Selecting a Protégé

Acts 16:2-3 (NIV) – The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him.  Paul wanted to take him along on the journey.

Mentoring makes a difference. I can think of several people at different times of my life who invested in me, took me with them, or, through a single conversation, helped me understand things in a new way. These relationships have formed and shaped who I am and how I do things. We often call this kind of senior-to-junior, relationship-based, experiential training mentoring after Mentor, the older man Odysseus had supervise his son Telemachus while he was away from home fighting and returning from the Trojan War in Homer’s Odyssey.

In its classic form, mentoring takes time and focus. Most educational methods enable one instructor to teach several individuals. Mentoring provides situational and personal interaction that cannot happen in a larger group. As a result, most mentoring is one-on-one at least part of the time. Some mentoring can happen by chance and be of a short duration, but we see the apostle Paul demonstrate the classic pattern of mentoring by taking Timothy with him on his second missionary journey. This mentoring relationship continued until Paul’s death. The last letter we have from him was written to his protégé and contains words of parental intimacy that convey appreciation for the years of ministry together and a desire to be together as Paul’s execution drew near. (“Make every effort to come before winter.” II Timothy 4:21).

Although we can tell Paul mentored several other individuals throughout his ministry at a variety of levels, we see Timothy mentioned more through his letters than any other – thirteen times in his letters to churches. Paul even goes so far as telling the Philippians, “I have no one else like him.” (Philippians 2:20) Although we cannot know what words they shared on the road as they traveled in those early journeys, we do read the words Paul wrote to Timothy in two letters near the end of his life and some words Paul used to commend Timothy to the churches to which he sent him as a messenger and, sometimes, as a bishop. We also have Luke’s account in the Book of Acts, which gives us some insight into Paul’s selection of this closest protégé.

As Acts Chapter 16 begins, Paul sets off without his own mentor, Barnabas, after the split recounted in Acts 15. However, we know that relationship did not stay severed. (See I Corinthians 9:16) The split did motivate Paul to take Silas with him. They returned to check on some of the Lycaonian churches they founded on the first journey. They met Timothy in Lystra. Paul likely met him on the first journey as a boy, but this second journey started this special relationship. Why did Paul pick Timothy?

1)    Paul’s preference – There was something about Timothy that made Paul “want” to take him on the journey. Luke’s wording is specific. Taking Timothy was Paul’s decision and Paul’s desire. Paul had experienced the loneliness and challenges of First Century travel. Having two travel companions would increase safety and ability. Yet, it sounds like Paul also enjoyed being with Timothy. There was an intuitive connection; however, Luke is also clear there was sound reasoning for this decision.

2)    Timothy’s reputation - The Christians in the region – not just his own town of Lystra but also the city of Iconium twenty miles away – had good things to say about him. Even though he was of mixed race, perhaps Paul thought that might be more of a bridge than a barrier as he ministered to both Jews and Greeks. Paul must have taken Timothy’s reputation along with his own observations into account as he made the decision to take him on the journey.

3)    God’s confirmation – In both of his personal letters to Timothy, Paul refers to a special work of the Holy Spirit, likely at the time he left home in Acts 16, that confirmed God’s calling and gifting of Timothy for ministry. “Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.” (I Timothy 4:16) “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” (II Timothy 1:6) Paul and the elders of the church at Lystra laid their hands on Timothy to commission him for God’s work and they saw God give him a spiritual gift in that moment he would be able to use for the rest of his life in ministry.

Paul’s significant decision of who to take as a protégé involved three ways we can decide today. Paul’s wanting to take him seems to be intuitive but leaning on his reputation with those who knew best seems intentional and rational. Certainly, God’s confirmation was supernatural (what I call Catching God’s Story in How to Make Big Decisions Wisely). Yet, notice how the supernatural followed the more seemingly natural processes. Ideally, we do get all three in a big decision, and I always seek them, but this pattern of triple confirmation is not always the way God works. Let’s be open to all, though, and seek opportunities to help others fulfill their God-given potential.

When Friends Disagree

Acts 15:39 (NAS) – There arose such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another.

The first part of Acts 15 tells the story of a great reconciliation that threatened to divide the young Christian church. However, we cannot even finish reading that chapter before we come across the next disagreement, this time between two longtime colleagues and friends who had worked hard together on the same side to resolve the earlier dispute. Barnabas wanted to take John Mark on their next missionary journey, but Paul did not want to take him because he bailed early on the first trip. If God always revealed his specific will clearly to his faithful followers on every occasion, why did these two – who both took the title of Apostle (see Acts 14:14) – disagree so vehemently? Luke did not tell us which of them heard from God on the issue. Certainly, Paul had grounds to question the wisdom of taking John Mark on the trip again based on Mark’s earlier track record. However, Barnabas was one to invest in those others rejected.

So, who did hear from God? If we had been there at that moment, it sounds like either Paul or Barnabas would have been convinced the other missed God’s will and plan. That split had to hurt. I can imagine Barnabas thinking to himself, “After all I did for you, this is the way you will treat me? At first, I was the only one in Jerusalem willing to give you a chance. I walked all the way from Antioch to Tarsus to give you your start in ministry. I poured out my time and wisdom to help you started the right way. We have walked thousands of miles together, and you don’t trust my wisdom and ability to mentor John Mark, who is older and wiser now, knows what is involved in missionary work, and wants the second chance Jesus has given us? This hurts!”

Meanwhile, Paul might have thought, “I love you, Barnabas, but sometimes you are just too idealistic. So much is at risk when we take the Gospel to a new city. Remember Lystra? We almost died. Mark said some stupid things on that trip. If he says the wrong words, it could undermine the Gospel’s impact in that region. His griping was intolerable. I know you want to help your nephew, but this is not smart. It’s him or me!”

Luke never tells us which person was correct. However, painful it was in that moment, though, we do get to see three good outcomes:

1)    They covered twice as much ground – As two missions teams, they were able to visit two completely different areas. Paul and Silas eventually made it all the way to Europe while Barnabas and Mark worked throughout Cyprus.

2)    Barnabas’ mentoring of Mark made a difference – I would love to know what Barnabas did, but his mentoring of John Mark enabled him to become a faithful leader of the early church. He wrote the Gospel that bears his second name, likely the first Gospel written. Even Paul noted the change and took him on later journeys (Colossians 4:10). At the end of Paul’s life Mark was the one person besides Timothy Paul wanted with him. (II Timothy 4:11)

3)    Paul and Barnabas reconciled – We do not know exactly how or where the reconciliation happened, but Paul’s words about Barnabas in later letters show mutual respect and gratitude. (I Corinthians 9:6; Galatians 2:1, 9, and 13; Colossians 4:10)

I’d love to be able to tell you the right answer to every question will always be obvious to everyone involved, but that is not the case. Yet, the good news is that God can work anyway, sometimes with both sides of a rifted relationship. Just don’t let the bitterness remain. (Ephesians 4:32) Restore the relationship and agree to disagree.

Shouldn’t It Be Like This?

Acts 13:1 - Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

The church at Antioch provides an excellent model of what a church should be and do. That church was the foundation for the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the Roman Empire. Its people fasted and prayed. (Acts 13:2) They were led by the Holy Spirit. (Acts 13:2) They gave generously to others in need. (Acts 11:29) They were committed to reaching others in their community with the Good News of Jesus, even when those others were of a different culture. (Acts 11:20) They were the sending church for all of Paul and Barnabas’s missions efforts. (Acts 13:3, 15:39-40, and 18:23) Everything the Antioch church did remains key to a healthy Gospel-focused church today. It is not surprising so much of the growth of the early church can be traced back to Antioch.

In his classic, deliberate precision, Doctor Luke gives as a brief picture of another unique aspect of the Antiochean Church, and that is its leadership. Five individuals are specifically named as prophets and teachers. We cannot tell for sure if Luke meant that all five people had both roles or if these five were just a few of many prophets and teachers at Antioch, but we can see an important diversity among these leaders.

We know the last person best. He was still called Saul at that point, but his common name switched to Paul later in that chapter. He was raised as Jewish as possible, yet not in Israel but in the city of Tarsus in what is today Turkey, even further from Jerusalem than Antioch. He went on to plant dozens of churches and write nearly half of the books in the New Testament.

We have discussed the first person on the list, Barnabas, in several other PowerWords. He was a Jew of the priestly tribe of Levi but raised on the island of Cyprus. (Acts 4:36) He was in Jerusalem as the fledgling Christian church began. He became one of its first and most generous donors (Acts 4:37) before taking on the mission of investigating the Antioch church as it started (Acts 11:22) then mentoring Paul (Acts 11:25) and later John Mark, author of the Gospel of Mark (Acts 15:37).

We do not read about Simeon called Niger anywhere else in the Bible or in any trustworthy First Century source, but Luke tells us enough about him for us to reasonably guess he was a black African. Niger, in Latin, means black and was used to describe those who were raised in Africa and had the dark skin that term conveyed.

Lucius was also from Africa. Today Cyrene is part of the country of Libya. Some speculate that Lucius may be the author Luke himself, since there is a record of the Luke (Loukas in Greek) being a nickname for some people in the Roman Empire with the given name of Lucius (Loukios in Greek). His name is not Jewish and the order Paul listed him in Colossians 4:11 and 14, as well as his writing style, make it seem he was likely a Gentile.

We know the remaining person on the list, Manaen, was raised with a ruler from the most powerful family in the region. The word often translated “raised with” (suntrophos) literally means “nursed together.” It could be he was a foster son in the Herodian family or a lifelong friend of Herod Antipas, who ruled Galilee along with other regions, beheaded John the Baptist, and saw Jesus the day he was crucified. One thing was for sure, Manaen had influential friends, so he was likely influential himself.  

Notice how this impactful church had such a diverse leadership team. God used each of them to help form and shape the church and its mission. Each had a unique place of origin and background. Each contributed from their unique perspective. The church grew and its mission changed the world.