1 Timothy 1: Christ Came to Save Sinners

Introduction

About twenty years ago, Starbucks nearly went bankrupt. The CEO at the time, Howard Schultz, walked into one of his stores and found the overpowering smell of bacon instead of the smell of coffee. The company had been boosting its profits by selling bacon sandwiches and music CDs. Against the advice of his leadership team, he decided to stop: Starbucks is a coffee company, and the main thing has to stay the main thing. Profits dropped and about a hundred stores closed. Today there are more than 40,000 Starbucks in around 90 countries.

This is the story the pastor of Dundonald Church, in Wimbledon, uses to open this message on 1 Timothy 1:12-20, preached at the Sunday evening service. For him, the same is true of the growth of the Church: keep the main thing at the center. The church in Ephesus was no longer doing that. Paul answers by telling his own story, the story of a life transformed not by myths, but by the Gospel.

The preacher sums up the passage like this: one central message of the Gospel, two wonderful reasons for the Gospel, and three results of the Gospel.

Outline of the message

1. A church that had lost the main thing

Despite Paul's warning to the elders of Ephesus (Acts 20), some elders of this church had become false teachers. They taught "a different doctrine" (1 Timothy 1:3), literally "other things."
Instead of devoting themselves to the Gospel, they paid attention to "myths and endless genealogies" (verse 4): invented stories and family trees. They made the details the main thing.
They had not denied the Gospel, they had sidelined it. "They were busier selling bacon sandwiches than coffee."
The consequences were serious: arguments and quarrels instead of the advance of God's work, and people drifting away from the faith.
Paul's message to the false teachers: if you want godly conduct in the Church, you need the proclamation of the Gospel in the Church. His testimony, in verses 12 to 17, shows that the main thing is also the best thing, the thing that changes a life.
The pastor applies this to everyone: every Christian has a story to tell of how God has worked in their life, whether it is spectacular or very ordinary.

2. First reason for the Gospel: God's amazing mercy

The man who wrote a dozen letters of the New Testament, planted churches and encouraged so many Christians was once "a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent" (verse 13).
A blasphemer, because he spoke evil of Jesus. A persecutor, because he did everything he could to destroy the Church: he ravaged the church, entered house after house, and dragged men and women off to prison (Acts 8:3).
The pastor invites us to imagine a Christian mother serving her children an after-school snack when the door bursts open and she is taken to prison without a trial. This still happens in other parts of the world. It is what the author of this letter used to do.
Insolent and violent: he was "still breathing threats and slaughter" against the disciples (Acts 9:1). He approved of the crowd stoning Stephen, who was preaching the very Gospel that Paul now preaches (Acts 7:58 to 8:1).
"I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief" is not an excuse. Paul owns his wrong. Deliberate sin and sin committed unknowingly are both still sin.
The pastor gives a personal example: he has said hurtful words on purpose, and at other times without realizing it. In both cases he hurt someone and he was wrong. Before God, the question is not whether you sinned on purpose, but whether you repent.
The Lord did not only save Paul, he appointed him to his service (verse 12). Paul had nothing to qualify him and a great deal to disqualify him. "What qualified him was his sin and God's mercy."
Mercy is God holding back the judgment our sin deserves. "I know they deserve judgment, but I am not going to give it to them, because I am going to judge Jesus in their place."

3. Second reason for the Gospel: God's overflowing grace

An artist is said to have exhibited a painting of Niagara Falls without giving it a title. Visitors nicknamed it "More to Come." The pastor tells of visiting Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe with his wife: you can hear the roar from more than 30 kilometers away and see the spray rise 400 meters. For thousands of years, there has always been more to come.
God's grace is like that: "The grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus" (verse 14).
"If mercy is God not giving us what we deserve, grace is God giving us what we do not deserve." I do not receive the judgment I should receive, I receive the blessings I should not receive.
In English, an acronym sums up the word grace: God's Riches At Christ's Expense, or more precisely God's righteousness at Christ's expense. His righteousness, his holiness, his beauty are his finest gift.
At the table, the pastor fills a pitcher and shares it among five glasses. Our heavenly Father does not work with a limit: it is as if he filled our glass while holding it under Niagara Falls.
Paul even coins a word: he adds the prefix "hyper" to "abounding." Grace is "hyper-abounding."
The pastor did not grow up in a Christian family. He saw God as a grumpy, stingy schoolteacher who rolls his eyes and wags a finger at every mistake. "How could anyone be so wrong?"
As one author put it, grace flooded a heart full of unbelief with faith, and a heart polluted by hatred with love. God turned a fierce opponent into a trusted servant, a persecutor into a preacher. That is what he has done for you if you are a Christian.

4. The central message: Christ came to save sinners

"This saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief" (verse 15).
This is the first of the three "faithful sayings" in 1 Timothy. Paul is not saying the other verses are optional: he is summing up specific points on which the false teachers could not be trusted. God counted him faithful (verse 12), in contrast to those unfaithful servants.
Why did Jesus leave heaven, get born, teach and heal, get mocked, get crucified, and rise on the third day? To save sinners. Not to punish them, nor to teach them to be a little better, but to save them from the judgment their sin deserves.
As a child, the pastor found himself in trouble in the sea, too far from the shore and too weak to swim. He will never forget the moment he saw a man swimming toward him to bring him back. "When you know you need saving and cannot save yourself, it is an inexpressible joy when someone comes to save you."
If you are not a sinner, Jesus has nothing for you. If you know that you are, verse 15 is the best news you could receive.
Paul does not say "of whom the false teachers are chief," nor "of whom Hymenaeus and Alexander are chief." He says "of whom I am chief." This is neither false humility nor a literal fact established by an investigation.
He does not say "I was" either, but "I am." Paul was a sinner under God's judgment. He is now a sinner saved by grace, no longer under that judgment.
The further we go as Christians, the more wonderful we find God and the more we see how ugly our sin is. At the start, the cross takes up little room. With time, we say: "He knows the depths of my heart and he loves me anyway." Paul grew downward in his view of sin and upward in his view of grace.
The pastor points out that the devil sometimes brings false condemnation. But discovering what your heart is capable of should throw you into the mercy of God.
John Newton, the hymn writer and former slave trader, said near the end of his life: "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior."

5. First result: sinners are saved

Why did the chief of sinners obtain mercy? "However, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as the chief, Jesus Christ might display all his patience, for an example of those who were going to believe in him for eternal life" (verse 16).
If Jesus can save Paul, he can save anyone. No one is too far gone, too low, too wicked or too sinful.
Paul is exhibit number one of Jesus' perfect patience. Thanks to the Gospel, it is not only Paul who is saved: sinners are saved.

6. Second result: God is praised

Paul cannot help bursting into praise: "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen" (verse 17).
King eternal: his reign never ends. Immortal: he is indestructible, imperishable. Invisible: he cannot be seen, which is why Jesus is so wonderful, he who is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). Only: he has no rival. "It is not that God is the best, it is that God is the only one."
At Dundonald, says the pastor, trusting God's Word must lead to worshiping the Son of God.
We have different personalities, and good weeks and bad weeks. We do not always feel praise the way we would like to, but something in us should say: "Thank you, I praise you."

7. Third result: Timothy is sent out

In verse 18, Paul gives Timothy the same charge he gave in verse 3: put a stop to the false teaching. This was not easy for a young man facing tough opponents.
To encourage him, Paul reminds him of the authority behind him: that of the apostle, and that of the elders who laid their hands on him (1 Timothy 4:14). Timothy is to remember those prophecies so that "by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience."
Some have suffered shipwreck concerning the faith, like Hymenaeus, who strayed from the truth (2 Timothy 2:17-18), and Alexander the coppersmith, who did Paul much harm (2 Timothy 4:14).
"Whom I delivered to Satan": the pastor understands that Paul is dealing with them according to their conduct, as Jesus teaches in Matthew 18. Someone who refuses to repent after several warnings is treated as a pagan. He is not put in the pulpit, and he is not given a group to lead.
The goal is not to punish, but to bring them back, "that they may be taught not to blaspheme," that is, back to the main thing, the Gospel.
The pastor concludes: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. "And I dare to say: of whom you are chief too." Let us rejoice in this news, let us proclaim it, and let us keep the main thing at the center so that many more lives are changed.

Key takeaways

A church can lose its way without denying the Gospel, simply by sidelining it. The main thing must stay at the center.
Mercy is God holding back the judgment we deserve. Grace is God giving us, without limit, what we do not deserve.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, neither to punish them nor to make them a little better.
The further we go with Christ, the more we see both how serious our sin is and how great his grace is.
If Jesus saved Paul, no one is too far gone for him. This news leads to praise and to sharing the Gospel.

Personal application

In your life or in your church, what is at risk of taking the place of the Gospel, your "bacon sandwich"?
What is your story? How could you tell, simply, this week, what God has done in your life?
Are you hiding behind ignorance to excuse a sin, or are you willing to repent of what you did, on purpose or not?
Do you see God as a stingy, grumpy master, or as a Father whose grace is always followed by more to come?
Could you say, at the end of your life, with John Newton: "I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior"?

Verses cited

Frequently asked questions

What does "keeping the main thing at the center" mean in 1 Timothy 1?

In Ephesus, elders who had become false teachers did not deny the Gospel, but they had pushed it aside in favor of myths and genealogies. The preacher explains that Paul calls them back to the main thing: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That message is what changes lives.

What is the difference between God's mercy and his grace?

Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve: the judgment for our sin. Grace is God giving us what we do not deserve: his blessings, faith, love, forgiveness. Paul received both, so much so that grace "abounded exceedingly" for him (1 Timothy 1:14).

Why does Paul call himself the chief of sinners?

It is neither false humility nor a statistical finding. Paul says "I am," not "I was." The further we walk with Christ, the more we see how serious our sin is and how great God's grace is. Paul grew downward in his view of sin and upward in his view of grace.