So who is your favorite character in the Bible that you can relate with most? Do you have one? Of course, I would have to say that Jesus Christ is my favorite Person in the Bible, but, other than God, who in the Bible can I really relate to? I guess for each one of us it depends upon how we¡¦ve lived our lives up until this very moment. As a kid, my favorite character was Zacchaeus the tax collector. But the reason I liked Zacchaeus wasn¡¦t that he was a tax collector, but because he was, as Luke puts it, a ¡§short man.¡¨ Now, you might find this hard to believe because of the giant, towering tall man I am today, with all of my 5¡¦6¡¨, that I¡Xyes, believe it or not¡Xwas a small kid, a short kid.ƒº I related to Zacchaeus, as a kid, because Jesus loved him, even though he was small and even though he was despised. As a small kid, I was picked on all the time and usually the last kid to be picked for the team, so I could definitely relate to Zacchaeus. We don¡¦t sing the song much anymore today, but there was a great Sunday-school song when I was a kid¡Xjust a few years ago¡Xabout Zacchaeus, the ¡§wee, little man.¡¨ For others, they might relate with Jonah, with Moses, with Joseph, or maybe even with Martha. Or how about Saint Peter? ...called on to do great things but instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to do the good things through him, he tried to do it himself¡Kand failed. And finally, what about Saint Paul? Have you ever thought about who Paul was and how he, who called himself the ¡§chief of sinners,¡¨ came to be one of the greatest apostles of Jesus? Let¡¦s open with prayer¡K
Many of you here tonight who have known me for a while know a little about my background when it comes to my relationship with God. You see some years ago, during my 20¡¦s, I fell away from the Christian Church and join a cult, (pause) which most of you know as the Mormon Church or the LDS Church. Mormonism is the 2nd largest religion here in Elk Grove and is growing rapidly by converting Christians away from the true faith into Mormonism. And Mormonism¡¦s teaching¡Xwell they are totally unchristian and complete heresy. Now the point of my telling you this isn¡¦t to tell you about the amazing Grace of God that brought me¡Xand my family¡Xout of Mormonism, although certainly God¡¦s Grace through the Holy Spirit is what saved us from the cult and so literally saved our lives. No, my point in telling you about my background in Mormonism is to highlight what Saint Paul is teaching us here tonight in verses 12 through 17 of 1 Timothy 1, and that is that Jesus Christ came into our world to save Paul, to save me, to save YOU¡Xto save sinners. (pause) Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
I am so grateful to God that He showed my family the way out that false church. But what I struggled with most, maybe even to some degree today, is knowing that during my years in Mormonism, I personally lead dozens of people out of Christianity and into the false faith found there in Mormonism. You see, my ¡§job,¡¨ as it were, in the Mormon Church was that of mission leader. I was responsible for coordinating the activities of those clean-cut young men you see in the white shirts and black ties riding around in pairs on their bicycles. My job was to go to Christians and tell them that their Christian faith was wrong and that the only way they could get saved was by believing what Mormonism taught and then getting them to leave Christianity to join the Mormon Church. I personally baptized about a dozen people into Mormonism, many of whom I know are still active there, most of whom won¡¦t talk to me now because I left the Mormon Church. And the low point really came for me when the Holy Spirit showed me the heresy there in Mormonism and when I finally accepted what the Holy Spirit was telling me, I stood there shocked and in disbelief; I was scared for my soul when I understood¡Kreally understood¡Kthe magnitude of my actions, (pause) for I wasn¡¦t just persecuting people of the various Christian faiths, but by persecuting Christian believers, I was persecuting God Himself. At that moment, I knew I that was (pause) the worst of sinners.
The great Apostle Paul also has such an interesting background because before Jesus personally called him into the ministry, Paul was a Pharisee, who was second-to-none in his persecution of Christians. The beginning of Paul¡¦s story in the Bible is definitely not a flattering one. Paul summarizes it like this in verse 13: ¡§I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man.¡¨ The first time the Bible mentions Paul, he¡¦s described as standing guard over the clothes of those who were stoning Stephen. Paul quickly went from supporting the persecution of Christians to leading that persecution, as he went from house to house to drag Christians off to prison. Now, I never witnessed violence or a stoning during my time in the Mormon Church like Paul did¡XI never witnessed anyone being killed for disobedience in the Mormon Church, although is definitely a part of Mormonism¡¦s history¡Xbut it is possible that in leading some Christians away from the Grace of Jesus Christ, I may have led them to spiritual death. So like Paul, once I came to understand the magnitude of this sin, I was remorseful beyond words. Like Paul, I considered myself to be the worst sinner in the world. (pause) And have you ever done something that you later have regretted, maybe to the point of wondering if God can ever forgive you for such a sin? See friends, the point of me telling you about this part of my past that I¡¦m not especially proud of is the same thing that Paul tells to us in verse 15 and the only thing that saves me from my sinful past: ¡§Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners¡K¡¨¡Keven the worst of sinners. Paul uses the Greek word prw:to;V here, which means first or chief. Paul feels what he has done earned him the title Chief of sinners. I know that as I left Mormonism, I too felt like I was the chief of sinners, first in line of sinners. But that¡¦s not how God feels about Paul, about me, or anyone one of us.
See my friends, God loves His creation. God loves each and every one of His children, even though we are lost in sin. And God will bring us forth from that sin if only we allow Him to do so. You see, it¡¦s our choice (pause)to accept God¡¦s help¡XGod¡¦s salvation¡Xor to refuse it. Don¡¦t get me wrong, God is omnipotent. There is nothing He cannot do. So how it that we can resist Him, the Almighty? It¡¦s as Luther explained: God, when He¡¦s operating in all of His power and majesty, such as He did in the creation of the world, can NEVER be resisted. But God, operating through His means of Grace, can be resisted by us. In other words, when God makes available the means to be saved, those means are powerful means of salvation. Those means of course are received through faith, faith in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we don¡¦t have to take those means. For example, no one is going to make you take communion tonight. We don¡¦t have to accept Grace. But when we do, God¡¦s forgiveness is immediate and complete. As a man standing before you today, as a man who once actively persecuted the Christian Church, I, like Paul, can tell you that ¡§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.¡¨ In other words, Paul¡¦s actions were those of a man who did not know Jesus(pause) as Lord. As a Mormon the Jesus I knew had nothing to do with the Jesus you and I know from the Bible. I was ignorant of the true God of Israel.
But God (pause)¡KGod wasn¡¦t ignorant of me. Although God hated the sin that I was doing, He never stopped loving me. He never quit offering the truth through the Gospel and the forgiveness of His amazing Grace through faith. And so when I realized, through the power of the Holy Spirit, how wrong these Mormon teachings were, and when I realized that the God of Israel is the living God, just like when Paul realized that Jesus really was the promised savior, ¡§the grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.¡¨ God didn¡¦t give up on Paul. God didn¡¦t give up on me. God will never give up on you. You see friends, God doesn¡¦t give up on anybody, even when we give up on Him. Why? Well, like Paul says, ¡§Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:¡¨¡Kand it¡¦s one that I recommend you memorize¡K ¡§Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.¡¨ God, through Jesus Christ, has shown us¡Xproven to us¡XHis unending love for us sinners. Jesus has shown His unqualified love for us by dying on the cross for us, by paying for our sins with His body and blood and then giving us the credit for His perfect life. It¡¦s powerful enough to bring Grace and forgiveness to Paul, to you, to me and to every person, if only they will accept the Gospel and believe in Christ. And so when we stand before God¡¦s judgment throne, God will not see our sins but rather the perfect blood of Christ that covers them.
What moved Jesus to leave his throne in heaven, take on human flesh and die on the cross to save us? Did He see some potential in us that drew him to us? God saved Paul because His Grace moved him to do so. In Paul¡¦s sin, there was nothing about him that was appealing to God. He was an enemy of God and his Church. Yet God reached out to Paul, and gave Paul the faith to believe, the faith to receive Grace.
So do you see yourself in Paul¡¦s story? For me, Paul¡¦s story is especially personal and poignant. But I hope that you can see yourself in Paul¡¦s story as well because just as Paul said in his letter to the Ephesians, ¡§For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith¡Xand this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God¡X not by works, so that no one can boast.¡¨ Although our sinful nature can at times make us believe that God is pretty lucky to have us as believers, or that He chose us because He saw some potential, nothing could farther from the truth. God chose us even though we were¡Xand are¡Xchief of sinners; He chose us because of His Grace.
While we might think that that¡¦s the end of Paul¡¦s story, it¡¦s not. Just as Paul¡¦s life didn¡¦t end with his conversion neither does ours. Paul wrote in verse 12, ¡§I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.¡¨ God not only brings us to faith, but then He puts us to work in His kingdom. For Paul that meant starting churches all over the world. For me, it meant accepting that call to the ministry that I had attempted to ignore for so long. For others it can mean many things, it can mean teaching others about Jesus, it can mean cleaning the church, or it can mean cooking meals for the family, or doing our homework on time. Friends, serve God where He has placed you, keeping in mind that to serve, means to help others as God first helped you. So as you serve God, therefore, don¡¦t think that the things that you do are unimportant or unappreciated. God uses the talents of all of His children in the work of His Church. At the same time, don¡¦t let the sins of your past weigh you down because remember, they are forgiven! You might not be able to forget them, but God no longer holds them against you. Like Paul, we can use what we learned about our sinful past to work for a better, graceful future. For me, it means using the examples of my sinful, embarrassing past, even when I¡¦m ashamed of them at times, to point people to the Grace of Jesus Christ because, without God¡¦s Grace we¡Xall of us¡Xas the chief of sinners, would continue to be lost in our sins and foolishness. But in faith, through Grace, we remember what Jesus has done for us and so in faith we serve Him in the unique way that God has called each of us to do. ¡§Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.¡¨ Amen. Let¡¦s pray¡K
Now may the true faith which surpasses all human understanding keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior...Amen.
