1 Timothy 1.12-17 Christ Jesus came for sinners

A past therapy client of mine once told me a story of his youth. When he was around ten years old, he was playing hide and go seek with his friends. He came up with this fantastic idea to hide in a tree. So, he climbed up as high as he could and hid among the branches. But, once he was up there, he looked down. Just a few feet below him hung a massive hornet nest. He was panicked, terrified. How was he going to get down without disturbing the nest? He did not want to get stung.

It’s surprising how many times “what you don’t know can’t hurt you” turns out to be true. My client had climbed up right past the hornet nest surely disturbing it at least a little, but since he was unaware it was there, the hornets were not overly concerned. But now that he knows its there, it is suddenly a concern.

Paul’s letter to Timothy states “even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief.” You are only responsible to God for that which you know. If you know about Jesus Christ and choose not to believe in God, you will be held responsible for that. If you know about the Bible but choose not to read it, you will be held responsible for that. If you know that there is more to be learned, more to be discerned, more to be discussed within a group of believers and you choose not to participate in it, you will be held responsible for that. If you know it is your job to go out into the world to find the lost sheep and bring them back and to rejoice in them, you will be held responsible for that.

Ignorance is bliss. You are only responsible for that which you know. If you don’t know it you aren’t responsible for it. But the moment some well meaning world tells you about the salvation available through Jesus Christ and all you have to do is believe. And they tell you how Christ has changed their own life. They are now responsible for knowing and whether or not they choose to believe.

You my friends have a lot of responsibility. By being here today you know these things now. You are responsible for how you respond to that knowledge. On February 23, 1455 the Gutenberg Bible entered mass printing making all those who could read and write in Latin responsible for the knowledge which it contained. While John Wycliffe is responsible for the first known English translation of the Bible in 1380, it wasn’t mass produced until around 1535 making the English reading world responsible for its contents.

Anyone here not own a Bible?

The Protestant Revolution did many great things for the world. It challenged the selling of indulgences and corrupt leadership in the church. Forced doctrine to move away from concepts of atonement and into a world of salvation by grace with a currency of repentance instead of worldly coin. But, I’m not sure if the promotion of church services into a language the general public could understand necessarily was the best thing for us commoners. Martin Luther climbed past a hornet’s nest, brought a few friends along, and only now are we looking down to see the situation we are now in.

Wouldn’t it be nice if only I was responsible for atoning for you sins? If I was the only one in the building who had to answer for all the sins you unknowingly committed? Wouldn’t that be great for you? But too bad for you, I have told you. I have spent a year of Sunday’s telling you the implications of that knowledge and reminding you of your responsibilities for having it.

Paul tells Timothy that this knowledge is not supposed to be a burden. By knowing, the grace of our Lord should overflow through you with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. That knowledge is the key to opening the door so that you can experience heaven here on earth. It is the path the mercy and forgiveness.

So, why have so many decided that salvation isn’t worth the cost? Why are so many convinced they would rather live pretending to be ignorant of what is available? So many choose to be miserable here on this earth and it would seem accept that they will continue to be miserable in the next life as well. You cannot walk a mile in a US city without seeing at least one church, one building dedicated to Christ our Lord and Savior. You cannot stay in a hotel or a hospital without having access to a Bible which you are free to take, it will be replenished.

As I look at the world now compared to when I was just a child, I remember there used to be Bible’s darn near everywhere. If there was a chair to sit in there was a Bible sitting on a table next to it under a lamp. Society is shifting away from this, determined to be ignorant of its contents. If we’re honest, can you blame them? You are responsible for how you respond to that which you know.

I’m not saying one can’t accidentally knock over a hornet’s nest in their ignorance and suffer significant consequences but you are less likely to suffer consequences if you don’t know it’s a problem. There are a great many things in life which are much easier to learn and do when you are ignorant. Ice skating, riding a bike, sledding, driving a car, the more you know, the more you fear the consequences of when things go wrong, the more difficult something is to learn. Children don’t have far to fall while they are growing, and they bounce better than adults, so learning new activities is easy when you are not afraid. But, as adults, it gets harder.

Christianity is that way too, the more you know, the more responsible you are for it, the more challenging it becomes. When you first come to the faith, all you have to do is believe, easy right? Profess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, get baptized and you’re saved. But then someone hands you this book, and now, you have to read it. Then you learn that forgiveness isn’t entirely free as was promised to you. You have to repent.

Repentance requires acknowledging your sins. Taking stock in yourself, and your actions and asking for forgiveness and then… not repeating it. Engaging in the sacrament of Holy Communion which requires not just bread and wine but also to be part of a community which you can “commune” with.

And then there is the Great Commission. Go out into the world and make disciples of all nations. Tell all the world what I have done. We are commanded to be evangelists. Not just me, you. Every believer. You are responsible to go find those lost sheep.

You are responsible for that which you know.  Hell is the hornets nest that sits waiting for you down below. You know its there and you also know how many people out there need to know how to get past it. Remain calm, remain faithful, be diligent, and be cooperative?

Jesus has given us the grace of choice to not obey the Law but quite honestly we’re not doing so great at the few things he did give us to do. Believe, love God. Repent and be baptized. Love one another. Be a part of a community. Go and tell the world. Evangelize. You have been informed, you have the knowledge, you are responsible for it because you know Jesus Christ, you read your Bibles, you attend this church, now you are responsible for doing not just knowing.

Back to Church Sunday is an annual event held yearly on the 3rd Sunday of September. This year, that is September 21^st. Next Sunday. It is a special Sunday set aside for people who need that motivation to act. It also makes it so theoretically, there will be multiple soon to not be strangers in the congregation at the same time so new and returning attendees do not feel like all the attention in the room is on them. It is much more comfortable to be somewhere where multiple people feel like they don’t belong not just you.

My challenge is this. Be a Christian this week. Be a disciple this week. Use the knowledge that has been gifted to you this week. Invite a friend to church with you next Sunday, invite a stranger with you next Sunday, invite someone to church next Sunday because we have absolutely nothing special planned for worship. It’s just a normal week. It’s what we’re supposed to do every week, there will be no surprises that I am currently aware of.

Those you invite will experience what you experience every Sunday. If you don’t like that, then I hope you use this week to call, text, or email me ways we can change our service to make it so that you do want to invite people. My contact information is on the top right corner of your bulletin. We are not inviting people here to show them we are something we are not. We are inviting people here to get to know God as we know God and to worship God as we worship God to see if that is something of interest to them that they would like to experience again.

We are inviting people here to impart upon them a piece of the knowledge we have. What they choose to do with that, they are responsible for, not us. We are responsible for giving them an opportunity, they are responsible for what they do with it.

Like a hornets nest in a tree, that we are blindly bringing them past, once they see it they have to figure out what to do. Maybe not the best analogy but also, kind of accurate. We’re climbing down past a hornet’s nest, into a perilous world of sin to try and convert one of those little hornets by introducing them to Christ. Sure we might get stung, and absolutely I have overextended this analogy beyond sensibility but I think you’re understanding anyway.