Sermon Notes 10-05-08

October 5th 2008 “Spiritual Oxymoron?”
“Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.23After many days had gone by, the Jews conspired to kill him, 24but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall. 26When 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.”Acts 9:22-26

Oxymoron: Wacky Headlines
“Man Shot Twice in Head Gets Mad”
“Researchers Call Murder A Threat To Public Health”
“Trees Can Break Wind”
“Mervyn’s Two Day Sale – Friday Only”
“Governor wants more cash for kids”
“Quaker Oats to Cut Up 1,200 employees”
“Governor Chiles Offers Rare Opportunity to Goose Hunters”
“Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says”

Oxymoron—according to the dictionary: “A rhetorical figure in which contradictory terms are combined, as in a deafening silence and a mournful optimist.” Virtual Reality; Vegetarian Hamburger; United Nations; Timeless Moment; Terribly Good; Sweet and Sour; Sugarless Candy!
How about: “Sinless Sinner!” How can that be?

Points to Ponder:1st A Holy God can use Well-Known Sinners!

“God can use Sinners to propagate His Kingdom?” Seems like an “Oxymoron:” Charles (Chuck) Wendell Colson was the chief counsel for President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973 and while he was commonly named as one of the Watergate Seven, he was never charged with, or prosecuted, for any crime related to the Watergate break-in or its cover-up. After extensively investigating Colson's activities relating to Watergate, Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski attempted to make a deal with Colson in which Colson would agree to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge relating to Watergate, in exchange for which Jaworski agreed to recommend that he not be sentenced to prison. Colson felt doing so would be pleading guilty to a crime he did not commit. Instead, Colson counter-offered. Colson told Jaworski that he would agree to plead guilty to the crime of obstruction of justice, not in relation to Watergate, but in relation to the planning of the break-in at the office of Daniel Elsberg's psychiatrist. This was a crime of which Jaworski had no knowledge. At the sentencing, Judge Sirica sentenced Colson to the maximum prison term permitted under federal law. In its cover story earlier this year, Time, named Chuck Colson, one of "The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals In America." Under the headline, "Reborn and Rehabilitated," Time pointed out that Colson, had found religion and founded Prison Fellowship Ministries "a $50 million organization that operates in all 50 states and 110 countries." The magazine also noted that Colson's "campaign for humane prison conditions helped define compassionate conservatism and served as a model for the faith-based initiatives that Bush favors."

"HOLY GOD" and "WELL-KNOWN SINNER"-well, those two phrases just don't seem to go together do they?

Saul or Paul wasn't just your typical, every day sinner. He did horrible things before he became a Christian.
Saul who became Paul, said of himself that he was the "the worst of sinners." (1 Timothy 1:16).
Saul was an Arch-ENEMY of the early church.
Think of him as Superman's LEX LUTHOR or Spiderman's DOC OC all rolled into one-because originally his sole purpose in life was to destroy the church.
Remember what the members of the synagogue in Damascus said about him? Look back at Acts 9:21 “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”

Why was Saul like this? How did he end up the most well-known religious terrorist of his day?
Well, to answer this question we need to look back at Saul's upbringing. He grew up in Tarsus-a city that was located on the main trade route between the Orient and Rome.
Saul's father was a tent-maker and living in that city where caravans were constantly coming and going apparently brought him nearly unlimited business-and great wealth.
He used his vast wealth to give his son the best education possible while at the same time making sure Saul understood everything there was to know about his Jewish heritage.
John Pollock, author of The Apostle: A Life of Paul, describes Saul's early life like this: "...probably in the year that Augustus died, A.D. 14, the adolescent Paul was sent by sea to Palestine. During the next five or six years he sat at the feet of Gamaliel. [Under his tutelage] Paul became a skilled rabbi-part preacher and part lawyer...who prosecuted or defended those who broke the sacred Law. Paul outstripped his contemporaries at this. He had a powerful mind which could lead to a seat on the Sanhedrin...and make him a 'ruler of the Jews.'"

So in Saul's mind he was doing a good thing. He thought he was persecuting the church in the name of God. He knew the Scriptures but his flawed interpretation justified his actions.
Saul had head knowledge.
His parents had taken special care to insure He had RELIGION but he didn't have a RELATIONSHIP with God.
Parents, pay special attention here. You see, it is important that we teach our children the doctrines of Christianity—by example not by just sending them to a school to learn moral doctrines!
The most important thing we can do for our kids is introduce them to Jesus.

Illustration: MEL TROTTER who lived in the early part of the 20th century was an alcoholic who again and again promised his wife that he would give up drink for good. Once he managed to stay dry for eleven and half weeks but at the end drink overcame him. He sold their horse to pay for another round of drinks. He reached the point that he committed burglary to feed his awful habit. His wife and child suffered terribly for his sin, going without food-since he wasted his income on booze. When their son was about two years old Trotter came home from another drinking spree and found him dead in his mother's arms. He put his arms around his wife and apologized profusely. Later he swore on the baby's coffin that he'd never touch another drop. But two hours after the funeral he staggered home blind drunk. He had stolen his son's shoes off his little lifeless body, sold them, and used the money to get another drink. Eventually the guilt of all his sins led Trotter to decide to end his life and on January 19, 1897, he walked toward Lake Michigan, intending to drown himself in it's freezing waters. On the way he passed the door of the Pacific Garden Mission. He went inside and heard the testimony of another alcoholic-Harry Monroe-who told how Jesus had delivered him from this addiction. Trotter responded by asking Jesus into his heart and life. God forgave him and freed him from this bondage. Then God used him to found more than 60 other such rescue missions. Trotter eventually became supervisor of a chain of them stretching from Boston to San Francisco.

Points to Ponder:
1st A Holy God can use Well-Known Sinners!
2nd A Holy God will use Pain! A loving God, will use Pain to get our attention!

A. Our Lord blinded Saul-so that he could "SEE." Acts 9:3 3As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him,“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
He caused him to endure the discomfort and fear of being sightless, because as his Creator, He knew that this was the only way to make Paul understand.
And many times God uses the same tactic on you and me.
Many Christians think that MONEY will make the “Pain” go away, but sometimes God says: “You must become poor in order to know who I am!”

Illustration: This reminds me of the story of a shepherd who lived in Ireland. His granddaughter went to visit him. One day she walked into a barn and saw a young lamb with its leg in a splint. She asked her grandfather what had happened and he said, "That lamb had a bad habit of running off so one day, I broke his leg." When the old man said that, she began to cry. "Why on earth would you do that?" She asked. Her grandfather replied, "Well, the little guy had a bad habit of running off and every time he would do that, he would be in danger. He could fall off the edge of a cliff and kill himself, or a wolf or some other predator could find him, kill him, and eat him. Every time he ran off, I would have to go find him. Then, I would set him with the rest of the flock only to have him run off again. So I broke his leg. Then I set the bone and put a splint on it and as I was doing this, I talked to him comforted him, consoled him. Now, I have to carry water in to him every day. Not only that, I have to feed him by hand. As I do I continue to talk to him and comfort him. By the time his leg heals, he will know my voice. He will know that it is I who take care of him. He will come when I call him. He will stay with me, no matter what. I will be able to lead him, and the rest of the sheep will follow him. This lamb will one day be the best sheep in the flock...because I broke his leg. You see, in order to break its WILL, I had to break its LEG."Many times for God to be able to use us, He must first break us as he did Saul. He broke him and then He restored him. And in that process Saul met and got to know His Master and Redeemer. He followed Him faithfully for the rest of his life-and in so doing he has inspired countless others to do the same. Well, let me ask you. Are you going through a painful time? If so, could God be allowing this pain so that you will turn from dependency on self, to dependency on Him? Could He be teaching you to listen to and heed His still, small, voice? This leads to another bit of oxymoronic truth that we can see here...

Points to Ponder:
1st A Holy God can use Well-Known Sinners!
2nd A Holy God will use Pain! A loving God? Using Pain?
3rd A Holy God will Seek After the Runner! Jonah said: “We serve the God of the ‘Second’ chance!” Jonah was a runner!

A. God SEEKS us even when we run from Him.Acts 9:4-5 “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” Quote: "No matter HOW FAR you've run from God, it's always only ONE STEP back to Him."C. S. Lewis likened God's conquering Saul's rebel will to a divine chess player systematically, patiently maneuvering his opponent into a corner until he finally conceded, "Checkmate."Quote: “Most of us fall short of our potential because of little things we know or assume about ourselves. And the most self-defeating assumption of all is that we are just like everyone else.” (Bits & Pieces, September 17, 1992, Page 7-8)
B. God has always chosen the weak to accomplish his will. He has been doing it since the Egyptian bondage of the Hebrews.
C. Jeremiah went down to the potter's house and observed a potter working with a piece of marred clay.
Jeremiah 18:3-6 So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. (NIV)

Illustration: Herbert Jackson told how, as a new missionary, he was assigned a car that would not start without a push. After pondering his problem, he devised a plan. He went to the school near his home, got permission to take some children out of class, and had them push his car off. As he made his rounds, he would either park on a hill or leave the engine running. He used this ingenious procedure for two years. Ill health forced the Jackson family to leave, and a new missionary came to that station. When Jackson proudly began to explain his arrangement for getting the car started, the new man began looking under the hood. Before the explanation was complete, the new missionary interrupted, "Why, Dr. Jackson, I believe the only trouble is this loose cable." He gave the cable a twist, stepped into the car, pushed the switch, and to Jackson's astonishment, the engine roared to life. For two years needless trouble had become routine. The power was there all the time. Only a loose connection kept Jackson from putting that power to work.
Have you ever thought about what you could be if you would only plug into God's power?
Jonah never thought God could use him!
Have you ever thought: “Oxymoron—God Using Me?
The people of Nineveh were sure glad Jonah plugged into God’s power!

Illustration: One of Denmark's leading sculptors had a burning ambition to create the greatest statue of Jesus ever made. He began by shaping a clay model of a triumphant, regal figure. The head was thrown back and the arms were upraised in a gesture of great majesty. It was his conception of Christ the King: Strong, Dominant. "This will be my masterpiece," he said, on the day the model was completed. But, during the night a heavy fog rolled into the area and sea-spray seeped through a partially opened window of the artist's Oceanside studio. The moisture affected the shape of the model so that when the artist returned to the studio in the morning, he was shocked to find a wounded figure. The droplets of moisture that had formed on the statue created the illusion of bleeding. The head had drooped. The facial expression had been transformed from severity to compassion. And the arms had dropped into an attitude of welcome. The head had drooped so low that one had to get on their knees to view the face of Christ! The artist stared at the figure, agonizing over the time wasted and the need to begin all over again. But something came over him to change his mood. He began to see that this image of Christ was the truer one. Then he wrote at the base of the newly-shaped figure: "Come unto Me!"