4th Sunday after Pentecost.
June 12, 2005
1 Timothy 1:12-17.

How Shall We Seek and Save Sinners?

  Last week we read about Jesus calling Matthew. When the Pharisees objected to Jesus eating with tax-collectors and sinners, Jesus said, Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.

  Today we read that Jesus sent his disciples, the 12 apostles, to save sinners, specifically the lost sheep of the house of Israel. For that mission he gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. He gave them the power to do what he had been doing so that the people of Israel would know that Jesus was the Saviour of sinners. That was the first evangelism program if you want to call it that.

  Now it would be really nice if we too could also cast our demons and cure every disease and sickness! I think that would make evangelism easier. At least it would get people’s attention. But I haven’t noticed any of us with that kind of authority. So how can we continue the work Jesus has given us of saving sinners? The Epistle reading for the one-year series of lessons is from Paul’s letter to Timothy. As far as we know, Timothy didn’t cast out demons or cure every disease and sickness. Yet, following Paul’s example and instructions, he was very much an evangelist. Here’s one of the things Paul said to him.

  ¹² 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 honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

  That is not what we might call a program of Evangelism. But there is here a basic structure which we should understand and imitate, for it saved Paul! There are three steps to this structure.

  First, we must recognize the condition of lost sinners. Paul says that he acted in ignorance and unbelief. All sinners are lost in ignorance and unbelief. Being ignorant doesn’t mean that a person knows nothing about Jesus. Paul knew a lot about Jesus. But he didn’t have the trust and obedience we call faith. Paul was one of those people about whom Jesus warned his disciples: They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. (John 16:2). That was Paul. He didn’t know Jesus and so he didn’t believe that Jesus was the Saviour. Jesus contradicted other things that Paul believed to be true. So in this ignorance and unbelief Paul persecuted Jesus.

  Such is often the case with our friends and neighbours. They often don’t know the real Jesus! They may only know other people’s opinions about him. Maybe they heard that Jesus is a harsh judge who isn’t at all pleased with the way they live. Maybe they heard that Jesus is just another of many prophets. Maybe they heard that we don’t know anything about the real Jesus, only some things early Christians thought and said about him. When people live in that kind of ignorance, belief is out of the question!

  Ignorance is also often a problem within the Church among faithful believers. We too sometimes know more of what others have said about Jesus than what Jesus actually said. How often people say to me, “The Bible says this or that.” Only the Bible doesn’t say this or that! And so that person has a distorted view of Jesus and consequently a distorted faith in him. Like Paul, he can’t trust, serve and obey this man-made Jesus.

  What then do we do? We must listen to sinners, people outside the Faith, and talk with them. We must discover what they don’t understand or what false teaching they have believed. I know, for example, that many of my unchurched neighbours used to attend church. But I don’t know why they left. They won’t just come right out and tell me if I knock on the door and ask why. I have to get to know them. I have to eat with them like Jesus did, so that I can gain their confidence and discuss the real issues. Jesus could read their mind. He knew the issues. But unless the Holy Spirit gives you and me some gift of discernment, we’re going to have to get to the truth the old fashioned way: by getting to know our neighbour. And that won’t happen unless we try to make it happen.

  The second step is to teach them the true Gospel! The word of Christ is the means by which the Holy Spirit brings us to faith and keeps us in faith. This is the heart of Paul’s charge to Timothy. 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. Jesus struck Paul down and blinded him in the road one day. As soon as Jesus identified himself, Paul knew that he had made a big mistake! So Jesus didn’t read Paul the riot act; he had mercy on Paul. It was an act of grace, of pure, undeserved mercy. That grace and that grace alone changed Paul. False doctrine, myths, fantasy or speculation, will not save anyone. Such things might make a great day dreamer out of someone, but they will never bring a person to the knowledge of truth, mercy and grace.

  Now it is true that the law is a crucial and indispensable part of God’s Word. But we cannot misuse it. Paul says just before our text, We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers-- and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. (1 Timothy 1:8-11).

  In other words, the law exposes and condemns sin and threatens us. But that’s where it leaves us. By itself, it cannot bring us to faith in Christ. It prepares us for the Good News that changes us. 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.

  If we somehow tell people that being a Christian is about being good, they won’t bother. They already know they can’t and have no desire to try. But when they hear that Jesus forgives sinners and saves them from God’s judgment, when they hear that a new life is possible, when they learn of an example like Paul, that can make a difference. Remember what we all learned in Catechism class? “I believe that I cannot by my own reason of strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” We can threaten others with the law, but only when they know that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and that they’re included—only then can they be changed.

  This seems really simple, but it must not be simple. For if we listen to people who reject faith in Christ, we often find that they don’t reject the Gospel but some modern myth which they think is the Gospel. They don’t know the Jesus of the Second Article of the Apostle’s Creed. They know only a caricature created by some sceptic theologian who rejects the Word of God. And so they cannot trust in Christ. They are stuck in ignorance and unbelief!

  After we teach the true Gospel, the third step is to bring people into the church. Even though Paul had been a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, Jesus considered him faithful and put him in his service. Within days, Paul the persecutor of Christians became their teacher!

  Now it can be difficult to assimilate such sinners into the Church. They are often very unsavoury people. I keep coming back to Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Did you catch the phrase in the middle? That is what some of you were! Some of the Corinthians had been vile people. Yet now they were members of the church whom Paul called saints! Paul didn’t advise that the ex thieves and greedy be made the treasurers. Nor did he suggest that the ex homosexuals be put in charge of the nursery. Be he did expect them to be part of the Church!

  Jesus forgives unconditionally. And then he changes us. But that change happens within the Church. If we give people the Gospel and fail to bring them into the church, they are doomed to loose the faith and fall back into the old life. It’s like a drug addict just out of rehabilitation. If we don’t find that person a new life and a new set of friends he will just fall back in with the old group and old ways.

  Jesus put Paul into service as an apostle. He wants to put all of us into some sort of service in his Church. So if we want to seek and save sinners, we must assimilate them into the church. We have to welcome them not as what they were but as what they now are, people who have received Jesus’ mercy and have the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

  That will be difficult for us if we ourselves have not really assimilated into the Church. If I am only very loosely a part of Jesus’ body with little contact, not only will I risk falling away myself, but I will have a very difficult time helping others into the body. If therefore, you know that you need to integrate more fully into Jesus’ body, do it! Don’t just wait for someone else to find your niche in the Church for you. Look for it yourself! Ask others what you can do or be; pray that God show you. Then you will find it easier to help newly saved sinners into Jesus’ service.

  That then is how we are to seek and save sinners without the special authority to cast out demons and heal every disease and sickness. Again, this is not a mechanical, three step program. But these are the things that must happen if sinners are to be saved. We must understand them; we must teach them the Gospel; and we must bring them into Jesus’ body.