Paul, servant of the Gospel, to all the saints in Gaithersburg: grace to you and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Christ Jesus. And I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened among us has turned out to spread the gospel. For God is my witness, that I …
What?! You challenge me? You challenge my right to speak? Simply because I have been imprisoned? You say I have respect neither for the law of Caesar nor for the traditions of the elders? Brothers and sisters, am I not an apostle?! Am I not one whom God has chosen to proclaim His unsearchable riches? Do not forget what I have done among you! For if I have taught you amiss, God will be my judge. No, I have taught you of Christ. I long for you all with the compassion of Christ Jesus. Dare I say it? Hold fast to what I have taught you!
Oh, my soul, how foolish I am to boast in this way! How foolish to claim anything for myself, for I am the chief of sinners. I am the very least of all the saints. I must correct myself: hold fast to what I have taught if I have lifted up Christ and Him crucified, for in Him, by Him, and through Him is all truth.
So I speak to you, beloved Gaithersburg, just as once I wrote Philippi and all the others. I write to you, and with my own hand, not through any scribe, so that I may strengthen you and make sure that you know my heart. You know me as Paul, a preacher of the good news, a teacher of the Way, and a shepherd to the flock. But yes, you are right; I am a prisoner – a prisoner for Christ. A prisoner IN Christ.
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, Gaithersburg, my joy and my crown, for 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, turned me around? My family had seen to it that I learn the ways of the fathers; they gave me many privileges. We were a prominent family in the city of Tarsus, even acquiring Roman citizenship. My family’s efforts were not in vain, for I turned out to be a Pharisee among Pharisees, the scion of the tribe of Benjamin, in all things most zealous. I turned out well, as my culture would see it.
But the Lord Jesus turned me around. I was en route to Damascus, that great city of learning, to root out the followers of the Way; but the Lord turned me around and gave me a new focus, to bring the knowledge of Christ to you. It was life-changing. I did not understand it for a while. For a time I was in the desert, struggling to understand my call.
Did you know those things, did you see them? 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 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.
You see, I 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 have been heard at all? But we have learned together. Today I would underscore some of my most important themes, so that you may go from strength to strength.
See with what large letters I sign my name, my beloved, so that you will know that every word in it I stand behind! Let my very name carry my message.
P
My Hebrew name was Saul, but when I turned around to follow Christ, I used my Roman name, Paul. A word, by the way, which means “small” in the Latin tongue. Small, for I am “the very least of all the saints”. My new name begins with the letter “P”. Pi in Greek. I want the letter “P” to 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 have known your love, love like the love the Father has shown us, for you have forgiven my mistakes and have looked beyond my faults. I am debtor to all of you.
I am debtor to the Greeks, the wise and the well-educated among you, whose knowledge has been a source of astonishment and a reservoir of strength. I thank God for those who use their knowledge for the Kingdom. Without you no good thing 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. You thought you had nothing to give, but you gave it freely. I am in your debt.
Therefore, now, I Paul admonish you to be a people of prayer. Pray without ceasing. Pray, confessing your sins, that you may be cleansed. 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 as two or three together to pray. Lift up the work of Christ constantly and intensely. Lift up with passion those who will come after me to lead you. Without prayer, 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 Gaithersburg, I leave an admonition to pray. P is for prayer.
A
P is for prayer. My name is PAUL, P, 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 must 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 step aside and not contribute. Tasks that some agreed to do, but did not finish. Time that could have been invested in ministry, but was wasted on frivolous things. Tithes which ought to have come to the Lord but 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 lust, 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. Oh, I know that some feel that I have a heart of judgment, but I condemn no one. It is simply that I have seen how pride and lust can destroy, and I love you too much to allow that to continue. Avoid immorality.
3
Also avoid selfishness. Avoid that spirit that wants only to show off and seem holy. 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 catching others in a fault, but rejoices in the truth. Oh, brothers and sisters, be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God for Christ’s sake forgave you. And restore one another. Avoid selfishness. Avoid factions. Avoid argument. Avoid thinking the worst of others when you could think the best. Avoid … yes, avoid even the very appearance of evil. A is for avoidance.
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, remember that your failings are my failings. The letter “U”! Upsilon. P A U ... U is for understanding.
1
I charge you to understand the Gospel as it has been taught 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 there may be voices that will dazzle for a while but do not instruct. Voices that 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 know that it has been tested against our experience with Christ.
What you have heard in this room about faith has been formed in the crucible of the suffering of those who have gone before you. What you have heard here about hope has been shaped by the candor of those who have come through these waters of baptism. What you have heard about love has been born out of free exchanges of the heart, as we have engaged the word of the Lord and have applied that word to our lives. Understand, brothers and sisters, understand the gospel. It is good news for all who know it.
2
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 clutches of those who think they are special in the sight of God, using the word of God to oppress. No, study to show yourselves approved unto God, workmen who need not be ashamed, rightly interpreting the word of truth. Understand.
3
Most of all, understand that you are free; it is for freedom 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 that freedom for self-indulgence, but become servants of one another. Understand.
Yes, I beg you, understand my gospel, for it has the power to turn us around. And when we think we are something, turned out with achievements by the world’s standards, this gospel will show us that what we want to do we cannot do, and what we do not want to do, that we turn out doing – oh wretched souls that we are! Who will deliver us from this body of death? This word will turn us around. Hold fast to what you have been taught, and understand.
L
And finally, brothers and sisters, love one another. Love. P A U and finally L. Lambda. Love. May love reign in 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 explain this? With what words shall I teach it? Shall I simply urge you to love? Yet my words sound like a noisy gong or a tinkling cymbal if they have not been spoken with that same love. Can I persuade you that love bears all things, believes all things, endures all things, and that love never fails?
Or is there another way to teach you of love? Shall I instill in you that we 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? Would that teach you to love?
Or shall I call names? Shall I point out who need to learn the lessons of love? Shall I call upon Euodia and Syntyche to agree in the Lord? Shall I urge that Apollos and his kin not divide the people of God? 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 to love. I will not teach, you, I will show you. Is it not true 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 saves the last, the least, the lost, and the lonely. This is the love that showed me that all that I had turned out to be was like filthy rags, but that Jesus the crucified and risen One had turned me around. Completely turned me around. Love never fails.
I, Paul, sign my own name, so that you may know that this is my testimony. You are not certain of me, for I am in prison; but so are you, brothers and sisters, so are you, so are we all, imprisoned until Christ shall set us free. I have been put here for the defense of the Gospel. Whatever you think of your Paul, know that Christ is proclaimed, whether out of false motives or true. All that has happened among us God will use to turn around our lives and to turn us out for witness.
And so remember your Paul, who joyfully leaves you in the care of others. Only remember him as you have been taught: P, Pray constantly; A, Avoid immorality; U, Understand the Gospel; and L, Love one another, love as God in Christ has loved and forgiven you. I bid you godspeed.
Now to Him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or imagine, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations. Amen.
