1 Timothy 1:18-20

"This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme."

Christian warfare doesn't involve tanks, guns, or forceful tactics. Believers are never to advance the gospel through shedding people's blood or through threatening them with some earthly consequences. The Christian warrior wages spiritual warfare through holding fast to his faith. The gospel permeates every aspect of his life, enabling him to look at the outworking of faith in his life with a good conscience. This kind of life is infectious, but it is not easy.

Holding fast to your faith is warfare. The entirety of the world's system is pushing you away from standing true in the gospel. False teachers want you to reject Christ's substitutionary (vicarious) atonement. Worldly acquaintances want you to live faithlessly, as they do. Your flesh want you to indulge it so that it can overtake you. And we are not impervious to these things. Christians never have to fall. But they often do, and when the dulling of their conscience is severe, it leads to an all out shipwreck of faith.

Paul could name people who followed this path (and I can too). He had encouraged them to repent, but because they had gone so far and rejected his calls to repent so often, he "turned them over to Satan." This is not some pagan sacrifice but a releasing from church care, allowing the person to have their own way. When a Christian pursues ungodliness with passion, he is left feeling deplorably empty and even depressed. This turning over to Satan should lead you back to Christ.

If you are a Christian who has turned from a genuine Christian life, be honest with yourself. You are miserable. Sin is not making good on its promises. Repent and turn to God. Reject the lies that you have believed and walk with God again. If you are a Christian who is holding your faith in good conscience, continue to fight to avoid shipwreck. How? Read your Bible. Pray. Share God's truth with others. Live out what you know to be true!

My prayer: You are merciful, Father. You know what is best for me and You urge me to it. You are my strength in battle. You keep me from destroying myself. God I pray that I would always war against sin in my life. Keep me close to You and far from shipwreck.

1 Timothy 1:17

"To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen."

Breaking from his personal testimony and his explanation of God's perfect grace, Paul erupts in sudden praise. Knowing God's work in his life, Paul cannot keep himself from praising this great God. After all He is worthy.

• God is the king of ages - He isn't God for us alone. He has ruled for all time. His authority is boundless.
  
• God is immortal - Not only has He always been. He will always be. He has no end and no beginning, and nothing can kill Him.
• God is invisible - God can not be put into a box or an idol. Man's attempts at limiting God are insulting! He is far more than we can understand.
  
• God is the only God - There is none like Him. Nor is there any who are almost like Him but just a little below. He far exceeds all that we can understand, and any attempt to make a God of our own choosing is setting up a god who is a no-God. Yahweh is the only God.
  

These things alone are reason enough to forever give God honor and glory. But He has given us further cause to praise Him. This transcendent, mind-numbingly big God has chosen to be intimately involved in our lives. Is He not involved in your life? Perhaps He is working in ways that you don't yet recognize. Rise up and praise Him now.

My prayer: Father, You defy my understanding. You are far beyond me. And yet you love me. Occupy my affections, my thoughts, my praise.

1 Timothy 1:15-16

"The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life."

Jesus came into the world to save sinners. We must accept this! Jesus did not come for the sake of those who are perfect. He did not come for those who had things under control spiritually. There are no such people. Jesus came to save sinners.

Jesus came for the worst of sinners. Paul called himself the foremost of sinners (perhaps because of his former opposition to the gospel's advance or perhaps because he just knew his own heart they way we know our hearts). Paul wasn't saying that no sinner worse than him could get into heaven. He was saying that if God accepted him, then everyone should know that God is extremely patient, and His grace is for you too—regardless of what you have done.

Are you a sinner? Then Jesus came into the world to save you.

My prayer: Father, it is hard to understand why You sent Your Son for sinners. It is such a mystery that many people have rejected it. But You sent Jesus for the good of Your sworn enemies. You love those who hate You. And Your mercy can change their hate into love. Thank you for loving even me, and help me to show others that You love them too.

1 Timothy 1:14

"And the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."

Regardless of who you are or what you have done, you can know God's grace in your life. Paul experienced God's grace. He describes it as overflowing. Though he was an enemy of God, God's grace didn't simply meet his spiritual need. It more than met it. God doesn't have just enough grace. He has more than enough grace. His grace overflows.

And what does overflowing grace look like? If looks like Christ. It looks like faith in Christ and love for Christ. Mankind is naturally hateful and distrusting. That any of us would ever stake our eternal destiny on One we have not ever seen with our eyes and that we would love Him, this can only come through overflowing grace.

My prayer: God, You are the God of all grace. You give blessings to we who deserve curses. You made Your Son a curse for us that we could know overflowing grace. I confess that I have sometimes considered it a very small thing that You should be gracious to me. Put me in wonder of Your work in my life.

1 Timothy 1:13

"Though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief."

Paul once ignorantly lived in violent opposition to the gospel. This ignorance was not ignorance of the message of the gospel. For though he heard Stephen clearly testify of Christ's fulfilling the Old Testament, Paul approved of Stephen's execution and proceed punished other Christians for their faith in Christ (Acts 7-8). Paul's ignorance was his unbelief.

Unbelievers often hate believers for no apparent reason. Believers go about doing good, and they are hated for it. Why? Unbelievers hate Christ and His followers because the unbelievers are spiritually ignorant of the good that obedient Christians are doing for people and for God's glory. The most educated of unbelievers will often have an ignorance fueled hatred for Christ that extends to those of us who follow Him.

We who are trusting Christ should be aware that the boldest, most intelligent opponent of the gospel is acting in ignorance. We should love our enemies. We would be like them were it not for God's saving grace in our lives. And who but God knows if our faithless persecutors will soon turn to Christ, becoming our brothers and sisters.

My prayer: You are full of mercy and power. You take those who hate You, and You completely change them. You have done it so many times. There is no one who is outside Your reach. I am truly small. And knowing some of my own limitations, I seek to limit You unnaturally. But You can do whatever You please. You can change those whom I would assume are without hope. You have done it and continue to do it. How You display Your power in Your grace! Father, help me to remember these things. And keep me from ever hating those who hate me.

1 Timothy 1:12-14

"I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."

Paul's letters to Timothy and Titus are well known for what they have to say about qualifications for spiritual office. There are entire lists detailing the type of person who might serve as an elder or a deacon. But here Paul sums up his qualifications with one word—faithful. God judged Paul to be faithful. But the basis of that judgment cannot be Paul's unblemished life of exemplary Christian service. Before the grace of God overflowed in faith in Paul's life, Paul was a passionate and deadly opponent of the gospel.

Perhaps God simply knew the type of man He would make Paul into. Regardless, God wants all His children to faithfully walk with Him. And it is in His strength that we can do this.

My prayer: Father, I need your strength. I know that in my own strength, I would know only failure and disappointment. I have known it before, and too often, returning to myself, I learn again that I need You. My God, I plead with you to strengthen me for faithful service—for a faithful life.

1 Timothy 1:10b-11

The law is for "whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted."

Christians can make the mistake of developing a fortress mentality, shutting themselves off from people discribed in verses nine and ten. Too often we misapply Romans 12:1-2, twisting "do not be conformed to the world system" to mean "do not go near anyone in the world system." We say "they are living 'contrary to sound doctrine.'" Indeed they are, and we should never look like that. So don't do anything that is contrary to sound teaching but instead spread sound doctrine to those living against it.

Though we cannot do so perfectly, our lives should reflect the glories of God. And we should use God's law to expose the reality that sinful man is not reflecting that glory at all. God's gospel worked out in our lives is the only way that mankind can ever hope to reflect the glory of the true God of Heaven.

My prayer: Father, the pull of the world's system is constant. And the evil one wants me to be swept away by it. But you are far more attractive than anything that the world has to offer. All other pursuits are empty. So please keep my heart from entertaining unhealthy, slanted, erronious teaching. May I live a life that reflects your glory, and please use me to direct those caught up in that empty way of life back to the only sorce of satisfaction—You.

1 Timothy 1:8-10

"Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine."

Ever since the fall, the purpose of the law has been to show mankind that we are not right with God (and that we cannot make ourselves right with Him). The law was never a means of earning favor with God. The law is for unbelievers, to show them that they too are sinners. It reveals that man is not capable of fulfilling God's standard.

If an employer had a lazy employee whom he never corrects, how will the employee know that his boss wants him to change? He cannot know. God has not left us wondering like that. We have His law recorded in the Bible (and written on our hearts). The law reveals that man's way, though right in his own eyes, is against God.

My prayer: God, I thank you for giving me your law. I thank you for revealing my sinfulness. I thank you for revealing my lawlessness. And I thank you for sending your son to fulfill Your law. I could never meet Your standard. All the best that I can muster is altogether unholy and profane. But You have made me just. I could never keep Your law perfectly. But Your Son died for me. When I look to Your law, I rejoice to know that You have kept it for me. It is not on me.

1 Timothy 1:6-7

"Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions."

Every time I read verse seven, I think about my time in a Christian college's dorm. There were many confident assertions made about the Bible there, but in many cases, the debaters barely knew what they were talking about. Their problem was immaturity.

The way to a mature walk with God is through love. In your dealings with other people, are you hoping they will look well upon you? Do you want to look smart or to look like you are further along then they are? If those are your goals, you will be easily lead astray into meaningless discussions. You will talk without understanding and think you sound good. But as 1 Cor.13:1 teaches, you will be a meaningless noisemaker.

If, on the other hand, you want your relationships to be valuable, you must be driven by love. Seek to understand God's love for you. And as you understand that love, share it with others by living example and verbal testimony. That will be a faithful stewardship of your faith, and it will protect you from lofty-headed worthlessness.

1 Timothy 1:5

"The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."

Right in the middle of a section dealing with the measures taken to thwart false teaching, Paul draws attention to the need for love. Love should motivate us. When a believer is right with God, they follow in His steps. And God always acts in love. Even when dealing with false teachers, we should follow this example and act in love.

1 Timothy 1:3-4

"As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith."

The purity of the church's teaching is a serious thing and was one of the major reasons Paul left Timothy in Ephesus. Timothy was supposed to stay to keep false teaching from spreading. There were some people who were becoming sidetracked. They were not focused on Christ and the outworking of faith in Him. These distracted people were giving attention to intellectually intriguing diversions that were directing them away from God and toward themselves.

A self-ward focus is incredibly easy to develop, but it is not satisfying. We are not designed to find happiness in ourselves. Everyone is designed to find his joy in God. And beyond that, for those who are believers, there is a special responsibility to find our joy by walking with God as we advance the plan of God in our lives. But when we focus on distractions rather than Christ, we are poor stewards who have given ourselves to worthlessness.

1 Timothy 1:1-2

"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, to Timothy, my true child in the faith: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord."

This greeting/opening to Paul's letter is rather standard. He identifies himself, immediately points to God and then prayerfully greets the one to whom the letter is addressed. Nothing out of the ordinary that demands particular attention. But when I read this greeting several weeks ago, I wondered what it means for Paul to be what he was "by command of God."

God has complete sovereignty over all aspects of our lives—what we do, what we think, how we interact with people, and how we approach Him. Most people (even some Christians) would view such a relationship as oppressive. And if a human had that kind of influence on another human, it would be oppressive—even abusive. But God is God. He is not like us. He wields this authority in a way that none of us could, even if we had the best of intentions.

Paul accepted God's command on his life. He embraced it because God's will is what was best for him. The same is true for me and all of God's creation. God, in His infinite wisdom, knows what is best for us. If we follow Him, we will find the greatest satisfaction possible.

I don't believe that that truth is necessarily the point of these two verses. But it is an underlying reality that makes the first a little clearer.