The First of the Worst

“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (1Tim 1:15).

There’s a lot of argument about the G.O.A.T. No, I’m not talking about the frisky little critter with horns and beard that seems to be all the rage on Youtube. Thanks to LL Cool J, G.O.A.T. has come to mean “greatest of all time.” Fans and experts constantly debate who’s the greatest in particular sports. Muhammad Ali told everyone who would listen that he was the greatest. In hoops, is Jordan or Kareem the G.O.A.T.? Who’s the greatest QB of all time? Who’s your G.O.A.T. in baseball, hockey, and tennis? 

While all of will certainly be open to debate as long as there are sports bars and the world wide interweb, Paul says there’s no question who’s the G.O.A.T. of sinners. In his first letter to his protege Timothy, the apostle writes, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (v15). He doesn’t want his spiritual son to miss what he’s about to say. Here’s something worth remembering. Don’t ever forget that Jesus came from heaven to earth to rescue us from this sinful mess we’ve made. When it comes to sinners, he boldly proclaims to be the G.O.A.T. What?!?!? The dude who wrote most of the New Testament is the top-ranked trespasser!?! (And is there something wrong with my keyboard that I keep using all these?!?!?!?) Paul has come to realize that he is not the best and brightest. Nope. He’s the first of the worst.  

A quick review of the whole reason for this little letter in the first place. Paul planted a church in Ephesus around 54 A.D. This is a large port city on the west coast of what know today as Turkey. As a hub on international trade, this town is an absolute stew of cultures, races, and religion. The apostle sets up shop in Ephesus for three years. Dr. Luke devotes an entire chapter of Acts to those first crazy days of how God uses Paul and the Gospel to turn the city upside down (Acts 19). After the apostle goes to prison for telling people about Jesus, he writes letter to the believers in Ephesus. That’s what we call the book of Ephesians in our Bible. Now after getting out of the slammer, Paul has put a young man named Timothy in charge of this growing megachurch (1Tim 1:1-3). 

This epistle is really a pastoral to-do list. At the top of that list is shutting down an arrogant team of spiritual hucksters who are doing some serious damage to disciples in the church (1Tim 1:3-7). They pretend to experts but really have no clue what they’re talking about. As he instructs Tim how to shut down these false teachers, Paul goes WAY out of his way to humbly say that he’s not hot stuff. This is all about Jesus. The resurrected Christ has empowered and appointed him despite a rather dubious rap sheet (1Tim 1:12-13). As a result, the Lord has absolutely drenched the apostle in His overwhelming grace (1Tim 1:14). He counters the arrogance of the false teachers with his humility in Jesus.

You can break verse 15 down into three easy pieces. The first part is Paul giving his buddy a heads up. “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance” (v15). The second is the important truth about who Jesus is and what He has done that everyone should remember. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (v15). The apostle ends with what amounts to a quick aside. If there were parenthesis in Greek, he may have used them. “Of whom I am the foremost” (v15). He’s so glad the Son of God came to the rescue of of sinners because he’s at the front of the line. He’s the G.O.A.T. He’s the first of the worst.

Paul begins by letting us know what he’s about to write is important. REALLY important. “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance” (v15). He uses this idea three times in 1 Timothy (1Tim 3:1; 4:9) once in 2 Timothy (2Tim 2:11), and another in Titus (Titus 3:8). In other words, what you’re about to read is legit. You can take this to the bank. Listen up. Pay attention. Write this down. If the apostle were writing in the 21st century, he would probably tell you that this is Twitter-worthy. #Trustworthy. #FullAcceptance. I’ll be honest, I kinda doubt there was a hashtag in biblical Greek.

Does he have your attention? Are you ready for the big news? Good. Here we go. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (v15). If you were a headline writer for the Bible, you could put this at the top of the page in 150 point bold font. It’s not just a big idea, it’s THE BIG IDEA! Our Hero came to our rescue!! This is the very essence of the Gospel. Just to review. God created a perfect universe. We jacked it up. Jesus came to rescue us from the disaster we’re responsible for. More than once, the radical Rabbi/Carpenter from Galilee announced His mission statement. He came to serve and to seek and to save (Mt 20:28; Lk 19:10).

Just to be sure, Jesus didn’t come to save good people. The religious rule keepers freaked out when Jesus attended a shindig thrown by a tax collector. The Resurrection and the Life was clearly the life of this party. Christ responded to their mumbles and grumbles by saying, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Lk 5:31-32). Both then and now, folks who see themselves as the religious police fail to realize was just how gloomy their prognosis is without the Great Physician. You see, He came to save the bad…because that’s all there are (Rom 3:10-11, 23)! Jesus saves those who realize they could never save themselves. 

Now we come to the humble little phrase at the end of the verse. “Of whom I am the foremost” (v15). Paul appears to think less and less of himself as the Gospel overwhelms him more and more. Just in case you think this is some fleeting thought the apostle scribbled down, check out the apostle’s VERY interesting progression. Around 55 A.D., he writes to the church in Corinth and describes himself as “least of the apostles” (1Cor 15:9). If you were to rank Jesus’ posse, he believes he would have just snuck in to the polls. A few years later sometime between 60-62 A.D., he tells his friends in Ephesus, “I am the very least of all the saints” (Eph 3:8). Fast forward a couple of years as he writes to Tim and says he’s finally the baddest man on the planet. He’s the G.O.A.T. of sinners. He’s the first of the worst.

We get this idea of the greatest from Paul’s use of “foremost” (Gr. protos). The word means the first of many in time or place, the leader in a succession, chief, top ranked, or above all. He’s number one. He’s leader the leader in the clubhouse. Jesus tells James and John that if we want to be at the top of God’s rankings we must at the front of the line to serve others. “Whoever would be first (Gr. protos) among you must be your slave” (Mt 20:27). Later Paul tells King Agrippa how Jesus is the “first (Gr. protos) to rise from the dead” (Acts 26:23). 

At first, this doesn’t make any sense. It’s probably been almost 30 years since the resurrected Jesus blindsided the apostle formerly known as Saul outside Damascus. He’s been a follower of Jesus for a long time. His resume is pretty stinkin’ impressive. He’s been on three legendary Mediterranean tours for the Gospel. He’s written a big chunk of the Bible. He’s Christ’s handpicked spokesman to non-Jews around the world. Wouldn’t this be a guy who really didn’t need any help from God any more? 

Paul wants us to know that it’s EXACTLY the opposite. As we become more mature in our walk with Jesus, we don’t become more self-sufficient. We become more Christ dependent. We become more and more aware of our desperate day-today need of a Savior. Bill Hybels calls this “descending into greatness.” Smart folks like to call God’s process of holiness in my life sanctification. The apostle says the secret sauce of being sanctified is to remember that I’m justified. I don’t outgrow the Gospel. I actually dive deeper into it! The great reformer Martin Luther said we need preach the Good News to ourselves every single day. Remember how gracious God has been to you. Remember who you would be without Him. 

Paul knows exactly where he would be. He would be the G.O.A.T. of sinners. But he's not alone. There's a tie at the top of the rankings. With you. With me. With everyone who's ever fogged a mirror. We're all the greatest sinners who have ever lived. We're all the G.O.A.T. We just haven't realized it yet. It's not exactly something you race to post on your LinkedIn profile either. This humbling status breaks me and motivates me to tell others about the One at the other end of the scale. The world desperately needs to hear about Jesus, truly the Greatest of All Time. No one else comes close. Without Him, we're tied for the first of the worst.