April 15, 2010

When I was a kid, I had a really cheap toy remote control car. I mean the really-really cheap kind. The kind that had a 3 foot cord connecting the controler with the car, which actually made it a non-remote control car... This particular car was so cheap that there were only 2 directions it could go - you could race the car straight forward or straight backward. So it is with us in the human race. Each one of us is either going forward toward Heaven, or we are going backwards towards hell. On my controller there was an up arrow and a down arrow. Every single person roaming around on this earth right now has an invisible arrow that can only be seen by God, they either have an up arrow on their heart indicating that they are heading forward to Heaven; or they have an invisible down arrow on their heart indicating that they are, sadly, headed down to hell. There's no sideways arrow - you're either a believer or an unbeliever.

When our First Lesson for this upcoming Sunday picks up, we find Saul's invisible arrow probably pointing down. "Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples." (Acts 9:1) Saul was headed for Damascus going one direction, when, "...suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him." (Acts 9:3b) Saul still headed in the same direction on the map towards Damascus, but he was going in a different direction. His direction towards eternity was drastically changed - Saul did a 180° turn around.

Actually, Saul didn't do a 180° - a 180° was done to him. If you were in charge of nominating someone from your congregation to do some mission work on the streets of West Allis - maybe a door-to-door mission project - I am guessing that someone who was an accomplice to murder probably wouldn't make your list. If Saul didn't cast the first stone, or if Saul didn't actually throw any of the stones that hit Stephen in the head - killing Stephen, (this account is recorded a few chapters earlier in Acts) then for sure Saul was there helping out, giving his approval. Under Roman Law, Saul was an accomplice to murder. And this is the guy whom God chooses to become the greatest missionary of his time - probably the greatest missionary ever - a converted criminal! It's true what Isaiah tells us - that God's thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways His ways. (Isaiah 55:8) Later in his letter to the Ephesians, Saul, later called Paul, clues us in as to possibly why God chose him. (This was my Confirmation passage.) "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) The change of direction that Jesus gave to Saul on the road to Damascus didn't happen because of anything Saul did or didnt do- it was simply a gift - it was evidence of amazing grace. It was nothing Saul could boast about.

Saul's direction was changed when his head was hit with a flash of light that was brighter than the sun; as the Son of God appeared to him and changed his heart and changed the direction of the invisible arrow over his heart 180°. For many of us our 180° turn around may have come when our heads were hit with the cleansing Word and water of baptism, when we were baptized as babies. Sometimes it's hard for us to imagine that a cute cuddly baby who hasn't been changed by the Word, could actually be like Saul - that a cute cuddly baby could be an enemy of Jesus. In First Samuel we learn that, "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (I Samuel 16:7) We see only a cute cuddly baby, but the Lord sees in a baby - who hasn't been changed by the Word - a heart that is sick with sin, a heart with an invisible down arrow over it. We inherit a lot of good things from our parents, but faith is not one of them. We also inherit some bad things from our parents including a sinful nature. The Psalmist tells us, " Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." (Psalm 51:5) Before we were changed by the Word, our hearts were just as nasty as Saul's 'pre road to Damascus heart.'

Our Lesson for this upcoming Sunday ends in verse 19 of Acts 9. In verse 20 - the very next verse we read, "At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God." (Acts 9:20) Saul's immediate response to the gift of faith that he was given, was to share the Good News with others. Our hearts with the invisible up arrows should also feel compelled to share the Good News. In a way you could say that Saul was a converted criminal. Do you know that we have a para-synodical WELS organization called Wisconsin Lutheran Institutional Ministries (WLIM), that is ministering and working towards bringng the good news to the criminal and to others who are institutionalized? These unbelievers who are institutionalized are going in the same direction that Paul was going before he got on that road to Damascus, they're going in the same direction that we were going before we were changed by the Word. Read the rest of Acts and the many different letters that Paul penned to learn potentially what, by the Grace of God, a converted criminal can do in God's Kingdom. If we are unable to support institutional ministries with financial gifts, then we can certainly afford to support them with prayers. Wouldn't it be awesome if we could someday join the angels in heaven in rejoicing over the fact that the invisible arrow over the heart of one of these institutionalized people did a 180° and was now pointing up towards heaven?

Dear God,

Help remind us that before we were changed by the Word, we were by nature infected with the sickness of sin, and we too were your enemies. Thank you so very much for turning us around 180° - for giving us the gift of Jesus - the gift of good news - the gift of hope. We want to share that hope with those who still have an invisible down arrow over their heart. We pray tonight that you would bless the work of 'Institutional Ministries,' as they share the Good News with people who are just like Saul before he hit the road to Damascus and was hit with Jesus, people who are just like us before we were changed by the Word.


In Your Son's name we pray,

Amen.