1 Timothy 1:12-17

Introduction

1 Timothy 1:11 “According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.”

In verse 11, Paul gave Timothy His authority for commissioning him.

This authority focused on 3 parts:

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is glorious - The Gospel has the highest honor in the court of grace.

The Gospel belongs to the blessed God - The word for “blessed” is happy.” God is happy to have good news for fallen sinners!

The glorious Gospel, which belongs to a happy God was committed to Paul’s trust - This thought appears to have pulled Paul back to how marvelous God was in saving him!

V.12-17 are a digression from the subject matter. In these 6 verses Paul was reminded of the greatness of grace! Lord willing, we will see how Paul never took advantage of God’s grace and how God’s grace stayed fresh.

Where is Paul

1 Timothy 1:12 “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;”

What does it mean to thank someone? Thanking someone means that without their contribution you would not be where you are or have what you possess. To thank someone means they were essential to whatever you are thanking them for.

In verse 12, Paul thanks God for putting him into the ministry. That is, God was absolutely essential in him receiving a ministry from God!

The tense is present - meaning that everyday, Paul thanks God!

Paul thanks God for putting him into ministry. Sandwiched in between Paul thanking God for putting him into ministry are: God enabled me to do this ministry and has counted me faithful in doing this ministry.

God enabled Paul to do the ministry that he was put into.

“Enabled” - Giving the strength to do so.

The word “enabled” is in the active voice, meaning God actively strengthened Paul to do the ministry he was put into.

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

The power, strength or inner passion to complete ministry does not come from us, comes from God. The Holy Spirit gifts us with enabling power to do the ministry God has us to do.

God has gifted us so that we can glorify Him!

“When we glorify Him, we acknowledge His greatness and splendor and laud Him for it. When we “give Him glory,” as all the world is told to do in Revelation 14:7, we direct our praise, adoration, thanksgiving, and worship to Him who alone is worthy.”

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

We rob God the glory when we think ministry is about us or we think we are the reason ministry happens.

Hudson Taylor: “All God’s giants have been weak people.”

Robert Girard observed, God’s most effective difference makers seem to have “gone through some type of weaken ing process to break the outer shell of arrogance , self-righteousness, and dependence on personal strength, charisma , and talent. God uses failure, he uses sickness, he uses breakdown, he uses sin, personal tragedy, and sorrow to reduce his people to use fulness.

God counted Paul faithful. We need to understand Paul’s thought process in relation to the theme of v.12 - Thanking God. Paul was not self-congratulating his own faithfulness. He was not patting himself on the back.

The verse links his faithfulness to God’s power working through him.

Paul’s faithfulness is becasue of God’s grace - 1 Corinthians 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

Paul’s faithfulness was because Paul was a branch in the right vine - John 15:5 “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

Paul’s faithfulness was becasue God had regenerated his heart - Mark 4:1-20.

Even though Paul was faithful, he never viewed his faithfulness as a reason he should have the ministry he did. He was not saying that I deserved the ministry God gave me because I was faithful. Instead, his focus was God-ward. God gave me the faith to be faithful, and I was committed to this faith he gave me becasue He loved me, and on this basis, He counted me faithful in doing my reasonable service.

Someone defined our responsibility as ““our response to God’s ability.”

Ministry is a privileged, not a right.

Are you faithful in the ministry God gave you to do?

God put him into ministry

It was God’s divine initiative to put Paul into ministry

Acts 9:15–16 “But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”

Who was he

1 Timothy 1:13 “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.”

It is not until we know who he was before God enabled him, and counted him faithful to be put into ministry that the “thanks” Paul offered has meaning.

Kent Hughes: Paul was a religious predator.

Blasphemer - is an adjective that described Paul. A blasphemer is irreverent towards what is held to be sacred. He blasphemed the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Persecutor and Injurious - The next 2 identifiers are nouns. He is not describing who he was but positions he had within the Sanhedrin.

Persecutor - A person who participates in the systematic hunting down of an adherent of a particular religion to inflict pain or death upon them.

Injurious - He was violent.

How

How did Paul go from who he was to who he is?

1 Timothy 1:13–15 “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”

Paul obtained mercy

A Puritan named Thomas Goodwin wrote that Paul was “bemercied.”

Why - there are 2 parts to this answer. The first part is seen in v.13 -He did it ignorantly.

He was not purposely attacking God - He was wrong because he did not know or understand the true God.

Paul was not innocent becasue he did it ignorantly.

Romans 10:3 “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”

James 2:10 “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

Genesis 18:25 “That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

Paul still need to be forgiven or to obtain mercy - Luke 23:34 “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”

Grace - 1 Timothy 1:14 “And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.”

The first word in the Greek is “exceeding abundant.” Paul wanted to remind Timothy of the overflowing grace of God!

Three parts about this Mercy:

Even though Paul did wicked things ignorantly, he needed overflowing grace to save him. The same applies to us.

Faith and love are fruits of overflowing grace. How do you know if someone has experienced overflowing grace? Faith and love.

There are many different words translated “love” in our NT.

Family love

Brotherly love

Agape love

Without grace faith and love are impossible

Without faith and love there is no evidence of grace.

Paul’s point: “standing in contrast to the unbelief and hatred of his previous life, speak of the change which God's grace wrought within him."

Overflowing grace is in Christ Jesus! Paul begins by discussing God’s grace in a general way then transitions to a personal way

Without Christ Jesus there is no overflowing grace.

To put an exclamation point on this truth, Paul wrote: 1 Timothy 1:15 “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”

This is a cardinal truth.

William Barclay: “First, there is God. It was the prayer of Jeremiah: "Restore us to thyself, O Lord" (Lamentations 5:21). As Augustine had it, we would never even have begun to seek for God unless he had already found us. The prime mover is God; at the back of a man's first desire for goodness there is his seeking love.

The purpose of Jesus coming was to save sinners:

Luke 19:10 “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

A man was asked "How did you get saved?" His answer was, "God did His part, and I did my part." "What was God's part, and what was your part?" He said, "God's part was the saving, and my part was the sinning. - I ran from Him as fast as my sinful heart and rebellious legs could take me. He took out after me till He ran me down.

Personal

Jesus came to save sinners - And I am chief!

In the realm of sinners, there was not one more egregious than me. He says: “I was the foremost sinner of sinners.”

Yet, God’s overflowing grace saved the foremost sinner!

Therefore, Paul would have echoed the writer of Beneath the Cross:

And from my smitten heart with tears

Two wonders I confess

the wonders of redeeming love

and my unworthiness

Why did God save Paul

This brings me back to the second reason Paul obtained mercy.

This first reason was his ignorance.

The second reason 1 Timothy 1:16 “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.”

God saved the foremost sinner as a pattern to demonstrate His longsuffering towards sinners.

If God can save Paul then who cant God save!

Paul could say, “Look at me!” “I was a blasphemer & murderer before God saved me. If the grace of God can make a missionary out of a murderer then it can make a success out of you!”

Conclusion

1 Timothy 1:17 “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

The King Eternal - Beyond fluctuations of time.

Immortal - Beyond the ravages of decay and death.

Invisible - Beyond the limits of every horizon glory outward shining His inward being.

The only wise God - Beyond rivals.