with constant care, to all being in your countenance sight, and watching unto prayer. From strength to strength, O all, testle and fight and pray, let all the powers of darkness Please be seated. I want to remind you that I think you need to be paying Derek more. Thank you, sir. And I could not help reading in your bulletin on thinking of these things. God is on the lookout today for a man who will be quiet enough to get a message from him, brave enough to preach it, and honest enough to live it. Was this for me, Mark? It fits nonetheless. Wednesday morning, I awoke with an unexpected, unbidden feeling after reading the initial results of our national election. As I sat there with my legs over the edge of the bed, I was befuddled. What did it mean? How would my life today be different? And how would I live differently because of what had just happened? Now, I will likely manage to offend every one of you this morning, regardless of whom you voted for, but I want to look for biblical clarity through the midst of the cultural fog into the things of first importance. This week I was with a group of people studying that hideous strength by C.S. Lewis. In the book, Jane, a seeker, finds herself among the academic culture of the National Institute of Coordinated Experiments, or NICE, which it is not. She feels surrounded by a dense fog, and she starts to panic, and she knows where she must go, to St. Anne's on the Hill. It's a church, yes, but it's also a constellation of other mini-institutions, schools, colleges, families, relationships, the headquarters for the opposition to Nice, and for Jane and others, It is a refuge. Lewis intended it as a model of how we are to engage with our culture as Christians. So when Jane reaches St. Hans on the hill at the peak of the mountain, she finds that what had been gray below has become dazzling white. And above her is a luminous blue. She sees the trees casting shadows they hadn't below because there was no light for the casting of shadows. And St. Hans is this little green island at the top, looking down on a sea of white fog. Lewis writes, she felt she had come near to forgetting how big a sky is, how remote the horizon. After this last year, we need to come out of the fog and see the bigness of the sky, and the bigness of what it is God is calling us to. And we find it, I believe, in part, in 1 Timothy 1.12, if you'll turn there. But listen especially as I read for verse 20, excuse me, chapter two, verse three, because that is really our target. where I think we can hear, well I know we can hear, what is good in the sight of God our Savior. Listen to the reading of God's word from verse 12 through verse seven of chapter two. I thank, writes the Apostle Paul, Christ Jesus our Lord who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a prosecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me super abundantly. along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. Somehow, ESV's foremost does not sound as bad as of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, he says it again, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the King Eternal, he can't stop there, he is taken into benediction. Now to the King Eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, the honor and glory forever and ever, amen. Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them, you may fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. I urge then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. Sounds like the American dream, doesn't it? You go to verse three. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose, I was appointed a herald and an apostle. I am telling the truth. I am not lying. And a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles. This is God's word. Let's pray. Father, may the preaching of this word, for all the frailty of the speaker, by your Holy Spirit stir in our hearts a thirst, a longing, for what you have called your church in this world to do. There is much confused thinking, and I have drunk at those wells, about what it means to be part of cultural engagement in the world in which you have sovereignly placed us. Lord, open the eyes of our hearts. that we may see and be changed. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Paul, at the end of his life, writes this letter to his true child in the faith. It's not the usual word for child. or son, the word here brings out tenderness and endearment. Paul is close to Timothy. He knows Timothy's family and he knows that God has placed Timothy as Paul's representative in Ephesus, a young man on display. And in this letter, written at the end of his ministry, Paul wants Timothy to know how to pastor a dream church. The way church, the way believers are really meant to work together until Jesus returns. And Paul has seen his share of broken churches. We have heard his heart bleed out in 2nd Corinthians about the way that these, with whom he spent the most time, have so deeply hurt him. And in 2nd Corinthians 11, 28, he even says, The pressure of his concern, some translations say anxiety for all the churches weighs on him. Even for those, there is something in Paul that overflows in this letter to this young apprentice that is so effusive and urgent about his hope. Yes, I know I titled the message Election Consequences, but I wasn't, ever really meaning Tuesday's election. Though, we will get to that. I meant the explosive reality of God's election, God's choosing of the Apostle Paul and the consequences that flowed from that election. Paul had been chosen. Verse 11, this work was entrusted to him personally. Verse 13, he was shown mercy. Acts 9, 15, the Lord says, this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles. But Paul knows what a reclamation project he was. An expensive fixer-upper, if ever there was one. He persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. He persecuted the church of Jesus Christ. And when he falls on the road to Damascus, he hears the fullness of what he has done from the voice of the second person of the Trinity. This man who believed himself to be helping God with all the passion he had, this man hears from the mouth of the risen Jesus, Paul, Paul, why are you persecuting me? Wait, Paul says how they're persecuting the church, this cult. But Jesus says, you are persecuting my personal body. Paul. knew himself to be a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man who fought the Lord of life with bitter anger. But what does God do? Verse 14, the grace of God. Would you all say that with me? The grace of God. If there is ever a phrase that's important to this part of this book, it is the grace of God because it comes to the one who does not deserve it. Grace is the undeserved kindness of God. And it changes the most unlikely into something quite different. The grace of God was poured on him abundantly, is the word, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The word abundantly in this one place in the Bible, Paul finds necessary to tack on to the front of it the word huper, or hyper, making it to mean to abound more exceedingly, to super abound. It is a flood of grace that overwhelms him. I spent some time trying to find a picture of it, and I'm probably going to regret this one. But when I was a callow young man, I lived on the third floor of an apartment house on Prince Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where you heard all the mess about ballots and all that kind of stuff this last week. And I turned on the water in the clawfoot tub to get ready for a bath, and then there was a phone call. So I answered the phone. Now this is back before we had cell phones where you kind of wander around. I only had this much to move. And then suddenly I hear knocking at my door. And I go to the door and no sooner did I open it and see my downstairs neighbor there. I turn and see the tub overflowing with water. Now that's destructive, that particular thing. It was a wonderful thing because she came angry and when she saw how distressed I was, she was so generous and it actually began the beginning of a friendship. But nevertheless, normally abundances like the floods in Florida are destructive, right? But this abundance is constructive. This abundance is going to change the world after it changes Paul. It's a picture of the immense sea of grace poured out on him super abundantly, along with that, the love and faith of Jesus Christ. And Paul never forgot that. And it made him humble. Because you see what God is doing? He is using him as a worst case example. Here's the reason Paul was chosen. You can't miss it throughout this section. Verse 15, Christ came into the world to save sinners. It's what the Father wants, to save sinners from whom Paul, excuse me, to save sinners of whom Paul is the worst. For that very reason, verse 16, because, and no one would have disagreed knowing Paul, he was the worst. For that very reason, he says, I was shown mercy. Why? So that in me, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Paul was going to be the great display, the great billboard, the great meme, the great poster, the great audiovisual aid that shouted out to all whom he met. If God can do this to the worst, who can he not save? If Paul can get in, I can get in. This is what God wants every one of us to see in this life of Paul. We are his company brand, his product line that shows what the father delights to do. But the choosing, the election came first. And it wasn't a secret because it not only flowed into Paul, it flooded and overflowed out of him. That's what happened as he went from Roman town to Roman town. And Paul wanted us to know that the same is true for you. 2 Thessalonians 2.13, but we ought to thank God for you, brothers, loved by the Lord, because from the beginning, God chose you to be saved. Ephesians 1.4-5, for he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, do you hear the affection of the God of the universe for his people. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his will and pleasure because he wanted to and because he loves you. And just as he gave grace to Paul super abundantly, and the faith and the love of Christ Jesus God also gave Paul strength to do all that God called him to do. That's what flows from election, and it's what God gives us to. Turn to 1 Timothy 6, the very last four words of the chapter. 1 Timothy 6. Grace be with you. Now, I didn't check. Do you have a footnote at you? Because you really should. And the reason is this. You is plural. Now, wait. This is written to one person. It's written to Timothy. Shouldn't it be saying, grace be to you, Timothy? Singular, right? But Timothy is not on his own. And this is the marvel of the local church. God's overflowing grace comes to all of us. Grace be to all of you. God's grace, this super overflowing grace that strengthens you. This is the foundation for Paul's buoyant hope for the church at Ephesus. And it's what God wants us all to understand. And you may have this super overflow of God's grace into your life today. Bringing hope, bringing faith, and love, and endurance. And what kind of love? Look at chapter one, verse five. Paul commanded Timothy to stay in Ephesus. Why? The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. You know what love is. You have people say to you that they've been loving and you know that it's not loving. You know it's artificial. You know it's for their own ends. But this is the kind of self-effacing, grace-driven love every human being wants to be loved by. Love that flows in the local church from hearts that have been purified by God. By consciences that approve what God loves and disapprove what God does not love. And when God opens the eyes of our heart to see, Ephesians 1, the love and the beauty of what he has done in Christ, we also see the strength promise that he gave Paul. I'll never forget the first time I saw it, and I saw it in NIV, and for all the failings of that particular translation, this remains my favorite at chapter one, 18 to 19 in Ephesians. That power, this power of God, is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms. Far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that's invoked, not only in the present age, but also into one to come. That power is at work in you. That's the super abundance he has given you, plural. Just as he strengthened Paul, he strengthened you, but why? What is it for? Chapter two, verse one. That same grace, super overflowing, made him humble, yes, but it also made him hungry. And if you take away two words, I'd like you to remember these, for what our calling is about the necessity of humility and hunger. Are you hungry? Maybe it's the wrong question before lunch. But you know what that feels like. You have a real desire, right? It's like it grows out of you and you don't intend it and then your stomach signals how very seriously hungry you are. Your spirit needs to be signaling that it overflows in First of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for all people. I did that because those are really four words for prayer that are similar to each other, but it builds up to a crescendo, punching each one to bring in the intensity. That word intercession by Paul's day meant gaining entrance into the presence of a king to submit A request, going into the very throne room of God, but for whom is this request? The king then was not noble. The king was Nero. Paul was telling us to pray for Nero, who arrested and tortured all the Christians in Rome before executing them with lavish publicity. Some were crucified, some were thrown. I'm glad somebody's crying. Some were thrown to wild animals and others were burned alive as living torches for his garden parties. That's the kind of person we were to pray for, which means anyone in this room could have prayed for anyone who was made president on Tuesday. Even with that sort of brutality resident in the man, Paul said, pray for that man. Pray for those leaders. Because he knew that good roads, safety, and peace gave stability and opportunity. For what? That we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. But why? So that we would feel safe and comfortable and secure? We have, it said right here, what God is pleased with. What God says is good. This is good. And pleases God, our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Because Jesus' principal mission in this world is a rescue mission to save sinners. And that is our charge, just as it was Timothy's from Paul. Because Jesus shows us how to love and rescue. At the Bolton conference a week or so ago, Ryan McGraw said, Jesus cares about the person sitting next to you more than you do, more than you ever could. The Lord loves his church to the extent that he gave his son to live for her and die for her. And every time in any church that any one of you sit in, when the pastor proclaims the word of God faithfully, That is God seeking you out. He is seeking me. He is coming to me. And that's why this church must settle a pastor who is obsessed with Christ. because you are a congregation that is obsessed with Christ. Sounds a little extreme and scary, doesn't it? Martin Luther King said, was not Jesus an extremist for love? Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you and persecute you. Was not Amos an extremist for justice? Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Was Paul not an extremist for the Christian gospel? I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Was not Martin Luther an extremist? Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise, so help me God. So the question is not whether we will be extremists but what kind of extremist we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be obsessed with the saving of sinners as were Timothy and Paul to the delight of the Trinity or will we just remain self-obsessed, self-possessed? Now for a little application. What have you been obsessed with the last two weeks? If I could see your reading habits, know what you listen to in the news, would there be a preponderance of Christ or Tuesday's election? Because what you are obsessed with is what your heart really loves. really think matters. Do you love what he loves? This is good and pleased as God our Savior who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. Luke 17, the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. Luke 15, there's more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than 99 who do not need to. Take this as a matter for prayer, that we may be obsessed with Christ and what the Father has super abundantly done in us through him. Do you love what he loves? I read on the internet this week of a parent writing, my younger daughter has classmates echoing their parents' declarations that people who vote for Trump are stupid or that people who vote for Harris are not Christian. Do you love what he loves? Maybe if you are delighted at the election results and you see someone discouraged, Is this an opportunity to come alongside and silently sit and listen? Or will you, as I have heard, mock? Will we love the people God has brought into our lives who voted differently than we did? To talk and walk with them. And what are we teaching our children to say? Do you love what he loves? Jesus did not come first and foremost to bring social justice. But when sinners are turned to Jesus, social justice tends to be done. British pastor William Taylor of St. Helens Bishop's Gate in the center of the business district of London, says Jesus didn't come first and foremost to bring medical aid, but history will show us that when people turn to Jesus, missionary hospitals are founded all across the world. He didn't come first and foremost above everything else to bring social or cultural transformation. But when significant numbers of people turned to Jesus, it transformed society for the good of humanity. But he came first and foremost to save sinners. Do you love what he loves? Turn over to chapter three. Chapter three, verses 15 and 16. The apostle Paul says, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. I've been at Trafalgar Square in London, where there stands a pillar. It's the same word as column. It's 169 feet tall, capped with an 18-foot high statue of the Duke of Ellington on its top, who died at the Battle of Trafalgar. The column is taller than anything else in the square. And as that column holds out for everyone to see, the Duke of Wellington, The Church of Jesus Christ holds out as a column for everyone to see the truth. This season, I have heard nine-word clauses ripped out of candidates' speech, the context changed and distorted, and that slander left pasted all over the internet. We have not held out the truth. We have not listened with care to see what people were really saying, but only long enough to find a soundbite to convict them by. Have you searched the context and likely intent of each slander you've heard? But we are the pillar holding up the truth, the household of God who names the name of Jesus. And this is where God is chosen. We are they. This place is the place that God has chosen to make his illustration of what he is all about. In him we live and love and speak because we are rightly humble and because we are hungry for what he desires. So this sermon was probably mostly for me. But can we, can this church, if this is true, if I have accurately exegeted the heart of the apostle and therefore the Holy Spirit, Can this church, as this is true, by that super abundant overflow of the grace and love and faith, be the column upon which God continues to display the glory of what he has done with Christ? I would like to end with a parable. by Theodore Weddle, and I've terribly vulgarized it and changed it around, so don't blame it on him. Once on a dangerous seacoast, where there were many shipwrecks, there was also a life-saving station. It wasn't much, just a hut, and really only one boat, but there were a few dedicated members who kept a constant watch day and night, tirelessly searching for the lost. And many were rescued. So it grew. They added beds. They had a nicer furniture. Wallpaper. And it became a popular gathering place for its members. It was really quite the place. Well, soon they hired people to replace them because it was really daunting work. And then people from foreign countries were shipwrecked and not knowing their customs and languages made it harder. Finally, there was a split between those who found the life-saving unpleasant and a hindrance to their social life. Some still said that rescue was their primary purpose, and after all, it was called a life-saving station, wasn't it? So those people split off and built a new station. And the same thing happened again and again. Today, I'm told if you visit that coast, there's an impressive number of life-saving stations along the shore. Sadly, shipwrecks still occur in those waters. but most people are lost. Let's pray. Lord, because of what has just happened, that is, we have heard your word preached. How will our lives today be different? How will we live differently because of what has happened? Not the national election, though that may very well give us opportunities for conversations and actions with grace, patience, compassion, and genuine love. How do you want us to engage our culture? This church is the life-saving station for Upton and its environments. How may we be used for what is next in New England, in our neighborhoods, in our families? And for Mark and Annie, where they find themselves next posted. How, by the way you will display us, will we remember how big the sky is, how remote the horizon? We do not put our trust in princes. It is not a king who made heaven and earth. It is not a chancellor who made the sea and all that is in them. It is not a prince who keeps faith forever. It is not a president who executes justice for the oppressed. It is not a vice president who gives food to the hungry. nor a mayor who gives freedom to the prisoners. It is the Lord who opens the eyes of the blind. It is the Lord who raises those who are bowed down. You love the righteous, and you watch over the strangers. Give us hearts. that will watch over the strangers, that will go out, that this place may again and again continue to be the life-saving station it has been and will be, because what God loves is saving sinners. In the name of God, the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.