This morning,
we turn our attention to the letter of 1st Timothy. This letter is
attributed to Paul, but may have been written by one of his followers and then
attributed to Paul. In the opening portion of the letter, the writer warns
Christians to not succumb to false teachers – people who say their words come
from God, but are mistaken. Then, the author launches into describing Paul’s
experience of God’s grace. This is the portion of the letter we read today.
Hear from the word of God as we read 1st Timothy, chapter 1, verses
twelve through seventeen:
Proclamation of the Scripture 1 Timothy 1:12-17
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me
strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his
service.
Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a
violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and
unbelief.
The grace of our Lord was poured out on me
abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.
But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me,
the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as
an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal
life.
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the
only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Prayer
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
The Bible is full of stories of
redemption. People who get things wrong and do the wrong things come to their
senses, become enlightened, and turn towards God. Many of our “heroes” of the
faith are people who had a pivotal, life-transforming moment and became
faithful. But, before that moment, their
lives were full of mistakes.
Paul is one of the most famous
examples of a “Redemption Story.” Paul was born in Tarsus, which is now in the
Southern-Central region of Turkey. His Hebrew name was Saul and his Latin name
was Paul. In the first century, it was
typical for Jewish people to have both Jewish names and Greek or Latin names.
Paul was privileged – he was a Roman citizen.
Paul’s family was wealthy and he was educated. When Paul was an adult,
he chose to be a Pharisee like his father had been. Pharisees worked to resist assimilation into
the Roman world and encouraged the Jewish people to follow the purity laws
found in our Old Testament. So, Paul
studied the scriptures, worshiped, and worked to fully adhere to the laws and
rules of Judaism.
Along with adhering to those ancient
laws, Paul judged and condemned the people who were Jewish but did not follow
the laws as closely as the Pharisees did or who interpreted the laws
differently than the Pharisees interpreted them. Paul was one of the Pharisees who were
particularly angered by the people who were Jewish but chose to follow
Jesus. He was not alone.
Other Pharisees and many Jewish
leaders were upset by the teachings and philosophies of Jesus and his
followers. In the book of Acts, Paul was on the sidelines when the Apostle
Stephen was stoned because of his Christian convictions. Paul was mentioned as
the person who held the outer cloaks that the people took off before they threw
the stones that killed Stephen.
Paul then made it his mission to
hunt down Christians. For years, he
rooted them out and had Christians arrested. Sometimes he got them killed. But,
then Jesus stopped him. He blinded Paul
with a vision and told Paul to stop persecuting Christians. And, to make it his
work to spread the gospel and grow the church. When Paul committed to Christ,
his eyesight was restored and he began to be an evangelist to spread the Good
News of Jesus.
In our reading this morning, Paul
refers to himself as the worst of sinners. His previous actions, his previous
life, led to the persecution of Christians. He persecuted them and then he
realized they were right, that Jesus’ teachings were the path to follow. And, despite Paul’s prior obsession
with destroying the Christian faith, despite his harmful and hurtful actions,
God forgave him. And, God called Paul to serve God and to spread the faith he
once worked to destroy.
Paul stated: Jesus Christ came into
the world to save sinners—of who I am the worst.
Paul’s story is a reminded to all of
us, all of us sinners, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save us.
Everyone in this room has things
about our pasts we are not proud of. We have done things we regret. We have
said things that we are ashamed of. We have hurt ourselves and we have hurt
other people. We have made mistakes and we will make mistakes.
And, yet, Jesus Christ came into the
world to save us.
The Good News of our faith is “For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn
the world, but to save the world through him.” God sent Jesus to the world even
though we constantly make mistakes, we constantly mess ups. But, God loves the people of the world so
much that God forgives us again and again. And, God loves us so much God sent
Jesus to us – to teach us, to heal us, to direct us, and to save us.
So, friends, we are a redeemed
people. No matter how we fail, God loves us. Like Paul, we may think of ourselves
as the worst of sinners. But, we are loved by God. We are forgiven by God. And
we are redeemed by God’s grace.
This is the Good News. Now, it is
our work to make sure we don’t keep this news to ourselves, but make it our
mission to share it, just like Paul made it his mission to share it.
And, may we have love in our heart
and radiating out of us with our words and our actions as we share the Good
News will others. Amen.
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