God’s Recycling Program

Acts 9:1-6

April 22. 2007
 

I read this story a few years back.  There was a young fellow named Nick who worked on a fishing trawler off the northwestern coast of the United States.  Nick was drifting, unable to find himself, unable to make sense of his life, unable to settle down, unable to find any sort of peace in his soul.

He had a friend named Gus, an older fellow who possessed an inner calm and peace that Nick just couldn’t understand.  Nick noticed that he had a long, red scar running down the length of the palm of his hand, and asked him to tell the story of how he got that scar.

Gus told him about the night when he was on duty aboard a U.S. Navy minesweeper in the North Sea during the Second World War.  At that time, Gus called himself an atheist and would argue constantly with a chaplain about the existence of God in a world so full of ugliness.

One night, the ship hit a mine off the coast of Norway.  Many of the men were trapped below decks and had no chance for survival.  Gus was on watch above deck and was thrown into the sea with the explosion. 

He explained what happened like this:

From the top of the next swell I saw a big trawler bearing down on us…The man on the deck was bellowin’ at me and pointin’ to a fishin’ pole he had in his hand…He cast over my head, but the line fell right on top of me.  I tried to grab it…but I couldn’t feel…I watched the line running through my hands as the boat moved off…I cam to the end of the line.  There was a big ring of cork tied to it.  I took the cork into my hand again…I tried to curl my body around it, tried to make it a part of me – and that’s when I saw it.

At this point, Gus reached inside his shirt and pulled out a heavy five inch fishhook that he wore on a chain around his neck.  Then he finished the story. 

I knew what hooks were for…I tried to trap my wrist in the crook – but as you can see, it’s too small.  The boat was atop the next crest.  It was my last chance.  I took the hook, held the point, steady as I could, right against the palm of my hand…The trawler disappeared over the wave.  A pain shot up my arm.  I was dragged over, then under the water.  I began to drown…I awoke in the galley of the trawler, pukin’ up water.

At that point, he stopped and looked at his young friend.

I tell you…I was right about God.  He isn’t just.  If he was, I’d have sunk there in my North Sea stupidity.  But thank God, he’s more than just…I don’t know how to put it…since this hook pierced me the world hasn’t been the same.  I just didn’t know anything, nothing at all, till God let me watch that line run away from me, my hands all powerless and cold.  You’re young…I don’t know if you’ve been to that place beyond help or hope.  But I was there…And I was sent the help unlooked for, and it came in the shape of a hook.  Nothing will ever be the way it was before that day.

Our God is a God of second chances, of renewed opportunities, and of new possibilities.  Our God is a God that never gives us…on anyone.  God continues to make all things new.

It was interesting for me to listen to the news coverage this past week of the horrible slaughter of students on the campus of Virginia Tech.  It was ghastly.  I can’t imagine what forces would drive a person to commit such a terrible crime.  I hurt…and I am sure that you all hurt as well…for the victims, their families, the university, and for the nation as we have to try to make sense out of yet another horrific act of violence. 

I get really bored driving in the car and so I channel surf on the radio.  I was listening to some talk radio and heard hosts refer to the killer as “vermin” and “the dregs of society.”  I cringe when I hear that sort of language, because you see, the young man who committed this unspeakable act of mass murder, was still someone for whom Christ died.  If Easter means anything, it means that Jesus died and rose again for ALL OF US, even those who act in the most despicable ways. 

It has to be that way.  For if Christ didn’t die for them, then he didn’t die for us either.  That is so hard to hear because our natural inclination is to judge harshly and without mercy. 

You may disagree with this, but let me plow on.  A few years ago, Toni was called on to testify at the sentencing hearing of a young man in her congregation who had committed a truly awful murder.  He pled guilty and so, in order to have the court spared the expense and time commitment of a trial, the prosecutor took the death penalty off the table. 

The sentencing hearing was to determine if this young adult should spend the rest of his life behind bars with no possibility of parole, or if he should be given a sentence which would be very long, but would still give him the opportunity of a parole…at which time – if it were granted - he would be well into his senior citizen years. 

The prosecutor asked Toni if she believed in justice.  She said that of course, she believed in justice.  Justice is a basic tenet of the Bible.  But she also said that she believed that justice should always be tempered with mercy.  That was the example of God himself. 

Do you need some biblical examples?  In the fourth chapter of Genesis, Cain rose up and murdered his brother Abel.  As punishment, God drove Cain out to be a wanderer and a fugitive for the rest of his life.  But God didn’t kill him in revenge.  He showed mercy by allowing Cain to live, even putting a mark on him so that no one else would kill him either

Do you remember Jacob in the book of Genesis?  He had twelve sons.  Eleven of them didn’t much like their brother Joseph, so they decided to kill him, but at the last minute, sold him into slavery and pocketed the money for a rainy day.  To make a long story short, Joseph rose from slavery to become the second most powerful man in Egypt. 

He finally had a chance to seek revenge on his brothers, but when the time came, he told them that they had meant this for evil, but God had meant it for good.  Joseph had the power to punish them, but they were forgiven of their truly awful deed. 

I would point you to Moses.  Before Moses was the great liberator of the Children of Israel, he was a murderer. 

King David was an adulterer, a sexual predator, and guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, but God assured him that his throne would reign forever. 

And let’s not forget Saul.  Saul, who became the Apostle Paul.  But in the Scripture lesson for today, he is still Saul. Hebrew of Hebrews, persecutor of the church.  In Galatians 1:13 Paul writes, “You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism.  I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it.”  In fact, if you read the seventh chapter of Acts, you will come to the story of the killing of Stephen, one of the early servants of Christ in the new church.  Saul was right there, congratulating the killers.

At the beginning of chapter nine, he was on his way to Damascus – breathing down the necks of the Master’s disciples, out for the kill.  He had a letter in his pocket from the high priest giving him authority to arrest, detain, and transport back to Jerusalem any who were followers of Jesus.  Suddenly there was a great flash of light from heaven.  As he fell to the ground blinded, he heard the voice of Jesus asking, “Saul, why are you out to get me?” 

Now, at this point, I’m not sure that we would blame Jesus if he dropped kicked Saul all the way to Damascus and back.  Saul was doing everything in his power to destroy the church and the church’s people.  Jesus, I’m sure, was not amused. 

But Jesus had other ideas, other plans, and other priorities.  He didn’t relegate Saul to the trash heap.  Instead, he recycled him.  He led Saul to some followers of Jesus in order to begin the healing process.  They were the ones that helped pick him up, dust him off, and set him straight.  He was going to be recycled from junk to an instrument of mission to teach and spread the Word of God all around so that the whole world would hear the good news. 

Paul was a man of strength, learning, intelligence, commitment, passion, and intensity.  The trouble was, those qualities were all being used for the persecution of the church.  That is, until Jesus got hold of him.  Then all of those things were recycled.  All of his positive attributes were turned from persecuting the church, toward growing the church.  His abilities were put to a new use, a better use. 

One of the lasting impressions I have of my visit to Russia is the apartment buildings.  I remember these huge buildings with hundreds of apartments in each one, extending street after street.  They were very utilitarian and plain looking, built of concrete blocks.  I remember walking past some of them and peering down the long hallways.  They certainly didn’t look very appealing.

My understanding is that, throughout the former Communist Block, some of these apartment buildings are being torn down to make room for newer, smaller, and more pleasing housing.  The concrete blocks are being recycled.  They are not being thrown away, but are being used once again.  Before, they were symbols of a corrupt and eroded economic system.  Now they are symbols of new chances, new opportunities, new hopes, and new dreams. 

That is what God does with people.  He takes us, with all our warts and all, and remakes us so that we are of great use to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Just this week, I read a really interesting book by Rob Bell.  He is pastor of Mars Hill church in Grand Rapids.  Last year, one of our Sunday School classes used his short DVD’s for study. 

He wrote about being a disciple in Jesus’ world.  At that time, promising young men would go to famous rabbis to ask if they could become one of that rabbi’s disciples.  Only the best and brightest qualified.  Rabbis turned down more candidates than they accepted. 

When it was time for Jesus to gather disciples around him, nobody came applying for the job.  What is a great teacher if he doesn’t have disciples, so Jesus went looking for them.  Usually, prospective disciples sought out their masters, but Jesus sought out his disciples. 

He started along the Sea of Galilee.  He happened across two brothers, Simon and Andrew.  They were fishermen.  Rough, hard working, probably had very little formal education.  They worked long, hard hours, scratching out a living from that body of water.  These were not the sort of men who would apply to be someone’s disciple.  They weren’t good enough to be someone’s disciples.  But Jesus walked up to them and said, “Follow me.” 

A little farther down the beach, Jesus happened on James and John, fishermen just like Simon and Andrew.  Again, they were not someone’s disciples because they weren’t good enough.  The only thing they could do was fish.  They wouldn’t have been able to make the cut if they were competing to become a follower of a famous rabbi.  But Jesus called out to them, “Follow me.” 

Jesus has a habit of recycling people who don’t’ seem to be good enough.  I would like to ask you to consider something today.  If God can take murderers, adulterers, atheists,  persecutors of the church, and those on the fringe of society who don’t measure up…and use them for the kingdom, just think what God can do with you. 

You may think you’re quite the sinner.  You may wonder how in the world God could ever love someone like you.  You might think that you have done something so horrible that God could never forgive you.  You might think you are beyond redemption. 

You couldn’t be more wrong.  God is in the recycling business.  With God, nothing is trashed, but is transformed for use in the Kingdom.  Every one of us in this room today has talents, abilities, interests, and experiences that can be recycled and transformed into things of beauty and usefulness to the Kingdom.  God made you, and God doesn’t make junk.  It is God who is at work in us.  Never underestimate the power of God to change you.