1 Timothy 1:12-17
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him, 13 even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted his people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. 14 Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus.
15 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. 16 But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. 17 All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.
This morning’s reading reminds me of the one about a teacher who was teaching his class one day when he noticed a student fooling around with a yardstick. He told the kid to stop as it was distracting. Well, the kid did. But a few minutes later, the kid was tapping his desk with the same yardstick. Again, the teacher told him to stop so he did. Later in the class, the kid was poking his classmates with the yardstick. Once again, the teacher told him to stop. Finally, when the kid started poking the teacher with the yardstick, the teacher had had enough. He took the yardstick from the kid and began chastising him. “That’s it, I’ve had enough of your disruptions!” the teacher yelled. “What are you even measuring with that?!” The kid looked up at the teacher with a smirk on his face. “Your patience, sir.”
Kids sure do have a way of measuring the patience of the older folks around them, don’t they? We might think we’re patient people until we come up against kids. They just know how to do the darnedest things that really put that patience to test. And it’s one thing when it’s our own kids. It’s a whole nother thing when it’s the kids of others! I don’t know how teachers do it day in and day out, dealing with other people’s kids. I imagine they’d need a strong support group of other teachers to help keep them grounded though. Kids can be exhausting!
Today we’re starting another sermon series on Paul’s letters to his fellow evangelist, Timothy, and right off the bat we hear Paul giving thanks for God’s patience towards him. Paul always remembered who he was before coming to know the love of Christ. Paul was a great persecutor of Christians. He’d round them up and get them put in jail, hopefully put to death. Paul was more than simply an unbeliever. Paul was most definitely an enemy of God and Christ. Paul’s behavior was worthy of nothing but punishment and God would have been completely justified in punishing him. But God chose not to punish him. God chose to use him and his zealousness to help build God’s kingdom in this world. In effect, God chose to be patient with Paul. And rightly so! Despite his awful behavior, Paul was still a child of God and parents are expected to have more patience with their own children. But I can definitely see similarities between Paul and that kid with the yardstick. His behavior before his conversion on the road to Damascus was akin to a kid being wildly disruptive with a yardstick.
Paul recognized his terrible behavior, gave thanks for God’s patience towards him, then took it one step further. Paul used God’s patience to illustrate the truth of the gospel, that Jesus came to save ALL sinners. Jesus came to save not only the repentant sinners but the nonrepentant sinners as well, the sinners completely caught up in their sin. Friends, I think we can all agree that sin is bad, that sin leads to death and away from life. Sin has a crafty way of getting us to believe that it will lead to more life or better life but that’s not true. Sin leads only to death in one form or another. Now then, in Jesus there is only life. If we want to live, then all we have to do is go to Jesus. Lucky for us, Jesus comes to us too in which case then all we have to do is let him into our lives. The life within us wants the life he has to offer.
God was patient with Paul just as He is patient with us all. Regardless of whether we are repentant or not, we are all God’s children, so He naturally has a high degree of patience with all of us. God is patient that we’ll all come around eventually and seek his forgiveness for our sinful ways. As Peter writes, “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” (2 Peter 3:9) God knows the life within us wants the life He has to offer. God built that life within us! God planted that desire to live within us! I like what Peter also says a few verses later: “And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved.” (2 Peter 3:15) God’s patience actually gives us time! Sure, more time to continue in our sin but also more time to receive his grace and mercy. Talk about a true act of love! How can we not celebrate as David celebrated when he sang, “The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love?” (Ps 103:8)
And you know what? If God can have such patience towards Paul and us, then we can have patience with each other. Even with the children among us! God’s patience isn’t unique to God alone. No, God’s patience is an illustration of the patience we should share with each other. Believe it or not, we can be patient as God is patient. We can love as God loves. So as we dig deeper into Paul’s words to Timothy, let us also be mindful of God’s patience towards us and sharing that patience with others. And of course, let us give thanks for it! Thanks be to God!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
