The Message of St. Patrick

Transcription

1 The Message of St. Patrick On St. Patrick s Day an Irishman had been drinking at a pub all night. The bartender finally said that the bar is closing. So the Irishman stood up to leave but fell flat on his face. He tried to stand on more time; same result. He figured he d crawl outside and get some fresh air and maybe that would sober him up. Once outside, however, he stood up and fell again. So he decided to crawl the four blocks to his home. When he arrived at his door he stood up and again fell on his face. He crawled through the door and into his bedroom. When he reached his bed he tried one more time to stand up. This time he managed to pull himself upright, but he quickly fell right into bed and was sound asleep as soon as his head it s the pillow. He was awakened the next morning to his wife standing over him, shouting, So, been out drinking again last night! What makes you say that he asked, putting on an innocent look. The pub called. You left your wheelchair there again. It may be that for some of us the celebration of St. Patrick s Day is nothing more than an celebration of being Irish of green beer, cabbage and corn-beef sandwiches, and of little green plastic bowler hats with shamrocks on our lapel. But the real meaning of St. Patrick s Day is to be found in the man himself Patrick of Ireland. Some are familiar with the myth that he drove the snakes out of Ireland, and that he taught about God by using a shamrock. But that s about as far as it goes. The real St. Patrick was a wonderful man who became one of the world s favorite saints, and for good reason. He was a man of incredible courage, passionate faith, and a man of action. Let me share with you his story. I. The Story of St. Patrick Patrick was born in 385AD in Scotland. He did not grow up with any deep spiritual convictions. His parents Calpurnius and Conchessa, were Roman citizens and a prominent family in the local community where they lived. Patrick grew up normally, but when he was 16 years old he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Ireland. At that time Ireland was a pagan land of Druids. It was a primitive culture held captive by dark superstitions and human sacrifice. As a slave Patrick was forced to learn the language and culture of the Irish people. He served mostly as a shepherd for his master, enduring long periods of intense isolation alone with the flocks. Manuscript By Win Green 1

2 Somehow, during his captivity, the notion came into his heart to call on the name of the Lord and turned to Christ in prayer. Of his spiritual awakening in slavery St. Patrick later wrote: The love of God and His fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was raised Patrick s slavery lasted for six long and bitter years, at the end of which he had a supernatural dream in which he had a clear sense of God telling him to escape from Ireland by walking east. Patrick obeyed God s direction. He escaped his master, and walked 200 miles to the east coast where he found a ship and some sailors who took him back to Britain, where he reunited with his family. St. Patrick s story didn t end here. Indeed, it had only just begun. He felt God s call into the priesthood, and moved to France where he became a monk studying under the great St. Germanus, who later ordained him a Bishop. In his mid 40 s Patrick had another clairvoyant dream in which the people of Ireland called out to him, We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more. Again, Patrick obeyed what he believed to be God s calling, and He returned to Ireland, to the place of his teenage slavery thirty years earlier. He arrived on the coast of Slane March 25 th, 433AD. It wasn t easy at first. He was resisted and opposed by pagans everywhere, but in time the Spirit s power and his winsome manner prevailed, and he preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the island, converting many. Kings and their families with their entire kingdoms received Christ through Patrick s mission. Thirty churches were built during his lifetime. Some still stand. Evidently, Patrick wasn t just a great leader himself, but he also was able to develop the leadership abilities of his followers, for no less than four of his disciples became saints as well in the Catholic Church. For nearly thirty years Patrick preached and converted all of Ireland, working miracles and writing of God s mighty acts in his Confessions. After years of poverty, traveling and enduring much hardship, St. Patrick finally died in March 17 th, 461AD, leaving behind a country that had been completely turned upside down by the love of Christ. In but a few years Ireland was transformed from a divided, superstitious, and pagan island of darkness to an island of light and hope for the rest of Europe. We can learn much from the life of Patrick. I d like to lift up three lessons in particular this morning. Manuscript By Win Green 2

3 I. Bad Things Happen To Good People Patrick was 16 years old when he was kidnapped and sold into slavery! He didn t deserve this fate. He didn t do anything wrong. All of which proves that bad things do happen to good people. Some of us operate under the assumption that life is good when we are good. That good things happen to good people. It s almost as if life boiled into a simple equation good things in, good things out. But simple experience contradicts this folly. Bad things do indeed happen to good people, just as they did for Patrick. Here St. Patrick s story closely resembles the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis The Bible tells us Joseph was born the youngest of eleven sons in the wealthy family of Jacob son of Isaac and Abraham. Because he was the youngest, he was his father s favorite, which caused his ten brothers to be jealous. Some of his brothers wanted to kill Joseph, but instead they sold him to a band of slave traders headed for Egypt. He ended up a slave in the house of Potiphar, Pharaoh s captain of the guard. Because of Joseph s natural leadership and administrative skills he quickly rose in the ranks, and in no time he was running Photosphere s entire household. He was making the best of a bad situation. But then more misfortune came. The wife of his master tried to seduce him. When he refused, she got revenge by accusing him of rape and had her husband throw Joseph in prison. Again, Joseph didn t do anything wrong. Indeed, he had been faithful. Still bad things came his way. Just because you do good things doesn t mean good things are guaranteed to come your way. Remember, those who follow Christ are opposed by that which is evil. If you have a good heart, and you are obedient to God that guarantees times of trial and tribulation. ( The Bible does not speak much about why bad things happen. Instead it focuses on how to persevere when bad things happen. The Bible is more focused on how to remain faithful in the midst of suffering than it speaks about why suffering exists. ) The Scripture says: Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. When bad things come, we have a choice to get bitter or better. No one enjoys bad times, nor should we look for them, but when they come, unwelcome as they are they are nonetheless an opportunity for real / genuine spiritual growth. After all, the metal of God is refined in the fires of hell. Manuscript By Win Green 3

4 Here I think of the follow story: A Bible study studying chapter three of Malachi came across verse three which says, He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. (Mal 3) The verse puzzled everyone and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study. She called up a silver smith and made an appointment to watch him at work. As she watched the sliver smith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot then she thought again about the verse, that he sits as a refiner and purifier of silver. She asked the sliver smith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the sliver the entire time it was in the fire. If the sliver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the sliver smith, How do you know when the silver is fully refined? He smiled at her and answered, Oh, that s easy when I see my image in it. That s it isn t it? God wants to see His image reflected in us! If you have placed your life in God s hand, but you feel as if you are in the fires of trial and tribulation. Remember, God has His ever watchful eye on you, and He will keep holding you in the flames and watching you carefully until He sees His image in you. This we must understand if we are ever to appreciate God s work in our life. He is much less concerned with bad times as He is with bad character. He allows the flames of trial and tribulation to engulf us so that whatever impurities in our character might be burned off that He might see His own image in us. In his slavery St. Patrick called upon the name of the Lord with his whole heart, and God heard him and allowed and allowed the fires of his slavery to burn off whatever impurities marred his character. II. Manuscript By Win Green 4

5 Deliverance A second lesson we learn from the life of Patrick is one of deliverance. Freedom came when Patrick obeyed God by following God s direction. When God told St. Patrick in a dream to leave his master and walk to the coast where a ship would be waiting for him he believed and he obeyed. This was one of the greatest moments in the life of St. Patrick. In the very depths of his despair in slavery, God spoke to Patrick, and he both believed and obeyed. He didn t just sit there. He got up and did what he was told by God. The same was true for Joseph. When thrown into prison for a crime he didn t commit, he remained faithful and responsive to God. He focused less on why bad things were happening, and more on what he could do to remain faithful. He knew in his heart of hearts that the blessing was in the faithfulness. When God tells you to do something, even in the midst of hard times, you will experience your deliverance when you trust and obey. How does the old Gospel song go? Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. This is how the Faith that God gives becomes real in your life when you don t just believe in God, but you obey what He tells you. This is when you start to get free from the power of sin in your life. St. Paul once wrote when he was having a particularly hard time: Trouble happens so that we should rely, not on ourselves, but only on God, who raises the dead We have placed our hope in Him that He will save us again. (2 Cor. 1:10) III. Redemption A third lesson we learn from the life of Patrick is one of redemption. Redemption is a religious word we don t use much in our daily language. A simple definition is: to buy something back. But it also means to take a bad and turn it into a good. The obvious example is the death of Manuscript By Win Green 5

6 Christ. At the time of His death Jesus followers were convinced His death was the worst possible catastrophe, but after Jesus was resurrected three days later they realized it was the greatest possible good. Taking our bad and transforming it into His good - God takes particular delight in taking our worst and redeeming it into His best. This was true for Patrick. The worst experience of his life was his six years of slavery in Ireland. It was a nightmare that left a horrible wound, but without it Patrick would have never had the vision, passion, language, or skills for a mission to the Irish. Without his Irish slavery Patrick likely would have lived an unremarkable life as a Roman citizen in Scotland, and history would have never known him. But his slavery cut deep, forcing the radical choice between hatred or love, revenge or acceptance, bitterness or betterness. Extreme circumstances tend to form extreme people, both good and bad. Suffering always brings out either the best or worst in people, and in Patrick God inspired the best. The wounds he suffered in Irish slavery somehow gave him a heart for others, especially for the wounds of the Irish people. Redemption is the Bible s essential story that of God s greatest work flowing from our deepest hurts of turning our scars into His stars (Robert Schullar). The Genesis story of Joseph is another example of the bad redeemed into the good. Joseph was sold into slavery by jealous brothers, only to wind up imprisoned by Potiphers s wife. But while in prison Joseph s cell mate was the Pharos s cub bearer, whom he helped and befriended. After the cup bearer was released from prison he recommended Joseph to Pharaoh when Pharaoh needed help, and it wasn t long before Joseph was serving pharaoh himself, and because of his stupendous administrative and organizational leadership, eventually Joseph oversaw Pharaoh s entire administration. This would have never happened had not Joseph first been sold into slavery by his brothers and then thrown into prison. As Joseph explained to his brothers many years later, do not be upset or blame yourselves because you sold me (in slavery to Egypt). It was really God who sent me ahead of you to save people s lives (Gen. 45:4-5 GNB) Extreme circumstances tend to form extreme people often it s where history s great men and women come from: Would Nelson Mandela have had the compassion to lead South Africa to reconciliation without his thirty years of imprisonment at Robin Island? Would Mother Teresa have become the saint of Calcutta had her father not been murdered? Would Pope John Paul II become the liberator of the communist world without the trauma he suffered at the hands of the Nazis Manuscript By Win Green 6

7 and Russians? Would Martin Luther King Jr. ever have had a dream on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC without first suffering a nightmare in Bull Conner s jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama? Would John McCain be a presidential candidate today without being a prisoner at the Hanoi Hilton in North Vietnam? Would Jackie Robinson be more than a baseball star of the 50 s but a national hero without the nightmare he suffered the summer he became the 1 st black player in professional baseball? Would Beethoven s 9 th symphony have soared as mightily had he not 1 st lost his hearing? Would Abraham Lincoln been as great a president had he not first suffered a nervous breakdown? Extreme circumstances tend to form extreme people, and like I said, God delights in taking our worst experiences and redeeming them into His best opportunities for ministry. We tend to see the worst in life as calamities to be avoided at all cost. But they are also opportunities to place ourselves into the loving hands of almighty God and to experience for ourselves what He can do to redeem our worst into His best! This was St. Patrick s story, and it could be yours as well. I don t know what you ve suffered! Most of you haven t shared with me what your wounds in life have been. It may be that: - You ve had to endure a parent s divorce - You ve had someone precious to you die and untimely/tragic death - You were molested as a child. - You grew up in poverty so crushing that it warped your hope for life. I don t need to know what you ve suffered to assure you that God can take your worst and redeem it into something great great not only for you but for thousands if not millions of others who can profit and grow from the wounds you ve suffered. God can do this. Indeed, it is His greatest and most favored work redemption. To close, I encourage three action steps: First, identify your wound. Second, present it to God give it to Him. Third, Trust that God will know exactly what to do with it. Not necessarily to take it away from you entirely, but to use it to redeem it to take your worst and redeem it into His best. Amen. Manuscript By Win Green 7