Devotion Booklets for Seasons of the Church Year Lent 2018 | Page 37

Of Whom I Am the Worst
Friday, March 16th
1 Timothy 1:15
Isn’t it a dangerous thing Paul does? I mean to unabashedly confess before the almighty judge and God
of all, “I am the worst of sinners.” Isn’t that a risky thing?
In 1960 a motion picture was released called Spartacus. The movie is set in the first century BC. In the
movie Spartacus is part of an army of slaves who do a lot of dirty work for the Roman Empire.
Spartacus separates himself as a leader and he is made into a gladiator. Eventually a group of
gladiators, including Spartacus, overpower their Roman guards and they escape. Spartacus becomes
their leader and they fight for their freedom, but their luck runs out. The fugitive fighters are
surrounded by Roman armies and the Roman commanders call for Spartacus to be handed over dead
or alive. As Spartacus begins to stand up to identify himself all his surviving fugitives begin to stand
and yell one by one, “I am Spartacus.” They won’t let their leader be handed over to be crucified alone.
They are all led away to be crucified.
As the Apostle Paul calls out, “I am the worst of sinners” don’t you find yourself standing up next to him
and saying, “No Paul, I’ve looked into my own heart and it is me. I am the worst of sinners.” We are not
going to let Paul stand alone confessing to be the first place sinner. We have come to know and sadly
experience Jesus’ words, “Out of the heart (my own heart) come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual
immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matthew 15:19). We know it all too well.
Knowing our sin all too well we are led away to the site of a crucifixion. Amazingly, it is not us who will
be punished for our rebellion against God. There we see the holy Son of God crucified for us.
Like Paul, we have been led to do something risky and dangerous. The Holy Spirit has worked in us the
same confession. It would be altogether risky and dangerous to confess such things before God unless
… unless we were convinced with Paul, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I
am the worst” (1 Timothy 1:15). There are no exceptions: the sinner who confesses and repents of their
sin finds grace in Jesus. The sinner who is sorrowful over offending God, the sinner who wishes they
had never angered God and turns to him - that sinner finds grace and salvation in God’s Son, Jesus
Christ.
Prayer:
Chief of sinners though I be, Jesus shed his blood for me,
Died that I might live on high, Lives that I might never die.
As the branch is to the vine, I am his and he is mine! Amen.
(Verse 1 of “Chief of Sinners, Though I Be” by William McComb, #385 in Christian Worship—a
Lutheran Hymnal)
Activity: Look up the rest of the verse of the hymn “Chief of Sinners Though I Be” quoted above as the
prayer. What verse means the most to you?
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