1 TIMOTHY 1:12-17 THANK JESUS FOR THE PRIVILEGE TO SERVE2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Timothy 1:12-17 Thank Jesus For The Privilege To Serve

You are listening to Fervent Word, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2017.

Well, this morning as we look at 1 Timothy chapter 1, we're looking at Paul declaring his thankfulness for what God has done in his life, and particularly with the opportunity for him to participate in ministry.

And so I've titled the message this morning, "Thank Jesus for the privilege to serve." And I see here in the Apostle Paul a really needed example for us of this thankfulness that he has. He says, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me there," in verse 12.

And that word thank, it's connected to the word grace, which grace we'll see a little bit later as well. But grace is that receiving of God's favor, God's blessings that we don't deserve.

And so as Paul is talking about thanking Christ Jesus, he is talking about receiving that and the joy and the thankfulness that comes from accepting the gifts that God has given to us and accepting what it is that is provided to us through Jesus Christ. And so it speaks of that joy.

It speaks of that ability to rejoice in the gifts of God and the grace of God. And so this is what Paul is doing. He's rejoicing.

He's celebrating in this idea of ministry that has been given to him, in this opportunity for ministry or the privilege to serve in ministry that he has received. As we talk about ministry, we talked about it a little bit last week as well as we looked at Colossians chapter 4,right?

And the importance of ministry and how we all have various aspects of our lives that God has called us to obey commands in. And so we have been given a ministry. But as a quick reminder, this quote from David Guzik, I think, is insightful. He says, "Ministry simply means service." In the original language of the New Testament,

there is nothing high or spiritual about the word. It just means to work hard and serve. Yet for this former blasphemer and persecutor of God's people, this was a great honor. And you can see that in Paul's words here, the honor that he believed that it was,

that he felt as he had this opportunity to serve God in ministry. And we attach ministry to kind of the formal positions many times within a church or a congregation. But I like the way that he defines it. It means to work hard and to serve. And that's what ministry is.

It's hard work to serve God. And yet it is a great honor and a privilege, even though it can be incredibly hard and difficult, even though it can be costly and require great sacrifice. It is a privilege and an honor to serve God.

And Paul felt that. And he's expressing that as he thanks Christ Jesus who enabled him, counted him faithful, and put him into the ministry. And so as we look at these words from the Apostle Paul this morning, I would ask you to check your thankfulness. That thankfulness in our lives,

specifically in regard to ministry, specifically in regard to serving the Lord, it is a crucial measurement for us. So how thankful are you?

So the words that Paul says here in verse 12, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry." How accurate are those words if you are to say them? Do you have that kind of thankfulness? There's an issue if we're not thankful.

We could be not thankful for several reasons, but sometimes we're not thankful for the opportunity and the privilege to serve because we're convinced we deserve it.

It's not anything to be grateful for because, well, I'm so gifted. You should be grateful to me or God is grateful to me,right?

That we can get this attitude that we are God's gift, that he is so thankful for us.

And we're convinced that we deserve to serve, that we're convinced that we deserve, that we are so essential and necessary and so gifted that it's to everybody else's benefit. And so it's not an issue of thankfulness for us, but it's an issue that everybody else, including God, should be thankful that we serve.

But then the other side of being not thankful, I think on the other end of the spectrum is maybe I'm not thankful because I'm not really serving. I'm not really involved in anything that God has called me to do. And so there's no gratitude for being in the ministry because I'm not really engaged in the ministry.

And so this idea of thankfulness, it's an important measurement to make sure I'm not on the one side and just thinking I'm all amazing and super awesome and I deserve this ministry and I deserve these opportunities. That gratitude will measure and will reveal that, or the lack of gratitude, rather.

And then also if I'm not grateful, if there's no thankfulness in my heart, it could be an indicator that I'm not engaged in the ministry that God has called me to be involved in. And so that's why I'm not thankful because I'm not participating and I'm not engaged. And so we see here this idea of thankfulness as an important measurement of,

well, where we're at in regard to what God has called us to and the privilege to serve. And so again, this morning, I want to encourage you to thank Jesus for the privilege to serve. As we look at Paul's example here in verse 12, we get point number one, and that is Jesus enables me to serve. And so as we walk through these different points,

we'll see more and more reason for us to be thankful. And here Paul says, "It's Jesus who enabled me to serve.

This is why I'm thankful, because it's not my abilities or my talents or my innate character and nature, which has enabled me to serve, but it's Jesus who has opened this door and opportunity for me." Again, here in verse 12, he says,

"I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry." Paul looks at Jesus and he says, "I didn't put myself in the ministry. Jesus put me in the ministry." And again, as we talked about last week in Colossians chapter 4,

you have ministry from the Lord. And so this is relevant to every single one of us. This is not talking about certain positions or roles within the church, but it's talking about in your life, you have been enabled by the Lord to serve him in these various capacities: your spiritual life,

within your family, within the workplace, within the church, within the community, that there are opportunities there that God has set before you that Jesus has enabled you to participate in. And again, just to reinforce this, Jay Vernon McGee says it this way: "The idea of ministry is greatly misunderstood in our day.

All believers are in the ministry. Not one of us is out of the ministry if he is a child of God." And so just to solidify that point in our hearts, that this is for every single one of us.

We have been given roles and responsibility by the Lord to serve him in various capacities in the different areas of our lives.

And I think it's important for us to recognize that so that we can go back to this idea of thankfulness and the privilege that it is to serve.

Sometimes we can look at the idea of service, and it can be a little bit of a burden, a little bit of a—it's a difficulty because there is sacrifice, because there are things that God asks us to do that are outside of our comfort zone.

And we can be burdened and held back and kind of begrudging towards our commands or to the commands that God has given to us and the opportunities to serve. But that is all indications of something that is out of line in our hearts.

And we need to come back to this attitude of gratefulness for what God has done and the privilege, the honor that it is to serve. And it's not that we have to generate our own resources to serve God, but it's Jesus who enables us to serve.

I used this illustration here, the picture of the soccer team here, arm in arm, because I think this pictures really well the idea of this enabling for service. That is, Jesus put me on a team that I have noright to be on.

And if anybody puts me on a team, it's a team that I have noright to be on,right?

There are some people that you pick them first because, well, they're super awesome, and so they have everyright to be on the team. You pick them first because—everything okay, Bueno? Allright.

You pick them first because they're gifted, they're talented, they have the skills. And then there are the people who are picked last,right? And we all have seen that. Maybe we've experienced it. Maybe you haven't. I don't know.

But that idea of, "I'm the last one picked, but Jesus picks me to be on his team.

He put me into the ministry." When it comes to ministry, there's none of us who are automatically like, "That's the one who is awesome at the sport, and so you definitely want him on the team." None of us are in that category. None of us line up and Jesus says,

"Oh, yeah, I can't survive. This team is going to lose for sure unless I have Nehemiah on my team, because otherwise he's the best one of all of us. And so we got to pick him first." And none of us, if we line up, are super gifted and able then to be useful for the Lord in that way. Paul is saying, "Jesus enabled me to serve.

He put me on his team, even though I don't have any place. I don't have any skills. I don't have any capacity to be on the team. There's no reason or rhyme orright for me to be on the team.

This is something that he has done on my behalf." And he says here in verse 12, "Because he counted me faithful." And so if there's any question about whether or not we deserve to be on the team, we can consider this idea of faithfulness. He counted me faithful.

This word faithful, it means to be certain, to be worthy to be believed. It means to be true, just, trustworthy. It means to be observant of and steadfast to one's trust, word, or promises. Now,

I would ask us to consider, just looking at this definition of what it means to be faithful, and ask yourself, "Am I faithful? Does this list of definitions describe me? That I'm certain, not that I'm certain of something,

but that the Lord could count on me. I'm never going to let him down. That I'm worthy to be believed. Is it true that I am true and just and trustworthy? And that I'm steadfast to my word or my promises?" Now,

do any of us measure up to that kind of description? Are we faithful?

Are we completely faithful in regards to our walk with God, our relationship with God, and our service to God? And of course, we would come to the conclusion, if we're honest, that none of us are faithful. We can't keep our word. And we certainly can't keep God's word,right?

Even our own promises, we fall short on those. We break those. We are not faithful. And if ministry, the opportunity to minister, was determined based upon our ability to be faithful, we would be disqualified quickly and immediately.

And so what we have here is the Lord counting us. That word count, it means he's considering us faithful. He's applying his faithfulness to us because we are not faithful. Jesus gives us the privilege to serve him.

He counts us as faithful and enables me to serve. Puts me on the team that I don't deserve to be on. I don't have theright to be on. Now, we're not going to get into there's more in the enablement, in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There's more things that we could consider in regard to the privilege to serve,

and that is the rewards and the blessing that it is to serve. And so there's eternal rewards. There's rewardsright now. And so there's a lot of aspects of service that we could consider. But just looking at this issue of thankfulness for the opportunity, for the enablement, for the privilege,

I would ask you to check your thankfulness. It's an important measurement. If you are not thankful for the opportunity for the Lord putting you on his team and giving you an opportunity to—by the way, on the Lord's team, there's no benchwarmers. There's no people that he puts on the team just to look good on the bench.

He includes all of us in his team, and he has a part and a play, and we're all involved in the eternal work of the kingdom of God because he enables us. And it's not up to us, and it's not about our talents or our abilities or our faithfulness.

But it's about his faithfulness to enable us to serve him in the way that he's called us to. And so we have great opportunity, a great privilege, and a need for us to check our thankfulness. Well, moving on to verse 13, we have point number two,

and that is that Jesus shows me mercy. Not only does Jesus enable me to serve, but Jesus shows me mercy.

Paul goes on in verse 13 to say, "Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." Paul acknowledges, first of all, that he is thankful for the Lord putting him into the ministry,

but he goes on to explain, "Look, this is not just like I was kind of neutral. I was at level zero, and then the Lord put me into ministry. I was like negative 1,000, and then the Lord put me into the ministry. He did this. He enabled me. He gave me this privilege and this opportunity,

although

it doesn't make sense that Jesus would enable me and put me into the ministry from the get-go. But even if I hadn't done all the wickedness that I had done, it would have been amazing. It would have still been the grace of God. But now, as I consider who I was, Paul says,

how I was formerly a blasphemer, Jesus enabled me. He did this even though he knew where I came from." And Paul gives us basically three reasons why Jesus should not have put him on the team. He says, "I was a blasphemer.

I was speaking evil of Jesus Christ. I was slanderous and railing against Jesus. I spoke horrible things and said horrible things about Jesus. He should have never put me on the team because of the way that I blasphemed him.

But also, I was a persecutor. So I didn't just use my words. I didn't just say it, but then I carried out that persecution. I went against Christians, and I fought against them. I fought against the Lord through his people.

I attacked them. I tortured them. I beat them. I put them in prison. I persecuted and fought against the people of God. Jesus should have never put me on his team.

I was a persecutor of the Lord and his people." But then he also goes on to say, "I was an insolent man." And that describes the attitude of his heart in the midst of all of this. That is the idea of insolent.

It's the idea of doing wrong for the pleasure that that affliction to others brings you. So Paul is saying, "Look, I was a persecutor, and I did it for the joy of it.

I mean, I enjoyed watching Christians break and squirm and scream as I brought down the punishment upon them." And well, Paul explains in Acts 26:11, he says, "I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme and being exceedingly enraged against them.

I persecuted them even to foreign cities." Paul says, "I compelled them to blaspheme." And the idea of being insolent is that he enjoyed this process.

He was

enjoying the torture, the persecution, watching their lives be torn apart, watching them break, and then blaspheme Jesus, the people that he would persecute. I mean, this is really heavy stuff. This is sadistic stuff,right?

This is horrible. What Paul did and where he was at his heart on this whole thing as a blasphemer, as a persecutor, as an insolent man, this is his position. And so he's saying, "Look, there's no way that Jesus should include me on his team. There's no way that I should have this opportunity to serve,

this privilege of serving." But he says, "But I obtained mercy.

I was this bad. I was this horrible as a blasphemer, a persecutor, an insolent man, but I obtained mercy." This idea of mercy is the compassion that God shows us, specifically regarding the consequence of sin, that he holds back the judgment that we deserve.

And Paul, as a blasphemer and a persecutor and an insolent man, he deserved great judgment. And if there was a man behaving like Paul today, or more behaving like Saul of Tarsus,right? If there was a man doing that, we would be looking for God to bring judgment,right?

I mean, that's what would be expected. That is what's deserved. That is what's owed to that kind of behavior. But Saul of Tarsus obtained mercy. He obtained mercy. And God withheld the judgment that Saul of Tarsus deserved.

He was merciful to him

for his sake.

But he'll go on to explain in a couple of verses, it's also for our sake. The commentator Thomas Constable says it this way, "God was unusually merciful to Paul because he desired to make the apostle an example of how God can change the worst of sinners into the best of saints. In the light of Paul's conversion,

no one should conclude that his or her sin is too great for God to forgive." The whole point of considering how bad Saul of Tarsus was before he was transformed into the Apostle Paul is to remember and reflect that Jesus shows me mercy,

that no matter how bad I've been, no matter how messed up I was in sin, that God, if he was merciful to Paul,

he is fully able and capable to be merciful to me and to give me the opportunity and the privilege to serve, even though, just like Paul, I don't deserve it. And just like Paul, you don't deserve it. He withholds his judgment. He shows compassion towards us for salvation,

but also for service.

Paul says, "I was all of these things, but I obtained mercy." Now, he goes on to say, "Because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." And having been around the church for a while, I think I can accurately say that there will be those who would say, "Yeah, but my sin is worse because I knew better." Paul did this ignorantly in unbelief,

but I knew better. And I had been delivered from sin, and then I went back to it. And so that's why I'm not able to be involved in ministry. That's why I'm not able to be serving the Lord.

And we kind of discount ourselves or take ourselves out of the opportunity for ministry because we consider that our sin was worse than Paul's, which is ridiculous, but it is a place that many come to. And I would ask you to consider Romans 5:10, if that's you.

Paul says, "If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." Think about and understand it this way.

We consider many times, as believers, God brought us out of sin. He delivered us. He redeemed us. And that's great. And then if we go back, if we fall again, then, well,

the enemy loves to mess with our minds and convince us that God is upset with us. He's fed up. And it's worse now because we knew better. But the thing to understand and to remember is we were enemies with God.

We wanted nothing to do with God. And God loved us so much that he showed mercy and saved us. Now, having been born again, having become a believer in Jesus Christ, having loved him and walked with him, yes, it is bad that we know better and fall into sin, but it's not worse.

We're in a better condition now. We're his children. We were enemies before, but now we're his children.

And as his children, we don't get less grace and less mercy. We get more mercy and more grace. It doesn't work the other way. And our minds are twisted sometimes, and the enemy loves to bring that condemnation. But here's the reality. Think about it this way,

for those of you who are parents, hey, your kid acts up, and you're merciful. You're gracious. Somebody else's kid acts up, you have less patience,right?

Well, maybe it's not always that way, depending on what kind of parent you are and that kind of I know there's different circumstances, but you get the point. So your kid messes up and is sorry, and God says, "That's me and you. Look, you're my kid.

I'm going to be much more patient with you now as my child than as my enemy." That God has changed things around. You've become a child of God. And so it doesn't change now that you've believed in Jesus, even though you've messed up.

He still shows mercy. And so thank Jesus for the privilege to serve because he is still merciful towards you.

You have not sinned worse than the Apostle Paul or Saul of Tarsus. You've not put yourself in a position where you are no longer able to serve. But he continues to show us mercy. And so we can thank Jesus for the privilege to serve.

And we need to be checking our thankfulness because of the mercy that he continues to pour out upon us. Well, moving on to verse 14, we have point number three, and that is, "Jesus gives me exceedingly abundant grace." Verse 14 says, "And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love,

which are in Christ Jesus." The grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant. Now, this word grace is one that we're familiar with, and yet I want to just slow down and consider it, not just kind of rush past it as I normally might.

Normally, I would define grace as unearned and unmerited favor,right? It's God's goodness towards us. But looking at kind of a fuller definition, grace is a favor done without expectation of return. And I would just ask you to consider about God's grace towards you.

So mercy is withholding judgment, that God is holding back. He has compassion for you because of the consequences of your sin, and he holds back the judgment that you deserve. But now, grace is God doing a favor without expecting anything in return. I mean, that's grace.

That is the goodness of God on display.

Paul says, "The exceedingly abundant grace." So it's not just a little favor, but what God gives is exceedingly abundantly above what we deserve or what we could ever earn.

It's also described as absolute freeness of the loving kindness of God to men. The absolute freeness, just reiterating, solidifying this idea, it's free. God gives. It's grace. He gives it. It's absolutely free.

There's no cost. We don't have to work real hard to earn enough credits for God to do us this kindness and show us these favors. It's the loving kindness of God that he gives to us absolutely free. God is so good to us.

Grace finds its only motive in the bounty and freehardedness of the giver.

It's all about God's willingness and his decision to give.

Jesus gives me exceedingly abundant grace for his own reasons, because he's just chosen, "I want to." He gives you exceedingly abundant grace because he's just decided, "I want to." I've decided,

"I want to." It's my choice. It's myright. I get to choose it and do what I want to do with my goodness, and I'm going to give it to you absolutely free. It's yours. It's God's grace towards us. It's incredible. And again, this exceeding abundant or super abundant.

Now, specifically, Paul's talking about the opportunity to serve, but that's just one of those blessings. Talking about the opportunity to be part of the team and part of those who are involved in the work of the kingdom of God, that is God's super abundant, exceedingly abundant grace.

And it's just one of those blessings.

It is a command, as we talked about last week, the word minister, it means one who executes the commands of another. We're servants, or more appropriately, we're slaves. But it's a command that's given for our benefit. It's God saying,

"Here's what you need to do, but it's for your benefit," because God says, "I want you to enjoy eternity to the best you possibly can. So here's my commands for you. I want you to have the best.

I want you to become all that you can be and experience the full joy that I have for you."

I was kind of likening it in my mind to when I was young and we're going to Disneyland the next day, and Mom and Dad say, "Okay, you got to go to bed early." And when you're going to Disneyland the next day, the last thing you want to do is go to bed early,right? Because you're excited and you're pumped up.

But Mom and Dad know you're not going to be able to really enjoy Disneyland to the full extent of Disneyland if you stayed up all night and you're tired, and halfway through the day, you're going to be cranky and grumpy, and you're not going to enjoy being at Disneyland. And so the command is go to bed early,right? In a similar way, the Lord gives us commands,

and he commands us to serve because he knows what's in store for us in eternity and what's best for us for eternity. And so the command isn't punishment, and it isn't burden. It is for our benefit. It's part of his exceedingly abundant grace, these commands that he gives us, these areas that he's called us to serve,

these opportunities that he's given to us. It's part of God's grace for us. Jesus gives me exceedingly abundant grace.

So I need to check my thankfulness. Again, it's an important measurement. If I'm not thankful for God's grace and his commands to me to serve, then there's an issue. And it might be that I'm convinced I deserve opportunities to serve, and I deserve. I'm worthy.

But of course, that's not true. Again, going back to mercy, we are recipients of God's work.

And so I can say, "I thank Jesus because it's him who's enabled me and shown me mercy and giving me exceedingly abundant grace." Moving on to verse 15 and 16, point number four is Jesus is patient with me. Verse 15 says,

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

However, for this reason, I obtained mercy that in me first, Jesus Christ might show all long suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life." Paul now says,

"Here is a faithful saying." That same word, faithful, doesn't describe us very well. We fall short. We don't measure up. But this saying is faithful. Here's the saying, "Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Here's something that you and I can bank our eternal security on,

our eternal status on. Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The whole point of Jesus coming was to bring salvation, to offer this mercy and this grace that we've been talking about. And Paul presents himself as the chief example.

Jesus came to save sinners, he says, "of whom I am chief." Now, that doesn't mean he's putting himself in charge of all the sinners. That word chief, it means to be first or foremost.

He's essentially saying, "I'm the worst of all of the sinners." If there is a line for those who are in line to be judged, I'm first in line. I deserve the judgment of God. That's where I'm at, Paul says.

I am the chief of sinners.

And as you look back at what he described as he was a blasphemer and a persecutor and an insolent man, you can understand his perspective on this, that what he did was atrocious.

The very fact that he persecuted the church is one thing, but he took it to the extent that he was seeking to get people to blaspheme the name of Jesus, to get Christians to renounce Jesus Christ. You understand, he is first in line to be judged. That is appropriate.

It's an accurate assessment. The judgment of God would have been poured out greatly upon Saul of Tarsus.

But he goes on to say in verse 16, "However, for this reason, I obtained mercy." So I was first in line to receive judgment, but God withheld that judgment.

And for a reason. What's the reason? He says that in me first, Jesus Christ might show all long suffering.

That word long suffering, oftentimes translated patient, but I like the word long suffering because I think it describes really what patience is. It's long suffering. It's suffering for a long time.

Remember when Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter nine?

Jesus said, "Why are you persecuting me? Why are you fighting against me?" Jesus was suffering for a long time with Saul of Tarsus.

He showed him great patience, long suffering. He endured all of the blaspheming and the persecution and the insolence that Saul had. He put up with it for a long time, withholding his judgment, showing him mercy.

Paul says, "As a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life." So Paul says,

"God did this in my life as a pattern so that everybody who would believe in Jesus would know this is the kind of patience that God has for sinners. This is the kind of patience that God has with us.

Jesus is patient with me." Now again, the enemy is so good at coming along with our own guilty conscience and trying to bring condemnation.

And how many times do we feel like God is just fed up and he's just finished, so tired of the nonsense that we put him through and the mess-ups and the issues and the difficulties? And Paul says, "I am a pattern.

Look at me and understand the long suffering of Jesus."

God's not fed up with you. He's not tired of you. He's not at the end of that long suffering.

Paul is the worst of the worst, first in line for judgment. You haven't reached that far. There's still more long suffering that the Lord has for you. He is patient with you. William MacDonald says it this way, "Just as he had been the chief of sinners,

so now he would be the chief display of the untiring grace of the Lord.

He would be exhibit A, a living example." Paul becomes a pattern to those who believe on Jesus so that you and I can look to him and say, "If God could show mercy to Paul,

God could show mercy to me."

And even when we mess up, and even then when we fall short, even when we put ourselves in a position where we shouldn't have the privilege to serve and shouldn't have the opportunity to be part of the work of the kingdom of God, much less be rewarded for it. When we are in that situation, we can look back to the Apostle Paul and remember the patience,

the long suffering of Jesus

that he had towards Paul as a pattern to show me the long suffering that he has towards me. If God could give grace to Paul, God can give me grace. If God could add Paul to the team and that he would be part of the work of the kingdom of God, God can add me to the team.

If God could use Paul greatly, God can use me greatly. This is the reality. The Apostle Paul, I mean, we consider the Apostle Paul to be one of the great men of God,right? That was not because of Paul.

That was because of Jesus

and his mercy and his exceedingly abundant grace and his long suffering patience,

which also means that we can be part of the kingdom of God and the work of the kingdom of God

in a similar way. And we discount ourselves and we consider ourselves disqualified, and the Lord does not.

He still has mercy and grace and patience in giving us the privilege to serve him. And so it brings Paul to an exclamation of praise in verse 17. And here we get the final point.

Number five is Jesus deserves all honor and glory because, well, it's Jesus who enables me to serve. It's Jesus who shows me mercy. It's Jesus who gives me exceedingly abundant grace. It's Jesus who is patient with me. And so Jesus deserves all honor and glory.

Verse 17, "Now to the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever.

Amen." Paul, as he's reflecting on his opportunity and the privilege and the honor that he has in serving the Lord and recognizing it has nothing to do with me. I was deserving of judgment. I was first in line to receive judgment.

I didn't have anything that was worth

the Lord doing this work in my life. But he showed me mercy and withheld my judgment. And on top of that, he showed me exceedingly abundant grace and has given me much blessings and opportunity to serve him. He was long suffering with me and put up with me for a long time.

And I was hard-hearted and stubborn and religious.

And yet he was patient with me. And so anything good that comes from my life, Paul says, Jesus deserves all the honor and glory for it. I don't deserve the honor and glory. Nobody does except the Lord.

It's God's work in my life. William MacDonald, the commentator, says, "The gospel insists that all the glory for the work of salvation must go to Christ alone, that man does nothing but the sinning, and that the Lord Jesus does all the saving." And not only does he do all of the saving,

but then on top of that, he does everything else as well. Again, it's the promise that the Lord will complete the work that he began in us, that it's his work. We are his work from beginning to end. He deserves all honor and glory.

And so the opportunities that we have to serve, the privilege that we have to serve, the commands that we have to serve, we can be incredibly thankful for because we don't belong there. We don't deserve it. We should be disqualified.

We should be counted out. We shouldn't even have the opportunity. But Jesus still gives you the privilege to serve. He gives you the opportunity to obey. He gives you the privilege of being part of things that have eternal value and come with eternal rewards.

He gives you the privilege and the honor to be part of his work, to be part of his team. And you don't have to generate what's necessary in order to be part of the team. He enables you to serve. He enables you. He gives you what you need to be able to do the things that he calls you to.

And you're not disqualified because he shows you mercy. He withholds the judgment that you deserve. And you don't have to earn because he gives you exceedingly abundant grace that you don't have to earn the opportunities.

He gives you opportunities even though you haven't earned them and you can't deserve them. And even though you're taking the Lord through a long process of forgiveness and repentance and then falling and forgiveness and repentance and falling, and he's long suffering.

And so Jesus deserves all the honor and the glory. He can use your life to a great degree because it's his work from beginning to end. And so it brings us back to the beginning.

Thank Jesus for the privilege to serve. Again, Paul says, "I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry." The opportunity and privilege of serving God is not our idea. It's not what we come up with.

It's not our ideas. It's not our abilities. It is all about what God has done for us.

And so let's put our hearts in a position of gratitude for the opportunity to be part of the work of the kingdom of God. Let's pray.

Lord, as we consider these words of the Apostle Paul and where he was before he encountered you and how you transformed his life, Lord, we recognize that, God, there is nobody beyond the reach of your mercy and grace and long suffering.

And Lord, you're able to transform and change any life. You're able to deliver from any situation and any addiction. You're able to bring radical change in the lives of the people of this world. And Lord, we are those who have experienced that transformation and that change.

And Lord, you've called us as recipients to now be agents of bringing forth that mercy and grace and that patience to the world around us.

And you give us opportunities to serve you and to be part of your work, to be part of others experiencing your redemption and forgiveness. God, this is a privilege and an honor that we are so unworthy of.

But you don't care about that. You give it to us anyways. And so Lord, thank you for your goodness towards us. Thank you for the privilege and the honor. And I pray that you would keep in our minds and in our hearts this reminder, Lord, that we would stay in a place of gratitude, of thankfulness. Lord,

that serving you would never be a burden or done begrudgingly. But Lord, that we would be thankful for the opportunity to participate and receive your incredible work in our lives. And so Lord,

help us to receive all that you have for us, to not fight against it, but to be open to it. Lord, I pray that you would use us by your power and for your glory.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.