The Chief of Sinners

There is a quote that I find to be quite interesting and have always found the content of it to be intriguing: “the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” It is attributed to Stephen Covey. It’s rather simple in its message, self-explanatory. Another way to phrase it might be, don’t get so focused on secondary matters that you lose sight of the important matters. Perhaps, I find this to be so intriguing is because, while it is quite profound, it is at times difficult to live out. We find ourselves oftentimes attracted to things that don’t matter. Have you ever been in a serious conversation with someone or an important meeting and someone is hyper-focused on some trivial matter? I have. We are sometimes fixated on the inconsequential, to the neglect of things of great consequence. It reminds of a picture I just saw of a man on a sailboat staring at his phone, while a beautiful humpback whale surfaced right next to him. He was oblivious to the natural beauty around him. There is one area that I think we are all guilty of doing this: the matter of our faith, the matter of Christianity. We look at the Bible, you look at all the rich theology, all of the truth that is in there, all of this content, it is so easy to get distracted. People become experts in one area, or they are known to be the “end-times” teacher or the Family Values preacher or Bible history guy… and don’t get me wrong, none of these things are bad. It’s good to have experts but I have a fear that sometimes we cling to the edges of Christianity as to ignore the core component. There is a key component to our belief that informs all other areas. Let’s take a look.

Read 1 Timothy 1:12-17

Paul is writing to the young pastor, Timothy and is discussing several different things. But in this section of Scripture, we see Paul’s heartbeat, his story. He thanks God for allowing him to serve him. Why? His past. Paul has a past, a pretty rough past in a lot of ways. You have a past, I have a past. Paul explains his past: He was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. You see, the apostle Paul, the great man of faith, the author of 13 books of the New Testament was also a one-time opponent of the Gospel. We know this from Acts (Acts 8:3), Philippians (Phil. 3:6) and Galatians (Gal. 1:13). He was a man who ravaged the early Christians. After Christ ascended, Paul was a part of the group of zealots who ruthlessly attacked Christians: beat them, dragged them, stoned them. In a twisted way, they viewed their attacks as honoring God. I can imagine their hate-filled speeches and nasty insults hurled at these devoted believers, people they assumed were betraying God. This was Paul’s past. Not exactly the guy that you’d expect to have written a good portion of the New Testament.

If you were to jump over to the book of Acts, you would read about Paul’s dramatic conversion on the way to Damascus when he has a divine encounter with Jesus Christ. This encounter radically changed his life as he believed in Christ and began to follow him. This is radical. Imagine some sort of religious extremist trusting in Christ and becoming a pastor.

Paul says two things happened to him: he received mercy and grace. These two components are important concepts in Christian theology. Perhaps the best way to think of them as opposite sides of the same coin. Mercy is not getting what you deserve and grace is getting what you don’t deserve. Paul says that he received mercy because he acted ignorantly. Paul may be referring to a concept from the Old Testament of unwitting sins. Paul thought he was serving God. In the Old Testament, the Day of Atonement was available for those who had committed these unwitting sins, but nonetheless, Paul is saying… I received Mercy! Paul recognized that he deserved punishment. He doesn’t deny this. Yet, he received mercy. He also received Grace: God’s unmerited favor; His unearned love. Eternal life is the thing that we don’t deserve. Paul uses this wonderful word picture of Overflowing Grace. It’s pouring over the sides. I sort of think about when I make a bowl of Ice Cream. Jenn makes a respectable bowl of Ice-Cream, a normal bowl. Me? I make an overflowing bowl of IceCream. Suffice it to say, I’m not in charge of Ice-Cream at our house. Paul says, Grace just poured out and everything I need was there. Paul wasn’t ready for the Gospel. He didn’t have all his ducks in a row. He wasn’t close. He didn’t have faith. He didn’t have love and all of a sudden, God poured out grace and not only did he pour out grace but the cherries on the Ice Cream were Faith and Love. These cherries were also a gift and what made it possible for Paul do believe. I believe strongly that is through the preaching of the Gospel that hearts are opened and receptive to receive these gifts. I really don’t know but I can picture Paul ready to sing and shout about this amazing Grace!

Paul then writes something quite memorable. A phrase that should be memorized if it hasn’t been yet. “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” In other translations, Paul calls himself the chief of sinners. This is the knockout punch of the Bible. When you talk about the main thing, this is the main thing. This is the engine of the car. This is what makes Christianity go. This is what allows people to be transformed by Grace. “Jesus has come to save sinners!” This is the truth of the Gospel that we should never hide or cover up with the inconsequential. Jesus Christ left fellowship with the Father and came into sinful humanity with a purpose to save sinners. Paul says something, “I was the worst!” Was he the worst? You know what, from his perspective he was. Why? Because Paul knew Paul better than anyone else. You know you better than anyone else. I know me better than anyone else. There is a personal nature to this. There have been times when I, too, can say “I am the chief of sinners!” I have felt the depths of that before. I have suffered mightily because of my sins… they have eaten at me… they have caused me great sadness. This truth shines forth like a bright noonday sun after a dark and dreary morning and proclaims, “Jesus has come to save sinners!” He has come for the worst. He has come for the cruel. He has come for the angry. He has come for sinners. This is really an extraordinary truth. Jesus didn’t come for the best of the best, the who’s who the pick of the litter, the up-and-comers… he came for sinners. The creator, the One who holds everything together in the palm of his hand, who sits at the right hand of the Father ruling and reigning… He came into the world to save sinners. The weights and implications of this are staggering.

Paul doesn’t stop there. He says this: He saved me to reach you. John Piper wrote, “God had you in view when he saved Paul.” Paul serves as an example, a picture of what Christ can do in your life. We look, almost 2,000 years later and we see the overflowing grace in Paul’s life and we are amazed and touched. We see the man who was trying to kill Christians, and we realize that if Jesus can save Him, he can save us. This is the nature of Christianity, isn’t it? The power of story. Have you realized that. The power of personal testimony is more important than you realize. It isn’t just a nice part of Christianity, I believe it is essential. You see, in God’s divine providence He knows that by saving you, others will come to know Christ because of it! No matter your past, when you share with others what Jesus has done in your life, it becomes the catalyst for others to think, “Can God save me, too?” Salvation isn’t a personal, private thing that happens in a person’s heart. When one person is changed by the Gospel, it spreads. It grows. It multiplies. I cannot help but think of our dear sister in Christ, Billie Sue who went to be with the Lord. We had her funeral service yesterday and her life pointed others to Christ. Her story was an example to others. When people see the work of salvation in your life, it is a powerful picture. Have you thought about salvation like Paul has? Have you thought of your salvation as an example? Have you thought that the mercy you received wasn’t only for yourself but for others. Listen, this is why I can say that this is the main thing: everything revolves around Jesus coming to save sinners. It shows the abundant love of God in that he has designed so many things in life to point people to Christ. His Word. His Spirit. His children whom are saved by Grace. Everything. The Lord wants to see people saved. God is a God of salvation. He desires that none would perish. So much so that He sent his Son to die on a cross. That is amazing. We’ve been talking about transforming Grace… and this is it. Transforming Grace in your life, has the power to reach others. We are not transformed for ourselves, we are transformed for others.

I love the way that Paul ends this section because it reminds me of something: The main thing, Salvation through Christ, should lead us to abundant praise. “To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the Only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen!” He is the Sovereign King and Lord over everything. There is nothing that is beyond his reach. Paul can look up and say, “You are the King!” He is the always and forever King. Immortal. He isn’t bound by the physical. He is beyond the physical. He is much more than human. He is God! He’s greater than we are. He is worthy to be praised. The only God. This is the exclusive claim of Christianity: There is only one God, The God who sent His Son for us! There are no other gods. He has no competition. No rivals. There is only one. To honor and glory forever. Listen, folks, your salvation is cause for celebration. It is a cause for praise. When you think about what Jesus has done in your life: you and I should jump and shout praises to God. We can shout and sing because of what he has done in our lives!

As we think about this passage as a whole, I want to do a little exercise. I want you to think about your past for a minute, the past long ago and the past most present. I want you to think about your sins and envision each of them written on a brick. Every sin gets a brick. Not just the outward sins, but the inward sins. The sins of the heart. The sins of the mind. Every wayward thought. Every evil consideration of the heart. Everything that nobody knows about. Honestly, we can’t really remember all of those things can we? How many bricks would you have? Enough to build a small wall? A modest House? A large building? A mansion? The great wall of China? I don’t know how much like me you are, but when I think about everything that I have ever done, I can see my brick wall stretch to the sky and across the land without end. It’s a horribly wide and tall wall. It’s quite awful really. I look at my wall and I think, “There is nobody with a wall as big as mine! I am the chief of all sinners. I weep at my wall. Broken because of all the things that I have done against God and others. I am the worst of the worst! Maybe you can say the same thing that I can. That wall does something else. It separates us from a holy God. Not only is it some formidable, imposing wall but it actually separates us from God. This wall keeps us from a Holy God. I think that this the pain of sin that we all feel. However, that is the truth of this passage, when Jesus came to this earth for sinners, he came to destroy that wall that kept us from God. He completely and utterly destroyed, not one brick is standing atop another. This is why Paul can Praise God. This is why we can praise God. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The wall is down. We don’t have to relive it. His mercy and grace have overflowed for us. This is Good. This the Gospel! Have you ever believed that Gospel? Have you ever experienced that mercy and grace that Paul talked so eloquently about? Or do you just keep adding bricks to the wall? One brick. Two bricks. Three. Four. So on. You can lay down your bricks. You don’t have to live life separated from God stuck in all your sin and shame. You can experience the great freedom of the Gospel. Will you believe?