Household Faith

Planning

Passage

1 Timothy 1:12–20 NIV

12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. 18 Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, 19 holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith. 20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.

Passage structure

The example of Jesus’ patience to Paul (vv. 12-16)

Praise to God (v. 17)

Holding onto the truth and not falsehood (vv. 18-20)

Big stuff

Big idea: Stick to the truth of the faith

Fallen condition focus: We get distracted or believe other things

Good news statement: God tells us what we need to have faith in

Big question: How tightly should I hold to the faith?

Feedback with Tim

Good

Improve

Intro: First paragraph should include boredom straight away

Intro: Use you instead of they

Somewhere: Define faith

Point 3: Be explicit about our faith worth fighting for and their faith worth fighting for

Sermon structure

Intro

Me being a uni student and being a bit bored of TBT focusing on the basics of the faith and not other teaching

1, Faith in a merciful Lord (vv. 12-16)

Jesus’ mercy to Paul (vv. 12-13)

The extent of Paul’s evil - Acts (c.f. ISIS or terrorists or religious tyranny)

Why? So that we’d understand:

The gospel / the heart of the Christian faith: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners (v. 15a)

Sinners

Need for a saviour

The salvation

Challenge to non-Christians to trust in Jesus

Challenge to the Christian for full acceptance of this trustworthy saying and for prioritising the gospel

Christ’s immense patience (vv. 15-16)

Paul as the worst sinner

Not about his ongoing sin

Past life

If Jesus can save the worst sinner, then he can save anyone

Patience

Example for those who would believe

Example to the person struggling with their sin (non-Christian or Christians) who will believe in Jesus

Application

Example to the Christian about others coming to know Christ

Application

Transition: This faith isn’t just for our good but for God’s glory.

2, Faith that leads to praise (v. 17)

After expressing Christ’s immense patience, Paul can’t help but praise God.

Read v. 17.

This should be very natural for the Christian, because they know God’s goodness.

It’s something we can all say amen to.

But it’s something that we might proactively say.

Encouragement to praise God

Might be because we take the gospel for granted.

How do we not take it for granted? Look at vv. 12-16

Remind ourselves of the gospel and don’t just move on to other things (other doctrines, other good things in life)

Remind ourselves of the personal nature of the gospel - not just Christ saving sinners but Christ saving me

Keep coming to church and reading the Bible, because we need to be reminded (Paul’s reminding Timothy)

Praise God!

In our words

In our singing: Immortal, Invisible

Praise God that through faith in the merciful Lord, we are saved.

3, Faith worth fighting for (vv. 18-20)

Some enemies of the faith - vv. 3-4

The command in v. 18 is (about) the command in v. 3.

Read vv. 18-19.

Timothy had prophecies made about him, but we might not. So what are we to learn from this? This faith is worth fighting for.

People depart from the faith.

Hymenaeus and Alexander

People we’ve seen as well

We need to fight for it because we might depart.

Application: Regular engagement with God’s word (primarily church, but also home group and personal Bible reading)

We need to fight for it because others might depart.

Application: Appointing good leaders (1 Tim 3), asking how people are going spiritually, raising our children in the Lord because of the world’s message

Hope for those who have departed

Read v. 20

Explain.

Not to blaspheme -> Paul too was a blasphemer in v. 13 -> there’s hope for those who have departed

Application

Don’t give up

Pray

Keep inviting them to church and evangelising them

Our faith is in a merciful Lord who is immensely patient.

Conclusion

Comparison of me as a uni student to now

Sermon

Intro

When I was a student at UNSW, I attended a weekly Bible talk as part of the uni ministry.

And I confess… I was a bit bored.

See, they were preached the gospel every week in the Bible talks.

...And I felt like I knew it already.

I already had faith.

I already knew that Jesus died to save me from my sins.

In my eyes, the gospel was the basics of the Christian faith.

I wanted to go to something more advanced.

Like predestination.

Christian ethics.

I wasn’t the only Christian who felt a bit bored by the weekly talk about faith in Jesus.

And in getting to know our church, I suspect there are Christians here who get bored by the weekly sermon about faith in Jesus.

Some people here think the gospel is a bit boring because you already know it.

You already have faith in Jesus.

You want to move on to the other things that the Bible speaks about.

And there’s some goodness is that.

The Bible is gospel-centred but it’s not gospel-only.

There are many good things to learn about from God’s word, not just the gospel.

But if that’s the case, how tightly should we hold onto the basics of the faith?

How much emphasis should Christians put on faith in Jesus?

Others here feel like it’s time to move on to other pressing needs.

You know your greatest need has been met through faith in Jesus.

You are already saved through faith in Jesus.

So now’s the time to focus on other pressing needs.

Your work, family, mental health, studies...

Again, there’s truth in that.

Those things are important.

But if that’s the case, how much should we be focusing on the basics of the faith?

Is it okay just to accept the gospel and move on?

This is what we’re exploring today in our passage.

1 Timothy 1:12-20.

Last week, we learnt what 1 Timothy is about.

It’s a letter from Paul to Timothy about how to lead the church, the household of faith.

Timothy already knows the fundamentals of the faith.

But in today’s passage, despite Timothy already knowing these fundamentals, Paul still affirms them.

Paul describes three main things, which I’ve structured today’s sermon on.

1, Faith in a merciful Lord (vv. 12-16)

2, Faith that leads to praise (v. 17)

3, Faith worth fighting for (vv. 18-20)

Faith in a merciful Lord (vv. 12-16)

Faith that leads to praise (v. 17)

Faith worth fighting for (vv. 18-20)

Let’s get into the first point.

1, Faith in a merciful Lord (vv. 12-16)

Faith in a merciful Lord.

Paul begins this section by articulating the gospel.

But he doesn’t articulate it in an abstract way.

He explains how it has changed his life!

It’s Paul’s testimony.

Let’s read Paul’s testimony in verses 12 to 14.

Pay attention to how Paul describes his old self.

1 Timothy 1:12-14.

1 Timothy 1:12–14 NIV

12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Sometimes we underestimate the extent of evil in Paul’s old life.

Before he met Jesus, Paul was comparable to... a religious terrorist.

In our first Bible reading, we read that Paul approved Stephen’s murder.

And he tried to destroy the church by imprisoning Christians.

Later, in Acts 22, he says he persecuted the followers of this Way to their death.

No wonder he describes himself in today’s passage as such a bad person.

What did he say in verse 13?

“...I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man...”

Now most people don’t go around talking about how bad they were.

So why does Paul do exactly that?

Why does he emphasise the extent of his sin?

So that we would understand the very heart of the Christian faith.

The gospel.

It’s what he describes in verse 15(a).

It’s a great summary of the gospel.

Let’s read verse 15(a).

1 Timothy 1:15 NIV

15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners...

Paul describes this as a trustworthy saying.

It’s another way of him saying that this is super important.

Something people highlight in their Bibles.

So let’s spend a bit of time on this verse because Paul knows this is something we should fully accept.

Firstly, there’s the reality of sin.

Sin is anything against God’s law.

Paul is honest with us here, so let’s be honest with ourselves.

We’ve all sinned.

We probably weren’t like the old Paul in persecuting Christians.

But we’ve all turned from God in some way.

God must punish sin because he is perfectly just.

The punishment for sin is eternal death.

Hell.

Separation from God’s loving presence.

We need saving from that.

And that’s why Jesus came.

His name literally means ‘God saves’.

His title is Christ.

That literally means ‘anointed’.

It refers to how Jesus fulfils all the Old Testament expectations of a chosen king and saviour.

Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners from eternal death.

That happens at the cross.

Despite Jesus having no sin,

Despite Jesus deserving no punishment,

He took the punishment for us at the cross.

He died to save us from eternal death.

So faith in him means we receive eternal life.

Now if you haven’t trusted in Jesus, this verse, verse 15, might be the most important verse in today’s passage for you.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save… sinners.

I’ve sinned.

Everyone here has sinned.

Paul has sinned.

Have you sinned?

If you ask the Christians around you, we’ll tell you quite freely that we have sinned.

That’s the beauty of trusting in Jesus.

We don’t need to deny reality.

We can accept our sin because we have someone who has dealt with it.

Jesus saves us from our sin.

For those who don’t have Jesus, they usually do one of two things.

Either they suppress the reality of their sin...

“I’m not that bad. I didn’t murder anyone.”

Or they wallow in guilt...

“I am such a bad person. I have no hope.”

But here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

You don’t need to deny your sin.

Trust in Jesus.

He came to save you from your sin.

Believe in him and receive eternal life.

And what if you’re someone who has already put their faith in Jesus?

Do we just move on from verse 15?

Remember, Paul’s writing to Timothy.

One Christian leader is writing to another.

Timothy already knows the gospel.

And yet Paul is emphasising it again.

He’s telling Timothy he needs to fully accept it.

Why?

Because sometimes, we doubt the power of the gospel.

Sometimes, we doubt just how merciful Jesus is.

We forget that Jesus can save anyone, no matter how bad they are.

Let’s see how Paul explains this in verses 15 and 16.

Verses 15 and 16.

1 Timothy 1:15–16 NIV

15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

Do you get his logic?

Paul is saying that he’s the worst sinner.

Of course, he’s not talking about his present life, where he’s doing a lot of good work for Jesus.

He’s talking about his old life, where he persecuted the church.

Paul is the worst sinner.

And if the worst sinner can be saved, then any sinner can be saved.

If Jesus is so merciful that he has saved someone who so severely attacked him and his people, then Jesus can save anyone.

That’s why Jesus saving Paul is such a great example.

It’s an example for people struggling with the weight of their sin.

Some of us are feeling very guilty about something they’ve done.

Perhaps it’s how they’ve contributed to a broken relationship.

Perhaps it’s their sexual immorailty.

Or an ongoing addiction.

If that is you, there is someone who has also felt the weight of their sin.

Paul.

Paul describes himself as the worst of sinners.

I don’t think he’s exaggerating; I think he really believes it.

But Paul found great comfort in the mercy of Jesus.

Even someone as bad as Paul was saved by Jesus.

And that means your sin can also be dealt with by Jesus too.

Even someone as bad as you can believe in Jesus and receive eternal life.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Believe in him and receive eternal life.

Now, this example isn’t just an example for people struggling with sin.

It’s also an example for us as we think about others coming to know Jesus.

See, I have friends who I have tried to share Jesus with.

I’ve tried and tried.

And sometimes I’ve given up.

I’ve lost patience.

Thankfully, there’s someone who is far more patient than I am.

What does Paul say?

Jesus displays his immense patience as an example.

That means that the friend who came to church but gave up… there’s still hope for her.

Jesus is patient with her.

For the parent who grieves their son walking away from the faith… there’s still hope for him.

Jesus is patient with him.

Your colleagues who seem so happy to live life without God… there’s still hope for them.

Jesus is patient with them.

In light of that patience, let’s keep persevering.

Keep praying for those who don’t know Jesus yet.

Keep sharing the gospel with them.

Keep witnessing to them in how you live your life.

Now this faith in a merciful Lord isn’t just for our good.

It’s not just for the good of those around us.

It’s ultimately for God’s glory.

We’re at point 2.

2, Faith that leads to praise (v. 17)

Faith that leads to praise.

Paul has just expressed Jesus’ immense patience.

And after that, Paul can’t help but praise God!

Let’s read verse 17.

Verse 17.

1 Timothy 1:17 NIV

17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

This should be very natural for the Christian.

We’ve experienced God’s goodness to us in Jesus.

Praise is something we do every Sunday together.

The first prayer at church is always a prayer of adoration and confession.

So we praise God for who he is when we pray to him.

And we praise God in our singing as well.

You may have noticed that the first song we sang today comes from this verse.

🎵Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise...

That’s based on verse 17!

But I do wonder praising God is something we proactively do as individual Christians.

When was the last time you praised God, not including times when someone else led the praise?

God’s goodness should lead to praising him.

But sometimes it doesn’t.

When our lives aren’t marked by praise of God, I suspect it’s because we’ve taken the gospel for granted.

Because the good news is old news for us.

If that’s the case, how do we not take it for granted?

How do we see it afresh and immerse ourselves again in God’s goodness?

Well Paul’s praise in verse 17 doesn’t happen in isolation.

It’s a natural result of the verses before.

In those verses, Paul doesn’t just state the gospel.

He applies it to himself.

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners...

Including me, Paul!

Including me, the worst of sinners!”

So let’s remind ourselves of the personal nature of the gospel.

It’s not just Jesus saving sinners.

It’s Jesus saving… Martin.

It’s Jesus saving… you.

Jesus saves us from eternal death and gives us eternal life!

We also see that Paul doesn’t just move on from the gospel as he writes to Timothy.

We can be tempted to focus our time only on things that seem more advanced.

In the next few weeks we will go to things that seem more advanced.

Men and women in the church.

How to structure a church.

The ethics of money.

Paul writes about these things in the following chapters.

But he starts off with the gospel.

Chapter 1 of this letter has the foundation of the faith.

So as we think about the Bible, doctrine, and how we should live our lives...

Let’s not just think about things that seem more advanced or pressing.

Let’s keep coming back to the gospel.

That’s why the gospel is preached every Sunday at church.

We go into the details of what the Bible says AND we preach the gospel.

Because it’s something we need to be reminded of.

Just as Timothy needed to be reminded of the gospel, we need to be reminded of it too.

And as we’re reminded of it, we remember God’s goodness again.

That leads us to praise God.

“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Well, Paul has reminded us of the gospel.

Our faith is in a merciful Lord.

It’s a faith that leads to praise.

We’re now at point 3.

3, Faith worth fighting for (vv. 18-20)

Faith worth fighting for.

Last week, we learnt about false teachers.

They appeared in verses 3 and 4.

Let’s turn back there together.

Verses 3 and 4.

1 Timothy 1:3–4 NIV

3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith.

Paul has given Timothy a command.

‘Tell these false teachers they can’t teach these untruths.’

And now in verse 18, he comes back to this command.

He comes back to this command because he knows that there are people who will oppose the faith.

Let’s read verses 18 and 19.

1 Timothy 1:18–19 NIV

18 Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, 19 holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith.

Timothy had prophecies made about him.

Remembering those prophecies helped him to hold onto the faith.

But we might not have prophecies made about us.

What are we to learn from this?

We need to know that this is a spiritual battle.

It’s a spiritual battle.

That’s because there are people who teach things that oppose the faith.

There are Christians who will listen to the things.

And they will be tempted to leave the faith.

Even in today’s passage, Paul mentions two people who did leave the faith.

Hymenaeus and Alexander.

The rest of the Bible doesn’t give us much information about them.

What we do know is what Paul tells us.

Paul describes their faith like a ship that’s been shipwrecked.

Many of us have seen something similar too.

We know people who had some sort of faith.

They went to church.

Then something pulled them away.

They stopped going to church.

They no longer call themselves Christian.

Their faith has shipwrecked too.

They have cut themselves off from the source of life.

That could be us!

We need to fight for our faith.

Because we are tempted to depart from the faith too.

We can be tempted by our friends and family who don’t follow Jesus.

They can push us away from Jesus.

The temptation is there in the media we consume.

Movies are telling us that meaning in life is found inside ourselves rather than in God.

Our cultural narrative says true life is about being happy and authentic and not in following Jesus.

So how do we fight for our faith?

Well Paul fights for the faith by emphasing true doctrine.

He has just reminded Timothy of the true gospel.

So we fight for our faith by reminding ourselves of the truth.

It’s why we spend so much time in God’s word here at church.

So keep being engaged with God’s word.

Keep coming to church to learn from the Bible.

And wherever else you learn from Bible as well.

Home group, youth group, personal Bible reading.

Fight for your faith by holding on to the truth.

Now it’s not just my own faith that I fight for.

You don’t just fight for your faith.

Because we’re not just individual Christians.

We’re a church.

The household of God.

So we fight for the faith of our brothers and sisters so that we can all stand firm in the faith too.

That could look like a whole variety of things.

Maybe the next time you catch up with a friend, you don’t just ask them how life’s going.

Ask them how their faith is going.

Maybe it looks like serving at New Life Kids or at youth group or sending your children to these things.

The faith of our kids is worth fighting for.

Maybe it’s giving money to a gospel-centred ministry.

Appointing godly leaders to a church.

Praying.

Checking in with the friend you haven’t seen in a while.

There’s so much that could be said but I hope the point is clear.

Faith in Jesus is a faith worth fighting for.

Because only through faith in Jesus does someone have eternal life.

What happens if someone does wander away from the faith?

Is all hope lost?

No, we already saw that Jesus is immensely patient.

Even those who have walked away from the faith might one day be saved.

And we see even more hope from Paul in verse 20.

Let’s look at what Paul says about the two people who have shipwrecked their faith.

Verse 20.

1 Timothy 1:20 NIV

20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.

That might be a bit confusing at first glance.

But Paul is saying that he has removed Hymenaeus and Alexander from the church.

They no longer have the benefits of Christian community.

Satan is described elsewhere as a temporary ruler of this world.

So Hymenaeus and Alexander being handed over to Satan is them living in the world without any Christian support.

How does that help?

Well Christian community is an expression of God’s love.

God’s love is shown in the love of his people.

And I see that at our church.

We’re a church where we love one another.

Living outside of church means having to fend for yourself.

It means experiencing life without God’s blessings.

The hope is that it will bring someone back to the church.

And ultimately back to faith in Jesus.

It reminds me of my friend, John.

John grew up in the church.

But he didn’t like it.

Here’s what he wrote about his experience.

https://allelouscg.wordpress.com/2019/11/19/chasing-after-girls-captured-by-christ/

“I lived however I pleased in search of chasing after the greatest pleasures life had to offer. I was skipping all my classes to hang with mates, going to fun parties and events, hollering at the ladies, jumping into relationship after relationship.

But no matter who I was going out with, the initial lovey-dovey honeymoon sensations would always dissipate and the hole in my heart was never filled. ... no matter how much I trained or how much my body changed I was never happy with how I looked.

soon after that, my mental health took a turn for the worst. It was extremely difficult to get out of bed, energy levels sank to a new low, my body was numb and everything I ate tasted bland. Life began to lose its colour.”

John’s story isn’t that unique.

Life outside of Christian community, life without God,

It presents many attractive promises.

But those promises are hollow.

There’s no lasting satisfaction.

Thankfully, John did eventually came back to church.

He went back to learning from the Bible in Christian community.

One key moment for him was when he heard a sermon about finding rest in Jesus.

This is what he wrote.

“I exhausted all my options of running away from God. He spoke to my soul that the search for meaning and identity is over, for I can now rest in Christ, who gives life to all who rest on Him and on His saving work on the cross.

I was chasing after fleeting joys, but I was chased and caught by the hands of the Saviour, who is the source of all everlasting joy.”

This is our hope for those we know who have walked away from the faith.

It’s the same hope Paul has for Hymenaeus and Alexander too.

What does he say at the end of verse 20?

1 Timothy 1:20 NIV

20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.

That reminds us of Paul himself.

[Don’t read]

1 Timothy 1:13 NIV

13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.

Paul described his old self as a blasphemer.

If Jesus can transform Paul’s life from blasphemy to living for Jesus,

He can do the same for Hymenaeus and Alexander.

And he can do the same for our friends and family who have turned away from Jesus.

So let’s not give up on them.

Let’s keep praying for them.

Keep inviting them to church.

Keep sharing the gospel with them.

Conclusion

I shared at the start about how I used to get bored of regular gospel teaching.

It was the basics of the faith and I wanted something more advanced.

As I’ve matured as a Christian, I’m now thankful that I’m part of a church where we do preach the gospel regularly.

That doesn’t mean it’s the same sermon each week.

Tim and I preach the passage in front of us and we preach the gospel according to the passage.

I’m glad our church preaches the gospel regularly.

Because it’s the foundation of our faith in a merciful Lord.

So we need to keep coming back to it.

I’m glad our church preaches the gospel regularly.

Because there are so many things in this world pulling us away from this faith.

So we need to keep coming back to it.

It’s a faith worth fighting for.

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father,

You are our King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God. May you have all honour and glory for ever and ever!

In your great love, you have given us Jesus. He came into this world to save us. And in his immense patience, any sinner can be saved. So we praise you for your great love.

Help us to hold tightly to our faith. In this world where we’re pulled in so many directions, help us stick to the truth and fight for our faith.

And we pray that those around us as well would come to this faith too. We pray that they would believe in Jesus and receive eternal life.

In his name, Amen

We are now going to praise God in song.

Let’s stand and sing, His Mercy is More.