Acts 9:1-19: Unwilling to Do the Radical Rethink

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. - Acts 9:1-19

Compared to Peter in Matthew's gospel, we see that Paul had to learn the same lesson from a different angle. Both felt they were lifelong experts in a subject matter, both were humbled by God to show them that there was so much more to learn, both gave up their former profession and both followed Jesus. But whereas Peter was an expert on fishing, Paul was an expert on God and his law. Then he met Jesus.

I can imagine that there was a huge rethinking of everything that Paul knew in terms of the risen Jesus. Everything that he learned and thought he knew had to be reevaluated in fresh light. Also, his passion had to be redirected and there was a grieving and regret over people that he'd hurt in his righteous quest to destroy Jesus' followers.

I am frankly surprised at Paul because I ca imagine myself and so many people I know unwilling to go down a radical rethink like this because of the implications for my current way of life. Too much temptation to cling to what there is, to try and retrain some shred of self-justification. But once he was past that, there was a freedom.

Luke 5:1-11: Programmer Humbled By A Preacher

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. - Luke 5:1-11

It is definitely humbling to find out that someone else is better than you at the profession that you have chosen. We each build up expertise through insight, training and experience and we treasure that as a sign of our unique significance in the world. We rank ourselves based on these to establish our importance to ourselves and others.

If a preacher came to me and said, 'You know, just move that 'if' clause into that other function." I would shake my head, but out of respect, I might humor the preacher, change the code and start recompiling. I wouldn't expect any better results, just another error like the ones I had been fighting for hours before.

And if the code not only compiled and ran after adopting his suggestion, but the performance was extraordinarily better than I could forecast, I might have a small glimpse of what Peter felt at that moment when he told Jesus, "Go away from me, Lord. I am a sinful man."

Because all of my expertise was for nothing. This preacher showed that he understood my business better than I did. Comparatively, I know nothing. And if he tells me that he wants to show me something else: "from now on you will fish for people." I would be ready to listen.

God knows my business better than I do. Every solution I am looking for is in his mind already and he can share with me when he is ready. He has things to teach me that are important for me and others that I haven't even thought about yet.

Isaiah 6:1-8: How Far Beyond Us Is God

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” - Isaiah 6:1-8

The realization of the gap between God and us, not just in power, but in character is one of the big drivers for me in my spiritual life. Not just to acknowledge it. That it is true, but to comprehend it. To marvel at how good God is. To think what it must be like to be that good. To recognize how I'm not all that. And to long for it.

Then to realize that it lies within his power. Not just to change what comes out but to cleanse that which lies within. And not just for me, but for all his people. 

Call to Worship - Losing Worship (1 Corinthians 1:26-29,31)

 

Call to Worship – Losing Wisdom

1 Corinthians 1:26-29,31

L1:     Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called.

L2:     Not many of you were wise by human standards;

L1:     Not many were influential;

L2:     Not many were of noble birth.

ALL: But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

L1:     God chose the lowly things of this world

L2:     And the despised things—

L1:     And the things that are considered nothing—

L2:     To nullify the things that the world considers important,

ALL:  So that no one may boast before him. ... Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Call to Worship - Proverbs of the People (1 Cor. 12:8, Eccl. 12:11, Col. 3:16)

 

Call to Worship – Proverbs of the People

1 Cor. 12:8, Eccl. 12:11, Col. 3:16

 

L1:     To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice

L2:     To another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge (1 Cor. 12:8)

L1:     The words of the wise are like goads,

L2:     Their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd (Eccl. 12:11)

L1:     Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives.

L2:     Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives.

ALL: Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. (Col. 3:16 NLT)

1 Corinthians 1:1-9: The Uncategorized Callings of the Son

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge—God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. - 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Called. The Corinthians were called into fellowship with Jesus. Paul was called to be an apostle. We are all called to fellowship with Jesus. But not everyone was called to be an apostle. Not even Sosthenes (v1)  There are plenty of roles to be played in God's plan. We would be fools to ignore any call of God. 

The general call to fellowship-God wants to know us all this way. But the other call must be discovered. My intuition is that many of the discovered callings don't neatly fall into a category, like apostle. There just aren't enough words to name all of the callings that God has for us all, because he has made us so unique. The most important thing is to remember the one who calls and keep our face towards his light and he will reveal what he wants, if we are really listening and seeing openly.

Psalm 40:1-10: Do You Check How Well You Worship or How Worthy God Is?

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord.

Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord, who have no confidence in the proud or in those who worship idols. O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.

You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings. Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand—you don’t require burnt offerings or sin offerings. Then I said, “Look, I have come. As is written about me in the Scriptures: I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart.”

I have told all your people about your justice. I have not been afraid to speak out, as you, O Lord, well know. I have not kept the good news of your justice hidden in my heart; I have talked about your faithfulness and saving power. I have told everyone in the great assembly of your unfailing love and faithfulness. - Psalm 40:1-10

Sacrifices and burnt offerings aren't a toll system. They were supposed to be an expression of the deep feelings of our heart: regret and longing and delight. The way people used them was trying to appease a God whose default expression was frown-always grumpy except in those few moments where he was grudgingly satisfied with how much we gave to him.

Instead God awaits the day when his wishes are our joy. When that comes from the changes he has wrought in our heart, it overflows. The natural result of the overflow of that joy and delight in God is praise. Worship not based on how adequate or plentiful our efforts and offerings (proud) are, but based on God's wonderful deeds. Since these often look the same from the outside, we can get away with a lot in front of other people. Since they are hard to distinguish, we wonder if genuineness is really worth aiming for. But the author of this psalm knows that God knows.