The Gospel Mission

November 25, 2007 8:34 pm admin 1 Timothy, Sermon-Texts

An exegetical treatment of 1 Timothy 2:1-7 addressing the theme of how people come to believe in the gospel. This sermon was originally preached November 25th of 2007 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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Noveber 25th, 2007
Pastor Duane M. Smets

“The Gospel Mission”
1 Timothy 2:1-7

I. Prayer - asking God to draw people to faith
II. Godliness - depending on the gospel to change you
III. The Blood of Christ - the center of our message

1 Timothy 2:1-7
1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Introduction

Good morning everyone. It is so good to see everyone. I am here today with my wife Amy and our new daughter, Adina Rain Smets. She is incredible. I never could have imagined how much I would love this little baby. I also never could have imagined how much diapers and lack of sleep. J

But it is really good to be here. I missed you guys and the church so much. I had not taken a vacation in over a year and a half. So I took the last two weeks off work both from the group home I work at and off of being pastor to help take care of Adina and spend time with her and Amy. So I just want to say thank you to everyone for giving us the time and the space just to focus on our family for a little while. All of you were so kind, so many calls and emails and text messages and everything. Thank you.

We are a church that highly values family. Family first. Before everything. That wasn’t quite the way I grew up. Family was sort of an add on to everything else. So I am trying to create a precedent in my own life and in the character of our church that family is really really important. And I’m glad to hear it’s been working. In the beginning of this church plant a lot of the feedback we would get from people was that we were “too cool.” You had to have tattoos or piercings and listen indie rock in order to get in the door. I was glad to hear from someone a few weeks ago that we seemed to be a good church for families but not single people. That’s awesome! That’s totally what we are about, turning single people into families! J

So, now we’re back and it’s good to be back. I had a couple of my friends fill in for the preaching the last couple weeks and hopefully you enjoyed that and it was beneficial to you. Being gone was so hard for me personally. I pretty much just locked up my office, with computer and phone and everything and when I went back in there yesterday it seemed like there was an extra thick layer of dust on all my books and my desk. But what was hard wasn’t not preparing for sermons and what not, but just being in contact with you all. See your faces and talking to you during the week. I really love this church. It sort of felt like the time when Amy and I first became boyfriend and girlfriend in 1997, over ten years ago…It was Easter vacation and being gone from her made me realize how into her I really was. J So I’m into you guys and this church plant! J

Okay, so you’re probably wondering what we are doing with our study today and the next few weeks. It was a difficult decision. The main reason it was difficult was because it has already been over a month since we have been in the book of Romans, which we are studying through here at The Resolved Church. Due to not knowing when Adina would be born we held off from starting the next section or series in Romans. But now next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, in the Christian calendar. Advent is the start of a new year for Christians and is the time when we focus on the brith of Jesus Christ and it’s monumental meaning for the whole world. So I had to decide whether we start the next series in Romans and work with it during the Christmas season or whether we would wait until the calendar new year to go back to Romans and preach through Advent like we did last year.

I decided to hold off on Romans until the new year. Here is why. One, the theme of the next section of Romans really fits better with the new year than it does with the Christmas season. It is a section about suffering and hope for what is ahead and it just didn’t feel like it fit too well to be focusing on those things during Christmas. Two, advent is really imporant. We are a church the celebrates tradition. We are not anti-tradition. 2 Thessalonians 2:15 says, “Stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.” Tradition is important.

There is one thing I like that came from John Wesley, for those of you who know who he is, and that was something called the Weslyan Quadrilateral. That’s a big word but basically it is saying there is four things which are the basis for our faith. In order they are: 1. Scripture 2. Reason 3. Tradition 4. Experience. I like that. Tradition is important. Part of knowing who you are is knowing where you come from and whose path you want to follow. So tradition is important and Advent is a tradition of Christian Churches that goes all the way back to the early church.

Then the third reason why we are holding off on Romans for awhile longer is because culture is important. We are a church plant, which means we are in the process of trying to start a church. It’s one of the hardest things anyone can ever do. One, because most people are not even into Jesus in the first place. And then of those who are into Jesus, very few are actually down to give above and beyond of their time and energy and effort to try and start one of his churches. It’s like, very few people are Christians. And then of those Christians very very few are super-Christian enough to want to start a church. So planting a church is hard.

But we believe Jesus told us to and that he has called us to plant The Resolved Church in the city of San Diego. And a big part of planting a church is being aware and relevant to the culture you are living. If I was going to go to South Africa and start a church I’d learn their language and culture and way of life and then work within that to try and reach people for Jesus. So same thing here and here in San Diego Christmas is a big big deal.

I couldn’t believe on the news the other night about “Black Friday.” At the Best Buy in Mission Valley people were camped out over night to make sure and get the best deal for Christmas presents. They had tents and eveything and were sitting on the pavement and a line wrapped around the building. They had pictures of them on Thanksgiving eating turkey and pie and eveything there on the sidewalk! I talked to one guy and he said he got there a little before four in the morning to try and get a computer and monitor and printer for $150 but by the time he got in the door they were all gone. Apparently the day is called “Black Friday” because it is day that determines whether many businesses will be in the black, the positive money side of things or not.

Christmas is consumerism gone crazy for many San Diegans and so it is important for us to talk about it and talk about Advent. It’s part of becoming a city within a city. So next week I’ll start the first of our four advent sermons. We’ll look at a different text each week that focuses on the theme the Advent week’s candle.

Okay, so that’s a lot of catching up. What about today? Today I want to preach a sermon I had been working on the week before Adina was born. It’s a short sermon designed to encourage us and spur us on in the gospel mission. So open your Bibles to 1 Timothy 2:1-7. (It’s right after Thessalonians and shortly before Hebrews)

About a month ago I preached a difficult sermon about where we are at as a church plant and what needs to happen. After that sermon I thought you might all leave. But you didn’t, you’re here and church still happened for two weeks, without me. That’s awesome! That tells me that we have a group of people who is really down to plant a church. So how does it work? What is God’s design? My job as Pastor is to make sure you’re taught well and that I’m leading by example. So today we’re looking at a passage of Scripture which outlines really well for us how the gospel works, how people come to faith in Jesus Christ. So let’s read the passage.

I. Prayer - asking God to draw people to faith (verse 1)

Paul, the same dude who wrote Romans, wrote this letter. He’s in jail, near the end of his life and he writes this book. Right off the bat, Paul tells us where mission begins. It begins with prayer. In this one verse he uses four different words for prayer: prayers, supplications, intercessions, and thanksgivings. Prayer is a general word for communication with God. Supplication is the humble asking of someone with power. Intercession is pleading on the behalf of another. And thanksgiving is recognizing the true source or cause of things, God, and the goodness of the things God grants. Prayer, supplication, intercession, thanksgiving. Paul says, “I urge you…” pray, pray, pray, pray.

Prayer is the key element of where mission begins. No one will ever get saved who was not prayed for. No one ever becomes a Christian who did not have someone praying that they would. (repeat) This is so important. Prayer matters and really does make a different. You don’t grow in your walk and maturity in Jesus if you are not praying and you neither does anyone else.

What is prayer and why does it mattter? Prayer is simple. It is communication with God. It is one of the huge changes that takes place in the soul after becoming a Christian. Before believing in Jesus, God is an uncertainty. A distant possible reality. But after Christ penetrates your heart there is a sweetness and a tenderness and a courage to call upon the creator of the universe because he is now not a scary far off judge but a father. Prayer is simple. It does not have to be complex or wordy but the communication of your heart toward God.

And what do you pray for? We pray for two main things: for others and for ourselves. Look at the text. Verse 1, I urge you to pray, pray, pray, pray for what or who? Verse 2 “…for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Notice the connection between prayer for people and salvation. Paul starts from the top down, the kings and everyone that many might “be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.” The early church new this. Micahel Green has written the most comprehensive scholarly work on the spread of the gospel in the early church and how it literally turned the world upside-down in such a short time. In his book “Evangelism in the Early Church” he quotes one of the early church fathers who said, “Pray without ceasing on behalf of other men. For without it there is no hope of repentance that people may know God.” Green writes, “Evangelism is God’s work through men. The apostles knew that he would not reveal himself to the lost in saving power unless they displayed their utter dependence on him through prayer. It was then, with prayer as their main weapon, that the early Christians set out to evangelize the world.”

Notice in our passage that it is a big vision. He says to pray for kings and all those in authority. Paul was praying that his nation and the whole world would come to Christ. It is especially mind boggling when we discover that the main political leader at the time Paul wrote this was Nero, who eventually put Paul to death.

Nero was the king, the Emperor of Rome and he was a monster. Nero murdered his own mother, kicked his favorite wife in the stomach when she was pregnant. Then “married” a young man who looked like his dead wife. He loved beautiful things and was an artist and architect but he hated the old city of Rome, so he developed a contest to design a new city. Suprisingly he won the contest and shortly after ordered that the city of Rome be burned. While the imperial city was in flames, he went up into a tower, played on his harp, sung the song of the burning of Troy, and openly declared that “he wished the ruin of all things before his death.” The people of Rome were outraged and in response Nero became determined to blame the whole thing on the Christians. He made Christianity illegal and killed many Christians. He had some sewed up in skins of wild beasts and then eaten by dogs until they died. Others he dressed in shirts made stiff with wax, fixed to trees in his garden and then set them on fire to light up his garden. The apostle Peter was also one who was killed by Nero on a cross.

So Paul says to pray for kings and leaders and the main king and leader at the time was Nero. Well, Nero did not become a Christian, but not long after him a Roman emperor did, his name was Constantine. It was with this kind of vision and passion and prayer that the gospel really did turn the world upside-down and whole cities were converted.

It’s hard to imagine to tell you the truth. Can you imagine a mass conversion of the whole city of San Diego? There are so many barriers and objections and hardness of heart and love of other things rather than God. But nothing is impossible with God. It can happen and it starts with you and I and our prayers.

We are following our savior’s example when we pray this way. In John 17:20-21 Jesus prays, “(Father) I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word…that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

There is an old story my dad used to tell about a guy who committed himself to pray for the salvation of five of his friends. He prayed everyday for them and it took five years before the first one came to put his faith in Christ. The man was overjoyed and was spurred on to continue praying for the other four. After another five years the second one came to Christ. Amazed, the man continued to pray and oddly after another five years the third one came to Christ. He had been praying now for his friends for 15 years. He continued to pray for the remaining two. And after another five years the fourth one came to Christ. The man had built a reputation for himself and his prayer for his friends. They all knew he was praying for them. Another five years went by and sadly the man died before the fifth friend became a Christian. But you know what happened. At the man’s funeral the fifth friend showed up and during the funeral the minister shared the story of this man’s passion for the gospel and at the funeral the fifth friend put his faith in Christ.

That man’s task is our task as well. To pray for our friends and our leaders and our city. Do you pray for specific people by name. If you don’t I encourage you to write down some names, put the paper in your Bible, and regularly pray for them to become Christians and tell them you are praying for them.

II. Godliness - depending on the gospel to change you

And as you are asking God to draw your friends to faith, also ask God to work in you to make you a good example. We pray for others and we pray for ourselves. Notice in the text where it says to pray that we would be able to “lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

This is the work of the gospel in our hearts. When we first become Christians we have a whole lot of junk. And it takes awhile for us to mature and for the tangled mess that we are to come untied. But the gospel is real and it really works in the heart and really changes us and enables us to become “godly” and “dignified.” We are a church who is all about mission and reaching out to lost people and building bridges into their lives and cultural understandings, but the danger is always that in our reaching out we may sell out and our friends would see no difference in us versus them. It doesn’t make Jesus look good or appealing if we are still seeking salvation in the same things they are, falling into the same sins and traps of evil. We don’t look satisfied with Christ. The gospel, if we are sharing it with them, doesn’t sound appealing. Why do they need something that doesn’t really seem to have any effect on you?

Let me try and give you an example. You tell your friend about Jesus and how your faith in him is changing you, meeting the longing of your heart, stabilizing your life, giving you hope for eternity and a real relationship with God…and then the next day they hear you whining and complaining at your job about how much life sucks and how you are not making enough money and how this person you work with really gets on your nerves and how it is so expensive to live in San Diego and how you don’t have a girlfriend or a wife or how your wife is so annoying and being a dad is so hard. What that says to your non-Chrisitian friend is, man his life sucks too, so I guess Jesus really isn’t the answer. What reason have you given your friend to even want to become a Christian?

Now, I’m not saying Christians don’t struggle and I’m not saying don’t be honest or share your struggles with people…but tell Christ-centered stories about how these things are really difficult but the gospel has helped you in this way and is changing you in this way and giving you hope because of Christ. You need to break down the misconception that Chrisitans are so different than everyone else. We deal with the same things but we deal with them with the true answer for a fallen world, Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection. Because of Christ we can tell completed stories of how God has worked out and purposed our growth and drawn us closer to him through our struggles and has given us a heart of adoration and worship toward him for his greatness.

That is the key. Letting the gospel change you and then sharing with others how it has changed you. I truly believe that as we grow up into Christ then we will grow out numerically. We need to live peaceful and godly lives that are dignified and make Jesus and the gospel look really good.

I’ll try and give you a personal example of the gospel at work in me. When we started this church two and a half years ago, I have to admit that one of the reasons, not the only reason, but one of the reasons I wanted to start a church was I just thought churches were not cool and if we could create a “cool” church then people would just flock through the doors. I had been a youth pastor and then a college pastor at these churches that seemed to be stuck in the seventies singing lame songs off key and decorating the buildings like someone had just come off some Jesus acid trip and decided to paint the walls green, put in red carpet and write Jesus name in script across the back wall.

Here’s my heart in the thing. Why was I upset at those things and what did my heart really think was the answer? I was upset not because some people had bad artistic taste but because I didn’t feel like the pastor or the church or the Christians really loved me and understood me because they were trying to force me into some lame mold that I wasn’t interested in. And as a young pastor what did I think was the answer? Just to create some new lame mold to try and force other people into. In planting this church I have been learning the gospel. It is the gospel that comes into the heart and says, I am enough, Duane, you are not enough, you are not smart enough, not clever enough, not cool enough, and in fact you are quite a mess, but God loves you more than you ever dreamed and sent his son to die for you and is changing you from the inside out to make you more and more like Christ. And none of that change depends on you and how well you perform. Even in the past couple months I have been learning more and more to trust God with this church plant and with my life as the head of my home and my responsibility to provide for my wife and my daughter. God is enough and he died for me and will take care of me and he will take care of you as you trust him with your life.

III. The Blood of Christ - the center of our message

You see, the blood of Christ is always the center of our message. It is what everything comes down to. It is the starting point and the ending point. Look at verse five and six. “For there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.”

The blood of Christ is the center of our message. I say blood because of that word “ransom.” Ransom is a price paid. And Jesus paid a price for our sin and the corruption of our hearts and lives, he paid it on the cross in blood. Ephesians 1:7 says, “In (Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace.”

God is real and our detachment from him is a real reality and Jesus Christ is the only true mediator, the only one who can re-connect us with God. Jesus is the only one who did something in time and space on a cross that can change the hearts of people everywhere and open up the glorious goodness of God intimately into their life. Jesus Christ is the only true answer to this life and the life to come.

Hear the story of Christ. Among all humanity there is none righteous, not one, all have turned aside and worshipped and served other things rather than devote their life in loving worship of the one true God. That is wretched, treasonous, it is the scandal of all. To take eveything good in this life and not recognize and love the one who gave it to us and who sustains it all. We are evil people who have turned away from a good God. And if he is good he will hate evil and punish sin, which is a major problem for us because we’re guilty.

So God sends Jesus into the world. Jesus, his only unique son. Unique because he is fully God and fully man. Jesus is born a baby, lives a perfect life and then dies a eternal death as God, an eternal death we deserve, and then he offers us his perfect life and righteousness and pardon. When he died he paid a price for our sins, a ransom, and he gives us new life freely through faith. Jesus death was not an easy thing. It cost something. It cost his blood, bleeding for you and I.

And that truth pierces our heart and becomes the motivation for our lives. We don’t earn righteousness or favor with God by trying to become better Christians. No, we work at developing peaceful and godly, dignified lives out of our love and thanks to Christ for what he has done for us. Thanks and joy and love is our motivation.

Hear the story. Jesus Christ. He is the mediator. Anything truly good in your life will be because of Christ. He is it. The one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ. He is it. He is the story we share. Paul says here that he was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of these things. And it is not only him, but God has appointed each of us as well to be carriers of the message of Christ. The book of Mark in the Bible ends with these words from Jesus, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel.” Every Christian is given the responsibility from Jesus to go and tell people about him, who he is and what he has done.

Conclusion

Let’s conclude. This is a short message. A message about how people come to faith. There’s three pieces here. Your prayers, how you live your life, and telling people about what Jesus did on the cross and how it changes you. That is how I became a Christian. Someone prayed for me. I saw something in someone’s life. Someone told me about Jesus and I believed and it has been changing me ever since.

That is how every person who is a Christian in this room became one and that is how anyone who will ever become a Christian becomes one. So that is what we need, that is how the gospel works, that is how this church will grow. We are not interested in just having people who are already Christians come here because we are a cooler church or do things better or because we have good better Bible teaching. No we are interested in people who don’t know God coming to know him through the mediator Jesus Christ. And for that to happen we must pray, we must live good lives, and we must tell the world about Jesus.

As you come to the table today to receive the grace of Christ in his body and blood the wine and the bread, I encourage you to take names to the table today. Ask Jesus to save some of your friends and if you don’t have any friends who don’t know Jesus ask him to give you some. Second, when you come to the table ask Jesus to show you an area in your life that needs a little more godliness in it. If you know it already confess it as sin and ask Christ to change you with his gospel. And lastly, ask Jesus to enable you to share the gospel message of Christ dying for your sin. Jesus paid a price, a ransom and he paid it for you. Let us go to him now in prayer.