The Lord’s Grace to Paul
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. 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. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 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. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
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, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.
My Understanding: Paul said that he thanked Jesus Christ that he considered Paul faithful, appointing him to his service. I find that sentence particularly intriguing. When Paul met Jesus, and when Jesus appointed Paul to his service, Paul was on his way to Damascus to imprison and kill believers in Jesus Christ. He was a persecutor and murderer of Christians. He was convinced that he should do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus Christ. He put many saints in prison and cast his vote of approval at their deaths. He went from one synagogue to another to punish them, and he tried to get them to blaspheme against the name of Jesus Christ. He said that in his obsession against them, he even went to foreign cities to persecute them. [Ref: Acts 26 here, and next paragraph, too]
It was on one of these journeys, he said, that he saw a light from heaven blazing around him and his companions. They all fell to the ground, and he heard a voice from heaven saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” Jesus responded: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” Wow! And, then Paul said that he was not disobedient to the vision, but he preached everywhere he went that people “should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.”
Sinners to Repentance
Paul had a heart transformation of the Spirit of God that day on the road to Damascus. God had a plan and a purpose for Paul’s life, not based upon Paul’s (Saul’s) past experiences, but based upon the grace and mercy of God in his life, and what the Lord Jesus planned to do in and through him. So, the faithfulness Paul spoke of here, in I Timothy 1, was future faithfulness, not present, at the time Jesus Christ appointed him to his service. God, who knows all things, knew Paul would be faithful to the calling God had upon his life, because God had the power to change Paul’s life, and to transform him into a faithful servant of Jesus Christ. So, Paul was not appointed to service for the Lord because he was such a good guy, but he was appointed by God’s grace and mercy, and in God’s providence for his life to become the servant and witness for Jesus Christ that God had planned for him to be.
Jesus Christ said that he did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners, and to transform our hearts and to make us who he wants us to be. We don’t deserve or earn our own salvation by our own good works done in the flesh of man. Salvation is a free gift offered to each and every one of us because of God’s grace to mankind, and because God loved us so much that he sent his one and only Son to die on the cross for our sins, so that we could go free from sin. He does not call us to his service because of our goodness, but because of his love and grace. Through transformed lives God is able to demonstrate his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. In other words, we are all sinners, and we have all failed to become who God intended us to be at some time or another, yet the Lord is patient with us, because he is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. This testimony serves as an example to all who might believe, because it encourages us that God can change any life, and can make that life what he wants for his glory. And, Paul gave all the glory to God for what God was doing in and through him, too.
The Good Fight
Then, Paul turned his attention back to Timothy, who had also been appointed to God’s service. Paul was giving Timothy instructions in this letter to him, so that by following the instructions Timothy might “fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience.” Paul reminded him of how some had “shipwrecked” their faith because they had rejected the instructions (the word of God) given to them to obey, so they were handed over to Satan so that they might be taught not to blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ.
The instructions given to Timothy and these others are the very words of God which have now been given to us via the Holy Bible, and in particular via the New Testament scriptures. And, they are given to us, as well, so that we might “fight the good fight.” In other words, the Christian life is not a breeze. It involves hardship, persecution, difficulties, trials, temptations, etc., and we need the word of God to teach and to train us how to live godly lives, how to resist the devil, and how to draw near to God in sincere faith and obedience to Jesus Christ and to his commands, forsaking sin, and no longer conforming our lives to the pattern of this ungodly world. We do this in the power and strength of the Holy Spirit of God working within us as we hold on to our faith and a good conscience, i.e. as we continue to walk in faith in obedience to Jesus Christ, and we continue to put off the misdeeds of the flesh. Yet, if we continue in stubborn rebellion and we continue to live sinful lifestyles, because we have rejected the truth and we have rejected the Lord’s instructions, God will hand us over to Satan by allowing us to go our own way so that hopefully we will learn that it profits us nothing to forsake God, so we will come to repentance.
Examples of Faithfulness
Timothy and Paul are examples to us of those who have been appointed to God’s service, because all of us who have come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior have been appointed to God’s service. In John 15 it is recorded that Jesus said that he chose us and appointed us to go and bear fruit that will last. And, 1 Thess. 5 says that God appointed us to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. All of us who are in Christ Jesus have thus been called of God to salvation, and have been appointed to Christ’s service and to bear lasting eternal fruit for God’s kingdom. And, what Jesus called Paul (Saul) to do is no different from what he has called us all to do, i.e. to be servants and witnesses for Jesus Christ in opening spiritually blinded eyes by turning them from spiritual darkness to the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
We are not only called of God to salvation, and appointed to his service, but we are also anointed of God to preach the good news, to bind up the brokenhearted, and to proclaim freedom for the captives, by proclaiming to them the grace of God via Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins. This song, “The Lord’s Anointed,” is based off Isaiah 61. Luke’s gospel recorded that Jesus was in the synagogue on the Sabbath day in the town of Nazareth. He stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, and he read the first part of this passage from Isaiah concerning himself, the anointing he had received from God the Father, his ministry on the earth, and concerning the plan of salvation which he preached, and which ultimately he brought to the world via his shed blood on the cross for our sins. So, this passage he read was fulfilled in Christ himself and in his ministry.
Yet, when Jesus Christ left the earth and he sent his Holy Spirit to indwell the lives of his followers, we, as well, received an anointing: “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” Jesus told his disciples that they would continue on his ministry after he left the earth. As followers of Christ, and as those who have Christ within us, we are also anointed of God to do all these things mentioned in this passage of scripture. We, as his followers, are to be Jesus to the world around us in doing what he did.
As a result of what Jesus Christ did for us in dying on the cross for our sins and being resurrected back to life in conquering death, hell, Satan and sin, we can now come to Jesus Christ in faith and receive his eternal salvation. He will renew us and restore us to a right relationship with God the Father, and God can use us in the lives of others to help them, as well, to be renewed, restored and to rebuild their broken lives. Thus, we serve as priests of the Lord in ministering to the lives of others in the same manner in which Jesus Christ did and now does through us, and in the same manner spoken of in this passage of scripture. And, all the glory, praise and honor belong to Christ Jesus – great things He has done!
The Lord’s Anointed / An Original Work / December 16, 2011
Based off Isaiah 61
The Spirit of the Sov’reign Lord on me;
Anointed to preach the Good News;
Sent me to bind up the brokenhearted;
Proclaim freedom for the captives.
He sent me to preach release for pris’ners
Who are walking in sin’s darkness;
Proclaim God’s grace to all men who’ll listen;
And tell them about God’s judgments;
Comfort all who mourn;
Give crowns of beauty;
Oil of gladness and thanksgiving.
They will be called oaks of God’s righteousness,
A planting of our Savior, God,
For the display of our Lord’s splendor, and
They will rebuild God’s holy church.
God will renew them, and will restore them,
And you’ll be called priests of the Lord.
You will be ministers of our God, and
You will rejoice in salvation.
The Lord loves justice;
He is faithful to
Reward those who are seeking Him.
I delight greatly in the Lord;
My soul rejoices in my Savior, God.
He has clothed me with His salvation,
And in a robe of His righteousness.
He has given me priestly garments to
Wear, as the bride of Jesus Christ.
As the garden of our Lord and Savior,
He causes us to grow in Him.
He makes righteousness,
Praise, and thanksgiving
Spring up before all the nations.
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