Grace in Abundance
1 Timothy 1:12-17
by Rev. Randy Quinn

We all remember the story of the Apostle Paul.  We know he was a devout Jew who zealously pursued the Christians because he saw them as an affront to his faith.  Luke tells the story early in his account of the church's history (see especially Acts 7:53 – 9:31), and Paul refers to it more than once in his letters.  We know that he saw the Christians as enemies of his faith and that the church saw him as their enemy as well.

Paul was ruthless in his persecution of the Christians.  And there is no question that he was a violent man (1 Tim 1:13).

What makes his story remarkable, however, is the sudden change that took place, a change that took place almost literally in a “flash of light” on the road to Damascus.  It is the quintessential story of dramatic conversion.

He went from being against Christ to being for Christ.  There was nothing in between.  He was changed suddenly by the grace of God.

But it isn't a story about sin so much as it is a story about forgiveness.

It's been nearly 20 years since it was released, but do any of you remember seeing The Mission starring Robert de Niro?

Early in the movie, we are introduced to de Niro's character, Rodrigo Mendoza, who hunts South American Indians and sells them into slavery.  He is a vicious and cruel man who gets into a fight with his own brother and kills him.

In his remorse, he seeks out a priest who provides a means of penance.  He is to carry his weapons and armor up into the tribal lands where he used to hunt and leave them there.

As Rodrigo is struggling up the trail alongside the river carrying the weight of his past when he meets some of the Guarani Indians he used to hunt.  They recognize him as their enemy.  One pulls out a knife and holds it to Rodrigo's face.  Rodrigo knows that death would be a swifter and gentler punishment than what he has been experiencing  But the Guarani also recognizes his remorse and rather than taking his life, cuts the ropes and frees him from his burdens.  It is an offer of forgiveness.

In that moment, Rodrigo realizes that he is not only guilty of killing his own brother; he is also guilty of selling slaves.  He is overcome with relief and joy and his life takes a dramatic turn.  Grace in abundance changes his life.

From that moment on, his focus turns toward God; and all who knew him see the difference in his life.

You may have your own defining moment in your life, a point from which you mark every other event.  For many people, September 11, 2001 is just such an event.  For others, it is the birth of a child.  For many people, there are moments in time that mark a transition from one thing to another.  When those events are associated with God's gracious intervention in time, they become conversion moments.

There is a before and after, but never an “in between.”

When he wrote what is quite possibly the most popular hymn in the English-speaking world, John Newton was speaking about that kind of change that took place in his life.  And rather than putting the focus on his own sinful past, Newton followed Paul's lead and pointed toward the miracle of God's grace that helped him see his own sin and offered a pardon for his past transgressions.  God's “Amazing Grace” was the focus of his words and his life.

But what amazes me more than Paul's story or any other story of dramatic conversion is the quiet confidence and trust in God's grace I have witnessed in the lives of those who seem to have their lives “together”.  I look at them and long to live my life as faithfully as they do.  If anyone deserves God's love, it's these rare saints who live humbly and faithfully in obedience to God.

In my own life there have been numerous people who have modeled that kind of humility for me.  Foremost, perhaps was my maternal grandmother, Luella.  And right behind her was my High School Sunday School teacher, LeRoy.

Neither of them ever spoke about their past sin, yet each of them seemed to rest undeniably on God's eternal and abundant grace.  The focus of their lives was on God and what Jesus had done for them.  The depth of their sin, the extent of their sin was not the issue.  (And, in fact, their lives were so exemplary that it was always hard for me to conceive of either of them ever having sinned!)  The wonder of God's love, the power of God's grace gave their lives meaning and purpose.

They didn't make a “quantum leap” from non-Christian to Christian; rather it was a growing into faith that developed over time.  But neither did they trust in their own ability to choose right over wrong; like Paul, they rested entirely on the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

They were as certain as Paul was that Jesus Christ alone assured their salvation.  But their faith is seen not so much in the words they spoke but the humility with which they lived their lives.  No one who knew them had any question about their faith in Jesus, even though they rarely spoke about him in public.

In recounting his conversion story in this letter to Timothy, Paul is also clear that the focus is not on what he had done before or after his conversion but rather on what God did and is doing.  This is not Paul's story; this is God's story.

Paul knew that for Timothy to be an effective pastor he, too, must learn to walk humbly before God.  Timothy grew up under the tutelage of Paul.  He did not have a sudden conversion to Christ.  But he must learn to rely upon God's grace, not on his relationship to Paul, not on his own skills and abilities; Timothy must learn to rely solely on the grace of God.  God must be the focus of his work or his work would be in vain.

As a young pastor, I know that was one of the first things I had to learn, too – and still need to be reminded of.  It isn't what I have done or can do that is important; it isn't where I have learned things or who my teachers may have been that matter.  My own faith in Christ and trust in his grace needs to be the foundation upon which my education and my experiences rest.

Ronda often tells people that whatever book I'm currently reading is always the most important book I've ever read.  While I don't always agree with her, the truth is that whatever book I'm currently reading is always the one I remember the best, so I generally refer to it more than other books I've read.

That's true of the current book I'm reading, Taking the Quantum Leap by Fred Alan Wolf (Harper & Row, 1989).  It's a book about quantum physics for non-scientists.  One of the things Fred Wolf suggests is that the current debate among physicists is as much a debate about philosophy as it is about science, that in reality scientists are revisiting the questions asked by the earliest scientist-philosophers like Aristotle.

In Aristotle's day, one of the key questions was whether or not there was continuous motion in nature or only the appearance of motion as we move from one instant in time to another.  Philosophically the question is whether or not there are direct connections between events or if there is a disconnection.  Does the universe operate in an orderly fashion or is there a chaotic randomness to the world?

In today's discussions, the question is more recognizable by asking if our world is an analog world or a digital world.  Many of us grew up in one world and find ourselves living in another one.

I remember when I was in High School, for instance, and first learned about the binary digital codes used by computers.  I was convinced that analog computers were more accurate, that digital computers were only an approximation of truth.

But everywhere you look today, it seems that the digital concept is not only proving me wrong, it seems to be winning the philosophical argument as well.  Quantum physics has helped define today's scientific landscape while the continuum of the analog world is fading away.

In a digital world, there is only a “yes” and a “no.”  There is nothing in between.  It is an “either/or” world.  Things take place in “quantum moments.”  And as I have been reading the book, it seems to be describing the framework from which Paul's story is told.

Meanwhile the story of saints like my grandmother is more of an “analog” story.  Hers is a story of continuous movement toward God rather than a “quantum jump” in faith.  It was what John Wesley referred to as “going on to perfection.”

I'm not finished with the book yet, so Wolf may have a surprise awaiting me, but apparently scientists are beginning to believe that the world we live in is actually both at the same time.  It is both an analog world and a digital world.  In fact, he says, scientists can prove one or the other – and disprove each just as easily – depending upon what they are looking for.

In other words, whether grace is experienced in “quantum moments” or in a continuum depends upon what I am looking for.  The scientist/philosophers of our day would say that both are accurate descriptions of grace.  It is both “whelming” and “overwhelming.”  It is sudden and unique and it is constant and reliable.

But whichever way we see it, Paul says we must be able to communicate it in a way that makes God the focus.  What makes the story real is not how faith came to be, but rather how it is witnessed.

The story is told of a missionary in what is now South Africa who was met one morning by a villager.  The villager explained that he had seen the missionary in a dream.  It was a vision in which he was told the missionary had a stone of incredible worth.  The villager had come to see that stone.

The missionary wasn't quite sure what the man's dream meant, but he was carrying a large stone – it was what would have been one of the world's largest diamonds, in fact.  The missionary took the stone out of his pack, and when he saw how happy it made the villager, he gave it to him.

All that night, the villager tossed and turned.  Finally, when morning broke his restlessness, he went in search of the missionary and returned the stone.

“What I want,” he said, “is whatever you have that allows you to give away such great wealth as freely as you have done.”

It wasn't his words that convicted the villager; it was his humility before God that spoke to him.  It didn't matter if the missionary had come to faith in an instant or over the course of a lifetime.  What mattered was whether or not God was the focus of his life.

In the same way, Paul reminds Timothy that the focus of his ministry must be on God, not on himself.

I confess that it's easy to be one of those we've all known who speaks often about what God has done in their lives but always in a manner that keeps the focus on their own story, not God's story.  And that is not only a temptation for pastors; it is also a temptation for each of us as individuals and for congregations as well.

Too many churches, in fact, spend their time asking how many people are attending worship instead of asking whether or not God is the center of their worship services.  Sadly, too many churches worry about how much change is in the treasury rather than how lives are being changed.  And I'm afraid that too many of us forget the essence of our faith is not how good we are but how good God is.

The truth Paul points to is the truth that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”  His grace is more than sufficient.

May God's abundant grace be the focus of our lives and the stories we tell.

Amen.