I think Timothy is close to burn-out when this letter arrives on his desk. And we can understand why when we think about his setting. Timothy is in a tough spot - Ephesus is not an easy city. We know this from Luke’s account in Acts 19 when he records the time Paul spent in the city founding this church. Luke describes the Jews as ‘obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way' (v. 9). And if Jewish opposition wasn’t enough, when the gospel did start to make some ground and people started to get saved, the Greeks rioted and Paul had to leave the city. Ephesus is a tough place to do ministry. There was obstinacy, a refusal to believe, publicly insulting the faith or when ground is won, a full-blown riot. Does that ring any bells in the settings you are going back to tonight or tomorrow?
Surely by now, by the time Paul writes 1 Timothy, things will have changed? Presumably, five years on Timothy is leading a biblical, united, passionate, prayerful, godly church who can stand together and make inroads into this kind of community? No, he is not. The Ephesian church - probably just a network of churches forming one congregation - was a mess. Do you ever hear people say, ‘I would love it if we could just get back to being like the first-century church.' Really? You want churches like that?
Derek Burnside : Mission for how long? 1 Timothy 6:11-16
Taken from the 2011 Keswick Convention Ministry Book “Word to the World”
Details on how to order are available here.