Good morning to you all. It's a great
pleasure to be with you and to share
God's word this morning. If you'll turn
with me in your Bibles to First Timothy,
one of our themes throughout the
semester, we'll be ministering the word
of God through the pastoral epistles.
Last week, Dr. Gibbs talks about being
ready in season and out of season to
preach the word. But Paul has been
saying other things to Timothy before
that. And I it's good for us to step
back and say, how is Paul encouraging
Timothy? Timothy is in a hard place.
He's been called to Ephesus to serve a
church that's beset by false teaching,
by struggles, and by divisions. How is
Timothy going to be able to live out
this calling upon his life to minister
the gospel? And so in 1 Timothy, Paul is
going to encourage Timothy to hold fast
to the deposit of the gospel that he has
been given. So let us read 1 Timothy
chapter 1 starting at verse 12. I thank
him who's 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 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 Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners of
whom I am the foremost. But I receive
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 shipwrecked
their faith. Among whom are Himaeus and
Alexander, whom I have handed over to
Satan, that they may learn not to
blaspheme. This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
>> Let us pray for the Lord's help. Lord
God and Father, we praise you and give
you thanks that we can be before you
this day. We pray that you will overflow
your grace upon us and strengthen us
that we might know you. Fill us and
guide us with that faith and love that
are in Jesus Christ so that we like
Timothy may wage the good warfare in our
own day. Bless us we pray in Christ's
name. Amen.
Welcome to you all. Students are now
entering their third week of class. But
we glad we have guests here, especially
pastors from local churches. As we enter
into the third week, things have kind of
shooken out, right? You know what your
assignments are. You know what your
classes are. You've begun to size up the
tasks that are before you. They might
seem daunting or mounting, but it's at
this time that the shine kind of comes
off the apple a little bit. Those of you
who were really excited to be here,
you're still excited, but you know, now
you have to deal with homework. Those of
you who've been here for a while, you've
gone through this, but now you're
thinking about what comes next. Whether
it's internship year, applying for
pastoral positions, there can be a lot
of challenges that arise this early in
the semester. Perhaps you're asking
questions like, "How did I even get
here? This isn't where I thought I'd be.
What am I doing here? Am I up for all
the challenges that come before me?" I
had very similar feelings sitting where
you did over a decade ago wondering
really what am I doing here and how can
I do so you see when we're unsure about
what's going on we need a couple things
we need clarity we need to know what
we're supposed to be doing and we need
to know that we can we need to know what
ability we have to move forward and
that's in many ways what Paul is telling
Timothy here he's giving clarity about
his mission and he's giving him a sense
of his ability to carry it out. See,
Paul has given Timothy a hard task. He's
in Ephesus. There are false teachers
abounding, and Timothy has to minister
to this church to try to bring it back
to truth and fullness and flourishing.
In this, Paul uses both the example of
Christ in his ministry and Paul's own
life as an example or an enacted parable
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so
Timothy is going to be able to do this
if he keeps his mission clear and if he
relies not on himself but on Jesus
Christ. So for life in ministry, we need
clarity in the truth and strength to
carry it out. And Paul gives us that by
being entrusted with the gospel of God
and being empowered by that very same
gospel. Christ has entrusted Paul with
his message. And now Paul hands that on
to Timothy and says, "Continue this good
work. We too as believers today have
been entrusted with this same gospel and
this same mission. But we do not do it
alone or in our own strength. But the
very gospel we proclaim is the power for
us to live out this life. Just as Paul
is strengthened by Christ, empowered by
him to fulfill his ministry, so also
Timothy will be and you will be as you
follow the Lord. So let us dig into each
of these in turn. First, we are
entrusted with the gospel. Paul sets
this forth by putting forth this
trustworthy saying in verse 15. Look
with me here. He says, "The saying is
trustworthy and deserving of full
acceptance that Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners." This phrase
here, a trustworthy saying, is used
throughout the pastorals and it's
partially a way of Paul giving an
apherism that you're to store away. But
it's also a way to say, "Hey, pay
attention. Remember this. Hold on to
this very thing. It's trustworthy. You
can receive it completely. Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners.
Here Paul is likely reflecting the words
of Jesus himself from Mark chapter 2
where Jesus says, "I came not to call
the righteous but sinners."
This apherism is nothing less in many
ways than a summary of the gospel
itself. that Jesus Christ came into the
world to save sinners. Paul has been
entrusted with this gospel. If we look a
verse up, we'll see he says, "In
accordance with the gospel of the glory
of the blessed God, which I have been
entrusted in verse 11, as he is
entrusted with this glorious gospel, now
he is giving it over to Timothy, as we
see in verse 18. This charge I entrust
to you. This charge is nothing less than
the glorious grace of Jesus Christ for
sinners. This is the clarity of his
mission. This is what Timothy needs to
be about. No matter what's going on
around him or what struggles there might
be at Ephesus. But as we sit here in St.
Louis, this too is our message. This is
the same message you have been entrusted
with because we are followers of Jesus.
Whether we're ministering to him
vocationally or not, the gospel is
trusted to each and every believer of
Jesus Christ. We're called to embrace
it, to profess it, to proclaim it, and
to live into it. As Paul reminds the
Ephesians or sorry, the Philippians that
we have a partnership with him in the
gospel, each and every one of us to
proclaim it and live into it. This
saying is trustworthy and deserving of
full acceptance by you even this day.
Let's look at the content of Paul's
statement here. Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners and break it
down into three parts. First, we have
the agent of the gospel. Christ Jesus
who came into the world. This is showing
us his glorious identity. Jesus is the
Messiah of God who has come to save us.
But even more, he came into this world.
The cosmos cannot contain him. He was
before it and preeminent and
transcendent over it. The agent of the
gospel is none other than the eternal
son of the father for us. And that's why
in verse 17, Paul breaks out in praise
in the middle of this to the king of the
ages, immortal, invisible, the only God,
the honor and glory forever. He's
responding to the gospel of Jesus. Jesus
is one with his God eternally forever.
The agent of the gospel is none other
than the creator of the world. And the
mission of the gospel, its main purpose
is to save us. To save us. Christ's
mission is unambiguous. He has the power
to deliver us from all those forces that
would challenge us from our sin, from
the powers of the evil one, and from the
powers of the world and to lead us into
eternal life as Paul calls in verse 16.
So the agent of the gospel is Christ
Jesus, the eternal son of the father
taking human flesh. His mission is to
save. But who receives this? Who's the
object? Who's the um who is the one whom
Christ saves? And this is for sinners,
which shows his mercy and grace. Christ
does not come to save the righteous, the
upright, the polite, but sinners. Those
who have fallen short of the glory of
God in every way. There is no preferred
race, class, creed, or person. But all
stand before God unable, unwilling until
Christ saves them.
Timothy needed to know this. He needed
to know with clarity, what is your
message? What is that entrustment that
you are given to go into the world? And
it is nothing less than that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save
sinners.
Paul returns him to the foundation of
the faith and the foundation of all of
our lives, families, vocations, and
ministries.
You're going to learn a lot here at
Covenant. We hope you're going to learn
a lot. But really, everything is
ultimately going to just be an
elaboration on this gospel or an
auxiliary to this gospel to show you how
to engage it and to live it out.
But this also comes with a warning. If
we have a clear calling here to proclaim
this gospel, no matter where we are, if
we stray from it, we are straying from
God's good and righteous call. That's
why Paul gives this very stern warning
at the end of this section in verse 19.
He says, "By rejecting this, this being
the charge given to Timothy, some have
shipwrecked their faiths, among whom are
Himaeus and Alexander, whom I have
handed over to Satan that they may learn
not to blaspheme."
Carrying forward the gospel is a serious
calling on all whom Christ brings into
his kingdom, enlists in his service. And
Paul here is saying, you've got to take
this with seriousness. If you move from
the gospel, if you begin to put your
trust in other things, you will
potentially shipwreck your faith, bring
scandal to the church and destroy that
which God has given you to steward. And
Paul even names names. I'm not going to
be doing that today.
But be warned, that's not out of accord
here. He's saying there are many ways to
disbelieve the trustworthy saying.
There's many ways to fail to give it
full acceptance. Sometimes we begin to
forget that we are sinners just as much
in need of this message as the people to
whom we are ministering or counseling
to. Sometimes we begin to think that,
well, the gospel is just for baby
Christians. I'm graduating to something
else. There's some message beyond or
above the gospel that that's the real
power. The answer is no. There are many
good things, but the gospel of Jesus
Christ is primary for all of our
ministry and mission. Sometimes we
forget that it's Jesus who saves.
Sometimes we begin to take onto
ourselves the role of savior, of leader,
and forget that he is the one. Or
sometimes we reject it entirely, seeking
new hopes in rituals or the spirit of
the age, moving away from the simplicity
of the gospel of Jesus into false hopes.
You see, we need to be cleareyed. We
need to have clarity. What are you doing
here? And what are you going to be
doing? And wherever the Lord calls you
to, whether that's the counseling room,
the pulpit, the Sunday school classroom,
teaching in a Christian school, you've
got to know what the first thing is and
cling on to it in all things. And then
we can move forward to know how can we
carry out this glorious entrustment from
God. You see, God doesn't leave us
alone. He gives us this gospel and he
also gives us the power to live it out
and proclaim it. So let's move to how
Paul encourages Timothy in this. So the
gospel is not only our message but it is
what empowers us to proclaim and live it
out. That Jesus Christ came into the
world to save sinners is true of you and
it's why you can live this out. You see
Paul says that Timothy in doing this
must hold to it with a good faith and
conscience. And to give an example of
this, Paul uses his own life. He says he
is an example of the gospel at work, of
how it can transform and how it can
empower across all of his life. In many
ways, in this text, Paul is using his
own conversion and life as an enacted
parable to say, "This is what it looks
like when Jesus Christ saves a sinner
and what he can do for you." And so, we
see the resume of Paul broken up
throughout this text. In verse 15, he
calls himself the foremost of sinners
and then explains that. He says, "But I
receive mercy for this reason that in me
as the foremost, Jesus Christ might
display his perfect patience as an
example to those who believe in him for
eternal life." Why did he need such
perfect patience? We see this earlier in
verse 13. Though formerly I, Paul, was a
blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent
opponent.
You see, there's a very big
dissimilarity here between how Paul has
acted towards Jesus and how Jesus acted
towards Paul. You see, Paul calls
himself a persecutor, blasphemer, and
insolent opponent. You see, he was
opposed to Jesus in every way. He denied
that he was the Messiah. He thought he
was worse than this. He was a
blasphemer, a false prophet, one
accursed by God. And he expressed that
in persecuting the church of Jesus
Christ, seeking them out, seeking their
death. Remember Paul held the cloaks at
the stoning of Steven. And on his way to
Damascus to find more Christians, to
bring them to justice in his mind, he is
stopped in his tracks by the Lord. With
the blinding light of the Damascus road,
Jesus reminds him what's actually at
stake here and says, "Saul, Saul, why
are you persecuting me?" You see, Paul's
life was not just that he was
challenging the Christian faith. It was
that he was persecuting and attacking
Jesus Christ himself. And Jesus, rather
than giving him what he deserves and
what we all deserve to be separated, to
be rejected by God, calls him into his
own service. Although he was an insolent
opponent, a proud enemy, an arrogant
adversary against Jesus, Jesus acts
towards him in mercy. There's an utter
dis similarity between the acts of Paul
towards Jesus, hatred, rejection, and
destruction and Jesus's acts towards
Paul, which we see in verse 14. The
grace of our Lord overflowed for me with
faith and love that are in Jesus. When
Paul was an enemy, Christ not only died
for him, but called him to himself and
brought him from darkness into light. He
was one of the sinners whom Paul whom uh
was saved by Jesus. He received mercy.
And not only was he saved, but he
received strength from Christ Jesus his
Lord and was appointed a faithful
servant. In verse 12, see Jesus
completely turned Paul around from
hating him, from opposing him, from
killing his people into a servant
beloved of God. The Lord in his perfect
patience saved Paul, the foremost of
sinners, by his grace and love. And
Jesus Christ continued to empower him in
his ministry. How is it that Paul was
able to do what he did? Going around the
ancient Mediterranean, suffering
beatings, hardships, shipwrecked,
hatred, misunderstandings, betrayal,
challenges upon challenges. What gave
him strength to go through this? nothing
but his understanding that he was loved
by Jesus and that he was entrusted with
this message. He was the chief of
sinners forgiven.
All of this was worth it for what Christ
had done for him. And it is true for us
as well. The power of the gospel
transforms and empowers the enemies of
God into his beloved servants whom the
father showers with abundant grace in
the Lord Jesus Christ. If that is you,
if you know that you have sinned and
fallen short of the glory of God, that's
what the Father has for you. Abounding
grace and mercy that will empower you
despite all the struggles here at your
seminary training and beyond into
wherever the Lord might call you. And
the key to this is forgiveness of sins.
There's many ways that the gospel
empowers your classes on uh practical
ministry. We'll dig into those in
numerous ways, but one place we really
need to dig into is you are forgiven.
you are forgiven. One of the reasons
that we struggle in ministry and
throughout life is we think that we are
unacceptable to God and that our sins
which seem to pile up upon us will bear
us down to hell.
You do sin. You do fall short of the
glory of God. There's no lying about
that. And yet he is so merciful. The sin
that hobbles your ministry and your life
is forgiven by God. your flesh and Satan
might be telling you as you're here at
seminary, you're not holy enough. You
don't love Christ enough. You don't have
enough faith. You're envious. You're
covetous. You have doubts.
You are the foremost of sinners. When
they find out, they'll kick you out.
They won't love you. They won't listen
to you.
That's what the enemy tells us all the
time. But it is not true.
Christ came to save sinners, not for
them to hide their sins. All that we
have done, all that hobbles our
ministries are cleansed by the blood of
Christ. Luther puts it this way. He was
a man who struggled deeply with his own
sin. In a letter on spiritual counsel,
he says this. When we are tempted, we
must recall this. When the devil throws
our sins up to us and declares that we
deserve death and hell, we ought to
speak thus. I admit that I deserve death
and hell. What of it? Does this mean
that I shall be sentenced to eternal
damnation? By no means. For I know one
who suffered and made a satisfaction in
my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, the
son of God. Where he is, there shall I
also be.
When you are tempted to see your sin,
turn from it to Jesus who saves you from
your sin and will lead you in a life
that is empowered by him,
honoring to him, and moving forward in
this. You know what? You are the
foremost of sinners. You know your sin
better than anyone else. You know its
depths. You know your inconstancy.
But that empowers us to see that we are
no better than anyone. We are merely
beggars going to others to show them
where bread is. We cannot be hotty or
self arandizing in our ministries. We
are not the savior. We are broken
sinners saved by grace living out this
life to the glory of him. And that gives
us hope in ministry. It's not about you
or your power or your ability. It's
about Jesus Christ, the one who can give
you all that you need. He will
strengthen you. And we respond just as
Paul does, thanking the one who gives us
strength for his mercy and grace and
praising him and giving him all honor
and glory. The King of the ages,
immortal, invisible, the only wise God.
That is the one you serve and the one
who will lead you from this place. No
matter where you go or what ministry he
might call you to.
You see, the gospel is like a great
chain. It was given from Jesus to the
apostles and the apostles to the
evangelists and the generations. And
those faithful servants have been
handing it down generation after
generation. They were entrusted with the
gospel and they were empowered by it.
And you're being part of that chain now
as you were called into Christian
service wherever you go. That's what we
as the faculty and the staff and your
pastors are trying to do. Entrust you
with the gospel. equip you and empower
it because we were given it and it's
going to now be given to you. And our
call then is to as Timothy is called to
wage the good warfare. There's a lot
wrong in the world in the church and
people's lives and you're being called
out of God's grace to go battle the evil
one to shine light into dark places to
repair marriages to love sinners to cons
counsel the those who are struggling to
comfort the weak and suffering. You've
got fights to go into. And what you're
doing here is preparing you for that to
fight the good fight of faith. But you
don't do it on your own. And you don't
do it by your own power, but by the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
One of the great links in this chain is
Covenant Seminary. And our original
president, Robert G. Rabburn. He's the
first president of Covenant Seminary,
first covenant president of Covenant
College, and the man whom this chapel is
named after, if you knew it had a name.
We are in the Raburn Chapel. Before
coming to Covenant, Dr. Rayburn was a
chaplain in the 187th Airborne Regiment
that served in Korea. And when he came
back the same year that Covenant
Seminary was founded, he wrote a small
book called Fight the Good Fight, which
is a reflection upon what he learned as
a military chaplain on the battlefields
of Korea for the Christian life. And he
offered it as an encouragement to all
who would come after him to take up that
good fight. This is what he says in one
section.
There is victory for you, my friend. No
matter how bitter may have been the
defeats of the past, the victory begins
with the realization that the flesh of
man is just as undependable after he
becomes a Christian as it was before he
was saved. No man can count on his flesh
for anything except a longing for sin.
Then in a purpose and faithful use of
the spiritual weapons that God has
supplied through his son Jesus Christ
and through the personal ministry of the
Holy Spirit, the victory is realized.
These weapons are yours for the taking.
You are called into spiritual warfare no
matter where you go. And your weapons
are not that of the world as Paul notes,
but are the gospel of Jesus Christ and
the reliance on his spirit. And he will
give you the victory. My friends, you
will be empowered to move forward to
live and to serve God. That Christ has
come into the world to save sinners
leads to a confidence in this battle. He
has saved us from the power of the
world, from the flesh and from the evil
one who struggles against us. He has
disarmed their charges against us by
forgiving us our sins and has led us
into a new life that we might serve him
no matter where he takes us. Your
studies and information here at Covenant
are preparing you for this good warfare.
It's boot camp, if you will. But the
purpose is to go out to wage that
warfare wherever you are called. Not
with the weapons of the world, but with
faith and a good conscience. Not with
the sword or unrighteous dealings, but
the word of God wielded in love and
faith granted by the spirit. Well,
there's much you're going to learn. The
abiding entrustment with the gospel and
the work of Jesus Christ is your
inheritance, your message, and your
strength wherever the Lord might lead
you. Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. Amen. Let us pray. Lord
Jesus, we give you all thanks and praise
that you came into this world to save
us. You brought us out of the darkness
and depth of our sin and called us into
this great inheritance of the faith. We
pray that you will strengthen us as you
did Paul and Timothy for faithful
service. That we will experience your
grace more and more and your mercy and
power will fill our hearts and minds so
that we might fight this good fight of
faith wherever you will call. Amen.