Melt me. Mold me. Fill me. Use me. (Saul becomes Paul)

Hello everyone.  Sorry about the week of silence.  I assure you it wasn’t intentional.  I thought about you each and every day, but I never could quite put words together to summarize and extend last week’s lesson – that is, until yesterday.  I had a song in my head – “Spirit of the Living God.”

            Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.

            Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.

            Melt me.  Mold me.  Fill me.  Use me.

            Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.

We’re moving past our study of Jonah and Nineveh, but the question that Jonah prompted isn’t answered or forgotten with the turn of a page or two:  As ministers of the Gospel (which each and every believer is called to be), what responsibility do we have to those with whom we’ve shared God’s Word – as Jonah shared it with the people of Nineveh?

To help us get a better grasp on God’s answer to that question, last week we began looking at the apostle Paul.  Specifically we looked at his life as Saul – starting with Acts 13:1-2, but quickly jumping to Acts 22 where we read Paul’s first-hand account of what God had done for him.  The process started with melting. 

MELT ME.  MOLD ME.  In Acts 22:4-16, Paul – arrested by the Roman army and consequently in their protective custody – testified to the story of his own conversion (originally told in Acts 9).  Saul literally melted to the ground on his way to Damascus when confronted by Jesus Himself.  Over the next 10-12 years, God continued the process of melting away the old Saul and molding him into His “chosen instrument … to bear [God’s] name before the gentiles and kings and the descendants of Israel” (Acts 9:15).

FILL ME.  Part of the prophecy Ananias spoke over Saul in Acts 9 was recovery of his sight.  He also said that Paul would “be filled with the Holy Spirit” (vs. 17).  We see (vs. 18) that Saul received his sight and wasted no time being baptized, but I find it very interesting that we‘re not told that Saul was immediately filled by the Holy Spirit.  I’m not saying Saul didn’t receive the Holy Spirit upon his baptism in Damascus!  Rather I’m saying that there is a difference between a new believer receiving God’s Spirit and one being “filled unto all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:19).  So if Saul wasn’t immediately and completely filled with the Holy Spirit, when did it happen?  I’m not sure when it happened, but we know it did.

I told you that we started last week in Acts 13:1-2.  If you read on, we get a glimpse into the first days and weeks of Saul’s first missionary journey (10-12 years after his conversion).  It is in Acts 13:9 that we read the name Paul for the first time in Scripture.  It slips by almost as an after-thought:  “Saul, who is also called Paul …”  But an afterthought, it definitely is not.  Saul is never again used (except with Paul referring to himself before this moment in time).  Coincidentally, or NOT, it is also the time we read of the definite fulfillment of Ananias’ prophecy – that Saul would be “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:17).

 

USE ME.  Vessels are filled to be used.  In that moment, Saul – the re-formed (Yes, I know it isn’t hyphenated; it’s play on “mold me.”) Jewish Pharisee – came face-to-face with another Jewish man who was “perverting and making crooked the straight paths of the Lord and plotting against His saving purposes” (Acts 13:10).  I imagine it was like looking at himself in the mirror.  It had taken years for God to melt away Saul’s old self, mold him into God’s chosen instrument, and fill Saul to the point of overflowing with His grace and power.  Now instead of being the one with blinded eyes, God gave Paul eyes to see into the dark soul of Elymas.  God used Paul to blind the eyes of this self-proclaimed wise man.

Scripture suggests that Elymas’ blindness was temporary (Acts 13:11), but we never again hear from Elymas to know the end of his story.  Saul had come full circle and was beginning a new one – his first missionary journey – as Paul.  I wonder who God used to restore Elymas’ physical sight.  I wonder if, in receiving back his physical sight, God restored Elymas’ spiritual sight as well – molding, filling, and using him to further advance His kingdom and glorify His name.

…In the coming weeks, we’ll continue to travel with Paul on his missionary journeys and check on the churches he ministered to through his letters.  I hope you’ll join us!

            Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.

            Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.

            Melt me.  Mold me.  Fill me.  Use me.

            Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.