Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. As an apostle, charged to preach the Gospel, I am here today to say to you ...
What?! You challenge me? You challenge my right to speak? Am I not an apostle?! Am I not, though born at the wrong time, nonetheless one whom God has chosen to proclaim His unsearchable riches? You will not set me aside! You will not forget what I have done among you! You will not! You must imitate me; you must hold fast to what I have taught! Do I not, as an apostle, have this right?
Oh, great Christ, how foolish I am to boast in this way! How foolish to claim anything at all for myself, for I am the chief of sinners. I am the very least of the saints whom Christ has brought into His church. I must correct myself – imitate me where I have imitated Christ. Hold fast to what I have taught where it has lifted up Christ and Him crucified.
So let me begin again: Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. I speak to you, beloved Montgomerians, just as once I wrote to the Romans, the Corinthians, the Philippians, and all the others. I write to you, and with my own hand, not through Tertius or other scribes, so that I may strengthen you and make sure that you know my heart. See with what large letters I write my own name – P A U L – Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, a preacher of the good news, a teacher of the Way, and a shepherd to the flock.
Know today that I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, and there is now ahead of me an open door. So I must lay open my heart to you, Montgomerians, my joy and my crown, my beloved.
Again, be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. I am the very least of all the saints. But to me was this grace given, that I might make you see the mystery of the plan of God, how through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety is made known.
You do know the story, do you not, of how I came to be in this place? Do you remember how I was moving in another direction, but how God, in His grace, arrested me, and turned me around? You do know how I was en route to Damascus, that great city of learning, that seat of skepticism; but the Lord interrupted me and gave me a new focus, to bring the knowledge of Christ to you. And surely you also know that for a time I was in the desert, struggling to understand my call. Did you know those things, did you see them? But it was for your sake, and I am fully satisfied. I have been paid in full. For to me to live is Christ and to die – that would be even more Christ. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
I, Paul, was born as one out of due time. Who would have imagined that at my age, and my not being of your tribe, I would even have been heard? But there are some themes we have heard together. Today I would underscore those things with you, so you may go from strength to strength.
See again, with what large letters I sign my own name, my Montgomerians, so that you will know that every word in it I stand behind! Let my very name carry my message.
P
I was once called Saul, but am now Paul. A word, by the way, which means “small” in the Latin tongue. Small, as in “the very least of all the saints”. That name begins with the letter “P”. Let “P” remind you of prayer, the power and the possibility in prayer.
First, you must have known that I have prayed for you. I have prayed with thanksgiving. Indeed, I thank my God every time I think of you. I thank my God because I am so much in your debt. I am debtor to the Greeks among you, whose knowledge has been a source of astonishment and a reservoir of strength. I thank my God for those who have stepped forward to use their knowledge for Kingdom purposes. Without you few good things would have happened. I am debtor to the Greeks.
But I am debtor also to the barbarians among you! Oh, do not be insulted at the word “barbarian”; hear me out. I am debtor to those of you who, though you thought you had nothing to offer, nonetheless brought what you did have. In your eagerness to give, like the Christians of Macedonia, you asked if there were not something more you could do, something else you could give, and so you did the thankless things behind the scenes, for which there was no glory. You cared only that the Kingdom advance. I am in your debt. I thank my God every time I think of you.
Further, then, as my name Paul begins with “P”, I admonish you to be a house of prayer. Pray without ceasing. Pray, confessing your sins, that you may be cleansed and empowered. Pray in season and out of season, when you feel like praying and when it is inconvenient to pray. Pray in the early morning, when the sun is rising; pray in the midday, when you break into your tasks to commune with God; pray in the evening, when the busy world summons you no more. Pray here in this place, but pray also in your homes. Gather in small groups to pray. Lift up the work of Christ constantly and intensely. Without this, you will do nothing. But with prayer, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.
If I leave nothing else with you, dear Montgomerians, I leave an admonition to pray. A
But there is more. My name is PAUL. P is for prayer. And A – we call it Alpha in the Greek language – A is the admonition to avoid shameful things. Avoid those things that will bring a bad name on you. Avoid those practices that will destroy your effectiveness. Avoid those sins which are popular in the world, but which should not be a part of your life. My little children, keep yourselves from the idolatry of self-indulgence. Avoid behavior that is not Christlike.
1
It is told, here and there, that in this very house of God there are those who have chosen to take and keep what is not theirs. Tasks that some agreed to do, they did not finish. Time that could have been invested in ministry and witness, some wasted on frivolous things. Tithes which ought to have come to the Lord were never given – I remind you, as I said to the church at Corinth, on the first day of the week, let each of you set aside for the Lord in accordance with the way the Lord has prospered you. Otherwise, you are robbing God. Avoid theft. Let him who stole steal no more.
2
Further, avoid immorality. Let each one, young or old, be chaste and modest. Look upon one another with purity of heart. I have seen that when we give ourselves over to license, our spirits suffer and the witness of the body of Christ is harmed. Do not think that you live to yourselves alone. You do not. You are a member of the body of Christ; let that body be pure. It is not that I condemn anyone; it is rather that I have seen how pride and lust can destroy. Avoid immorality.
3
Avoid also selfishness. Avoid that spirit that wants only to show off and to act holier than thou. Avoid public displays of piety that serve only to call attention to yourselves and not to Christ. When you pray, pray in the Spirit and not to be heard of others. When you testify, speak of the goodness of God and not of your own attainment. When you think you are something, take heed lest you fall, and above all, let me show you that more excellent way, that way of love, which thinks no evil, keeps no books, rejoices not in whether we catch one another in a fault, but rejoices in the truth. Oh, brothers and sisters, yes, be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God for Christ’s sake forgave you. And restore one another. But begin at the beginning. Avoid selfishness. Avoid unworthy behavior. Avoid the very appearance of evil.
U
Now, are you with me? Bear with me a little longer, for I have more to say. It will be painful. But if I cause you pain now, I remind myself that your failings are my failings. The letter “U”! P A U ... and L. U is for understanding. Understanding.
I charge you to understand the Gospel as it has been taught among you. I charge you not to follow fads and fancies or to be seduced by mere oratory. Test the spirits. Try all things. Try them by the word of God. Test them by the spirit of Christ. For in the church at large there are any number of voices, voices which may dazzle for a while but do not instruct. Voices which may tickle the fancy and excite the emotions but do not engage the mind. I charge you to hold fast to what you have been taught, for you must know that it has been tested against all kinds of human experience.
What you have heard about faith has been formed in the crucible of the suffering of those who have gone before you. What you have heard about hope has been shaped by the candor of those who have come through the waters of baptism to profess their faith. What you have heard about love has been born out of frank and free exchanges of the heart, as we have engaged the word of the Lord and have applied that word to the lives of real people. Understand, brothers and sisters, understand the gospel. It is good news for all who believe.
Use your minds. For I would not have you to be ignorant of those things which are precious to us. I would not want you to fall either into the world’s embrace, where some say they want to be instructed, but never settle on the truth; nor would I want you to fall into the superstition of those who think they are special in the sight of God because they use the word of God to oppress. Remember, study to show yourselves approved unto God, workmen who need not be ashamed, rightly interpreting the word of truth.
With all this, understand that you are free; it is for freedom itself that Christ has set you free. Do not be caught up in any yoke of bondage. The only boundary I would set on the freedom of your minds is that you not use your freedom for self-indulgence, but become effective servants of one another. Understand.
Yes, I beg you, understand my gospel, though it comes from the least of all the saints. And yet – my heart still leaps when I think of it – to me was this grace given, to make all peoples – of whatever race or background – to make all understand the unsearchable riches of the Kingdom. Hold fast to what you have been taught, and understand.
L
But above all, brothers and sisters, love one another. Love. P A U and finally L. Love. May the name by which you know me always bring love to your hearts. Do good to one another. Do good to all persons, but especially to those of the household of faith. Let love be forever the mark of this house.
How shall I say this? With what words shall I proclaim it? Shall I remind you that my words are but a noisy gong or a tinkling cymbal, if they have not been preached with love? Shall I teach you, once again, that love bears all things, believes all things, endures all things, that love never fails?
Or is there another strategy to teach you of love? Shall I remind you that we together are the body of Christ and members one of another, and therefore the foot shall not say to the eye, “I have no need of you”, nor shall the more beautiful parts scorn the less lovely parts? Will that teach you to love?
Or shall I call names? Shall I point out to you those who need to learn the lessons of love? Shall I call upon Euodia and Syntyche to learn to agree in the Lord? Shall I urge that Apollos and his kin not attempt to divide the people of God into competing loyalties? Or shall I just remind you of my own heart’s journey, where once I refused to let John Mark travel with me, for I thought he was unreliable, but eventually I asked that he be brought to me, for he had come to be of great service? I had learned that love means forgiveness.
Oh, how shall I urge you to love one another? With what eloquence may I persuade you of this? Ah, I know. I know how to teach you of love. I will show you that perhaps for a good person someone might choose to die, but God proved His love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Who can deny that He poured Himself out for us, and made Himself of no reputation, but took upon Himself the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
This is how you shall love one another! This is the love that knows no bounds. This is the love that goes to the heart of things. This is the love that saves the last, the least, the lost, and the lonely. This is the love that saved even me, the very least of all the saints. Hold fast to love; love one another.
Once again, in large letters, I, Paul, sign my own name, so that you may know that this is my testimony.
Now to Him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations. Amen.
