Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20120226.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
1 Timothy: God's Ministry Roles For Church Leaders And The Local Church
Part V: Overcoming Direction For Local Church Leaders From Paul's Personal Testimony
(1 Timothy 1:12-17)
  1. Introduction
    1. Local church leaders are targets in the angelic conflict, for God calls them to stand up to doctrinal error that false teachers who are fueled by Satan teach in opposition to them, 1 Tim. 1:3-4; 2 Tim. 2:24-26.
    2. As such, they must not lead in their own power by their sin nature lest they suffer spiritual defeat (Eph. 6:10-12; 1 Tim. 3:6, 7), and Paul's 1 Timothy 1:12-17 testimony of victory here directs and encourages all local church leaders that they might find God's victory in their lives and ministries (as follows):
  2. Overcoming Direction For Local Church Leaders From Paul's Personal Testimony, 1 Tim. 1:12-17.
    1. Paul's 1 Timothy 1:9-10 discussion on sinners and Christ's salvation gospel with which he was entrusted (1 Timothy 1:11) "triggered within him a powerful surge of gratitude," for his own conversion from sin to salvation and to the ministry as an apostle of Jesus Christ, Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 732.
    2. The strength of this gratitude is seen in the 1 Timothy 1:12 remark, "Thanks I have," where "thanks'" is "in the emphatic position" in beginning the 1 Timothy 1:12-17 section on Paul's conversion and ministry.
    3. This section directs and encourages all local church leaders in Church History, for it acts as a "prototype or pattern" (hypotyposin, 1 Timothy 1:16b; Ibid., p. 733) for all other sinners where "God's greatest enemy became His finest servant," and "(s)omewhere between these extremes fall all the rest"! (Ibid.)
    4. Thus, we view 1 Timothy 1:12-17 for that overcoming insight for local church leaders (as follows):
      1. Christ Jesus "strengthened" Paul with spiritual strength (endunamoo, Arndt & Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 1967, p. 263), 1 Timothy 1:12b.
        1. This included strengthening him with the Holy Spirit to live righteously (Rom. 8:3-4; Acts 1:8) by faith in the Spirit's power to boycott his sin nature, Galatians 5:16-23.
        2. It included equipping him with the spiritual gift of an apostle (1 Cor. 9:1; Gal. 1:1; Eph. 4:11).
        3. It included equipping him with the gospel and teaching for the Church, Gal. 1:11-12; Eph. 3:1-7.
      2. Christ Jesus also "considered" (hegeomai, Ibid., p. 344) Paul to be faithful, to be reliable, thus "appointing" him (tithemi, Ibid., p. 823-824) into Christian service as an apostle, 1 Timothy 1:12c,d.
      3. This equipping and appointing him upon considering him faithful to accomplish Christ's calling for him in ministry came regardless of Paul's dreadful pre-Christian sins, 1 Timothy 1:13a NIV: Paul had been a "blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man," underscored by the Acts 7:54-8:3, 9:1-2 record where Paul was heavily involved in Stephen's martyrdom, and in "ravaging the Church" by entering Christian home after Christian home to drag men and women off to prison (ESV).
      4. However, Paul obtained mercy because he did all this in ignorance of the truth, 1 Timothy 1:13b.
      5. Indeed, so great was the grace of God through the faith and love that is in Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 1:14), Paul rightly called himself the "worst" sinner due to such a record, 1 Timothy 1:15 NIV.
      6. Nevertheless, for this cause Christ showed him mercy, that when God saved and equipped Paul to serve Him regardless of his past failure, he would serve as the ultimate prototype for all Christian servants in Church History, proof that God in mercy could make them overcomers in life and service like He had done for the Apostle Paul, 1 Timothy 1:16.
      7. Paul's consideration of how God had made even his testimony of transformation from awful sinner to apostle of great value to others caused him to erupt in 1 Timothy 1:17 in a doxology of praise to God.
Lesson: If God took Paul who had been the greatest of sinners and saved and equipped him to be an apostle to the Church, an apostle who wrote about half of the books of the New Testament, then He can and will equip ANY saved church leader (or any other believer) to have a great ministry by His grace.

Application: (1) May we local church leaders and people in the pew trust the will and power of God to transform a sinner into a mighty tool of God as he relies on God and His equipping for service victory! (2) If God has clearly positioned one in a ministry role in the local church, be sure that he will succeed and not fail in that calling if he relies on the power, assignment and gifting God gave him for that task.