Pastor
Steve Geiger Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
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1 Timothy 1:12-17
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given
me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. 13
Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was
shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord
was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in
Christ Jesus.
15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves
full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am
the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the
worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an
example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. 17 Now to
the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for
ever and ever. Amen.
The Tragedy Magnifies the
Triumph 1 Timothy 1:12-17
1. The first of sinners
2. A showcase for
salvation
All of us have heard the
stories. Especially during the
Olympics. We heard the stories of
athletes who have overcome some adversity.
Who grew up in the squalor of a slum.
Who learned to tie shoes in the middle of a war. Who lost both parents to disease or
epidemic. Who were injured severely,
but managed to come back. Most
recently, there was the story of a Greco-Roman wrestler who lost a toe in a
winter sports accident. Still he
competed and did quite well.
The Olympics, nowdays, are
not so much competition as they are a story.
And it’s pretty rare for a network to tell the story of an athlete who
has walked a smooth road. They always
look for rocks, and boulders, for bumps and wrong turns. They look for tragedy in order to magnify
the triumph.
Today we are told a story
like that. Of a man who rose from the
depths to the pinnacle. Of a sinner who
had revelled in rebellion against God.
Of a man who could honestly say, “I was the worst.” And who could rejoice that God had made him
the first. A model. An example.
Proof that God overcomes our adversity.
A tragedy that only magnifies the triumph.
Paul. The worst of sinners. Actually, what Paul says is that he was the
first of sinners. When I was grade
school, and we had to take the school picture, the photographer usually lined
us up, single file. By height. And the first in line? She was the tallest.
Paul, the first of sinners,
first in line. He had the most
sin. Maybe you’ve thought, “Oh, he was
just being humble.” But that is not what
Paul was doing. When Paul said that he
was the first, he meant it. And if you
remember some of the things Paul did, you can understand his verdict. He hadn’t just cursed and swore, lived with
multiple women, cheated or stole, lied or murdered. He hadn’t just laughed at the faithful, and mocked their trust in
God. Paul had actively opposed
Christ. He didn’t just ridicule. He found out the names of followers and
ripped them from their homes. He held the
coats of men who stoned a Stephen, Saul’s gaze revelling in the pain of this
innocent, while the innocent was given a gaze into the heavens. He was not satisfied when Christians in
Jerusalem were murdered. He was on a
life mission to beat out this cancer, this devotion to the Crucified. His self-righteous twisting of God’s law
became his free pass to oppose the creator of the universe. And one day a blinding light and a voice
from heaven verified his 20-20 hindsight.
“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting God?”
Paul knew the weight, the
severity, the extent of what he had done.
And like so many who have sinned, there was a blindness at the
time. Sin thrives on ignorance. Deceived about what is the will of God. Satan, the father of lies. But ignorance for Paul was not an
excuse. To find a way to persecute God
was to find a way to the front of the line, of sinners.
Why repeat such shame? Why remember such sin? A most stunning revelation follows. After calling himself the FIRST of all
sinners, speaking by the Holy Spirit, Paul reveals that this is why God chose
him to receive mercy. God chose the
first in the line of sinners because Christ wanted to show, literally, his
whole “longsuffering,” his whole mercy.
His whole patience. He wanted to
show off just how wide and deep his love was.
And so he picked his most vile opponent. To do that, he needed the first, the worst of sinners.
This year hurricanes have
been hammering the state of Florida.
Great destruction has rained down on many a house. In past years other disasters have brought
great destruction to housing . . . fires in California. One could imagine building products
companies being interested in seeing how their products hold up in the face of
great disaster. A shingle company take
a picture of an intact home which used their product surrounded by homes using
other products which lost their roofs.
In the worst of situations, their shingle didn’t give out.
To show the power of a
product, you zoom in on extremes to demonstrate ability to survive.
To show the extent of the
power of his love, God picked an extreme.
The worst.
Would you feel comfortable
laying out your sins to demonstrate the power of God’s love? Often we try to leave the past in the
past. That the key to feeling forgiven
is to forget what you did wrong.
There is some truth in
that. If God has forgotten the guilt,
we too can leave the guilt behind.
But can you really forget
the sin? Have you tried to suppress
them, only to have them resurface and deeply concern you, uninvited guests into
your mind?
Notice Paul’s perspective on
his past. He doesn’t say, “I try not to
think about that.” Rather, he says, “I
made people hurt. I made mothers
wail. I made children scream. I drove dads to their deaths. I did that.”
For in remembering the shame
of his life, Paul was led to recall the greatest joy of his life. That because he was the first of sinners,
God had graciously chosen him to be shown mercy. And Paul couldn’t believe it.
He couldn’t believe that God had chosen to interrupt his ignorance. He knew he could have gone to his death
imagining that he had been serving God.
Only to discover, at his death, that he was forever, and painfully,
torturously wrong.
He couldn’t believe that God
had chosen to interrupt. To confront
his unbelief. To tell him the truth.
My friends, we marvel at the
same mercy of God. Do you understand
what a blessing it is that you know the truth?
That you are not living in ignorance?
That you are not one who thinks you know what God is like, but in
reality are being misled?
What grace, that God rescued
Paul, completely apart from any choosing or decision on his part; who
interrupted his life, and has interrupted yours.
That the Lord came to you in
baptism, or that the Lord came to you through his word. That the Lord spoke to you, not from a
blinding light in the heavens, but from that lamp for feet, that light for our
path.
And what has the word of
God’s truth told you? That Christ Jesus
came into this world to save sinners.
And if you remember sins
against the Lord . . . if you recall moments of despair, or words of anger . .
. if you recall a night of illicit pleasure, or an evening of intoxication . .
. if you recall cheating on a test . . . or being cruel and causing someone
else to cry . . . if you remember being stubborn to your parents, getting your
own way, and leaving your mother frustrated, almost ready to give up . . . then
you can truly understand the joy of knowing that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners.
And that when Paul was shown
mercy, this was a model, an example, a sketch, a showcase . . . to demonstrate
that there is no limit to the love of God.
An example to assure you that you too can be sure of life eternal.
Should you imagine the arms
of Jesus stretched out on the cross, his sacrifice an embrace of the world,
know that if the forgiving arms of Jesus were able to embrace the worst of
sinners, surely his arms are long enough to embrace you. Your sins are forgiven. Jesus resurrection gives you confidence that
you are innocent.
Rejoice. Rejoice that tragedy magnifies the
triumph. It’s OK to remember your
past. For then you can rejoice that
Christ Jesus came to save sinners, like you, like me. For the depth of evil from which we have come makes you, makes me
yet another showcase. An Olympic
special. Proof that God can bring
triumph from the greatest of tragedies.
Victory that brings from
Paul’s lips a gush, a flood of praise and exaltation.
OH. To the king of the ages, unable to die,
unable to be seen, the only God, to him be honor and glory into the ages of the
ages. YES!
YES! Amen.
YES! Amen.