Acts 9:20-25. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 12, 2023.
We have come to the point where Jesus has dramatically saved the life of Saul of Tarsus. Last week, I mentioned how he was prayed for by Ananias and received his sight. He was also water baptized and filled with the Spirit too. This put Saul on a different trajectory than his namesake, King Saul.
It is a wonderful thing when a person is confronted with Jesus, and they surrender to him in faith. Saul's complete about face. May God help us to see hungry people seeking Jesus and finding him. May we be a people who are still excited about the amazing grace of Jesus in our lives.
Let's look at our passage.
We can talk about becoming a new man in the natural. Maybe we find some kind of regimen that will whip us into shape and revamp our life physically. Of course, even if you really do well at that, it is still a losing battle. In the end, you are mortal and cannot stay ahead of death.
Yes, scientists are working hard to overcome the mortality issue. Even if they are able to conquer death, so to speak, science cannot fix sin in the heart of people. A laboratory may be able to lobotomize a man, but they cannot fix his soul and heart. Science can create technical solutions to issues, but it can't tell you if you should deploy them or not, whether it is good or bad.
Without something outside of us to which we are accountable, our "morality" will be like the waves of the sea, wishy-washy. Perhaps we will be moved by the group one way, until a new majority shows up and the waves moves another direction. This is true and good now. No. Now this over here is true and good, ad infinitum. Whether it be a majority group, or a tyrant, this crazy world of changing truths falls woefully short of creating true change in a person's heart.
Saul becomes a new man spiritually rather than naturally. He can actually see the reality of his life and the life of people around him because he is truly listening to the Creator of the universe. If we needed proof of Saul's conversion, we see it in the activity following his healing and conversion.
Jesus had given him his mission in at least one vision, if not two. He didn't need any more proof. Of course, we might complain that God hasn't given us a vision. However, God has given you enough evidence to believe upon Him. Don't play the game of withholding your faith from Him because He hasn't given you a particular experience. Yes, He loves you, but He's not playing games.
Saul is no longer a student of Rabbi Gamaliel of the school of Hillel. He is now a follower of Rabbi Yeshua!
We are told that Saul "immediately" preaches Jesus in the synagogues. That word can mean in the next second, but it also allows for context. If he was saved on a Tuesday, then it would mean that he preached in the synagogue that Friday/Saturday. Thus, immediately can mean at the next available opportunity.
The emphasis of his preaching is the amazing reality that Jesus truly was the Messiah, or Christ. Jesus was the one that they had been waiting for God to send. God had promised that an Anointed One would come and deliver Israel, but even more, he would be a redeemer of Israel. These prophecies in the Old Testament stated that one from the line of David would not only fix Israel, but even the nations. However, they had been under the domination of foreign powers for over 586 years. It is hard to keep the faith that God is going to save you that long.
He also emphasizes that this Messiah was also the Son of God. If you pay attention to the words of Jesus, then you will notice that Jesus actually emphasizes Son of Man regarding himself, rather than Son of God. It is true that these words have a layer of meaning that is essentially "human" for the former and "divine" for the latter. Yet, there is more going on here than that.
The phrase "Son of Man" is not a denial of the divinity of Jesus. Rather, Jesus is using a phrase that is also a technical phrase from Old Testament prophecy, particularly in Daniel 7. For example, if I use the word "rapture" in a church setting, many Christians will immediately think of prophecies in the New Testament that speak of a catching up of believers to be with Jesus in the air. However, a non-Christian may hear that word and only think of a poetic use of ecstatic joy and delight. Of course, they wouldn't be wrong that this is part of its meaning, but they would be missing the critical theological significance. The same is true with the Son of Man.
In Daniel 7, we have the Ancient of Days, God, seated on His throne with other thrones around him. The final beast-empire of the earth is slain before Him and the government taken from it. Next we see "And behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him." Notice that the great powers of the earth are described as beasts though comprised of men. They are beasts of men ruling in a beastly way. However, this one who is like a human receives a kingdom from the Ancient of Days that never ends. Thus, his heart and his rule will not be beastly, but human, i.e., it will have the proper relational love that should exist in any governance.
Yet, there are some powerful things signaled in the text. This one like a human rides the clouds to the Father. This is no mere mortal. Biblically speaking this is language used of God, or the gods. It is considered divine activity. Jesus emphasized this in Matthew 26:64 when he responded to high priest. They understood the connotation that he was making and accused him of blasphemy. On top of this, we have the fact that his kingdom is everlasting and the peoples of the earth will "serve" him, a word used of service to a deity.
So you see, Son of Man is not contradictory of Son of God. In fact, it actually embraces the phrase Son of God and adds to it prophetic significance. Jesus was revealing that he was that strange, unique God-man that Scripture revealed.
I know that I took some time with this, but this is what Saul is preaching. Jesus is the Son of David, but even more, he is the Son of God. He has a divine origin. We see this in the way the Gospels treat the origin of Jesus. Matthew, Mark, and Luke focus upon the human origin of Jesus in their story without denying his divinity. In a sense, they write their accounts as it was experienced. He was born, ministered, and then we figured out who he was! John, however, begins with a focus on the eternal origin of Jesus. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...and the Word became flesh (human) and dwelt among us..." This is Jesus spoken of from God's experience, stepping into the world and taking on an additional nature of a human. Of course, we may wonder how that is possible. The answer would be that God created humans in a way that made it possible for Him to take on our nature. Who'd have thunk it? This is His artistic flourish as the Creator.
Saul is preaching to believers in the Father. They worship Him with songs, readings, and prayers. However, they don't know His Messiah, and that He had come to save them. They didn't know the Father's salvation yet. If there is one thing we should learn from the Old Testament, it is this. All people, even religious people, who have the truth of God in their hands, need a spiritual transformation. The same thing can happen to them that happened to the nations at the time of the Tower of Babel. They had been exchanging truth for a lie, little by little, until they cooperated with Nimrod. God judged it and handed them over to those "gods" they were seeking. Over the centuries, and millennia, they became so dark that they were cutting hearts out of live victims for their so-called gods.
The people who heard Saul preaching about the Messiah having come were amazed at the idea, but the real source of their amazement is Saul's complete turn around. He was fighting against them one day, and then became one of their strongest proponents the next day. This is just how radically Jesus can change, transform, a life. Or better, we could say that Jesus is able to save even the chief of sinners!
At the heart of the teachings of Jesus and his apostles, we have this idea of spiritual transformation. Saul would later write in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
I grew up in the Church, but I did not live for Jesus during my teenage years. My freshman year in college began with too much partying and running around. However, Jesus confronted me and I yielded to him. He radically changed my life. A friend that I used to run around with told me one day that he had talked to his mom about me. She told him that I was just going through a "religious phase." Well, here we are 35 years later, and I'm still going strong in this "religious phase," hallelujah! Listen, Jesus did not come to give us a "religious phase," even though some people approach it this way. He came to transform our lives. It is not enough to have the truth. It is not enough to look like you are following Jesus. Judas followed Jesus! But, when it really mattered, Judas betrayed the Lord Jesus with a kiss in the middle of the night. Let us not settle for having the right religion. We must be transformed by Jesus!
In verse 22, we are told that Saul increased in strength. Luke is showing us that God's blessing was upon Saul. He is not talking about physical strength, but spiritual. Saul made a 180 degree turn from fight God and His Holy Spirit to working with Them. This required spiritual growth. He grew in hearing the Holy Spirit and cooperating with Him. He grew in his ability to be convincing to others. Of course, his familiarity with the Old Testament would help. However, Saul would have to let go of a lot of rabbinical teaching, and some parts would be retained and redeemed by the mind of Christ.
Saul had lots of natural gifts. He could learn material, and was very industrious with lots of desire to move ahead, to prove himself. However, natural talents that are not surrendered to God's direction will get in the way. Later, Saul would say in Philippians 3:8 that all of his accomplishments in the natural were rubbish. They were meaningless if he didn't have Jesus.
The word in verse 22 for "proving" has the sense of knitting two things together. They believed in a coming Messiah, but they also believed that Jesus was poles apart from what Messiah would be. Saul's preaching brought those things together in people's minds and knit them together, each stitch a different point. Another way to see it is the knitting the person to the view that Jesus is Messiah. Either way, he was convincing people, proving to them, that Jesus is the Messiah.
Always remember that spiritual growth is the result of a living connection to Jesus that is lived out in faith. True spiritual growth is also always connected to the blessing of God.
The blessing of God is a multi-faceted thing. It doesn't look just one particular way. We have to be careful that we do not equate the blessing of God with everything going well, and getting all the stuff we want. In this land of plenty, it is easy to make the blessing of God be a very material thing. I have a nice, big house, retirement nest egg, lucrative business/job, etc. Saul is a blessed man, but remember the words of Jesus. "I will show him [Saul] how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake."
Let me just say this. To suffer for Jesus is a great honor and blessing. To be martyred for Christ is also great honor and blessing. You might have to put that one in the "To Be Believed Later" file. We should never try to make these things happen. Instead, we are following Jesus and letting him show us how we are to honor him and how he will bless us. The cross was the most blessed place in the universe, but it sure didn't look like it when it was happening. Remember that! Yet, your life doesn't have to look like that to be blessed. Trust Jesus!
It is like you see Jesus saying to you, "Come follow me!" and you really want to follow him. But then, you see him going to a cross, and your flesh is saying, "I'm not following that guy; He's crazy!" However, after the resurrection, you are like, "Crazy like a fox. Wow!" Even then, after such an emotional rollercoaster, you find yourself torn. Your flesh shrinks back from one who tells you to pick up your cross and follow him, and yet your spirit desires to come out after him.
It is one thing for Peter to ask Jesus to come out on the water when he saw him walking on it. However, no one was asking Jesus to come on the cross with him. They all hid, and Peter chief among them. God understand this about us, and works with us to bring to the place of faith and courage, where we can follow him by faith.
Verse 23 opens up with "Now after many days were past..." There is a lot more time in that phrase then we may assume. Galatians 1 gives some more details about this period. There we are told that Saul left Damascus to go into Arabia, and then came back. Three years transpires in this "many days." For perspective, we need to understand that Arabia is a very general term that basically means desert. If you left Damascus going south, southeast, you were basically in Arabia. If you kept going you could make all the way to the Arabian Peninsula. We don't exactly know where and how far Saul went into Arabia. He seems to be getting away to go out into the wilderness.
Regardless, it is about three years at the point that things change in Damascus. Saul is preaching and God is blessing him. However, the Jews of Damascus begin to plot to kill Saul. Now, it is one thing to be in a foreign land and they don't like you. However, this is Saul's own people. Yet, he had been just like them, not to long ago.
It is not that he isn't blessed anymore. The devil isn't stationary. He's working to neutralize the work of God. However, God isn't static either. God sees what the devil is trying, and folds it into His plan, which is not for Saul to die yet. Thus, the plot becomes known to Saul, though we are not told how. Jesus has more work for Saul to do. As the resistance against Saul increases, God is teaching Saul to identify with the sufferings of Jesus, to join him in those sufferings. This is a intimacy that we can experience with Jesus. Yes, suffering for Christ is a blessing, though our flesh does not believe it for one moment.
When Jesus miraculously supplied bread in the wilderness, the people were all gung-ho for him. But, later they cried out "Crucify him!" People are fickle. We cannot let ourselves be stuck looking at people and hoping that lots of them will embrace us. One day you may see great fruit, and then boom, the next day they are calling for your head, and that's okay, if God is with you.
This part of the story reminds me of the prophet Jeremiah in chapter eleven of his book. Verses 18-22 describe a group of people in Anathoth who were plotting to kill Jeremiah. God reveals to Jeremiah what they are plotting and says that He will punish them. If you look at Jeremiah 1:1, you will see that Anathoth is Jeremiah's hometown, and it is filled with priests! This town of priests are secretly plotting to assassinate one of their local boys. Jeremiah had become the opposite of a hometown hero. Even more interesting is the fact that Jeremiah uses language that clearly borrows from Isaiah 53 (written some 100 years earlier). He was like a docile "lamb brought to the slaughter," and the people wanted to "cut him off from the land of the living." Jeremiah is basically looking at the mistreated individual of Isaiah 53 (who would eventually be Jesus) and says, "I can identify with that!"
Though some of the Damascene Jews were waiting outside of the city gates to kill Saul, God out-foxed them by making the plot known to Saul, and the Christians out-foxed them by letting Saul out of a window in the wall with a rope and a basket in the dead of night. Yes, great Saul who had marched to the city with strong men to arrest Christians was now sneaking out of the city by night.
We might think Saul should have walked out of the city daring them to try and touch him. Surely, God's angels would protect him. Perhaps, an army of angels would march out of the desert and escort Saul out of the city. How cool would that be? However, God delivers Saul with a much more humble method, which seems absolutely appropriate for a man who had had a big ego.
We must be careful that we are not presumptuous about how God should save us. Don't assume. Through prayer, seek God for the answer that He is giving, and not that one that your flesh is providing.
Perhaps you are hearing this and thinking to yourself, "That's a nice story, but stuff like that never happens for me. God didn't do that for me." Of course, you are not Saul in those circumstances. Even in that day, countless Christians could have complained that God didn't give them the visions that Saul had, or the mission that He gave to Saul. Don't give yourself over to envy and complaining against God. Stop looking at what God might be doing through others and being envious over it. Stop looking at what God isn't doing in your life and whining over it. Rather, turn to God in prayer and seek Him. Don't just seek Him to get visions and a cool mission. Seek Him because He is worthy to be found. Intimacy and relationship with Jesus is far more important, and yet, believe you me, He will give you plenty of tasks and you will see fruit, if you keep your eyes on Him!
Let's be a people pressing into Jesus in order to have intimacy with him, to know him better. Then, we will be a transformed person who is capable of being used to draw others to Christ Jesus. Only Jesus can tell you all the things that you have to go through for him, and only Jesus can prepare your heart to thrive in the midst of it!