“The Perfect Example”
1 Timothy 1:12-20
Jim Dalrymple | Ozark Christian College
Notice how Thanksgiving and Doxology frame Paul’s testimony.
Formerly I was...
● Blasphemer [charge against Stephen in Acts 6:11!]
● Persecutor
● Insolent opponent
Paul’s own gospel story will frame up his approach to leadership and discipline in
the church.
But I received mercy
1:13 I received mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief
1:16 I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example...
Trustworthy Saying: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
the foremost.”
● Eph 3:8 I am the very least of all the saints.
● 1 Cor 15:9 I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
Paul is the “perfect example” of the gospel
● Your greatest witness to Christ’s patience might be in your greatest failure.
● Your experience of grace should shape your motives and interactions with others. His story shapes how he sees the false teachers in Ephesus.
Motives
Love
Truth
Witness
Salvation
Methods of prevention
Healthy teaching
Healthy teachers
Methods of confrontation
Correcting
Rebuking
Charge not to teach
Hand over to Satan
Whom I have handed over to Satan [see Job 2:6]
Church discipline, like the expulsion from the garden, is merely a recognition that the state of our relationships has already changed because of our sin.
God hands people over to their sin (Rom 1:24, 26, 28).
Others hand themselves over to sin (Eph 4:19).
The church gives others over because of their sin (1 Cor 5:5).
Purpose of the disciple = So that they may learn not to blaspheme.
● Remember that Paul referred to himself as a former blasphemer! (1:13)
