The Undeserving Deserving

Have you ever gotten upset when someone else received something great that you were sure they didn’t deserve?

One summer, when I was 13, my best friend and I were offered a chance to work in his uncle’s family business. Understand, as it is now, it was not customary to employ someone so young, but because we knew each other very well, there were some concessions offered that made it all possible. Of course, I was pleased as punch! I had the opportunity to make some big bucks of my own to spend on whatever I wanted – yet, I was soon to find out that what I had hoped for to be sweet success really turned out to be sour grapes.

My friend’s uncle had purchased the sole, failing dry cleaners in the little town I grew up in. Upon acquisition, it became apparent that much would have to be done to the store to make it workable again. My friend and I were offered the generous sum of $3.13 an hour, 20 hours a week, for 8 weeks. We both took the job not knowing what we would be doing to earn that amazing salary, but willing nonetheless.

When we arrived the first day, I was appalled to see the condition of the store. There were piles of old, unclaimed clothes that reached to the ceiling. Many rodents had made the forgotten garments their home, so it would fall to me to empty the room, allocate the old clothes (to those who were still alive), and make it ready for use. At the same time, my friend (his nephew) was given the job of working the front counter. Keep in mind, this was in July and August in North Texas, and the only air conditioning in the entire structure was in the reception area. For a solid month, I slaved in the sweltering heat of an unconditioned room, sorting through a hatstack of apparel, rats, mold – you name it, while my friend sat comfortably at the cash register, drinking Shasta and sucking in the cooled climate.

When the first paycheck came around, we compared them. The same. Not a penny difference! Here, I’d worked like an indentured servant in the sweltering misery of a North Texas summer, while my buddy just sat on his duff all day watching soap operas on the 13” TV in the lobby. I knew he didn’t deserve those kind of wages! I was the martyr of The Burkburnett Martinizing Cleaners, not him! Yet, we both had done the very thing we’d agreed to do and been paid exactly as we’d agreed – and here I was, righteously mad and indignant that such a slouch could enjoy the same benefit as I. I was certain that he was undeserving of such a reward, in light of my own achievements for the cleaners.

And yet, that’s the story of Saul on the road to Damascus, isn’t it? A man so far removed from Christ that it seemed impossible for God to allow a conversion for such a reprobate – so much so, that the apostles themselves didn’t want to accept his conversion as valid. Rest assured, Paul was received and confirmed by the Spirit – and we are believers today because of this truth: the most undeserving person of God’s grace was changed by the person of Jesus Christ! In our worship this week, let us center our thoughts around two things: 1) How Jesus can turn even the most undeserving heart into His tool (including our own), and 2) What ways are we receiving and nurturing those who are being saved.

Resounding Themes:
God’s Amazing Grace
Jesus, the Great Physician of the Human Soul
Acceptance in the Body of Christ
Changed Heart, Changed Life

Ready, Set, READ

Acts 9:1-31

Ready, Set, MEDITATE

- At what place in life do we find Saul as the narrative begins? Why is he doing what he’s doing? Can you think of anyone comparable to Saul?

- What is the first reaction Saul gets from Ananias after his conversion? Is it appropriate? How might you have reacted? What is key about how Ananias procedes?

- What was on of the first things that Saul did after he was converted? Is this true of some/many new converts? Was it true of you?

- What role does Barnabas play in Saul’s acceptance? Do you know any Barnabas’? Are you more like Barnabas or the disciples when it comes to recognizing conversion of the “underserving?” How is the world different because of Barnabas?

Ready, Set, PRAY

How beautiful You are Lord! But to catch a glimpse of your glory would prove fatal to our finite eyes – yet we cannot look away! We cannot look away from the way You stoop down to look upon the nations and elevate us to Your presence. We cannot look away from the manner in which You set history in motion to work towards the reconciliation of all human kind back to You. And we cannot look away – as we stare into the depth of our own depravity that was met in the depth of Your Son’s sacrifice. We are so underserving of Your grace! That You were even mindful of us exhausts the senses and boggles all reason. But You loved us when we were unlovable. You gave us adoption papers out of the slums of our dead life and presented us into Your glorious inheritance. Father, by the measure that has been given to us, might we also give to those who You also have called – that we all might be one in Spirit and in Truth.

Amazing grace!

How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now I’m found.

Was blind, but now I see!

Father, Your grace still amazes us today. Just as You did with Saul the persecutor, amaze us once again with whom You will use to further Your kingdom in Dallas, TX. In Jesus. Amen.

Ready, Set, WORSHIP!