A message in favor of religious tradition

by Michael Fischer

And all good Baptists hear that title, raise their deflector shields and think, "Hold it right there! If it’s not from the Bible, we don’t want to hear about it from the pulpit!" Relax, I won’t lead you astray. Turn in your Bibles to I Timothy 1:15:

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief."

There are four passages of Scripture that Paul describes as "faithful sayings." This is the first one. I hope to do a message on each of them, if the Lord permits.

There are three parts to this verse: the preface to the saying, the saying itself, and Paul’s comment on the saying. This will be the first time I have ever preached a traditional three-point message, so who knows what will happen?

1 – the preface to the saying

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation"

What Paul is telling us here is that the saying is unattributed – we don’t know who first said it.

It must have been a current saying in the church at that time. We have current sayings in our own church, like, "What would Jesus do?" or, "If it’s new, it’s not true, and if it’s true, it’s not new." We don’t really know where these sayings came from. They aren’t in the Bible. But they do reflect Biblical truth as we understand it. They are our religious tradition.

So in Paul’s time, this "faithful saying" was religious tradition. Paul is setting his seal of apostolic approval on the saying with his preface to it.

So, for us, it isn’t religious tradition; it’s part of God’s Word. (Everybody can relax.)

2 – the saying

"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." That’s what we call a foundational truth of our faith. Let’s take a moment to consider each section of that statement.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners

That’s what the Bible says. That’s why He came. If you ask worldly people why Jesus came, they have lots of interesting ideas. Too bad they’re all wrong. I’m sure you’ve heard a few of these:

3 – Paul’s comment on the saying

"Of whom I am chief." The NIV says, "of whom I am the worst."

This isn’t part of the faithful saying.

Why did he think he was the worst? He tells us why –

Also notice, he didn’t say, "of whom I was chief." In spite of his amazing testimony after his conversion, and in spite of the fact that his sins were forgiven by the blood of Christ, he still thought of himself as the worst sinner who ever lived.

Was Paul the worst sinner who ever lived?

No. He couldn’t be. Paul wasn’t the worst sinner who ever lived, because I am.

Okay, Mike, you’ve got your nerve. Holy Scripture says Paul was the worst. Where do I get off, saying I’m worse than Paul was? I’ve got my reasons:

Don’t answer this out loud, but consider it: Do you think you’re the worse sinner who ever lived?

The entire point and purpose of this message is: because this faithful saying is worthy of all acceptation, I would like all of you to adopt it into your own lives, and Paul’s comment on it as well. I would like you all to become convinced that you, each of you, individually, are the worst of sinners.

Why? Is there any great value in believing this?

I don’t think so, but there is a great danger in believing the opposite.

What I mean is this:

If you don’t believe that you are the worst of sinners, that means there is another sinner out there, somewhere, maybe in this room, who is a worse sinner than you are.
That means there’s someone whom you think you’re better than.
That means there’s someone whom you might be looking down on.

And what’s that called? That’s pride. That is the satanic opposite of how we ought to live.

The way we ought to live is, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand." (I Peter 5:6a)

A man who is humble does not look down on anyone.
A man who is humble does not think he is better than anyone else is.
A man who is humble puts himself at the bottom of any comparison between one man and another.

Is that because we really are worse than everyone else is?

That’s not the issue. That’s not even worth discussing.
Godly humility puts a man at the bottom of any comparison because –

There are no degrees of goodness or badness when Christ is our yardstick. That’s like quibbling over a quarter of an inch when you’re measuring the distance between galaxies.

There are those who will quibble over that quarter-inch; there are those who can’t rest at night until they’re sure who they’re better than and who they’re worse than. What does Scripture say about people like that? Don’t go there with them. Or, to put it precisely, "We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves, and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise." (2 Corinthians 10:12) And if they are not wise, what are they? Foolish.

But what if the other person we’re comparing ourselves to is Adolf Hitler? Or the Emperor Nero? Or maybe one of the Popes who carried on the Inquisition? Surely we’re better than they were? They were monsters, by any definition.

That’s not the way we like to think. We like to derive comfort from thinking, "Yes, I’m a sinner, but I’m not as bad as [fill in the blank]." How do you fill in the blank? But that is how God sees us. That’s why it took the cross to pay for what we’ve done. That’s why Christ Jesus came into the world: to save sinners.

This sounds like a very negative thought. But actually, it’s very liberating. As soon as you stop looking for someone who’s worse than you, you also give up looking up at anyone, because you know we’re all on the same level – rock bottom.

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

If any of you wants to argue that I’m not chief, because you are, I won’t fight you for it. But I will pray with you, because I know where you’re at. I don’t know like Jesus knows. And I don’t need to know what you’ve done. But, as one chief to another, can we seek God’s mercy and favor together?

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