1 Timothy 1, 12-17; 15. Sunday after Trinity

In the Name of Jesus


1 Timothy 1,12-17
15. Sunday after Trinity, Proper 19C
12. September 2010

O Lord Jesus Christ, the Shepherd of Your Heavenly Father’s sheep, many are the days that we wander off, become lost, trapped, or endangered. In our sinful pride we think that we can find our way back to You, remove ourselves from our entrapment, and rescue ourselves from those who threaten and persecute us. We must acknowledge that we are unable to save ourselves, and humbling ourselves realize we are like foolish sheep or an inanimate coin that has no power to secure our liberation. O Christ Jesus, we give thanks and praise to You that we do not have to do anything in regards to our redemption, for You alone have sought us out, arrived in our midst, and redeemed us. You have returned us to Your Heavenly Father’s fold. You have now given us the great privileged of proclaiming that very gospel to our neighbors who find themselves lost, trapped, or endangered. Amen.

Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the 1st Epistle to Timothy where the holy apostle writes: I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who having strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, appointing me to His service even though formerly I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent, disrespectful man, but I received mercy, because I acted unaware in unbelief; but the grace of our Lord overflowed with faith and love in Christ Jesus. The word is trustworthy and worthy of full acceptance, because Christ Jesus arrived in the world to save sinners, of whom I am also the foremost. But I received mercy so that in me as the foremost Jesus Christ may display His perfect patience as an example to those who believe in Him for eternal life. To the Eternal King, the immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This is our text.

The Apostle Paul lays out the pure and blessed gospel that Christ Jesus came into his life, rescued him from his life of sin and rebellion against Yahweh, and showed him love and forgiveness. Paul admits that he was an irony rascal before he believed in Christ. Paul says that he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent, disrespectful opponent of Christ Jesus. Paul blasphemed Jesus and God the Father by claiming to act in Yahweh’s Name and do Yahweh’s will by declaring that Jesus is not the Christ and by persecuting and handing over to arrest and possible death Jewish Christians who refused to recant their faith in Christ. Paul admits that he persecuted Christians and was a violent opponent against Yahweh. Paul thought he was doing Yahweh’s will, but when Jesus appeared to him on his way to Damascus, he realized that he was not only persecuting Jewish Christians, but, worse still, he was persecuting God the Father and Christ Jesus His only Son.

The same occurs in the 21st century. There are people who blaspheme, persecute, and violently oppose Christ, His Church, and His Christians. Such a threefold confrontation threatens to hinder the proclamation of the gospel. There are many outside Church who fight and struggle against the gospel and Jesus Christ because they believe that in doing so they are doing God’s will. Other religions and atheism deny Jesus is the Christ and seek ways to hinder the preaching of the gospel. As such, the Church is always struggling against the world and the forces of the devil. The temptation is to become diverted away from Christ and onto some other avenue.

In many parts of the world, the churches have succumbed to the temptations of the world and the devil, so that they have become lukewarm and in danger of not being churches anymore. The pattern is the same throughout history. A church stops preaching the gospel of Christ crucified and risen for our salvation. At first, all seems well because Christ is still preached as a moral teacher, a good person whom we should emulate, and that God still loves us. The longer, however, that the pure gospel remains silent and is not preached the quicker the church spirals downward into heresy and opposition to Jesus Christ. The first deviation that results from a lack of gospel preaching is a Christ based on each individual’s subjective experiences (pietism), then the gospel is assumed that people now where to go if you truly need the gospel, then the preaching just tacks Jesus on at the end to give credibility to merely moral teaching and positive thinking that encompasses the preached message, then relativism sets in where Jesus isn’t the only way to heaven, and finally there is full-blown apostasy where Christ is rejected and the Holy Scriptures have ceased to guide that church’s decisions. At this point, the church ceases to be a fellowship of believers whose sins are forgiven and faith in Christ strengthened and becomes merely a social club with a specific interest to be fulfilled, such as feeding the homeless or assisting those recovering from a natural calamity. Somewhere between tacking Jesus on and apostasy, the Bible ceases to be the inerrant, divine Word of Yahweh and becomes just another book written by man and thus has no more relevance in the church than any other good, pious writing.

Thus we see that many churches in America have ceased being churches or are in danger of ceasing to be churches. Once the gospel is lost, the only thing that can restore a church as a church is the very gospel itself. That which is in danger of being lost, or has been lost, must once again become the cornerstone and chief doctrine in a church. When Paul was persecuting the Church and handing Christians over to death, the only thing that could stop Paul and change his heart and mind was the very gospel of Jesus Christ that he was opposing and persecuting. When we are lost in our sins and guilt, the only thing that can give peace to our repentant conscience is the gospel of Christ who was crucified and risen for the forgiveness of our sin and the establishment of our salvation. Churches that have stop being churches, and Christians who have stopped believing in Christ, need the gospel to restore them to what the Holy Spirit has called them to be.

The Apostle Paul proclaims that Christ arrived in this world to save sinners, and that includes blasphemers, persecutors, and violent people who oppose Christ and His gospel. Just as a shepherd leaves his 99 sheep to search for the one who has become lost, and just as a woman who has 9 coins searches high and low for the one she has misplaced, so Jesus Christ arrived to save sinners such as you and me.

To seek and save the lost is the great unfolding story of Yahweh’s salvation history (Heilsgeschichte) as recorded in the pages of Holy Scripture and in the history of men and women. In spite of the sinful nature of mankind that is prone to curse Yahweh, trample upon His people, and do violence to the prophets, apostles, and rank-and-file believers, nevertheless (dennoch) Yahweh kept His promise to redeem fallen men and women. Yahweh’s word is His bond, and His bond is His word; Yahweh does what He promises.

This is why the Apostle John calls Christ Jesus »the Word of God«# (John 1,1) for He is the physical embodiment of His Heavenly Father’s will and promise. Thus, John proclaims that »the Word of God became flesh and tabernacled in our midst«1 (John 1,14). In Christ Jesus we see the Heavenly Father’s good and kind heart who’s will and joy it is to save sinners and give them faith and love. The Apostle Paul writes, »the grace of our Lord overflowed with faith and love in Christ Jesus«. In Christ, we have in our midst He who is His Heavenly Father’s delight. In Christ, we are now those in whom our Heavenly Father delights.

Faith in Christ as our crucified and risen savior for our salvation leads to love of God and our neighbors. By faith, we believe in and trust implicitly that on account of Christ we are forgiven and redeemed. From faith, the Holy Spirit stokes into a blaze the embers of our heart so that we fear, love, and trust in God above all things and when we love God we thus love our neighbor so that the Holy Spirit elicits from us numerous good works for our neighbors’ benefit. Amen.

Let us pray. O Holy Spirit, who gives and preserves the means of grace in the Church, Jesus has told us that there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Help us to never shy away from confession of our sin and a repentant heart, for we know that Divine grace and absolution are here for us who have become lost, trapped, and endangered by sin. According to Christ’s merit we have the forgiveness of our sins. Amen.

One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the New Testament Greek Manuscripts, Luke © 1995 by Reuben Joseph Swanson.