Sermon for Cason UMC, May 4 2025

Welcome to Cason United Methodist Church. Pastor David and Trish are taking a break today. My name is Mike Rynkiewich. We had an excellent series during Lent, voiced by some of our own people. Our thanks to Debbie, Connie, and Bill for that investment in ministry. 

If you were here during Lent, you know that the presentations began with a discussion of various kinds of ‘epitaphs’. I read the obituaries every day in my hometown newspaper. I notice things like: “He never met a stranger.” I assume that means that he didn’t like strangers and refused to talk to them.  

 I have always thought that they might put on my tombstone: “He never could hold a job.” In the ‘70s’, I was an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Then, in the ‘80s’, I moved back home to Indiana and worked for ten years as a Merchandiser at a grain elevator on the Ohio River. During the last five years of that decade, I also served as a part-time lay pastor. Then, in 1992, I quit my job, took on a second church, and commuted to Asbury Seminary in Kentucky. In 1997, I gathered up my wife Teresa and younger children and went as a missionary and anthropologist to Papua New Guinea, just north of Australia. We served there for 5 years. Finally, I finished out my career as a Professor of Anthropology in the E. Stanley Jones School of Mission and Evangelism at Asbury Seminary. Maybe I’ll fill in the details for you some day.

 It may look like I have been wandering through life but remember what Gandalf said: “Not all who wander are lost.”

 When I was at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota many of us were trying to work out what God’s will was for our lives. It was serious business because it seemed like a wrong turn here might take us down a path, and years later we would realize that we were not where we should be. That’s when I came across a tract, which I still have, by A. W. Tozer. It was titled, “Discerning God’s Will.” He made a point that I have not forgotten: God’s will may not be just one career for the rest of your life. The Holy Spirit may lead us here, in order to lead us there. That is, the Holy Spirit may want to get from A to point B in order to eventually get us to point C. Why? Could be we’re not ready. Could be we have something to learn at point B before the Holy Spirit can move us on to point C. That is discipleship by stages. When the Holy Spirit thinks that we are ready, then we will be sent to the next point.  

 We are disciples of Christ, but love takes time. No one is a ready-made disciple the moment that they accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord. Why do some of us think that we can walk down the aisle one day, and begin preaching the next day? Perhaps it is because we have taken the wrong lesson from Paul’s conversion story. He seemed to become an instant disciple. Is that true? Can you take a man like Saul, just add water, and suddenly have an effective preacher like Paul? Is that how it works? 

 Let’s take a closer look at Saul. Saul first shows up as a witness to the stoning of Stephen (Acts 8:1). You have heard the reading about Saul’s famous conversion on the road to Damascus where he was headed to hunt down Christians (Acts 9: 1-9). A flash of light, the voice of Jesus, and then blindness. A rather dramatic conversion story. Mine was not like that. Was yours? We are all different.

 In Damascus, Saul received healing through the ministry of a disciple named Ananias. Listen carefully to this passage that follows.

   “For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately (Did you hear that? ‘Immediately’.) he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah. After some time had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night so that they might kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. (Acts 9: 19b-25).

 Now, let’s evaluate Saul’s ministry, particularly his skills as a preacher. In fact, let’s do it this way. We just heard that the Bishop and cabinet of the Florida Conference has seen fit to appoint Pastor David for another year here at Cason. (He is watching online, so you can clap again.) I was very happy to hear that announcement last week because I think that David is a good preacher and pastor. 

 Now, let’s play the part of Saul’s bishop. Let’s see what Saul has been up to and whether we should reappoint him or not. Saul’s theme was that ‘Jesus is the Son of God’. So far, so good. 

 How well did he know his congregation? Hummm. The text says that he “confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus.” Well, I’m not sure that particular outcome is what we are trying to achieve here. Saul’s preaching confounds the people. Better check the Greek: synecheo ‘to mix things up’, ‘to cause disorder’. Yep, that’s right. That’s what he did. 

 What else does the text say? He confounded the Jews by proving that Jesus was the Messiah. Can you actually prove that to someone else? 

 Let me digress to tell a story. E. Stanley Jones is probably the most well-known Methodist missionary. He went to India around the turn of the 20th century and spent about 50 years there. He learned Indian languages, cultures, and history and adapted his missionary work accordingly. In 1938, Time magazine called him ‘the greatest Christian missionary’. But E. Stanley Jones was not always that way. In his early years, like Saul, he failed.

Jones himself tells this story. He studied law, then he went to Asbury College and graduated in 1907. (I taught at Asbury Seminary across the street.) Soon after he graduated, he was asked to preach at a small country Methodist church in Kentucky. He had prepared well, like a college-educated man might. He was well into his sermon when he tried to use a 20-dollar word where a 10-cent word would have done just as well. At this, a girl sitting in the front pew started to giggle at his use of the word. Jones was distracted and lost his place. He stepped back from the pulpit. 

After a pause, he stepped forward and said, “Folks, I see that I cannot preach.” Then he heard the voice of God in his head saying, “Haven’t I done anything for you lately.” He began again and this time he gave his testimony about how God was blessing him. Later he said, “I learned that day that I was not called to be God’s lawyer, but rather to be God’s witness.”

 E. Stanley Jones got better at preaching. Let’s see if Saul gets better.    

“When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples, and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He spoke and argued with the Hellenists (that is, Jews who spoke Greek) but they were attempting to kill him. When the brothers and sisters learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus” (Acts 9: 26-30).

 Back in Damascus, the disciples had to sneak Saul out of the city to keep him from getting himself killed. Now, in Jerusalem he has riled people up again. Is that the response that we preachers are trying to get from the congregation? Are you riled up? Something is wrong here. 

 Down through the ages, Christians have taken the easy way out to explain this. They have blamed the Jews for being hard-headed. They forget that nearly every Christian during the first century was a Jew. All the writers of the New Testament books, except for Luke, were Jews. We can’t dismiss Saul’s method by claiming that Jews are hard-headed. It is not just their fault. The problem is Saul who does not know how to be a winsome witness to the love of God in Jesus.

 Saul has spoken boldly, but not wisely. Instead of attracting people to Jesus by his testimony, he has driven people away by beating them over the heads with arguments. Saul has won the argument but he has lost the people. 

 Why can’t we see that? Because we think that Saul was converted and suddenly he became a stellar disciple. Was it that way with any of the other disciples? No. It was not. Peter had a lot to learn. Thomas had to overcome his doubt. Saul had to learn that his strong-arm methods would not work to preach the gospel. 

One last verse puts a cap on this story.      

"Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.” (Acts 9: 31).

(This verse very much belongs to the story of Saul. Sometimes the practice of setting off each verse as if it were a proverb to be read all by itself defeats the purpose of Scripture, particularly when stories are being told and we miss the rest of the story. When were chapter divisions added to the Bible? 1227 AD. When were verse numbers added to the Bible? 1555 AD. So, for about ⅔ of the history of the Bible, there were no chapter divisions and no verse divisions. No verse stands alone. Chapters often cut a story in half. Read Luke 20 and then 21 to see this in action.)

 The church had peace? Of course it did; they got rid of Saul! The church was built up? Of course it was; they got rid of Saul. The number of Christians Increased? Of course it did; they sent Saul back home to Tarsus. 

How long did it take for Saul to mellow out? By his own testimony, it took 14 years. “Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me” Galatians 2: 1. 

And when he came back, his name was changed. He was now Paul the Apostle, not Saul the over-zealous new convert. What was the difference? Let me tell you that the name ‘Paul’, in both Latin and Greek, means ‘small’ or ‘humble’. That change was certainly appropriate because he was now a seasoned disciple. (Name change in Acts 13: 9) 

 In Colossians, the mature, more humble Paul says this: “Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone (Colossians 4: 5-6). 

 What does this mean? “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt.” What difference does it make whether or not our food is properly seasoned with salt? Salt makes the food tasty and increases our appetite for more. The Psalms say, “O taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalms 34: 8).

Are you on a zig-zag journey of discipleship? That may be all right because the Holy Spirit often leads you here in order to get you there. Love takes time. Have you made a wrong turn? That too can be overcome with repentance and renewal of your commitment to Christ. Love takes time. Does God have you in a position now to do ministry? Most likely God does. Whatever your past, give it to the Lord to do something with. Whatever you have done, learn from it. Read Scripture seriously. Listen to the Holy Spirit to become a wise and gracious witness, maybe even a winsome witness to the love and mercy of God that has come our way in Jesus Christ.