Being a Co-Laborer

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

by Dr. Paul Chappell

"But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state."

Philippians 2:19-20

In studying war and the development of the armies of the United States, it's hard to overlook a man some historians have called "the first modern general"-William Tecumseh Sherman. He served as a general in the Union army during the Civil War and through his "scorched earth" policies, really introduced Americans to complete war.

The story is told of his relationship with General U.S. Grant who headed up the Union armies. Sherman and Grant were close friends and traded letters often. Sherman demonstrated the strength of the friendship in an 1865 letter which contained the following sentence by Sherman:

"I knew wherever I was that you thought of me, and if I got in a tight place you would come-if alive."

Every human being desires companionship-a friend, a mate, an acquaintance, someone to care and help in tough times. God made us to need and receive help from others.

As Christians, God brings people into our lives to lift us up and help us along our Christian journey. Can you think of some people who've helped you continue on during tough times? For Paul, Timothy was that co-laborer who helped his ministry.

While it's a great blessing to have a friend like Timothy, it's an even greater blessing to be a friend like Timothy. God desires that you would actively help those around you to stay faithful in their Christian journey.

What can you do to help and encourage your friends? Perhaps it's through keeping someone accountable, lending a helping hand during a trial, or praying for strength for others. Ask God how you can be a Timothy to someone in your life today.

Today's Growth Principle
Determine to be a friend who provides spiritual encouragement and replenishment for others.

Old Testament Reading

Leviticus 1-3

CHAPTER 1

¹ And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, ² Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.

³ If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD. ⁴ And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. ⁵ And he shall kill the bullock before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. ⁶ And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. ⁷ And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire: ⁸ And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: ⁹ But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.

¹⁰ And if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish. ¹¹ And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar. ¹² And he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat: and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: ¹³ But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring it all, and burn it upon the altar: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. ¹⁴ And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the LORD be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons. ¹⁵ And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn it on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar: ¹⁶ And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes: ¹⁷ And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.

CHAPTER 2

¹ And when any will offer a meat offering unto the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon: ² And he shall bring it to Aaron's sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: ³ And the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and his sons': it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire. ⁴ And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. ⁵ And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in a pan, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil. ⁶ Thou shalt part it in pieces, and pour oil thereon: it is a meat offering. ⁷ And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in the fryingpan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. ⁸ And thou shalt bring the meat offering that is made of these things unto the LORD: and when it is presented unto the priest, he shall bring it unto the altar. ⁹ And the priest shall take from the meat offering a memorial thereof, and shall burn it upon the altar: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. ¹⁰ And that which is left of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and his sons': it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire.

¹¹ No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire. ¹² As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the LORD: but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour. ¹³ And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt. ¹⁴ And if thou offer a meat offering of thy firstfruits unto the LORD, thou shalt offer for the meat offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn dried by the fire, even corn beaten out of full ears. ¹⁵ And thou shalt put oil upon it, and lay frankincense thereon: it is a meat offering. ¹⁶ And the priest shall burn the memorial of it, part of the beaten corn thereof, and part of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

CHAPTER 3

¹ And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offer it of the herd; whether it be a male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the LORD. ² And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron's sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. ³ And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, ⁴ And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. ⁵ And Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.

⁶ And if his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering unto the LORD be of the flock; male or female, he shall offer it without blemish. ⁷ If he offer a lamb for his offering, then shall he offer it before the LORD. ⁸ And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron's sons shall sprinkle the blood thereof round about upon the altar. ⁹ And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat thereof, and the whole rump, it shall he take off hard by the backbone; and the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, ¹⁰ And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. ¹¹ And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire unto the LORD. ¹² And if his offering be a goat, then he shall offer it before the LORD. ¹³ And he shall lay his hand upon the head of it, and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation: and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle the blood thereof upon the altar round about. ¹⁴ And he shall offer thereof his offering, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, ¹⁵ And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. ¹⁶ And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the LORD'S. ¹⁷ It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.

New Testament Reading

Matthew 24:1-28

¹ And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. ² And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. ³ And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

⁴ And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. ⁵ For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. ⁶ And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows. ⁹ Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. ¹⁰ And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. ¹¹ And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. ¹² And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. ¹³ But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. ¹⁵ When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) ¹⁶ Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: ¹⁷ Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: ¹⁸ Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. ¹⁹ And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! ²⁰ But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: ²¹ For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. ²² And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. ²³ Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. ²⁴ For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. ²⁵ Behold, I have told you before. ²⁶ Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. ²⁷ For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. ²⁸ For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

Proverbs Reading

Proverbs 7

¹ My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. ² Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. ³ Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. ⁴ Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: ⁵ That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. ⁶ For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, ⁷ And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, ⁸ Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, ⁹ In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: ¹⁰ And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. ¹¹ (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: ¹² Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) ¹³ So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, ¹⁴ I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. ¹⁵ Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. ¹⁶ I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. ¹⁷ I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. ¹⁸ Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. ¹⁹ For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: ²⁰ He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. ²¹ With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. ²² He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; ²³ Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. ²⁴ Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. ²⁵ Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. ²⁶ For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. ²⁷ Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.