Tag Archives: Paul

Gospel as Salvation (Fifth Sunday of Easter) – May 3, 2015

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Sunday’s Readings:
Complementary Text: Matthew 9:10-13
Preaching Text: Romans 1:1-17

+ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen. +

Last week, we encountered the Apostle Paul in the midst of one of his missionary trips, preaching the gospel to the people of Lystra. That account was typical of Paul’s ministry throughout the Mediterranean world. He thrived on the opportunity to travel to new cities, to meet new people, and to share with them the good news of God in Christ. Paul did this to much success, establishing communities of faith all over Asia Minor and Greece. Once those communities were on solid footing, Paul moved on, but he tried to follow up regularly by means of his extensive letter writing. The New Testament contains thirteen letters that bear Paul’s name, but this one – the Letter to the Romans – is unique among Paul’s writings because it is the only one addressed to a community that wasn’t founded by the apostle or one of his associates. Acts tells us that Paul did eventually make it to Rome, but he arrived in the custody of Roman soldiers who were charged with guarding him as he awaited trial on charges of disturbing the peace. Tradition states that the apostle was martyred in Rome around the year 67, apparently without ever being able to visit the community that he so fervently wished to meet.

In the letter to the Romans, then, we have Paul’s attempt to introduce himself to the Christians of that city and to share with them his understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ and its significance for the life of faith. The section before us today is that letter’s opening, in which Paul presents his credentials as an apostle and begins the process of teaching the Romans at a distance. Now, if Paul didn’t have anything to do with the establishment of this community, why did he think it necessary to write to them, and why did he want to meet them so badly? That’s somewhat difficult to say. One of the problems we have with decoding Paul’s letters is that they represent one half of a conversation or relationship, and unfortunately we are missing the other half. If you’ve ever waited nervously next to someone who was on the phone and wanted desperately to know what they were talking about, you can understand the issue we have in trying to identify what’s going on in Rome without having any information from the Romans. Here’s a good guess at what was happening when Paul sent this letter from Corinth to Rome: Paul was looking for a new base of support as he pushed to the west. It appears that his ultimate goal was to proclaim the Gospel in Spain, but his earlier base of support had been compromised by rival preachers, and he needed to find people who were willing to help him expand his mission westward. Beyond his own interests, signs point to the presence of conflict within the Roman community between Jewish and Gentile Christians. In the year 49, the Jews had been expelled from Rome by order of the emperor Claudius, and at least some of the Gentile Christians in that community had apparently viewed that expulsion as evidence of Gentile superiority, leading to friction within the church when the ban was lifted some five years later.  Part of Paul’s project, then, is to remind both groups of the surpassing greatness of God in Christ and to remove any cause for boasting or bitterness within the church.

With that in mind, I’d like to focus today on what many have called the thesis or main idea of this letter, found in verses 16 and 17: For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17, NRSV) These verses are filled to overflowing with significance, and we could spend a lot of time unpacking them in their entirety, but for today it’s enough to focus on a few of the most important convictions expressed by the apostle, ideas that set the stage for the rest of this letter.

First, it is significant that Paul states clearly that he is not ashamed of the gospel. Among both Jews and Gentiles, the story of Jesus was often met with ridicule. Who could conceive of anyone revering, much less worshipping, a man who had been convicted by the Roman authorities and sentenced to death by crucifixion? The shame associated with the cross was so great that it was a wonder that the gospel of Jesus was ever able to spread as far as it did. In our own day, Christianity is often associated with anti-intellectual attitudes, with an opposition to science, with judgmentalism and hypocrisy, and some people continue to dismiss the gospel as a fairy tale – and not a very good one at that. At its base, this message about Jesus is a message that often defies human logic, but that doesn’t mean that we have to accept what others say about the church and the story that forms our identity. As Christians we are called, like Paul, to be bold before those who would seek to shame us for our trust in the God whose love was revealed in the cross of Christ.

One of the reasons we can stand strong in the face of opposition is Paul’s second conviction: that the Gospel is no mere story, but the very power of God that brings salvation to those who hear it. The good news of Jesus does more than remind us of who he was and what he did for us. The good news is the means by which God in Christ continues to be present to us, reminds us of the depth of God’s love for us, and draws us into the life that God shares with Jesus in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Proclaiming what God has done in Christ accomplishes something – it is a means of extending the grace of God anew, healing us and renewing us each new day.

In the end, what makes this introduction so powerful is its insistence on the role of faith in our relationship with God, though not the way we so often think about it as American Christians. Paul’s use of “faith” is grounded in God’s character and God’s relationship with the world. When Paul says “For in it [the gospel], the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith,” he most likely means something like this: “For in the gospel, God’s saving covenant faithfulness is revealed through the faithfulness of Christ to generate faithfulness among those who hear it.” [Michael Gorman, Apostle of the Crucified Lord, Wm. B. Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI: 2004), 350.] We are so quick to make faith about us, and wonder about the strength or sufficiency of our faith, but Paul isn’t talking about that – at least not here. Paul is making the case that our trust is God is generated by the faithful love that God has displayed toward Israel – and then, in Christ, toward humanity. The whole story of Scripture is the story of God pursuing people so that we might be in relationship with God, and in Jesus we have all been given the opportunity to experience God’s faithful love so that we can respond with our own faithful obedience in thought, word, and deed. How we live is undoubtedly important, but the ability to live rightly before God is first and foremost about God bringing about reconciliation in Jesus and freeing us to live in obedience to God’s will for our lives. I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds like good news!

Brothers and sisters, in the weeks to come we’ll hear more of Paul’s letter to the church at Rome and gain insight into Paul’s understanding of how God is continuing to move in our lives in the person of Jesus. For this week, let us all reflect on those powerful words and what they teach us about the good news of God in Christ: I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” Thanks be to God for God’s faithfulness to, and for the opportunity to be God’s faithful people today and every day. Amen.

Paul’s Mission (Fourth Sunday of Easter) – April 26, 2015 (NL Week 34)

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Sunday’s Readings:
Complementary Text: Matthew 10:40-42
Preaching Text: Acts 13:1-3; 14:8-18

+ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen. +

At the risk of sounding like a broken record – and not for the first time this year, I suspect – the story of the early church is a truly amazing story of transformation. Just think about the Scripture passages that we’ve read during the month of April: We started three weeks ago on Easter Sunday with the world-changing events surrounding the resurrection of Jesus, continued with the disciples’ encounter with the risen Christ on that mountaintop in Galilee and their commission to go out into the world and proclaim the good news of God to every nation, and then heard the story of Peter’s Spirit-inspired vision that demonstrated how God was moving even among the Gentiles, people who had previously been considered outside the scope of God’s care and concern. Each of these narratives is the story of radical change – Jesus’ triumphant Passover from death into new life, the disciples’ transformation from terrified deserters to bold witnesses to the power of God in Christ, Peter’s new-found understanding that God shows no partiality and receives anyone who holds God in reverent awe – and each of them helped to expand the Gospel’s reach into new and different places.

Today we enter the final weeks of this year’s journey through the broad sweep of the Scriptures by taking time to consider the ministry of perhaps the most influential figure in the history of the early church – excepting Jesus, of course. That person, the man whose name is associated with half of the books of the New Testament, is the Apostle Paul, and the story of how he came to be in Lystra in today’s text is another one of these amazing stories of transformation.

Let’s back up a little bit to Acts Chapter 7, in which another early church leader named Stephen is brought before a crowd of angry religious leaders in Jerusalem to face trial. Stephen boldly proclaims the good news of Jesus, so inflaming the crowd that had gathered to pass judgment on him that they immediately dragged him outside the city walls and pummeled him with stones until he was killed. On the margins of that crowd was Paul, a young Pharisee who also bore the Hebrew name “Saul” and who wholeheartedly agreed with the stoning of Stephen. Before we can even blink, Paul is on his way north, to the city of Damascus in Syria, with a commission from the high priest to round up all of the Christians he can find and bring them back to Jerusalem to face trial. By this time, his reputation as one of the foremost persecutors of Jesus’ followers had spread far and wide, as he approached Damascus Acts tells us that he was “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.” Suddenly, Paul was blinded by an encounter with the risen Christ, and his life was turned upside down. Healed by a Christian in Damascus, Paul receives the good news about Jesus, is baptized into Christ, and becomes one of the most fervent preachers of the gospel message.

Following Peter’s vision and the baptism of the household of the Roman centurion Cornelius, the church in Jerusalem and this new apostle of Jesus come into conflict over the proclamation of the gospel to non-Jewish people. The Jerusalem church believed strongly that those who heard the gospel needed to accept the marks of Jewish identity, including circumcision and the kosher diet that forbid the eating of certain foods. Paul, whose conversion carried with it a commission to bring the good news to the Gentiles, was convinced that the message should be presented to all people freely, without the expectation that those who received it would need to become Jewish in order to be joined to Christ. After much debate, it was finally decided that Paul would take responsibility for the mission to the Gentiles, while Peter and the representatives of the church in Jerusalem would be responsible for proclaiming the good news to the people of Israel.

Fast forward again to Acts 13 and 14, where Paul (and his companion Barnabas) are preaching to the people of Lystra, a Greek city that was home to a large temple honoring the chief Greek God, Zeus. In the midst of his sermon to the curious crowds that had gathered to hear this stranger, Paul noticed a man who was unable to walk listening intently to his message, and he demonstrated the power of God in Christ by commanding the man to rise up and walk. To his horror, the people of the city misinterpreted what he had done, believing that Paul and Barnabas were incarnations of the Greek gods Zeus and Hermes, and rushing to offer sacrifices to them. The apostles had to use everything at their disposal to convince the people that they were not gods, but mere mortals bringing a message of good news and salvation.

It’s sort of a funny story when you think about it, but it also demonstrates some really important things about the mission of Paul and the ministry that we share with him as people who gather in the name of Christ and belong to a community that bears the name of this apostle to the Gentiles.

First, this story provides a cautionary tale as we carry out the mission that God has given to each one of us in our baptism: We are merely messengers. Paul ran into trouble when people failed to see that he was pointing beyond himself to God, whose grace and favor was available to all people. It’s natural for us to fall into the trap of thinking that the good news is about us, and we feel good when we receive recognition from others for what we do in service to God. As followers of Christ, we are first and foremost recipients of God’s amazing grace, and the great gift of this life of faith is being able to share the source of that grace with others, so that they can experience the abundant life that God offers to us in Jesus.

Second, this story provides one of those great examples of Paul trying to meet people where they are in order to proclaim the good news of God in Christ. Paul invites the citizens of Lystra to look around, to recognize the signs of God’s goodness revealed in the constancy of the seasons, in the gifts of grain and fruit at harvest, in the wonder of nature that sustains them. Paul is willing to acknowledge the truth wherever he can find it in order to bring people to faith. In the same way, we are called to meet our friends and neighbors and families where they are, bearing witness to God’s presence with them in the midst of their concerns, their struggles, their joys and sorrows, showing them where God has already been active in their lives.

Finally, we need to remember the first part of today’s reading, the seemingly unremarkable verses that set up the story of Paul and Barnabas in Lystra. In this short passage, we are reminded that Paul and Barnabas are not free agents acting on their own whims and by their own authority. The community of Christians at Antioch laid hands on them and blessed them for the ministry of the gospel, surrounded them with prayer, and sent them out to do the work that they believed God had called them to do. They went in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit given to them in baptism and affirmed by the community that sent them out in mission. In the same way, we who are joined to Christ in the waters of baptism are sent out each week with the blessing of God and the prayers of our congregation, filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit to carry out the ministries that God has given to each of us – ministries of friendship and companionship, fatherhood and motherhood and mentorship, teaching and learning, sharing and caring, supporting and praying, serving and loving, discovering and questioning, all of which help to make God known. Brothers and sisters in Christ, may you be encouraged by the knowledge that you are one of God’s witnesses this week, sent out to meet people where they are, and gifted with your own unique ministry by the Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God! Amen.

Peter and Paul, Apostles – Sunday, June 29, 2014

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Sunday’s Readings:

Acts 12:1-11
Psalm 87:1-3, 5-7 (3)
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18
John 21:15-19

+ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen. +

 Tradition tells us that it was on this day in the year 67 that two of the most important figures in the early church, the apostles Peter and Paul, were martyred in the city of Rome. Our building bears witness both to their significant ministries and to the manner of their deaths in stained glass images. Peter is represented here in the first window here on the east wall, with the combined symbols of crossed keys and the upside-down cross, said to be the instrument of his execution. Why an upside down cross? The story goes that Peter requested it himself, believing himself unworthy to die in the same manner as his Lord Jesus. Paul’s emblem is preserved in the window at the south end of the upper room, consisting of an open book with the words Spiritus Gladius, or “Sword of the Spirit” and a two-edged sword, the preferred method of executing Roman citizens like Paul. From very early on in the church’s history (at least as early as the year 258), the tradition regarding their deaths on the same day has led to their being remembered and celebrated together on June 29, but in another respect it is an odd thing that that they should share a day of celebration. After all, Peter and Paul found themselves opposed to one another fairly early in the church’s history. Acts recounts the story of the conflict as a disagreement about membership in the church, with Peter believing that Gentiles should be required to accept certain marks of Jewish identity to be considered Christian and Paul arguing that accepting the Gospel was the only condition for being welcomed into fellowship. The disagreement was bitter, and eventually led to a sort of stalemate: Peter would take charge of the mission to the Jewish people, while Paul would be responsible for the mission to the other nations of the world. Other parts of Scripture bear witness to the on-going feud, with Paul’s letters accusing Peter of hypocrisy regarding Gentile Christians and letters bearing Peter’s name panning the writings of Paul as too difficult to understand.

Clearly, despite their disagreement, these two figures were vitally important to the church’s growth during its earliest years. So what can we learn from these saints of God, whose lives bear witness to the power of the gospel?

First, we each need to be reminded that the central truth of their lives is also the central truth of our own: It is not our own power or ability that saves us, but the love of God in Christ that comes to us and establishes our relationship with God. Peter came from humble beginnings as a fisherman to be numbered among the foremost of the apostles, while Paul’s high status among the authorities in Jerusalem ultimately meant nothing when it came to his position before God.

Second, the lives of Peter and Paul remind us that the life of discipleship is costly. As much as we would like to think that following Jesus is the path to blissful, care-free living, Scripture teaches us otherwise. The apostles we remember today show us what it means to bear the cross, to pour ourselves out so that others might know the love and grace of God, to give without counting the cost. Though few – if any of us – will ever find ourselves in the position of facing death in service to the gospel, faithfulness may require us to take a stand before the powers-that-be, to speak a word of truth that might stir up division and conflict, to be willing to sacrifice our comfort or respectability for the sake of others. Because of the example of Peter and Paul, we know that this kind of discipleship is not only possible, but it is the kind of life that can change the world for good.

Third, the fact of their disagreement on an issue of vital importance to the early church demonstrates something about the church in the present: namely, that our unity is in Christ, and in our being joined to his crucified and risen life in the waters of baptism. The church in general (and our own ELCA in particular) is a body of unique individuals with widely varied understandings of significance parts of the life of faith, and yet our common identity as God’s people can transcend those disagreements, so that we see them as evidence of diversity to be celebrated rather than as obstacles to be overcome or eliminated.

Finally, we can draw strength from Scripture’s insistence that the one who calls us to share and serve is faithful, and that even our moments of greatest weakness are not enough to prevent God’s will from being done through us. Peter, of course, might best be remembered for his denial of Jesus on the night of his betrayal, an act of cowardice and self-preservation that could have derailed his ministry forever. Paul, on the other hand, witnesses with approval the execution of Stephen, the church’s first martyr, and was regarded as one of the foremost enemies of the church. God, however, would not allow either of them to be defined by their failures. Instead, each of them was changed by the grace of God and freed from their shame so that they could become powerful witnesses to the good news of Jesus. Today’s Gospel reading, for example, represents the undoing of Peter’s denial of Jesus: for each instance of betrayal on that fateful night, Peter is given an opportunity to profess his love for Jesus and a command to serve his brothers and sisters. In the same way, the second reading represents Paul’s testimony about his calling to preach the gospel and his confidence that God would strengthen him for the work of proclaiming the good news to the world. So it is with us. Each of us have been called to share the gospel in word and deed, and each of us struggles to overcome all the obstacles to that calling – like pride, fear, anxiety, shame, or doubt. Like Peter and Paul, we have also been united with Christ and assured of his presence with us, and so we can go out with good courage as they did, knowing that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Brothers and sisters, with the whole church we celebrate the example of our forerunners in the faith, the apostles Peter and Paul. May we be inspired by that example to bear the good news in everything we say and do, so that all the world might come to know God’s grace and life. For the lives of Peter and Paul and all the saints, and for divine love made flesh in Jesus Christ that frees us to love others in return: Thanks be to God! Amen.