1 Timothy 2:1-7 “The Bigger Picture”
There is a story told that
appears in many cultures, most often in
It seems there were six blind
men who were discussing exactly
what they believed an elephant to be,
since each had heard how strange this creature was, but
none had ever seen one before.
So the men agreed to find an
elephant to discover what this animal was really like.
It didn’t take the blind men
long to find an elephant at a nearby market.
The first blind man
approached the beast and felt the animal’s firm flat side.
“It seems to me that the
elephant is just like a wall,” he said to his friends.
The second blind man reached
out and touched one of the elephant’s tusks.
“No, this is round and smooth
and sharp - the elephant is like a spear.”
Intrigued, the third blind
man stepped up to the elephant and touched its trunk.
“Well, I can’t agree with
either of you; I feel a long, squirming thing.
The elephant is just like a
snake.”
The fourth blind man was of
course by now quite puzzled.
So he reached out, and felt
the elephant’s leg.
“You are all talking complete
nonsense,” he said,
“Because
clearly the elephant is just like a tree.”
Utterly confused, the fifth
blind man stepped forward
and grabbed one of the elephant’s ears.
“You are all crazy - an
elephant is exactly like a fan.”
In turn, the sixth man
approached, and holding the beast’s tail, disagreed again.
“It’s nothing like any of
your descriptions - the elephant is just like a rope.”
And all the six blind men
continued to argue,
based on their own particular experiences as to what they
thought an elephant was like.
It was an argument that they
were never able to resolve.
None of them had the full
picture, and consequently, each one’s view was too small. (http://www.the-storytellers.com/archives/the-blind-men-and-the-elephant)
Unfortunately, we tend to do the same thing with our
Christian faith.
Our focus is too narrow. We only see part of the picture, based on
our own experiences.
But today’s scripture reading reminds us that God’s
plan for salvation is a big vision, one that is extended to all. And because God’s plan is a big plan, ours
needs to be too.
Now you may be wondering how
we’re supposed to get all that
from the short scripture we just heard. We heard just 7 short verses from 1 Timothy.
In order to understand these
verses, first we need some background on this letter.
There are two letters in the
New Testament addressed to Timothy and attributed to Paul.
It wasn’t until the late 2nd
century that the letters were included in the canon of the NT.
More recently, biblical
scholars haven’t really been sure that Paul wrote these letters.
But that was common at the
time - it was never considered plagiarism
to write in someone else’s name if you were associated
with them in some way.
But the language and writing
style are different from Paul’s other letters.
The letters are full of
specific instructions to the churches of the time.
There is advice on how to
behave in worship, how women should dress, how slaves are to regard their
masters,
and even a bit of advice urging Timothy to take a little
wine for the sake of his stomach.
The letters were written in a
certain context - to a particular church, in a particular time, with a
particular culture.
But the range of subject
matter can make it seem very confusing.
So what do we do with a
letter like this?
Just dump the whole thing and
say “I don’t like that part of the Bible.”
Some people do this, and they
create what is
called “a canon within the canon” of the Bible.
It goes something like
this: “I like Genesis, I don’t like
Leviticus,
I like the gospels, you can
forget about Paul’s letters.”
This kind of picking and
choosing from the Bible is not the answer.
What this sort of reading
today challenges us to do is to search for overall meanings, larger themes, in
the reading.
Rather than just focusing on
just one verse, we must ask ourselves “What is the bigger picture?”
In today’s reading and
throughout the letters to Timothy, there is a recurring theme:
There is one God, and one mediator Jesus Christ sent
to all of humanity.
It is God’s intention that all will be saved.
How, when, and what that will
look like is part of God’s ultimate, and therefore, still unknown,
purpose.
Because God’s salvation is intended to be a gift for
all, we must make it our purpose to reach out to others for Christ. And
according to today’s reading, there are at least a couple of ways of doing
this.
1)
By prayer
2)
By reaching out
to everyone -
even those we may
have thought were outside of God’s purposes.
In the church, we sometimes
tend to turn inward - to be concerned about the programs that benefit us,
serve our needs, satisfy the people here. But God has a much bigger picture than
that.
Because God’s salvation is a gift for all, then our
prayer and mission must be extended to all.
Prayer is the first way of
being part of God’s saving work in the world.
Prayer is something everyone
can do. Today’s reading insists that we
are to pray for everyone.
We are to offer
intercessions, supplications, and thanksgiving. We are to pray for
leaders. We are to pray for our family
and friends. We are to pray for our
enemies.
We are even to pray for those
who we think may be outside of God’s salvation.
Prayer doesn’t change
God. But it changes us. Prayer gives us
a bigger vision, helps us see the bigger picture.
Through prayer, we have the
opportunity to get in line with God’s vision.
It is significant that in
today’s scripture, it begins this way: “First
of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and
thanksgivings be made for everyone.”
To thrive, the church must be
grounded in prayer.
“When we rely upon
organization, we get what organization can do;
when we rely upon education, we get what education can do;
when we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do; and so on. None of these things should be undervalued in
their proper place,
but when rely upon prayer, we get what God can do.” (Dr.
A. C. Dixon, 19th century preacher and former pastor of
When we start believing what
God can do, it becomes a much bigger picture.
Here at PCCC we got a glimpse
at God’s bigger picture last Sunday when Dr. Anil Henry,
a Disciples missionary, came and spoke to our group
about his work as medical director of a
Now when I first heard he was
a medical director of a hospital,
a picture formed in my mind of a hospital that looked
more like
than the actual pictures of his hospital which he shared
with us.
When he first went there four
years ago, this hospital
looked more like a broken down warehouse, with patients housed
all together in wards, little or no equipment.
They didn’t even have running water and electricity
that they could count on 24 hours a day. The transformation that he’s done is hard to
believe.
But maybe the most
interesting thing about his work is why he is doing it.
He didn’t have to be a
missionary in a struggling hospital in central, rural
He had a good job as a doctor
in a hospital back in
As a Christian he is a
minority in
Christians are
outnumbered. There is no hope of
conversion, really, because the Hindu culture is suspicious of these
Christians.
The staff
working in the hospital start every morning with prayer together.
And then they work from
Removing
tumors, curing children with tetanus, delivering babies.
Delivering health care to
people in a country where only the rich are healed.
They do this work, because
through it, they are reaching people,
letting them know through their actions that God desires
everyone to be saved,
even those who we might think our outside of God’s saving
purposes.
Through the healing, saving
work of
the Body of Christ is present and active even in mostly
Hindu India.
Seeing God’s bigger picture
requires a different way of thinking.
About a year ago, I ran
across part of a newsletter column of a minister in NC.
It’s written to a particular
church at a particular time, kind of like the letters to Timothy. But just like in the letters to Timothy,
there is something here that applies to all churches.
In this letter, the minister
talked about the church’s desire to save itself.
Survival becomes the
goal. But the more a church focuses on survival,
the more it focuses inwardly, he explained.
It even causes the church to
look back at its history instead of forward to its calling.
In this column, the minister
continued: “The church focuses outwardly . . .
when the church sees touching others as its primary
concern and mission.”
He goes on to describe his
own church: “Here we are seeking to
learn how to live for others.
We are reaching out to those
who need the touch of Christ. We do it
rather simply, care-kits for residents of a nursing center; food for the
hunger; labor to raise funds for those suffering from abuse.
We do it as we learn about
justice and injustice. We do it as we worship and in the mist of worship
pause to remember God’s children in need. I am convinced
that when we forget ourselves
and focus on God’s children something special
happens.
We become a mission
people. We actually begin to live as the
“body of Christ.”
The church’s mission is not
just for a select few. God’s grace is too big for that.
It is God’s intention that
“everyone be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” Everyone. All people.
Here in Peachtree Corners and
across the world to a village in
Over at the Norcross Coop on
and in downtown
Here in this church where
children and youth and adults
need to learn how our Christian faith guides our
lives.
At your
place of work, where a coworker just needs someone to listen.
Everyone. All God’s people.
They’re all in God’s picture.
Will you pray with me?
Gracious and loving God,
your vision for salvation is so much larger than we can
even imagine.
Let the light of your Son Jesus
Christ shine on us, and give us the power to bring your healing and hope to
those who need it most. We pray in the
name of Jesus Christ, who has given us a glimpse of your love for all. Amen.