Christ Jesus Came To Save Sinners Series

Scripture

On one of his missionary journeys, Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to deal with problems in that church. He wrote his First Letter to Timothy and urged him to charge certain persons not to teach a false gospel (1:3-4). After Paul gave this charge, Paul expressed thanks to God for his call on his life.

Let us read about God’s call on Paul’s life in Timothy 1:12-17:

12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 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. 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. 17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:12-17)

Introduction

In 1779, a British pastor published a hymnbook titled Olney Hymns. It became an immediate bestseller. The public largely ignored Hymn # 41 in the collection, titled “Faith’s Review and Expectations,” which was sung to illustrate a New Year’s Day sermon in 1773. The sermon focused on the necessity of expressing gratitude for God’s saving grace and guidance throughout life. The author of the hymn made no further mentions of it in his diaries during the remaining 34 years of his life. For the next 120 years the hymn never caught anyone’s attention. Hymn # 41 only made one appearance in all the other hymnbooks published in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was a hymn without honor in its own country.

But when Hymn # 41 jumped over the shores to America, it quickly rose in popularity. After someone renamed it, a singing instructor from South Carolina set the lyrics to a new tune. During the 1850s, the hymn added some lyrics from Black Spiritual worship. On December 10, 1947, the famous singer Mahalia Jackson recorded a version of the hymn.

Eventually, this obscure hymn, which is known today as “Amazing Grace,” has become what one person has called “the spiritual national anthem of America.” It’s original author, pastor John Newton, would have been astonished by the universality of the hymn today that he wrote 250 years ago for his local congregation. What he composed to illustrate a village sermon has developed into a global anthem.

“Amazing Grace” begins with these words: “Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, / That saved a wretch like me! / I once was lost, but now am found, / Was blind, but now I see.” These words, though written by John Newton, could just as easily have been written by Paul. He knew that God’s amazing grace had saved him. And he also knew that God’s amazing grace had called him to service.

Lesson

1 Timothy 1:12-17 teaches us two aspects of God’s call.

Let’s use the following outline:

1. God Calls Believers to Service (1:11-14)

2. God Calls Sinners to Salvation (1:15-17)

I. God Calls Believers to Service (1:11-14)

First, God calls believers to service.

The custom for writing letters in ancient times was as follows: the sender’s name, the recipient’s name, a greeting, a thanksgiving, the body of the letter, and a conclusion. All Paul’s letters follow this custom, except his letter to the Galatians and his First Letter to Timothy. In his First Letter to Timothy, Paul went immediately from the greeting to the body of the letter. He was very concerned about the false teaching that was taking root in the churches around Ephesus, and so he immediately got to the reason for writing his letter. However, after commanding Timothy to charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine (1:3), Paul got to the thanksgiving. He wrote in verse 12, “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service.”

When Paul expressed thanks in his letters, it was usually to God the Father. However, here in his First Letter to Timothy, Paul gave thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord. Most likely, it was because he was thinking of his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus at the time he was called to service. It was Christ Jesus our Lord who appointed Paul to service.

Paul continued in verse 13a, “though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.” Paul was a vehement opponent of Christianity. He sought to eradicate what he believed to be an unbiblical sect of Judaism. Before his conversion, Paul now saw himself as a “blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent” of Christ and of Christians. Each term is more severe than the previous term. The Greek word for “blasphemer” (blasphemos) is used 5 times in the New Testament and means “a person who defames someone or something.” Paul was defaming the name of Christ and his followers. The Greek word for “persecutor” (dioktes) occurs only here in the New Testament and means “a person who participates in the systemic hunting down of an adherent of a particular religion to inflict pain or death upon them.” That was Paul’s role before his conversion; he hunted down Christians and had them imprisoned and sentenced to death for their faith in Jesus. And the Greek word for “insolent opponent” (hybristes) occurs twice in the New Testament. Our English word “hubris” comes from this word, and it means “a person characterized by their offensive disrespectful acts or statements that are outrageously forward or bold.” Such was the character of Paul before his conversion to Christ.