Paul, an Apostle

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope, to Timothy, a true son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Timothy 1:1–2)

Before we open Paul's letter to a struggling church, we have to meet the man God transformed from persecutor to apostle.

From Acts to the Letters: Setting the Stage

Almost nine years ago we began a journey here at Cross Connection, starting in November of 2008 in the book of Acts and using it as our timeline through the New Testament. The Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—give us the life and ministry of Jesus, leading up to His death, burial, and resurrection, the most important event in all of human history. After He rose, He told His disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel.

The book of Acts begins where the Gospels end, with Jesus ascending into heaven. From there comes the birth of the church in Acts 2 and its growth in the chapters following. As the church grew, persecution came, and that persecution pushed the believers out into the mission Jesus had given them. For the first six years they largely stayed in Jerusalem, but persecution got the ball rolling, and the church spread into Judea, then Samaria, and finally to non-Jewish people throughout the world.

The Transformation of Saul of Tarsus

At first the persecution was driven largely by one man: Saul of Tarsus, a zealous follower of Judaism who could not stand the followers of "the Way." He set out to stamp it out. He carried letters from the chief priests in Jerusalem authorizing him to find followers of Jesus and bring them back bound, even to be put to death. This man hated Christians, hated the church, and hated Jesus. If you're here today and you're not a fan of Jesus or His followers, you'd have a lot in common with this man.

But on the road to Damascus, Saul had an amazing experience—he met the risen Lord Jesus. Just before this, Saul had been the chief pupil of a rabbi named Gamaliel, who in Acts 5 warned the Jewish council not to fight against the Christian movement, lest they find themselves fighting against God. Saul did not listen to his teacher. He went to destroy them.

Acts 9 tells us that outside Damascus a bright light surrounded him, he fell to the ground, and he heard a voice: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" He answered, "Who are You, Lord?" The voice said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." In that moment, everything came crashing down for Saul. He had a transformative encounter with Jesus—and it's my prayer that you would have one too. A sign of that change was a new name: Saul became Paul.

Paul's Aim and His Missionary Journeys

From that point the book of Acts focuses on Paul, because he became completely committed to the commission of Jesus. In Romans 15 he tells us, "I have made it my aim to preach the gospel where the name of Christ has not been named." That became the focus of his life.

In Acts 13 and 14, Paul and Barnabas left their home church in Antioch of Syria and went to modern-day Turkey, then called Galatia, planting churches in cities like Lystra, Iconium, and Derbe. The former persecutor now experienced persecution as a preacher. In Lystra, zealous Jews dragged him out of the city, stoned him, and left him for dead—yet he got up and went right back to preaching the gospel.

On a second journey, Paul and Silas revisited the Galatian churches. Paul wanted to go into Asia Minor, but the Spirit of God would not let him; he tried to turn toward Bithynia, but again the Spirit withstood him. They kept going straight until they reached the Aegean Sea. That night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia saying, "Come over and help us." So Paul, Silas, Luke, and Timothy crossed the sea and planted churches in Macedonia and Greece—the first time the gospel came into Europe.

On a third journey, recorded in Acts 18, Paul came to Ephesus, the chief city of Asia Minor, and stayed two to three years, teaching daily, raising up disciples, and sending them out to plant churches. The seven churches of Asia in Revelation 2 and 3—Laodicea, Thyatira, Pergamum, Philadelphia, and others—were a product of that ministry.

Arrest, Appeal, and Imprisonment in Rome

At the end of the three journeys, Paul went back to Jerusalem to deliver a financial gift to the hurting church there, intending then to press on to Spain with the gospel. But our plans don't always come to pass. A group of Jewish zealots took an oath not to eat until Paul was dead, and they oversaw the Sicarii, the "dagger men," first-century assassins. By an amazing move of God, Paul ended up in Roman custody, protected because he was a Roman citizen. Denied justice, he appealed to Caesar and was shipped to Rome. The book of Acts ends with Paul under house arrest in Rome, awaiting trial.

While in Rome in the mid-60s AD, Paul did some of his best work, writing Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon. During that same period Jude wrote his letter, Peter wrote 1 and 2 Peter, and—as I believe—Timothy wrote Hebrews. At the end of Hebrews, Timothy asks for prayer to be released from prison, and Paul adds that Timothy has been released and they will come shortly.

Why Timothy Needed This Letter

Tradition holds that around 64 AD both Paul and Timothy were released. Paul revisited the churches he had planted, including the church at Ephesus, which was near and dear to his heart. When he arrived, he realized this church was a mess—and if you're new here, you'll find out quickly that this church is a mess too. We're all a mess, in process, and Jesus is transforming us, thank God.

So Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to set things right. Timothy, who first started ministering with Paul around age 17 or 18, was now in his early 30s. Paul went on to Macedonia and wrote this letter to encourage and strengthen Timothy as he pastored a troubled church and worked to get it back on course. I'm calling this series On Course, because the corrections Paul writes to Timothy are corrections for us too.

How many of us recognize we need course corrections? This last week some of us went scuba diving in Mission Bay—murky, mucky water where, eighteen feet down, you couldn't even see your buddy right next to you. We charted our compass and swam about 75 yards, came up confident we were on target, and found ourselves looking at the back of a boat in completely the wrong place. We had totally drifted. It's easy to get off course. That's what Paul is doing here—course-correcting the church.

God Calls Us to a Higher Life

"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope." Paul announces who he is, and there is so much in that name. He went from persecutor to apostle because God calls us to a higher life. He has a bigger and better plan for us than we could plan for ourselves. Saul had set his eyes on the top of the Jewish religion, but when he met Jesus he realized God's purpose for his life was far superior to anything he could devise.

This is good news for our culture. A growing number of people in the West are agnostic or atheistic, often resting on evolutionary theory. But a study from a university in Birmingham, England, reported this past week found that one in five UK atheists and more than one in three Canadian atheists were not satisfied with evolutionary theory—specifically, they agreed it cannot explain human consciousness or the spiritual aspects of human nature. Evolution cannot answer the deep questions of origin, purpose, meaning, and value—and human beings cannot live without those answers. Consider Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, written by a man who survived Auschwitz. We need meaning and purpose, and God calls us to a higher life that supplies it.

God Commands Our Witness to a Lost World

Part of God's purpose is found in those words: "by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ." God commands our witness to a lost world. This commission is not necessarily vocational or occupational—God is not calling every one of us to be a paid pastor or missionary. Paul himself was a tradesman, a leather worker or tentmaker, with a day job to provide for his needs, and Timothy may have apprenticed under him.

Wherever God has placed you—in law enforcement, the medical field, engineering, construction, teaching—He placed you there for a purpose, and part of that purpose is to witness to a lost and broken world. We've watched that brokenness play out recently in Houston and Florida, and many of you feel pulled to help; that's why we'll send teams. That instinct to rescue and help is a God thing, not an evolutionary one—evolution says save yourself; the first law of nature is self-preservation. But God put in us the desire to reach out. And while we send relief, we must remember the most important thing this broken world needs is Jesus Christ. An apostle is "one sent with a message"—Paul was sent by Jesus with a message about Jesus, and every follower of Jesus has the same commission.

God Desires Humanity's Salvation and Eternal Hope

"God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope." God desires humanity's salvation and eternal hope. Many people picture God as an angry, white-haired man in the sky, ticked off at everything—the old man who yells if you step on his lawn—and some even blame Him for disasters. But look at 1 Timothy 2:

This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all. (1 Timothy 2:3–6)

God is pleased when we pray for people because He is our Savior who desires all people to be saved.

The One Mediator and the Exclusivity of Christ

Verse 5 trips up a significant segment of 21st-century Americans: "there is one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." Among the top objections to Christianity is the exclusivity claim of Jesus—"I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me." People say it sounds narrow, arrogant, even bigoted: what about the Muslim, the Jew, the person in Africa?

This surfaced publicly back in June, when a Trump administration appointee, Russell Vought, a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, was questioned in the Senate by Bernie Sanders, who was irate that Vought had defended Moody's statement of faith and the centrality of Jesus in salvation. Sanders said, in effect, "This nation is not for people like you." That is heavy coming from a United States senator, and this biblical view is not considered politically correct.

But consider: if you were diagnosed with a terminal illness and told there was an absolute cure in Vanuatu, reachable by only one flight in or out, would it be narrow and bigoted to say there's only one flight? Or would it be loving to tell you the truth? If it really is the only way, you would want to know. When Scripture says there is only one mediator, it comes right on the heels of "God desires all men to be saved." God is not in heaven saying, "Sorry, you were on the wrong continent." He says, "I desire all men to be saved, and I want you to know there is only one way." That's why Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel." Telling people the one way is the most loving thing we can do.

Timothy, a True Son in the Faith

"To Timothy, a true son in the faith." Paul met Timothy on his second journey (Acts 16). Timothy's mother and grandmother were Jewish believers; his father was Greek. Mothers and grandmothers have great influence in children's lives, and they had taught Timothy the Scriptures. When Paul returned to Lystra, he saw that Timothy was useful to the ministry and took him along, and for the next fifteen years Timothy traveled with him, even hearing firsthand as Paul dictated letters to the churches.

As far as we can tell, Paul had no biological children, but he had children in the faith. Titus and Timothy especially were close to him, and now he calls Timothy "a true son in the faith."

Grace, Mercy, and Peace

"Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord." Almost all of Paul's thirteen letters open with "grace and peace"—to the Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians—but here, and in 2 Timothy and Titus, he adds "mercy." There is much speculation about why, and honestly neither I nor the speculators know. But everyone wants grace, mercy, and peace in their lives. God's favor is unmerited, His compassion undeserved, and His peace unending.

Sociologists today often call for a meritocracy—a society where we all get ahead by our own merits and hard work. President Obama devoted his 2012 State of the Union to that very idea. That may be well and good for American culture, but every one of us should thank Jesus that the kingdom of God is not a meritocracy. If God dealt with us on the basis of our works, we'd be sunk—category-five sunk. If you're hoping God will weigh your good works against your bad and let you in because you've been a pretty good person, you have a big problem, because Isaiah said 2,800 years ago that all our righteous acts are as filthy rags before a holy God.

Praise God He deals with us on the basis of grace: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, lest anyone should boast." The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. Beyond grace—getting what we don't deserve—He gives mercy, not getting what we do deserve. We deserve the wrath of God, but according to His mercy He saved us (Titus 3:5). And because of grace and mercy we can have peace—peace with God, the hostility killed and put to death through the cross of Christ.

Only for Those Who Know Him

This is where people stumble: God's favor, compassion, and peace are only for those who know Him as Savior and Lord. That's why we want you to know Jesus as Savior and Lord, because in Him grace, mercy, and peace are forever and can never be depleted. You will sooner deplete the combined riches of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates than the grace, mercy, and peace of Jesus. Oh, that you would know it, and that we would obey the command of Jesus to share it with others.

Closing Prayer

Lord, we thank You for Your unmerited favor, Your undeserved compassion, and Your unending peace. I pray that it would be so evident in all of our lives—that those we see daily in our neighborhoods, at work, on the school campus, wherever we are, would see Your grace, mercy, and peace at work in us, and as a result Your joy. Stir in us a love for others, working in us by Your grace, mercy, and peace, and help us to share it.

It may be that you have never experienced the mercy, grace, and peace of Jesus, but you'd like to. Jesus came into the world to rescue and save sinners, and He desires you to know His grace, mercy, and peace. If today you'd like to receive His forgiveness by faith, pray with me: Dear Jesus, I recognize my need for You. I pray that You'd come into my life, forgive me of my sin and failure, and help me to follow You by faith. Lord, help me to know Your grace, mercy, and peace and to share it with others. In Jesus' name. Amen.