Stand firm: in the God who wants all people to be saved

What kind of salvation are you working for? Hoping and waiting for? I’m serious. What kind of
salvation do you really want? What is salvation to you? Is salvation finally graduating from high
school and moving out of mom and dad’s home? Is salvation making it to the weekend so you
can escape from the crazy busy-ness of the workweek? Would it be salvation to you if you finally
found that special person to spend your life with? Or if you finally had the child you’ve been waiting
for? Or if you got your license back after how many DUIs? If a cure was found for whatever disease
or disorder plagues you? Or you dug yourself out of debt? Or your child made straight A’s? Or got
into the right college? What is your salvation?

You and I need to be saved in such a bigger way than all of that. Some of these things might be
huge to you. Might be one of the only things in your focus right now. But you need a bigger, better
salvation than all of that. And you know what? That salvation is already yours. God wants you, God
wants all people, to be saved. So bad. 

Read 1 Timothy 2:1-8 2 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and
thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live
peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our
Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For
there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who
gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.
7 And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am
not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.

8 Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.

God’s salvation is so much more than the other “salvations” that usually end up front and center in
our focus. God’s salvation is this...All people have replaced the truth of God with a lie. The lie is that
we can be our own Saviors. Or perhaps that we don’t need a Savior. Either way, we can make our
own destiny. Live by our own rules and desires. Isn’t that what Eve wanted when she reached for the
fruit on the tree God told her not to touch? Did she not believe the serpent’s lie that she could be “like
God, knowing good and evil?” She believed the lie because of what it offered...Perhaps God was
hiding something from her. Perhaps life could be better if she could be exactly like God, on his level.
And Adam fell for the lie and the “what ifs” too. He joined in with her. So, what was on the other side
of what God had forbidden???

Hell. Absolute hell was on the other side of that decision to try and make a better future for
themselves than what God had planned for them in his perfect world. Their marriage fell apart
instantly as they pointed the finger of blame and were ashamed to be seen. They were too
embarrassed to be known for who they really were now as they hid behind the bushes. 

They were looking for freedom to do what they wanted...but they found slavery instead. Now
Adam would be a slave to the ground, his work, and trying to take care of a family in a fallen world.
Now Eve would have pain and frustration in child-bearing. They would struggle mightily to raise kids
together. To be one unified team in marriage. They would age painfully and die. Their body would
be ripped apart from their soul. Their bodies would decay. Their souls would be separated from the
God who made them, which is hell.

They were looking for a better life, but they found death...and they would die in every way. “But
you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it
you will certainly die.” Die, they would, in every way. Their enjoyment of work would die as they
pulled weeds. Their enjoyment of each other would die as they bickered and gave the silent
treatment. Their enjoyment of their children would die as they were caught up in power struggles
with stubborn toddlers and testy teenagers. Their enjoyment of life itself would die...why does life
suck so much, so much of the time???

God was so deeply saddened and depressed by all of this. The creatures he valued most, man and
woman, walked away from life with him by trying to live life on their own terms. But here comes
salvation...the mediator, the go-between Paul told us about. A one-of-a kind man who lived life as
God intended. Who lived in that Garden of Eden-like relationship with God, despite living in a world
of death and hurt and sin. He knew God was good and worthy of all of his trust and obedience. 
What is his name? The man, Christ Jesus. That name “Jesus” means “he saves”, after all. His name
is salvation.

But he died too, you say. Yes, he died, too! As the ransom for all people! From what did we need to
be ransomed from? By what were we held hostage by? By God’s death sentence that we had put
ourselves under! “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when
you eat from it you will certainly die.” And here came one who only knew good and did good and
said good to all kinds of people. One who knew the wreckage of evil so well that he wouldn’t have
anything to do with it. And he died on another tree by the hands of evil people like us...he died on the
cross. He certainly died! And oh how glad we are he died! Because when he died, he paid our
ransom! God released us from our death sentence, from our hell-sentence. And instead proclaimed,
“this One died so YOU can live!” THIS IS SALVATION!!!

Now look at what happens according to Paul when we stand firm in God’s salvation, when God’s
desire to save ALL people, all people who are exactly like us, is front and center in our focus. We
learn to ask questions like, “how is what I’m doing right now preaching Christ?” “How can I show the
people around me that God wants all people to be saved, especially in my daily interactions?”

Standing firm in God’s salvation, his desire to save all people, helps us live prayerfully. We can
replace our hate-filled comments on social media towards political figures with prayers. We can
replace our secret emails and texts about someone else with prayers. 

What kind of prayers and requests? All kinds! Paul uses a word we’re not used to...Intercessions.
Jesus became the mediator, the go-between, the intercessor between us and God. In Jesus’ name,
we can ask God to have mercy on any of these people, just like he’s had mercy on us. To bring them
to a knowledge of the truth just like he’s brought us to that knowledge. To save them just like he’s
saved us! That’s a whole lot more Christ-like than praying they’ll get hit by a truck. Because notice,
if you pray that about someone, you logically need to pray that about yourself. Because deep down,
you need Jesus’ ransom from God’s death sentence just as much as they do.

Paul also encourages us to pray “thanksgivings” for everyone. When it comes to our political leaders,
thank God that someone wants to do that job! There would be chaos without! Thank God for the
beneficial things they are doing for society. The same goes for people we have differences with in
our workplace and families.

Standing firm in God’s salvation also helps us live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and
holiness. We know where all this is heading. We know that having salvation means that we get to
live forever in God’s perfect kingdom. We know that God wants to save everyone else as much as
he wants to save us. He wants to free all people from the death sentence hanging over our heads.
How? Through faith in the once-for-all ransom payment that Jesus made. 

Godliness is having an accurate, true view of God. God tells us that he wants all people to be saved,
including us. God tells us what Jesus Christ has done to accomplish that salvation. God tells us that
faith in Jesus Christ, the ransom for all people, is the one way to God. Believe this! Live as if you
have salvation...because you do! Live as if God wants to demonstrate through you that he wants all
people to be saved...because he does!

Holiness is being in God’s circle. You are allowed to live in God’s circle. Now and forever. You
wouldn’t be allowed in God’s circle if that death-sentence still was hanging over your head. Think of
how bizarre it is that you and I are so much like Adam and Eve, living life on our own terms, so much
of the time. And still, God says you are holy! Special. Able to be in God’s circle of holiness because
he’s not holding your sins over your head! Believe that God has made you holy! Live a holy, special,
Christ-like life...because God has made you holy! You are holy!

God saved us from an ungodly, unholy life to live a godly, holy life. Leave ungodly, unholy ways
behind just like that death-sentence that is no longer hanging over your head.

Standing firm in God’s salvation helps us preach and teach the true faith to all. “I’m no preacher,
I’m no teacher,” you say. Our world doesn’t only need more preachers and teachers, my friends. It
needs parents, spouses, bosses, coworkers, friends and neighbors who want all people to be saved
as much as God does. Who are willing to pray for others, who are willing to mediate...get in the
trenches with suffering, hurting, ungodly, unholy people who are just like us. Not everyone listened to
Jesus when he preached and taught. When he was willing to mediate...when he got in the trenches
with the suffering, the hurting, the ungodly and unholy. But some did. And either way, he was showing
them what God was really like...how badly God wanted to save them. How crazy about them God was.
If you learn one thing from me in my entire time here...let it be this...God wants all to be saved,
including you.

Standing firm in God’s salvation helps us set aside anger and disputing and lift up our thankful
and needy hands in prayer. If we are standing firm together in God’s salvation, in God’s desire for
all to be saved, then we stop arguing and bickering about stuff that has nothing to do with that. We
start asking, “what does what we’re doing have to do with saving souls? With mediating between
people and God? With preaching and teaching Jesus as the ransom for all people? How could we
focus more on that, exclusively on that?” 

You see, people who truly believe God wants all to be saved as much as he wants us to be saved...
people who truly believe that there is one way for that to happen...faith in the mediator, ransom-payer,
Jesus Christ...people who truly believe that will set aside anger and disputing and lift our thankful and
needy hands up in prayer together. Thankful that salvation is ours and it’s ours to give away to all!
Needy because we know that God will always take care of the rest of our needs in such a way that
salvation will still be ours when we die.

We pray: “One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.
They tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might. Your kingdom is an
everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is
trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does. Amen!”

Stand firm: in God's grace for the worst of sinners

credit-Jason Jaspersen http://www.jjjaspersen.com/ 

purchased for St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran School theme 2019-2020

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.”

This is the 2+2 of the true Christian faith. This is the fundamental teaching, like a football player
learning their stance at the line of scrimmage. This is like grandma's special ingredient she puts in her
potato salad.

St. Paul, the worst of the worst of sinners, teaches us that we are more like our children that frustrate
us than we may realize or care to admit. We are more like our employees who let us down than we
realize or care to admit. We are more like our least favorite boss than we realize or care to admit.
We are more like our spouse that drives us nuts than we realize or care to admit. 

My friends, my dear fellow sinful friends, Paul’s teaching here equalizes the person who makes meth
with the woman who mixes juicy information into gossip soup and whose favorite line is "Did you
hear?" Paul equalizes the dead-beat dad with the man who withholds attention and affection from
his wife in pursuit of "other interests".

Paul uses three words to describe himself before Jesus. Blasphemer, persecutor and a violent man.
That was the past. But then he goes on to say “I AM the worst!” Present. “I AM the worst of sinners.”

Paul doesn’t make excuses for these actions and attitudes. He doesn’t compare himself to someone
else, “well at least I’m not as bad as them!” He doesn’t say, “well, just give me a chance, I’ll make it
up to you God. I can change.” No, he comes clean and admits it.

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst!”

If you only knew me...church. If you only knew the different forms that sin has taken in my life. I have
enormous compassion for those who are ashamed and embarrassed of some really foolish things
they’ve done. For those who are trying to keep their desires under control that could change the
course of their life forever. I even have compassion for those who are totally caught up in wild living

and don’t have a clue where they are headed. This a miserable way to live and Jesus came into the
world to save you, just like he came to save me and Paul. Most of these types of sins are behind me
a this point in my life, but sin takes MANY more forms. 

I have developed compassion for those who quickly develop opinions about other people and look
down on others and think less of others. For those who can’t stand people who have other
perspectives on life and spirituality. For those who feel like they are somehow better or more
superior because they’re of a certain political party or denomination or have a certain income level
or career or certain type of family. I’ve been like you too and still struggle with these things at times.
It’s a miserable way to live and Jesus came into the world to save you, just like he came to save me
and Paul.

One of my greatest struggles today is being patient with people who try to stop the grace of Jesus
from spreading to all these kinds of people. My sinfulness even comes out when I’m trying to make
sure ALL kinds of people get to hear about Jesus, experience our School, feel invited into our homes
and buildings and groups and worship. And I can feel righteous about it and get impatient with people
because, well, I’m trying to spread the gospel. And yet in the process, I’m acting so UNLIKE Jesus at
times.

Don’t you do the same thing when you want your kids to know who Jesus is, but you are mostly
harsh with them and annoyed by them and think that just a few more rules and punishments will
get the job done? Don’t you do the same thing when you want your coworkers to know who Jesus
is, but they would describe you as a person who is always trying to one-up everyone else? Who
compares how much work you’re doing to how little everyone else is doing? Who criticizes your
superiors mercilessly and isn’t happy unless you’re getting a raise?

Do you see now why Paul gives us this trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance?

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst.”

I demonstrated for you so far today how to accept the second part of that trustworthy saying. “I am
the worst of sinners.” Now, accept and trust the first part of that saying, “Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners.” 

Sinners like those of us who struggle with the more “wild sins” I described before. Sinners like those
of us who struggle with the more “sophisticated sins”, the “I’m-better-than-you” sins. And even the
sins of us who are trying to show God’s grace and teach God’s grace to children, grandchildren,
coworkers and the like, but get in the way of God. 

Jesus has shown you MERCY!

He came into the world not to damn you, but to be damned for you. If he had come to damn, we’d
all be damned. But he saved us from damnation by taking our death sentence for us. And as he
showed this mercy on the cross, remember how he even spoke it from his merciful, parched lips,
“Father, forgive those who are killing me, they know not what they are doing. I am being killed so
they can live forever with you, Father. Today, you, criminal on the cross, will be with me in paradise.
I have become the worst of all criminals so you can be the best of God’s friends.”

Jesus has dumped GRACE, FAITH, and LOVE on each one of us!

Next time you’re pouring that hot mug of apple cider, think of how Jesus has poured himself out
when he came into the world. We are the worst of sinners...he was the best of God’s sons. He
talked with the woman at the well who had five husbands so she could be filled by God and his
forgiveness and approval and not be thirsty for approval from men again. He poured faith into you
when he sent the Holy Spirit to do a miracle of miracles...replacing your hatred for God with trust in
God. Jesus loves you, even you!

Jesus has UNLIMITED PATIENCE for each of us.

Friends, never abuse God’s patience. Don’t minimize your sin, because, well, God is patient
anyways, right? No big deal, right? No! See Jesus coming to you again and again in the Lord’s
Supper, “Be reconciled to God, be reconciled to God!” See the Jesus of history who watched Adam,
and Eve, then generation after generation after family after family rebel against their God and still, he
kept his promise to come into the world to save sinners like you and me!

This same Jesus has appointed you to his service! What exactly is that service? You have become
a living object lesson of God’s mercy and grace, just like St. Paul! When you let people really get to
know you, they see how you have a God has had unlimited patience with sinful you. Then they can
believe and trust that God has the same unlimited patience, mercy and grace for them as well. And
eternal life along with that!

We pray along with Paul in verse 17,

“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”