1 Timothy 1:15-17 English Standard Version

¹⁵ The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. ¹⁶ But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. ¹⁷ To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Paul uses an expression of sinfulness which in the world was not true. There are many men that came before Saul (Paul’s former life) that were much worse than Paul. The expression of “I am the foremost” can be looked at several ways but the only one that counts is Paul’s view of his former life. The same has to be said of each of us.

If we choose to see the sins of others to be greater than our own we have not taken our sins seriously enough to desire forgiveness. We need to make it personal. “I did it. I chose wrong. I am guilty.” Nowhere in those confessions is there room for “I’m not so bad.”

The point of seeing ourselves in that light is that we need to see that Christ can save anyone no matter how “bad” they are in life. It isn’t about us, it is about the lost. “I was” is just as important as “I am”.

If we cannot express our past conditions in terms of serious personal sin the lost will assume that we were always “Mr. Goody Two Shoes”. “I was lost and now I am saved” while true is not convincing to a soul that feels they are beyond redemption. Paul was a strong witness of change. Many saw what he was before his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus. We did not see him and only have his word for it.

I knew the people who witnessed Christ to me.

Colossians 2:18-21 English Standard Version

¹⁸ Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. ²⁰ If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ²¹ “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”

Asceticism is self-imposed regulations we choose for ourselves. They have no bearing on a spiritual life in Christ. Self-control is not the same thing as obedience of faith. They are not the same as those things we have learned to distance ourselves from for health reasons. A diabetic understands the need to control what they eat for health reasons. That is not asceticism.

In the spiritual relationship we have with God asceticism is a restrictive behavior that replaces listening to the Lord with self-insistence. It says that we have to choose what is right for ourselves to show ourselves that we love Christ. Puffed up without reason by a sensuous mind is pride in performance in regulations that are not imposed by God.

In the world we have a fear of performance of love, that we will be rejected if we do not “perform”. We fear that the ones we love will replace us. Performance is an act, it is not real. This might be one aspect of the fear John speaks of in 1^st John.

1 John 4:18 English Standard Version (ESV) There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

His love is perfect and it is His love that ends performance fear. He loved us at our worst. Why should He stop loving us now that we are better? We are better. We are better off with Him than without Him.