Today can be celebrated as The Feast of the Conversion of St Paul – we celebrate the dramatic conversion on the Damascus Road. Saul, a harsh opponent of Christians, was struck down, and instantly his life was changed for evermore.
Few of us, I suspect, have ever had a conversion experience anything like as dramatic as this. Saul, of course, had his name changed to Paul, and went about tirelessly working to live and share the gospel of Jesus as far afield as he could.
But one of the questions that’s often asked about Paul was whether he was actually a very nice person. Would you choose to go out for a meal with him ? And from the knowledge we have of him, many people would perhaps answer ‘No’. Paul was undoubtedly very blunt, he was firm in his views, he didn’t seem to like people who disagreed with him, and today’s reading from his 1st letter to the Corinthians (7:29-31), perhaps gives us a bit more of an insight about him, and even why he sometimes seems to have behaved in that way.
I should say first that when I went through the readings for today, I was going to avoid this one, and hope that nobody listened and certainly that nobody asked anything about it. Paul seems to be telling us to give up everything that we currently have, or that we are doing, for the present form of this world is, he says, passing away….
And yet, maybe it is, or maybe it should be…
This week Barack Obama was inaugurated as the first black President of the United States. Not so many years ago, he would not have been able to eat in the same restaurant as a white person in the very city where, on Tuesday, some 2 million people turned out to celebrate the fact that he is now the most powerful man in the world.
It’s an incredible transformation, and one which took incredible commitment and determination on his part, but that commitment and that determination has captured the hearts and thoughts of so many people, that he has now been given that huge responsibility.
And as I thought about this reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, and thought of the events in the United States this week, I realised that Paul is not saying to walk away from our current commitments, but to weigh them up in the light of Christ.
This week our Parish had a review. Myself and the Church wardens, the Secretary and the Treasurer, met with Bishop David, and he quoted something which I had heard him say before, and which I may have even told you – he said that when he was in Africa, a Bishop came up to him on the Saturday evening and asked him to preach at the big confirmation service the following day.
Bishop David hurriedly prepared what he thought he was going to say and the following morning climbed up into the pulpit about to preach, and in front of him he read a note that had been left for him. It said very simply, ‘Sir, we want to see Jesus.’
And that is, I believe, just what St Paul was writing in these words. We want to see Jesus, and sometimes in order to do that, and to show him to others, we have to seek him as a priority in our lives. What Paul is stressing in these words is not that we should leave wives or husbands, not even that we should neglect the duties we have to them, and not that we should stop rejoicing or mourning, or act as if we had no possessions at all, but recognise that all these things are part of lives, our lives, which must be dedicated to serving God.
All that we do, all that we think and say, must be revealing Jesus to people – and that’s a pretty tall order ! The ministry of Jesus, the ministry of Paul and the ministry of so many other great Christian characters is recognisable by their work, and by their work load. The gospel of Jesus is important enough to dedicate ourselves to living it and sharing it…
Someone once reproached the preacher Charles H. Spurgeon and said to him, "Mr. Spurgeon you are preaching too much. You will kill yourself by damaging your constitution, Sir." Spurgeon at the time was preaching roughly ten times a week. Spurgeon smiled and said, "If I had a thousand constitutions I would gladly ruin them all for Jesus Christ's sake." There is no answer to that. That is the sort of urgency that says we have a gospel to proclaim and we must reach people with it before it’s too late. This is not a message that we should all be rash and immediately go and ruin our health. No, it is possible to push everything to an extreme. It does, however, remind us that above everything else we are to be serving Jesus Christ. We are to be doing what little we can to promote His great cause and Kingdom.
It was said about John Calvin, another great theologian, that he was a walking hospital. He had about sixty illnesses. His whole digestive system was ruined through what he was given to eat at a college. He was given bad food badly cooked and he suffered constant digestive pain. He couldn't sleep: he had headaches and migraines. He had nausea and all sorts of things. Yet his achievements are immense – he wrote books, he taught and even when he was dying his friends said, "Rest, relax." He said, "Would you have me idle about my Master's service?" The time is short; all things are soon to change.
And then there was John Wesley, who said, "Do all the good you can, to all the persons you can, as long as ever you can." Applying it to our generosity, he said, "Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can."
The commitment and the determination of Barack Obama has earned him privilege and responsibility far above what many people would have ever believed possible. Today Jesus’ disciples, you and me, must show commitment and determination, to help people to see Jesus, and to help his kingdom of love and compassion, peace and justice, hope and encouragement to grow and grow until all the world reflects his glory…
Paul is not preaching irresponsibility, he’s not preaching an abdication of responsibilities, but he is asking us to enquire what things we are attached to which are getting in the way of Jesus, and if we ask ourselves that, we will know what needs to be done, because we know that when we put Jesus as a priority, then our relationships take on an even deeper meaning as we love and serve one another recognising the grace of God which has saved us all; and relationships take on a wider meaning as we recognise that God is the Father of all, and that our brothers and sisters are all around us, some joyful, some hurting, some in pain, some young, some old, some rich, some poor, some white, some black, and when we recognise brothers and sisters all around us, we begin to recognise also the care we have for another, and the fellowship we enjoy with the privileges of being children of God.
And so may we live our lives ready to share an urgent message of love and hope to our brothers and sisters, whoever they are, whether we know them or not, and wherever they may be. AMEN
Few of us, I suspect, have ever had a conversion experience anything like as dramatic as this. Saul, of course, had his name changed to Paul, and went about tirelessly working to live and share the gospel of Jesus as far afield as he could.
But one of the questions that’s often asked about Paul was whether he was actually a very nice person. Would you choose to go out for a meal with him ? And from the knowledge we have of him, many people would perhaps answer ‘No’. Paul was undoubtedly very blunt, he was firm in his views, he didn’t seem to like people who disagreed with him, and today’s reading from his 1st letter to the Corinthians (7:29-31), perhaps gives us a bit more of an insight about him, and even why he sometimes seems to have behaved in that way.
I should say first that when I went through the readings for today, I was going to avoid this one, and hope that nobody listened and certainly that nobody asked anything about it. Paul seems to be telling us to give up everything that we currently have, or that we are doing, for the present form of this world is, he says, passing away….
And yet, maybe it is, or maybe it should be…
This week Barack Obama was inaugurated as the first black President of the United States. Not so many years ago, he would not have been able to eat in the same restaurant as a white person in the very city where, on Tuesday, some 2 million people turned out to celebrate the fact that he is now the most powerful man in the world.
It’s an incredible transformation, and one which took incredible commitment and determination on his part, but that commitment and that determination has captured the hearts and thoughts of so many people, that he has now been given that huge responsibility.
And as I thought about this reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, and thought of the events in the United States this week, I realised that Paul is not saying to walk away from our current commitments, but to weigh them up in the light of Christ.
This week our Parish had a review. Myself and the Church wardens, the Secretary and the Treasurer, met with Bishop David, and he quoted something which I had heard him say before, and which I may have even told you – he said that when he was in Africa, a Bishop came up to him on the Saturday evening and asked him to preach at the big confirmation service the following day.
Bishop David hurriedly prepared what he thought he was going to say and the following morning climbed up into the pulpit about to preach, and in front of him he read a note that had been left for him. It said very simply, ‘Sir, we want to see Jesus.’
And that is, I believe, just what St Paul was writing in these words. We want to see Jesus, and sometimes in order to do that, and to show him to others, we have to seek him as a priority in our lives. What Paul is stressing in these words is not that we should leave wives or husbands, not even that we should neglect the duties we have to them, and not that we should stop rejoicing or mourning, or act as if we had no possessions at all, but recognise that all these things are part of lives, our lives, which must be dedicated to serving God.
All that we do, all that we think and say, must be revealing Jesus to people – and that’s a pretty tall order ! The ministry of Jesus, the ministry of Paul and the ministry of so many other great Christian characters is recognisable by their work, and by their work load. The gospel of Jesus is important enough to dedicate ourselves to living it and sharing it…
Someone once reproached the preacher Charles H. Spurgeon and said to him, "Mr. Spurgeon you are preaching too much. You will kill yourself by damaging your constitution, Sir." Spurgeon at the time was preaching roughly ten times a week. Spurgeon smiled and said, "If I had a thousand constitutions I would gladly ruin them all for Jesus Christ's sake." There is no answer to that. That is the sort of urgency that says we have a gospel to proclaim and we must reach people with it before it’s too late. This is not a message that we should all be rash and immediately go and ruin our health. No, it is possible to push everything to an extreme. It does, however, remind us that above everything else we are to be serving Jesus Christ. We are to be doing what little we can to promote His great cause and Kingdom.
It was said about John Calvin, another great theologian, that he was a walking hospital. He had about sixty illnesses. His whole digestive system was ruined through what he was given to eat at a college. He was given bad food badly cooked and he suffered constant digestive pain. He couldn't sleep: he had headaches and migraines. He had nausea and all sorts of things. Yet his achievements are immense – he wrote books, he taught and even when he was dying his friends said, "Rest, relax." He said, "Would you have me idle about my Master's service?" The time is short; all things are soon to change.
And then there was John Wesley, who said, "Do all the good you can, to all the persons you can, as long as ever you can." Applying it to our generosity, he said, "Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can."
The commitment and the determination of Barack Obama has earned him privilege and responsibility far above what many people would have ever believed possible. Today Jesus’ disciples, you and me, must show commitment and determination, to help people to see Jesus, and to help his kingdom of love and compassion, peace and justice, hope and encouragement to grow and grow until all the world reflects his glory…
Paul is not preaching irresponsibility, he’s not preaching an abdication of responsibilities, but he is asking us to enquire what things we are attached to which are getting in the way of Jesus, and if we ask ourselves that, we will know what needs to be done, because we know that when we put Jesus as a priority, then our relationships take on an even deeper meaning as we love and serve one another recognising the grace of God which has saved us all; and relationships take on a wider meaning as we recognise that God is the Father of all, and that our brothers and sisters are all around us, some joyful, some hurting, some in pain, some young, some old, some rich, some poor, some white, some black, and when we recognise brothers and sisters all around us, we begin to recognise also the care we have for another, and the fellowship we enjoy with the privileges of being children of God.
And so may we live our lives ready to share an urgent message of love and hope to our brothers and sisters, whoever they are, whether we know them or not, and wherever they may be. AMEN
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