Saul - The Story of a Conversion

Transcription

1 Acts 9:1-20 Saul - The Story of a Conversion 1. Saul (Paul) opposed Christians and anything to do with Jesus Christ a. Saul was a zealous Jew who opposed all that threatened his beliefs (1) b. He did all he could to persecute Christians to their death (2) 2. He has an encounter with Jesus that changes his life (3-5) a. Jesus appears to him as he travels the road to Damascus and blinds him(3) b. Jesus speaks to him Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me? (4-5) 3. He is filled with the Holy Spirit and called to serve Jesus (6-20) a. The Lord prepares Ananias to receive him and prepare him. (6-9) b. Saul was chosen to be the Lord s instrument to proclaim his name to the Gentiles (15-16) c. Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit and his eyes were opened (17-18) Introduction: What did it take for you to become a Christian? What evidence did you need in order to believe? We have just seen last week how Thomas needed to see Jesus wounds & put his fingers into them. Mahatma Ghandi said that when he sees Christians really living out to the full Jesus teachings, then he would convert to Christianity. Some suggest that the conversion of Saul the persecutor to Paul the Apostle is evidence enough for anyone to believe. Saul was one of early Christianity s most zealous enemies & his subsequent conversion was one of the most significant moments in the growth & mission of the early church. Saul s testimony was powerful & threatening to many. How could someone so opposed to Christ become so convinced by Christ? 1. Saul (Paul) opposed Christians and anything to do with Jesus Christ a. Saul was a zealous Jew who opposed all that threatened his beliefs (1) Saul said in his own words as he wrote to the church in Galatia: For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. (Galatians 1:13)

2 He says later in Acts 26: I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities. Acts 26:9-11 Saul went after Christians like a man possessed. He saw the Christian faith like a cancer that needed to be eradicated & he fought it with all his might. It seemed to oppose all that he understood of his Jewish faith and he considered the Christian faith as blasphemy and punishable by death. b. He did all he could to persecute Christians to their death (2) Saul was a stubborn, determined man who stuck to his guns & didn t give up easily. Even as Christians fled the persecution in Jerusalem, he sought letters from the authorities allowing him to pursue them & imprison them. In Jerusalem he had been present actively at the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr, & afterwards had whipped & then imprisoned various other Christians, sparing none & showing no mercy. Nothing would stop him in his zeal to stop people once & for all from following Jesus. In today's reading, we find that he was travelling to Damascus to track down & bring back to Jerusalem Christians that had fled to this city in neighbouring Syria. Damascus had certain strategic importance being an important city for trade on the route of the caravans. It was also close to Israel & particularly to the area of Galilee where Jesus had lots of support. Some traditions say that Jesus own brothers fled to Damascus as persecution broke out. If the Christian faith were to take root unopposed in Damascus, it could easily spread through traders across the whole world. That s why Saul sought so urgently to stop the spread of the gospel & why Damascus was important. Saul wasn t a bad man or a particularly violent man. During Stephen s stoning he just held the garments of the others & gave his approval. He was, however, a man consumed by passion. He was smart & well studied & one of the brightest minds of his generation. He had studied under Gamaliel, the most outstanding rabbi of that period. We could compare him perhaps to Simon Weisenthal, the Nazi hunter, who dedicated his life to bringing the Nazi war criminals to justice, travelling over the whole world with his great zeal. Now, let me ask you a question. Would you believe me if I told you that Simon Weisenthal has become himself a Nazi & a dedicated follower of the writings of Adolph Hitler?

3 I would say that no-one would believe me. That s how it was with Saul. How could this have come about? How could Saul the persecutor of Christians change and become Paul the apostle? 2. He has an encounter with Jesus that changes his life (3-5) a. Jesus appears to him as he travels the road to Damascus and blinds him(3) What happened to Saul is nothing less than a miracle. It was divine intervention. As he made his way on horseback towards Damascus, nearing the city, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him & he fell to the ground. Not only did he fall from his horse, he was blinded by the bright light, and not just for a moment but for 3 days. Jesus appearance to Saul wasn t just a friendly call to come and follow me. He didn t show him where the fish were. He blinded him and threw him to the ground. Paul wasn t wooed by love but forced into submission. In that sense, his conversion experience isn t the most common, but many others have also been called into submission to surrender and recognise that Jesus is Lord, rather than been convinced by his teachings or attracted by his love and care. b. Jesus speaks to him Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me? (4-5) As he lay blinded on the ground, from out of this light came a voice speaking to Saul in Aramaic so that only Saul knew what was said. The voice calls him by name saying Saul, Saul. It s reminiscent of God s calling of Samuel. Saul seemed about as confused about it as Samuel did as well. Somehow we don t expect God to speak audibly to us & even less to call us by name, but he does. How do you respond when you hear your name called like this? The second thing we note is that Jesus himself spoke to Saul. Later, Jesus used others to pass on messages to Saul, such as prophets. When he called him, it was person to person. Jesus took Saul s opposition personally. Leaving aside all pleasantries, he goes to the grain saying Why do you persecute me? You could argue that Saul wasn t actually persecuting Jesus but rather his followers. It seems that it is as Jesus said, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. Matthew 25:40. An extra phrase that Jesus said in this conversation comes out in Pauls recollection of the account in Acts 26:14 where we read: It is hard for you to kick against the goads.

4 Herders used sharp sticks called goads to goad the animals on. Jesus is basically saying to him, you ll get nowhere resisting me you may as well come quietly. We could add You ve been going your own way all this time but now it s time to live my way. Many people continue to kick against the goads & get nowhere fast. If only they would turn to Christ. It s interesting how Saul responds: Who are you Lord? Did Saul actually have any idea, or was he afraid that it really was Jesus. If it was Jesus, he probably thought he was about to get the hiding of a life-time. Jesus makes himself known, & reminds him again of how Saul has treated him I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting It s present tense. Even as Saul goes to Damascus, he is persecuting Jesus. I wonder: Why would Jesus show such mercy to Saul, someone who had only tried to harm him & his followers? 3. He is filled with the Holy Spirit and called to serve Jesus (6-20) a. The Lord prepares Ananias to receive him and prepare him. (6-9) Following this, Jesus takes the lead & instructs him get up and go into the city, where you will be told what you must do. It seems that Saul didn t have much of an option, but in the fuller retelling in later in Acts we read Saul asking what shall I do, Lord? Acts 22:10. Saul knew from this moment that Jesus was God & he had always been a God-fearer. He just needed to swallow his pride, recognize that Jesus is Lord, & obey him. Following Jesus instructions, he was taken into Damascus & the very Christians he came to take away in chains would now be the people who would receive him, restore his sight & get him started in his new life as a follower of Christ. Though many were wary of Saul, thinking that maybe he came to deceive them then capture them, God spoke directly to Ananias to prepare him to receive Saul and trust him. It wouldn t have been easy for Saul either to suddenly start mixing with the people he had grown to hate. Grace needed to be in abundance. It s difficult for each person who begins to explore faith to come in cold to a church. We need people like Ananias to take them by the hand and teach them and help them. b. Saul was chosen to be the Lord s instrument to proclaim his name to the Gentiles (15-16) Jesus shows us what it means to love your enemy. He had mercy on Saul & gave him a new life & called him to be his own special servant. Jesus went on to commission him saying I have

5 appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Acts 26: Ananias, a believer native to Damascus was the man the Lord chose who would now have to show great grace to Saul the persecutor of his brothers; but he would find some consolation in Jesus words: Go, because I have chosen him to serve me, to make my name known to Gentiles and kings and to the people of Israel. 16 And I myself will show him all that he must suffer for my sake. The persecutor will now be persecuted & suffer for the name of the one he has tried to destroy. c. Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit and his eyes were opened (17-18) Saul was not only born again as Paul, he had to begin again. When Ananias came to him, he laid his hands on him and introduced himself as the one the Lord had sent so that he might see again and receive the Holy Spirit. At this point we read: At once something like fish scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he was able to see again. He stood up and was baptized; and after he had eaten, his strength came back Certainly there is something symbolic and the granting of new sight to Saul. He will now see things differently. His whole world has been turned upside down. He has changed from Saul the persecutor to Paul the Apostle. He truly has turned 180 degrees. Its hard to find a clearer example of repentance and conversion. What lessons can we learn from this remarkable passage? No-one is outside of God s reach. Even the worst of sinners can be saved. Jesus calls us all to follow him & to serve as his witnesses to the world. Each one of us must have our own encounter with the risen Jesus & be converted.