WHAT CAN THE WORD DO?

By Dr. Eric C. Stumpf, Senior Pastor

St. Paul’s Ev. Lutheran Church – Munster, IN

Acts 9:1-22 + Easter 3 + April 21 & 22, 2007

 

             Located in Virginia, nestled in the Appalachian town of Blacksburg, is a university ranked 56^th in the nation for research.  Virginia Tech.  The 2006 freshman class had a high school grade point average of 3.80.  Situated on 2600 beautiful acres, it would seem that this would be the ideal place to send a daughter or son to form them for the future.

            Tragically that view was transformed by a sinfully misguided possessed mind and 33 young lives were cut short.  The heart break these families and friends face is devastating.  No summers back home, no tough years making the grade, no graduation, no falling in love, no weddings, no grandchildren.  But the loss goes beyond just those families.  It touches us who may not know anyone from that school much less those who died.  What great people and accomplishments were suddenly erased from history?  Perhaps an agricultural student who would develop some new strand of wheat and potatoes that would yield more production per acre – GONE!  Perhaps a student who would be the future president of Baghdad University – GONE!  Perhaps a mechanical engineer who would design the first aerial mapping camera to be used in an airplane mapping the earth – GONE!  Perhaps a medical student who would invent a way to eradicate smallpox – GONE!

            You probably have guessed by now that all those accomplishments have taken place.  Thomas K. Wolfe, the agriculturalist, Virginia Tech class of 1914.  Sami Al-Mudhaffar, Baghdad University president, class of 1967.  Edward H Cahill, engineer, class of 1909.  Benjamin Rubin, biologist, class of 1938.  What have we all lost because of a horribly sinful act?  We shall never know. 

There is no point in asking why is there evil in the world.  There is.  Rather we ask this morning, what can be done.  The answer is an ongoing commitment by you and me.  The job will never end until our Lord comes again.  The focus of this effort is God’s Word.  We believe that God’s Word is efficacious.  By God’s Word he created the world.  He said let there be and there was.  Likewise God’s Word comes into the life of a sinful individual and it has the power and dynamic force to change who we are – it creates faith, it brings salvation, and it compels us to do God’s Holy will.

 

Look At Paul

            Our lesson from Acts introduces us to Paul.  He was a proud, respected Pharisee.  Thinking of him as a mass murderer would be unthinkable.  But what does the text tell us?  He was on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians.  We know what happened to Jesus.  We know what happened to Stephen – and by the way, Paul was there, aiding and abetting those who murdered him.  After killing one Christian, what’s to stop you from killing more?  He was an enemy of Christ, and every Christian who professed faith in Christ. 

            But Jesus had a plan.  The very person Paul denied, the people who professed faith in Jesus who were arrested, imprisoned, and even put to death, this person who was thought to be dead and not raised from the dead as the disciples claimed, appeared to him.  The Word made flesh called him by name.  Paul, who thought he saw more clearly than anyone else, especially a deluded Christian, was blinded by the light of the truth.  He fell like a man dead.  That is the efficacy of the Word.  Paul did nothing to bring about his conversion.  He did not read some article which made him rethink his stance.  He did not debate with a Christian who convinced him of his error.  He did not change his mind because he wanted to.  The Word changed his life completely.  It is the Word that takes a sinner and together with water makes him or her a child of God.  It is the Word joined with bread and wine that brings forgiveness of sins as Jesus commanded.  It is not our works, it is not our intellect, it is not our attitude, it is not our race, it is not our economic circumstances, it has nothing to do with what we have done.  It has everything to do what Jesus has done.  That is the efficacy of the Word.

 My Chosen Instrument

            The student who killed thirty some other students at Virginia Tech left what is called a manifesto, a statement of why he did it.  In his video statement he blamed everyone around him for his ills and let it be known that he was an instrument of their punishment.  However, we can see through the transparency of his evil.  His sinful action was done from a sinful heart void of any spiritual conscience or direction.  He bought the guns, the ammo, armed himself, and took lives.  In Paul’s life the Word came and changed him.

            God told Ananias to go Paul who was in the house of Judas on Straight Street.  Ananias knew of Paul, an instrument of destruction on Christians.  He reminded God, as if God had a memory lapse, that Paul was bad news.  But God had good news.  Go!  This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles….  An instrument in the hands of a skilled person does the will of the person.  Who would want to go into surgery if the surgeon said that sometimes his scalpel just do crazy things on their own that he can not control?  But in God’s hands the Word is efficacious; it does the will of the Father. 

God’s Plan

            What sets you apart from the student who killed 33 students at Virginia Tech?  “Oh, I’m a much better person.”  You are a sinner like he was and like Paul was.  Perhaps the fear of punishment or disgrace prevents us from doing our worse.  Few of us could claim superior education.  The only thing that changed Paul the sinner breathing threats against Christians was Paul changed by the Word of God, by the power of baptism, by the faith he had in the one he persecuted.  It is the only thing that changes us as well.  In repentance we ask God, who alone forgives sins, to take our sins away by the efficacious Word.  By that Word we have faith in this forgiveness and have hearts turned to God.

            The Word also compels us to support this place where that Word of change and life is taught and preached.  We support our school so that along with a good education, it is the Word that forms our children to follow our Lord.  We support the work of missions so that others might know the life giving Christ.  We go into the community sharing the hope we have in Christ and be instruments of peace, hope, and good news. 

            We know there is evil in the world, but we also believe the Word can meet evil on any road and change it.  Amen.