The People Who Equip the Saints
1 Timothy 1:12-17
November 19, 2023
Three years ago Chris Young was named as the General Manager of the Texas Rangers. At that time he talked to longtime Ranger broadcaster, Eric Nadel, and said something like, “We need you to stay our broadcaster because we are going to win a championship and it isn’t going to be long.” Two weeks ago Nadel said, “I didn’t believe him.” Fifty years of losing leads to that kind of skepticism. But Young had a plan, and sure enough, they finally won the World Series two weeks ago.
Young’s plan was a frequently tried approach — draft good, young players with high upside potential, and spend lots of money on seasoned players. Lots of money. So two years ago he gave out contracts worth half a billion dollars — to two players. And that wasn’t the end of his spending. The philosophy was pretty simple — invest as much money as you can in the best and brightest. As I said, it’s not an uncommon approach in baseball, in sports in general, or even in the world.
Have you noticed that God doesn’t work that way? He doesn’t use the best and brightest. He gravitates to the ordinary: as one writer noted, “God must delight in using ordinary people with ordinary gifts because He made so many of us!” But have you also noticed this: God doesn’t only use ordinary people, but He uses weak and broken people: “Make no mistake: whatever our aspirations and achievements for God, we will never be far from weakness and sinfulness.”
We are thinking over the last weeks of this year about “Equipping the Saints.” Last week we talked about the goal of equipping — what do we want to do in teaching and discipling? Today we are considering the question, “who will do this work of equipping?” Who will do the work of building up others — who will do the work of the ministry? And what we are going to find in 1 Timothy 1 is —
God’s greatness is revealed when He uses saved sinners to serve Him.
By the end of the passage, we are going to find that the emphasis on the passage is not on man who serves, but on God who saves, equips, and uses sinners. And because the emphasis is on God, we will find that Paul provides four responses to God who uses sinners to serve Him —
- Thank God Who Uses Sinners to Serve Him (vv. 12-14)
- He strengthens sinners for service (v. 12)
- He “mercies” sinners from sin (v. 13-14)
- Trust the God Who Uses Sinners to Serve Him (v. 15)
- Be Encouraged When God Uses Sinners to Serve Him (v. 16)
- Remember Why God Uses Sinners to Serve Him (v. 17)
Download the rest of this sermon on 1 Timothy 1:12-17.
The audio will be posted on the GBC website by tomorrow.
Words of Grace 