When Timothy comes, don’t intimidate him. He is doing the Lord’s work, just as I am. Don’t let anyone treat him with contempt. Send him on his way with your blessing when he returns to me. I expect him to come with the other believers.
1 Corinthians 16:10-11
Paul planned to send Timothy first as an interim measure. Just ponder that for a moment. There is a major issue in Corinth which needs confronting. Paul is going to go there but in the meantime he sends Timothy. Paul has told Timothy in his direct letter to him not to let anyone despise him on account of his youth and inexperience (1Tim 4:12). It is probable that some of the more wealthy and proud, some who valued themselves on their wisdom and experience, would look upon him with contempt. Paul here urges the Corinthians not to despise him because be was a young man, and comparatively inexperienced. Paul knows their partisan spirit and the spirit of pride that reigns in Corinth. Effectively he urges them to back off and allow Timothy to minister to them.
Erastus accompanied Timothy in this journey (Act 19:22) and probably there were others with him. Titus also had been sent to Corinth (2Cor 12:17-18) and it is not improbable that Paul had desired Titus to bring with him to Ephesus some of the Corinthian brethren, as he might need their assistance there. “I expect him to come with the other believers” could have two meanings. 1) Paul was expecting certain brethren with Timothy or 2) that it was the brethren who were with Paul that were looking for him, namely “I, with the brethren, am looking for him.”
We know Timothy was prone to fear. Imagine what was going through his mind before this trip to Corinth. In the modern vernacular – I bet he was freaking out. “You want me to do what, Paul?” But despite his fears and trepidation Paul still planned to send him. Either the situation is desperate enough or he had every confidence in Tim to handle it well. Imagine yourself in that position. Some of you may be in that position already. You have been asked to do something that you think is too hard for you but your leader thinks otherwise. This could be the making of you. Bite the bullet, trust God for the outcome and do it.
You don’t have to be perfect, but you must be genuine.
Bob Gass
In times of trouble we cry, “God, give us men to match our mountains.” God gives us children and says, “Here’s the building material.”
Bob Gass