THE POWER OF ONE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 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.

1 Timothy 2:5-7

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Think about when the Christian church began. It’s important to do so because it wasn’t as it is today, well established with little competition among other faiths.

No, after Jesus ascended and the Gospel movement started to spread, first in Jerusalem before moving onto Judea and Samaria before to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8), newly established Christian church bodies were trying to take root in the midst of other established religions, most of which were polytheistic in nature. Especially in the Greek and Roman worlds, you found belief systems with many different gods, each with their own special power and authority over certain aspects of life. Believers within these systems were well versed in all the gods and what they could do. They were also not very accommodating to anyone who would try and endorse a religion that was in direct opposition to theirs, a religion like Christianity.

As we look at the missionary ministry of the Apostle Paul, a ministry well documented in the scriptures both in the Book of Acts and the many letters he wrote, we see where there always seemed to be resistance everywhere he went. While some were willing to accept the good news Paul brought about one God who offered the gift of salvation and eternal life through His one Son Jesus to anyone who simply believed it, others rejected it and even hoped to stamp out and extinguish the flames of this burning religious startup. They refused to believe that all things could be made new and true for them through the power of One.

We have been studying Paul’s first letter to Timothy who had arrived in Ephesus to pastor the Christian church Paul had established there. Positioned on the west coast of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey today), Ephesus was a major city of importance in the ancient Mediterranean world. When Paul arrived there, the people were entrenched in worshiping the goddess Artemis (Latinized as Diana) who was known as the goddess of the hunt. So deeply embedded was this worship that a great temple was built, known as the Temple of Artemis, which was proclaimed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Much of the Ephesian economy was fueled by people coming from in and around Ephesus to worship the goddess. We read about the economic concerns over the Gospel coming to Ephesus in Acts 9, verses 23 through 41.

Now, after reading the scriptures from Acts 9, put yourself in Paul’s and Timothy’s place and you can see where it wasn’t easy trying to plant a Christian church in Ephesus but as we well know about Paul, he wasn’t about to allow resistance to stop the calling Jesus had given. Giving in and giving up wasn’t an option and so we find him exhorting Timothy in the second chapter of 1 Timothy to keep the faith and not give up the fight in bringing the good news of Jesus to others.

In yesterday’s message from the opening verses of 1 Timothy, chapter 2, we saw Paul calling for the lifting up of holy hands in bringing prayers, petitions, intercessions, and thanksgiving for everyone so they might live peaceful and quiet lives defined by godliness and holiness. This was to be done to please God, the one true God, who longed for everyone to be saved and gain knowledge of the truth (Vv. 1-4, 8).   

What was the truth that God wanted all people to have as they lived peaceful, quiet lives of holiness and godliness?

We find the answer in verses five and six, a proclamation regarding the power of One. Look again at these verses here:

For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.

The people of Ephesus were worshiping a false goddess who couldn’t save them. She was seen as one who could help with hunting, control nature and the moon, and aid in fertility and childbirth. Paul’s words to Timothy were meant to remind his missionary partner about the core foundation of the Gospel, a foundation that had to be shared to counter any other belief in other gods or goddesses.

First, there is one God, the Maker of all Creation and the Master over all He made and continues to make. He was before anything and therefore He is solely sovereign, reigning and ruling over everything and everyone. He has no rival or equal and His power is such that there is nothing beyond His doing.

In the beginning, God.

They are the first four words of the Bible in Genesis 1, words that set the tone for everything else that is to follow.

Here’s one more truth about this one God. He hates and despises sin. Nothing will instigate His wrath and judgment more.

That’s not good news when we consider that every single person after the great fall in Eden’s garden is a sinner. No one is qualified to gain God’s glory (Romans 3:23) but everyone is qualified to receive His greatest punishment. This isn’t a great place to be when we consider that there will be a day when we will be held accountable for the life that we lived (Romans 14:12-14).

In other words, without divine intervention of the most merciful and loving variety, every single person stands doomed to eternal damnation before the one supreme God of all creation.

Thankfully, this supreme God showed us He is a God of perfect grace and forgiveness as well.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Jesus Himself shares these words of hope with all those who read the scriptures and as we read the Gospel accounts of His life, we learn that God did indeed give up His one and only Son as a living sacrifice, the final sacrifice that would ever be needed to atone for the sins of people.

Jesus was truly the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world as John the Baptist proclaimed as God’s only Son emerged to begin his ministry on earth. There was a sin debt that needed paid and no mere human could settle the bill. And so God gave up His one Son and Jesus willingly complied so to be a ransom paid “for all people”. Anyone who would believe in Jesus afterwards would be justified, cleansed from sin to appear blameless to God at the day of judgment, the day of accountability.

This is how Jesus is the “One mediator between God and mankind”, the only one who can intercede for a person and show that their sin debt has been paid in full, a payment that releases that person from the penalty of sin and ushers them into the glory of everlasting life in the Kingdom.

Friends, today and every day, we should rejoice in this truth. For anyone who believes in Jesus has been saved (Romans 10:9) by the One God, the God who so loved His people that He made the way for them to be pardoned through His One Son so they might abide with Him forever. 

In the end translation, we see the true power of One at work in the Gospel story.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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