Given as an Example

 1 Timothy 1:12-17

12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service; 13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. And yet I was shown mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; 14 and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. 15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. 16 And yet for this reason I found mercy, in order that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience, as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Sermon for the Third Sunday after Trinity                                      7/06/25

Given as an Example

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

One of the things that fascinates me most when I read the Scriptures is how the lives of the people and the experiences they go through are meant for us as instruction or as examples. The children of Israel on the Exodus for example, are an example to us about faithfulness and how easy it is to fall away from God and grumble.  We also have the example of Samson, with his great strength and stupidity as he looks at Delilah, the marvelous example of King David, who was a man of weakness and yet great faith, who sinned greatly and deeply with Bathsheba, and yet later in the Scriptures God says that David was a man after His own heart. The nation Israel gives us examples time after time of faithfulness and unfaithfulness and repentance, and stumbling again, and of how God can use us – His people – even when we are not faithful, to accomplish His good will.  

In the New Testament, of course, we have Jesus as our primary example of holiness and obedience to His Father, and what the will of God looks like for His very own Son. Our epistle lesson to day teaches us another example. The Apostle Paul, says that his blessing by God and use by God Is an example demonstrating God's perfect patience, and obviously his forgiveness, since Paul was a persecutor of the church at first.  Nonetheless, Paul was an example of how God forgives and blesses and uses us. Paul called himself chief of sinners, foremost is the word in Greek, and the Apostle tells us that God's blessing him and strengthening him and using him in the mission of the church was an example.  We cannot argue that God did not use him in the church, Paul is the author of almost all of the New Testament aside from the gospels.  Our theme this morning is, Given as an Example.  

Paul, previously known by his Hebrew name, Saul, was not a nice man.  He was religiously good, being a Pharisee.  He was aggressively pharisaical. He once described himself as more zealous for the his religion than his compatriots.  He says he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent aggressor against the Christian Church. He said all of that was forgiven by God because he was doing that in ignorance.  Now, Paul was a very learned man, who understood the Old Testament Scriptures very well, and was well read in Greek and Roman literature. He was not stupid, nor ignorant about worldly things. He was ignorant about Christ. When God called him to faith on that dramatic Road to Damascus Experience, Paul learn the truth about his religion and about God.  What he learned from Damascus road was what he had been ignorant about before, Christ.   

We could take that as an example of how we ought to appoach our own lives. Regardless of how much we know about farming, or business, or theology we need to know Christ and how He fits into our lives or rather, how our lives are shaped by Him.  The example here would be how knowledge of Christ resolves our ignorance and everything else we know really doesn't matter in the long run.  What matters is knowing Christ, knowing His grace and forgiveness, and knowing our own sin and how Jesus has paid for that and forgiven us.  That is one way that Paul was given as an example.  

The primary focus of the example that Paul speaks of is found in verses 14 and 15 of our epistle lesson :  And the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.   It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. 

In spite of everything Paul did he was forgiven.  The grace of our Lord was more than abundant, Paul says, overwhelmingly so.  It is a trustworthy statement, Paul says that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Then he adds a personal confession, among whom I am foremost of all.  He considered himself to be the worst sinner.  On a purely social level, Paul was probably a very, very decent man. He was a true Pharisee.  But his rejection of Christ before Damascus road experience and his violent attacks against the church, which he now understood were also attacks against Christ and God himself, painted himself in his own mind as the worst sinner possible. In other places in the Epistles, he talked about how he counts all his righteousness as a Pharisee as garbage and throws it away for the sake of Christ. But here he simply acknowledges he is the Sinner And judges himself to be the worst sinner of all. And that sinner is covered by the grace of Jesus Christ, which Grace is particularly found in forgiveness.  

We easily confess that Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost, sinners.  The hard part for most of us comes at saying that we are the worst sinner in the room, or the worst sinner possible.  For the most part we feel pretty good about ourselves, don't we? Face it, if that were not true how could we criticize our neighbor? How could we get up in somebody's face and challenge what they have said or what they have done and expect them to back down and apologize?  I hear people challenge what the elders have done or said, challenge what the trustees have done, are doing, or haven't done.  We kind of easily take for granted that our judgment is somehow significant. We are not chief of sinners, we are of the morality police, we are the piety police. Our opinion of what ought to be done takes precedence over other people and other people's opinions.  Sometimes some of you run rough-shod over other and take no thought for them or their feelings as you run your thoughts out of your mouth,

But we don't seem to realize oftentimes, is that our attitudes and our behaviors are judging others.  But the Bible says "judge not and you shall not be judged." But it's so common that we don't bother thinking about what it means, and when somebody else takes it the way we didn't intend it to be we manufacture injury, wander around injured as though somebody had said something about us that wasn't true. Many times, we have become so comfortable in sin and with certain types of sin that it offends us when we are reminded that we are sinners.  We are good people, we say.  I'm doing my best, we say, as though doing our best is insulation against sin. But it is not. We are not good people. I say "we" because I include myself with you in this condemnation. We are sinners.  Chief of sinners.  Here is where Paul is given to us as an example.   

And just like Paul we must confess that our Lord is more than abundant in grace and bestowing faith on us, the love that he shows us day by day, and all our blessings.  We don't deserve it. Any of it. And yet the love of our Lord that brought Him to the cross to bear our sin, shame and guilt is more than abundant, for by it your sins are forgiven. And that doesn't mean you never sin again, it means that Jesus took your sins, bore them on the cross and paid the penalty. Do you want to sin? Not if you are truly repentant.  Will you sin again? Absolutely, without question. But not deliberately, not intentionally, Except as a matter of weakness when the devil gets his hand into your head, and you say or do something you know you ought not to say or do. But then we turn our hearts and minds toward the cross and humbly there confess that we are still chief of sinners, in need of forgiveness, and we trust in that abundant, more than abundant, Grace, forgiveness, and love.  

Your sins are forgiven.   That is the Gospel.  The desire to do better is praiseworthy, but not salvific - It does not work toward your salvation.  It works toward your sanctification.  

In the Apostle Paul, he says that God demonstrated His perfect patience. Jesus Christ extends that same perfect patience, forgiveness and Grace, to you.  Just like he did to the Apostle Paul, he does toward us. Paul tells us that this grace was given to him that it might be given to us as an example.  

I really can't think of a better way to conclude this sermon then the way the Apostle concluded this short pericope which has served as our text.  Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Let the people say Amen)