Plagiarize This

1 Timothy 1:1–20 ESV

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 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. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:1-20

Text: 1 Timothy 1:15-17

Sermon: Plagiarize This

Brothers and sisters in Christ, I stand before you as an intern and rookie pastor about to embark on his first sermon. Let me be the first to tell you that while I have a passion for the work I feel God has called me to do; it does not come without fear. Most pastors will tell you that it is vital that you have a healthy fear when approaching and preaching the Word, because it is not something to take lightly, but the level of my heart rate and nerves is a little bit higher than that. 

As I have thought about this day for much of the past semester and year I wondered what my topic for such a day might be. While reading through the New Testament earlier this year, I found these verses in the pastoral letters, which many have labeled the faithful sayings. These verses are marked by the words, “this is a faithful saying” or “this is a trustworthy saying.” In reflecting upon these verses, I feel led by God to proclaim these in my beginnings because they fittingly locate us in the heart of the gospel and God’s will for his people. The one before us tonight has helped me to recognize my call and role as a pastor as well as what I am called to preach and our response as God’s people to inspired words of the whole Bible.  

This being said, those of you who are parents and teachers may be cringing at the title of my sermon. Those of you who are students might be on the edge of your seats hoping to hear how you might get around the strict policies that schools have against the art of using copy and paste while writing papers. Don’t worry parents and teachers, that is not my goal, and to you students, my apologies. My goal is to answer the following three questions: First, what is the message of Paul for Timothy and the other leaders of the church in Ephesus as well as for me as a young pastor? Second, and this is where we get at the specific text, what is the message pastors are entrusted to preach to their congregations? Third, what are we all to do with this message?

Tonight we find ourselves in the first of the pastoral letters that Paul wrote to Timothy and Titus, young pastors who needed continuing education and encouragement. Timothy was not a stranger to preaching and teaching nor was he a stranger to the city of Ephesus. We read in Acts that Timothy had accompanied and served with Paul on multiple missionary journeys including a term in Ephesus before being sent out by Paul to Macedonia. When Paul and his company arrived at Ephesus, he found disciples who had been baptized by water but not by the Holy Spirit, and so he proclaimed Christ to them and baptized them. After a while, some people in the city did not like the work being done there or in the broader province of Asia and how it was affecting business with the temple of Artemis. There arose dangerous riots, and eventually Paul left, bidding farewell to the elders of this new church and committing them to God’s protection. Fast forward several years and we find Timothy as the pastor sent to take care of the church which has recently found itself being led astray by some.

First, what is the message here at the beginning of Paul’s letter for the pastors and leaders of the church and Ephesus? Paul begins his writing of this letter telling Timothy to command certain persons not to teach different doctrines, nor to be devoted to myths and genealogies, which lead to vain discussion and the desire of some to be teachers of the law, without understanding. Paul here is instructing Timothy to be on guard against those who have put scholastics above studying and living in faith. Calvin reveals also that the Greek word here “ἑτεροδιδασκαλέω” which is translated to teach false doctines in the NIV, may be better translated as “to not teach differently,” that is to hold the truth of God as one. He is not saying it may not be useful to look at the myths and genealogies, but that we must go beyond that and focus on the pure doctrine that comes from the light of Christ. From the angle of telling him to be on guard against these types of leaders, who probably looked similar to Pharisees, he is beginning his statement about what it means to be a pastor and leader in the church. 

The call of a pastor and leader in the church is to be guide and a counselor. The pastor is one who has been called by God to bring his Word to his children. The pastor is one who submits to the accountability over them, for they are responsible for living a godly life in their congregations, in their families, and every other part of their lives. 

The pastor is put on a pedestal by the congregation as the one who brings the inspired Word of God along with a message driven by the Spirit, but lest anyone forget, they are still human, still fallen, and still prone to sin. The pastor struggles in their relationships and agendas as the work of a pastor cannot simply be a 9-5 job because the lives of the congregants and the world do not stop. The pastor can easily fall into pride because of their position and desire to have the church look whichever way they think is best regardless of what is best for that congregation and not necessarily in line with God’s purpose in that specific church. The pastor may also struggle through depression as they counsel members through their broken relationships, seek to give an answer of hope and encouragement to families looking at the face of death amid the illness of a loved one, and at times do not operate on enough sleep or time with their families. 

While these are just a few of the things that a pastor wrestles with, the pastor is also the one whom God has appointed to shepherd those who are under their care, which to continue speaking in shepherd terms involves the call that Timothy receives to defend against those who teach wrong doctrines, spend large amounts of time and devotion to wrestling with things apart from the gospel message, and who lie in wait to lure the sheep away into the den of wild animals, that is learning without understanding. In his treatise on the gospel of John, St. Augustine wrote, “Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.” The realization to be had regarding our text is that in order for a minister to preach and proclaim the Word of God well, they must have firm roots in true faith out of which greater understanding of the Bible comes as well as how to best lead the flock under their care and strengthen them against the lures of worldly temptations and false gospels.

This understanding of the pastoral call leads us tonight to our second point, the point which I think makes clear what pastors and leaders in the church are to preach and plagiarize in every sermon. By the strength, appointing, mercy, and grace which have been granted to the pastor, we who are called to lead are to pronounce the gospel message at all times and in all sermons to be received with faith and acceptance by the people of God. The gospel message is this: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and he alone has a perfect and unlimited patience to receive those sinners who believe in him unto eternal life. 

This is the message for those of you who have been in the church your whole lives, as well as for those of you who are new to the faith or maybe have fallen in your walk with God. How simple that message is but yet profound. Let’s break it down a bit more. Christ Jesus came into the world. Jesus was born to Mary, lived and worked as a carpenter under his earthly father Joseph for many years of his life, began to minister bringing with him the baptism of the Spirit, he taught, worked miracles, cast out demons; was convicted for who he was because his own people were blind to the sovereignty and plan of God, he was beat, died on the cross, and after three days rose again from the dead before he would minister for a short time and then ascend to heaven. Jesus cried, he probably laughed, showed righteous anger, he surely sweat and probably did not smell that great after walking from town to town. All this to say that Jesus was a real man that lived on this earth like all of us. 

While he was fully man, but with that he was also fully God, and therefore was the only one who could come to save sinners. In Mark 2:17 and Luke 5:31, Jesus proclaims this Gospel saying that he came for the sick, because it is not the healthy who need a doctor. Christ came to save the broken. God created humanity in Adam and Eve perfect in the beginning of the world, the humans messed it up by choosing to serve themselves rather than God, the relationship was torn, and from then on humans would be prone to sin. 

God gave his Son, he bore him that he would go to the cross, die and be resurrected that our sins would be atoned, they would be forgiven and that our relationship with Him would be fixed. Paul boasts, though he says not to boast, that he’s the foremost of sinners, and that he is an example for the people of that time and to us now that the patience of Jesus Christ is perfect and unlimited to those who believe in him for eternal life. 

The patience of Christ is unimaginable. I know a lot of you here tonight may say, “I’m a Lions fan, I know what patience is.” Or maybe some of you are like my dad, who is a Cubs fan, and he would say, “I know what patience is.” Towson University’s men’s basketball team recently won after going on a 41 game losing streak, the players, coaches, and fans would say, “We know what patience is.” However I’m here tonight to put it all in perspective that the patience of Christ is so much more. God is the only one who can say, “My team was on a losing streak that spanned at least 6,000 years, but you see, my Son’s been red-shirting, he’s alive but now is his time to start, he’s a game-changer, the star athlete with perfect averages, and while the rest of the team will continue to not pull their weight, I’ll put him into the game once and forever my team will be restored to the top of table.” 

Brothers and sisters, we’re sinners, we’re losers on our own, but the word of God preached tonight in this sermon is that we have been redeemed; God has said because you tried to fire me when we played in the Garden, you’re going to screw up, run out of bounds, run away from the goal in front of you, throw passes like Tom Brady’s that get picked off by wash-ups and substitute teacher characters like Chase Blackburn, but….

The uttering of the word “but” is a good thing for all God’s children; and the “but” is that God tells us he will put the past behind and bring us back to play in His house once and for all. That’s the incredible good news, that beats any win at any stage of any sport, and that brothers and sisters is the Word that I and my fellow pastors and leaders in the church have the duty and joy to preach whenever we come to the pulpit. This is the good news I remind you that was revealed to Paul on the road to persecuting followers of Christ in Damascus, this is the good news that Paul gave to Timothy and Timothy to the leaders with him in Ephesus that they might all preach it and the whole church’s confidence would rest in this truth, this congregation of Jesus Christ is the good news which spans days, months, years, decades, centuries, and millennia to meet us here this very evening as a promise that Christ came to save us, sinners, if we repent and believe in him; for he has invoked a living promise that remains faithful and steadfast,  and he patiently waits to return again in his time.

The significance of this gospel message in the text before us is not merely an altar call. But rather a lesson that if we put our trust in the works of humanity or the debates of philosophy, politics, and theology we will surely place our confidence in those things, and not be able to stand in Paul’s charge to have a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith. The message that I hope to preach week in and week out is a message that recognizes and works through the entirety of scripture, which is dutifully seen in and through the cross. 

Having looked at Paul’s call for Timothy and the role that pastors take up, as well as the message to be delivered, we are left this evening with answering the question of “so what?” I’m the pastor, I know what I have to preach, most of you know the gospel that I have presented, so why have I told you all this? I will let you in on a little secret, seminarians and pastors read a lot, and they can read about preaching. One thing I have learned over the years both in and outside of the classroom is that reminders are good, even better are those that provoke commitment and action. 

The reason why this passage is necessary and beneficial to lay members of the church as well as leaders is that it reminds us of that to which our faith must be held, that we must be on guard to protect that faith which dwells in us, and that it is holy and right to present a response of praise to a God that promises to hold on, promises to persist, and promises to be more patient than any of us could ever imagine. Paul speaks to Timothy a message of warfare, which might make sense if we remember the armor of God imagery in Paul’s letter to the broader church of Ephesus.  This message is one which encourages the church to be strong, to stand firm, to hold the faith and defend against all things that come against it, both outrightly evil as well as those things which may interest us, which appeal to us as the fruit of the Garden appealed to Eve and Adam, which take the place of putting God at the front of our lives.  In his commentary on this passage, Calvin writes, “Our mind is always impelled to look at our worthiness; and as soon as our unworthiness is seen, our confidence sinks. Accordingly, the more any one is oppressed by his sins, let him the more courageously betake himself to Christ, relying on this doctrine, that he came to bring salvation not to the righteous, but to ‘sinners.”

The gospel I and all pastors preach is not mine, but God’s to which I cling. It’s a gospel which continues to live and thrive in the foolishness of preaching as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:21; not that the message is foolish, but to those who have hardened their hearts and who are deaf in the ear, it does not make sense, but you brothers and sisters have been given ears to hear by our Father, open your ears, let the gospel dwell in you, and plagiarize it onto your lives. Do not forget the sovereignty of our King, do not forget that he continues to live and abide each and every day uncontained by time, do not forget the grandeur and the power of the simple yet profound gospel. Remember that we stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters of the Old Testament who heard and said “The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Take hold of this assurance and live lives of gratitude knowing that the salvation we receive is holy a gift from our Father. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit Amen.