The church at Ephesus was birthed in the midst of pagan lifestyles and idolatry. The city was given over to the worship of the goddess Diana. Paul’s ministry there was fruitful, with a church being established there. Of course, the members of the fledgling church were all new converts, coming out of all the influences of their city. Even though they had chosen to believe in Jesus as their Savior, there was much work to be done to convert their thinking to true Christianity.

Recognizing the fragile condition of the young church, Paul sent Timothy to oversee the work there, that he might provide the doctrinal stability needed to keep them on course, as they grew in their knowledge of the Scriptures.

Paul wrote to Timothy to encourage him in this matter. He wrote in…

1 Timothy 1:3 As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
4 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.

Paul reminded him that his mission in Ephesus was to superintend the leaders of the church, making sure they stayed true to the same Gospel they had trusted under Paul’s ministry, and not be swayed by every wind of doctrine that came along.

Besides being true to the Gospel, Timothy was to warn them to not get bogged down in practices that tended to distract from the main thing. The Jews held up the oral traditions of their fathers, often placing those traditions above even the Scriptures. Paul told Timothy to watch out for such violation of truth.

Along with the danger of the Jew’s oral traditions, that which he called fables, was the obsessive devotion to genealogies so commonly debated. The Jews were proud of their heritage, and had built a culture around honoring their lineage. Because the Gentiles had not placed tracing their bloodlines as a priority, and therefore could not claim generations of history, they were looked down upon as lesser.

Such practices Paul condemned as distractions from the work and life of Christ; knowing one’s pedigree had never brought a lost soul to faith in the Savior. Timothy found the work of keeping the church focused on its task of spreading the Gospel and making disciples frequently diverted because of the practices of which Paul warned.

The mission of the church has never wavered. We are God’s method of evangelizing the world. If we spend our time servicing the distractions, the main work of God will never be accomplished.

Let’s heed Paul’s admonition to Timothy and make sure we are staying busy doing the main thing – sharing Christ and encouraging spiritual growth.