Skid Marks and Grace

“for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you” (1Tim 6:21)

You can tell a lot at an accident scene when you look at the skid marks. What’s left of the car may be still smoking in the ditch, but the burnt rubber left on the road will tell you where the trouble began. That’s why police investigating any wreck will carefully examine and measure when and where the tires made their black marks on the pavement. 

At the very end of his letter to Timothy, Paul looks over the skid marks of another accident scene. It was a terrible crash. No, there wasn’t six chariot pileup on some Philippian freeway. He’s talking about the wreck of the Ephesian church. It all happened when a team of false teachers distracted folks from following Jesus with a lot of pointless discussions they claimed was essential to the faith. The result was tragic. “For by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you” (v21). 

When you take your eyes off grace, you’re going to leave skid marks.

As Paul wraps up his note, he personally encourages Pastor Tim to “guard the deposit entrusted to you” (1Tim 6:20). The apostle is talking about protecting the purity of the Gospel. When you compare spreading the Good News to reporting, it’s critical to maintain journalistic integrity. This goes for pastors, ministers, Bible teachers, as well as folks like you and me. We must make sure the message of Jesus remains untarnished, untainted, and undiluted. This is Paul’s call to quality assurance. And by guarding it, he doesn’t mean hoarding it. I’m to share it readily and generously.

Just a quick reminder of exactly the key ingredients of the crystal clear Gospel of grace. In an incredible moment of generosity, God created a perfect universe and put us in it. It wasn’t long before we jacked the whole deal up by thinking He was holding out on us. We continually rejected His goodness and repeatedly ignored His loving guidance. 

In order to save us from ourselves and restore creation, God personally got involved. His Son left heaven and went on the greatest search-and-rescue mission in all of history. Jesus lived the perfect life we should have lived. He died the death for our sin and rebellion we should have died. He rose to new life we don’t deserve. Christ restores our broken relationship with God for us. 

We simply trust in what He did for us that we could never do on our own. We follow His leadership as an act of gratitude and worship. I must keep my eyes locked on Jesus who not only starts and ends my rescue. When I’m distracted and start thinking it’s up to me to save myself, I headed for trouble. BIG trouble. When I take my eyes off grace, I’m going to leave skid marks.

Meanwhile back in Paul’s epistle, he stands at the accident scene knows exactly what happened. It all started when some of these spiritual hucksters began making promises they couldn’t keep. He writes how they were “professing it” (v21). “It” being the “irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called ‘knowledge’” (1Tim 6:20). He uses a Greek word (Gr. epaggellomai) to describe what they said that describes someone promising publicly what will occur. The term literally means to “pre (epi-) announce (-announce).” They asserted openly and emphatically how things would go down. You may remember back near the beginning of the letter how Paul these religious con artists had a bad habit of talking about all sorts of goofy stuff “about which they make confident assertions” (1Tim 1:7). 

Check out how writers use this word in the NT. When Judas cooks up the plot to throw Jesus under the bus, religious leaders “were glad and promised (Gr. epaggellomai) to give him money” (Mk 14:11). Despite being well a VERY old man, Abraham put his trust in God’s covenant pledge to give he and Sarah a son because he was “fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised (Gr. epaggellomai)” (Rom 7:5). In the opening lines of his letter to Titus, Paul tells him how everything hinges “in on the hope of eternal life, which God who never lies, promised (Gr. epaggellomai) before the ages began” (Titus 1:2). A promise is only as good as the one making it. Hint, hint. Trust God’s promises!

You can bet when we take our eyes off Christ, we’ll hear squealing tires very soon. Folks in Ephesus saw it happen with their own eyes. Paul and Tim remember that horrible time false teachers made empty promises and “some have swerved from the faith” (v21). “Swerved” is the Greek verb astocheo, which describes someone who completely misses the target. Picture a distracted driver while texting who veers wildly into your lane and off the road (because we know neither one of us would EVER do something so stupid, right? RIGHT?!?).

Earlier in this letter, Paul reminds Tim how folks who once had a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith, “by swerving (Gr. astocheo) from these, have wandered away into vain discussion” (1Tim 1:5-6). In his followup note, the apostle tells Tim how two false teachers named Hymenaeus and Philetus “swerved (Gr. astocheo) from the truth” by claiming the resurrection of the dead has already happened (2Tim 2:17-18). Pastor Tim is certainly used to seeing skid marks at spiritual accident scenes. 

The man from Tarsus signs off his letter to his spiritual son by writing, “Grace be with you” (v21). No, it’s not “yours truly.” Not “sincerely.” Not “regards.” It’s “grace.” This is no automatically generated signature at the bottom of an email. If you’re familiar with our man Paul, you know God’s amazing grace is a big deal. A VERY big deal. Some folks call it God’s descending, one-way love. Paul Zahl says it’s “love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return…Grace is being loved when you are unlovable.” It’s God’s overwhelming and overflowing goodness to each one of us who really deserve a one-way ticket to the far side of hell instead. 

Flip back to the opening lines of this epistle. Paul starts with a prayer for God’s goodness to Tim. “Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord” (1Tim 1:2). And now it ends celebrating His divine generosity to every follower of Jesus in the church. The apostle bookends every letter with grace (Rom 1:1; 16:20; 1Cor 1:3; 16:23; 2Cor 1:11 13:14; Gal 1:1; 6:18; Eph 1:1; 6:24; Phil 1:2; 4:23; Col 1:1; 4:18; 1Tim 1:1; 6:21; 2Tim 1:1; 4:22; Titus 1:4; 3:15; Phm 3, 25). Every. Single. One. See for yourself. I’ll hum the music to Final Jeopardy while you do.

Our journey with Jesus starts with grace. And it ends with grace. Why not open and close every conversation I have with a reminder of God’s undeserved and unmerited favor for you and me? Our relationship with our Heavenly Dad begins and ends with grace. His very act of creating the entire universe out of zilch for us to enjoy is certainly an example of it. It all starts with His grace and ends with His grace.

Paul constantly reminds us of the incredible impact of Jesus’ one-way love on his life. “The grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (1Tim 1:12). Remember, the apostle formerly known as Saul was a one-man wrecking crew on a search-and-destroy mission to kill the followers of Christ before our resurrected Savior blindsided him outside of Damascus. From murderer to missionary. From assassin to apostle. Now THAT’S grace!

When it comes to my own salvation, I bring nothing to the table except the sin that makes it absolutely necessary. Or as Paul tells his Ephesian friends, “Saving is all His idea, and all His work. All we do is trust Him enough to let Him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play a major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing!” (Eph 2:8-9 The Message). I absolutely love Tullian Tchividjian’s description. “Grace is unconditional acceptance given to an undeserving person by an unobligated Giver.” And if I don’t keep my eyes on His grace, I’ll swerve and wreck myself too.

There’s something curious about the very last word of the letter: “you” (v21). It’s actually plural. At the very end of this very personal note, Paul’s talking to the entire church. For those of you from the south of the Mason-Dixon line, you can read this as “y’all.” Well, the apostle is originally from southern part of Asia in the city of Tarsus. This is a powerful reminder that while our relationship with Jesus is very personal, it is certainly NOT private. We do it together. In other words, we’re carpooling in our journey with Christ. I’m not traveling solo. If I don’t focus on His grace I could easily end up careening and crashing. Just like that horrible accident in Ephesus. You can still see the skid marks.

Gilligan's Island and Spiritual Shipwrecks

“holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith” (1Tim 1:19).

It’s a familiar tune with legendary lyrics. Let’s all sing along…

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, 

that started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship.

Now that I’ve got that ear worm crammed deep into your consciousness, you may be wondering what in the wide world of sports does the theme song from “Gilligan’s Island” have to do with our faith in Jesus and Paul’s letter to Timothy? So glad you asked. 

One is a cheesy 60s sitcom and the other a first century tragedy of epic proportions. But they both tell the story of tragedy that could have been avoided. The Skipper and his little buddy thought they were taking folks for a three-hour tour but clearly failed to check the forecast. Meanwhile, the apostle tells his sidekick the importance of listening to warnings. He encourages Timothy to continue “holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made a shipwreck of their faith” (v19). Paul describes the inevitable result of hurtling toward disaster while ignoring the alarms going off in our conscience. (That song is still running through head, isn’t it? For that, I’m sorry. Well, sort of.)

There’s quite a mess in Ephesus. While God has given Paul his next assignment somewhere in Macedonia, the apostle has left his protege to pastor the megachurch in the big port city. His assignment: to stuff a sock in team of false teachers who are distracting believers from the message of Jesus with a counterfeit gospel (1Tim 1:3-7). Paul reminds Tim that this is exactly the kind of confrontation people prophesied to be in his future back home in Lystra (1Tim 1:18). Apparently God has this showdown circled on His divine calendar for quite some time. 

Before we compare the Minnow with the Ephesian spiritual shipwreck, Paul points out just how critical it is for Timothy to be “holding faith and a good conscience” (v19). We must do the same. Let’s be clear about what sort of faith we’re talking about here. This is NOT gritting your teeth, clinching your fists, and working up some sort of I-believe-this-will-happen-with-all-my-heart kind of wishful thinking. No matter how strongly you believe in something, it doesn’t mean it’s trustworthy. Faith is all about the object. It’s ALL about what or whom you’re placing your trust. 

When the writers of the Bible talk about faith, they’re talking about trusting in the goodness of God. In the New Testament, the specific object of our trust is Jesus Christ. We believe in Him when we place our trust in who He is and what He’s done for us. We’ve completely failed to live up to God’s perfect standard. Jesus nailed it. We totally deserve divine punishment for our rebellion and disobedience. Jesus took the full brunt of that for us. And there’s no way we earned resurrection life. But once again, Jesus handled that for us. He’s the ultimate object of faith. He did for us what we could never dream of doing for ourselves. We can’t buy our way of our situation just like Mr. and Mrs. Howell couldn’t buy their way off the island.

That’s the reason Paul tells Tim to hold onto his faith in Christ. Never forget who He is. Never forget what He’s done. Never forget where we would be without Him. “Holding faith” (v19) is putting a death grip on “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (Jn 14:6). One of the subtle tricks spiritual con artists have up their sleeves is making folks put their faith in themselves. We mistakenly believe it’s up to us to keep ourselves in God’s kingdom by following a list of religious rules. 

Here’s the big idea. Once Jesus saves you, you’re saved. Future failure does NOT disqualify you and me from salvation. Jesus died for ALL our sin. Past, present, and future. That’s the whole reason He shouted from the cross, “It is finished!” (Jn 19:30). There’s nothing left to do but trust in what He’s done. That’s what it means to be “holding faith” (v19). We’re NOT trusting in the Professor’s ability to turn a coconut into a shortwave radio.

Once you’ve placed our faith in Jesus, it’s important to pay close attention to your “good conscience” (v19). Throughout the Bible, we see the conscience serving as a sort of God-given warning system (Acts 23:1; 24:16; Rom 2:15; 9:1; 13:5). Combined with the supernatural guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit, God enables us to look out for trouble through our conscience. We’re to help out our friends who have what Paul calls a weak or malfunctioning conscience (1Cor 8:7-12). Paul instructs the followers of Jesus in Corinth to use this internal radar to determine what foods to eat (1Cor 10:25-29). Just to be clear, this had more to do with whether to eat meat used in idolatry than to going gluten-free.

A properly functioning conscience is key to keep us from slamming our faith on the rocks. So how do we make sure our warning system is tuned up and ready to go? That happens through simple the two-step process of confession and repentance. Notice that I said it was “simple” and not “easy.” First, we need to run TO Jesus and not away from Him when we sin. Go to God and admit your failure. There’s no reason to run and hide. Remember, He’s God. He already knows. And if you’re a follower of Jesus, He’s already forgiven you. 

Step two is just as important. I must repent from what I’ve done. That’s more than just “I’m sorry I got caught.” This is doing a 180 away from my sin and heading back to my Savior. When we regularly confess and repent, we’re much more likely to pay attention to the blaring siren of our conscience. John MacArthur provides a powerful illustration, saying, “A good conscience serves as the rudder that steers the believer through the rocks and reefs of sin and error.” If only the Titanic’s captain wasn’t so cocky. If only the fearless crew of the Minnow had been paying attention.

Paul says ignoring the warning lights on the dashboard of their conscience got certain folks into what was certainly an avoidable accident. “By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith” (v19). Apparently, all the alarm bells were going off. These people simply ignored them. That’s the meaning of the Greek word behind “rejecting” (Gr. apotheomai). It means to push aside, use force to thrust off, or shove away. In Stephen’s sermon just before he was stoned, he told his killers about the time their ancestors rejected Moses and the Ten Commandments and “thrust him aside (Gr. apotheomai)” (Acts 7:39). Paul knows personally the pain of a spiritual stiff arm. During his first world Gospel tour, the Jews living in Pisidia totally freaked out when he and Barnabas told everyone that Jesus is Messiah. The apostle responds to them, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside (Gr. apotheomai) and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46). Don’t make the same mistake and give your conscience the Heisman.

The result of shaking off these obvious warnings was spiritual carnage. They’ve “made shipwreck of their faith” (v19). Paul uses the same Greek verb here (Gr. nauageo) that he does when describing his rather sketchy seafaring history. “Three times I was shipwrecked (Gr. nauageo); a night and a day I was adrift at sea” (2Cor 11:25). So if anybody knows about shipwrecks, it’s Paul! I’ll be honest, if I saw the apostle walking up the gang plank to board my ship, you can bet I’m getting off! Ancient Greek authors outside the New Testament also use this term to describe a nasty chariot accident. Think plane crash. Train wreck. This is no little fender bender. When we ignore our God-given warning system, it’s going to be bad. Very bad.

This is a self-inflicted wound. When I reject what Jesus has done for me and stop listening to the alarms, I’m headed for the rocks. It’s not a question of if I’ll crash but when I’ll crash. But just because we’ve driven our faith off a cliff, it’s NOT fatal. Jesus will NEVER let you go if you’re truly His. There’s absolutely NOTHING that cuts us off from His love (Rom 8:31-39), including our own mistakes! Now that doesn’t mean there won’t be consequences and terrible damage. I’m not sure about Ginger and Mary Ann, but we can be sure our Savior will come to our rescue.

Take it from Paul and Gilligan. There's a big difference between a three-hour tour and a lifetime of pain. In the meantime, let's all sing a long...