There is a place where peoples dreams have been crushed, their egos bruised, and their hopes dashed. Eager expectation has turned to frustration. Joyful hope has given way to grim despair. And silent pleas have seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. No, I’m not talking about Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Chiefs. I’m talking about elementary school playgrounds across the country, and perhaps even around the world.
How many young boys and girls have stood in line while teams were being chosen, just hoping that, for once, they might be picked first or second, or at least anywhere but last. But as name after name is called they realize that they won’t be picked early, and sometimes not at all.

In our text for today, we find someone who was chosen to be a part of a team. But this person didn’t seem like the kind of person who should have been picked. He didn’t seem qualified, and he didn’t seem capable of helping the team. As we look at the words of our text for today, we will realize that none of us deserves to be a part of the team that has been assembled. We’ll see how God chose us to be a part of his team, his Bible-believing, Gospel preaching team of Christians. And as we review how that took place, it will lead us to

“Marvel at God’s Grace”

I. His Patient Pursuit of Sinners
II. His Powerful Plan to Save Them

Our text takes place long after God had chosen the man who wrote these words to be a part of his mission team. The Apostle Paul was nearing the end of his time on earth and was preparing to encourage a new, young partner in the ministry named Timothy to understand how blessed and privileged he was to be chosen by God to serve him.

Thinking back on his life, Paul wrote to Timothy, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.” Paul quickly explained why he was so thankful as he admits, “Even though I was a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.” I’m sure you are all well aware of the past that Paul was talking about. We first heard of Paul as he kept the coats of the men who were stoning Stephen. We later learned that was well-known and feared for his relentless pursuit of Christians so that he could have them arrested and executed.

At that point in his life, Paul seemed like quite an unlikely prospect to serve on the Lord’s team of Christians. In Acts 26: 10 he admitted, “I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were executed, I cast my vote against them.” “Why pick him?” we might ask. And perhaps that’s a good question. Why pick your biggest enemy to be one of the people you want to help you? Paul knew why. He wrote, “The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”

Being chosen by God has nothing to do with qualifications, abilities, or personal talents. If that were the case, none of us would ever be chosen to be part of his family here on earth or eternally in heaven. In fact, we would all have to admit, along with Paul, that we are completely unworthy of being chosen by God to believe in Jesus and become heirs of eternal life.

I doubt that any of us acted as violently against the Lord as Paul did. I would be extremely surprised to hear that any of us has ever gone out and hunted down Christians so that we could have them executed. But we have all violently rebelled against the love of God, and we would all have continued to do so if God had patiently pursued us with his grace and mercy. Luke pointed out in Romans 8:7 that “the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.” All of the horrors and terrors that are taking place in the world today are evidence of this hostility toward God, hostility that acts out against other people and causes pain and suffering every day.

We struggle every day with what the Bible calls our “sinful nature” or our “old self” or as I learned it years ago our “old Adam.” At times we fail when we fall into sin, and those sins are sometimes very mean-spirited and malicious. And the only reason that we don’t continue down that road to the point where we find ourselves hunting down God’s people and having them executed is because “The grace of our Lord was poured out on (us) abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” In my teen class last Sunday I asked how big God’s love is for us, and one of the teens answered “uber” big—German for “real”big. Paul used the Greek “Uper” big—overflowing big.

Along with Paul we will all find ourselves marveling at how patient and gracious God has been. He was patient with us when we rebelled against him and his Word. He was patient when we let our Old Adam’s or our Old Selves lead us away from him. He just kept pouring out his grace on us, knowing that he would never run out, and knowing that one day his love would overcome our hatred and he would claim us as one of his children.

So, we might ask, why would God spend so much time and effort on us? It’s simple. God knew what would happen if he didn’t. He knew what would happen if he allowed us to run away from him and follow our own sinful desires. We marvel at God’s Grace when we realize how much effort he made to rescue us from a sure and certain eternity in hell.

II. His Powerful Plan to Save Them

Paul wrote, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.” There are times when we get a glimpse at how powerful sin really is. When we struggle with a repeated sin in our lives, even when we are determined to overcome it, we often find ourselves falling prey to its power. Paul couldn’t help but think about how terribly he had fallen to his sinful desires in his life as a persecutor of God’s people.

But Paul was thrilled to know that God was still willing to send his Son, his only Son, to take the punishment that he deserved and pay for the sins that he had committed. And he painfully confessed what he had done as a lesson for us. He added, “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.” Paul’s logic is simple. If God’s grace was sufficient to save a horrible sinner like him, it can save anyone. God sent his Son because he knew that he would win. He would withstand the attacks of the devil and send him to a crushing defeat on Calvary’s cross. He knew that those who would “believe on him” would “receive eternal life” and escape the pain of eternal hell.

As Paul reflected on what God had done to make it possible for him to one day live eternally in heaven, he broke out into a verse of praise. “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Paul wrote this letter to Timothy to encourage him to serve God faithfully as the minister that God was calling him to be. If he had written this letter to each of us, he would have also told us to serve God faithfully in the roles that he has given to us. So often we forget the real purpose of life. Too often we get caught up in the whirlwind of activities that surround us, the pressure to succeed that will mark us as a winner or a loser, the pursuit of earthly happiness that too often ends in sorrow.

Each day we live under the powerful guidance of our Lord. He waited patiently for his love to take hold in our hearts, and he sacrificed his Son to save us from the sins that had doomed us. We have been “appointed to his service” to live each day of our life with thanksgiving for what he has done and a desire to show our gratitude in all that we do.

In a perfect world, everyone would be the first pick on every playground in every town in the world. While that perfect world doesn’t exist here on earth, it does exist in God’s earthly kingdom of grace in which he has chosen each one of us to be a part of his family. Make God glad that he chose you as you live now to his glory, Marveling at His Grace.

Amen.

“The Peace of God….”

– Rev. Roger Rockhoff