The Gospel According to Cheap Trick

“This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Tim 2:3-4).

“I want you to want me.” Any Cheap Trick fans out there? If you love the 70s like I do, you can sing this little ditty from memory. (As a matter of fact, it’s probably running through your head right now.) This track is all about some dude’s desperate crush on a girl who simply doesn’t feel the same way he does. It’s what literature calls unrequited love. 

So what in the name of pop rock does this Cheap Trick tune have to do with Paul’s first letter to Timothy? Here in chapter two, the apostle tells his spiritual son just how much God desires a relationship with the people He made in His image. “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (v3-4). Let me be clear. I’m NOT saying God has some desire to sing lead for a rock band. But it doesn’t take much imagination to hear the song of His heart for those who are far from Him. He wants us to want Him. Call it the Gospel according to Cheap Trick.

Before anybody freaks out over this comparison of Almighty God and a random rock song, let me be clear. God may want us to want Him, but He certainly does NOT need us to need Him. He doesn’t need anything. As God, He’s absolutely satisfied in Himself. For heaven’s sake, the Godhead is made up of the Trinity. The Father, Son, and Spirit have the most awesome relationship the universe will ever know. God didn’t create the human race out of some dysfunctional loneliness. Far from it. He created us as an act of overflowing goodness. End of disclaimer. We now return you to your regular programming.

Paul begins the second chapter of his letter to the pastor of the Ephesian megachurch with an encouragement for us to pray. Pray in every way possible for every person you can think of (1Tim 2:1). Use every tool in the prayer tool box. Use every club in the bag. The best thing you can do for someone is to talk to your Heavenly Dad on their behalf. More specifically, let’s lift up our governmental leaders (2Tim 2:2). The purpose is so we can be good citizens and be a blessing to our community. 

The apostle goes on to say, “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior” (v3). He uses the Greek word apodektos which the ESV translates as “pleasing” (v3). It only shows up twice in the entire Bible, both right here in this epistle (1Tim 5:4). The term literally means to gladly receive something from another. When we pray for others, God doesn’t begrudgingly take these petitions like kid getting a pajamas on Christmas morning.

We need to remember that God is particularly pumped to get prayers for others, especially for our leaders. He loves to see His people living peacefully, quietly, godly, and dignified lives. Or in the words of The Message, “This is the way our Savior God wants us to live” (v3 The Message). What do you get the God who has everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING!)? How about prayers for others?!? The Lord is excited to receive them! They’re always the perfect size and always the right color. Unlike that frightfully ugly sweater you opened last Christmas. No, really. I love it. I’ve always wanted a pullover with a cat wearing a Santa Claus costume. Really.

Paul then drops the same title he used in the opening line of the letter. “God our Savior” (v3, 1Tim 1:1). It’s a powerful reminder that we desperately need outside intervention in order to be saved. Let’s be clear. We can’t save ourselves. I can’t. You can’t. Neither can Billy Graham. Just in case you’d like to give self-salvation a shot, all you have to do is obey every single law in the Bible. Every. Single. One. You see, God set a standard of spotless perfection. Despite this impossible goal, just about everyone one of us gives it a go at some point in our lives. Some of you are STILL trying. In the words of the great philosopher and theologian Dr. Phil, “How’s that workin’ for ya?”

That’s where “God our Savior” comes in. We can’t save ourselves. As the sinless Son of God, Jesus left the comforts of heaven to perform the ultimate search and rescue mission. He dove into the dumpster of sin we made of God’s perfect paradise. He lived the perfect life that we failed to live. He died the death for our sin that we should have died. He rose to new life that we don’t deserve. “God our Savior” came to our rescue. He did for us what we could never dream of doing for ourselves. 

Our Savior God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (v4). The key word here is “desires,” which is the Greek term thelo. It describes a desire, a wish, or a want. If you asked God what He really wanted, this would be at the top of the list. In His heart of hearts, He desires that every single person would turn to Him for salvation. Or in the words of Cheap Trick, He wants us to want Him.

And God wants ALL of us to want ALL of Him. Before you think we’re going all Calvinistic or Arminian, just stop right there. Save that debate for another day. Later in this very letter, Paul tells Tim, “We have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially this who believe” (1Tim 4:10). His heart is to rescue everyone. Every. Single. Person. It’s only those those who place their trust in Jesus who realize His grace. The Message has an awesome take on this truth. “He wants not only us but everyone saved” (v4 The Message). Every. Single. Person.

This all ties into the timing of Jesus’ spectacular encore. Who wouldn’t love be alive to see that?!? Paul’s buddy Peter says it’s Christ’s heart of compassion that delays His return and final judgment of sin. “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2Pet 3:9). He’s not late. He’s simply waiting for every person possible to turn to Him. He wants ALL of us to want ALL of Him. 

That’s not all. God wanted you to be saved more than you did. He wants your friends and family to be saved more than you do. He cares for people more than you do. He loves people more than you do. You might think the Old Testament is all about a wrathful God who just can’t wait to fling one of His supernatural lightning bolts when we mess up. Far from it. “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD” (Ezek 18:23, 32). Our disobedience absolutely breaks His heart. He wants us to want Him but there’s just on problem. We continually reject His offer of the everlasting life preserver.

So why doesn’t God the Savior simply save everyone? He IS God after all. If He’s almighty and wants everyone to be in His kingdom, why doesn’t He just do it? It all goes back to the beginning. And when I say “beginning,” I mean “in the beginning” (Gen 1:1). When He made us in His image (Gen 1:26-27), He gave us the ability to choose. Now our sin has horribly corrupted our choices. Inherent in that choice is possibility to NOT choose God.

You see, He didn’t make us robots who are programmed to follow and obey Him. He wants us to want Him. How cruel would God be if He rescued those who don’t want any part of Him? It’s said that the gates of Hell are locked from the inside. Those who reject Jesus actually choose to be there. To drag everyone who turns their back on Christ to spend eternity with Him would be brutal. The best way to understand what this is the Gospel according to Cheap Trick. He wants us to want Him. 

God saves us when we “come to the knowledge of the truth” (v4). Not just the facts, but the truth. You don’t experience His rescue by simply memorizing historical data about the existence of some radical Rabbi/Carpenter from the boondocks of Galilee. We trust in who He is and what He’s done for us. We trust in THE Truth with a capital T. As Henry Blackaby says, Truth is a Person. 

Jesus Himself left no doubt about it when He boldly told His disciples, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn 14:6). Not a truth. THE Truth. Christ is the wisdom of God in human flesh (1Cor 1:24). We experience that Truth when we follow Him obediently. Or as the Amplified Bible says, that’s when we “perceive and recognize and discern and know precisely and correctly the [divine] Truth” (v4 AMP).He wants us to know the Truth. He wants us to want Him.

So what does God want us to want to do with this? You and I need to realize that there’s no one in the universe who desires for people to be saved more than God. You may have a white hot burning passion for certain people in your life to know Jesus. But that’s a smoldering cinder compared to the fire in the heart of Christ for them. And His love isn’t limited to just the folks on your list. His heart is for very single person you lock eyes with to step under the waterfall of His grace. 

Remember, He loves the entire world so much He sent His Son to the rescue (Jn 3:16). Whatever you do, don’t stop praying for them. Don’t stop telling them about our Savior. Don’t stop loving them. He doesn’t. Don’t give up on them. He doesn’t. He won’t force them using some sort of supernatural submission hold. He longs for every one of us to willing desire a relationship with Him. He wants them to want Him. He wants you to want Him. He wants us to want Him. It’s the Gospel according to Cheap Trick.

Uncomfortably Numb

They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity (Eph 4:19).

I'm a real wimp.  I don't like pain.  Hate it.  Avoid it.  Let's face it, I would make a terrible masochist.  But here's the deal.  Pain is my friend.  Pain is a gift from God.  Pain is a good thing.  Through pain, God lets us know when something is wrong and we need to change.  When we can't feel pain, we're in BIG trouble.  That's the problem with diseases like leprosy and diabetes.  Numbness sets in and we don't know if we're bleeding or burning.  Paul warns us that when we become numb to the pain of our sin, we head down a slippery sewer of seediness and sexual perversion.  He tells the Ephesian church the hard truth about the hard hearts of unbelievers.  "They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity" (v19).  They become uncomfortably numb.

In the previous verse, the apostle has warned against developing a cardiac callous like the unbelievers who live all around them.  He goes on to let us know what happens when we "become callous" (v19).  Paul uses the Greek verb apalgeo, which means to lose all feeling, become insensitive, cease feeling pain, shame or grief.  It's the only time this term appears in the NT.  Think of this as an anesthetic for sin.  Sin causes pain.  God tries to get our attention by causing irritation and discomfort.  Out of His great love for us, He wants us to stop.  But we eventually become calloused.  We eventually become insensitive.  We eventually become unfeeling.  Like a needle full of novocaine given by the doctor, we go numb to our sin.  Uncomfortably numb. 

When he writes that they have "given themselves up" (v18), Paul makes it crystal clear that when we stop feeling pain from sin we do terrible things to ourselves.  There's no one else to blame.  Not the devil.  Not our so-called friends.  The one responsible for our sin is looking back at me when I shave in the morning.  No one pushed me.  No one shoved me.  No one dragged me.  I gave myself up.  That's what happens when I'm numb to my sin.  

This lets me know that I'm accountable for decision to accept or reject Jesus.  Paul's words here bring up the long running debate about destiny.  Predestination versus choice.  Calvinism versus Arminianism.  I realize that I'm not going to convince you if you're a committed member of one team or the other.  It sure seems obvious from what we read here that we're accountable for our decisions.  But wait just a cotton pickin' minute!  The apostle started this very letter with one, long, run-on sentence of how God chose us to be His back before time began (Eph 1:3-14).  So what is it?!?  (OK, I realize the answer I'm about to give is not going to sit well with folks on either team.  So everybody just take a deep breath and relax.)  It's both.  Yeah, you read that right.  Both.  Clearly there's evidence for both ideas all throughout the Bible.  Our God is a big God.  A VERY BIG God.  In this case, He's a "both/and" God.  He is completely sovereign and in charge of our destiny.  He clearly predestines and elects long before we were born.  But we're clearly accountable for whether we choose to worship Him.  He's a "both/and" God.  (Yeah, I was right.  I knew most of you wouldn't like that answer.)

The numbness to our pain and sin inevitably leads us to "sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity" (v18).  The result to our insensitivity isn't pretty.  It's like driving through the part of town dominated by strip clubs and X-rated movie theaters.  What you're about to read isn't for the faint of heart.  It's not the kind of discussion you'll hear in your grandmother's Sunday School class.  It's raw.  It's real.  The language in the original Greek is gritty and graphic.  We're going to see why the Playboys are under the bed.  We're going to see why skin flicks are available in every motel room.  We're going to see why porn is the most popular topic on the internet.  It's because we're uncomfortably numb.  We need talk about it.  Ready?  

Paul lets us know that uncomfortably numb unbelievers jump into "sensuality" (v18).  This is the Greek noun aselgeia.  It means unbridled lust and outrageous immorality.  Extreme debauchery.  Extravagant indecency.  With a thick cardiac callous and an unfeeling conscience, you're willing to do anything to feel anything.  And few things in our lives stimulate our senses like sex.  Our sin has completely corrupted the sexual intimacy of marriage, one of God's greatest gifts.   All throughout Scripture, God sounds the alarm when it comes to sex and lust.  In his letter to the Roman church, the apostle said we're to start living our lives in broad daylight of Jesus rather than skulking around in the dark "in sexual immorality and sensuality (Gr. aselgia)" (Rom 13:13).  Paul told his Corinthian friends that it breaks his heart that many folks who've heard about Jesus have not "repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality (Gr. aselgia) that they have practiced" (2Cor 12:21).  

When I'm uncomfortably numb, I'll do anything to feel anything.  

This unbridled thirst for sex and porn isn't a one-time thing when we feel no pain from sin.  We become "greedy to practice every kind of impurity" (v18).  The original language here lets us know that the search for sexual pleasure becomes the overriding obsession.  We work harder at it than anything else in our lives.  We make time for it.  We rearrange our schedules for it.  It becomes an idol we worship.  Our libido becomes the god worshiped above all.  Sex becomes an addiction.  To paraphrase those great theologians, the Rolling Stones, we can't get no satisfaction.  We'll do anything for it because we're uncomfortably numb to sin.

The translators have used a bit of whitewash on the last part of this verse: "every kind of impurity" (v18).  A rough translation might be "all filth in exploitation."  Like a junkie willing to do anything to get a fix, we'll crawl through the sewer of sexual stimulation in order to feel something.  It's disgusting.  It's nasty.  And we don't even notice because we're uncomfortably numb.  Eugene Peterson pulls no punches in his paraphrase.  "Feeling no pain, they let themselves go into sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion" (v18, The Message).  Numbness.  Sexual obsession.  Addiction.  Perversion.  We become slaves to our own lust and libido.

But Someone has come to set us free of all that.  Jesus left the luxury of the heavenly palace to come find us in seedy part of town.  He's willing to search every strip club, every porn shop and every skin flick theater to find us.  He's not coming to punish you.  He's not coming to shame you.  He's coming to save you.  He's coming to set you free from that disgusting steaming pile of sexual sin you can't seem to live without.  He comes because He loves you.  

Jesus wants you to feel again.  He wants you to feel peace.  He wants you to be know true and lasting satisfaction.  Christ wants you to know that He is everything we'll ever need.  Everything else is just a cheap imitation or counterfeit.  He died so that we could experience "life and have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10).  Christ is the only cure for the uncomfortably numb.