Famous Failures - Saul

Pastor Robarge’s Sermon

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

I was going through a book store one day, as I often like to do, and I saw a book that caught my eye. The title of the book said The World’s Most Influential People of All Time. So I was curious. I wanted to find out who was in it. So I flipped through the pages and I found that Jesus was listed as No. 3. And it seemed the author was pretty quick to explain why Jesus was listed at No. 3. Part of the explanation, I think, is a misunderstanding of who Jesus is. I don’t believe the author believed that Jesus was the Son of God but he wanted to explain why Jesus was listed at No. 3.

First of all, he talked a little bit about Jesus’ moral and ethical implications on society and how important those were. But the next point he talked about, he said, “I can’t give Jesus the No. 1 spot because he had some help.” And specifically, he pointed to the apostle, Paul. He then went on to list Paul as the 6th most influential person of all time. Ten billion people have walked this earth and yet, Paul is the 6th most influential person of all time and this is coming from a man who has no Christian agenda to push. It’s a man who’s impartial and still, he puts the apostle, Paul, as No. 6 on the list. Pretty impressive.

Paul is famous but he’s also a failure. He had some very famous failures. Paul stood back and watched as the first martyr of the Christian faith was stoned and killed. He went to knocking on doors. He went to small groups and large groups trying to find the people who believed in this Messiah, Jesus. He did what it took to put them in prison or to put them to death. For these reasons, Paul is a famous failure.

But I think we have to understand a little bit about Paul before we can look at these failures that Paul had in his life. Paul, as you know, originally his name was Saul, Saul of Tarsus was his title. And according to Roman custom, he would have been first known as a Roman citizen. Second, he would have been known as a Tarsian which was a very distinguished city in the area and, third, he would have been known as a Jew.

As we look at Paul today, we can say it’s often his Jewish side that probably was most influential in his growing up and it probably was. But we cannot discount, we cannot forget about the other pieces to him as his Roman citizenship played into his spreading of the message later on. But Saul was a faithful Jew. He was from the tribe of Benjamin. Now this tribe of Benjamin was only the second tribe to stay faithful to King David in the Old Testament. It was also from this tribe of Benjamin that came the first king of Israel, Saul, who Saul of Tarsus was probably named after, but Saul was a faithful Jew.

As he grew up in this town, he probably went through the school as all young boys did, reading and memorizing the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, hearing all of the commands and the laws that God has passed down to His people, knowing them, memorizing them and he would also then learn all of the other key elements to the Jewish faith. But there were certain boys who came out of that school who were chosen by rabbis to continue their schooling and Saul was chosen by a rabbi. But it wasn’t just any ordinary rabbi. Saul was chosen by one of the greatest well-known rabbis of his time. To put this in perspective, it would be kind of like being accepted into Yale or Harvard Law School. These law schools are known for putting out the best lawyers, the best education.

Saul wanted to be the best and so he studied under the best. Saul continued learning under this rabbi what he could and then, after his time with the rabbi, he became a member of the Pharisees. Now I know sometimes we have a different picture of the Pharisees than maybe what they pictured back then. We see the Pharisees today from the words of scripture. When we see Jesus as He encounters them, as they try to trick Him, they try to arrest Him, we have to understand the Pharisees from the eyes of the Jewish people.

The Pharisees were a group that were held in very high regard. They were the guys who knew what they were talking about. They were the people. Everyone looked up to them. And that’s why Saul wanted to be a member of these Pharisees, as he wanted to be the best.

I think we can’t really deny what it is, I mean, we can look at the way Jesus had talked to the Pharisees and get a little bit of a glimpse maybe about what these Pharisees were like and from conversations, we can see maybe what Paul was like. So we’ll look at Matthew today, Matthew 23. Jesus spends almost an entire chapter condemning the Pharisees. Let me read a little bit for you today, “Whoa to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites.” “Whoa to you” comes from the Old Testament, it kind of means “death to you.” This is how strong of words Jesus is saying. “You are like whitewash tombs which look beautiful on the outside but, on the inside, are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside, you appear to people as righteous but, on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” It’s safe to say that Jesus wasn’t a big fan of the Pharisees.

We can kind of understand a little bit about maybe who Paul was by Jesus’ interactions with other Pharisees. Paul was not probably one of these Pharisees who Jesus had encounters with, as we haven’t seen Saul’s name mentioned yet. But we can get a good idea at least about what it was that maybe Saul would have asked or how Saul would have acted and, from that, we can catch a glimpse. As we know, Saul later had great power and authority that was given to him by the high people in the Pharisees. He was given the authority to imprison, to put to death those believers of Jesus. And this is when we first see Saul in Acts 8. If you’d like to turn there in your bibles, it says in Acts 8:1, “And Saul was there giving approval to his death.” This is the first time we see Saul. This is the first time his name is mentioned and it’s talking about giving approval to the stoning of Stephen. Let me continue, “On that day, a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him but Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them into prison.”

Saul was destroying the church. You could say that he was probably the church’s biggest enemy but he continues when we see him again in Chapter 9, “Meanwhile, Saul was 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.” This was Saul, breathing murderous threats, destroying the church. It was his job to go out and find these believers and put them in prison or approve of their deaths. For this reason, Saul was a famous failure.

Is Saul the kind of man that you would have been running to try to evangelize? Is Saul the kind of man that you would want in your church? Is Saul the kind of man that would have been outside the grace of God? Saul was zealous towards God. He thought he was working with God but he was working against God. Are Saul’s failures our failures? Do we ever zealously go forward with something thinking that God is behind us, not worrying about who we hurt in the process of getting it done?

Terrible things have been done in the name of zeal and in the name of God, many things in our country today. We look at the country and we look at actually the crusades in the Middle Ages. The Jews and the Muslims and the Christians, countless numbers of them died, were killed, were murdered in the name of God. We look at slavery in our own country today. People justified that by scripture saying God allowed that, to count people as less than human. What about the cults and the hate groups that are out there today? Remember some of them, Jim Jones and David Koresh. We see hate groups, such as the Skinheads and the KKK, just to name a few. These are groups who claim that God is giving them the truth, that God is behind them in what they’re doing and what’s the outcome? Jim Jones, David Koresh led hundreds to an untimely death. Hate groups out there spitting all kinds of hatred toward people, claiming that God only loves a certain person of a certain color, hair color, eye color, skin color, led to death, led to hatred, people being hurt.

We look at people who have picketed abortion clinics and then they take it to the next step and they kill the doctors, they bomb the clinics and claim that God wanted it done. This is happening in our Christian churches today. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, it’s all about the nature of the church, the divisive nature that’s going on and, sadly to say, it still continues today.

Have you ever zealously believed that there was one particular pew that was yours? I know that’s kind of a funny one as we think about at Christian circles and always talk about, “That’s my pew.” But does it happen? Do you sit in church thinking, “Man, that person, they could have sat anywhere in the church but they decided to sit in my pew.” And you can’t let it go? You think that happens today? Sure it does.

Maybe a little something more serious, I remember in churches as a younger man going and sitting through voters’ meetings. And in these voters’ meetings, there would sometimes be people so angry that they would spew all kinds of hatred. This happens in the body of Christ? I remember one particular meeting, it was about a new organ, some people for it, some people against it. But people started yelling and were getting so angry. One man stood up and said, “No one cares about what you think,” like this is the behavior of the people of God? Worship is important. Music in worship is important but it’s not the main thing. It is zeal misdirected.

Compare this to the Pharisees. The Pharisees have a set of laws and if you look at them, it says in there they are not allowed to clap their hands. It says they’re not allowed to stomp their feet or go swimming or ride a beast or any of that on the Sabbath Day because, if they do, they’re in violation and they don’t love God. Rules and regulations superseding God. Zeal misdirected.

Have you ever been on these zealous crusades about what people wear to church, about the kind of worship they have? And this happens on both sides. It doesn’t matter which one. But we zealously put in place of something you say they have to do this way or this way. Worship is important. Music is important. But it’s not the main thing. Zealous misdirected.

According to the Pharisees, during prayer times in the synagogue, they must wear a prayer shawl. It has to be done that way. Zeal misdirected.

When Saul sought after Christians to persecute them and imprison them, he was redefining who God is. When we go on our zealous crusades about what we need to do or should do or have to do, we’re redefining who God is. It’s no longer a God of love and mercy. It’s a God of rules and regulations. For Saul to become zealous for God once more, Jesus had to visit him. He came to him and changed his direction. He said fervor and zeal are not enough to save you as much as sincerity can save you. But thankfully, we’re still a people whom God has chosen to save. Jesus who knew no sin took on sin for us so that we, through Jesus, might have those failures become successful in the kingdom of God. When we encounter God, things change. God uses our failures and can change them in a positive way.

Jesus visits Saul and things change. When Jesus comes into the lives of ordinary failing human beings, things change. The failures they once lived in now change for the better. This is how Paul talks about it in his letter to the Philippians, Chapter 3, “If anyone thinks he has reason to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” Paul was saying if it was possible for anyone to be good enough, it would have been him. He was the top dog. He was the best. But he said Jesus came to him and he counted all that stuff, all the direction he was going, his career, his education, his behavior, his following, everything that made him happy in that life as garbage, sewage and he counted it lost.

Saul was confronted. Saul was redirected back into God’s Word and that’s when his life changed. Saul now wanted to keep Jesus at the center of his message, at the center of everything he did. And now we can see from the first Corinthians passage that we just read this morning. But there’s an important part of it. He says, “For what I received, I passed on to you as a first importance.” First importance, central, key to his message and this is what was key, “That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, that He appeared to Peter and to the Twelve and He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to me.” And that’s what was central to Saul. Things changed when Jesus came to him and it wasn’t just his name. Things changed.

But it wasn’t easy for Saul, now Paul. As we even look at the rest of the message from Acts this morning, when his conversion happened and he began to proclaim the name of Jesus, what happened? He was with those people that he used to call friends. And it says in Chapter 9:19, “Saul spent several days with disciples in Damascus and he started to proclaim that word to the Jews but, after many days had gone by, the Jews conspired to kill him.” Well, then he went away and he tried to go to the other side. He went to see if he could go with the apostles. But then it says in Verse 26, “When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.” This conversion process wasn’t easy. He didn’t have friends on either side. But it never changed Paul’s message and what was central.

When Paul was confronted with his failure, he didn’t let it define him. But I pose the question for you this morning, do we let our failures define who we are? I think sometimes when we come across a failure, we think God’s telling us not to move forward. And then when we’re constantly facing that failure, we think how useless we are. But God wants to take those failures and use them in a positive way. But do we still have those people in our life who remind us of failures? Do parents remind us of failures? Do our friends, spouses or children, our relatives, our coworkers, our neighbors, do they remind us of our failures? Do you let them define you by your failures?

I pray today that we learn from the apostle, Paul, as he didn’t let anything define him by his failures in his ministry. But he continued to maintain the central thing and let us declare with Jesus and with Paul as we talk about for results and know nothing except for Jesus and Him crucified. Amen.

Copyright 2009 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church