I invite you to turn this morning to 1st Timothy, chapter 1, 1st Timothy, chapter 1. We'll be looking at verses 12 through 17. I'll read through verse 20 of 1st Timothy, chapter 1.
As we consider the office, the offices this morning through this installation. And I want you to notice here, the bar is indeed set high. I remind us always: we wouldn't expect anything less from our Lord because he cares about you, his people. And in light of all of the corruption we've seen over time in the church, you see how important these sort of commandments and these perspectives are in the pastoral epistles, which really are given to guide all pastoral ministry.
And so it's important. We've never really gone through a book. I think we should at some point. But to look at all this instruction given for office bearers and see it through the lens of the whole service in the kingdom of God for the people of the Lord is important so that you have a greater appreciation of what the design of ministry is: that those undertaking this office would do it with right, prayerful motivations and perspectives, and that we'd be given all grace that we might in this place be strengthened up as the body of Christ.
And so, verse 12 this morning, let's give our attention to the word of the Lord from 1 Timothy, chapter 1.
"I thank him who has 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 had 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 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received 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 made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, that they may not learn to blaspheme."
May the Lord bless this morning the hearing of his word.
Well, that passage is a very important passage to begin what we call here the pastoral epistles. It gets right down to the most important issues right at the beginning. And what we have described as we anticipate installation this morning is what makes for the most effective leaders and servants in the kingdom of God. I don't say that lightly. This really does capture what makes for the most effective leaders and servants in the kingdom of God.
What would you think that might be? We might have a long list, and we might have different ideas of what that might be. But this puts everything into perspective right from the beginning of the little pastoral epistle here of Timothy. And I believe it gets to the motivation of all service in the kingdom of God and what that motivation is and why it's so important to have that.
Why do we do what we do? Why do we give ourselves in the service of the Lord? And this is important for installing new leaders and encouraging those in office today. And as I said, to be a blessing to the whole congregation to understand this great, noble calling, but to also appreciate this in terms of all service in the kingdom of the Lord. These principles apply across the board.
We have to remember the goal of what we are attempting to accomplish in this. It seems to be very important to always set that in front of us. What are we trying to accomplish in the service of the Lord? What do we think that is? Is it just for elders to ensure that we are conflict-free and that everything goes well and there are no problems? The maintenance of the office? Is it just for deacons to think that this is just about managing money? Is that how you perceive this?
You see, if we don't appreciate the aim of all service, then in simple terms it will never really promote the health of the body that these offices are intended to accomplish. We will see it in a series here that are, I think, in office. If we miss this, that what we will view these offices are as is a series of obligations simply to try to manage. And that's not at all what these offices are intended to be.
In other words, the things that we value, how we give ourselves to the service of the lord especially when I'm thinking here of leaders has a direct bearing on the life of the congregation. I don't think we think enough about that connection. It's how leadership works. so the leaders so the people i think you see this in political leading all the time. The people become very similar and, at times, very much like the person in charge. The church will only be as strong as its leadership in this regard. And the example and the value, then, that we give to all service in the kingdom of God has a direct bearing on the spiritual vitality of the church itself.
If you ever look at dying churches, you can notice things that are inevitably clear and evident for the reasons that they are dying. And one of those is that the service and the servants in charge are drastically doing an insufficient job in the shepherding of the people. In fact, if you think about it, service can just become sort of flat and mundane and empty and a boring duty. It really can. The challenges, the difficulties, the hardships, the afflictions can take the joy out of the office.
And so I think it's important to step back and look at Paul's perspective on ministry. It's always important to sort of be recharged in a way as to what this is. This is what Paul's often doing, especially with his sort of young protege, Timothy, to help him understand the office in light of the hardships and difficulties that he was facing, that he would be an effective officer in Christ's church and strive for the goal of what this is indeed all about.
And so Paul's using himself here as an example. Paul does this. Paul uses himself as an example, even his testimony, to help Timothy in perspective on the office. Sometimes we react against personal testimonies, and they can go out of hand. Paul doesn't go out of hand, but he indeed gives one here. And he gives an important one.
His perspective that Paul gives in three ways is a perspective on all service in the kingdom of God, and then a perspective on himself in the kingdom of God, and then his perspective on the purpose of all service in the kingdom of God. So there you have the sort of three points that I think outline what he is doing here in this first chapter.
And Paul is really helpful here because he is going after the heart of all service. Paul knows what can happen in the attitude toward the Lord's service through conflict and struggle and difficulty. It just wears people out. There's a reason he begins the second here letter, letter of to Timothy with these words: "Timothy, says, for this reason I remind you, listen to this language, to fan into flame the gift of God. You have to kind of let that set in. Fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God gave us a spirit not a fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God."
How does that work together? Suffering for the gospel by the power of God. Fan the flame, Timothy.
Anyone in this for some time knows it's wearing and it's difficult and there's a lot of warfare involved in it in ways that we never expect. And this is where I think Paul does one of the most important things to help all servants in the service of the Lord. He wants to stir it up. He wants to revitalize. He wants to fan into flame the gift of God. How do you do that? How do you resurrect in people to be about the service of the Lord, to give their hearts to it? To give their hearts to it, especially with all the other responsibilities that we have in life?
It has everything to do, as we look at this first chapter of Timothy, with a perspective on the calling itself. It's not just, we might say, obligations. You have obligations? No. It's the calling of God himself on your life. It's a beautiful thing to say that I want you to notice verse 12 here as we begin this section:
"I thank him who has given me strength, so if we think it's overbearing or there's much involved or there's lots of duty, this strength. notice he has given me strength, i thank him who has given me strength christ jesus our lord because he judged me faithful appointing me to this service."
Paul is saying something important there, isn't he? Immensely important for all service. I think that's a somewhat shocking statement to us when we first look at it because we read that "he judged me faithful." We might stand back from that and say, "Paul, faithful? We might even read that and think that Paul thought himself worthy of this. And I think a lot of people look at the Christian office that way, offices in the church, that this is about worthiness. Paul is saying something very, very pointed here and very clear: that my worthiness comes from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he counted me faithful because of the grace that's been given to me and the strength that's been given to me.
And I want you to notice here how he says it. I don't want you to miss it. At the heart of the calling of God in all service in his kingdom is an astonishment that God would put us into this. I think I have to let that set in. An astonishment that God would do this. Are you astonished that you're able to serve in the kingdom? That's Paul here. It's a sense that this is one of the greatest blessings to be able to serve in the Lord's kingdom.
The king everyone has a vocation in life that is extremely important where God has called you, and God has given you a calling, and whatever vocation that is, that is extremely important because God called you to that that you may do it, whether you eat or drink, for the glory of the Lord. But we're focusing here on the noble calling of leadership in the kingdom of God.
This whole attitude of astonishment is what begins Paul in his pastoral epistles: astonishment. And that astonishment led him to an overwhelmingly thankful heart for being able to serve. See, the difficulties and the conflicts and the weariness, you know, you forget the most important things. That's just life. You can look back over the course of your life, and the things that you were excited about yesterday you're not today. Why? Because of weariness, because of difficulty. Someone once said to me, "The ministry would be great if it weren't for all the people." And I said, "He said difficult people." And I said, "Why do you think you're not one of them?" Right? This is the challenge.
It's as if Paul says, "I'm thrilled that he would use me like this at all! I can hardly believe it! It is the greatest privilege to serve the King of heaven and earth and the people whom he chose, to the work of the Son that Jesus died for." That's his perspective. And I trust you see why it would be important to have that for ministry, why that would be how you would think about fanning the flame a little bit of this.
You cannot properly serve God in anything without that kind of perspective. "You decided to put me into this?" And see, right up front, we're confronted with sovereignty. We're confronted with divine selection. We're confronted with choice that he made concerning us. You could apply this in many ways to all the callings in the kingdom of God, whether it's the Sunday school teacher, helping in the nursery, whatever it would be, to see service this way. Imagine what that'll do.
I want each of you to think about this for a minute personally, and it's exactly why he calls Timothy himself to stir up the gift. Stir up the gift. Fan the flame. Do you think anyone in church office without this kind of perspective will have any energy for it? Without it, it just becomes something to do. Without it, it becomes something to get through. It's rotation, or we do it for the wrong reasons. It becomes heartless, and then we approach it without any real reliance upon him for what he says the strength that God gives in it.
In other words, if there's no recognition of this from the beginning of all service, if there's no recognition of the stirring up of the great privilege it is that God would put us into this, the astonishment of it, then we will never really rest on him for the strength to do it well. If God would take me and put me into this, what does that produce? If I have that perspective, reliance to do it for his glory and reliance upon him for the strength to serve his people. It's Isaiah: "He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless." And that drives the pastoral epistles: "Whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that everything, in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ."
Now, what does that mean? To be effective, then, in the service of the Lord, there has to be a humble recognition that God did a wonderful thing for you, brothers. God did a wonderful thing for you. That's the starting point to serve the King of heaven and earth and the people whom he loves. That echoes Psalm 84: "I count it to be a great privilege to be just a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord. If that's my calling, what a privilege! Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness."
Now, what would produce the contrary attitude? It would be one that looks at all hardship and difficulty of the office as a burden and someone who really doesn't want to do it because there's little recognition of the intents and privilege of it and what God has done. Paul says, "I'm thankful to the Lord for the service." Do the people who do nothing in the kingdom of God, think about this, the people who do absolutely nothing in the kingdom of God have this perspective about life? No. It's not there.
What makes for this kind of heart? That's the great question, I think. How do you stir up the fan, the flame of this gift?
Well, you have to go back to something. And I think this gives us that answer so beautifully. You have to go back to something that is absolutely crucial for every leader. This is what I'm about to describe makes for the most effective servants in the kingdom of God. Paul says, "I want you to consider what God did for me personally. Personally. You have to appreciate that. That by grace, this great point for all of you: that you even became a Christian to begin with. Did you hear me? That you even became a Christian to begin with. That's what is the starting point for a great servant. Astonishment."
Listen to what he says. "Formerly, I was a, though formerly he counted me faithful in this, Though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent, but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."
"Do you know what I used to be?" he says. "Do you know what I was? I didn't then. I didn't even know! I was so blinded, I didn't even know I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, an insolent man, arrogant. I was completely blind in my former life."
Paul was the chief persecutor in the early church in the first century at its inception. You remember in Acts, Paul was this is quote ravaging the church, entering house to house as he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. And he breathed murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord." And he says this in one of his testimonies: "I not only locked many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme. And in raging fury against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities."
And you know, he was the one who laid his cloak down, remember. And remember, he was the one there, chiefly responsible for the stoning of Stephen, always on him.
Now, can you imagine that burden to carry? On all accounts, I'm not sure if Lyle Faber, had done that. I'd want to put him up for office. We would say, "Such a person should never be in church office. With such a past like that?"
The point is important. The most effective servants marvel at what God made them and that he made them Christians to begin with. And how you forget that in the course of your life. You didn't make yourself a Christian. God did. What drove Paul was the marvel that God saved him.
Now, maybe that's where we struggle with Paul, right? Because my testimony is not that. Many of us have led Christian lives our whole life. Maybe struggled to even point to a moment of conversion. And we think, "Yeah, you know, my life's pretty boring." And I say, "Shame on you. What is your testimony? Well, yours is this: Paul would marvel at it. Paul wanted to tell you a testimony. I want to tell you my testimony today. Paul would marvel at your testimony. You want to hear your testimony if it's similar to mine?"
"This is, this is, Paul would say here, I was ignorant of what I was doing. Can we be that too? Yeah, you haven't persecuted the church. The greater marvel would be that he demonstrated his delivering grace to you all your life."
There has to be a recognition of that to be motivated as a Christian and service.
Paul's testimony is our testimony. Here's what I can say: I, Chris Gordon, all along the way, received mercy. Oh yeah, I was baptized when I didn't even ask for it. I was raised in the church. I had Christian school teachers. I had Sunday school teachers. I still remember. I had Christian parents. I had catechism. What a privilege. He would put me there. When the truth of it is, I was indifferent to all of it. I didn't think anything of it. I hardly cared about worship. I slept as a teenager through it. I didn't care about my Christian upbringing. I didn't recognize those teachers. I didn't think much about being raised in a Christian family. I would have gladly been gone on the Sabbath. I would have gladly had none of it. And what did I test out? Contrary to it all along the way. But now I see. He was always with me, keeping me, preserving me, never letting me go. And I tried. When I had been nothing but presumptuous, hard-hearted, and indifferent to it all, the church boy, because it's all I ever knew.
Now maybe you're still acting like that. One is not a Christian without being born again and made alive to see that that kind of indifference is rebellion too to all this covenant mercy. There has to be an awakening that such rebellion comes in all different kinds of ways, and the Lord delivered me from it all.
And you see what happens then in life? You begin to see this about yourself more clearly. The grace of God to me was exceedingly abundant. I can say that more than Paul. And so can many of you. What kind of person does that produce?
And you see, he's marveling that God was merciful to him, to make him the Christian that he is. And beloved, that must be in all of our testimonies unless we've never seen this or known this, so as to lead us to repentance and faith.
And so I want us to join together says paul in something that we can all say together. This is what he does here. He is not singling himself out. He says, "I want us to join together in something that we all can say together and share. And it's this: This is a faithful saying. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of which I'm chief. I'm the foremost. I'm number one."
Here's what makes the best servants in the kingdom: What I believe about myself, says Paul, is that I'm the absolutely worst of all sinners that ever existed. I believe that about myself.
Paul doesn't say, "I used to be this." He's not using a past tense here. He's speaking in the present. He says, "I am this. I am this even in the service." These are the most effective servants. I'm always worried about those who refuse to even see this about themselves. That won't be the effective servant. There's always this humble recognition in God's servants of Psalm 51: "I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment."
And Paul is, I think, concerned here that even among Christians, especially in service, professing Christians that we will lose sight of this. And if we lose sight of this, we'll never remember what we're trying to achieve. You see, you've got to go back to this all the time. It's the ultimate expression of humility. We are not a more deserving people than the wicked.
I think we've seen from Israel in Matthew, God taking the kingdom from those who wouldn't see this and giving it to those who would bear the fruits of it. What constantly captivated and drove Paul was this: "But I received mercy, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Mercy and grace came to me, the chief of sinners. I'm overwhelmed by that truth. I'm never leaving that truth. I never get over that truth."
The Gospel of free justification by grace through faith alone has kept me on my knees the whole ministry. Do you know what God has done for you? At some point in all of our ignorance and presumption, God lifted you out of it and he poured his grace on you. And brothers, he counted you worthy for service in the kingdom. What a good God!
And I want you to notice the key evidences of that here that he shows us. Don't miss this: "The grace of our Lord overflowed for me with what?" "But faith and love that are in Christ Jesus." That's the verse to read right over. It's not the verse to miss, though, that we do read over. "That in me foremost, Christ might display his perfect patience."
"Grace was shown to me. He gave me faith. How do you show grace? He gave you faith to believe and be justified. But then notice don't miss this and he gave you love for God. He gave you love for God. I want to park on that for a minute. He gave me to love him. Beloved, these are the most effective servants. This seems to me to get to the whole heart of service right here. To be an effective servant is to live by faith alone in the promises. But notice here, to be servants, he also says, servants that the love of God must be in us. And here's how that love's shown: without hypocrisy. What is the chief way you show your love to God? It's by worshiping him, and it's by serving his people. That means we, as office bearers, set a chief example of what the love of God looks like to the congregation. Remember the direct tie? If that love is absent, that will not be showing in the life of the congregation, and we're training the congregation in that. And what does the love of God look like? What requires that we love him by worshiping him and serving his people with gladness? Which is why all the leaders have to set that example to the greatest extreme for God's people because it's in you."
This leads me to the final point here of motivation. If I have received mercy like this, if this is what mercy is about, then in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display, why is he doing, why did he do all this?
Here's a great aim for this: "That he might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life."
Notice the connection. God did this amazing work of grace in my life. He saved me, made me an apostle so that he would show his perfect patience. I'm an example of patience. If God could take a murderer, a blasphemer, an arrogant man and make an apostle to the Gentiles, then beloved, you should see how God's patience to him is an example that he will continue to show that patience to others through his own ministry. See what he's saying?
If your testimony is like mine, remember my testimony, then he's using your testimony of that deadness, of growing up in it and not receiving it the way we should have, that now shows itself in the love of God, faith and in love as you serve, so that others will be woken up and serve that way, that the deadness stops, that we as the goal, Paul said, might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
I don't think my testimony, I think my testimony is a pretty common one in our tradition. I do. And so if you've been called to this, see what you're aiming for. But also see that there are the Saul's out there who are coming in, who are delivered from what we see are the great sins. That's why we're in ministry. And that's what we need to remember as a church and as leaders. God is using us to set an example. The goal on the last day: to present every man perfect in Christ.
You see, the eldership is not just about making sure there are no conflicts or problems. Those come. Deacons is not just about managing the money. That'll always come. It's a spiritual work on both fronts of demonstrating the power of God's delivering grace in those peculiar offices to help people receive the same grace that we've received, to showcase the person and the work of Jesus Christ. And that's what I mean by titling the servant: real servants. The most effective church will be one filled with leadership who are most on their knees before God. They need to see from us sincere faith and love for God. And of course, I remind you who's sufficient for that. Our sufficiency is in Christ, always has been.
That's the perspective, beloved, that drives all ministry and service in your life for the kingdom. That the people would see the joy of the Lord in us. That he's our strength. Might I just say this is exactly what our young people need to see. It's exactly what our young people need to see. When we understand grace afresh, we break out as Paul did by saying this line of praise, right? "To the King of kings, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever."
May that heart govern our service in his name.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for such a marvelous text and the reminder of what must be in us for ministry to be effective. And we thank you for the grace that you've shown to us. We thank you for delivering us from the darkness that we chose in rebellion against you. It's a marvel that you made us Christians to begin with. And it's even more a marvel that you would then take us and put us into your service in whatever form it comes, because we know we are the chief of sinners. But Lord, in that dependency, may great fruit flow out of our own lives in faith and love to be an example to the flock, that all your people may be delivered from sin as we were. May we give ourselves to set the best possible example since we serve such a noble, glorious, worthy King. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.