Keeping Things in Perspective

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal. 6:14 NIV).

Thursday, March 31, 2011, 6:13 a.m. – I woke with this song playing in my mind, Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross. I got up out of bed, came out to the living room, sat down on the sofa and had my quiet time with the Lord in prayer and in the reading of his word. I prayed, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening,” and then I read I Timothy 1:12-20:

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

18 Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, 19 holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. 20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.

My Understanding: These three paragraphs in this passage of scripture provide us with three distinct thoughts presented here by Paul, in the power of Christ within him:

I thank Jesus Christ our Lord

First of all, Paul thanked Christ Jesus our Lord. So, here he was establishing the Lordship of Jesus Christ, i.e. that Jesus is to be our master and we are to be his slaves of righteousness. When we trust Jesus Christ as Savior, we are also inviting him into our lives to be our Lord, as the old sinful nature with its fleshly desires is crucified, and we put on the Lord Jesus Christ and the new man, created to be like Christ Jesus. Sin is, thus, no longer our master, but we humbly yield our lives over to obedience to Jesus Christ to serve him.

Next Paul thanked the Lord for giving him strength. The kind of strength being spoken of here has to do with enablement and empowerment, as well as courage, determination and perseverance to do what Christ Jesus had assigned Paul to do. Paul could not operate in the flesh of man or in man’s thinking and planning. To do what God/Jesus had called him to do, he would need empowerment from on high working in and through him to accomplish all that he was commissioned by God to do in service to the Lord Jesus Christ.

This next statement is interesting in light of the statement that follows it where Paul explains what he was like before Jesus Christ called him to His service. Paul thanked the Lord Jesus that he considered Paul faithful, appointing him to Christ’s service. Since Paul had not been faithful, and in fact he was guilty of persecuting and killing believers in Jesus Christ, which is why he called himself the worst of sinners, it is no wonder that he was so thankful that Jesus Christ considered him faithful by appointing him to Christ’s service.

What this says is that God can see, even when we are still dead in our sins, who we can become in his power at work within us, which is why he died on the cross for us so that we could be set free from the power of sin over our lives and, instead, we could now have the empowerment of God working in and through us for God’s purposes and for his glory. The fact that Jesus Christ could take someone like Paul, who was opposing Christ in the worst possible way, and then turn him completely around for the Lord’s service, is an example to all of us of Christ’s mercy and grace to change lives and to make us into people who can be used of God to impact this world of ours for Jesus Christ, no matter where we were before God called us, because we don’t serve the Lord out of our own goodness, but in his strength and power at work within us in saving us and then in making us into the people of God that he wants us to be. He even gives us the faith to believe and to act upon that faith.

Here is a trustworthy saying

Now Paul moved from his expressions of thanksgiving - though I believe even in this section he is still thanking and praising the Lord - to giving a teaching from the Lord Jesus, which is why he said that it was trustworthy and deserved full acceptance. In other words, Paul was teaching doctrine here that we are to believe and to follow. And, he began with the gospel message - Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. I Timothy 1:17, John 1, Colossians 1, and Philippians 2 teach us this about Jesus Christ and who he was and is:

• He was with God in the beginning and he was/is God – He was/is fully God
• He is equal with God
• He was/is the creator of all things – nothing was made without him – all things were created by him and for him
• He was before all things and in him all things hold together
• He is the Light of the world that shines in darkness, i.e. he is truth, righteousness, sinlessness, life and hope vs. lies, evil, sin, death and hopelessness
• He made himself nothing; he took on himself the nature of a servant; He became flesh and lived among us; he was made in human likeness
• We have seen his glory – the glory of the One and Only God
• He came from the Father
• He is the One and Only God
• He is at the Father’s (God’s) side making God known to the people
• He is the exact representation; the image of God; all the fullness of God dwells in him
• He is supreme over all things
• He was the first to rise from the dead with a resurrected body that never died again
• Through him all things were reconciled to God – by making peace with God through his blood, shed on the cross
• He humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross
• God (Father) exalted him to the highest place
• God gave him the name that is above of every name that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father
• He is the immortal King, invisible, the only God to whom belongs all glory and honor

Then Paul stated that the fact that Jesus came into the world to save sinners was evidenced by Christ’s mercy on him in saving him and in making an example of him as to God’s patience in not being willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Paul’s testimony of God’s amazing grace to him in saving him was also an example of the power of God to completely change a life and to turn one from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God so that he might receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are being sanctified in Christ Jesus. So, if we ever think that we are too horrible for God to love us and to save us and to use us for his purposes and for his glory, think again. I am living proof that God can take the life of one who was at rock bottom and can transform such a one to be a servant and a witness for Jesus Christ as to his saving and transforming power in a life that was once given over to sin and the flesh and to Satan.

I give you this instruction

Lastly, in this passage of scripture, Paul gave Timothy instructions that were in keeping with the prophecies once made about him. In other words, Paul’s instructions to Timothy were in keeping with the calling of God that Paul knew God had placed upon Timothy’s life. He instructed him first of all to follow what he knew God/Jesus Christ had called him to do and to be. God has a calling upon each one of our lives, who belong to him, and he wants us, as well, to be faithful to that calling. We are all called to be servants and witnesses. We are all called to faithful obedience to Jesus Christ. We are all called to holiness. And, yet, God has a specific and unique calling for us, too, and so we need to find out what that is and then to be who he has called us to be and to do what he has commissioned us to do.

Paul told Timothy that by following the calling of God on his life that he could fight the good fight. We, who believe in Jesus Christ, are all in a spiritual battle and our enemy is Satan and his evil forces in the spiritual realm. Satan once had us in his grip, but when we give our hearts and lives to Jesus Christ, now Jesus is our Lord and Master. Satan does not like that, so he will fight against us, so following the Lord Jesus in full obedience to his commands and to his calling upon our lives is what arms us for battle against Satan and his evil tactics that try to keep us living defeated and selfish and unproductive lives, instead of living for our Lord. The way that we fight that good fight is through holding on to our faith in Jesus Christ (the shield of faith) and a good conscience (obedience to God’s commands). We must put the word of God into practice in our daily lives, and we must daily die to our old lives of sin and rebellion against God, and we must daily take up our cross and follow Jesus Christ in all that we are and in all that we do, so we can live lives pleasing to Him.

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross / Fanny J. Crosby / William H. Doane

Jesus, keep me near the cross;
There a precious fountain,
Free to all, a healing stream,
Flows from Calvary's mountain.

Near the cross, a trembling soul,
Love and mercy found me;
There the bright and morning star
Sheds its beams around me.

Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
Bring its scenes before me;
Help me walk from day to day
With its shadow o'er me.

In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever,
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.