Things You Didn't Learn In Sunday School About ... Paul

 

                                                                 A Weekly Word

                                                                       August 30, 2023

          This Sunday, September 3, is the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost.

          Verse of the Trinity Season:

            Psalm 26:3

          This week’s sermon is: B.C. Heroes: Samuel

          This week's readings are :

            Jer. 15:15-21

            Psalm 26

            Rom. 12:9-12

            Matt. 16:21-28

 

Things You Didn’t Learn In Sunday School About … Paul

Perhaps this is a misnamed episode!

When I was in Sunday School, we learned a lot about Paul.

Saul of Tarsus

              Pharisee

              Devoted to God’s Word and Faith

              Zealous

              A persecutor of the church – which haunts him for the rest of his life.

                        Considered himself the least of the Apostles 

He has an incredible conversion story. (Acts 9, 22, 26)

              Confronted

              Blinded

              Healed

              Immediately proclaims Christ

The former persecutor faced persecution

              Assassination attempts – Damascus and Jerusalem

              Arrested – Philippi, Jerusalem

              Beaten – Philippi,

              Stoned – Lystra

              Escaped from a Riot – Ephesus

Traveled extensively – Turkey, Greece, Italy – perhaps even to Spain

Wrote to the Churches

              13 Letters (Maybe 14 if he wrote Hebrews)

He was the “Apostle to the Gentiles.”

              Hugely important for bringing the Gospel to non-Jewish people

              A lot to say to the ethnic divisions we experience today

                        Racism – normal for sinful people

                        Reconciliation in Christ – we are more than our sinful impulses

He was the only Apostle to not see Jesus during His earthly ministry.

              This led others to view Paul as the least of the apostles – and some still do!

              He was spoken against then – and still is.

                        “That’s Paul …” – women’s ordination, human sexuality.

              He was received by the other Apostles, though.

              Peter regards Paul’s letters as Scripture

                        2 Peter 3:15-16 - Also, regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our dear                                 brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him. ¹⁶ He speaks                                 about these things in all his letters. There are some things hard to understand in them.                             The untaught and unstable will twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with                          the rest of the Scriptures.

A great take-away from Paul’s life – Never underestimate God’s power to transform a person and use them for the sake of the Gospel. (Even you!)