Daughter,
Love you and bless you in Jesus’ Name.
I hope you are getting your Easter goodies. By now you should have gotten your flowers and chocolate frogs (bunnies are so passé). More goodies to follow.
So, picking up from the last letter;
There was a man named Saul of Tarsus. Passionate guy, loved Israel, and really pushed himself into being a religious leader of his people. Had a real problem with anything that touched Israel, the Apple of God’s eye. He couldn’t do much about the Romans, but when this Christian “virus” started to infect his people he did everything he could to destroy it. It was starting to divide Israel, weakening the Word of God, the law and the prophets. With the Roman occupation, the law and the prophets (the very heart of the Jewish people) was all they had left to keep them as one. No way would Saul let his nation be hurt again. So he got to work protecting them by destroying Christians.
Then, in the middle of his efforts to save Israel, Saul was confronted by the risen Jesus. His life changed forever, and he started preaching and spreading the very virus he had been trying to stop. Needless to say many folks did not trust him, but he continued to minister and grow in the Lord, and finally ended up with Barnabas in Antioch as a prophet and teacher and he had a great ministry there. But it was only part of God’s plan for him. The Holy Spirit had the church set Saul and Barnabas apart for the work they were called to. And a funny thing happened; Saul changed his name to Paul.
Now I am going to have to step aside for a moment; I just saw a rabbit trail and feel I should run down it a while. You may have heard in the past about the “sword of the Lord and of Gideon,” the understanding that the sheep of God’s pasture are men and God uses us, actual people; earthen vessels with an amazing glory inside. You can read about Gideon in Judges 6, but one of the main points in this is verse 14:
The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?"
God was sending Gideon in the strength he already had, promising he was the one sending him and that he would be with him. And in Judges 7 you will find that, as Gideon won deliverance from their enemies by trusting God, blowing trumpets and breaking jars, everyone shouted, “a sword for the Lord and for Gideon.” God had brought about a great and marvelous deliverance using a man in the strength that man already had. So it was a partnership, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, so to speak. And I think God works this way with the vast majority of Christians who serve him and it is really incredible to behold. It helps us to understand that God’s hand really is on us; his love covers a multitude of shortcomings, and he is well able to bring victory in our lives with the strength we already have.
Back to the main path. For a while after Saul got saved God worked greatly in his life with “the sword of the Lord and of Saul.” Saul was a very effective preacher, teacher, and prophet. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians. People would see Saul and Barnabas and the church there and say “these people act like Jesus.” There was a real work of God going on. Saul was effective here as Saul, so why the name change?
According to Strong’s concordance, Paul means “small” or “little”. Personal opinion, and this is the main point of all this; I think Saul decided he could not complete the call the Holy Spirit placed on his life with the sword of the Lord and of Saul. It could only be done with the sword of the Lord. So Saul had to die, to get out of the way. We are used to talking about dying to self, to the carnal or sin nature. All disciples must do that. We have been buried with Christ and raised to a new life; we are to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. But I think Saul decided he had to do more, it was not just the sin nature that had to die, but the man Saul also had to die. So he changed his name to small or little, maybe to help remind him daily about this decision.
You see, I don’t know that Saul, with all his love for Israel, could have easily said “I am a free born citizen of Rome.” That is a huge statement to make. Or that Saul could have easily written to the saints in Rome and commanded them to honor the authorities and governmental leaders there. These are the people who were responsible for mass graves in Israel. You’re not talking police brutality until you talk Roman occupation. Saul had every reason to despise this government, not honor it. And to say that the Roman government, responsible for the slaughter of many Israelites, was an instrument of Yahweh; well that could have been really hard for Saul.
It might also have been hard for Saul, being the very passionate person he was, to go back to Jerusalem and live as being under the law after he had learned to be so free from the law, had learned in fact that to trust the law for righteousness is to fall from grace. Saul had such a passion for the people of Israel, being willing to die himself in their place. It would have been hard not to want to try to get them to understand the incredible grace of God that Saul had come to know.
The call of God was huge. Saul had to become little.
I think when Jesus was 13 he was ready to go into the ministry. He figured it was time to be about his Father’s business. But that would have been the sword of the Lord and of the man Jesus. So instead Jesus submitted himself to his parents and stayed under authority until God called him into ministry. And when Jesus started ministering it was with the sword of the Lord alone. He saw his Father work and he worked. And he, with all his love for Israel, was able to say “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and render unto God what is God’s.” He was able to say love you enemies while his people were under occupation, and was able to look at a Roman Centurion and see a faith greater than any he had seen in Israel.
I have rambled on and on, but to tie this back to the previous letter, let me just say that I think Paul is a perfect example of what it looks like when someone lives what Jesus taught. He had the outward appearance in that he did things like Jesus at Antioch, where the disciples were first called Christians. But he went beyond that and lived like Jesus lived, letting not only his carnal self die but the man he was as well so that people would only see the Father. He wasn’t perfect in it, but he was set on it.
And that’s what I have been thinking about lately. Like I said the other night, I was driving somewhere last December when all of this sort of dropped into me, and it scared me. I have gotten used to it since then. It’s not a call or command. As I stated earlier in this letter I think the Father works with most Christians as the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. And it is a glorious thing. So, for example, you will find servants of the Lord who are patriotic and servants of the Lord who are activists. And in each group there are those who lose sight of the Lord and become servants of their patriotism or activism, “religiously” in the name of the Lord. And in each group there are those who do not lose sight of the Lord but love him and serve him all their lives.
What I feel in my spirit is a soft, simple invitation to live another way. To lay every passion at the feet of my Father in heaven. To live as the sword of the Lord alone. To be able (again for example) to be in a meeting of Christians who are very patriotic and be okay, or to be in a meeting of Christians who are activists and be okay. Not because I am either, but because I know that God works in the kingdom of men and the sheep of his pasture are men. I know the glory is in earthen vessels. And it is the glory that is amazing. And maybe God will give me a way at some point to speak of letting go of the passions of patriotism and activism, because these passions can be a hindrance sometimes. Maybe he won’t. Bottom line is that it is not an issue. Jesus is.
Love,
The Easter Frog (Dad)
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