Pray with me, please. Our merciful Lord, God of all power and majesty, grant us ears to hear and a heart to believe what You tell us today from Your Word, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
"Attention! We must defend this castle!" With cries like this we prepare to defend our territory. Not only do we desire to defend our territory, but we also strive to overcome the enemy. We carefully evade the flaming arrows of our invaders, shooting back at them, felling them as they approach the walls. Our intention is to drive them back from the walls, make an assault against them, eventually re-establish the security of our surrounding territories. We plan to fight to the end – their end, not ours. And this is a reasonable expectation. We're trained, we're well supplied, we have every conceivable advantage over our enemies.
Likewise in today's reading we see a crusader, a defender of the right,making a defense of the true faith. You might wonder, then, did I read the same passage you read? Is this really about Acts 9? It is, most definitely.
God has given his leaders a responsibility to watch over his people. These leaders of God's flock are to guard purity, purity of doctrine, purity of practice. They, we, are to strive by our life and service to defend God's people. We are to fight for what is right, what is biblical. We are to serve our Lord so as to present God's people to him. We are to enable God's people to be holy as God is holy. This is our responsibility. It is the same responsibility which Saul of Tarsus, the scholar of the Pharisees, carried with him. It is this responsibility which compels us to strive against those who would come in bringing the poison of false doctrine. It is this responsibility which drives us in our conflict with inconsistent practice. Caring for God's flock as a shepherd cares for his sheep involves laying our lives down for the sake of the sheep, protecting them from the enemies they see and from the enemies they don't see.
So we see Saul of Tarsus headed for Damascus, prepared to arrest those who have been teaching and practicing falsehood. His plan is to bring them to Jerusalem where they can have a hearing, where they can be persuaded that their doctrine is false, and where they can repent and be restored. He's acting in a gentle manner, really. It seems Saul would personally prefer to go with a band of armed men, make invasions, make arrests, and take care of the executions then and there. No fuss, no muss, no problems of feeding prisoners on a trip, just do away with the heretics. But rather, he is following the orders he received from his authorities in Jerusalem.
We do want to remember, after all, that purity of the faith is a pretty straightforward matter. God is holy. He accepts no rivals. We are to have no gods before him. There is no substitute for God. Truth is truth. There is no room for compromise when we are talking about revealed truth of God. So it isn't that difficult a decision for Saul to make. He will travel wherever he can find falsehood with the specific goal of eliminating that poison.
Is this what we do? Do we go into our society, prayerfully, faithfully, expecting our Lord to work in and through us? Do we expect to find and confront false doctrine? Do we expect that God's Word will work in and through us to change people's hearts, to call them to repentance, to create faith in their hearts? Do we expect that the Lord will do his will? And deep down inside, don't we believe that the person who refuses to hear and believe is condemned? So out we go into our world, wielding the Word of God, praying that the Holy Spirit will use it to convict and slay the enemies of the true faith.
What happens when we step out in faith? We look again at Saul and his journey. Like Saul, we meet challenges. Saul wanted to accomplish something, but he was a man under authority. He had to get permission to do what he was doing. We also have to learn the fine art of asking our authorities and waiting for their answer. We find that sometimes the answer is what we want but sometimes it isn't quite what we had planned or hoped. But we receive the authority given to us and follow through with it.
Like Saul, we see confrontations. Sometimes the confrontations are those we expect, but sometimes they are quite different than what we are looking for. We may go out into our society planning to take on those who don't believe like we do. We may end up seeing that we are frail and those who are unbelieving are even more frail. We may have all the answers prepared and be confronted with a different question. We may find ourselves confronted by the glory and power of God. We may see that our Lord is working in and through us but not according to our plan. We may see that our confrontation is not with those we have set out to convince but with ourselves. We may see that our confrontation is not with unbelievers but with God. We may go looking for everyone else's sin and be confronted with our own sin.
As with Saul, so also it is with us. We seek to protect our doctrine. We strive to explain it well and make sure we understand it thoroughly. We go to disprove something and find that we prove it to ourselves. We go to prove something we believe and find that we prove something else.
As with Saul, so it is with us. We intend to guard orthodox practice and we find that the practice of the Church is more widely varied throughout history than we imagined. We plan to protect something we think is solid orthodox practice and we start asking why we do things as we do. We look at what we think is well reasoned and find its flaws. We look at what we did not understand and find it bears tremendous value.
As with Saul, so with us. We seek to remove the pretenders to the faith. In doing so we find that our life is full of pretense. We seek to convict people of sin and unbelief. We find that we are full of sin and unbelief. We condemn unrighteousness and we see that we are all unrighteousness.
As with Saul, so with us. We seek to point people to God's glory. We then come face to face with the God of glory. We see him in his majesty and we are undone. We consider the majesty of our Lord and we see the terror of his perfection.
What are we to do? What indeed? Is there any wonder that Saul falls to the ground when he is confronted by his Lord? "Lord, you have revealed your glory to me. I am undone!" The Lord then asks, "Why do you persecute me?" And the God of the universe waits for an answer.
As with Saul, so with us. We see our folly. We see our failure. We see that we have not depended on our Lord's Word and his gifts but on our own ability. We see that we are full of false doctrine, full of evil deeds, full of everything but righteousness. And our Lord asks us, "Why do you persecute me?"
What answer do we have? What answer does Saul have? "Lord, who are you?" We believe, but as yet we don't see the Lord clearly. We know our sin. We know our failings. We know we are without hope. Yet we cannot have hope because we don't know the one who has come to us. We know his power but that is not all his character. We know his terror. We know his force. We have confronted our God and found that he is like an avalanche, like a tidal wave, like a volcanic eruption. We cannot stand before him. "Lord, who are you?"
What does our Lord say to Saul? "I am Jesus. Get up." As Saul arises, as we arise, we see we are absolutely guilty. We are those who persecute our Lord. We are those who allow our false doctrine to stand. We are those who allow our practice to be disobedient to our Lord. We are those who proclaim sinless perfection and live lives that are full of sin. What can we do, though? "I am Jesus. Get up."
As with Saul, so also with us. We get up. "Go on. I've taken care of it." What excuse will we give? We have no excuses. All those were stripped away when we realized the presence of the Lord and fell before him. There are no excuses. We know that we have persecuted our Lord Jesus Christ, that he was put to death by our testimony, that he bore the wrath of God for our sin, that he gave his life as an atonement for us. "Lord, what can I say?" His response? "I am Jesus. Get up. Go on. I've taken care of it."
"But Lord, I'm the one who put you to death on the cross."
"Are you forgiven? Get up. Go on. I've taken care of it."
"But Lord, I'm a sinful man."
"Are you forgiven? Get up. Go on. I've taken care of it."
"But..."
"Forgiven."
(Read Psalm 30 – chant responsively?) http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/index.php?search=Psalm%2030&version=ESV&interface=print
Psalm 30
Joy Comes with the Morning
A Psalm of David. A song at the dedication of the temple.
1I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up
and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
2O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
3O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;
you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.
4Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
5 For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
6As for me, I said in my prosperity,
"I shall never be moved."
7By your favor, O LORD,
you made my mountain stand strong;
you hid your face;
I was dismayed.
8To you, O LORD, I cry,
and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
9"What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?
10 Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me!
O LORD, be my helper!"
11You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
12that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!
"But Lord, I'm a sinful man."
"Are you forgiven? Get up. Go on. I've taken care of it."
"But..."
"Forgiven."
But..."
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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