Text: Romans 1:15, 16 Saint Patrick’s Day
Credit goes to Pastor Armin Keibel for much of the research used.
Today is the day when everyone seems to be Irish. We see lots of people wearing a bit of green. For green is the color of that beautiful land called Ireland.
But there is of course another reason to celebrate this day. The calendar reads Saint Patrick’s day. March 17th. It was on this day in 461 AD that Patrick left this life. And I think it’s safe to say, that most people, even many Christians, don’t know the story of Patrick.
They might have heard the legend of him driving the snakes out of Ireland. Just a legend. We may have heard that Patrick used the shamrock, a three leafed clover, to teach the Trinity. Also perhaps just a legend. But for many, the real story is unknown. For many the real story of Patrick’s efforts to bring Christ to that land is a mystery.
For some of us, it might seem strange for a Lutheran church to be celebrating this day. After all, the Roman Catholic church claims Patrick as one of their own. They call him one of their saints.
We call him a saint too, but for a different reason. And we certainly do not pray to him. We call him a saint just as Paul addressed these Christians in Rome and every other place. For Patrick and all those who trust in Jesus are covered. We are dressed in the perfect righteousness of Christ. We are called to be saints.
But Patrick knew what lay beneath that robe of righteousness we wear by faith. A sinner. That’s what he calls himself in his confession of faith. Patrick the sinner. Well as you read about Patrick it’s hard not to compare him to the apostle Paul. Paul had the same view of himself. Maybe you remember his words to young pastor Timothy. This is a trustworthy saying which deserves full acceptance, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners- of whom I am the worst. Like Paul, like you and me, we meet Patrick the sinner in need of a Savior.
But that’s not the only thing these two men had in common. They also dedicated their lives to bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to others So it’s not hard to listen to Paul’s words and think of Patrick also.
“Patrick the sinner…I came to Ireland”
Like Paul he came
I. Eager to go where God called him
II. Not ashamed of the gospel
III. Confident of its power to save
Patrick was born about 389 AD somewhere in that part of Britain belonging to the Roman Empire. He came from a solid Christian family that nurtured him in God’s Word. In those days, raiding parties would attack coastal villages. They would steal people’s possessions and take some villagers to sell as slaves. At the age of 16, they captured Patrick and sold him as a slave in Ireland. He was there for six years until Patrick found a way to escape.
What then happened in the years that followed is unclear. But this is clear. His faith in Jesus grew. Then one day, he had a dream. In it, he heard the Irish people saying: We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk with us once more!
What a place to return to! Where Patrick had once been a slave! Yet Patrick considered this God’s calling. He felt compelled to go and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to the Irish people. More than that he was eager. Like Paul was eager to go to Rome, Patrick was eager to go back to that land that enslaved him. For he knew they suffered a worse kind of slavery- to sin and death and the power of the devil. And so Patrick was eager to go and bring them the only thing that can set dying sinners free. The simple, but saving truth of our crucified and risen Savior.
Of course, like I said before, the Roman Catholic church claims Patrick as one of their own. The truth is: Patrick had no real connection with the pope or the Roman church. His message, his writings say nothing of praying to Mary or the saints. They say nothing of purgatory or being subject to a pope. They say nothing of doing good works to be saved. Rather his message centered in Jesus Christ and what he has done. Listen to him say it in his own words: Patrick the sinner…I came to Ireland…a slave to Christ to a foreign nation for the unspeakable glory of the eternal life which is in Christ Jesus ,our Lord, So like Paul, Patrick went where God had called him.
And Patrick could also say with Paul, I am not ashamed of the gospel. For think of the land to which he came. Druidism had the hearts and minds of the people. Druidism, a pagan religion that required human sacrifice. In Ireland, the Druid priests had great power over the tribal rulers. Patrick and his faith would be a threat to their power. You can get an idea of what Patrick faced by his words: Christ protect me today, against poison, against burning, against drowning, against wound.
But Patrick would not back down. He would not allow himself to be silent and ashamed of the gospel. The story is told that in his second year, Patrick was summoned before a king and his princess. They were celebrating a Druid festival near where the city of Dublin is today. Fires were strictly forbidden during that celebration. But Patrick built a bonfire on a hill called Mount Tara for everyone to see. He built it to celebrate Easter, the resurrection of our Lord. Now before the king, his life was at stake. But this was his defense. He had come to bring light to a people living in darkness. He had come to bring Christ who is the Light of the World. The King was persuaded. He pardoned Patrick and gave him the freedom to go through Ireland with the gospel message.
That he did for 29 years. Patrick proclaimed his Savior to the Irish people. He couldn’t do it all himself so he trained many missionaries with this result. Thousands of Irish were brought to Christ. Thousands were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And through his efforts and God’s blessing, there arose the Celtic church. a great mission church that carried the gospel to Britain and much of Northern Europe. Maybe to your own ancestors.
But why did Patrick hang in there? Why didn’t such dangerous opposition cause him to pack up and go somewhere else. Well first, he knew God wanted him there. But also think of Paul’s inspired words. 16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: Patrick stayed. Patrick faced grave danger. Patrick preached the gospel because he was confident. Like Paul, he was confident of it’s power to save.
You see, when Patrick looked at the Irish people, he saw their true spiritual condition. He saw a people who tragically resembled the unbelieving gentiles of Paul’s day. He described them this way. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God. (Ephesians 4:18)
We need to view people in that same way as Paul did, as Patrick did. We may be not surrounded by Druids but we are surrounded by people who are lost and perishing without Christ. How can we overlook them, maybe our own flesh and blood, when we have the same powerful message that Patrick did?
For that gospel message points us to a person. It points us to God’s own Son who did for us and all people something we could not do for ourselves. For if we try to stand before God as we are, we have no hope. Our guilt will drag us down like an anchor around our neck. But Jesus, God’s own Son took that guilt upon himself. He bore it on the cross and paid the awful price God’s justice demands. He paid that price so that now there is forgiveness and peace. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
That’s what makes the gospel so powerful. Not a Patrick or a Paul but what the gospel holds before a fallen world. What Jesus has done by living for us and dying for us and then rising from the dead. The gospel declares to us dying sinners God’s own promise that whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
Patrick came to Ireland confident of the gospel’s power to save. For it is a message that can bring people out from under a sentence of death to life, life with God. So through all the centuries, we hear Patrick say: I Patrick the sinner…I came to Ireland…for the unspeakable glory of the eternal life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. How blessed we are to possess that life. How blessed we are to offer it to others in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.