Day 343: God Uses Paul's Past

Acts 22; 2 Corinthians 9-11; Proverbs 29:5-7

Acts 22 1-5 As a Pharisee, Paul had received a solid education in the Law from a well-respected rabbi, Gamaliel, and used his personal history as an appeal for credibility with the orthodox Jews. As a Christian, Paul still fulfilled his duties as a Roman citizen and did not denounce his right to justice. (CCC 2245)

Ch 22:28 One did not have to be a Roman citizen from birth, as Paul was; citizenship could be purchased or received as an honor for service to the empire.

2 Corinthians 9:1-15 Almsgiving has always been an important component of Christian life. Paul urged the Corinthians, who were relatively affluent, to contribute generously to the collection. The community there had made some kind of verbal commitment to the collection that Paul had used in gathering support in other churches. He did not want them to contribute out of guilt or coercion but rather out of love in response to the blessings they had received from God and as an act of trust in his divine providence. (CCC 1070-1072, 1082-1083, 2636-2637)

Ch 9:6-7 Just as the volume of a harvest is normally proportionate to how much was planted, so too the fruits of holiness in terms of spreading the Gospel will also be in proportion to a person’s generosity.

God loves a cheerful giver: An important part of the spirit of service is that it be done with joyful willingness. (CCC 2447)

Ch 10:1-12 Charged by the false apostles with being weak because of his gentle and humble nature, Paul assured the Christians of the seriousness of his conviction. He was much more assertive in writing than he was in speech, but his personal demeanor was being judged by worldly standards in which aggression was seen as strength and power. Paul’s concern was for building up the Church in a spirit of truth and love rather than winning admiration or popularity. His meekness was a result of his efforts to imitate the charity of Christ, who spoke harshly only as a last resort. (CCC 1439, 1657, 2227)

Ch 10:13-18 Paul responded to the accusations of pride. He was happy to have been used as an instrument for the Gospel, but any good he accomplished was only through the power of Christ working through him. The false teachers in Corinth tried to outdo one another in popularity and tried to claim credit for the growth of the Church there, but Paul asserted his role as the spiritual father of the community. (CCC 1460, 1866, 2481, 2514, 2540)

Ch 11:1-33 Concerned about the Christians in Corinth who were swayed by the false apostles, Paul was highly critical of these deceitful teachers and questioned their motives. He appealed to his own practice of not receiving financial support from the Corinthians. Apologizing for boasting and appearing foolish, he stated that he was a Jewish convert like these false teachers but a far better “servant of Christ” because of the many abuses and hardships he had sustained in the course of preaching the Gospel. Paul serves Christ by serving all, which itself is an imitation of Christ. (CCC 786, 1551, 1570)

Ch 11:2 Betrothed you to Christ: Like a father solicitous for his virgin daughter, Paul guarded the purity of the Corinthian community that was already committed to Christ the Bridegroom. (CCC 505, 796)

Ch 11:4 Another Jesus: A different version of Christ than that which Paul and the other Apostles had preached. Some scholars theorize from the evidence that these false teachers were Jewish converts who claimed that Gentile converts to Christianity had to abide by traditional Jewish laws, including circumcision and dietary restrictions. (CCC 1972)

Ch 11:24-25 The Jewish authorities could sentence the guilty party in a dispute to as many as forty lashes with a whip (cf. Dt 25:1-3). In practice, they usually gave thirty-nine lashes to ensure that they did not exceed the legal limit.

Beaten with rods: This Roman method of punishing an offender was used on those who were not Roman citizens. Paul suffered such a beating even though he was a citizen, a fact that could have had severe ramifications for the authorities who ordered this punishment (cf. Acts 16:22). Christ calls upon us to pray for those who persecute us for his name’s sake. (CCC 2303)

(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)

Another PALINDROME DAY!!
DAY 343!!
Ok so here is St. Paul
I don’t know if you noticed that yesterday there was a bit of a cliffhanger in Acts Ch 21
Paul is in Jerusalem
The whole mob comes around
Paul gets up to defend himself
Acts 21:40, “...Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people; and when there was a great hush, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying…”
And then we just ended
And now here we are in Acts Ch 22
Acts 22:1, “Brethren and fathers, hear the defense which I now make before you…”
They realized he was speaking Hebrew
So they were even more hushered
Even hushier
Even more hushed
All the more quiet
St. Paul not only tells of his PEDIGREE
He also tells of his CONVERSION
He studied under Gamaliel
We heard about Gamaliel earlier in Acts of the Apostles where the church, the Sanhedrin, the Council, were coming against Peter, John, and the other Apostles
Gamaliel said, “You know, if you fight against them and they’re from God, you might find yourself fighting against God. But if it’s not from God, it will burn out on its own.” (Do you remember when we first met Gamaliel? Go back and read Day 326: Life in the Spirit in The Bible in a Year Study Guide for a refresher 😁)
So Gamaliel was one of the chief rabbis
One of the most popular, famous, influential rabbis of the time
Paul is one of his students
Then he tells his conversion story
This is an incredible situation
BUT…
People don’t necessarily respond to it
So what happens?
The Romans come
They are about to scourge him
Paul pulls out his Roman card
His citizenship card
You know, it’s not his “get out of jail free” card
But it IS his “get out of scourging free” card a couple of times
So that’s good for Paul
Actually, Paul is going to use his Roman citizenship to go all the way to Rome with the idea that he could preach the Gospel before Caesar
This is one of those situations where God uses EVERYTHING IN OUR PAST to be able to forge a way for our FUTURE
Maybe Paul at one point was thought useless or foolish
That he was born a Roman citizen
Because he was living in a Jewish world
Right?
He was living as a student to become a rabbi at some point
BUT…
Maybe now that he is reaching out to the Gentiles, this Roman citizenship, that he was BORN WITH, took on NEW VALUE that he could never have imagined having earlier on
Don’t know if that’s true
BUT…
It’s worth considering
On to 2 Corinthians
We also have St. Paul talking about his pedigree
That happens in Ch 11
“Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I?”
God uses our PAST
Even things we are NOT IN CONTROL OF
Paul being born a Roman citizen
Paul being born Jewish
God uses those things we are not even in control of to PAVE A WAY FOR OUR FUTURE
IF WE ARE WILLING TO SURRENDER THOSE THINGS TO THE LORD!!
Paul starts out Ch 9 talking about GENEROSITY
He has been asking the Corinthians, these Christians in Corinth, to be willing maybe for the first time…maybe in a new way…to be GENEROUS
He points out to other church communities where St. Paul had been a missionary to
He’s been the evangelist of these churches and they were very generous
So he is asking the Corinthians to also be generous
2 Corinthians 9:6, “The point is this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
This is a REALLY BIG THING!!
We can be willing to serve
Maybe this is true about Fr. Mike
He can be willing to serve
BUT…
Sometimes he gets this attitude
“Ok I’ll serve. I’ll show up. I’ll do the thing you’re asking me to do. But I’m not going to make it easy for you. I’m not going to give you the impression that I enjoy this. I’m going to give you the impression that I’m doing this because you asked me to do something I don’t want to do. But here I am because I’m a generous person, etc. etc.”
And St. Paul is like, “No no no. NONE OF THAT. NONE OF THAT. If you’re going to give, be a cheerful giver.”
It’s a GOOD REMINDER for Fr. Mike
And for me
And maybe for you too
St. Paul has to defend his ministry
The RSV use the word “Superlative Apostles” in 2 Corinthians 11:5
Other translations talk about the “Super Apostles”
These “Super Apostles” are those who have basically kind of relied upon their credentials to maybe in some ways USURP what St. Paul has taught to the people in Corinth
So St. Paul has to bring out his credentials once again
One of the REALLY INTERESTING THINGS is that when St. Paul not only talks about his CREDENTIALS, but also this BATTLE against these people that have made themselves his enemies, it is VERY CLEAR that St. Paul is NOT carrying on a WORLDLY WAR
2 Corinthians 10:3-4, “...the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”
THIS IS IMPORTANT!!
This is not just in the context of St. Paul who was arguing against people who are teaching FALSELY about Jesus
But it’s even true about us
So often we want to be WISE in the ways of the world
Which is NOT horrible
BUT…
We also NEED to have the WISDOM OF CHRIST
THE MIND OF CHRIST
2 Corinthians 10:5, “We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…”
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT
TO TAKE EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE TO OBEY CHRIST
As a Christian, do I take every thought captive?
Or do I just let my thoughts wander and be whatever?
That doesn’t mean I’m disciplined the entire time and I can’t sometimes let my mind rest
What it MEANS is…
WHAT DO I FEED MY MIND?
To take every thought captive means that I don’t just treat every idea as equal to every other idea
To take every thought captive doesn’t just mean I allow every thought unfiltered to go into my mind or every thought unfiltered to come out of my mouth
That is kind of important
To take every thought captive
That’s a good prayer for us today
To be able to recognize that we MUST NOT ACQUIESCE
WE HAVE TO TAKE EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE
There are so many things to point out
One is St. Paul’s disposition
People would say, “Wow! His letters he writes to us are really strong. But in person he doesn’t seem so intimidating.”
That is an interesting sidenote
BUT…
There is something that happens when it comes to these false apostles that bring up something in Paul
In 2 Corinthians Ch 11 Paul basically says, “What you must not do is you must not compare yourselves.”
That comparison because he is going to say, “I’m not going to compare myself to these “super apostles” either.”
He also warns of this WOUND, maybe it’s even a SIN OF COMPARISON
There is something REALLY IMPORTANT
Even though he goes on to describe all that he has been through at the end of Ch 11, he points out, “This is dumb. I’m a fool for pointing this out because this doesn’t add to my credentials. The only credential that I need to rely upon is that in the grace of God Jesus Christ has called me to be an Apostle. That’s it. I’m jealous for you. That’s why I’m writing all this. Not because I’m fighting against all these other false apostles, not because I am jealous of those false apostles. But I’m jealous of you. Not because I’m comparing myself to these false apostles, but because I actually love you.”
We heard about this yesterday when St. Paul was leaving Ephesus
The people that he LOVED loved him back
The people in Corinth, St. Paul loved them too
Did they love him back the way the Ephesians loved him back?
Maybe they did
But it is definitely true that St. Paul, the reason he is writing this whole thing is that he is jealous of them
He is jealous of their hearts
He is jealous for them
BECAUSE HE LOVES THEM
BECAUSE HE CARES ABOUT THEM
That’s why he is WILLING TO FIGHT FOR THEM
THAT IS THE TRUTH FOR US TOO!!
GOSH!!
There are so many people in our lives that are walking away from the Lord or they don’t even care
“Just leave me alone. Stop talking about the Lord. Stop asking if I’ve listened to the Bible in a Year.”
And we say, “The only reason I’m asking is because I’m jealous for you. The only reason I’m asking is because I know the Lord loves you. The only reason I’m asking is because I love you.”
AND YET…
It is easy to get shot down in the midst of trying to love someone who might not want to be loved that way
SO…
To have the strength to keep moving forward we need GOD’S GRACE
SO WE NEED TO PRAY FOR EACH OTHER!!
FR. MIKE IS PRAYING FOR YOU!!
PRAY FOR FR. MIKE

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you praise and glory. We thank you for this day. Thank you so much for your Word. Thank you for the opportunity to be reminded, and that’s the key Lord. So often we forget who you are. We forget who we are in your name. Lord God, we also forget that you are present to us and that you desire us to be close to your heart and regardless of our circumstances, regardless of our situations, regardless of the season of our life whether that’s an early season and we have so much ahead of us, a midday season where we’re kind of just in the doldrums, or at the end, the twilight of our lives. Lord God, you are present. You are active. You are doing something now in us. In whatever circumstance, in whatever situation, and in whatever season we are, you are doing something in us now. So please, Lord God, help us to give you permission. Help us to allow you to do what it is you are trying to accomplish in us this day, this moment, this situation, this circumstance, this season, in this most holy name of Jesus. Amen.”

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