Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2003 : July 20, 2003
The Kind of Church God Wants Us to Be: A Church Living As God's Chosen Instruments
Pentecost 6
The other day I was rummaging around in the kitchen junk drawer for one of modern man's greatest inventions -- a piece of Velcro. But as I did so, I discovered some very strange things. One was an egg separator; one was a garlic press; one was an onion holder. I wouldn't have known at all what they were or what they were used for if my wife hadn't been there to instruct me, ignorant as I was. Most of them were given to her at her wedding shower seven years ago. As she opened each gift, she had to try to figure out what they were. Now, I have to admit -- my idea of 'cooking' is throwing a frozen pizza in the oven -- it even has all the parts of the food pyramid. To me, these strange devices are useless. I can safely say that I will never use them. But for someone who wants to use them, they can be the exact thing they need.
This morning we are going to look at a different kind of tool -- an instrument that God thinks is useful. So useful that he uses it to bring his salvation to the world. We are those tools, those chosen, saving instruments. As we look at the account of Saul's conversion, we see that God wants us to be a Church that Lives as His Chosen Instruments. We were once dead in sin and useless, good-for-nothing. But now we live because God chose us. Now we live to tell others about him and we live to send others to tell about him.
We find ourselves in Acts chapter 9 where we see that while the Christians were doing everything they could to spread the word of salvation, there were others who were doing everything they could to stop Christianity dead in its tracks. And that opposition was led by a young Pharisee named Saul.
The word 'Pharisee' means 'separate one.' The Pharisees were a sect among the Jews that did just that -- separated themselves from the rest of the Jews by showing how good they were, always following the law of Moses to the letter. But this man named Saul was a standout even among the Pharisees. He described himself in Philippians chapter 3: "...circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of 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." This was a Pharisee! His whole being focused around trying to earn heaven by good works. The whole idea that the Christians were spreading, that sinners are saved by grace through faith in a person called Jesus was ridiculous, even repulsive, to him. It went against everything he stood for, everything he believed. So we are not surprised when we first hear of this proud and boastful Pharisee named Saul at the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian to die for his faith in Jesus. Saul thought that by killing Stephen and the other Christians, he was actually doing what God wanted him to do. When Stephen was stoned to death, a great persecution broke out against the Christians in Jerusalem, with Saul as the leader of it. Most of the Christians had to flee for their lives. One place they fled to was Damascus, which was the next major city in the Roman Empire 150 miles northeast of Jerusalem.
But even as Saul had this great plan in persecuting the followers of Jesus, Jesus himself had a much different plan for Saul as one of God's chosen instruments. We hear that "as he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' " We may have expected this voice from heaven to tell Saul, "Why are you persecuting the Christians?" But instead it said, "Why do you persecute me?" In doing so, God himself was saying that he was on the side of the Christians and that when you persecute them, you are persecuting God himself. But Saul still wasn't sure who this was so he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And the response: "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting."
This would have hit Saul like a thunderbolt. His whole life was dedicated to God and trying to earn God's favor by his works. Now he suddenly discovers that the very thing he believed in with his whole heart was wrong, and that he himself was actually fighting against Jesus, who was God himself. What anguish of soul Saul must have felt at that moment! All of the terrible sins he had committed were right in front of his face. Later he would call himself the chief of sinners because of his role in persecuting the church.
But in that word, "I am Jesus", Saul also saw the only true way to salvation. In this way, God was making Saul of Tarsus, the great persecutor of the early church, into the Apostle Paul, one of its greatest missionaries. So he became one of God's chosen instruments -- an instrument once useless and even damaging, but now made useful by Christ in spreading the very word of Christ he had once sought to destroy.
The same is true with us. We were once only self-serving sinners. And even now we still show our self-serving sinfulness. Instead of standing up boldly for the faith we know to be true, how often don't we sit back on our Christianity and fail to proclaim it to others. Many early Christians gave up their lives for their faith because it was all they had, and many do even today, yet we often find ourselves putting our own interests like our finances and our prestige among our friends in front of our faith by not telling others about what we know when we have the chance. Jesus tells us to let our light shine as Christians. Just this past week, how many people would have been able to see at a glance that you are a Christian? How many people would have picked up on it instantly in just a short conversation with you that you are a Christian? Or, how many times by your words and actions did you deny your Savior? But it's more than just how we live our lives that often shows how we are persecuting Jesus. It's often by what we fail to do. Just to show you what I mean, I want to have a few moments of silence -- 10 seconds.
Did that make you feel uncomfortable? It made me feel uncomfortable, and I knew it was coming! But this will make you even more uncomfortable -- in those ten seconds, ten more people died and went to hell because they didn't believe in Jesus as their Savior. Some of them might be people you know. A friend, maybe even a family member, an acquaintance at work. And we missed our chance at telling them about Jesus. In doing so, we've persecuted Jesus.
Scrooge in A Christmas Carol got a second chance at making a difference with his life. Instead of being selfish and greedy and self-absorbed, he realized that there's much more to life -- life is about giving. Jesus showed us that in the most amazing way.
The same Jesus who accuses us of sinning against him directly is the same Jesus who came to this earth to live perfectly the life that he demands of you. That same Jesus then gave up his life for you on the cross so that you could go free of sin. Those sins no longer condemn us because Jesus' perfect life is all that God sees in us because Jesus has taken all our sins on himself and suffered damnation on the cross for them so that you and I never would suffer for a single one of our sins. Our faith in Jesus as our Savior tells us that we will live forever with the one who saved us from our sins. We live because God chose us to live! And now that we are alive through faith in Jesus, we are now God's chosen instruments for bringing others to faith as well.
We are God's chosen instruments. Let that sink in for a bit. We were once useless and should have been thrown away -- like a garlic press or an onion holder. Who really needs those things! But we were worse than useless to God. We were God's enemies! But in spite of who we were, and in spite of the sin that is still in us and rears its ugly head every day, Christ has chosen us and made us his useful, saving instruments.
Look at the life of the Apostle Paul. The Holy Spirit worked faith in this once-proud Pharisee. He changed Saul -- turned his life upside-down. We hear what God made Saul into in our text: "This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel." Paul would now willingly suffer and eventually die for the name of Jesus because that name was all he lived for now as a believer.
God used Paul as his chosen instrument to save sinners -- Jews and Gentiles. God uses you as his chosen instrument as well. We have been taken from those who "are without God and without hope in the world," to those who through faith have "the blessed hope of eternal life." We are alive in Christ. We spend ourselves for Jesus. We are surrounded by people who don't know Jesus -- our friends and neighbors. We need to tell them about Jesus. He is their only chance to live forever. Yes, we're all busy. We have our own lives to live. But a part of that life is constantly being on the lookout for opportunities to tell others. We have a purpose. Don't sit around being useless, like some garlic press sitting in your junk drawer. Jesus made you into something much more. He gave you purpose. He gave your life meaning. He pulled you out of the drawer. Now live up to your calling and tell everyone you can about Jesus.
I can remember a time in my life when I was very useless. I was at a cabin in Minnesota with a number of friends. We were on a pontoon boat throwing a frisbie to one of our friends who was swimming in the lake. But our friend wasn't a very strong swimmer. After he had chased down a number of bad frisbie throws, he was exhausted. But he was still in the middle of the lake. He tried to call to us for help, but he was too tired. Finally, he managed to give one cry for help as he was floundering in the water, about to go under. We all thought he was kidding -- at first. But it became apparent quickly that he wasn't kidding. He was about to drown if one of us on the boat didn't jump in and save him. To this day I regret what I did -- nothing. I was in shock. I didn't realize his danger until it was almost too late. Thankfully, one of my friends snapped out of his paralysis to jump in and save our friend, who was very tired but very, very thankful.
Does that describe our witnessing? We have what we need to witness -- we have Christ. We know there are people who are drowning, dying everyday in their sins because they don't have Jesus, drowning in this sinful life's problems. Will we remain paralyzed by our own fear or own list of other things we could be doing? Or will we jump in and get wet and save someone? Sometimes it's not so easy. It might be unpleasant or uncomfortable, like jumping into a cold, wet lake. But we're not going to find people who are drowning if we only hang out with people who are already in the boat. We have what we need. We have Christ. We are God's chosen instrument. We can and we must reach out in our individual lives to save those for whom Christ has died.
And there are many people who need to hear the message that we can't reach. They might be half a world away, and we will never meet them to share what we know. But that is why we also live to send others in our place. We send out missionaries to places we can't go. Everytime you place money in the offering plate, some of it goes to sending out missionaries to Russia or Zambia or Japan. We sometimes feel that we can't give any more to send others in our place. Every time you feel that way, take a look at how God has blessed you in this country. You can do that by opening up your kitchen junk drawer. Look at all the stuff you have that you will never use -- like a garlic press or onion holder! Then think of how you can use your blessings to do something that really counts -- saving someone for eternity so they can be just as rich as you are in Christ.
These instruments that I have in my own kitchen are pretty useless to me most of the time, and honestly I don't think I will ever use them at all during my whole lifetime, unless I can't find a hammer and I need to pound in a nail. But rest assured, God has chosen you to be his chosen instrument. You know first-hand what God's grace in your life means. Now what will you do with your next opportunity to tell others about God's grace in Christ or with your next opportunity to send someone to proclaim that message around the world? May the Lord lead you to be the kind of Church he wants you to be -- one who lives everyday as one of God's chosen instruments. Amen.
