Captivated by the King: King of Ages

King of Ages

Thankful For

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service.

Opening statement of Thanks that sets the stage of this very personal statement.

Very personal paragraph!

But impacts us personally. We can feel the same feels Paul has in this passage:

Like thanksgiving!

Thank you for saving me!

For plucking me, even me, out from punishment and inviting me to serve you!

Very Personal Paragraph, but also touches us all personally.

“Captivated by the King”

Connection between Jesus as our Savior (which is the point of most of this paragraph), and Jesus as the Christ, or Lord, or King.

Because Jesus is the Christ, Jesus is the Savior.

“Soteriology leads to Doxology!”

Understanding how and why you’re saved leads to praise and adoration of the King!

Saul the Super Sinner

Jesus the Super Giver

Three Shorter Points:

Result of Grace

Purpose of Grace

Consequence of Grace

Saul the Super-Sinner

v. 15: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

v. 16: But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience.

Paul calls him the foremost:

NIV: “Worst of Sinners”

Proto: Prototype=first type

“Paul the Prototype”-Sinner

Lit: First of Sinners: First in line

Story of Getting in Line in grade school.

Look back

Foremost=FIRST

Important Concept:

v. 13: “But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief”

Past sins acted ‘ignorantly in unbelief’

For Paul: Pretty bad!

Blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent

But Paul acted in ignorance and unbelief. He didn’t know what he was doing!

Paul doesn’t look at his past with regret or shame, although I imagine there are times when he feels that. He actually looks at his past with thanksgiving!

This line bugged me this week!

Sins of a Super Sinner vs. Sins of a Saved Saint

Paul acted “ignorantly in unbelief”

Greatest testimonies:

People who did awful things before they were a Christians, but here they are a completely transformed person! They did all this bad stuff only to build up their testimony!

What do we do with sins that come from those of us who are Saved Saints??

I can’t remember a time in my life where I didn’t sing Jesus Love Me This I Know without believing it. I didn’t grow up ignorant in unbelief! I grew up with Christian parents, Sunday school, Cadets, Teen Club, Youth Group, Catechism, Christian Schools, Christian university! And yet, I still chose to sin!

Just got back from the retreat, what happens if you already sinned and failed?

I can see why Paul can be guilt free from his past: He wasn’t a Christian.

But what about us who have always sinned as a Christians?

Plenty of us who carry around guilt from our past… Regret… Knowing Jesus, yet choosing sin.

Remember what the Bible says about all of us:

“All have Fallen short of the grace given” Romans 3:23

v. 15: Puts everybody on the same playing field: v.15: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

And for those of us down the line a little, we needed God’s grace just as much, EVEN THOSE OF US WHO SIN AS SAINTS!

Paul’s not writing this to make anyone feel guilty, he’s just saying: IF I CAN BE SAVED, ANYONE CAN BE SAVED!

SIN IS THE GREAT EQUALIZER, whether you build up a dramatic testimony or whether you have sinned in secret!

Jesus the Supergrace Giver

v.14: “grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”

The Grace (of our Lord) overflowed for me with the faith and love (that are in Christ Jesus)

Grace overflowed

Word=abundant

Prefix=hyper= HYPER abundant

“abound exceedingly”

Theological Dictionary of the New Testament: “It is a fundamentally unnecessary intensification of the simple form, which already carries the nuance of “too much.”

Pictures of abundant vs. Hyper-abundant

Size of the Sun vs. Size of a Red Giant

Waterfall vs. Niagara Falls

Illustration: Whip cream vs. too much whip cream

“Overwhelming amount of grace”

Flow of Grace is more than enough to absolve you of your sin!

Even for the super sinner like Saul, there was Super grace waiting for him.

Flow goes through everything!

Canyon by Ellie Holcomb

Remember:

The Spirit exceedingly overflows into the cracks and crevices of the heart.

Sins in ignorance. Sins of the past that hold on to you. Decisions you feel still define you.

The Result of Grace

v.14: “grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”

Effects of erosion:

Whipping Cream: Leads to sickness, analogy breaks down

Erosion: Relentless overflowing of water has it’s effects

Niagara Falls Erodes: Picture or erosion

GRACE SHAPES!

JESUS SHAPED US WITH GRACE BY FAITH AND LOVE!!! FAITH AND LOVE

Grace produces faith: Ephesians 2:8-10: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Grace produces love: Romans 3:5: God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Purpose of the Grace:

v. 16: “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.”

Purpose:

Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience:

Jesus showed his PERFECT patience in Paul’s conversion

Perfect= “ALL” “Unlimited” “Inexhaustible”

For those who need to be saved: God is showing his all-encompassing patience.

At the right time, after all the wrong decisions, at the right place, after all the moments of failure…

Have hope is those Second In Line:

We can observe people who don’t believe and say, “Well, my prayer is that Jesus might display his perfect patience with you someday.”

Gives us hope for those who don’t believe in Jesus!

Don’t give up praying for those who don’t know the Lord!

Don’t give up on those SECOND in LINE

Consequence of Grace:

Praise!

17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Getting saved prompts bring us into a new relationship with the King of Kings!

Our Savior draws us into a Kingdom, where we recognize the King. The King is one who we see as the guardian of our hearts, sustainer of the universe, and the ONE who promises to come to redeem all of Creation for once and for all. We experience the effect of the Savior at Justification—that is, when we are first saved. We experience the effect of the King forever more.

Conclusion:

Purpose of this sermon is not so much to teach you about salvation and grace, although that’s important. The reason why I picked this passage is to see the Consequence of Grace: It opens our eyes to the target of worship. And he’s the Good and GRACIOUS King!

If you get stuck with Jesus as your savior, you will not grow in your faith, you will not understand discipleship, you will lose site of the prize, you will be the seed that sprouted in the weeds or in the dray ground.

People save other people’s lives everyday!

I came across this fascinating story first published by GQ and featured in This American Life’s podcast this past weekend. It’s a powerful story about a modern day savior:

“The Angel of Nanging”

In China, a 4 mile superbridge… Thousands of pedestrians on the top deck. 2 trains on the deck below.

Many thousands of Chinese workers use this bridge to cross into a city of 10 million people.

The tragic this about this bridge is on average one person jumps off this bridge once per week.

So when Mr. Chen isn’t working, he roams the bridge to stop people from jumping the

“According to a blog he kept, he'd saved 174 jumpers—and in the process had been hailed as one of China's great Good Samaritans.”

Grumpy: “Why are you standing here as opposed to anywhere else on this four mile bridge.”

“He turned with his binoculars, and just even acknowledge the reporter.”

Mr. Chen comes on his moped

Reporter is holding his hands.

Mr. Chen took control: “I want to take your picture.” Takes a picture. “Now I think I should punch you in the face? You call yourself Chinese, how dare you call yourself Chinese with the intentions of killing yourself today. I’m going to punch you in the face. I’m going to punch you right now....”

Mr. Chen, amazing person!