In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time – God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen (1 Timothy 6:13-16).
As Paul approaches the end of his first letter to Timothy, he interrupts the instructions he’s giving to write these words praising God. Theologians call this kind of short praise statement a doxology, and Paul’s insertion of a doxology in this passage is not just an expression of piety; it’s important for what he’s telling Timothy.
Throughout this letter, Paul repeatedly condemns the false teachers who were infiltrating the church. He contrasts them with Timothy, who in verse 11 of this same chapter, he calls a “man of God.” We, as followers of Christ, are called to be men and women of God as well. But to understand and live out that identity we have to continually remember just who God is. It’s an interesting irony that in order to know myself, I have to take my eyes off of myself. It’s only to the extent that I understand who God is that I can know who I am as his child.
We worship God because he deserves it, but also because we need to keep reminding ourselves who our Father is in order to remember and understand who we are. The heart of worship is telling the truth about God, and my identity as a child of God is tied up with who he is and what he has done.
It’s when I worship that I begin to understand just what it means to have been adopted as a son of God; how great his grace is, and how undeserving I am of receiving it. It’s when I understand who God is that I begin to be blown away by the very fact that, in my own sinful nature, I am not even worthy to worship such an awesome being. But through the blood of Jesus, I have been made worthy.
For God to call me a servant of any kind is far beyond anything I could ever have earned. If I had a million lifetimes, I could not remotely do enough to deserve that. For him to call me his son… there are no words. And yet, that is exactly what he has done.
And so, Paul pauses in the middle of his instructions to Timothy to worship his Lord. When I do the same, I not only remember who he is, but who I am as well. I am a son and an heir of:
God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.