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as a result of, well, far too much education, both at theological schools and universities. I have been taught to be suspicious of prepackaged categories. Therefore, I I am a little concerned about putting

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forth ST paul as a hero of the bible. Over the course of sermons in Shelton Chapel this fall , my colleagues have noted what the ancients would have considered as the criteria for hero hood. Paul may

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not be able to check all or even most of the boxes, but should we regard paul as a hero based on the criteria of our time as a hero, as a figure whose life inspires us today

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? And to that, I think the answer is yes. Now, before I praise paul, let me begin by acknowledging a couple of things about all that bother me, And frankly make Paul unappealing to

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many folks living in the 21st century, paul was a man of his time. He assumed many things that most believers in jesus christ living today do not necessarily assume to be blunt. Paul did not believe

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in gender equality. Paul also thought that because jesus would return during paul's own lifetime, the social order is pretty much irrelevant, so it makes complete sense for slaves to continue to obey and serve their masters

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. Nevertheless, I want us to think together this morning about the apostle to the gentiles. As a positive witness to jesus christ hall was transformed. Paul wondered why paul is a biblical hero because he was

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transformed by his experience of jesus. We read about paul in the bible through material that he wrote and material from luke axe, both streams of tradition portray , Paul is shifting gears profoundly because of his encounter

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with the risen Lord In X nine. He literally falls to the ground and is struck blind when jesus speaks to him one day, paul is going about his business of living as a zealous pharisee of the

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tribe of Benjamin, so zealous in fact that he was trying to stamp out the jesus party entirely. And then as one out of time, he encounters the resurrected jesus, paul's understanding of who jesus is

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and the circle of God's concern are fundamentally changed. Paul is one of William's James's twice born. Mm hmm. Like the man born blind and john four like blind Barta Medias and the passion narrative, paul

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moves from darkness into light because he knows jesus, although Jesus takes the extra step of blinding him and then restoring his sight, paul was transformed by his experience of jesus, but there's more to it for

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us than that, Paul wondered why Now, even non believing anthropologists of religion, like Wesley Wildman know that people have odd spiritual experiences all the time. They're everywhere. Paul stands out for us though,

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because he wonders about the meaning of his experience. In a biographical passage in Galatians, one paul says that he did not have conversations with other apostles after his conversion, but instead he went into Arabia.

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Now, some scholars think that paul's time in Arabia was kind of like going on a retreat or sort of analogous to jesus, going into the desert, thinking about what had happened. Others, including Martin

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Hingle, think that they're in Arabia, Paul was already preaching about jesus, motivated by Paul's belief that Jesus could come any day. We know that paul wondered about his experience. We know that paul also

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formed to firm conclusions. First, paul has a call from God to preach about jesus. Second, this message about jesus, this gospel is a new thing in God's dealings with humanity. It is new

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because it expands the scope of God's horizon, the scope of the people of God far beyond historic. Israel edit includes gentiles like you and me. It is new because it proposes that the main thing for

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us, perhaps the only thing of ultimate consequence is knowing jesus has. Lord paul has several ways of talking about this gospel, this good news, they include dying and rising with christ and being saved by

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faith in jesus rather than by works of the law as understood by Israel God's people. In both of these metaphors, part of what makes the good news so good is that it's for everybody. It's for

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those who can claim the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and those who don't. It's good news for both jews and gentiles. And by extension, it's good news for those of us who were younger

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and older, those of us who are fatter and thinner, those of us who are well educated and those with no academic degrees, those with reams of government documentation and those without the gospel can be good

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news for everyone because the power for it comes from God, the God who sends jesus as the way the truth and the lawyer. The power of the gospel does not come from the fact that we sing

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praise songs or scrupulously avoid singing praise songs in church . It does not come from the measurable accomplishments of our faith. It does not come from the laser like logic of our doctrines. It does not come

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from anything that we do in response to God whose grace is always ahead of us. Always Praveen isn't always good in ways that we don't deserve and that often we lack words for Saint paul was transformed by

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jesus and wondered why I do not know if the apostle paul was a hero, but I'm sure that he was a revolutionary who bore witness to a god , who in christ reaches out to all paul's particular

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charism was the belief that in christ there is neither male nor female, neither jew nor gentile, neither slave nor free halls legacy is to remind us that in life and in death we do not belong primarily

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to our culture, our class, our race or our gender as important as all of these things are for our identities, We belong to our faithful one , Jesus Christ and to that I say amen.