but free of you, i'll never be, no

each night as i sleep, into my heart you creep

A sermon on Saul's so-called conversion

Saul didn’t get more religion on that dusty road to Damascus. And he didn’t get new religion, either. No, Saul already had plenty of religion. He had it in spades. And that was the problem.

…I hadn’t been a pastor long when I got one of those calls. The kind that comes out of the blue. The kind that isn’t made by a parishioner. The kind that comes from someone so far at the end of their rope, they’re willing to talk to someone they don’t even know about their personal life. 

These kinds of calls are not unheard of. They come in occasionally. Although, not as frequently as one might hope. 

Unsure exactly what I was getting myself into, I made arrangements to meet with the individual later that week. He didn’t want to meet that day. And he didn’t want to meet in the church, either.

When we finally met up, it didn’t take long for him to launch into the litany. He had blown up a relationship. As people sometimes do. But instead of forgiving him, his partner walked out on him. And now he was staring down the daunting task of trying to fit the broken pieces of his life back together. 

Add to the mix that the man had recently been laid off. Which I suspect had something to do with his poor relationship decisions. And this man’s life was a cocktail none of us would order off the menu of life.

He called me, he said, because in his searching around the internet, he had come across a Lutheran podcast. He told me about listening to a story one pastor told about going to the hospital for alcohol poisoning. Sitting there, in that hospital bed, all that pastor could think about was the many ways he had failed.

As that pastor raked himself over the coals, one of his friends drove through the night to be there with him. And when this friend of his arrived at his bedside, he didn’t ask that pastor why he did it. And he didn’t ask that pastor how was going to clean up his act, either. No, this friend just told that pastor, whose job it is to declare the forgiveness of sin to others, that all his sins had been forgiven, too.

The fellow called me out of the blue, he said, because he wanted some of that kind of forgiveness. The kind he heard a Lutheran talk about. 

Well, I hadn’t been a pastor long, but I had been one long enough to know how to do the job. So I declared the entire forgiveness of all that man’s sins. 

I have to confess, though, I was still new at it. Back then, I harbored the delusion that we have it in ourselves to shape up our act. So I followed the forgiveness up with the “what else.” All the other things this man could do to get his life back on track.

Unfortunately for that poor soul, he was a newcomer to grace, too. He took the bad medicine after the good without reservation. In fact, he was already piling on himself before I even showed up! He had a whole list of ways he was going to reform his life.

One of the things we both agreed would be good was getting some religion. And when I learned he hadn’t been baptized, I suggested he come to church that Sunday and get baptized. The man told me he would like to, really he would. But not yet. He wanted to get his life a little further down the road of improvement before being baptized. He wanted to shine up his life a little more before he took the plunge.

…As I left, I suspected something had gone awry. And when I never saw that man again, I was sure of it. I now know I should have baptized him there, on the spot. And I shouldn’t have given him more religion after delivering the goods of Christ’s forgiveness, either. 

But it would take years before I would finally learn grace isn’t just some supplement to the Christian life. That grace is the only hope any of us have. And that grace is the only thing the church has to offer, too!

That wisdom wouldn’t come until many other meetings with folks who had self-detonated their lives. And after many failed attempts to steer the ship of my life clear of sin and shortcomings, too. 

The man I met all those years ago, he didn’t need more religion. He was already drowning in it! All the religion in the world hadn’t kept his life from going to pieces that day I met him. No, that man needed something else. Something more. He needed what we all need, he needed grace.

…Saul didn’t get more religion on that dusty road to Damascus. And he didn’t get new religion, either. No, Saul already had plenty of religion. He had it in spades. And that was the problem.

Today’s Scripture is the account of that dramatic conversion of the church’s chief enemy into its number one advocate and architect. 

It will be Saint Paul who will organize a that loosely affiliated ragtag band of Christians into a coherent organization. A movement that will span the ages, and the globe, too. It will be Saint Paul who will boldly push the church into new frontiers. Proclaiming the Gospel to people who are not Jews by birth. It will be Saint Paul who will lay out the theological vision of this fledgling movement. A vision stunning enough to shock the church back into life whenever it goes stale.

It’s fair to say that if it wasn’t for Saint Paul, Christianity itself would be significantly less substantial. And, in all likelihood, would have burned out long ago, too. It certainly wouldn’t include us. But, before Paul could begin any of that work, all his religious ambitions would have to come to an end.

Saul’s religious exploits are infamous. When the first Christian was martyred, he was there. When the formal campaign of Christian persecution began, he was there. And when that didn’t go far enough, he asked for letters of extradition. He wanted the authority to hunt down any who belonged to The Way, men or women, so he could bring them back to Jerusalem, bound in chains.

As we know, though, it was en route on this campaign of terror that Paul’s religious project came careening to an unceremonious halt. And the Lord didn’t give Paul more religion on that dusty road to Damascus. And the Lord didn’t give him a new religion, either. No, Paul already had plenty of religion. He had it in spades. And that was the problem. 

So God brought it all to an end. God took away Saul’s initiative. In fact, God went a step further. God made Saul helpless. Saul had to be led around. And he could neither eat nor drink. But when Saul couldn’t do anything for himself, he was finally ready for God to do everything through him! 

Saul became what he always wanted to be, an instrument for the Lord! But that didn’t happen until he could no longer do anything for the Lord, or himself for that matter. Once Paul was totally powerless, though, God finally had everything needed to work through him most powerfully!

And you, too.

…You and I, we’re not here because we want more religion. Are we? We’re already drowning in it. Everywhere we turn, someone’s peddling more religion. And like that man I met all those years ago, all we have to show for it all are lives on the edge and a world teetering at the brink. 

And the solution to this crisis isn’t more or better religion. It’s the end of it all! It’s what Christ won by his cross, the forgiveness of sins! The forgiveness of sins freely given! The forgiveness of sins, given without consideration of merit or strings attached to its conferral!

And in that reckless grace, the chips can finally land where they may. And you will receive what all that religious aspirations are after, too; peace with God! Proximity to God! And community formed, not around rigid rules, but grace. Grace strong enough to engender relationships capable of stretching and growing.

And that’s not all, either! Because it’s when all our religious pursuits come to an end that the great adventure of faith can finally begin! When you no longer have to worry if your life is religious enough, you will finally start to experience the work of God in every aspect of it! Faith is not a status to achieve. It’s a gift to receive. A Gift that changes everything!

By faith, your life will blossom with the stirrings of Christ’s holy Spirit! Your eyes, ears, and heart will be opened to all the ways that old prayer, “Thy kingdom come,” is being answered right under your nose! Your career will no longer be an impediment to faith. It will be one more place it’s worked out! Your relationships will not be distractions from God! No, they will be one more way God shows up!

…You don’t need any more religion on this dusty road of life. Do you? And you don’t need some new religion, either. No, you already have plenty of religion. You have it in spades. And that's the problem.

Good thing Christ hasn’t come to give you more religion. No, he’s come to give you something better, Himself! His life! His life lived, not as an endless series of chores, but his life lived in light of the love of God! The Love of God that knows no end! 

And all that gets started when everything else comes to an end! 

This means, by the way, your life, imperfections and all, is already perfectly ready for Christ! All those dead ends, and Lord knows we have plenty of ‘em, are ideal places for Christ’s work to begin all over again!