looks like dreaming, but it feels like dead

i guess do whatever moves you

Only God could have done something like that. 

And Paul isn’t talking about miracles. Although what he’s talking about is a miracle; in a way…

No, Paul is talking about The Gospel.

Only God could have decided to call the ungodly. That’s what “the Gospel” is, God’s decision to be God for those who have turned from God.

After all, who would ever decide to overcome godlessness, by being a God for exactly those who have turned from God?

Only God could have done something like that.

Something like that, could only be a revelation from God…

…Only God could have done something like that.

And Paul isn’t talking about miracles. Although what he’s talking about is a miracle…

No, Paul is talking about his own call. 

Only God could have done something like call someone like him, to be an apostle.

After all, who would ever thinking of calling a persecutor of the church, to be its advocate?

Only God could have done something like that.

Something like that, could only be a revelation from God…

…Now; lest you think we’re only talking about Paul here. Lest you think you can lean back and listen to some tale about a zealot from the middle-east who lived nearly 2,000 years ago; think again.

Paul wasn’t talking about Paul.

And neither are we.

This letter to the Galatians, is about the kind of God who would call someone like Paul to be an apostle. The kind of God who would call the ungodly. This letter to the Galatians is about a God we would never dream up. 

This letter to the Galatians turns on The Gospel. And whenever you talk about the Gospel, you’re talking about that strange God. That God we would never expect. That God we can’t predict or control. 

Paul’s letter to the Galatians is a letter about what it means to be called by this same God who raises Jesus from the dead.

So, don’t be fooled, this little autobiographical section isn’t Paul going over his qualifications. Rather, Paul is holding up his call and admitting that he didn’t come up with it. He’s marveling at how well it fits with the very message he’s been called to proclaim.

No, Paul isn’t talking about himself. He’s talking about this God who calls the ungodly. Paul is telling his audience, and that’s you, to look out.

Sorry to say, but you don’t get off the hook today.

I know you came here expecting anything but to be called by God. God, however, has other plans for you today.

Because if the Gospel is true, and it is, then what happened to Paul is what’s happened to you…

Yes, you heard me right. You.

I know, you were going over your grocery list just now. God has other plans. In the midst of your godlessness, God got to you…

…Only God could do something like this.

And I’m not talking about miracles. Although what I am talking about is a miracle; in a way…

What I’m talking about is you; you’re presence here, in this place, today.

Only God could have gotten your lazy bones in here today.

After all, who among us would ever think to call the likes of you —and yes, me too— into the City of God?

Only God could have done something like this.

Something like this, could only be a revelation from God…

…Only God could do something like this.

And I’m not talking about miracles. Although what I am talking about, is a miracle…

No, I’m talking about our assembly this morning.

Only God could have decided to call us to be witnesses.

After all, who would ever think that God would call the likes of us to show the world what it means to be a people gathered by the kind of God who has overcame our godlessness?

Only God could have done something like this.

Something like this, could only be a revelation from God…

Oh sure, I know, you came here to sit back and do nothing more than listen; if even that, this morning. I know you’re not expecting to be called out. 

Too bad.

The trouble is, that’s what it means to be the church, the ecclessia, the assembly of God’s people. That word, ecclesia, comes from the Greek word -not for a pious meeting of dull people- but for a gathering of people ‘called out’ for a particular task. 

Assembly means, “called out.”

The first Christians understood that to gather and worship the risen Lord, Jesus Christ, meant to be called out by The Gospel. They, like Paul, knew they couldn’t have come up with the Gospel on their own. They must have been elected to receive it. 

Each worship service was a gathering of people called out by the Gospel.

And today, whether you like it or not, is another such gathering. 

You didn’t think this up. You didn’t come up with the idea to come here this morning. 

…As if I need to tell you.

This is why the Gospel is still a strange message, even after all these years. All those other messages out there, they try and sell you idea that you’re the one in control. That you get to be the one to chose who you want to be, what you’ll wear, drive, listen to, watch, and so on. 

This Gospel, it turns out, is still a message we would never dream up. 

The Gospel is the message that we didn’t chose God. Rather, God chose us. 

And from now on, our lives are determined by that decision of God. From now on, our lives our out of our own control. 

It’s as frightening as it is humbling to hear that we’re called, that this assembly today, and our lives for that matter, are not of our own devising; I know. 

The trouble is, that’s just the way it is for those of us who, like Paul, were called by this God who chose us, this God we couldn’t have thought up on our own…

That’s what it means to be here, to be called to the Lord’s Meal, to be baptized; to receive the revelation of Jesus. 

Our lives, individually, and as a community, are not self-determined. Rather they are determined by something God has done.

You, you are called. We, we are called. 

God has not left us to our own devices, our own godlessness. Before you could ever choose for or against this God, God chose you. 

God has not left a single one of us to our own godlessness, God has decided to be our God.

Your life is not your own anymore, it is hidden in the one God has reveled, the one God raised from the dead. 

Your life, like Paul’s, is shaped by the Gospel. Your life isn’t something you could have come up with on your own. Your life is a called one. A life called by the God who raises Jesus from the dead. 

Only God could have done this.