What God can do with the Counted Out
I TIMOTHY 1:15-17
All glory and Praise to the Lamb that was slain. How we give thanks to God for all His great mercies that He has shown toward us.
While watching the organization of any game of pick-up, whether it is baseball, basketball, football or any other activity, there is no question that there will always be some persons who are left out. As the captains are calling out “We got him” or “we’ll take her", there is always that person standing there hoping, praying that someone would choose them, only to be left standing there with others who didn’t make the cut.
Perhaps it was because they just didn’t run fast enough or their jump shot is always off. It could be because they are too short or fat or skinny and just don’t have the skills needed to help the team win. Still yet, it could be because the person is a poor sportsman and doesn’t know how to play without getting mad and starting a fight. All of these possibilities and more exist as to why they may have been excluded.
Well, maybe this is not your experience, maybe you have never sat on the sideline of life and had to deal with questions like “what’s wrong with me? Why doesn’t anybody want me? How come I am always disregarded?” Maybe you have never had that sinking feeling that you are insignificant and worthless. Even so, despite many of our personal experiences, there are millions of people who do feel this way. These are counted-out folk. They have been counted out by those in the upper echelon, counted out by the political system, counted out by the ecclesiastical community, and even counted out by family.
They are counted out in society, counted out in the edifices of education,counted out in the corporate structure, and in the legislation of laws. They are counted out from better housing, better wages, better opportunities, and from a better way of life. They are stigmatized and marginalized and profiled as being less than. They are counted-out folk with no one to intervene on their behalf.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that while certain individual count others out, the truth is that they themselves have been counted out as well. The whole entire human race has been counted out by sin. Sure, there are those of us who feel that we are about above others and that we are not as bad as other folk. We are not murderers, adulterers, homosexuals, fornicators, pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers, dope addicts, alcoholics. But if we would be truthful today, we would have to admit that we all still struggle with something. We would all have to say Amen to the words of Paul when he declared “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God (Romans 3:23).
In the biblical text, the Apostle Paul sets out to instruct the young pastor Timothy on the importance of remembering why he does what he does. (I wonder sometimes why is it that we will spend time coming to church but don’t understand why.) Paul says to Timothy that this church thing is for the express purpose of reaching those who would come to believe in Jesus. He says to Timothy, in essence, “the dealings of Christ with me, of course, are not unique. My experience is the same in kind, though not in degree, as that of all saved sinners. Christ’s longsuffering will never undergo a more severe test than it did in my case, so that no sinner need ever despair ." In other words, Paul is saying that He should have been counted out but God’s mercy counted him in.
Through this text we should come to recognize and agree with the profound statement that Paul makes concerning the longsuffering of Christ. He says, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. The word faithful is the Greek word pistos and carries the meaning of trustworthiness. I know that in the days that we live in, one of the most difficult things to do is to just take someone’s word. Even in long stating relationships, there is that tendency to be tentative about believing what we are told. People are suspicious about everything and this suspicion plays out in every area of our lives. Granted, there are things that we should not believe, like there are people from another planet who will deliver certain believer in a spaceship. We can not believe everything we see or hear on television or read in the newspaper. We cannot believe every man who claims to be sent by God nor can we believe that everyone in church is saved. If we would be honest today, the truth is that some of us here are even suspicious about the Word of God and its relevance in our lives. But Paul informs us that this statement he is about to make is not suspect. That is, you can accept it, it is worthy of all acceptation.
There is a phrase that the young people are using these days that illustrates this point. The phrase is in the form of one word, they simply say “Trust”. When they say “Trust” what they are really saying is that what they are saying is true and that you can believe it. Certainly, God’s word is worthy of our trust, it is trustworthy. Well, Paul, we hear you and we feel you; tell us what it is that you want us to know.
The statement that Paul makes may sound insignificant to some, but it lead every child of God back to his or her own encounter with Jesus. Here is the statement: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”. Many so-called Christians today don’t deny the reality that Jesus came into the world, however they have conveniently changed the reason of why he came. But I need to tell somebody today that He did not come merely that we could be sit in high and exalted places, he did not come so that our lives would be cozy and comfortable, he did not come so that we could possess more and more things, but he came to save sinners.
Some may not believe it today but “Sinners can be saved”. Oh yeah, the songwriter was right when he declared “to the utmost Jesus saves”. Not Jesus used to save but he is saving right now. Let me suggest two conditions under which Jesus saves. The first is that Jesus saves sinners when they are sought after. The great commission of Matthew 28 and Acts 1 serve as the model that we are to engage the culture with the gospel of grace. The commands "go ye into all the world" and "ye shall be my witnesses" speak with resounding clarity that the Lord fully expects us to seek the lost. To our shame, the vast majority of Christians have become stiff and satisfied to do church behind the consecrated walls and fail to reach those in the margins of life. Steve Brown in Key Life (Mar.-Apr. 1994). Christianity Today, Vol. 38, no. 9 stated:
It is worth noting that Jesus did not condemn bad people. He condemned "stiff" people. We condemn the bad ones and affirm the stiff ones. Whether it was a prostitute, a tax collector, or an outcast ... Jesus reached out to them. It was a motley crew of riffraff that followed Him around, and it never embarrassed Him or made Him feel uncomfortable. One of the most radical statements Jesus ever made is found in (Matthew 9): "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ’I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Matthew 9:12-13) .
Certainly we can recognize through the example of Jesus, that sinners can be saved when they are sought.
Secondly, I want to suggest that sinners can be saved when we share our story. I’m not talking about that cute story you’ve made yourself believe. The one where you tell yourself that you’re not as bad as other people and that you are better than some. No, not that one, the story that we should be sharing is the one the says “I was alone and idle, and I was a sinner too”. You don’t have to have be strung out on drugs, just because you never made some of the tragic mistakes that others have made does not disqualify your story. It does not change your story to make you better than other people, either, because at the end of the day the fact remains that “We all like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to their own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all”. What people need to hear is that Jesus saves from all kinds of sin.
Well, there is one more thing that Paul is trying to get young Timothy to see and that is that the only way to avoid the tendency to count folk out is to recognize the severity of your own sin. Paul continues his trustworthy statement by concluding that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners "of whom I am Chief".
We should be quick to understand that he is not being coy here. The words, of whom I am Chief, are literally, of whom, I, in contradistinction to others, am foremost. How many of us can say that about ourselves? That is, that I am the worst sinner in the world. This text is designed to teach us that “Self depreciation Sets the Stage”.
Learning to view oneself as the chief of sinners sets the stage to proclaim that a saint is someone who has been a sinner. Paul goes back to his own experience of persecuting the church and develops this theme of self depreciation. What he says in verse 16 is that God used those experiences to set the stage for him to be able to reach those who would someday come to faith in Christ. What that says to us today is that instead of presenting an image of being better than people, let them see that you identify with them. Coming down from off the spiritual High horse will allow you to tell somebody that “I fell down, but I got up”.
Furthermore, self depreciation sets the stage to minister of His matchless mercy. Paul says, “I was such a sinner that one might doubt whether I could be saved or was worth saving. But Christ extended his mercy. Oh, that we would tell men, women, boys and girls about the mercies of God! His mercies are new every morning, it is because of His mercies that we are not consumed, His mercies endure forever. His mercy is matchless! So much so that even while on the cross he prayed “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”. When people see that Christians don’t profess to better but only forgiven, when they can see through our self depreciation that a saint is just a sinner who fell down and was helped up then they will be interested in coming to know the one is wants to count in counted-out folk.
Well, dear loved ones, what I rose to tell you today is that God valued us even when we were counted out. Oh yes he did! The Bible declares that God commended His love toward us, in that, even while we were yet sinners (counted-out) Christ died for the ungodly. And Brothers and Sisters, I don’t know how you see it today but it just seems like, to me, that we ought to commit our lives, service and praise to him. Because of “All His longsuffering” His patience, His mercy we have been allowed access in His grace.
You may be feeling like you have messed up too bad, made too many tragic mistakes, or just unworthy of His grace. But, I heard Paul say, that where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. God has super abounding grace. It is amazing. No wonder Paul went on to say Now unto the King Eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Counted out folks ought to respond in praise for what the Lord has done through grace.
That is the reason that Amazing Grace shall always be my song of praise, because it was grace that brought my liberty. I do not know just why He came to love me so, but He looked beyond my faults and saw my needs. Isn’t it good to know that even though we still struggle, and even though we still falter, and even though we still stumble that God does not count us out. We’ve got to be for real and present the right picture that we are not perfect…but we are still pressing. I just wanted to encourage you today, my friends, for those times when you feel that you have been counted out. You can go to your secret closet and do as David did and encourage yourself. Tell the Lord, “I know I am a child of God”. No matter what I may not have, I know I am a child of God. When trouble sweeps over my soul, I know I am, when contrary winds blow, I know I am.
This world is a mean place and many people don’t want to see you succeed, the enemy has already counted you out. they said you would never make it, they said that you wouldn’t get over that problem, They said that you couldn’t do better. But I come to declare by the word of the Living God, that God specializes in things that seem impossible. Do you have any mountains you cannot move, are there any rivers that seem un-crossable? God specializes in blessing counted out folks so that He can get the glory from their lives.
