Paul, The Foremost of Sinners

I’m not sure if you have caught on or not, but one of my absolute favorite Apostles is Paul. He’s a passionate man filled with zeal for God. He writes vigorously about Jesus, instructs a plethora of New Testament churches through letters which we read today, and he longs for every believer to live a life that reflects Christ. If there was ever a Christian role model to have, Paul is it.

This morning we have begun reading part of 1 Timothy. This is a letter, written by Paul, and addressed to Timothy. Timothy is a young pastor who began following Paul on his various missionary journeys. This letter is written by Paul who acts as Timothy’s mentor, and in it he encourages Timothy and his ministry work. When Paul writes this particular letter, Timothy is overseeing the church in Ephesus, and this letter is filled with encouragement, instruction, and guidance. As his mentor, Paul takes on an almost father-like figure role for Timothy, and their relationship grows ever closer. There is a bond created, one filled with trust.

Now, Paul’s letter to Timothy has more intention than just saying “hello.” What we learn throughout the letter is that in Ephesus there is a growing number of false doctrines and false teachers rising to the top and corrupting the church and those around it. Paul instructs Timothy to put an end to it, and throughout the letter he affirms Timothy and offers him encouragement.

This morning we have read just the very beginning of the letter, and in that short reading we have learned a lot. One of the most important things that we learned in verses 12-17 is that Paul has not always been the role model Christian that we would aspire to be like.

First, Paul begins by stating that he is grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord. He mentions that he was judged faithful and was appointed by Jesus to his service. So far, that sounds pretty good. It makes sense to us, especially after reading more of Paul’s writings, that he spends time sharing how grateful he is. However, the next verse, verse 13, really goes in a direction that you may not have seen coming.

After stating that he was judged faithful and appointed into service, Paul says, “even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence.” Right here we learn that Paul was not always a man who served Jesus. He was not always a man who should be looked up to. We learn here that Paul, one of the most well-known Apostles, was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. This isn’t to say that Paul simply said “oh Christians are really bad,” no, he did much worse.

First, he calls himself a blasphemer. Paul spent a long amount of time not simply saying he disliked Christians, but denying Christ openly. Claiming that he wasn’t the Son of God, nor God Himself. He would openly preach against Christ, against the church, against Christians. Did he love and fear God, absolutely. Did he recognize Christ as God, absolutely not. He was a blasphemer through and through. Yet, Christ still redeemed him.

Next he says that he was a persecutor. He was notorious for not only preaching against Christ and Christ’s believers, but for going door-to-door and rounding up Christians to be arrested and punished. He would go on manhunts, showing no remorse, actively seeking out anyone who confessed that Jesus was Lord. He would go from area to area, town to town, door to door, and if a person there admitted to following Christ they would be bound and escorted back to Jerusalem for trial. Yet, Christ still redeemed him.

Then, Paul says that he was “a man of violence.” So, not only was Paul preaching against Christ and his followers, not only was he rounding them up like cattle and escorting them to trial, but he was also present at many beatings and executions of people who called on the name of Jesus. Paul was even there and part of the stoning of Stephen the Martyr found in Acts 7:58. Who knows how much more violence Paul committed. But, we know it was enough for Paul to recall it here and think back to it. Yet, Christ still redeemed him.

How do we know that Christ redeemed him despite all of these things he has said of his past? He follows these mistakes with, “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.” That is how we know that Christ redeemed him. Paul gives all credit for his transformation to Christ Jesus. He says that it is because of Jesus that he was able to receive grace, grace that overflowed because it was so abundant. He even doubles down on this by saying, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners...” according to Paul that’s the reason for Christ’s presence on earth! For his death on the cross. To save sinners.

What really gets me though is that Paul calls himself “the foremost” sinner. Meaning he was the leading the sinner, the very first in severity, the worst kind of sinner. Paul, who writes to us with great discernment and foresight from the Holy Spirit, calls himself the worst sinner ever. The one least deserving of grace, mercy, forgiveness, or even love from God.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but there are moments in my life where I think back to who I was before I knew Christ and I shudder. I shudder at the things I said, the things I believed, the ways I treated people…it makes me sad, sorrowful, and sometimes it’s all I can think about. I get caught sometimes in these moments of thinking, “how in the world can I be forgiven of all of that.” And, that thought echoes in my head, and haunts me for days and nights.

I’m sure that there are many stories in this room of people who have done some pretty terrible things. Some of us were blasphemers either by word or action, some were persecutors of other Christians, and maybe there are some of us who were people of violence, again either in word or action.

But, the list doesn’t stop there. If we made a book consisting of all of the awful and atrocious things we have done it wouldn’t be allowed in schools, nor would anyone ever actually publish it. In fact, for some people that book may be incriminating. Many of us take the book of our lives, the mistakes we’ve made, and we reread those chapters over, and over, and over again. And, that’s what Paul is doing here.

But, Paul doesn’t rest in that place. He doesn’t keep the bookmark on the chapters where he persecuted and oversaw the murder of other believers. Instead, he uses those chapters to build up to the glory of who God is. Of what God has done.

Look at verse 16, right after he calls himself the worst kind of sinner. He says, “but for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.” Wow...

Let’s dive deeper into this verse for a moment.

First, “by that very reason I received mercy...”

What does Paul mean by “that very reason” here? What’s the reason he received mercy? When we look back to verse 15 we see that the reason that Paul received this mercy while still being a sinner, while being the foremost of sinners, is because that’s why Jesus came into the world, to save sinners. The entire purpose of Jesus’ human life was to save those who were lost, to reunite the creation to the creator.

Despite all that Paul did, and despite all that we have done, God chose to come to earth as Jesus Christ. He chose to live a plain life, in a hard part of the world, at a hard time in history, and chose to live out the Gospel.

He chose, despite the wickedness of us all to live the perfect life, to take on the weight and wages of our sins, and to climb up onto the cross and die for us, in our place. An act of reconciliation, of restoration, of peacemaking.

So, what do we do with all of this?

Well, when we look at who Paul was, at what Jesus did for him, and who he became afterwards, we see a complete and total transformation of the man.

The once wicked, murderous, violent, blasphemer turned Apostle, lover of Jesus, preacher of the Gospel. It was a true representation of real and authentic repentance, the complete turn around from one direction another. The authentic repentance that Christ calls of us when we submit to Him as our Lord.

In our lives, are we living like our old selves? Paul’s old self, whom we call Saul, and who he was after Christ are two totally different people. Is that your story as well, or are you still living as your pre-Christ self?

This is an incredibly important question to ask yourself, because the direct evidence of our faith in Christ is a life that reflects the Gospel. Does it do so perfectly right away? Absolutely not. Should there be a progression, called sanctification, that occurs. Absolutely.

If I were living my life today as I did before Christ I would not have lasted a week here as your pastor. I would not be married to a wonderful woman of God, and I would not have an amazing son. My life would be absolutely different from what it is now. The moment I actually gave my life over to Jesus, and decided to do that every day is the moment that the projection of my entire life changed for the better.

So, I ask again, are you living as the you before Christ came into the picture, or does your life show a total difference from who you were? Part of that change, part of living as a new creation in Christ is seeing the areas of our past that were not good for us and our spiritual health and stopping from doing them, yes even the things we want to still do or the things that brought us temporary happiness. As Christians we are called to live a life that reflects Christ to the world, not ourselves.

I stand before you as a man who is not perfected, trust me on that. However, I stand before you as a man who is no longer who I was. A man who saw what living a life of my own was like, fled from that danger, took refuge in Christ, and now lives a life (as best as I can) that is Christ’s. A life that requires me to be hospitable to those who I’d rather ignore. A life that requires me to live more like Christ each day, to forgive those who hurt me, to help those who are in need, to be as self-sacrificial in my every day life as I possibly can. It isn’t always fun, but it’s always rewarding and a testimony to the restorative power of Jesus Christ.

If you are here this morning and you have admitted to yourself that you are still the same person today as you were before you knew Christ, hope is not lost. This isn’t a sermon to say “how dare you” but to say, “despite that, Christ still loves you.” If you are struggling in this area in your life, and I bet most of us are, look to Paul for hope. If Jesus was willing and able to show mercy and love to a man like Paul, what does that say for us today.

This transformation, this new creation that we are, is not subject to our own doing, but to Christ’s. And, the Good News is that he’s already begun that work in your life. All we have to do is submit to Christ totally, allow Him to take charge of our lives, and be willing to be His and not our own.

All of us, at some point in time, were the foremost of sinners in our lives. But, we do not need to remain there. We can, and should, surrender it all to Christ, fall to our knees, and embrace the new creation that is us in Jesus Christ.

Amen.