1 Timothy 1: Keeping the Main Thing at the Heart of the Church

Introduction

About twenty years ago, Starbucks nearly went bankrupt. Howard Schultz, then at the head of the company, walked into one of its stores and was appalled: it smelled of bacon rather than coffee. To increase its revenue, the chain was selling bacon sandwiches and CDs. When Schultz wanted to refocus everything on coffee, his leadership team told him: "You're crazy. If we stop, the company will sink." Schultz held his ground. Starbucks was a coffee shop, and the main thing had to remain the main thing. Today the chain has more than 40,000 stores in about 90 countries.

It is with this story that the pastor of Dundonald Church, in south-west London, opens this message in his series on the first letter to Timothy. In his view, the growth of the Church follows the same rule: "The main thing has to remain the main thing."

The passage is 1 Timothy 1:12-20. The preacher sums it up like this: one central message, two wonderful reasons and three results of the Gospel.

Outline of the Message

1. A Church That Had Lost Sight of the Main Thing

Several years earlier, Paul had warned the elders of Ephesus (Acts 20). Yet some of them had become false teachers. In verse 3, they teach "other doctrines," literally "other things."
Instead of devoting themselves to the Gospel, they paid attention, in verse 4, to "myths and endless genealogies": invented stories and family trees. They made the secondary thing the main thing.
They had not denied the Gospel, they had put it to one side. "It is as if they had focused more on selling bacon sandwiches than on coffee." The result: disputes, quarrels, people drifting away from the faith.
If you want godly conduct in the Church, the Gospel has to be proclaimed there. To show this, Paul tells his own testimony in verses 12 to 17. And every believer, says the preacher, has a story to tell, whether spectacular or very ordinary.

2. First Reason: God's Astonishing Mercy

The man who wrote a large part of the letters of the New Testament, who planted churches and encouraged so many Christians, was once, verse 13, "a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent."
He went from house to house dragging 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 suddenly bursts open and she is taken to prison without a trial. "That is the kind of thing the man who wrote this letter used to do."
He breathed "threats and slaughter" against the disciples (Acts 9:1) and he approved of the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:58 to 8:1), encouraging the crowd until his death.
When Paul writes that he acted "ignorantly in unbelief," he is not looking for an excuse. He acknowledges his fault. Deliberate sin and sin committed unknowingly are both still sin. The pastor gives his own example: there were times he said hurtful words on purpose, and other times without realizing it. In both cases, he was wrong.
Before God, the question is not whether you sinned on purpose or not, but whether you repent. Saying to Jesus on the day of judgment, "I didn't know, I didn't believe, it's not my fault," will not stand.
God did not only save Paul, he used him: "he counted me faithful, appointing me to service" (verse 12). Nothing qualified Paul, everything disqualified him. What qualified him was his sin and God's mercy.
Mercy is God holding back the judgment that our sin deserves. In the Gospel, God looks at sinners and says: "I know they deserve judgment, but I am not going to give it to them, because I am going to give it to my Son in their place."

3. Second Reason: God's Overflowing Grace

An artist had sent a painting of Niagara Falls to an exhibition without giving it a title. The gallery named it: "More to Come." The pastor tells of visiting Victoria Falls, in Zimbabwe, a few years ago: you can hear their roar from more than 30 kilometers away, and you can see their cloud of spray rising 400 meters high from nearly 50 kilometers away. For thousands of years, they have been pouring out billions of liters of water. There is always more to come.
God's grace is like that. Verse 14: "The grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."
If mercy is God not giving us what we deserve, grace is God giving us what we do not deserve. "Mercy is: I do not receive the judgment I should receive. Grace is: I receive the blessings I should not receive." The preacher cites an English acrostic of the word grace: God's riches, or rather God's righteousness, at Christ's expense.
At the family table, he fills a jug and shares it among five glasses: there is a limit. With our heavenly Father, it is like holding a glass under Niagara Falls.
Paul is so amazed that he invents a word: he adds "hyper" in front of "abounding." Grace is superabundant.
The pastor did not grow up in a Christian home. He imagined God as a grumpy, stingy schoolteacher, rolling his eyes and wagging his finger. "I could not have been more wrong."
Among the gifts of grace are faith and love. As one author wrote, grace flooded a heart full of unbelief with faith and a heart polluted by hatred with love. Paul went from fierce adversary to trusted servant, from persecutor to preacher. This is what God does for every believer, whatever their story.

4. The Central Message: Christ Came to Save Sinners

Verse 15: "This saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." It is the first of the three "faithful sayings" in 1 Timothy.
Paul does not mean that everything else is optional. He contrasts this trustworthy saying with the untrustworthy words of the false teachers, just as in verse 12 he presented himself as a servant counted faithful.
Why did Jesus leave heaven, teach, heal, get rejected, get crucified, and then rise again? To save sinners. He did not come to punish them, or to teach them to become a little better. He came to save them from hell and from the judgment their sin deserves.
As a child, the pastor found himself in difficulty in the sea: too far from the shore, too weak to swim. He will never forget the man he saw swimming toward him to bring him back. "When you know you need to be saved and you cannot save yourself, it is an inexpressible joy to see someone coming to save you."
If you are not a sinner, Jesus has nothing for you. But if you know you are, verse 15 is the best news you could receive.
Paul does not say "of whom I was chief," but "of whom I am chief." It is neither false humility nor a literal claim. He was no longer a sinner under judgment, but a sinner saved by grace.
The further you go in the Christian life, the more you become aware of God's grace, and at the same time of your own sin. If you find yourself more and more of a sinner, it is not necessarily the devil: he can produce false conviction, but true conviction says "I am truly a sinner, and God is truly wonderful."
John Newton, hymn writer and former slave trader, said at the end of his life: "Although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Saviour."

5. First Result: Sinners Are Saved

Verse 16: Paul obtained mercy "that in me as chief, Jesus Christ might display all his patience," as an example to those who would believe in him for eternal life.
If Jesus could save Paul, he can save anyone. No one is too far, too low or too bad. Paul is the "exhibit A" of Jesus' perfect patience.
The Gospel does not only tell that Paul was saved: it announces that sinners are saved.

6. Second Result: God Is Praised

Paul cannot hold himself back. Verse 17: "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen."
He says four immense things about God. He is the King eternal: his reign never ends. He is immortal: indestructible, imperishable. He is invisible: we can neither see him nor touch him, and this is why Jesus, the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), is so precious. He is the only one: he has no rival, he is not in competition.
The main thing is not only the main thing, it is the best thing there is. At Dundonald Church, we want not only to trust God's Word, but also to worship the Son of God. Not everyone is made the same and everyone has had their week, but if you are a Christian, something in you should say: "Lord, thank you. Praise to you."

7. Third Result: Timothy Is Sent Out

Verse 18: "This command I commit to you, my child Timothy [...] that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience." This command is the one from verse 3: to silence those who teach other things.
It was not easy for Timothy. He was young and faced fierce opponents. Paul reminds him that he goes to battle with real authority: that of the apostle, but also that of the elders, who had laid hands on him (1 Timothy 4:14). Let him remember the prophecies and encouragements he received.
He must also be wary of certain people: Hymenaeus, who turned away from the truth (2 Timothy 2:17), and Alexander, who did Paul much harm (2 Timothy 4:14).
"Handing over to Satan" means, according to the preacher, treating these people according to their behavior, as Jesus says of the unrepentant in Matthew 18:17. At the very least, they stop teaching and leading. The goal is not to punish, but "that they may learn not to blaspheme," so that they return to the faith and to the main thing.
The pastor concludes by inviting the Church to fight, with God's help and in prayer, so that the main thing remains the main thing: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am, and I dare say of whom you are, the worst."

Key Takeaways

A Church can set the Gospel aside without denying it, by making the secondary thing the main thing. A godly life in the Church comes through the proclamation of the Gospel.
Mercy is God not giving you the judgment you deserve. Grace is God giving you, in overflowing measure, what you do not deserve.
Whether sin is deliberate or committed in ignorance, the real question is: will you repent?
Jesus did not come to punish sinners or to teach them to become better, but to save them. If Paul was saved, no one is out of reach.
The Gospel produces three fruits: sinners saved, a God praised and servants sent out.

Personal Application

In your life, your home or your Church, which "other things" risk taking the place of the Gospel?
How would you tell your story with God, whether spectacular or very ordinary?
Is there a sin, committed on purpose or unknowingly, that you excuse instead of repenting of it?
What picture of God did you have before you knew his grace? Do you see him today as the one who gives in overflowing measure?
Does verse 15 still make praise spring up in you: "Lord, thank you"?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

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

In Ephesus, some leaders had not denied the Gospel, but they had set it aside in favor of myths and endless genealogies. Paul reminds them of what matters most in verse 15: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. This is the message that Timothy and the Church must keep at the center of their ministry.

What is the difference between mercy and grace?

The preacher distinguishes them this way: mercy is God not giving us what we deserve, judgment. Grace is God giving us what we do not deserve: his righteousness, faith, love, forgiveness. Paul received both, and so does every believer.

Why does Paul call himself the chief of sinners?

It is neither false humility nor a literal claim. Paul writes "of whom I am" and not "of whom I was": he remains a sinner, but a sinner saved by grace. The further we go in the faith, the more we measure both our own sin and the greatness of God's grace.