Where I've Been Can't Compare to Where I'm Going: Sermon Galatians 1:11-24

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

Time flies. I see that more clearly now than I did when I was younger. I think sometimes that the older we get the faster time seems to fly by. I mean here we are in June and it seems like only yesterday we were eating Christmas dinner and opening presents. My ten year high school reunion is next year. I know, I know I still a young pup, a spring chicken, and I am not complaining about the fact that ten years has past by, but instead it has caused me sometimes to look back at those years and the person I was then and how different I am now from that young person.

I remember the old times, Bruce Springsteen called them “Glory Days” when we where young and carefree. I didn’t have bills to pay yet, I didn’t have much as far as responsibilities went, the future was wide open and the world was my oyster. We all felt that at some point in our lives. And if someone had told me at age 18 that I was going to be standing in this church preaching a sermon as your pastor I would have laughed in their face. I had my own priorities. I wanted to make lots of money, be a famous radio personality, syndicated all over the country. I wanted to have fancy cars, and big house. I wanted to be able to take luxurious vacations to exotic places. Those were my priorities and my goodness how time changes our priorities.

I have my dreads and worries leading up to this reunion. Not just about my appearance, we all want to look good and not about my financial situation. One worry that I have is their reaction to my answered call to ministry. What would they think about the Reverend Brad Smith? Because when we don’t see people for a while the only thing that we know about them is through our memories. So the people I haven’t seen in a while do not know me now, but remember Brad at age 18 who is completely different than Brad at age 27. The remember the Brad who like to party and have a good time, who was a bit of a class clown, a bit of smart-alack, a person who always had a joke to crack even if it was at the expense of someone else. The old Brad, I like to refer to him as the pre-Jesus Brad, didn’t care much for church, even though God was always there and I never really doubted God’s existence. However, I didn’t have time for God, I felt like I didn’t need God at the time. I had things to do and people see. So the people who remember me in that state might be surprised and even shocked to learn that I am serving as a pastor, going to seminary, and planning a life in service to God and the Church. I have already experienced some of this shock a person might ask what I am doing now and I would reply “I am a pastor” “You’re a what???” “Yeah right.”

So in some ways I see myself as a kindred spirit to Paul. People were shocked to see his transformation as well. Our journeys are not the same, I did not persecute the Church, but the themes are similar. Sometimes our pasts come back to haunt us. Paul of course was born Saul in a region in what is now southern Turkey. He was a devout Jew, knew the laws of Moses by word and by heart. He dotted every “I” and crossed every “T” and he loathed anyone who was not a Jew and fought against anyone who dared to, in his mind, threaten the Jewish faith. He led persecution of the early Church, he was present at the stoning of Stephen. Then there was a trip along the Damascus Road and everything changed. He immediately went our and began to proclaim this new gospel to the people he had at one time loathed the Gentiles.

He ran into problems. When he encountered Christians they either ran away from him or they wanted to kill him. They remembered Saul and haven’t met the new and improved Paul. He was constantly haunted by his past. He was rejected in some cases by both the Jews, who saw him as a traitor and by Christians who still saw him as an enemy of the Church. My past can come up and bite me. What happens if I am appointed to a church that one of my old classmates attends? What if the PPRC chairperson is someone I might have poked fun at? Would they take me seriously knowing all the crazy and wild things I used to do? I have heard Dr Phil say that the only predictor of future behavior is past behavior. People knew of Paul’s past behavior and they used that to predict his future behavior.

Paul had a choice, he could have quit believing that no one would ever listen to him because of his past behavior. This was not his choice. Instead Paul had a solid determination in the midst of his haunted past. This determination came from a radical, personal experience with Christ. He knew and trust without a shadow of a doubt that he was called to proclaim the Good News to the people. He trusted so deeply in his relationship with Christ and in the faith that he had been forgiven, even for the persecution against Christ himself. His relationship with God was so strong that, as he writes to the Galatians, he only seeks the approval of God and Christ and does not care of what others might think, He was willing to take a risk for the Gospel and for God and he care not about the human repercussions. This gave Paul the confidence and the strength to go out to many nations and many people and proclaim the good news.

He did not dilute the Gospel, but was honest and truthful with the people even when the truth hurt. He did not change the Gospel into a self-help seminar or a pathway to prosperity. He made no bones about his feelings nor did he sugarcoat the message. Paul knew that you can serve two masters, God and popularity you have to choose, God’s way or the way of fame and popularity. This does not mean that one has to beat people over the head with their sins and their need for a Savior. This does not mean that one needs to scare people in to conversion by dangling their eternal souls while the flames of Hell lick their heels. The message of the Gospel is love and must be proclaimed in love. God’s message was that he so loved the world that he sent the Son into the world so that that world would be redeemed.

Paul also knew that he could not escape his past what was done was done. He had done horrible things in the name of what he thought was right. He could not change it n nor could he erase it. What he did was embrace and use his past experiences to further the Gospel. He saw, as I do now, how past experiences lead up to present workings. He saw through his hind sight God working in his past leading him up to greater things. I can see how God led me down the path to becoming a pastor and although my journey might be considered unorthodox, it has made me the person who stands before you this morning. Remember how a few weeks ago we talked about God making a good things come out of bad situations. I can see even in the midst of me doing bad things, God leading and strengthening me in the fires of life and the process continues and progresses.

Paul not only embraces his past, but uses it to his advantage and the advantage of the Gospel. He says yes I have done all those things, yes I have made mistakes, yes I was a bad person, but look how the power of Christ has changed me. I am a new person, a new creation, with new priorities, new concerns, and a new agenda. If God can change me imagine what God can do for you. People where able to see a physical, tangible change within a person. This was not a story, but reality. This kind of visible transformation added power and visibility to his preaching. The people could see the kind of change he was preaching about. The most powerful preachers are often the ones who have dealt with very serious, sometimes very evil things in their life. To hear a convicted murderer preaching the gospel within the walls of a prison is powerful. To see a life long drug dealer preaching to teens and young adults about the dangers of the gang lifestyle and the joys of serving Christ is amazing. Our mistakes, our past no matter how dark it is can show how much we have changed, how much God has changed us.

These kinds of transformations demonstrate the power of the love of God through Christ. No person is so bad that to redemptive power of God cannot make them clean. There is no past so dark that God cannot use it to show people the light. This only shows that people can change with God’s help. I can show that with God’s guidance the 18 year old boy my high school classmates knew can grow into an effective pastor. Like Paul said If God can change me God can change anyone. However, you must let God make the change.

We cannot use the fear of our skeletons prevent us from proclaiming the good news to God’s people. We have all made mistakes and we have all fallen short of the glory of God. We cannot hide from our past, we cannot erase it, but instead we must be honest with people and be a living demonstration of the redemptive power of God. We, like Paul have to stand determined and seek only the approval of God not from others. We have to preach the Gospel of love openly and purely, not sugarcoated or diluted. We can use our past experiences as a tool for the future. Because where I’ve been can’t compare to where I’m going.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.