(1 Timothy 1: 12-17)
When I was in private practice in Tyler, Texas, I was one of three attorneys assigned to the 7th Judicial District Court handling court appointments for indigent defendants, of which there was no short supply. Smith County was exceedingly tough on crime. One afternoon I got a fax from the court advising me that I had been appointed to represent a man charged with three counts of Intoxicated Manslaughter and two counts of Vehicular Assault. According to the attached probable cause affidavit he had crossed a double yellow line in an attempt to pass another vehicle running that vehicle off the road and striking an oncoming vehicle head-on killing his passenger girlfriend, the two people in the on-coming vehicle, and injuring the two people in the vehicle he ran off the road. A subsequent blood draw showed that he was highly intoxicated at the time of the incident. I pulled up his booking photo and saw an extremely angry young man looking back at me. I dreaded our first meeting. I headed down to the jail expecting the worst. When he entered the attorney visitation room the first thing he said before I could even introduce myself was: “I’m guilty and there will be no trial. Your only job is to get me the best plea bargain you can from the District Attorney.” Well, that was unexpected, but what’s the catch I wondered? He introduced himself and began to give me his personal testimony. Now people finding Jesus in jail is not uncommon, especially when the recently saved individual is looking at significant prison time, so I patiently listened with a touch of skepticism. He told me that he was not the kind of person I would want to run into when he was drinking. He said he would routinely drink a case of beer every night after work and, if in a bar, he would fight anyone, for any reason, at the drop of a hat. He had more than his fair share of pent-up anger. He told me that he had been at his girlfriend’s tenth high school reunion and had way too much to drink. It was as they were heading home that he tried to pass a car and hit another car head-on killing three and injuring two people. He emerged with barely a scratch. He said the State of Texas couldn’t do anything to him that he hadn’t already done to himself. These people didn’t deserve to die, and he knew he must be punished. I received a plea bargain offer from the Assistant District Attorney assigned to the case that was very reasonable and we took it without even attempting to negotiate and off to prison he went. We kept in touch with each other while he was in prison and, during the time he was locked up, he told me about getting involved in a prison ministry, leading a Bible study, and witnessing to a prison guard who had approached him with questions about his faith. His conduct was so exemplary that he received his parole a lot sooner than most inmates incarcerated for killing not one but three people. God’s grace is truly amazing.
And God’s amazing grace is what the Apostle Paul is talking about in our scripture reading for this morning. The two letters to Timothy and one to Titus were known as Pastoral Epistles because each is addressed to individual pastors with an interest in building faithful congregations. Paul’s primary concern is to impart practical advice to help Timothy form a faithful congregation, one that embodies God’s purpose for creation and that aims at loving relations. Nothing could be closer to the core of John Wesley’s instruction than this. Paul gets right to the point of what he wants to say when he says: I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength because he considered me faithful. So he appointed me to ministry even though I used to speak against him, attack his people, and I was proud. But I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and without faith. That’s a mouthful and takes some unpacking to understand the history behind the statement, especially for us who may not be as familiar with Paul’s reputation as first century Christians were. As a Pharisee Paul was very learned in Judaism and without a doubt worshipped the God of Abraham fervently. He was a Jew’s Jew. So when this country rabbi showed up preaching a message of love, forgiveness, and redemption he scoffed at Jesus’ ministry and, unwittingly, became a blasphemer speaking against God. When Jesus’ ministry didn’t die along with Jesus on the cross, he began hunting down Followers of the Way of Jesus Christ in an effort to bring them back to Jerusalem to face the accusations of the religious hierarchy. He was a feared persecutor of God’s people, although he certainly didn’t see it that way. And he was a violent man as he stood by holding the cloaks of those who stoned the Apostle Stephen to death, the first Christian martyr. Now ordinarily, you would think that Paul, formerly known as Saul, would be the kind of guy that God would strike dead so the movement could grow and flourish. Guys like Saul stood in direct opposition to what Jesus and his followers were trying to do in establishing the kingdom God desired. But Paul said he was shown mercy because he acted in ignorance and without faith. He said: Our Lord’s favor poured all over me along with the faithfulness and love that are in Christ Jesus. God did the unexpected. Through a grace that is truly amazing he forgave Paul for acting out of ignorance and a misguided faith favoring him with the faithfulness and love that are in Jesus Christ. Fully realizing his incredible and unmerited transformation he says: This saying is reliable and deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” and I’m the biggest sinner of all. I doubt anybody argued with him or told him not to be so hard on himself. He was one scary guy in his past life and I’m sure some feared a relapse was possible, so they held him at arm’s length just to be safe. Realizing this, as I am sure he’s had his own fair share of scoffers, as in the Pharisees he left behind, he says: But this is why I was shown mercy, so that Christ Jesus could show his endless patience to me first of all. So I’m an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life. What Paul is saying is that if he could find mercy after all the terrible things he did against Christ and his followers, then God surely offers salvation with open arms to all people. The grace given Paul was exceedingly abundant, overflowing beyond all expectations. His grace truly is amazing.
Now it would be easy to think that the Apostle Paul is a tough act to follow and has set the bar pretty high, and that our faith in God and our love for Christ and others will always be inadequate. But Paul actually set the bar pretty low as he believes you would have to look long and hard to find anyone else so offensive to God, and if you do find such a person, they would not be precluded from receiving God’s unmerited grace. Paul’s life illustrates the gospel’s claim that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Paul did not hesitate to share his past, a past most people would like to forget about, because he knew his failures would allow others to have hope. Paul wants us to understand that Jesus didn’t come merely to show us how to live better lives or challenge us to be better people. He came to offer us a salvation that leads to eternal life, free from our guilt, shame, and sin. God forgave Paul and used him mightily for his kingdom and no matter how shameful your past, God can also forgive and use you in matters small and large.
Paul is so overcome by what he has written that he exclaims: Now to the king of the ages, to the immortal, invisible, and only God, may honor and glory be given to him forever and always! Amen. Paul is still overwhelmed by the amazing grace he experienced and wants everyone who will listen to share in this grace. Paul knows first-hand what it is to feel so guilt ridden by his past to think that God could never forgive and accept him. Why would he? The lesson for us is that at times we may hesitate to share our past struggles with others because we are afraid it will tarnish our image. We don’t want people to think less of us, to hold our pasts against us. But people will not believe the gospel is important if they can’t see that it has been crucial in our lives. God in his mercy wants everyone to be saved, even people like Paul. Especially people like Paul. And yes, even people like you and me. So, like my convicted drunk driver client, don’t be afraid to let others know what Christ has done for you and how his amazing grace has changed your life and allowed you to serve him free from the burden of your past sins.
Let us pray.
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt! Merciful and forgiving Father, how amazing is your grace that you have forgiven us our trespasses against you and that though the blood of the Lamb that was spilt on Calvary for us we have been redeemed. Our sin and despair, like the cold sea waves threatened our souls with infinite loss but your grace was greater giving us refuge in the mighty cross upon which our Savior died. Dark is the stain of our sins that we cannot hide but through the flowing of the crimson tide we have been washed brighter that snow. How we praise you for your pardoning grace, a grace that is greater than all our sin. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.