Feast of St. Paul's Conversion (2023)

Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, 2023

St. Matthew’s Lutheran, Cornwall

1 Timothy 2:1-8, Acts 9:1-22

How Bad Did He Want All to be Saved?

Today, as our readings have proclaimed we have heard something we likely (well, most of us anyway) will have memorized – that God wants ALL TO BE SAVED and come to the knowledge of Him. But I want us to ask today this one question ; HOW BAD – did God want all to be saved? And perhaps a second question is this ; AND WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR US AND OUR LIVES HERE IN THIS WORLD?

Another way we can say tyhis – is this. That last week we heard Paul exhorting us to preach no other doctrine - to remain fixed upon the one message of the Gospel that saves. Now as a result of that comes to question; but what about people I don't like? Do I have to preach the gospel to them too? Do I have to see that they’re forgiven too?

Or yet we can phrase this a third time in an even more direct sense; do I have to forgive people who hurt me?

And this is the perfect day to be discussing these things, because today is actually not merely Wednesday, but today is the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul (of a persecutor). And what’s that about?

Retell story

who was Paul? (He was Saul)

A jew,

a persecutor

heard the message, hated the message. Thought the message was stupid and anyone who believed it was a blasphemous heretic who needed to either go to prison and or die!

and on his way to persecute more Jews – JESUS finds him, catches him, appears to him, and says to him... ? What?

Firstly one thing we must understand from this – those who persecute Christians for the sake of the Christ they preach, persecute Christ. Those who hurt “the least of these” what does He say? They have hurt me. But those who do good to the least of these they have done it to who? What does He say? To me. That’s right.

And secondly, after He says that, He says, go up and you will be told what to do. Of course, at this point, Saul is blind. And this is a big ordeal. And Jesus has given him exceedingly vague directions but you know and I know that where he’s going he’s not just going to get his sight back but he’s going to be confirmed into the faith and filled with the Holy Spirit, and he’s going to receive revelations from Christ who will make Him His apostle to the gentiles

And so, what is this, really? What this is, is Christ taking one who persecuted HIM (at least that’s how He sees it), by persecuting His body, His church, and His response? Is it anger? Is it wrath? Is it punishment? NO – it’s blessing, and its restoration, and it’s calling him not only into salvation but into service. Can you imagine? - you cannot. We cannot. Because we do not do this. If someone abuses us, in this society, we don’t forgive them. If someone abuses someone under or around us, we don’t forgive them, we punish them, we prosecute them, and, according to the Law this is 100% right. What Jesus is doing is illegal. Let me say this to you. Jesus does not forgive you by the Law. But outside of it, by the Gospel.

And so the question really today, is how does He want us to live in this world? And how, if at all, if ever, does the Gospel interact and or relate to our lives in this world with other people? Does He want us to preach the gospel, but then to live the Law?

The church would have you believe so

that IS in fact how the church operates

And yet, what does Our Lord Himself say?

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.We pray that at least every week if not every day if not MANY TIMES A DAY. And yet, to DO IT – this is another thing all-together. And that’s a terrible thing, its a matter of life and death kind of thing, because as our Lord also says to us; If you do not forgive... you will not be forgiven (think of the unforigving servant)

And why is that? Its because the cross is for all – for everyone. And what happens at the cross ? (FORGIVENESS). See these two things are actually one and the same. Often times i hear people speak of forgiveness as a thing separate from the gospel .That they believe that CHRIST forgives them,. But THEY cant forgive people themselve.s And to those i would ask, really, who is the one holding the law and the judgment over the wrongdoer? Is it really you? Or is it God? Who really has the authority here to condemn or to pardon? You or God?

If it’s God (it is), then is not He the master of forgiveness? (He is). And so, who has He forgiven? (All people). And is that really independent of, is it even separatable from the gospel? (no). See we might have problems having ooey gooey feelings for people who’ve worng us, but at the end of the day we are not the judge over them or their souls. In reality, forgiveness is just as much God’s as judgment is His – and these are His and His alone, His only. And He has not only granted the forgiveness of all peop;le but today He has called us to go and proclaim it to them. He has called us to pray for them (even those who persecute us and do us worng).

What are we sying when we say to a person who’s done us worng that God may have forgiven them , but we have not? (please, someone answer me). Who’s forgiveness are we saying matters really? Who has last word? You or your Lord? Will you have the gall to withhold forgiveness from those He has forgiven? What part of their sins against you did Christ not take on Himself? What part of their offence against you did GOD NOT DIE FOR? Is the death of God not enough retribution for your wrath to be sated? What more do we want? Really? The death of God AND a pettty law suit for 500 dollars in damages? The deaht of God AND a prison sentence or the loss of a job or... what? What is it in the Law that Christ has not satisfied? TO take issue with the sufficiency of God’s forgiveness is to take issue with the sufficiency with God’s gospel. And what is that gospel exactly? Let’s go over that one more time, yes?

let’s nail this down really exactly, what is the Gospel?

One mediator...

forgiveness of sins in Christ

universal (this part is essential) - its not only for some. Not only for the elect, not only for those who already believe

Objective (this part is also essential) – its not effected or made real by your faith, it’s not made real by your emotions, its not moved into reality by anything in you or about you or in you or around but it is ITSELF the reality tat we proclaim.

The Gospel that you believe, the gospel i preach, the gospel you have received is about you, yes. It’s about me too, yes. But its also about every single person that’s ever hurt you. It’s about the terrorist who burned the priest to death in West Afric earlier this weak. It’s about the worst people ever, who’ve done the worst things ever.

And if it isn't, then it’s not about you either.

Why? - because of the mechanics of the atonement. - how does this thing work? He takes on humanity itself to redeem all of humanity itself and He actually did it. And so, I am enabled to preach forgive to all of humanity. To you, and to your firends and your neighbours and your enemies. To those you love and those you hate. To those you forgive, and to those you hold grudges against. Forgiveness is real for all of those people and when we try to insist that it is not , what we’re doing is arguing agaisnt the gospel . Because there alone in the gospel itself is forgiveness found – and in truth it’s nowhere else.

And the gospel is this – that you (whoever you are, and whatever you’ve done – and that includes people who hurt you and persecute you) ARE FORGIVEN, bythe life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. THAT is what we believe. It’s not made true by our belief in it, but it’s the proclaimed truth that our faith believes. That is the gospel that we preached. That you areforgiven, not that you CAN be – IF. That you ARE loved, not that you CAN BE – if. That God has chosen you, not that He will choose you – IF. The gospel is unconitional, and it is initiatory. God is not looking around the world to see if anyone is worthy of loving or forgiving or saving. Nobodoy is, and nobody will be. Rather, He loves us in spitre of what we are. Forgives us in spite of what we’ve done. And counts us righteous, APART from our works (our lack of works). It is WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS that He died for us, claimed us, forgave us, and saved us. That is what is preached and proclaimed by the Chrisitian church. Good news. A thing finished and done. A gift of what IS now. Not an offer of what COULD be. Not a hypothetical possibility – but a universal and objectively true REALITY.

Those who believe that in faith receive what is objevctively true – but those who reject it, reject what is truly given in Word and sacrament – and they cut themselves off from Christ. They are the ones, that John tells us in 1 John 5; who have called God a liar because they have rejected the Testimony that He has given them, which is that He has actually truly and really given them eternal life in Jesus Christ by His life death and resurrection. They call God a liar because they do not believe what He has told them about what Christ’s life deaht and resurrection means for them. But that does not make what He did for them, or gave to them any less real. For He prayed forgiven them for they know not what they doand then He sent preachers to proclaim that they were forgiven even for what they knew that were doing – and yet many still did not believe.

But as Christ says of this in Matt 23:37 – i would have taken you under ym wing BUT YOU WOULD NOT

and so indeed many are forgiven, indeed all are forgiven, yet many still reject that forgiveness. Many would rather hold onto their sins than be held by Christ. Many still would rather go to hell on their own terms than rest in eternal peace and comfort on the graces of another. Manyrefuse to be forgiven because they refuse to admit that they’ve done any wrong. And so it is with us, and so it will be with us as we attempt to live this out in our own lives.

That as we go and we forgive those who hurt us, as we lvoe those who hate us and do good to those who persecute us, there is absolutely no gaurnuntteee that people will STOP workign against us. There is no funcitonal end to this. We don’t do this merely for the sake of behavioral modification. But just as with Christ, He died for many, knowing that many would reject and ignore Him sitll – and indeed many did, and many still do. And yet continually He holds out His hand of forgiveness, and of love, and of mercy. For He is the God who is always savingly present, ever forgiving and wholly merciful. He is love itself. He is forgiveness in flesh. He has no other way.

The message today is thisl; that God wants all to be saved, He has gone through sin, death, and hell in order to accomplish that end. He wanted so badly to save those who He knew would reject Him that He put divinity itself to death in Christ to save them. Their rejection of that work did nothing to stop His love for them. That is the God that we worship– and He calls you into that same heart, that same desire, and that sameworkin the world around you today. To be like Christ – is to forgive those who have actually done you serious wrong, UNTO DEATH – even when you know they wont care or even receive that forgiveness. For such is the love that He has loved us with.

And so, as we celebrate the conversion of a Christian persecutor, let us go out from here with a heart, spirit, and mind that moves for the salvationand ultimately the good of those who hurt us, persecute us, and hate us. For that is the love with which God has first loved us. That is the love that changed Paul into a preacher of the forgiveness of ALL the sins of ALL people everywhere of all time, even while they yet persecuted him, and stoned him, and whipped him, and ultimately in the end beheaded him unto death

So let us be. Let us love with the love with which we have been loved. Let us live in the transofrmative and self-sacrificial and self destructive love that has brought life into the world for all – let us do it unto death – let us give it to those who will reject it – let us preach it to those who will protest against it.