As Christmas approaches with just ten days remaining, most of us are focused on a familiar question: What do the people on my gift list actually want? We ask them directly, consult wish lists, and browse online. But this Sunday and next, Pastor Josh White turns the question heavenward: What does God want for us? The birth of Jesus doesn’t just model generosity — it reveals God’s heart. And what we find in 1 Timothy chapter two is both simple and staggering: God wants everyone saved, and He wants us to know the truth.
God Wants People Saved
The opening verses of 1 Timothy chapter two give a direct answer to the question of what God wants. The Apostle Paul writes:
“First of all, then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
— 1 Timothy 2:1-4
The word desires in verse four carries the sense of longing, delight, and willful purpose — not mere wishful thinking, but active, purposeful will. God wants people saved. What does that mean? It means rescue from a coming danger: judgment. Every human being who has ever lived will stand before a holy God and answer for their sins. That reality should give us pause.
Romans chapter three makes clear exactly how serious our predicament is:
“Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”
— Romans 3:19-20
The law God gave through Moses wasn’t a way to earn salvation — it was given to reveal our inability to keep God’s standard. We are all sinners. Every single one of us has fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). But then — and this is the heart of the Christmas story — God acted:
“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law… the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
— Romans 3:21-24
The gift God offers through Jesus costs us nothing — but it cost God everything. Romans 6:23 puts it plainly: the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. And Acts 4:12 leaves no room for confusion: there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved — only Jesus.
Pastor Josh reminded us of God’s personal care for each individual using Jesus’ parable of the shepherd with a hundred sheep — when one goes astray, the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine to search for the one (Matthew 18:10-14). God doesn’t want a single person to face judgment. He wants everyone rescued. Christmas is proof: God sent His Son because this is what He wants.
God Wants Us to Know the Truth
But salvation isn’t all God desires. The same verse tells us God wants something else just as urgently: to come to the knowledge of the truth. Not just to know facts, but to know truth that transforms.
Pastor Josh noted that the Greek word used here — epignosis — means precise, correct, full knowledge. Not casual familiarity, but genuine understanding that engages mind, heart, and life. Where does this knowledge begin? With creation.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made.”
— Romans 1:18-20
The universe displays intelligent design — precision, purpose, order. Like a sandcastle builder watching someone credit random waves for the structure, God must find it frustrating when people deny obvious design. Mankind’s refusal to acknowledge God as Creator leads to darkened thinking and debased living (Romans 1:21-28). True knowledge of the truth starts here: recognizing that God is the Author of all things, and that we have purpose because we are made in His image.
But the knowledge God wants goes far beyond acknowledging a Creator. He wants us to grow in understanding of His will and live accordingly:
“And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
— Colossians 1:9-10
True knowledge of God is meant to change how we live. It’s not academic. It’s not optional. Colossians 3:5 says we are to put to death what is earthly in us — not because works save us, but because genuine knowledge of God produces transformed living. Pastor Josh drove the point home: this life is the test. We won’t stand before Christ and fill out a written exam when we die. We take the test now — and God wants us to pass by living according to what we know.
And that growth in knowledge isn’t just for our benefit. God uses our growing understanding and faithful living as testimony to bring others to salvation:
“And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.”
— 2 Timothy 2:24-26
Christmas: God’s Want, Fulfilled
So what does all of this have to do with Christmas? Everything. God wanted people saved, so He sent Jesus. God wanted a people who know the truth and live it out, so He sent the One who is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). The Christmas season isn’t merely a time for holiday cards, gift exchanges, and festive decorations — it’s an annual reminder that God acted because of what He wants for us.
As the congregation at Grace Bible Church of Phoenix gathered for the Sunday before Christmas, they reflected on this through the lens of communion — remembering both the birth and the atoning death of Christ. They celebrated that God kept His promise: Jesus came. He lived perfectly. He died in the place of sinners. He rose again. And He will return. That is the truth God wants everyone to know and live by.
This Christmas, as you consider what to give the people you love, take time to also consider what God has already given — and what He wants for you: salvation and a growing, life-transforming knowledge of the truth. That is the gift beyond all gifts.
Scripture References
- 1 Timothy 2:1-4 — God’s desire for salvation and truth
- Psalm 8:3-9 — Mankind’s significance and dominion as image-bearers
- Romans 3:19-24 — The universal need for righteousness by faith
- Romans 6:23 — Wages of sin vs. God’s free gift
- Acts 4:12 — Salvation in no one else but Jesus
- Matthew 18:10-14 — The shepherd and the lost sheep
- Romans 1:18-28 — Creation’s testimony and the consequence of rejecting it
- Colossians 1:9-10 — Growing in knowledge of God’s will
- Colossians 3:5 — Putting off the old self, being renewed in knowledge
- 2 Timothy 2:24-26 — God uses faithful witnesses to lead others to truth