Effective

Pete Kersker - Sep 11, 2026

Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek (Acts 16:1-3 NIV).

It seems strange to us that Paul would ask Timothy to be circumcised. Paul had just gone to Jerusalem to argue for the opposite: Gentiles do no need to be circumcised to be saved. They Holy Spirit led all of them to come to this conclusion. They even put it in writing.

"The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings. We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell" (Acts 15:23-29 NIV).

Timothy was not circumcised to be saved. He wasn't even circumcised to make him more holy. He was circumcised to be effective in the ministry they were about to do. Timothy was going to help Paul deliver the message in the letter above to Jewish and Gentile believers in towns where Jewish non-believers had run Paul out of town. He did it to diffuse the divisions and have the opportunity to speak to them a message that would build unity. Timothy was about to serve in a tumultuous context and effectively build the Body of Christ.

As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers (Acts 16:4-5 NIV).

Have you ever seen someone go to great lengths to bring people to unity in Christ?

Have you ever done more than what God requires from everyone else to effectively build others up? How?
Did God lead you to go that "extra mile"? How did God work through your faithful extra-effort?