1 Timothy 1:12-17 - Grace and Glory

So anything new happening with you guys?

So I do apologize if this is your first time here.

That had to be weird.

Um so uh if you are first time here you're not sure what's happening, why that was there.

Uh we do have uh Malcolm just retired.

He's been here for 23 years.

He retired last Sunday was his last week.

And so we had a big party and a good send-off, but today is my official first day, and I just thought it would be kind of a funny thing to do that.

Thank you.

Um what's neat, and it kind of just lined up, I don't know if it's ironic or what the right terminology is, but we're starting the book of First Timothy.

And it wasn't that we'd planned this way ahead of time.

We'd planned our sermons out uh for almost a year and a half, and then ended up lining up just right to where we would start the week after Malcolm uh retired with First Timothy.

And the reason that's kind of ironic is is because First Timothy is a book written by Paul, and it's a letter that's written to these guys.

When Paul was approaching the end of his ministry, the end of his life, he went and he knew that he was going to come to an end, but the church needed to go on.

And so he writes to a couple of guys, to Titus and to Timothy specifically, and he writes these letters that are called the pastoral letters.

And before this, all the letters that he's written, you know, Romans all the way through 2 Thessalonians are written to a church or to a group of people, and yet 1, 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon are all written to individuals.

Now, the reason is that they were passing on, specifically these guys, to Titus and Timothy who's passing on this ministry.

And so we see, you can kind of see these parallels that are happening, right?

Malcolm, I mean Paul writes to Timothy and says, I'm gonna pass this on to you.

And of course you see the parallel that, you know, Malg or uh Paul writing on giving the ministry to Timothy, a younger, better looking guy, and uh Malcolm doing the same here.

Um and so um and so passing that on.

Uh last week we they were taking pictures and they said, Jerry, get up there, and I said, only if I can pose like Deborah.

Um and they let me.

So Malcolm apparently was my prom date this year.

So um but those similarities of the ministry being passed on is really where it ends.

Because as you read first and second Timothy, you start to see that Paul asked Timothy to step into a church that had a lot of big issues and a lot of synthing, and so grateful uh we didn't, and that's not the case here.

Um also very grateful that we didn't have to repeat Acts 16, verse 3 either.

Acts 16:3

Um and Timothy, though, was sent into this church um with this issues.

And if you read Ephesians, you read 1 and 2 Timothy, you start to see how different it is from Valley Christian Church to the ministry there.

Now we can still take into these uh scripture and learn so much about what we should be doing and the things to guard ourselves against.

And so that's what we're gonna be looking at.

But let's go ahead and pray, and then we'll jump into 1 Timothy chapter 1.

1 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

Lord, thank you for your goodness.

Thank you for laughter.

Uh, thank you for a chance to just come together and worship you, Lord.

In this moment, as we study your scriptures and we look at your word, um, Lord, you're already in this place.

Make yourself known to us, Lord.

Let us be changed because of who you are and what you've done.

And we pray this in your son's name.

Amen.

Now, Paul starts the letter here, and he kind of recaps the charge that he gives to p uh to Timothy.

He says, Stay in Ephesus.

Remember, I told you stay in Ephesus.

Well, I went on to Macedonia, and I want you to lead the church there.

You're gonna lead it, and you're gonna love God, and you're gonna love people, and you're gonna teach the truth.

And these are the things that you need to do.

And as we go through those categories kind of cover all that Paul talks to Timothy about doing.

Now, as he leaves them this charge, in verse 12, he kind of turns this corner and starts talking less about what Timothy is to do and more about his own story.

And so in 1 Timothy chapter 1, uh verse 12, he says, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service.

1 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

Now, this idea of strength is prevalent throughout all of Paul's letters.

In first, I'm sorry, in Philippians uh 4.13, maybe the most, one of the most misquoted verses, and yet has to do exactly with this.

He says, Paul says, I can do all things through him who gives me strength.

In the Ephesians, in the book of Ephesians, chapter 3, 16, he writes this I pray out of his glorious riches that he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your innermost being.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

Or Colossians 1, 28 and 29, it says, Him we proclaim, wherening everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we present everyone mature in Christ.

For this I toil, struggling with all his strength, some translation that says energy, that he will powerfully or that he powerfully works within me.

In 2 Timothy, and we'll get to in a few weeks, he says this in 2 Timothy 4, 17, but the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed to all the Gentiles and they might hear it.

In 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, he says, But the Lord is faithful, he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.

2 Thessalonians 3 · chapter mention

So Paul obviously has this idea of strength, and it's very important to him, but the common thread through all these things is the source of strength.

Paul doesn't say, you know, I come with strong or strength and you know with firmness, but instead it's may God strengthen me.

I can do all things.

Lord gives me strength, he will strengthen you.

We labor with his strength through Christ who strengthens me.

All these things, and Paul is totally reliant on the strength of God.

Now, I understand, I think that Paul, the reason that he was able to do this so faithfully, I think that he had a deeper understanding of the Great Commission than what I do.

I have an idea and I have a mental ahead knowledge of the Great Commission, but I think Paul had a gut understanding or a heart understanding of the Great Commission.

Now, if you're unfamiliar with what the Great Commission is, when Jesus in Matthew, the book of Matthew, Jesus at the end of it, um, he's about to return to heaven, and he gives his disciples this last command, and it's called the Great Commission.

He says to him in Matthew chapter 28, verse 18, he says, Then Jesus came to them and he said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Matthew 28:18

And that right there is a pretty amazing statement, right?

Jesus is the only person that said, I will raise from the, I'm gonna die, and I'm gonna come back to life, and then he did it.

There are a lot of people that say that.

There are some people that never said it, and they've come back to life because God brought them there, Lazarus, people like that.

But Jesus said, This is what I'm going to do, and then he did it.

All authority, even over death, he has.

And then he says, This therefore, since all the authority has been given to me, this is what you're supposed to do.

Therefore, go make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and teaching the everything that I have commanded you, and surely I'm with you always to the very end of the age.

Now, this is something that I've took classes on in college, and we focused on.

Okay, you know, what is Samaria?

What is Judea?

What is the end of the earth?

All these things, and we focus on these details, but so many times I've skipped past the last part of that.

After he says, go and do this, what does he say?

And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.

I've read past that so many times, and I don't take it to heart.

If I was to fully understand and fully think that through and actually realize it then, is every time I walk up here, I'm not up here by myself.

Every time I go to sleep, every time I'm out on the boat, every time I'm wherever, I am not alone.

Every time you drive to work, you're not by yourself.

That commute is not made alone.

And so we have to.

I think Paul knew this intrinsically, that Jesus was with him constantly.

That Jesus fulfilled this promise.

I, on the hand, I walk so many times and I think, okay, I gotta go do this.

I need to take care of this.

I'm scared facing this by myself.

And yet, Jesus is there.

And so Paul says, I, and realizes that Jesus said, I am with you.

I think he had a better understanding of that, and that realization led to him understanding that Christ alone should be our strength.

Paul even writes this to this 1 Corinthians or first the first Corinthians uh letter, and chapter 2, he says, this, and I, when I come to you, or when I came to you, brothers, I did not come proclaiming the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and in my speech and message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

See, Paul, we know was an extremely educated man.

He understood the scriptures, he studied, he could converse, he could or he was a great order, he could argue, all of these things, and yet he tells the Corinthian church, I didn't come with you, come to you with these great PowerPoint presentations.

I didn't come to you with a great illustration or this really cool video.

Instead, I simply came to you with the power of Christ.

And he did it so people would not rely on him, but on Jesus alone.

Now, over this last week, so many of you guys have been very kind.

As Malcolm, we said goodbye to him.

A lot of you guys took the time to come to me and say, I've been praying for you.

I've been doing that, I'm gonna be praying for you.

I'm so excited to do this.

You guys have been unbelievably kind.

Thank you so much.

If you are praying for me, this is what I would ask you to pray.

Is that there would be less of me up here and more of Christ.

That I, yeah, that's a absolutely applaud for that.

That I would shut up and let God speak.

Because I mean, I can put together and temptation is is to make really stupid, funny videos that I know you'll laugh at.

I'm willing to make a fool of myself to for that.

But the thing is, I hope that you're not satisfied with that.

I hope that you're only satisfied if Jesus is speaking.

And so if you were praying for me, please pray that prayer.

And then I am going to pray the same for you.

That you, when you situations faced in fear, when you go in and you're afraid to talk to somebody about your faith, that you realize you are not alone, and it's not you speaking, but God.

Now Paul continues and he says it this way, and he talks about his weakness, just like he did in 1 Corinthians.

Remember, he said, I came in my weakness to you.

And he says it here.

Paul says it in verse 13 as we read on.

He says, 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.

Paul points out that his mercy is given in our weakness.

Paul lists these things that are very anti-Christ.

Right?

They go against me.

If you look, according to Paul's writings in Romans, what does he deserve because of those things?

Death.

And yet Paul says, What did he get?

I acted in ignorance and unbelief, but he says this: I was a persecutor, I was shown ignorance, I acted in ignorance and unbelief, and then it actually goes on.

He says, But I was not shown death, but appointed to be a representative of Christ, a servant of him.

See, Paul lists all of these things that he deserved, and he says, I didn't deserve any of that, but instead I received mercy.

See, he does the same for us too.

All of us are enemies of God because we have sinned, we fall short of what God has called.

We work against his kingdom.

And yet Paul gives us, I'm sorry, Jesus shows us mercy and lets us worship and lets us have a relationship with him.

Now he goes on further and he takes it, and Paul turns his corner and does something else because he talks about the mercy of Christ, but in the verse 14, he says, the grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with faith and love there are in Christ Jesus.

So he talks about mercy and then he talks about grace.

Now the difference is subtle but crucial.

The difference between mercy and grace is very minor in some ways and yet is so crucial.

Mercy is easily defined as not getting what you deserved, being spared from the punishment that you deserve, right?

Paul was an enemy of God.

He deserved death, but God didn't give him the penalty he deserved.

He holds back.

And yet the other side of that is grace.

Mercy is holding back punishment.

Grace, though, is getting something you don't deserve.

Mercy is getting what you getting held back from what you do deserve.

This is getting something you don't deserve.

We don't deserve the abundance of love and grace and gifts that God gives us.

God could have just spared us from that, but he doesn't just spare us from punishment or spare us from our consequences, but instead he gives us eternal life.

He gives us the Holy Spirit to guide, to live within us, to seal us, and give us hope for a future.

He also gives us a relationship with him, which is the greatest that we could ever hope for.

And so he says, one hand, his mercy is given on our weakness, and then yet he receives grace also.

So in verse 14, we'll read it again and keep going.

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 to the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.

And so that's this saying that they apparently start passing around that no, God came to save sinners, and I am the worst of them all.

And the thing is, we are the ones, like we can look at other people and say, yeah, that guy's messed up, but you don't know what I've done.

And if we actually examine our lives, we can see that we each are the worst of sinners.

And what's neat is this idea of trustworthy saying is used over and over.

As we read through the next few books over the next several weeks, you see this phrase that Paul keeps using.

He says, I urge you, and he also uses trustworthy saying.

Now, Paul says, I am the worst.

Now, understanding this, part of maturing as a Christian, because we're all born as a baby Christian.

We and Peter says, you know what, you need to grow up.

You can't eat milk, but you need to grow and grow farther and grow stronger in Christ.

As we grow, part of that maturing process becomes understanding or a realization over and over that God has forgiven you more and more than you ever knew before.

Because a lot of times when we come to Christ, we're like, God, forgive me for these things.

You know, and maybe you have a list of stuff, but then you start to realize as you grow in his love, the other things that he's shown you mercy and grace and forgiveness for.

And as we start to grow deeper in our understanding and deeper in our faith of our own weaknesses, our understanding of our own weaknesses, we start to grow in our faith and mature in who we are.

And you might say it this way our weakness plus God's grace equals his glory.

Our weakness, those things that Paul listed, the ways that we fail, the ways that we fall short, that we come up lacking, those things God gives us mercy.

And if you want to put mercy instead of grace, you could do both in there.

God, his mercy, his grace equals us seeing his glory.

Luke chapter 7, Jesus tells this parable, and he starts telling, he's talking, it's really interesting because as this guy, he goes to this Pharisee's house and he's eating dinner, and this woman comes, and uh she's a woman of ill reputable says, and she breaks this alabaster jar and washes his feet, puts perfume on his feet, and she cries and washes his feet and then dries them with her hair and all these things, and she's just weeping.

Luke 7 · chapter mention

And this Pharisee says, Man, if he really was a man of God, he would know who this woman is and what he'd done.

And Jesus looks at him and he says, Simon, I have a teaching for you.

I have something to tell you.

And verse 40, and so Simon's like, oh, well, tell me, teacher, what is it?

And he tells him this parable.

There are two men that have a debt.

One that owes a moneylender 500 denarii, which is like a year and a half of wages.

And then another guy owes him 50 denarii.

And then the moneylender wipes out both debts.

Who's gonna love him more?

And Simon says, Well, I suppose the one that owed a bigger debt.

And Jesus answered him.

Simon replied in verse 53, I suppose the one who had a bigger debt, forgiven.

You have judged correctly, Jesus says.

See, she understood and he wanted to tell Simon, listen, yes, she is a woman.

She's done terrible things, but she's been forgiven.

And so she's gonna love so much more than somebody who's been forgiven a little.

In the same way, when we have many, many weaknesses, God's glory is so much greater we are forgiven when we repent of our old life and turn to Him.

And how wonderful is that! Now, that is just a beautiful thing.

Now, what I love seeing too is the one with the greater debt, because they know the extent of what's being done for them, they tend to love more, they tend to obey, they want to, they're willing to serve, willing to turn to Him, willing to worship.

Now, once we have that deeper understanding of our shortcomings and God's grace, this really cool thing begins to happen.

We begin to look not at our weaknesses, at shortcomings, but our weaknesses as where God is going to be glorified.

See, when you have this understanding that our weakness, plus God's grace, equals his glory, then you start to think, where am I gonna fall?

Where am I gonna not be able to handle things?

And God's gonna step in.

And I've talked to some of you guys, and you guys have incredible stories.

I've talked to people that are stare, they they share stories of addiction in their life.

And they're like, Jared, I just couldn't put the bottle down.

I drove home and I don't remember doing that because I was so intoxicated.

There's no way I was so addicted.

And yet they say the only way that I quit was God stepped in and saved me.

That is God's our weakness, stepping in with God's grace, even Him being glorified.

I had someone, one person talked to me and just, I hate my father.

He's been abusive and mean and just disrespectful my entire life.

I can't stand him.

And I asked, well, how can you then do these things for him?

How can you love him and serve him?

And the person simply told me, I can't do it, but God can.

And only because God has forgiven me am I able to love this other person who's been so horrible to me.

There's somebody else that says, Talk to me.

My child had a terrible diagnosis.

We got back from the doctor and he had this diagnosis, and I wonder how you can live with that?

If it was just me, I couldn't do it.

But God can.

See, in those moments where we fall short, God is glorified.

I love this in Philippians chapter 4, verse 7 is one of my favorite verses.

Philippians 4:7

It's pretty common, but I love it for a weird reason.

And it says this in Philippians 4, uh, we'll start at verse 4.

Rejoice in the Lord always, and I say again, rejoice.

Let your gentleness be evident to all.

The Lord is near.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition and thanksgiving, be present or present your uh request to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

See, I love this, he gives this advice.

Don't worry about anything.

Give it to God, let him take care of it.

And then I love that part in verse 7.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts.

When people say, How can you stay calm in that situation?

It makes no sense.

You're right, it makes no sense.

God tells us the peace is not gonna make sense.

The peace that you have doesn't make sense because it's from Him and transcends what we can understand.

When we face these giants, when he understand the weakness, when we understand how far we are and how short we fall, yet God steps in and says, I've got this.

He is our strength.

How can this be?

It's because of that verse in the Great Commission.

And I am with you always to the very end of the age.

Let's pray, guys.

God, I am blown away by your mercy and by your grace.

The fact that you are with us, that you care so much for us, that you walk alongside of us.

Lord, sometimes we're blind to that fact.

I pray that we can have that peace that transcends all understanding, that we can sink into your love and know that you are present with us if we've chosen to follow you, Lord.

As we take a breath, let us know that you're right beside us, Lord.

Thank you for that.

And because of our weakness, let you, let your name be glorified.

It's your son's name that we pray.

Amen.