On Thursday, America commemorates THANKSGIVING. It was when the Pilgrims sailed out from Plymouth, England on board the Mayflower in search for a land where they could have the freedom to worship God. They landed on the shores of Cape Cod on the southeastern part of Massachusetts in November 1620. The following year, the Pilgrims invited neighboring Indians to join them for a three-day festival of recreation and feasting in gratitude for the bountiful harvest and other blessings of the past year. However, this event was never officially declared a national holiday until Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it in 1863.
Thanksgiving is giving thanks for something good that we have received. Paul in his first letter to Timothy emphasizes deep gratitude for the mercy and grace God has given him through Christ Jesus. Although he did not deserve to be given a ministry that is to proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles but he was appointed to His Majesty’s service. In verse 11, it takes a gracious and merciful God to entrust the glorious gospel of the blessed God to someone who was the chief of all sinners.
In our previous study we said that “the law without the Gospel is a diagnosis without remedy.” Now Paul stressed the importance of the Gospel in the following verses for “it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” (Rom 1:16) It is the dunamis, the miraculous power that is mighty to save anyone who would believe. And to give credence to the powerful Gospel, Paul goes into a territory where he is very familiar with — his personal testimony:
“Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy . . . The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” (1:13,14)
“I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many of the believers in Jerusalem to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death. Many times I had them whipped in the synagogues to try to get them to curse Christ. I was so violently opposed to them that I even hounded them in distant cities of foreign lands. (Acts 26:9-11)
Let us look into the life of the apostle Paul:
1. WHAT PAUL WAS
1.1 He was a blasphemer - impious, irreverent, profane. He spoke evil concerning the Christians and their Leader, Jesus Christ. He denied the deity of Jesus Christ. He did not believe that Jesus Christ is God who came down from heaven. The Bible says “he was breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.” (Acts 9:1) He was so eager to destroy the Lord’s followers.
1.2 He was a persecutor - The Bible says that Paul was going everywhere to devastate or destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into jail (Acts 8:3) for what reason? Because they were followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Stephen was being stoned to death, Paul watched in approval.
1.3 He was a violent man - Paul took delight in committing violent and outrageous act against the believers. He was injurious which means proud and insolent. A modern equivalent might be “bully”. It conveys the idea of a haughty man “throwing his weight around” in violence. But Paul means little. He was a man of little stature. Because he was a Pharisee, he used his authority and power vested in him by the high priest. The Bible says that “he went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.” (Acts 9:2) When Stephen was being stoned to death, Paul watched in delight.
Illustration:
Leaders who were violent and usurped their authorities by committing violent crimes against those who opposed them: Adolf Hitler between the year 1942-1945 systematically killed about 3.5 million Jews in concentration camps. That is approximately killing about 3,200 Jews a day or 133 Jews per hour.
Saddam Hussein began hating the Kurds when during the Iran-Iraq war and the Kurds sided with Iran that he used chemical weapons against the Kurdish tribe and killed thousands and thousands of them.
Back in 1972 when former President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law, political leaders, government officials and students who were opposed to his leadership used force by rounding them up and throwing them into jail which included Ninoy Aquino who passionately stood and fought for the truth.
2. HOW PAUL WAS SAVED
But Paul says: “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.”
Paul in effect was affirming “though I was a blasphemer, persecutor and a violent man that caused the Christians to be imprisoned, whipped and executed God had mercy on me because of my ignorance and unbelief. Oh how kind and gracious the Lord was. He filled me completely with faith and the love of Christ Jesus that I might believe and repent and saved.”
Two key words: Mercy and Grace.
2.1 Mercy - God in His mercy did not give Paul what he deserved. What did Paul deserve? The punishment due to those who are blasphemer, persecutor and violent. For one a blasphemer in the Jewish law deserve death. However, that is not the point. Anytime, God can pour out His wrath on Paul by zapping him to oblivion, by wiping him out or strike him with disease or even death. But God is all-merciful God.
2.1 Grace - God in his grace gave Paul what he did not deserve. Paul did not deserve to be chosen minister of the Gentiles. If I were to be an employer and I own a business and there is someone here who was recently release from prison for murder would I offer him a job? Would I entrust to him the financial records of my business? Being a human myself I don’t know how would I go.
But because God’s grace erases our sinfulness by making us a new creature through Christ Jesus. God in His grace, though he was a blasphemer, a persecutor and a violent man entrusted to Paul the blessed Gospel to be preached to the unsaved. And not only that — God poured out His grace abundantly filling him with faith and the love of Christ Jesus!
What did Paul mean when he said: “I acted in ignorance and unbelief?”
Paul thought that it was the Christians who were blaspheming God. When Stephen in Acts 7 gave a testimony of his faith before the Sanhedrin but full of the Holy Spirit looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God said “Look, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” and with this the people stoned Stephen to death and Paul approved to it.
Paul thought he was doing God’s service by persecuting the Christians. Since his parents’ religion taught the worship of the true God, he could only conclude that the Christian faith was apposed to the Jehovah of the Old Testament.
With all the zeal and energy he had, he sought to defend the honor of God by killing the Christians. He says in Acts 22: 3 “Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was zealous for God. (Lev 5:15-19; Num 15:22-31; Acts 22:3)
God does not save us based on our religiosity.
Illustration:
In the Philippines, every Wednesday, my mom and I would go to Baclaran to hear the Novena. On their knees, people would cross the aisle from the main entrance to the altar and at the same time reciting the rosary. There are times that they would kneel down on the ground with salt or mongo beans. The same as Paul, these people thought such rituals would honor God.
“You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion–how I violently persecuted the Christians.* I did my best to get rid of them.
I was one of the most religious Jews of my own age, and I tried as hard as possible to follow all the old traditions of my religion.” (Gal 1:13)
But God’s grace erases our religiosity and He does it abundantly that we might have the full understanding of how kind and gracious He is to us. Paul uses the Greek prefix “huper” which means “an exceeding abundant amount” as in:
Rom 8:37 “more than conquerors” or super conqueror
Eph 1:19 “his mighty power” or superabounding power
2Thessalonians 1:3 “faith is growing more and more” or superincreasing faith
It is the same English prefix “hyper” which we use to speak of “hyperactive” children or “hypersensitive” people.
So Paul makes it clear that no one can save the chief of sinners or worst of all sinners except Christ Jesus alone. That is why God came into the world to save sinners. It was not to save good people because there was none but to save sinners because all in the world are sinners, no exception.
3. WHAT PAUL BECAME
God’s grace erased Paul’s old ways turning him to a new creature:
From being a blasphemer to a powerful preacher
From being a persecutor to a church planter
From being a violent man to a peace-loving man (v. 16)
God not only entrusted the gospel to Paul but He enabled Paul to minister that Gospel. (Phil 4:13; 1 Cor 15:10). When someone obeys God’s call to serve, God always equips and enables that person.
Paul not only became a preacher, a missionary but he also became an EXAMPLE (1Tim 1:16) for those who would believe in Christ. He became a living example of the grace of God.
In the printing business there is what they call a TEMPLATE, a PATTERN or a PROOF. A certain product within the specified requirement is based on this template, the model. This template would show the accuracy of the text, the clarity of the colors, the correct ink colors and correct size.
PAUL became a pattern, a model to all lost sinners. He is a living proof that the grace of God can change any sinner.
The historic legal battle between Roe Vs. Wade in 1973 resulted to legalized abortion. She became the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the anti-abortion laws in Texas. The case was appelated to the supreme court which handed down its controversial ruling on January 22, 1973—legalized the right to an abortion in all 50 states. Jane Roe which is now to become McCorvey was a ninth-grade dropout. She was emotionally abused as a child, raped as a teen-ager. She was beaten by a husband whom she married when she was 16. She got hooked on alcohol and drugs. Her first child was raised by her mother; her second was raised by her father and the third was given for adoption. She drifted through a series of dead-end jobs. She worked in several clinics where abortions were performed. But in 1995 it all changed. She became friends with the head of an organization called Operation Rescue. A pastor at the rescue office began sharing Jesus to her . That night she received Christ and was baptized in August 8, 1995. Now she is an anti-abortion activist. The one who used to be pro-abortionist turned out to be an anti-abortionist who publicly committed her life to “serving the Lord and helping women save babies.”
Are you going through some kind of trials that causes you to blaspheme or curse God?
Are you in a situation wherein you hate the people around you — your family, friends, relatives, acquaintances in school or here in church?
Have you at one time denied or mocked Jesus as God?
God is all-gracious and all-merciful. His grace abounds. Don’t think that you have committed the gravest of all sin that God cannot forgive. There is no sin that could outweigh God’s grace. Come to Jesus and experience His grace first hand.
