Timothy, a young pastor in
Ephesus needs advice from his mentor,
the apostle Paul. And so this letter from Paul arrives, filled with
God –inspired, apostolic wisdom. Paul was an apostle of Christ Jesus and as such he was uniquely endowed and spiritually gifted and
uniquely able to reflect the mind of Christ at a time when there was as yet no written record
of the things that Christ had said and done. The apostles were called by
Jesus as a
unique group of people, and a
gift to the church of all the ages, to be
witnesses to what Jesus said and did, and to write this down for future generations. And so, today we benefit much from this apostolic gift as we make constant reference
to the apostles writings and doctrine.
The first thing which Paul addresses for Timothy’s benefit, and for the church in all the ages , is the
all too common matter of the problem
of false teachers and their different doctrines, by which they produced speculation and therefore controversy and
division. The matter of false teaching is raised in almost all the NT
writings, just as we find the proliferation of false prophets of the OT. Satan is committed to keeping this world
in darkness, and this is one of the chief ways in which he works. And so
too , in the ongoing history of the church we learn of many false teachers and heresies which had to be dealt with in the course of
time, and they continue proliferate in our day.
Just this past week we had an influential American preacher
here in Windhoek. He was invited by an influential company to speak to business
leaders of our city. Tim Challies,
a prominent American blogger and an
astute commentator on spiritual and social issues provides us with the following
information concerning this man:
“He is associated with several
troublesome teachings including the prosperity gospel and positive thinking….
(he) has long been associated with Oneness Pentecostalism which holds to an
unorthodox position on the Trinity. This position is known as Modalism
or, historically, as Sabellianism.[1] Modalism holds that Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit do not refer to distinct persons in the godhead, but to different modes
of existence of a single person. It teaches that in ages past God manifested
himself as the Father, during the incarnation of Christ he manifested himself
as the Son, and subsequently he manifested himself as the Holy Spirit. As one
of its key tenets it states that God cannot exist in more than one mode at a
time. Hence the belief statement at the
Potter’s House says, “There is one God, Creator of all things, infinitely
perfect, and eternally existing in three manifestations: Father, Son and Holy
Spirit.” The important word here is manifestations. Where historic Christianity
affirms persons, modalism demands use of manifestations or modes.”[2]
To crown it, this influential Christian leader has recently
stated that he comes out for ‘Gay
Rights’ and ‘LGBT Churches’. He said that his position on this matter is evolving. [3] We wonder how
he would get past the apostle Paul’s very clear statement in v. 10
of our text? Paul certainly was not evolving. He stood where the Bible had always
stood in this matter.
But let us move on from there
and follow the apostle Paul as he
presents us with the standard for all
his writings and preaching, which
as he says, is “sound doctrine in accordance
with the gospel of the glory
of the blessed God with which I have
been entrusted ” (vv.10,11). It
is this gospel that Paul now
applies in vv. 12-17 to his own
experience, before he give Timothy
a solemn charge to hold on to
this gospel in vv. 18-20, urging him
not be swayed by the different doctrine of the false
teachers.
Paul’s personal experience of the Gospel (vv. 12-17)
Today we shall we surprised
once more by the fact that God
chooses even His enemies to serve Him. In v.
12 Paul writes : “I thank
him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me
faithful, appointing me to his service…”. Paul’s experience of the
gospel begins with an encounter
of the living Lord Jesus Christ. He says that it is Christ who
has given him strength to believe
and to be the apostle that he is. His
testimony in Acts 9 confirms this. Paul was not self - appointed. He was sovereignly called and commissioned and
empowered by Jesus himself. Then Paul
says …. he judged me faithful… This
does not mean that Paul was faithful in
himself and that therefore Christ had
trusted him. No, it is
because Christ had first given him strength, that Paul had also
received the ability to be faithful, and
in particular with respect to this service[4]
as an apostle.
v. 13 “…though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.
But I received mercy because I had acted in ignorance and
unbelief.” Paul is astonished that
God had singled him out and that
he had chosen him for this service, particularly when he considers his own background. In Acts 26: 9-11 he confesses:
"I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the
name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many
of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but
when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them
often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging
fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.”
Paul confesses, “I was
once an insolent (violent) man”. The word means to be arrogantly
sadistic. It means inflicting pain for the sheer pleasure of it. Now you can perhaps appreciate why he calls
himself the foremost of sinners.
Paul had not
only actively opposed and
blasphemed the Name of Jesus (Acts
9:4), but he also tried to force the Christians who he was
persecuting, to blaspheme (Acts 26:11). This is often the
case with those who have tortured Christians over the ages. They always try to make them deny and blaspheme the Lord Jesus.
The story of Polycarp (69 –155 AD), pastor of Smyrna comes to mind.
“The Roman Proconsul asked him whether he was Polycarp. On hearing that
he was, he tried to persuade him to apostatize, saying, “Have respect for your
old age, swear by the fortune of Caesar. Repent, and say, ‘Down with the
Atheists!’” Polycarp looked grimly at the wicked heathen multitude in the
stadium, and gesturing towards them, he said, “Down with the Atheists!”
“Swear,” urged the Proconsul, “reproach Christ, and I will set you free.” “86 years have I have served him,” Polycarp
declared, “and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my
Savior?” “I have wild animals here,” the Proconsul said. “I will throw you
to them if you do not repent.” “Call them,” Polycarp replied. “It is
unthinkable for me to repent from what is good to turn to what is evil. I will
be glad though to be changed from evil to righteousness.” “If you despise the
animals, I will have you burned.” “You threaten me with fire which burns for an
hour, and is then extinguished, but you know nothing of the fire of the coming
judgment and eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly. Why are you waiting?
Bring on whatever you want.” [5]
And then he says, “I had acted in ignorance and unbelief.”
He is not excusing himself. Ignorance is
never an excuse in the eyes of the law.
But the fact is that in his blind zeal, he did not know that he was actually persecuting the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lord of the Christians (cf. Acts
9:4). A question arises. How then was Paul’s sin
different from Judas, who
betrayed the Lord? Why did Paul receive mercy and Judas
not? The answer is that Paul did not
know Jesus. Judas did know Jesus, and he
saw Christ’s glory and despite all his
knowledge of Christ he chose to sin
against him. That is essentially the sin
against the Holy Spirit.
But Paul received mercy. Oh, how Paul glories in that fact, so much so that
he repeats this in v.16 But I received mercy for
this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his
perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal
life. And here is the magnificent
truth for us: If someone like Paul could
be saved then who are we to say that some
people are beyond salvation? According to the Bible, people in the most
endangered category are those who
have once walked with Jesus, who
have experienced Christian fellowship and
who have tasted of heavenly realities
(see Hebrews 6:4-6) and then fall away. But Jesus showed much patience to Paul who acted in ignorance.
And so we see that Paul
is utterly amazed at this great
mercy, and he is quite overcome by it all, so that he adds, …” and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me
with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Grace
was flowing from God into Paul’s soul like a waterfall… as the hymn says, “flowing
like a mighty ocean in its fullness over me.”[6] It is the fee and lavish grace of our Lord. It is abundant
grace, and to those who have understood the forgiveness of God, it is quite
overwhelming.
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received
mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display
his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for
eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be
honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
What shall we say in
conclusion ?
These are grand words, and
they portray the unique beauty of the Christian message.
These are true words. “Here
is a trustworthy saying.” Against
the background of those that teach false
doctrines, myths and endless genealogies (vv.
3&4) and others that have
wandered away and turned to meaningless talk (v.6), these words are
utterly different words. They are totally trustworthy. They have the truth of
God Himself behind them. The Lord Jesus who said, “I am the way, the truth
and the life” (Jn. 14:6) also
said, “Your word is truth” (Jn. 17:17). The Bible is trustworthy.
These are words for the whole world to believe! Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners! (v.15). In I Tim. 2:4 Paul says, “God our Saviour…desires all (kinds of) people to be saved and
to come to the knowledge of the truth”.
This is a sobering thought. Without the word of God the whole world has no
knowledge of true truth. Historic
Christianity, biblical Christianity, believes that Christianity is not just
doctrinal truth, but flaming truth—true to what is there, true to the great
final environment, the infinite-personal God." [7]
Without the Word of God the world is
directionless and lost. We see this
happening wherever Christian capital which has been gained by society is lost. As
the world arrogantly unties itself from the influence of the Word of God, to
that degree the world sinks into
stupidity, cruelty, selfishness. Without
the Word of God the world becomes unintelligent. It is not that mankind
without the Word of God cannot advance in technology, but the lack of spiritual and therefore moral
intelligence destroys whatever man designs. Wherever people cast of the restraint of the
word, language becomes vulgar, manners become rude and
sensual appetites run wild and values
become blurred. Without the Bible the
world would have perished long ago. It is the Word of God that sustains the
world and keeps it going. So let us remember then that the word of God,
the gospel, is not good advice, or a choice to be made. It is essential!
Without this Word taken serious and embraced, the
world , and you, will perish!
These words are particularly helpful to those who are not yet Christians.
Let me say it as simply as I can. We all
deserve eternal death because we are sinners who have torn ourselves loose from the Word of God. That is the bad news for the whole world. But God who is rich in
mercy sent us His Son from heaven. God
the Son came and died for us, that whosoever believes on Him will not perish
but have everlasting life. That is the good news for the whole world. Have you
understood that? Have you received Christ?
If there is one lost soul here today
who has not heard and embraced this good
news, then I beg that you should hear this with faith : Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners!
These words are personal! “Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners – of whom I am the foremost.”
This may sound like an exaggeration to
you. Surely there must have been worse
people than Paul, but the point is that for Paul it felt as if his sinfulness was the
worst. And so it ought to be for you. When God shows you the state of your own heart, then bow your head and cry out: “God be
merciful to me the sinner.”
And please note this too:
Paul had not modified his convictions over the years. He does not say
that when he was converted he was the chief of sinners. “I am ( present tense) the worst of sinners ,” he says.
Those who know Christ as
Saviour will know that they are sinners. “Blessed
are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they
that mourn for they shall be comforted” (Matt. 5:3&4). That is the gateway to the Christian life. There
is no blessedness without poverty of spirit and grief for sin.
These words come to you from one
who has perfect patience towards
you : “ …that in me, as the foremost,
Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those
who were to believe in him for eternal life. O what patience the Lord Jesus displayed towards Paul, that angry crusader against Christianity and the sworn
enemy of Christ. Oh the meekness
and gentleness of Christ! After they had nailed him to a cross, He prayed, “Father
forgive them for they know not what they do.” Thank God for His divine patience. Paul's testimony is a great example of the great patience of Christ for every other
believer. What an encouragement!
The proper response to this word is Doxology ( Praise ) (v.17) To the King of the ages, immortal,
invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
That is Paul’s song of praise.
Paul bursts into worship because it is fitting to do so. Just as sports fans spontaneously burst into applause when a sportsman
demonstrates great skill, so all of us give
praise to God for all that He is and everything that He has done. It is right
and proper and appropriate. And it makes us happy. In praising God there is happiness. A man without praise is a miserable man.
Paul was a miserable man until he met Jesus, and so he was able
to say:
“Here is a trustworthy saying
that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners
– of whom I am the worst.”
Is there not somebody today who has had enough of sin which makes you miserable? Is it not
time you ended your miserable existence and began to truly live? Turn to the
Lord Jesus now!
Amen.
[2] http://www.challies.com/articles/the-false-teachers-td-jakes
[3] http://christiannews.net/2015/08/07/t-d-jakes-comes-out-for-gay-marriage-and-lgbt-churches-says-position-is-evolving/
[4]
Gr. diakonia
[5] https://www.christianhistoryinstitute.org/study/module/polycarp/
[6]
Quoted from the hymn : “O the deep , deep love of Jesus” by Samuel Francis ( 1875)
[7]
Francis Schaeffer:
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