This week due to schedule difficulties, Dan Hardesty agreed to guest blog on Tim's message from last night.
Last night, we had the opportunity to hear Tim teach on 1 Timothy 1:12-17. During our time together, Tim stressed the importance of being able to proclaim the Gospel and live out the Gospel in our lives. In the midst of this passage we see the great truth of the Gospel “that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners” (verse 15). We find this section of scripture situated where Paul is talking about his own sinfulness. Let’s look a little bit more at the facts behind the sinfulness of Paul.
As Tim mentioned, Paul “was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent” of God and the glorious Gospel. Paul was a man who was so truly opposed to what God had done in Christ that he was willing to go to the extreme to make sure that this move was limited. But God still worked around Him, and ultimately through Him. He became an apostle to the Gentiles (Romans 11:13). In spite of all of his past and his own predisposition against Jesus, God saved Paul and Paul impacted much of world in some way for Christ.
Paul though refers to himself as the foremost of sinners – and not in a past tense way. “Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” Why does he refer to himself in the present tense as being the foremost of sinners? Was Paul being humble in his sinful past? Was Paul owning and admitting his sin? Could Paul have possibly been continuing in this sin?
Tim rightly asserted that Paul was being humble in his sinful past. In doing so, he gave hope to all of the sinners this world has seen. Now to say that Paul was the “worst” of sinners would be a stretch. We could bring up countless examples of other ruthless men and women in the world who have done terrible deeds, some of them even in the name of a god. However Paul’s salvation gives hope that God will save many different types of people, people from all sort of sinful and not-so-sinful backgrounds. Therefore we have hope that He will use us to help save some from all backgrounds.
Paul was also owning his sin. Just this past week there have been multiple incidents of public scrutiny in the world of sports, music, and politics. Now it is easy to criticize in these situations, so I will try not to be harsh. But it has taken some of these erring individuals multiple times and interviews for them to say anything more than “my passion got in the way” or “I handled it poorly.” Few of them have actually taken the time to apologize to the people that they wronged, and if they have, it has taken multiple days and too much time for them to own up to their sin. I know little of these individuals’ spiritual lives, but I do know that we, as Christians, are to own our sin, as Paul has done in this passage.
This is certainly not to say that Paul continued in his blasphemy, persecution, and opposition to the Gospel. On the contrary, Paul became the biggest advocate for Christ that we see in the scriptures. Paul’s sinful past was now truly wiped away and he was living for a different reason and different cause. He was truly “sold out” for Christ. “As for me (Paul) to live is Christ, but to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). He was no longer living for his own desires of persecuting the Way of Christ. He was no longer living for any other sin in his life. He was living for the only thing that truly matters, our faith in God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In his life we see a great truth. He shares it with us in Romans 8:9, “You, however, are not in the flesh” (the sinful nature) “but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” We are living and running and going by the Spirit of God if we are in Christ. We are empowered to live differently than we did before we came to Christ. That is not to say that we will not struggle with sin – Paul deals with this in Romans 7. But our sin is no longer who we are and how we live – that is Christ.
Finally Paul says that he “received mercy because (he) had acted ignorantly” (verse 13). The root word for ignorant and agnostic is the same. An agnostic is literally someone “without knowledge.” Much of this world is without knowledge of our one true God found in Christ. How will the people gain knowledge of our God? Ultimately the two main channels are through His word (if they are so inclined), but maybe even more so, through His people.
Through your devotions this week:
1. Read about the life of Paul. Examine especially those passages Tim shared Tuesday night, Acts 9:1-22, Acts 22:1-21, and Acts 26:9-18.
2. Read Romans 7 and 8. What implications does this have for you as a believer in Christ?
3. Pray for opportunities to share what God has done in your life, and ultimately, the Gospel. Target certain individuals as God directs you. If you aren’t a believer, get together and talk to a BCM leader about their faith.
As always, if you have any further questions, you can always talk to Josh, Tim, or Mike.
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