Word of Salvation – June 2011
ONE MEDIATOR, by Rev. John Haverland
(Sermon 5 in a series on texts related to the Heidelberg Catechism)
Readings: 2 Corinthians 5:11-6:2
Text: 1 Timothy 2:3-7
Heidelberg Catechism LD 5-6
Theme: God has provided Jesus as the one mediator between himself and us.
Purpose: To point out God’s provision of Jesus as the one Mediator between himself and us.
There are some conflict situations in life that we cannot sort out on our own.
Sometimes you have a problem or difficulty with another person and you try to resolve it but you don’t seem to be getting anywhere.
Or, on a larger scale, there is tension in a workplace between the employer and the employees about rates of pay and working conditions. The two parties have lots of discussions together but they cannot come to an agreement.
When there is a stalemate like this, either between individuals or between groups of people, they will often call in a mediator. This person will act as a go-between. He will speak to both parties and seek to reconcile them, to bring them together. He will try to help them come to an agreement that satisfies both parties.
The Bible tells us that there is a breakdown in the relationship between God and humanity. God is opposed to us because of our sin. All of humanity is under the wrath and judgement of God. We deserve punishment both in this world and forever after.
We can’t resolve this ourselves. We cannot pay God the debt we owe. No matter how hard we try we cannot get ourselves right with God.
We need a mediator – someone to stand between God and us, to represent us, to speak on our behalf, to help set matters right, to reconcile God to us.
This passage describes how God has provided his own Son as this Mediator so that he can save his people. It describes God’s desire, God’s mediator, and God’s messengers.
1. HIS DESIRE
Context: Paul wrote this chapter to instruct Timothy about what should happen in the worship of the church. He began by urging the church to pray for all men, especially for those in authority over us, so that we can live quiet and peaceful lives in all godliness and holiness.
A quiet and peaceful situation gives Christians the freedom to proclaim the good news about Jesus to those around us. God is our Saviour and “he wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (vs 4)
The word “saved” or “salvation” is the most comprehensive word the Bible uses to describe all that God has done for us. It means to rescue or to deliver. When we use the word today we think of being saved from death by drowning or from a burning house.
God does not rescue his people from physical death but rather from the eternal death of the punishment of hell.
He has already saved us through the death of Jesus on the cross; he is saving us now as the Holy Spirit applies to us all the benefits of Christ’s death; and he will save us in the future when Jesus comes again and God raises our bodies from the grave. This is the big picture of what God has done, is doing and will do.
Included in this salvation is that we “come to a knowledge of the truth.” (vs 4b)
The Greek word refers to a full knowledge, a knowledge that is precise and correct. To be saved we must know what the Bible says about sin and how we can be saved from that through Jesus.
But this is not just head knowledge – it is not only in the mind, merely intellectual; no, it is also heart knowledge, a personal acquaintance with God, a living relationship with Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
This is what God wants for all his people – that they be saved and come to know the truth.
Paul wrote that God wants “all men to be saved.” This is a debated phrase between Calvinists and Arminians, and even Reformed commentators interpret this in various ways.
All Reformed commentators agree that this phrase does not mean that every person will be saved; it is not teaching a universal salvation of all individuals.
Some Reformed commentators interpret the phrase as referring to all classes or groups of people on earth. God wants all kinds of people to be saved. In the Old Testament salvation was for the Jews but in these New Testament times it is for Jews and Gentiles. The people of God are called from many nations and peoples, cultures and classes. No one is outside the scope or reach of the gospel. The phrase “all men” often does have this meaning in the Bible.
Yet here this phrase is best seen as expressing God’s desire for the salvation of all the people of the world. While God has not decreed that all people will be saved, he does desire the salvation of all people. Not everyone will come to faith in Jesus, but God’s desire that all people be saved reveals his heart of compassion towards all people. We see evidence of this in other passages of the Bible.
In Ezekiel 33:11 we hear the Lord pleading with his people; “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather than they turn from their ways and live.” In Ezekiel 18:32 the Lord reinforced this saying; “I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!” Here we see that God’s desire for the salvation of all people is conditional on the need for people to repent and believe. God does not desire the salvation of all people apart from his appointed means of receiving that salvation, which is repentance and faith!
The Lord spoke to the prophet Jonah of his concern for “that great city” Nineveh (4:4); and Jesus expressed his longing to gather the people of Jerusalem together “as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” (Matt 23:37)
Preachers of the gospel can and must offer the good news of salvation to all. This is known as the free offer of the gospel – that if you repent of your sin and believe in the Lord Jesus you will be saved. This can and should be proclaimed to all who are willing to listen. This is the gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ. “God our Saviour…wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (v 4)
This ties in with the reference in verse 5 to there being “one God”. This was the key statement of faith of the people of Israel; “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God the Lord is one.” (Deut 6:4) This is what God had revealed about himself. The nations around Israel worshipped many gods. There were idols everywhere – in temples, in people’s homes, in public buildings and on the streets. But the Bible teaches that there is only one God who is over all the nations of the world. All people from all nations are called to believe in him.
Out of the wonderful goodness of God’s character it is his desire that all men be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.
2. To achieve the salvation of his people God has provided A MEDIATOR.
We have already seen that a mediator brings two parties together. Two people or two groups cannot agree with each other. A mediator goes between them and reconciles them. The Greek word for mediator comes from a word that means middle; so a mediator stands in the middle of two parties to bring about agreement between them. This is what Jesus has done between God and his people.
The ideal mediator is one who can represent both parties, who can sympathise with both sides, who knows both positions well enough so he can help and assist both. Jesus was such a mediator.
He could represent God because he himself was and is God, his One and Only Son, from all eternity. Because he is God he is perfect and so he could be the perfect sacrifice that God required and so pay the price for sin.
He could represent us because he became a man and was like us in every way except for sin. He knows us and understands us and can speak for us because he is one of us.
Sometimes people think of God as being unapproachable, far away, at a distance, impossible to get close to.
It is true that God is almighty and holy and far above us. But God has provided Jesus as a mediator. Through Jesus God has drawn near to us and we can draw near to him.
We can do that because Jesus “gave himself as a ransom for all men.” (vs 6)
In the New Testament a slave could be set free with the payment of a ransom – someone would come along and buy that slave and then set them free.
The word is used in a similar way today. A group of terrorists kidnaps the only daughter of a wealthy businessman. They send a message saying they will only give her back if he pays them a ransom. A ransom is a large sum of money paid to secure the release of another person.
Jesus gave himself as a ransom; he made a payment to set us free. We were slaves to sin and he paid for us. He did not do that with money or silver or gold but with something far more precious – he paid for us with his own blood shed on the cross.
The word used here for ransom has the idea of a substitution or exchange. Jesus took our place. He gave his life for ours. He paid the full price to set us free.
He could do this because he was a man. As the catechism explains in Question 16; because “man has sinned, man must pay for his sin.” This is what God demanded in his justice. Jesus became a man so he could pay for our sin.
He “gave himself as a ransom for all men.” (v 6)
The Greek simply reads, “for all”. Jesus did not die for every individual person, rather he died for all kinds and classes and races of people. His death was not limited to the Jews but was available for the Gentiles; it was not just for the wealthy but also for the poor.
His death was sufficient to pay for the sin of all people but the benefits he gained though his death are only applied to his people, to the elect, to his sheep, to those the Father had given him. (John 10:11,29) His atonement was limited in that he died for specific people, for those God “chose in him before the creation of the world”. (Eph 1:3)
We do not know who the elect are and so we are called to proclaim the message about Jesus to all people, offering it to all who respond in repentance and faith. We have considered God’s desire and his provision of a mediator.
3. Thirdly, and finally, we consider GOD’S MESSENGERS. This is what Paul describes in the phrase; “the testimony given in its proper time.” (vs 6b)
This is the testimony about God’s salvation that was proclaimed by the apostles.
Paul explains this in verse 7; “And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle … and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.” A herald is a representative of the king who announces an official message, and an apostle is one who is sent with this good news.
Paul was sent to the Gentiles. Other apostles, like Peter, took this good news about Jesus to the Jews, and many other individual believers talked about their faith in the everyday situations of life – in their homes and workplaces.
This testimony was given “in its proper time.”
God had anticipated this in the Old Testament and had promised it through the prophets and had pictured it in the ceremonies and sacrifices of the law.
“But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law.” (Gal 4:4)
This is “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to the saints.” (Col 1:26)
This is the testimony given in its proper time.
We live in this New Testament age. “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor 6:2)
Today we too bear a testimony about Jesus Christ. We don’t do that in the same way as the apostles, because they had seen Jesus face to face. But we who believe have seen Jesus with the eyes of faith and are called to be witnesses of him in the world, to be ambassadors of the gospel. In our pagan and secular culture we need to look out for every opportunity we can to do this in a wise and sensible manner.
God has committed to us this message of reconciliation.
If you are not a Christian and if you do not have peace with God then “we implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20-21)
If you are a Christian and you have been reconciled to God then rejoice in God’s plan of salvation, thank him for providing his Son as our mediator, and earnestly pray for opportunities to proclaim this good news to all those around us.
Amen