1 Tim 1:1+2 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope; to Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 
	Last week, we began our consideration of these two letters to Timothy in terms of the spiritual relationship that existed between Paul and Timothy. The Apostle Paul considered himself to be Timothy’s spiritual father and they shared a very special, intimate, and unique, relationship in the Lord. There is much in these letters that highlight the same truth of our unique, spiritual bond with one another in Christ Jesus. A greater understanding of this reality requires that we spend a bit more time dealing with the course of this intimate, spiritual relationship. We need to gain a deeper insight as to how our oneness in Christ has its affect within us, the Church, the Body of Christ.  
	Initially, held within these first verses is the threefold blessing of our spiritual relationship in Christ Jesus. The Apostle lays this before Timothy and before us in the words: grace, mercy, and peace. These three elements are the binding blessing in which we are brought together, one with each other and with God in Christ Jesus. God the Father is the source from Whom it originates. God the Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, is the One through Whom it is made to be our lives. And God, the Holy Spirit is the One by Whom this blessing operates unto perfection in us, the Church. Grace is the source of our redemption, mercy is the display of our redemption and peace is the result of our redemption. It is in this threefold blessing that we are made the one Body of Christ, His church. As a direct result of this triune blessing, we are no longer bound to the slavery and depravity and self-centeredness of our old nature. We are made alive and free in our new life, our spiritual life in Christ. We are no longer self-seeking, and concerned only with those things which serve our purposes. Now, our entire perspective is changed and we become, both individually and corporately, seeking after God and the things that serve to further establish His glory.
Christ declared this as He was being challenged by the Pharisees as recorded in John 8:41-47, "You are doing the deeds of your father." They said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God." Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me; for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. "Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies. "But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. "Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? "He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God." 
	We see the difference in our new spiritual relationship together with Christ. We are now the sons of God. As such, we are now able to understand, ever more clearly, the things that Jesus taught. We are now capable of hearing the very voice of God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit as we read and as we love and obey His Word. We are now able to partake in communion one with each other on the spiritual level of the mutual love for our Heavenly Father. We desire to only do those things that please Him and we morn when we have displeased Him in any way. We are truly, now in Christ, the children of God.
	Isaiah gives forth that heart of God in Isa 43:1-7 and verses 15-21, But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. "For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. "Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. "Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west. "I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' And to the south, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth, Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made." "I am the Lord, your Holy One, The Creator of Israel, your King." Thus says the Lord, Who makes a way through the sea And a path through the mighty waters, Who brings forth the chariot and the horse, The army and the mighty man  (They will lie down together and not rise again; They have been quenched and extinguished like a wick): "Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past…. "Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert. "The beasts of the field will glorify Me; The jackals and the ostriches; Because I have given waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My chosen people. "The people whom I formed for Myself, Will declare My praise. 
	In this passage we see the promise of God’s desire after this spiritual relationship from within us. He has made the way in which to bring us into His very family, created anew in Christ Jesus. His tremendous love is proclaimed by the prophet to such a degree that He even affirms the binding attribute that we share with one another in Christ Jesus. We declare His praise in the lives that we live on this earth. 
Consider that the heart of Jesus was always to please the Father, to proclaim His Love and His excellencies in every sermon, in every counsel, in every action, in every expression, in everything that He did. That desire to proclaim the Love of God in Jesus Christ was the tie between the Apostle Paul and Timothy. It is the core of our spiritual rapport one with each other. We live for the sake of the glory of the name of Jesus Christ. Our gathering together is for the express purpose of bringing delight to the heart of God. Our interaction with others needs to be continually based on the concern of pleasing God in everything that we do. 
To live lives that please God alone, as it becomes our heart, will put an end to the issues that plague us. If we are truly God’s children, as we are in Jesus Christ, then the very function of our lives is singly to please the Father. That is Christ’s heart! That is our heart! If we are set on pleasing our Heavenly Father, we will not allow ourselves to participate in anything that causes any hindrance to the further glory of God on this earth. We will be very careful and astute in the relationships that include us. We will be constantly on guard against any threat to the glory and to the testimony of Our Lord Jesus Christ in our lives. We will set our earthly desires, fears, worries and weaknesses aside and earnestly seek only that which pleases God. Nothing else!
	This is a tremendous truth that we need to have deeply rooted into us. Because we are made partakers of the spiritual life of Jesus Christ, our focus needs to be spiritual in its every manifestation. Everything that comes into our lives needs to be weighted against the glory that it will bring to God. Everyone who encounters us should be witness to the living glory of God as manifested in our actions, our interactions, our reactions, our patient endurance, our continual expression of love and our constant acclamation of the glory and majesty of God through unhindered obedience to His Holy Spirit and His Word. There should be a very distinct Godliness about us, the evidence that we are now made part of His family and are in fellowship with Him every moment of our day and night. 
	 Now, please understand several aspects of this Godliness. First, we are not becoming gods ourselves. That is in nowise what is involved. Only God is and will always be God. We are now brought into His family, but we are not being made into anything other than his sons in Christ Jesus. All the characteristics that are being developed in us are Christ’s. Because we are joined to Him, He is the one who is evidenced in our lives and actions and thoughts and words. Christ and Christ Alone. Who we are is only because of Who He is. 
	The Godliness that is evident in our lives is that of our focus and our hearts being centered in Him. As I mentioned, our very perspective is now centered on God rather than on ourselves. In line with that, we become interested in the things of God. We desire to worship Him ever more accurately. We desire to pray and to spend time with Him. We love to read and to study and to mediate upon His Word. We trust Him and we find that we do not want to make any decision apart from Him. We become ever more cognizant of the fact that we can not function, nor can we even live without Him on this earth. We are filled with thanksgiving for His great Love and His marvelous ways as evidenced in us and from us unto others. We find that He becomes the focal point of our conversations, of our affections, of our choices, of all our relationships, and our wisdom. 
	In every area of our lives, we consider Him and His glory. At work, we desire for our workmates and customers to come to know Him. At school we earnestly keep our fellow students and teachers in our hearts that they will come to know Him as we know Him. At home, we lift up our family members; we seek for the Lord to establish His life in them as He is in us. We share that prayer of the Apostle Paul that we would even willingly give up our salvation, if that were possible, for the sake of their salvation. In our times of rest and relaxation, we find that we can only do so as we honor the Lord. Even in our travels and our shopping and our time away from it all, He remains the focus of our hearts and we are willing to lay aside our time and our recreation to be of benefit for another. We rejoice in Him and in His goodness. We find that the Holy Spirit is developing in us a more precise understanding of His teaching, of His way of love, of His guidance, and of His willing sacrifice for the sake of others.    
	As well, we love to come before Him in fellowship. We are glad to be in His House of worship, gathered together with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We take delight in one another as we share together in the bounty of His goodness and His grace. We lift our hearts up together in prayer as we stand with and for one another in the concerns and the trials and the tribulations that we face. 
In line with this, we truly find complete understanding in the truth of the Holy Spirit as recorded in 1 Cor 12:26+27, And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it. 
There is a definite oneness that cements our hearts together in Christ Jesus. We partake of the joy and the sorrow together. We delight in conversing about the Lord and sharing our heart with one another as to what the Lord is accomplishing in us. We find our counsel in Him as we seek Him together. We find our wisdom in Him, as we cherish those in whom He has already done a mighty work. We honor one another and we stand with one another through all the births and the deaths, always seeking Him as our comfort, our solace, and our triumphant victory. We rejoice together in God’s Almighty Mercy. We join our hearts in absolute thanksgiving unto Him for His Lovingkindness in our lives. And, we stand together as His Grace floods our hearts and lives.
	As well, we share together in our reverence of the Lord. We find that His glory and His honor are all that really matter on this earth. We encourage one another in Him and we stand in awe of His Omniscience, His Omnipotence, and His Omnipresence. We consider Him in the reality that we are in the very presence of the Almighty God in Whom no evil, no sin, no unholiness can exist.And yet, praise the Lord, we are there together in Christ, completely covered in His righteousness. As we reflect on that stunning reality, our hearts are filled with awe and esteem and contriteness at the fulfillment of His plan and purpose in our lives. We share in the truth of His holiness as He proceeds to build us up together into the Church of His heart’s desire.
	 There is very much more that is a part of the relationship that is ours in Christ. The Apostle Paul has much more to declare concerning the manner in which the members of the church are to function as one in Christ. As we proceed in these letters, Lord willing, there will be developed a greater sense in each one of us that we are to cherish one another as we cherish the Lord in our lives. We are not strangers, thrown together on a whim. We are picked and chosen by God to be fitted together into that same oneness as Paul and Timothy shared, the oneness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope; to Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen

Benediction Isa 44:21-24 "Remember these things, O Jacob, And Israel, for you are My servant; I have formed you, you are My servant, O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me. "I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud, And your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you." Shout for joy, O heavens, for the Lord has done it! Shout joyfully, you lower parts of the earth; Break forth into a shout of joy, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it; For the Lord has redeemed Jacob And in Israel He shows forth His glory. Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, "I, the Lord, am the maker of all things…
Amen