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Text: 1 Timothy 2:1–15 | Liturgical Date: Pentecost 15, Proper 20 C | Location: Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door County | Preacher: Rev Dr. Christopher D. Jackson
Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church serves Sturgeon Bay and other areas in Door County.
One thing I’m very thankful for as a pastor is that I’ve had pretty long pastorates. My first call was about eight years. I’m now about—let me think here—eleven and a half years here at St. John’s and St. Peter’s. And I thank the Lord for this. You know, I think that’s an indication that, all in all, things are going well, and together we are making progress for the Lord here in northeast Wisconsin.
A Humorous Failure: My Shortest Job
But not every job I’ve had has been a success. Actually, my worst record in a job? One day, one shift. I did so terribly that I decided to fire myself before they had the chance to fire me. Your pastor—the worst waiter in the world. In one shift, I think I made every single mistake a waiter could. You can ask my family about this. I get frustrated and can barely handle it when they’re asking me to put in orders at a drive-thru. Doesn’t work. Imagine a whole table putting their orders in for me, right? Didn’t work. I’m good at focusing on one thing, and I could focus on that one thing hyper-intensely for a long period of time. In college, I could stay up until three in the morning studying my Greek, and I was really good at that. But at three in the morning on that shift at Steak ‘n Shake? No good.
Unique Individuals Called to Serve
The Lord has made us all unique individuals, and the Lord calls us to serve Him in ways that reflect that. That’s a big part of what we’re going to be talking about today—that we are to use our unique blessings to bless others uniquely. This is tied to a very particular Christian teaching. I’ve been hitting this time and time again from the pulpit, especially at funerals. For those of you in our funeral meal train, you’ve heard this a few times already, but I think it bears repeating. Christian teaching is unique in how it deals with us as unique individuals.
Contrasting Worldviews: Atheism and Eastern Religions
Think about some of the most popular viewpoints out there with regards to a view of the world. Atheism—what do the atheists teach about us? They teach that we are an accident. We just happened to come to be. Time and matter are in this big box, shaking all around, and we just happened to jumble together and fall out of that box. That’s what the atheists teach. And they teach something pretty similar about what happens when we die—time and matter just take us apart and throw us back into that box to jumble together into something else.
The Eastern religions, very popular these days—my goodness, these are some of the most whitewashed ideas out there. People don’t understand what they actually look like when you get up close and personal. Hinduism, Buddhism—very popular. People think they’re entirely unproblematic, but they actually teach something even darker about us humans. Atheism teaches that we’re an accident. The Eastern religions teach that we’re a mistake. Essentially, they teach that our individual existence is a problem to be overcome. Salvation for them is us as individuals ceasing to exist. They come at it from slightly different directions, but that theme is the same.
Christian Teaching: Beloved Creations of a Loving God
But Christian teaching is this: we are beloved creations of a loving God. And that God is a creator not just in general, but especially in particular. Psalm 139: “For I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Great are your works. My soul knows this very well. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” More on that a little later in the sermon. “You wove me together in the depths of the earth before a day of my life came to be. You knew it all together. All my days were written in your book, oh God.” I’m paraphrasing a good bit here, but that’s what Psalm 139 teaches. The eternal triune God, out of that eternal love, created us each as beloved, particular individuals.
Created, Redeemed, and Sanctified Individually
God has created us individually, and God has redeemed us individually. Jesus did not just die for the whole world in general. Jesus died for every person in particular. Jesus died for you to take away your sins. And that has been fully and wholly accomplished. His righteous life was lived for you, and in His precious, atoning death, He died for you. God has created you individually, He has redeemed you individually, and He has sanctified you individually.
Understanding Sanctification
Now, sanctification has two parts. What is sanctification? It comes from the Latin word sanctus—we sing the Sanctus a little later in the liturgy. It means holy. Sanctification is when the holiness of God is applied to us individually. That holiness of God was applied to us in the waters of holy baptism, the washing of regeneration and the forgiveness of sins. In baptism, we as individuals were given the forgiveness of sins and marked as children of God. When our sins are proclaimed forgiven—whether in absolution, from the pulpit, or as we hear it in the Scriptures—this too is the first part of sanctification. When God applies His gospel to us individually in the Lord’s Supper, in the body and blood of Jesus Christ, we receive the forgiveness of sins, as it says, “given and shed for the forgiveness of sins.”
Sanctification: Faith and Love for Others
Sanctification is this: when God uses the gospel applied to us individually to turn and transform our hearts into hearts of faith that trust Him. That’s the first part of sanctification. The second part is this: it transforms our hearts not only to trust in Him but also to love our neighbor. That’s God’s holiness worked out in us and through us to bless others. And even as we are made individually, the way this life of love is lived out for others will look different for every single one of us. Praise be to God for this.
Using Worldly Wealth to Bless Others
In our gospel lesson today, Jesus, in a somewhat perplexing image, encourages us to this. Jesus says to make friends with worldly wealth so that by this you may gain eternal dwellings. In the first instance, Jesus has in view money. The Lord Jesus encourages us to use our worldly wealth to bless others, and the promise in turn is that even as we bless others, we will be blessed even more in eternal life. What is money to us Christians? In heaven, gold is so plentiful they pave the streets with it. So, we are glad to use this thing for the sake of others, to bless others, if the Lord has blessed us in this way with this blessing.
Other Forms of Wealth: Strength
But there are other forms of wealth besides money. One form of wealth is strength. That brings us to our epistle lesson today. I think it’s really wonderful what we see here in the epistle to Timothy. Just to give you a little context, who was Timothy? Timothy was a young pastor in a city called Ephesus, in modern-day Turkey. Paul had served in Ephesus for a period of years, and when the time came for him to leave, he appointed Timothy to minister in his stead as a pastor. This is a book of pastoral advice from a more experienced pastor to a less experienced one. So, what does Paul instruct Timothy to do with the young men in his congregation? He says, “I desire then that in every place the men”—and I believe young men in particular are in view here—”should pray, lifting holy hands without anger.” It’s no accident that Paul used this imagery of lifting holy hands. What do young men like to be known for? What is a special trait or gift they have? Strength, right? Power. What does Paul say? Don’t demonstrate your power by lifting up hands to beat down others. Demonstrate your strength by lifting your hands in prayer.
The Power of the Tongue
Young men are also often marked by a blunt tongue. As someone with a nineteen-year-old son—my goodness, some of the things that come out of his mouth! He’s a godly man, mind you, but some of the things, I’m just like, okay, I was probably the same way back then. In fact, I was the same way back then. And what does St. Paul say? Use that tongue not to quarrel, not to utter words of anger, but to pray. That’s a form of wealth—strength, bluntness of the tongue.
The Power of Beauty
Another form of wealth is beauty. What did St. Paul say regarding this? “Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.” Here we see Paul instructing Timothy to guide the young women of the congregation in ways that are fitting for them. Young men are known for strength. What are young women known for? Beauty. They’ll spend hundreds of dollars on beauty. Beauty is a power. It’s a power that enables influencers on TikTok or Instagram to make a lot of money because brands want them to use their beauty to gain attention for their brand. To put it in modern terms, St. Paul is telling Timothy, “Tell the young women of your congregation to be influencers for Jesus.” Yes, beauty is good, but gain attention above all through good works, so that others see your good works as that light on the hill that Christ says should not be put under a bushel basket, that others might give glory to the Father in heaven.
Using Gifts to Glorify God
You see how Paul encourages Timothy to encourage his congregation to use their special gifts—whether it’s the ability to draw attention, strength, or the gift of the tongue—to glorify the Lord and serve others.
Addressing a Challenging Passage
Now, I want to talk about the end of our epistle lesson because there are some things here that might have us scratching our heads. St. Paul goes on to say, “Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.” And he continues, “I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man.” Then he talks about how Eve was deceived first and so on. We might look at that and say, “What’s going on here? Isn’t this maybe slightly offensive?” First, I want to be clear that this is one of the passages by which, in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, we believe that the pastoral office of the holy ministry is entrusted to males, and we hold firm on that. But at the same time, this passage, when we look closer, references things that show an exalted place for women in the way God works with us.
Eve and Adam: Sin and Redemption
First, yes, Paul does talk about Eve being deceived. But in other places, St. Paul doesn’t hesitate to talk about Adam and his transgressions, perhaps even more harshly. Romans chapter 5: “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” So, Paul lays the blame for sin and the death that comes from it at the feet of Adam, not Eve.
Eve’s Role in Salvation
Second, Paul exalts Eve’s role in God’s plan of salvation. This is where a phrase that might seem confusing suddenly makes sense: “Yet she, meaning Eve, will be saved through childbearing.” This points us back to Genesis 3:15, the very first gospel proclamation, given to Eve. God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” In other words, God says that from the offspring of the woman will come the Messiah. And in Genesis 3:20, it says, “The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.” We believe, teach, and confess that the inheritance of sin is paternal—it comes from our fathers. This is why, though Christ had a human mother, He didn’t inherit sin because His Father was the Father in heaven. So, Paul exalts Eve’s role with these words.
The Importance of Christian Motherhood
Third, I believe Paul exalts the importance of motherhood. We read elsewhere where Paul encourages Timothy to pay attention to what he had been taught concerning the Scriptures, saying, “As you learned it from your mother, Eunice, and your grandmother, Lois.” Throughout the history of the Christian church, we see the unparalleled role that Christian motherhood has played. Jesus, of course, was served by His own mother, and, like Timothy, was taught the Scriptures by her, as He grew in wisdom. Not only Mary, Eunice, and Lois, but even outside the Bible, we have examples of the power of Christian motherhood. A few weeks ago, we talked about Helena, the mother of Constantine. There’s a very good chance none of us would be here as Christians were it not for Helena. St. Augustine, the doctor of grace, one of the greatest influences on Martin Luther—you can’t go two pages without Augustine extolling the role his mother, Monica, had in his development in the faith.
Unique Blessings for God’s Kingdom
The Lord blesses us all uniquely in different ways. The Lord has blessed women with the ability to be Christian mothers, a thing of incredible power and importance. And the Lord has blessed some, but not all, men to become pastors.
Your Unique Gifts
This leads me to my final question for you: What are the unique blessings the Lord has given to you that you might use for the sake of His kingdom, for His glory, for the sake of others? It’s going to look different for every single one of us. Maybe the Lord has given you the ability to turn a wrench. You’re good at fixing things—cars, homes, whatever it might be. We certainly have plenty of that to do around here at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, and that’s not the only place you can use that skill to bless others. Maybe there’s a single mother next door, and you know she’s not getting her oil changed as often as she should. You can tell her, “Bring your car over. I’ll change that oil for you. It’ll take me half an hour, no problem.” Or maybe she needs a shingle replaced on her roof. You get the idea.
Gifts of the Elderly: Time to Pray
Maybe you think, “Pastor Chris, I don’t have much to offer anymore. I’m elderly. My mind doesn’t work the way it used to. I don’t have the energy I used to, and I’m not able to do things like I would like.” What does the Lord bless you with? Time. Time to pray. To pray for me, your pastor, for St. Peter’s, your congregation, for your community, your country, your family, and your neighbors. If you’re elderly and not able to do what you once could, be our prayer warriors.
Gifts of Organization and Beyond
Maybe the Lord has given you the skill of organization. You can use that skill here to help organize our committees and efforts. I think you get the idea. There’s more that I could ever begin to say because the Lord has made us all individually, and He has redeemed us individually. My prayer for you is that you would consider the gifts the Lord has singularly given to you so that you might bless others in the way that only you can.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.