The One and Only

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church June 2, 2024.  The Bible verses used are 1 Timothy 2:1-7.

            The Bible verses we read today are among the most important verses in the Bible.  As I thought about it, it’s surprising we don’t hear them talked about more often.  These verses really should be right up there with John Three, Sixteen and the Twenty-third Psalm as the most quoted verses in the Bible.  The Apostle Paul, writing to his young friend Timothy, sets out our most basic beliefs as Christians.  They are found right here, in these few verses.

            Let’s start with verse five.  “There is one God.”  That’s one of the most basic Christian beliefs there is, that there is one God.  Period.  There are not a variety of gods.  There are not different types of gods.  There is not a Christian god and a Jewish god and an Islamic god and a Hindu god.  There is one God.  Period.

            I understand that this is not how everybody sees it.  There are plenty of people who believe that all religions are equal and equally valid.  There are plenty of people who believe that it does not matter what you believe, as long as you are kind and treat people well.  If you believe that, well, your argument is not with me.  Your argument is with the Apostle Paul.  You can choose to believe him, or you can choose not to.  But I’m not going to tell you he did not say what he said.  Paul says there is one God.  Period.

            After establishing that there is one God, Paul says this, “and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.”  A mediator, in this context, is a go-between.  Someone who can go to God on our behalf.  There’s only one mediator, and Jesus Christ is it.  The only way for humans to get to God is through faith in Jesus Christ.  Again, period.  That, too, is one of our most basic beliefs as Christians.  There are not several mediators.  There is not Jesus Christ or Mohammed or Buddha or anyone else.  There is one mediator between God and humans, and his name is Jesus Christ.  Period.

            And again, I understand that’s not how everybody sees it.  There are plenty of people who believe that there are lots of ways to get to God.  And again, if you believe that, your argument is not with me.  Your argument is with the Apostle Paul.  And again, you can choose to believe him, or you can choose not to, but I’m not going to tell you he did not say what he said.  Paul says there is one mediator between God and mankind, and that one mediator is Christ Jesus.  Period.

            There are also people who believe that, if Paul is right, this is not very fair of God.  Why would God limit us to only one mediator?  Why would God decide that the only way we could get to God is through Jesus Christ?  Why would God be so limiting and so exclusionary?  If God loves us so much, why would God not provide us lots of ways to get to God, rather than just one way?

            The thing to remember about that is that God did not have to provide any mediator at all.  God did not have to give us a go-between.  God did not have to give us a way to get to God.  God did not owe it to us to do that.  God could have just left us to deal with the consequences of our sinful nature.  The real question to ask is not why God would limit our ways to get to God.  The real question is, why would God give us a way to get to God at all?

And Paul gives us the answer to that, too.  Look at verse four.  Paul writes that “God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”  

It is because God wants us to be saved that God gave us Jesus Christ as our mediator.  The fact that God wants us to be saved, that God wants so much for us to be saved that God did provide a way for us to get to God, shows just how much God does love us.  Again, God was not obligated to give us the chance to be saved.  Salvation is not something that we have somehow earned.  God gives us the chance for salvation as a gift, and God gives us that gift because God loves us.

And Paul goes on to tell us how this works.  Paul says that Jesus “gave himself as a ransom for all people.”

It is because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that he is able to be our mediator.  It is because Jesus accepted the punishment and paid the penalty for our sins that he can be our go-between.  We don’t have to be punished for our sins because Jesus already accepted that punishment on our behalf.  We don’t have to pay the penalty for our sins because Jesus already paid that penalty on our behalf.  

That’s why Jesus can act as our mediator.  That’s why Jesus can be our go-between in a way that no one else ever can.  Jesus, by taking the punishment that should go to us, has made it possible for our sins to be forgiven.  And in fact, more than forgiven, it’s like our sins never happened.  Our sins are washed away, wiped out.  You and I are made holy and perfect, even though we’re not, even though we’re not even close.  We’re made holy and perfect through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

That’s why Jesus can act as our mediator.  And it’s why no one else can.  Because no one else did what Jesus did.  No one else accepted the punishment and paid the penalty for our sins.  No one else died for us.  No one else was resurrected.  Jesus is the only one who did that.  And so Jesus is the only one who can be our mediator.  Jesus is the only one who can save us from the consequences of our sins.

All of those things are basic to our Christian faith.  There is only one God.  That one God wants us all to be saved, because that one God loves us.  And so, that one God sent the divine Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to take the punishment that should have gone to us.  Because Jesus did that, he, and he alone, can be our mediator before God, if we only accept him as our Savior.

For Christians, those things are pretty much non-negotiable.  We can disagree about a lot of things as Christians, but not those things.  A Christian who did not believe there was one God and that Jesus Christ is the Savior would be like a farmer who did not believe in growing crops or raising livestock.  It’s simply a contradiction in terms.  It does not work.

But there’s one other thing to note here.  We’ve mentioned it, but we did not fully discuss the implications.  It’s what Paul wrote in verse four.  God “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

God wants all people to be saved.  If you and I follow God, then we need to want all people to be saved, too.  And that puts a responsibility on us.  If we want people to be saved, then we need to do what we can to let people know what we know.  We need to let them know how they can be saved.  We need to let people know that there is one God, that the one God does love us, that the one God sent the divine Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save us.  And that if they believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior, they will be saved.  If we want people to be saved, as God does, then we need to do everything we can to spread that message to everyone we can.

Now, we need to be a little careful about how we do that.  We don’t want to be annoying or contentious about it.  After all, our goal here is not to win an argument.  Our goal is to spread God’s message of salvation.  

And in doing that, I can think of no better example than that of Jesus himself.  When Jesus was spreading his message, how did he do it?  He did not get into arguments with people.  Yes, he’d sometimes argue with the Pharisees, but even then, he was usually just answering their questions.  They were the ones doing the arguing, trying to trick him or trap him in some way.  

But when Jesus was just talking with ordinary people, he did not argue with them.  He simply told them the truth.  He just said, “This is the way it is.”  And he allowed them to make up their own minds.  He allowed them to either accept the truth or reject it.

Jesus was sad when people rejected the truth.  But Jesus would not compromise the truth to get people to accept it.  Jesus did not change his message in the hope that people might change their minds.  Again, Jesus said, “This is the way it is.”  And he allowed people to either accept the truth or reject it.

            That’s our example.  Let people know the truth of God’s message of salvation.  Then allow them to make up their own minds.  Don’t argue with them, but also don’t compromise the truth to get them to accept it.  The truth is the truth.  It’s up to everyone, including us, to either accept it or reject it.

            There is only one God.  Period.  There is only one mediator between God and humans, and that’s Jesus Christ.  Period.  Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior.  We can either accept that or reject it.  But that’s the way it is.