that she tasted of by modeling for Timothy a sincere faith in Christ. what, ladies, you may be sitting there going, All right, man, give me the list, Pastor Milton, tell me all the things I need to do, so I can produce this product and have this outcome. what, before we think about what you're supposed to do, let's think about who you're supposed to be. And Paul says that Eunice was a certain person.

She was just a woman who walked with the Lord and manifested a genuine faith in Christ. verse 5, Paul says to Timothy, I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I'm sure that it is in you as well. what we see here is that Eunice was a woman of faith. She believed, she believed in God, she believed in Jesus Christ, and she put her trust in Jesus for her salvation.

And when she put her trust in Christ and God saved her, she was a woman who believed that she was saved. A lot of Christians, a lot, half the time, don't even believe they're really saved from sin's power and sins guilt. She believed that she was saved. She believed that her sins were forgiven.

She believed that she was dressed in the righteousness of Jesus all day, every day, good days and bad days, waking or sleeping. She believed that she believed she had the Holy Spirit inside of her to empower her to be the mom. And woman of God that God wanted her to be. She had the faith to where when things were going well, she believed that that good came from God.

She was the woman who, when things were going poorly and they were going through trials, she believed the truth of the gospel that God will cause all things to work together for His glory and for my good. She was a woman. Timothy would have watched his mom and seen this woman believes. She's a believing one.

And she didn't just believe, but she was a woman of sincere faith. The Greek word that is translated sincere is the Greek word non-hypocritical. OK, it's the word hypocrite, hypo or hypocritical with a negative prefix attached to the beginning of it. She was not a hypocrite.

She was the real article. There was no pretense about her. As Timothy would watch her, he would see that, what, my mom is the same when she's at church as she is at home. My mom doesn't talk a good game.

She doesn't Speak one way at church and then a different way at home. She doesn't teach me one thing and then she turns around and does the opposite. She doesn't say to me, Do as I say, not as I do. Listen to my words, Timothy.

Follow my words, not my example. She had no part with that. She was a non-hypocritical woman. Nothing is more damaging.

To one's parenting than that parent being a hypocrite. Eunice was not a hypocrite. literally the word hypocrite speaks of a mask wearer. And there's two reasons that people wear masks.

Some people put a mask on in order to conceal something that they don't want people to see. But then other people put a mask on because they put things on the front of that mask to where when they put the mask on, people see that stuff that's attached to the front of the mask and they then draw conclusions about the person behind the mask as if those qualities really belong to that person. Someone who's a hypocrite is someone who's always hiding. And someone who's trying to create false impressions of a greater godliness than what is really there.

It's an empty vacuous way to live, because whatever love and respect you get, deep down, this would not come my way if people knew the real me. But Eunice, she was real. There was no pretense about her. This Sincerity was, would show itself that, whatever sin issues she had or struggles she had, she would be open about it.

She wouldn't try to hide that. I'm sure whenever she failed Timothy, that she would say, what, I failed. I'm not going to excuse it. I'm not going to rationalize it.

I'm not going to put some mask of excuse over it. I, I failed and I've sinned, and will you forgive me? She was real. what, moms and dads, what I've observed over the years is that kids or children, they don't, they don't need perfection from their parents.

In fact, it would freak them out if you were perfect. that's why I and my parenting always try to be like less than perfect. So as not to freak my children out. But I'm kidding there.

But they wouldn't know what to do with that. But what, what our children really want is they just want someone that's real. Someone that, that's changing and that's growing and that's open and honest. And what, I failed here and I'm, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. Will, will you forgive me? Will you, will you pray for me? Will you pray over me?

Try asking your children sometime to pray over you, after you've asked for forgiveness for something. I've done that a time or two, and as I've heard the child pray, I realize, wow, my sin was a bigger deal to them than I would have thought that it was. They, they want someone that's real, someone that's growing, someone that's progressing, someone that's genuine. And what, it's probably the single best thing you can do as a mom.

Just have faith in God, live a life of faith and be real in that faith. Don't be a hypocrite. You live that life and you model that for your children, and they see it. I'm sure no one had to tell Timothy, here's what genuine faith looks like.

If someone tried to verbally teach him that, he'd say, listen, I know what it looks like. I saw it growing up. It was my mom. So our children need to see it in us before they hear it from us.

There's a 4th observation we make about how she parented her son, and that is that she contributed to this victory that she experienced in raising Timothy by teaching Timothy the scriptures. She, she gave him the Bible, she taught him the Bible. Look at what it says in verse 14. You, however, Timothy, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them.

And now what is he talking about? Next verse. And that from childhood you have known the sacred writings. Timothy, from your earliest days you have been hearing Bible.

You have been hearing the scriptures being read and quoted to you to the point where in your earliest days you didn't just hear. The Bible. You knew the Bible. Timothy showed a remarkable knowledge of the word of God.

Whatever age he was, he had a very solid understanding of the Bible for that particular age, because obviously his mother Eunice taught him the scriptures. Look at this. which are able or literally, which have the power to give you wisdom that leads to salvation through what? Through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.

She has this genuine faith, I want my son to have faith. How do I get my faith from, from me and my son? She figured out, here's what I'll do, I'll just give my son the scripture, I will teach him. And raise him to know the scriptures, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

The word of God is living and active and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. So I will teach my son the Bible to where he grows up knowing and being convinced of the truth of the written word of God. what, if I ask for a raise of hands, every one of us as moms or dads would say, yeah, I want that for my kids. I, I want my kids to know the scriptures well from childhood.

But even though we say we want that, It doesn't, that desire often doesn't quite translate itself into the way that we set up our priorities and organize our homes and our schedules from day to day. Other things end up taking. Precedence over that priority. If you really want that for your children, for them to know the scriptures, then that needs to reflect itself in the way that you prioritize what you do in your home.

Eunice obviously did that, and Timothy from his earliest days grew up knowing Bible. There's a 5th observation we could make about The victory that she experienced in raising Timothy for God, and that is that she contributed to this victory by making use of the help of other people. this is interesting, and it's not evident in the English text, but in the Greek text, you see this more clearly in 2 Timothy chapter 3, look at this verse 14. You, however, Timothy, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of knowing from whom you have learned them.

In our language, the word whom could be singular or it can be plural. In the Greek text, though, this is plural. All right, it's plural. Certainly Paul.

Paul is including Eunice and what he is saying to Timothy. Timothy, you learned the scriptures from your mother from childhood, and he explicitly makes reference to that. But Eunice obviously was not the only one who taught him the scriptures as he grew up. Eunice obviously availed herself to other resources that were available.

to come alongside of her, and to help her son to become grounded in the scriptures. She, she had a handicap, and that is that her, her husband was not a believer, but she may do with whatever was at her disposal. Other, other men of God, other men in the church, other, other people that knew the Word of God, she freely allowed them to teach her son. it takes a community to raise a son for God.

There are, there are two extremes of parents. There are some parents who they don't take the responsibility to be teachers and instructors of their children at all. They don't take that seriously at all. And their thought is, here's my job.

I drive my children to church and they attend Sunday school. They go to the youth program. They attend Ijuana and they get taught there. That's my job.

I'm a good parent if I drive my children to these locations where they get taught. Then on the other extreme there are parents who take so seriously their responsibility to be the teachers and instructors of their children that they won't let anyone else teach their children. They basically withhold their children from any other instruction that may be offered and available in. the local church, or, or what have you.

Both of those extremes are missing the balance that I think Eunice was able to strike. Eunice taught her son the Bible from his earliest days, but she also enlisted the help of others. I am so blessed as a dad of 4 children to be here at Cornerstone. where I've had opportunity not only to teach my children God's word, but so many of you in this church have invested your life.

You have studied hard for the lessons you have prepared for Ana Sunday school youth ministry, and you have poured yourself into our children. It is, it is a blessing for me, for my children. with some regularity to come home and tell me what they learned from one of their instructors, and to talk about how much they love a particular instructor and, and a lesson that, that is, I know going to be unforgettable for them. And even some of you that are not their instructors, but as you talk with them and maybe fellowship with them and encourage them, you have no idea how much they look up to you and the blessing that it is to know that you're on the same team with me and trying to influence my children for the Lord and all of that works both ways.

We're, we're all working together for the good of our, of our children. And it's not something I'm jealous about, like, well, I can't believe someone else is teaching you or, what often happens, your child comes to you and says, Dad, I learned the most amazing thing, and then what comes out of their mouth is something you've said to them a 100 times. And And I want to say, I told you that. You've heard that from me.

But what, I don't let myself say that because they needed somebody else to say it in a slightly different way for it to get through. And I love that. I love that. And now, but now it makes sense to me when I would tell my dad things that I've learned from somebody.

My dad would say, I, we've told you that, like that's not new. And I can understand sometimes why he said that, but I think it took someone else. Saying something in a slightly different way, but, and Eunice, she, man, she availed herself to all of this, and I'm going to make one final observation before we We move on and close here, and that is that in Eunice's. Upbringing of Timothy and the success that she tasted, she contributed to this victory by releasing Timothy to serve the cause of Christ.

as remarkable as it is that Timothy was willing to undergo circumcision and travel with the most dangerous man he knew for the cause of Christ, as amazing as that is, a part of me thinks, well, every guy likes adventure, right? Just like some of you have sons that have gone off to war, to Afghanistan or Iraq, and yeah, it's hard for them, but it's harder on the parents sometimes than, than the child. and so I'm sure it was difficult for Timothy. It's a remarkable thing he was willing to do this, but it's, I think, even more remarkable that Eunice released him to go.

She released him. She did not resist, she allowed her son to go. And let's say it succinctly in this way, Eunice gave her faith to her son, and then gave her son to the faith. She gave her faith to her son and then gave her son away to the faith.

Lord, Jesus, he's yours. Take him wherever you want to lead him. I'm giving him away to you. Have you given your children Away.

I can challenge your children and say, man, think about full-time vocational Christian service as a possibility. Maybe God wants you to be a missionary overseas and And there are some Christian children of Christian parents who when they think about something like that, what comes to their mind is, oh, what would my parents think? Oh, that would hurt my mom for me to move away. And there are some ideas that God may be working in them in that they don't even entertain because they know that mom and dad haven't really given them away.

I think what needs to happen is that we as parents need to surrender our children to the Lord and say they're yours. They're not mine. I will do my part to give my faith to my children, but then I will give my children a way to the faith. Well, there's much to learn here and hopefully you are encouraged by just the example of Eunice.

It can be done in spite of the obstacles, the hindrances, the discouragements that you. Mother's face, don't believe the lie that you can't make a profound difference in less than ideal circumstances. Let God use you. Be a light right where you're planted and expect great things from the Lord.

OK, let's pray together. We're going to take up an offering in just a moment. I'm gonna encourage you to give as the Lord leads you to give. And we're going to go ahead and not do the closing song just for the sake of time.

But let's, let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we just come before you today and we thank you for your word, the encouragements that are in it, the consolation that's in it. We see a remarkable lady, Lord, who probably made poor decisions early on that, that set her up in circumstances that were less than ideal and yet, and yet, man, she, she was able to experience the joy of having raised a son who became Such a powerful figure in the New Testament and accomplished a tremendous amount of good.

Lord, I just pray for our moms and our dads that regardless of our past and our failures that you would just help all of us to be people of genuine faith.

And, and to seek to, to model the gospel and to be the gospel and And to be a light, and you, you can do so much with so little, Lord. A little kid comes up to you and gives you a few loaves and fish and, and you feed 5000 people with it and there's baskets left over. So we bring ourselves to you with the little we have and the circumstances that we find ourselves that we wish were different and say here Lord, take us, it's not much to work with, but I'm going to trust you to do much with little.

I pray that our moms would be encouraged with that.

And inspired by the example of their sister in Christ, Eunice, as we've seen her displayed this morning. Thank you for the opportunity to give of our offerings to you, Lord, receive these offerings and do much with them also for the glory of Jesus. And all God's people said, Amen.