"The Paul Problem"

Pastor Laura Guy

February 10, 2008

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

We learned a new song with an evangelism theme - "Can't stop talkin' 'bout everything He's done."
We heard the dramatic story of Paul's conversion from Acts 9:1-19. Paul had a definite before-and-after story to share with people. We watched a video of a modern-day man like Saul. This man spends his life sharing the Good News with others because he doesn't want anyone to live a life like he used to live before he met Jesus.
We thought about those of us who don't have dramatic "Damascus road" stories of conversion. We have the Paul Problem because we have always been to church, always known God's love. How can we share our faith when we don't have a before-and-after story to tell?
We imagined what it would be like to be someone who had never heard that God loves them, had never heard that Jesus offers them forgiveness, a new life. What would it be like to not know how to pray or not know anyone to call to pray for you when you are in trouble? Even those of us with the Paul Problem can share what it means for us to be a Christian, the difference Christ makes in our lives.
We realized that part of our problem is motivation. Some Christians are motivated by keeping people out of hell. But for those of us who don't find that motivating, we can find our motivation by thinking about the people who are already living in hell, already living separated from God, without hope or help. Thinking about the ways lives can be changed if people were given God's unconditional love can motivate us to tell our story.
We saw that the final motivational piece comes when God helps us see past the outer shell of someone into their hurting heart. For Saul, that person was Ananias. When God told him to go to Saul, he said, "no, thanks," because Saul was such a jerk. But God helped Ananias to see beyond what Saul had been, to see the potential within him. We asked God to give us those same eyes of love, the eyes of Jesus, so that we could find the motivation to share God's love with others, even the jerks. Our homework assignment for the week was to find one person we could share our story with.
We shared communion by breaking the bread and remembering that Jesus has provided bread for the world.