Remembering What You've Been Saved From
Every house has its rules – some are unwritten, and others are posted on the fridge. House rules shape how life together works. In the same way, God’s family has “house rules” that help us function in a way that reflects His design, His church, and His purpose.
As children, some rules we had to abide by included not eating in the family room, not using the couch as a trampoline, and not throwing balls in the house. We get the logic behind rules, but we still struggle with them.
Rules and Freedom
Some of us might think rules restrict us or take away our freedom. But there’s a difference between freedom and control.
Freedom emphasizes options, and control emphasizes boundaries.
Imagine a train. It’s built for speed, power, and movement. If a train is put in an open field with no tracks, it’s “free,” but it’s also stuck. It has all the freedom in the world, but can’t move forward.
However, when the train is put back on the tracks, there’s a limit to where it can go, but those tracks are what give the train the freedom to run, move, and do what it was designed to do.
As followers of Jesus, we've been given immense freedom and liberty in Christ, but the train of that freedom also comes with some tracks, some control over how we use it well.
Freedom in Christ isn’t the absence of control – it’s the presence of the right control.
God’s Word outlines some areas where our freedom has limits and rules. It’s not to restrict us, it’s to empower us for Godly living, to function as the Church, and to impact the world around us.
The idea that we struggle with freedom and control isn't exactly a new concept. Think of the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were told not to eat from one tree, and when they did, it wasn’t just a simple act of disobedience, it was a statement of distrust. When the serpent lied, he wasn’t just lying about the fruit, he called into question the heart of God.
And that same whisper still gets into our souls. That is the root of why we break boundaries. We don’t trust that God’s limits are good for us. The irony is, every time we step beyond God’s loving control after our own freedom, we don’t gain more freedom – we actually lose it.
The person of Jesus shows us that God isn’t holding out on us – He gave us His very best, His own Son. The Cross proves once and for all that God can be trusted, that He’s not holding out on us. So, every “rule” or boundary God gives is for our good, can be trusted, and put into action.
Rules and Grace
Imagine receiving a text message on your phone that says, “Don’t forget your keys.” Without context, it could mean anything. Keys to the house. Keys to the music you’re playing in worship that week.
The same principle applies to Scripture. Paul isn’t just writing random moral advice. He’s writing to Timothy for a reason and in context.
1 Timothy 1
2 To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul is instructing Timothy, saying, “What you’re about to do, do it with Grace and mercy and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus.”
1 Timothy 1
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. 5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
It's easy to read these verses as judgmental or angry, but Paul is writing to do this with God’s grace for these people because Paul knows all about grace. Paul wasn’t some neutral observer, he wasn’t born into the Jesus movement. He was a Pharisee – incredibly religious, proud of his accomplishments, and his identity was wrapped up in protecting the purity of the law. Paul saw Christians as a threat and made it his mission to hunt them down.
That’s the man writing this letter, but then, everything changed. Instead of being condemned for all the harm he had done, Paul was brought into God’s family. He didn’t deserve it. He didn’t earn it. He received grace. So, when Paul writes to Timothy about leading and functioning in the church, his context is his story.
This is where we have to start, because the same grace that found Paul on the Damascus road is the same grace that found us.
Because we’ve been shown grace, we must show grace.
If Paul is saying that the way to function as a church is with grace, then it must become absolutely essential to us. It’s not optional, it’s foundational. Rule #1 is grace. Grace is receiving what we don’t deserve. Because of the grace we’ve been given, we must show grace to those around us.
And that’s challenging. It feels good to come out on top. We love being right.
The problem with this is that grace plays by different rules. Grace pulls us in a different direction.
Grace doesn’t win arguments, grace wins relationships.
The idea of grace reminds us that God didn’t crush us with His rightness – He covered us with His mercy. Some people think the act of never being confrontational shows grace. Grace doesn’t mean we never say hard things, grace means that when we have to confront or engage in difficult conversations, we do so with humility and compassion, knowing we've been given grace so that we can extend it to others.
False doctrines and distracted focus lead to controversial speculation rather than advancing God’s work. What a Jesus community believes will directly shape how that community lives and behaves. If we are chasing theology and teachings not found in Scripture, ideas that are contrary to the Way of Jesus and the Word of God, it not only leads us astray but also works against advancing God's work in the world.
Rules and Love
The goal is love; that’s the filter everything runs through. The posture is restoration.
1 Timothy 1
5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
When you take love away, everything changes.
Do we aim for restoration, or do we aim for being right? Do we speak so that those hearing us feel the love of Jesus, or so they just feel our opinions?
1 Timothy 1
9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
This is a full list. Rebels, ungodly and sinful, unholy and irreligious, those who kill fathers and mothers, murderers, sexually immoral, homosexuals, slave traders, liars and perjurers, and anything else contrary to the Gospel.
Two things happen when we see a list like this.
The problem with deflection is that it feels spiritual because we're thinking of someone else, but it actually keeps us from being transformed ourselves. However, a third thing then happens.
1 Timothy 1
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.
Paul gives a list of lawbreakers and calls himself the worst one. Some of us need to stop viewing a list of sinners as a scoreboard and start remembering what we've been saved from.
Discovery occurs when we stop running from the list and start letting the Spirit use it to uncover something in us, but the world can only see the grace that happens when we own our story.
This doesn’t mean airing out our dirty laundry or talking about every failure or mistake. It means sharing our story in a way that lifts Him up, not us. “Yes, I was the worst, but look at what Jesus has done in me. Look at the grace that’s still holding me together.”
This has to be our anchor as the family of God – rule # 1 is grace. And anchors only work when you drop them deep. If grace is just something we sing about or nod our heads at, it won’t hold.
Rules and Proof
What’s the one thing you can do right now to live out the rule of grace? Be the proof.
Pastor Joey Monteleone shares that rule #1 is grace – not because it makes life easy, but because it makes life possible.
As children, some rules we had to abide by included not eating in the family room, not using the couch as a trampoline, and not throwing balls in the house. We get the logic behind rules, but we still struggle with them.
Rules and Freedom
Some of us might think rules restrict us or take away our freedom. But there’s a difference between freedom and control.
Freedom emphasizes options, and control emphasizes boundaries.
Imagine a train. It’s built for speed, power, and movement. If a train is put in an open field with no tracks, it’s “free,” but it’s also stuck. It has all the freedom in the world, but can’t move forward.
However, when the train is put back on the tracks, there’s a limit to where it can go, but those tracks are what give the train the freedom to run, move, and do what it was designed to do.
As followers of Jesus, we've been given immense freedom and liberty in Christ, but the train of that freedom also comes with some tracks, some control over how we use it well.
Freedom in Christ isn’t the absence of control – it’s the presence of the right control.
God’s Word outlines some areas where our freedom has limits and rules. It’s not to restrict us, it’s to empower us for Godly living, to function as the Church, and to impact the world around us.
The idea that we struggle with freedom and control isn't exactly a new concept. Think of the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were told not to eat from one tree, and when they did, it wasn’t just a simple act of disobedience, it was a statement of distrust. When the serpent lied, he wasn’t just lying about the fruit, he called into question the heart of God.
And that same whisper still gets into our souls. That is the root of why we break boundaries. We don’t trust that God’s limits are good for us. The irony is, every time we step beyond God’s loving control after our own freedom, we don’t gain more freedom – we actually lose it.
The person of Jesus shows us that God isn’t holding out on us – He gave us His very best, His own Son. The Cross proves once and for all that God can be trusted, that He’s not holding out on us. So, every “rule” or boundary God gives is for our good, can be trusted, and put into action.
Rules and Grace
Imagine receiving a text message on your phone that says, “Don’t forget your keys.” Without context, it could mean anything. Keys to the house. Keys to the music you’re playing in worship that week.
The same principle applies to Scripture. Paul isn’t just writing random moral advice. He’s writing to Timothy for a reason and in context.
1 Timothy 1
2 To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul is instructing Timothy, saying, “What you’re about to do, do it with Grace and mercy and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus.”
1 Timothy 1
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. 5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
It's easy to read these verses as judgmental or angry, but Paul is writing to do this with God’s grace for these people because Paul knows all about grace. Paul wasn’t some neutral observer, he wasn’t born into the Jesus movement. He was a Pharisee – incredibly religious, proud of his accomplishments, and his identity was wrapped up in protecting the purity of the law. Paul saw Christians as a threat and made it his mission to hunt them down.
That’s the man writing this letter, but then, everything changed. Instead of being condemned for all the harm he had done, Paul was brought into God’s family. He didn’t deserve it. He didn’t earn it. He received grace. So, when Paul writes to Timothy about leading and functioning in the church, his context is his story.
This is where we have to start, because the same grace that found Paul on the Damascus road is the same grace that found us.
Because we’ve been shown grace, we must show grace.
If Paul is saying that the way to function as a church is with grace, then it must become absolutely essential to us. It’s not optional, it’s foundational. Rule #1 is grace. Grace is receiving what we don’t deserve. Because of the grace we’ve been given, we must show grace to those around us.
And that’s challenging. It feels good to come out on top. We love being right.
The problem with this is that grace plays by different rules. Grace pulls us in a different direction.
Grace doesn’t win arguments, grace wins relationships.
The idea of grace reminds us that God didn’t crush us with His rightness – He covered us with His mercy. Some people think the act of never being confrontational shows grace. Grace doesn’t mean we never say hard things, grace means that when we have to confront or engage in difficult conversations, we do so with humility and compassion, knowing we've been given grace so that we can extend it to others.
False doctrines and distracted focus lead to controversial speculation rather than advancing God’s work. What a Jesus community believes will directly shape how that community lives and behaves. If we are chasing theology and teachings not found in Scripture, ideas that are contrary to the Way of Jesus and the Word of God, it not only leads us astray but also works against advancing God's work in the world.
Rules and Love
The goal is love; that’s the filter everything runs through. The posture is restoration.
1 Timothy 1
5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
When you take love away, everything changes.
- Grace without love is permission.
- Trust without love is punishment.
- But grace and truth with love is POWERFUL.
Do we aim for restoration, or do we aim for being right? Do we speak so that those hearing us feel the love of Jesus, or so they just feel our opinions?
1 Timothy 1
9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
This is a full list. Rebels, ungodly and sinful, unholy and irreligious, those who kill fathers and mothers, murderers, sexually immoral, homosexuals, slave traders, liars and perjurers, and anything else contrary to the Gospel.
Two things happen when we see a list like this.
- Denial: We immediately don’t see ourselves in this list. “That’s totally not me!”
- Deflection: We see someone else in that list. “That’s totally them.”
The problem with deflection is that it feels spiritual because we're thinking of someone else, but it actually keeps us from being transformed ourselves. However, a third thing then happens.
- Discovery: We pause and ask God to explain what we are seeing, to uncover our hearts, habits, and thinking.
1 Timothy 1
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.
Paul gives a list of lawbreakers and calls himself the worst one. Some of us need to stop viewing a list of sinners as a scoreboard and start remembering what we've been saved from.
Discovery occurs when we stop running from the list and start letting the Spirit use it to uncover something in us, but the world can only see the grace that happens when we own our story.
This doesn’t mean airing out our dirty laundry or talking about every failure or mistake. It means sharing our story in a way that lifts Him up, not us. “Yes, I was the worst, but look at what Jesus has done in me. Look at the grace that’s still holding me together.”
This has to be our anchor as the family of God – rule # 1 is grace. And anchors only work when you drop them deep. If grace is just something we sing about or nod our heads at, it won’t hold.
Rules and Proof
What’s the one thing you can do right now to live out the rule of grace? Be the proof.
- When someone wrongs you, choose forgiveness. Maybe that means actually saying, “I forgive you,” or simply refusing to replay the offense in your mind. Grace means you let the cycle stop with you.
- If you are having a difficult conversation with someone in a broken relationship, pray that your heart is as broken for the person as the relationship is.
Pastor Joey Monteleone shares that rule #1 is grace – not because it makes life easy, but because it makes life possible.
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