“Living For Christ In A Confused and
Confusing World”
A Study of Paul’s Letters to Timothy
Sermon #2
“Gratitude For Grace”
1 Timothy 1:12-17
As the Apostle Paul
writes to his dear son in the faith, Timothy, who he has charged to lead the church at
Ephesus, he knew that he had asked a lot of Timothy. As we noted in the last lesson
Timothy may have had a predisposition due to his temperament to discouragement and depression. Therefore Paul writes to
encourage this young preacher to continue to serve the LORD faithfully. In an effort to
accomplish his goal of encouraging Timothy Paul uses his own life as an example of what
Jesus can do through His grace and His power. Paul did not share his personal testimony in
order to show how bad he had once been but rather how good God is! He says to Timothy, “Look at my
life Timothy! Look what Jesus has done for me!”
Many people today seem
to think that they deserve to be loved and forgiven by God. Paul was under no such
delusion, in fact, Paul never got over being amazed that God could and did redeem someone
like him. I want to examine with you three
reasons given by Paul why God’s Grace is so amazing.
First, God’s
Grace Is Amazing Because of How It Has Strengthened Him (v. 12)
“And
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful,
putting me into the ministry.”
Paul pointed out to Timothy how God had
strengthened him. Sometimes the strengthening was physical.
Sometimes the divine strengthening was mental.
Sometimes the supply imparted was emotional
(2 Cor. 7:6). Imagine how encouraging the knowledge of how God had strengthened Paul would
have been to Timothy. Timothy could know that he did not have to do this task alone –
the LORD was with him.
God’s
Grace Is Amazing Because of How It Has Strengthened Him and…
Secondly, God’s Grace Is Amazing Because of What He was Called To Do. (v. 12)
“And I thank Christ
Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the
ministry”
Paul says that he labored with the
realization that he had been divinely appointed by God to the ministry, although he did
not deserve it. Although there can be
little doubt that Paul is describing his own call into the ministry we should not lose
sight of the fact that the word translated “ministry”
(diakonian)
is the word we get deacon from. What is
being described is a general call of the saved to serve
God whether it is as a preacher in Paul’s case or some other capacity.
God’s Grace Is Amazing Because of What He was
Called To Do and..
Third, God’s Grace Is Amazing Because of what Paul Had
Been (v. 13)
“although I was formerly a blasphemer, a
persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in
unbelief.”
Now if there ever was a man you would think
would be the least likely to be saved it would have been Saul of Tarsus. In Acts
26:9-11 we read, “Indeed, I myself thought I must do many
things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. (10) This I also did in Jerusalem, and
many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests;
and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. (11) And I punished them
often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged
against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.”
Paul tells the story of his experience with
Christ in Acts 9:3-6, “As he journeyed he came near
Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. (4) Then he fell to the
ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting
Me?" (5) And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" Then the Lord said, "I am
Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads." (6)
So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" Then
the Lord said to him, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must
do."
While Paul was on his
way to the city of Damascus to hunt down more Christians, suddenly Christ himself appeared
to Paul. Paul was knocked from his horse and struck blind, and at that time he heard those
unforgettable words from Jesus, "I am Jesus, whom you are
persecuting.” Paul life was never the same, as he came to trust Jesus as his
own personal Savior that day and he received his call to become an apostle of Jesus
Christ.
Although we may not
have had a Damascus road experience, if you are a Christian, somewhere along the line you
have experienced the quiet insistence of the Holy Spirit calling you and saying, “I want
you!”
When Paul says that he acted in (v.
13) “ignorance and unbelief” he is not saying
this is an excuse for his actions, nor
is he saying that earned him God’s
mercy. But rather he is saying that because he acted in “ignorance
and unbelief” he was not disqualified from receiving mercy.
Paul says that he had “obtained mercy” (v. 13) that phrase in the original
Greek is in the passive voice and implies that Paul did not seek mercy but that mercy found him.
Vicki has recently
sung a song which says in part, “Beautiful, that’s how mercy saw me. Though
I was broken and so lost, Mercy looked past all my faults. Justice of God saw what I had
done, but mercy saw me through the Son. Not
what I was, but what I could be. That’s how mercy saw me!”
In verse fourteen
Paul says, “And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly
abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”
Paul adds the Greek
prefix “huper”
to the word translated “abundant” to add extra intensity. Our word “hyper” as in hyperactive, comes from
this source.
“Christ Came Into the World To Save Sinners.” (v. 15)
Verse fifteen of 1 Timothy chapter 1
has been called the gospel in miniature.
“This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”
As Paul had pointed out in the previous
verses some may teach false doctrines, myths and endless genealogies (vv. 3-4). Others may
have wondered away and turned to meaningless talk (v. 6). But this is something utterly
different, words that are absolutely trustworthy.
He not only says that this principle is trustworthy but that it is worthy of “all acceptance” that is that it should be universally accepted by all of mankind.
This is the first of
five “faithful sayings” which occur in Paul’s letters (the others are 3:1,
4:9; 2 Tim 2:11, Titus 3:8). These sayings are the equivalent of when Jesus saying in the
Gospels “Truly, truly or Verily, verily.”
When Jesus used those words he was saying, “Pay attention this is important!” That is what Paul is doing here! Each time Paul
uses the words “this is a faithful saying” he is
underlining a fundamental principle. The principle here is “Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners!”
The essence of the good news is about Jesus
Christ. It is not about experience, it
not anything you have to do. He did not
come to help us save ourselves, He came to save us.
After quoting the principle that “Jesus
came into the world to save sinners” Paul adds the words, “of whom I am chief.”
Paul viewed himself as the worst of sinners or as we see it here the “chief” of sinners. As John Stott writes Paul, “had not investigated the sinful and criminal records of all the
inhabitants of the world, carefully compared himself with them and concluded that he was
worse than them all… Paul was so vividly aware of his own sins that he could not
conceive that anybody could be worse.” [John Stott. Guard the Truth: The Message
of 1 Timothy and Titus. ( Downer’s Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1996) p.
53]
Paul was saying that if he could save
It is also worthy of noting that in verse
“For This
Reason” (v. 16)
In verse sixteen
Paul tells us, “However, for this reason I obtained mercy,
that in me first Jesus Christ might show all long-suffering, as a pattern to those who are
going to believe on Him for everlasting life.”
Paul says the “reason” that God showed mercy to him was not simply to
save him from Hell so that he could go to heaven. Nor did he save him so that he could
preach the gospel or write the epistles. God’s purpose was to display his grace,
power and his long suffering or patience.
Jesus the divine King
is now characterized by four depictions in verse seventeen, “Now
to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory
forever and ever. Amen.”
1. He is eternal - “king
eternal” or “king of the ages”
2. He is immortal.
3. He is invisible.
4. He is the only God (mono theos)
What Paul is affirming here is not God’s wisdom but God’s person. Isaiah
45:18 declares, “For thus says the LORD, Who created the
heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not
create it in vain,
Who formed it to be inhabited: "I am the LORD, and there is no other.”
I want to close by telling the wonderful
illustration of grace that Max Lucado tells in his book “No Wonder They Call Him
Savior.”
“Longing to leave her poor
Brazilian neighborhood, Christina wanted to see the world. Discontent with a home having
only a pallet on the floor, a washbasin, and a wood-burning stove, she dreamed of a better
life in the city. One morning she slipped away, breaking her mother’s heart. Knowing
what life on the streets would be like for her young, attractive daughter, Maria hurriedly
packed to go find her. On her way to the bus stop she entered a drugstore to get one last
thing. Pictures. She sat in the photograph booth, closed the curtain, and spent all she
could on pictures of herself. With her purse full of small black-and-white photos, she
boarded the next bus to Rio de Janiero.
Maria knew Christina had no way
of earning money. She also knew that her daughter was too stubborn to give up. When pride
meets hunger, a human will do things that were before unthinkable. Knowing this, Maria
began her search. Bars, hotels, nightclubs, any place with the reputation for street
walkers or prostitutes. She went to them all. And at each place she left her picture—taped
on a bathroom mirror, tacked to a hotel bulletin board, fastened to a corner phone booth.
And on the back of each photo she wrote a note.
It wasn’t too
long before both the money and the pictures ran out, and Maria had to go home. The weary
mother wept as the bus began its long journey back to her small village. It was a few
weeks later that young Christina descended the hotel stairs. Her young face was tired. Her
brown eyes no longer danced with youth but spoke of pain and fear. Her laughter was
broken. Her dream had become a nightmare. A thousand times over she had longed to trade
these countless beds for her secure pallet. Yet the little village was, in too many ways,
too far away. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes noticed a familiar face.
She looked again, and there on the lobby mirror was a small picture of her mother.
Christina’s eyes burned and her throat tightened as she walked across the room and
removed the small photo. Written on the back was this compelling invitation. “Whatever
you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn’t matter. Please come home.”
She did.” [Max Lucado, No Wonder They Call Him the
Savior. (Multnomah Press, 1986) pp. 158-159]
Conclusion
How did
remembering God’s grace in his life benefit Paul?
· It kept him humble.
· It kept his gratitude fresh.
· It urged him to greater efforts.
It was a constant encouragement to others. (v. 16)