Summary

Preaching from 1 Timothy 1:12-17 as part of a series called Reclaim the Truth, Pastor Dave centers his message on a single compelling call: model mercy. He frames it both as a noun — Paul's life is a model of mercy we can study — and as a verb — we are to model that mercy outward to others. Just as an athlete imitates a coach's technique or an art student copies a teacher's brushstroke, Christians are apprentices who learn mercy by watching Paul, who himself learned it from Jesus.

The first way to model mercy, Pastor Dave explains, is to make it personal. Paul does not speak of grace in abstract terms. He names his own sins plainly — blasphemy, persecution, and what the Greek calls hubristes, a pride so violent it harmed others. And yet, Paul declares, "I received mercy" (1 Tim. 1:13). Pastor Dave is careful to note that Paul's ignorance did not earn him a special category of grace. Drawing on the background of Leviticus 4, he points out that whether sin is committed knowingly or in ignorance, the need for mercy remains the same. The point is not that Paul deserved grace — it's that he desperately needed it, and God gave it anyway. Christians today, Pastor Dave argues, must resist two common lies about sin: the religious tendency to compare ourselves favorably to others, and the secular tendency to reject the category of sin altogether. Romans 3:23 settles it plainly — "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

The second way to model mercy is to describe grace. Pastor Dave highlights verse 14, where Paul says the grace of the Lord "overflowed" — or as he puts it, super-abounded — producing faith and love in Christ Jesus. This overflowing grace is the greatest ongoing miracle in the Christian life: God changing hearts, teaching people to trust him and love others in ways they never could before. Paul then offers a memorable, trustworthy saying meant to be memorized: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15). Pastor Dave leads the congregation in repeating it aloud, emphasizing that memorizing basic gospel truth is the starting point for eventually being able to share it in our own words. He also introduces the familiar "bridge illustration" drawn from Romans 6:23 — "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord" — as another practical tool for describing grace to others. Whether someone is an extrovert or an introvert, Pastor Dave insists, if Jesus is truly wonderful to us, we will find ways to tell people about him.

The third and final way to model mercy is to glorify Jesus. Paul states in verse 16 that he received mercy so that Jesus Christ might "display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life" (1 Tim. 1:16). To glorify Jesus, Pastor Dave explains, is not to magnify something small — it is more like a telescope revealing how enormous something truly is. God really is great, Jesus really is wonderful, and to glorify him is to show the world how great he actually is. Pastor Dave uses the image of a spotlight in a darkened theater: glorifying Jesus means pointing all attention to him, to his character, and specifically here, to his long-suffering — his patience that just keeps going, no matter how far we have fallen.

Pastor Dave then draws a crucial connection between verse 16 and the doxology in verse 17: "To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." Though this praise is directed to God the Father, Pastor Dave argues that to glorify Jesus is to glorify the Father — they are inseparable. As Colossians makes clear, Jesus "is the image of the invisible God," the one through whom we see and know the Father. There is no need to parcel out glory between them. To run to Jesus is to receive the whole package of God's presence and love.

Pastor Dave closes by tying worship and mission together. Quoting John Piper, he reminds the congregation that "missions exists because in some places, worship does not." When we are genuinely in awe of Jesus, we lift him up — and that lifting up draws others to believe. Even suffering, Pastor Dave acknowledges, plays a role in this. Citing 1 Peter 2:21 — "Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps" — he reminds the church that God uses even pain to deepen our experience of mercy and make us more faithful models of it to others. We exist, he concludes, as models of mercy for those who have not yet believed — living stones in a temple God is building to display his glory to the world.