I Timothy 1:12-17
September 14, 2025
I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord,
who has strengthened me, because he considered me faithful and appointed me to
his service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a
man of violence. 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 sure and worthy of full acceptance:
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost. But for that very reason I received mercy,
so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience
as an example to those who would come 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.
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A lot
of people use their own lives to tell other people what not to do. For example, even though we have no idea who
wrote this song, a lot of singers have recorded it and we’ve all heard it:
“There is a house in New Orleans
they call the Rising Sun;
It’s been the ruin of many poor boys,
and, God, I know I’m one.
My mother was a tailor;
she sewed my new blue jeans.
My father was a gambling man
down in New Orleans.
Now the only thing a gambler needs
is a suitcase and a trunk.
And the only time he’s satisfied
is when he’s on a drunk.
Mothers, tell your children
not to do what I have done,
Spend your lives in sin and misery
in the House of the Rising Sun.
Well, I’ve got one foot on the platform,
the other foot on the train,
And I’m going back to New Orleans
to wear that ball and chain.
There is a house in New Orleans
they call the Rising Sun;
It’s been the ruin of many poor boys,
and, God, I know I’m one.”
The first Letter to
Timothy, whether written by Paul himself or by someone close to him, took for
granted that people had heard him tell of the way that he persecuted the
believers before he became one of them:
“though I was formerly a blasphemer, a
persecutor, and a man of violence. 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.” [I
Timothy 1:13-14]
Paul was not the first to do that, nor the last. There is nothing more compelling than the
telling and the hearing of personal experience to convey what is most important
and to invite others to the rich feast that is life in the kingdom of God.
In
the books of the prophets, you have someone like Isaiah recalling his shock and
confusion when God revealed himself as a mighty ruler and named Isaiah to act
as his ambassador:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw
the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty, and the hem of his robe filled
the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with
two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with
two they flew. And one called to another and said,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of
hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
The pivots on the thresholds shook at
the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I
said, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a
people of unclean lips, yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of
hosts!”
Then one of the seraphs flew to me,
holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of
tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it
and said, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and
your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice
of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said,
“Here am I; send me!” [Isaiah 6:1-8]
There’s that same awareness of God’s holiness, human
sin and weakness, God’s forgiveness, and the commission to go and share the
message. All of those appear, in
different combinations and degrees, in any faithful witness.
It
doesn’t mean we all have to dwell on whatever skeletons we may have in our
closets. Sometimes, in fact, there are
people who, as they tell their own stories, recall them in such detail that you
begin to wonder whether they are missing the things they have turned away from. There can be a kind of pride that attaches to
how bad they once were. It’s the shadow
side of “Look how good I am now!” Or it
can become that.
On
the other hand, it’s possible to be honest about the difference that Jesus
makes in our lives and about how the Holy Spirit works on us every day to bring
us into better alignment with God’s will.
The English novelist Evelyn Waugh was well known for being kind of a
crank and for having a sharp tongue. Nevertheless,
after he had a conversion experience he became an unofficial advocate for his faith,
and especially for the Roman Catholic version. That set up a situation where an interviewer once
asked him about how he could put those two sides of himself together. The best defense against charges of hypocrisy
is honesty. Waugh’s response has to be
one of the most honest that anybody has ever given. He said, “You have no idea how much nastier I
would be if I was not a Catholic.
Without supernatural aid I would hardly be a human being.”[1]
Very
few people I know fit the profile of having formerly been (or being currently)
“a blasphemer, a
persecutor, and a man of violence.”
Plenty of people I know, and one I see in the mirror
on a regular basis, can say they’ve done and said plenty of things they regret,
and have thought of a lot more that they would have regretted if God had not
stepped in and said, “Don’t be stupid.”
That, too, can be an honest witness even if it is not as spectacular or
newsworthy.
In
small ways as well as large ways, we need and we know God’s mercy. In all our ways, God is there for us. Even before we are aware of what lies ahead,
God prepares the way, so the apostle could look back and say of his darkest
time,
“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.” [I Timothy
1:13-14]
The key word there is “grace”.
There
are some alternative words to “The House of the Rising Sun”, by the way, just
as there’s an alternative story to the one it tells:
“Amazing grace!
How sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found;
was blind but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
and grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come.
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
bright shining
as the sun,
we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
than when we’d first begun.
Amazing grace!
How sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found;
was blind but now I see.”
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