December Cell Groups

This month, our cell groups are taking a look at the Apostle Paul in Acts.  Since Paul is such an influential figure in the Bible and Christianity, there is no hope of sufficiently discussing his full importance.  As such, I have chosen to focus in on two main points I would like for young Christians to take away from Paul's conversion story in Acts 9.

1 - God will forgive you.  I do not know the complete background of any of the students in our ministry, but I feel safe in saying that none have any sins as great as Paul had committed in his Saul days.  I have messed up to be sure, but never have I made it my mission to destroy the very work and people of Jesus Christ.  Paul had - and he was off to a pretty good start.  Despite that, Paul was given grace from God when he repented and followed Jesus.  My guess is that is the reason Paul talked so much about grace in his later letters.  I think it is vitally important for us as Christians to understand that despite our past failings, God can use us in mighty ways in the future.

2 - God will forgive others.  I think it equally important for us to understand that God will show others the same type of grace that was shown to Paul.  And what's more, he expects us to do the same.  In Luke 17, Jesus famously instructed his disciples to forgive someone up to 49 times in one day (490 according to some manuscripts).  The stunned disciples exclaim, "Increase our faith!", which I believe is such an appropriate reaction.  Faith and forgiveness go hand in hand.  We need to believe that God is in charge and he will deal with the mistakes (or even flat out rebellions) that other people commit.  We need to believe that God will use people with unrighteous pasts to bring about his righteous plans.  Right before Jesus told his disciples to forgive a ridiculous amount of times, he gave them this cheery statement:

"Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves."

I have known both of these teachings from Jesus by heart for quite some time, but I never had noticed their proximity to each other until studying for this lesson.  I had always thought that people who made little ones sin were child abusers or people who set bad examples that children follow.  While I think both of those things may apply here, I think Jesus has something else in mind here based on context.  I think he's talking about those who withhold forgiveness.  People who would tell someone that they don't have a place in the Kingdom of God because of some past sin.   It's a generally accepted principle that people will live up or down to their expectations.  So if someone feels they are expected to be useless in serving in the Kingdom, the chances are greater that they will never find the good works that they were created to do.  Perhaps that is the "sin" Jesus is talking about here.  As this months brings to an end not just the year, but also the decade, I hope and pray that the Church can be a people that forgives as gracefully we've been forgiven.  I also pray that the students in our group will understand how much they have been forgiven and will accomplish great things over the course of their life for the Kingdom of God with that knowledge.