The Acts of the Apostles 55

Subtitle: Tested by the Gospel

Acts 13:42-52.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 17, 2023.

Paul has just finished sharing the Gospel, the good news that Messiah had come and all that goes with that.  It would have been amazing to hear that Messiah had come, and it would have been even more amazing to hear that he had been put to death.  Yet, on top of this, God had raised him up from the dead!  This had to floor the assembly.

The resurrection of Jesus had obtained forgiveness of sins, and justification before God, for everyone who put their faith in Jesus.  This was not just for Israel, but for the Gentiles as well.

Our passage picks up right at the point where the synagogue service is over.

There are several layers to the testing of God's Word.  It is good to accept the Bible as God's proven, written word.  You could say that this is itself a test.  Will you accept it on those terms?  However, having accepted the Bible as God's word, you are not done with being tested by God's Word.  It is not enough to merely state that they are God's word, and even religiously so.  You will be tested in life on whether you really know them, and believe them.  You will also be tested on whether or not you have come to know the heart of the God who gave them to us.

In this sense, the written word of God gets the ball of belief and repentance rolling.  It even helps as a kind of guardrail, so we don't drive off the cliff of life.  However, the Bible is spiritual, and we need to have a spiritual relationship with the One who has given it to us.  We should pray, and wrestle through the word and our life before God, seeking His leading, opening ourselves up to Him.  All kinds of tests will come our way to see if we are going to continue trusting God.

Let's get into our passage.

Paul and Barnabas leave the synagogue (v. 42-43)

There are two textual issues with verse 42 that I want to deal with up front.

The first has to do with who is leaving the synagogue.  The New King James Version (and KJV) describes it as the Jews leaving.  Yet, it also has a note explaining that it could also be translated as "When they left the synagogue of the Jews."  In case you think this has to do with the modern translations, let me just let you know that the Wycliffe English translation of the 1300s (nearly 300 years before the KJV) does not translate it as the Jews leaving.  This makes sense when you are told by verse 43 that "many of the Jews" had followed Paul and Barnabas.

The second textual issue has to do with whether Luke actually wrote that the "Gentiles" were the ones asking Paul and Barnabas to come back the next Sabbath, or whether it was the general "they."  It is most likely a large part of the whole group, both Jews and Gentiles, in light of verse 43.  Of course, these variant readings do not affect doctrine in any way.

The amazing things taught by Paul would have been shocking, and so it makes sense that a large group is asking them to come back at the next Sabbath meeting and tell them more about these happenings.  The initial response to Paul and Barnabas seems to be positive.  There is no hint that there is a problem at this point.

I do think we need to be careful of seeing this as a Christian versus Jew issue.  This was simply some Jewish brothers telling the synagogue something very strange.

We are not given an idea of the size of this synagogue, or of Antioch's population.  Yet, many Jews and devout proselytes (Gentiles) followed Paul and Barnabas.  They questioned them further.  Luke ends with Paul persuading them all to continue in the grace of God.

Though grace is a general term, in this context, it no doubt refers to the good news about Jesus that they had received.  There is the grace of God fulfilling HIs promises to Israel, but there is the greater grace of them receiving word about it so that they could believe and take advantage of its benefits.

As a republic, we are very spoiled when it comes to the grace of God.  We have received both natural and spiritual grace from Him.  Yet, when God supplies grace, He does it for a reason, and it has a responsibility to it.  We are a nation that loves to talk about rights, but we don't like talking about the responsibilities that go along with those rights.  Similarly, we love to talk about grace, but not the responsibility that goes along with God's grace.  Why does God give grace into our lives?  Is it because he loves us more than others?  Is it because we are better than others?  It is always a mistake to think this way.

God has blessed us, and there are many people in these united States who are not serving Jesus, but they are living off the blessings that have been won by others (so to speak).  Yet, this is just how God is.  He allows it to rain upon the just and the unjust.  There is a certain amount of grace that is made available to all, or all who are in a particular place.  It is called general grace. 

However, God can send specific grace, and it can come out of the blue, like we see in our passage today.  Those who came to synagogue that day received the grace that God was delivering that day.  You never know what grace God is going to distribute through somebody on any given day.  Yet, some Gentiles who don't even go to synagogue are also going to be blessed.  The ambassadors of Jesus had come to this town and everyone would receive the grace of hearing the Gospel of Jesus! 

This is a test.  Maybe some of the people in that town deserved to hear the Gospel, and, no doubt, a lot of them didn't deserve the Gospel.  However, God did a work that caused the whole town to hear the Gospel.

Whether we have smooth sailing or turbulent waters, we are called to be filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.  This is how verse 43 ends.  The key to both is fully embracing Jesus in faith.

Let' move forward in the text.

The next sabbath does not go well (v. 44-52)

Paul and Barnabas have continued to speak with whomever they can, but now we come to the next sabbath meeting.  What a difference a week, or a day, or a second, can make.  This is true even in just our own decision making.  How much more is it true when God begins to do a new thing?  We can be guilty of having an attitude that complains, "It will never change!"  But, when God steps on the scene, the question is not about whether it will change or not.  It will!  The question will be about where you are going to end up in relation to what God is doing.  Are you going to be on God's side, or are you going to be resisting, even fighting against, what God is doing?

Though this day didn't "go well," a good thing still happened that day.  It is better to find out that you haven't been trusting in God nearly as much as you put on, than to continue in empty religiosity that doesn't please God.  If you are trying to keep the boat from rocking because you tell yourself that this good boat should not rock, you had better be careful.  One day God is going to come along and rock your boat.  The problem will be that you have spent so much time trying to keep the boat from rocking that you will be unprepared for a rocking boat.  You may be pitched over the side on that day because your faith is in everything, but the Lord Jesus.  

What am I living for?  I can say it is Jesus, but when God moves, I will be tested on just how much I am living for Jesus.  We are such an entertained and amused society, but God is not entertained, and God is not amused.

We live in a time where it is getting harder and harder to live for Jesus.  The devil doesn't want you living for Jesus.  This world, our culture, sure doesn't want you living for Jesus.  It is not very efficient having a large group of people following a "2,000 year old idea."  "You people are not helping us build the Utopia that we could build if everyone did the same thing!"  Of course, efficiency sounds good-much like unity.  We can be efficiently rebelling against God, and unifying in resisting the leading of the Holy Spirit.  God help us to be led by the Spirit of God, and not religious programmers in the Church, or social programmers in the world.

It is not hard to picture the scene that Luke paints.  Though this is not a metropolis, almost the whole city shows up for the synagogue service, really to hear the Gospel from Paul and Barnabas.  It goes without saying that the synagogue would not be big enough for them all, so the following interaction may or may not have taken place outside.

Now, let's be real.  Not everyone who showed up had the desire to repent and be saved.  Some were there to hear the interesting message from the "horses mouth."  Yet, some of them are being drawn by the Holy Spirit.

Working for the Lord has some interesting dynamics to it.  There are long periods of being faithful, and yet seeing only a small response.  Is it worth it?  We can become hung up on the fact that no Red Sea was parted today.  Yet, on most days of the world, God has not parted the Red Sea, or even something close to that.  In fact, Jesus warned his generation (a generation that saw more than their fair share of miracles) that it is a wicked and perverse generation that seeks for signs.

Yet, there are those days when God moves spectacularly.  From time to time, God can move upon an individual, a town, an area, even a nation, in powerful ways.  It is similar to Israel in the wilderness.  Most days, they were simply going about their business: forage for manna, tend to the goats, correct the children, etc.  However, one day that cloud would start moving.  On this day in Antioch, the God of Israel was beginning to move in a big way.  Who would follow the cloud?  We call such times revival.

The things that are happening in our society, I think, are God trying to make us hungry for Him.  He is trying to make us realize that some of the things that we have been living for are not good enough as replacements for Him.  Our flesh is grasping at certain things that we don't want to lose and be lash out at others because of it.  And yet, the Spirit may be saying to you, "Let it go, and come into the secret place with your Lord, Jesus."

God has a timing for when He moves, a season.  It is our job to be faithful, and ready to move.  We wait upon the Lord, as we keep faithful working for harvest.  God was moving in Antioch of Pisidia.  Who would follow Him?

We are told that they were filled with envy when they saw the multitudes.  We know that this wasn't every single Jew.  It would have been led by the synagogue leaders, and rabbis.  Perhaps, they were angered that they had worked in that town for so many years and never saw such a crowd gather to hear the Word of God.  Regardless, something came out of them that day that wasn't good.

The word translated envy here is actually a neutral term that needs context to help us know exactly what it is.  It has at its root the sense of zeal, passion, that is aroused by someone or something that is excelling.

The noble sense is that we see someone else excel in serving God, and a passion is stirred up for us to want to be like them.  It recognizes a lack in self, and that fuels a determination to seek God.  In such a case, it would probably be translated as zeal.

The bad, or ignoble, sense refuses to accept a lack in self, and instead seeks to tear down the one who is excelling.  Thus, it is called envy.  Their hearts had not been in the right place.  There was stuff lurking in their heart that wasn't good, and on that day, the move of God brought it crashing out into the light of day.

Can I handle God moving through someone else when I have been working in the field for years with much less to show for it?  Many of the synagogue attendees failed the test that day.  Perhaps, they had not been working for God all along.  Or, they may be caught up in following the leaders. 

Everyone who teaches the Gospel is also tested by the very words they preach.  In many ways, God will bring situations around to test you on whether or not you truly believe what you preach.  These leaders stubbornly contradicted Paul as he spoke.  They even blasphemed.  This is not detailed, but blasphemy is basically saying anything that is untrue of God.  We can only imagine that they rejected what Paul was saying about Jesus, thinking this was safe territory.  However, it was blasphemy.  They were lying about God.

Imagine this.  They could have helped God that day.  They could have worked to get all of these Gentiles saved and starting their discipleship.  Instead, they rebelled.  It didn't have to be contention.

Who gets the glory anyways?  There is too much struggling to get the glory in the Church today.  Does the planter get the glory?  How about the one who waters?  Maybe, it is the one who leads them in the sinner's prayer who gets the glory.  No.  It is Jesus who gets all the glory.  Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord!

This causes Paul and Barnabas to rebuke them for resisting God.  They were becoming a stumbling block to Gentiles who were coming to Christ, and most likely a stumbling block to Jews who wanted to believe, but were too easily persuaded by what the leaders choose, the experts.  Many foolish things are done in the name of following experts, or the majority.  God in His grace gives us men and women with gifts and abilities that we do not.  However, they can never supplant the place of God in our hearts.  In the end, you are to be following God.  He is the only true leader of the Church.  At the most, authorities and positions in the Church can only be helpers to Jesus.  And, those helpers need help themselves.  This is why God distributes His spiritual gifts variously throughout the body. 

It was necessary for Paul and Barnabas to share the Gospel with the Jews first.  The people of Israel had taught and looked for the promise of God for over 1,500  years!  Yet, God wanted to bless the Gentiles too.  Paul quotes Isaiah 49:6, which is in the second Servant Song of Isaiah.  These Servant Songs are pictures of Messiah that culminate in chapter 53.  A common theme throughout all of these passages is that Messiah will be a light to the Gentiles and a cause for their salvation!

Paul says that they will now turn to the Gentiles.  He is not saying that he will never share the Gospel with another Jew again.  He is a Jew!  Rather, we will see him going to the synagogue first in each new town he visits.  He knows that he will find resisters there, but he will also find hungry hearts.  Listen, there are also many resisters, even rebels, in the Church of God today.  But, do not become discouraged.  God is moving, and He is not done yet!  Just make sure that you are moving with Him.

We are told that the Gentiles believed, glorified the word of God, and spread the Gospel in the region.  The mention of the Gentiles most likely means those who were not proselytes, or God-fearers.  A group of believers in Jesus, some Jews and some Gentiles, was launched that day in Antioch of Pisidia!  They clearly went to work spreading the Gospel in the days ahead.

Though we are at the ends of the earth, there are still many who have not had a hearing of the Gospel.  It is not just about geography6.  In fact, the ancient city of Antioch is in the interior of a staunchly Muslim country today.  It is safe to say that there are people there who need the Gospel, just as there are here in Washington State.  May we be a people believing Jesus, and glorifying the Word of God by taking the Gospel to whomever will listen.

The Jewish leadership goes on to instigate the leaders of the town against Paul and Barnabas.  They essentially frog-march them to the end of town and expel them from their town.  We don't know how long this took.  Maybe it was in one day, maybe several weeks.  Regardless, the clock was ticking from day one on how much of the Gospel Paul and Barnabas could preach, and how much they could disciple the new believers.  The clock is always ticking on our endeavors.  We are not guaranteed tomorrow in the work, so we are to do what God gives us to do each day.

Paul and Barnabas kick the dust off of their shoes as a witness against the rebels of this town.  However, a church would remain behind.  It is easier to expel outsiders.  However, the people who lived in town and had become believers would now have to serve Jesus in spite of persecution themselves.  Yes, they too would be further tested, even thought they had accepted the Gospel.

May God help us to pass the tests that He has for us this week.

Tested audio

The Acts of the Apostles 51

Subtitle: Struck Down by God

Acts 12:20-25.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 13, 2023.

We are going to talk about the judgment of God today.  Judgment is not only about negative things.  It essentially speaks of a decision.  In a courtroom setting, a judge, or jury, will render a decision regarding what actually happened, and what will set it right.  Biblically speaking, we are to give the decision of God, Who is perfect righteousness and not a respecter of people.  He is not swayed by the rich and the powerful, but neither does He automatically give all decisions to poor people.  He renders a decision of truth and righteousness. 

Of course, not all judgments are between two parties.  God makes decisions regarding each of us as individuals.  He works in our lives to offer us a love of the truth.  Our decisions in response to His decisions will bring forth His next decision.

God's decisions can also differ in their permanence.  Some are quick and permanent such as Herod Agrippa's death in our passage today.  Other decisions are slower and less permanent, leaving greater room for repentance (God trying to get my attention), but in the end, they all lead to a permanent and final decision from God, one way or another.

Some struggle with cases where it seems that God allows evil to continue without judgment, and others struggle with situations in which it seems that God does not protect the righteous.  You may have noticed that I used the word "seems" in those sentences.  We don't know all of God's decisions, nor all of what God is doing.  Yet, we can be confident, as the Word of God reveals, that it is God's decision to work for the good of those who love Him and believe on Jesus, and that it is His decision to work for the destruction of those who refuse His mercy.

Only God is able to make decisions that affect the whole sea of humanity in a righteous way.  He deals with us as individuals, but He also deals with us as a part of a group (even many different groups).  Even with Artificial Intelligence, we will not be able to duplicate the wisdom of God.  So, let's not even try to build an AI god that we can bow down to in worship and receive decisions for all of humanity.  What do you think?  Is that a good plan as we go forward?  I think so.

We have already tried artificial gods.  What is the devil and his cohorts, but artificial gods, pretend gods.

In the end, the wicked will not go unpunished, and the righteous will receive the reward of God Himself.  Twice in Isaiah, as he comforts Israel with God's planned mercy, they are warned that there is no peace for the wicked.  In other words, it doesn't matter whether you are in Israel or the Church.  God will not give His peace to the wicked.  So, those who build wicked empires under the umbrella of either cannot claim the promises of God for mercy.  If they want those, they will need to repent of their wickedness and follow Jesus.  To the wicked, God will give no peace, but to the righteous, the repentant, He has peace like a river!

Let's look at our passage.

Herod Agrippa steps over the line (v. 20-23)

If you are trying to figure out where "the line" is, whether as a kid with your parents, an employee with a boss, or a person with God, we can always find the line by continuing to push forward.  You will find the line, but it will be after you have crossed it, after it is too late to help you (at least in that moment).  The repercussions of finding the line of God's grace are devastating, destructive, and often permanent.

Herod Agrippa I came on the scene of Israel relatively quickly from a standpoint of ruling.  Between 38 and 41 AD, he went from ruling over a small area around a city near Damascus to ruling over all of the territories that had been known as Israel.  Since the death of Herod the Great circa 1 BC, Israel had been broken up into at least four different kingdoms, sometimes ruled by Herod's offspring, and sometimes ruled by Roman appointed governors.  Thus, it had been 40 plus years since there was one king over all of Israel.

This caused many of the people to think that God was restoring the kingdom to them.  It helped that Herod Agrippa was very favorable towards the temple, its priests, the annual feasts, and he even would read The Law of Moses (Torah) during the feasts. It also helped that he had begun to deal with the apostles of Jesus.  This would make him a "Defender of the Faith." 

The Christians knew that they were mistaken.  God was not yet restoring the Kingdom.  The leaders of Israel would have to repent and believe on Jesus before "Times of Refreshing" could come from the Lord.

In his arrogance, Herod steps over the line and God removes him quickly (i.e., within three years, so much for the restored kingdom and the Defender of the Faith).  Israel would never again have a king ruling over all Israel.

Our story starts out by mentioning a tiff between Herod and the people of Tyre and Sidon, two cities north of Israel on the coast in what we would call Lebanon today.  We are not told why Agrippa is angry with them.  However, it affects their ability to obtain food, which mainly came from areas within Israel at that time.  Herod had clearly cut them off, and the city leaders are trying to get back into Herod's good graces so that they can have food again.  The first century Jewish historian Josephus tells us that Agrippa had been holding games in honor of Caesar.  During this time, the leaders of Tyre and Sidon talk Blastus, a personal aid to Herod, into helping them get back into his graces.  They put on a festival to celebrate people who are taking vows for the sake of Herod Agrippa's safety (how ironic).

We should notice that we keep running into people trying to curry favor with a higher power: Herod with Caesar, the leaders of Tyre and Sidon with Herod, and later we will see that there are also flatterers of Herod involved.   In this case, the festival is doing something religious to curry favor with a man.  This is a terrible motivation that would never be acceptable to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus tells us that those who swear before God, making oaths to Him, should not do that at all.  Rather, we should simply let our "‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’"  Vows fit in this category of oaths that people make before God.  Yet, we should note that we cannot control how God blesses.  You should be very wary of the idea of vowing to refrain from something or to do something, while asking God to honor it by giving another person safety.  Yes, we can pray for people, but that is far different than making public vows for the safety of a powerful figure.  There was nothing honorable or godly about what they are doing.

We should do what we can to glorify and to honor God, and how He blesses will be up to Him.  Some groups do this with the concept of indulgences.  They teach that you can give money or do certain acts that will help a loved one be released from "purgatory" sooner.    There are other groups that do the same thing with baptisms.  You can be baptized on behalf of someone who died long ago as an unbeliever.  God doesn't work that way.  We can pray and minister to people while they are alive, but once they have died there is nothing more we can do for them.

So, when you pray for people, you are asking God for grace in their life.  You may even be quite specific about the way in which you want God to help them.  Yet, we are always praying that God's will be done.  It is up to Him in the end.  We can't control it, or manipulate it by great spiritual feats of fasting etc.

In this case, the people of Tyre and Sidon are Gentile pagans.  They do not understand the way of the God of Israel, and their religious vows are before pagan deities.  Do they really care about Herod's safety?  They do so only so much as it turns into food for their cities.

Luke tells us that Agrippa addressed the people from his throne in his royal apparel.  His speech affects the people so much that they keep shouting out that this is the voice of a god and not a man.

We have some extra details from Josephus in his Antiquities.  Apparently, the robe of Herod was made entirely of silver in some kind of textured weave.  As he sat on his throne and addressed them, the morning light shown through to where he sat and shimmered of this silver clothing.  The crowd was actually put off by the display in shock at what they were seeing, almost horrified.  However, some flatterers of Herod began shouting out that he was more than a man.  Crowds can be easy to manipulate if you move at just the right time.  A couple of shouts here and there can get the pausing crowd to join in.  So, the crowd comes out of its shock and joins in declaring Herod a god.  Besides, won't he surely be pleased enough to give us food now?

Herod was clearly a master at the art of "shock and awe."  You flash your great power to intimidate the people.  "Look what I am driving."  "Look how much my suit costs."  "Look how many people are in my entourage."  "Look how hard it would be to get near me without dying."

The flash of power is an age-old technique that is used when the powerful are on the road, or when you come into their domain.  They always have opulent, impressive palaces.  This even happens in the United States of America.  We may not have kings and nobles, but we do have impressive palaces in the capitol cities of our States, and several palaces in Washington D.C.  These granite, domed tributes to power say to everyone who comes near, you are tiny people and we are amazing demi-gods.  Of course, they have these palaces at the expense of the people.

People currying favor from those flashing great power has always been a problem. Christians should be immune to this because of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.  However, we have many of our own religious palaces throughout the world, and many Christians are stuck in systems of currying favor with the powerful.  May God help us to wake up and repent!

We are told that Agrippa is "immediately" "struck" by an angel of the Lord.  It doesn't appear that the angel manifests, but rather operates from the spirit realm.  Josephus basically agrees with this.  He tells us that powerful stomach pains come upon Agrippa and he is taken from the place.  Over the course of the next five days, he endures torturous pains and finally dies.  This may seem to contradict Luke, but it doesn't actually.  Luke says that he is immediately struck by the angel, but then "he was eaten by worms and died."  Notice that being eaten by worms does not happen in a moment.  It is a process.  This is not a true contradiction, only further information.

We are also told that this happens because Herod did not give glory to God.  If everyone who didn't give glory to God had this happen, there would not be very many people on this planet.  This is a particular decision of the Lord.  We really need to be humble as we analyze and talk about the decisions of God.  You will never build a decision grid that help you know exactly what God will choose.  Some who appear to do worse things than Herod are not immediately struck, and others who appear to do less may be struck.  We can become stuck in the quagmire of trying to figure out the why and why not of God.  In this area, we simply need to trust Him and have a healthy Fear of the Lord in His ability to judge.

Now there are two problems here.  The willingness of powerful people to accept the adulations of the desperate people, and the willingness of people to idolize those in power.  There is very little looking to God, and very much looking to powerful people in our Republic.  Who should we blame more?  In Herod's case, he probably has more blame because of his knowledge of the Scriptures of God.  The people of Tyre and Sidon in general are not aware.  What about our Republic?  Are those in power more to blame or are we the people more to blame?  I would say that we are equally guilty because of the witness of God's Word throughout our States.

Give honor to whom honor is due, but there is a line between properly honoring people and giving them honor that should only be given to God.  I know; I know.  No one is bowing down and genuflecting to these people yet.  But, God knows our hearts.  There are far more people giving far more lip service to God than you may realize.  Our true devotion often goes to powerful people, even in the Church.  We must stop looking to governmental servants as if they are the gods that we must appease in order to obtain their good graces.  Rather, we must put our trust in God.

Jesus warned us in Luke 6:26, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets."  We need to be far more careful in our activity, whether as a person in authority, or people who are under that authority.

God is able to judge quickly, but even the long-lived are judged.  Don't be deceived.  God is not mocked.  In innumerable ways, there were decisions in the life of the long-lived, wicked person.  You may never have seen them, but they were there.  They then stand before Jesus.  He isn't impressed with all that they were.  God did make a decision, and it is a warning to us all.  Don't think that because you live long that God is saying that you are okay.  In fact, not everyone who dies young does so because God is judging them as wicked.  Sometimes the righteous are removed early in life to spare them from wicked things that are coming.

So, how do I know that I am good with Jesus?  You get on your face before Him and you pray through until His Spirit gives you the confidence that you have truly repented.  You know because you are in a day to day relationship with Him through the Spirit of God.

The Church continues in ministry (v. 24-25)

Well, so much for the restored kingdom, at least in those days.  We know that the kingdom of Israel will be restored at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  He will sit on his father David's throne ruling over Israel and the earth.

Luke now turns from such a gruesome scene to God's work among the believers, a much more wholesome affair.

We are told that the Word of God grew and multiplied, even as the words of Herod Agrippa came to an end.  God's Word is powerful because it comes from Him.  It is the power of God for salvation to those who believe its testimony about Jesus.

Yet, the Word of God does not spread itself.  God calls all believers to be part of His Gospel spreading work.  There are still a few people out there who need to hear God's Words of Life.  We must look for every opportunity to share.  As we do so, some will believe and be saved.  Where the word grows, the Church grows.  However, where the Word dies on the vine, the Church shrivels in true, spiritual power.

The problem is that we can't just take a Bible and memorize all the words to get spiritual power.  Paul said that, "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."  The words of the Bible were given by the Spirit of God.  They are spiritual words, and natural-minded people cannot perceive them properly.

We must never lose sight of this.  These are not just the words of men talking about natural things.

This is part of the problem in Christian academia.  We treat the Bible like it is just the words of men.  Yes, they give lip-service to God's involvement.  Yet, in so many ways, they give the greatest weight to the human element behind it.

I have seen this in Christian groups that wrestle with how to get our Republic back on track politically.  You can be talking about Jesus and someone will complain about it.  "Why are we talking about Jesus?"  Of course, the right answer is that we will not get this Republic back on track by ignoring him.  Yet, they will inevitably say something like this.  "I'm a Christian too, but what we really need to do is get more money in the hands of this political group and vote in more Christians into this office or that."  These are the times that try men's souls, and no amount of claiming you are a Christian can make you think like someone whose faith and hope is in Jesus!

It is good to notice that Luke breaks up the delivering of relief funds to Jerusalem by Barnabas and Saul with the activity of Herod.  At the end of chapter 11, the money is gathered and sent.  At the end of chapter 12, we are told that Barnabas and Saul finish their ministry and return to Antioch with John Mark.   In other words, all the while Herod is doing his thing, the Church is still doing its thing.  They didn't wait for Herod to be removed and then ministered.  The Church keeps marching forward with Jesus.

How many powerful men have tried to stop the Church, Jesus, and the Bible.  They are dead now and buried in the dirt.  But, the Church of Christ marches on.  It doesn't stop.  Their attempts always fail whether they are eaten by worms or not.

Lest we be too proud, let us remember that there is no peace for the wicked.  Regardless of Christ's promises to the Church (I will never leave you; the gates of hell will not prevail against it), if you have a wicked kingdom built up in the Church or in a church, beware!  It will not work.  God will eventually bring judgment down upon your wicked kingdom and destroy it, while the true Church of God marches on.  The Church of the Spirit of God, and not the Church of the flesh, of the letter, of the tradition and trappings of the flesh, will triumph in the end.  There is no peace for the rest.

Let go of all that stuff that you are clinging to saying, "My great name...my great heritage...my great family name..."  If you can get your family name on the altar and let it burn down to ashes to the glory of God, then you be ready to move forward with God.  This doesn't mean that God wants to take your family name away.  It just means that we too easily become too stuck in things.  We become too proud of things in the natural.  We lose sight that it has always been by the Spirit and not by a family name, or even a national name.

So, Barnabas and Saul finished their ministry.  This was definitely a compassionate ministry to the physical need of the Jerusalem Church.  Yet, I am sure they also spiritually ministered to them by telling testimonies of what God was doing among the Gentiles in Antioch.  Physical ministry and spiritual ministry go hand in hand.  We should not ignore physical ministry because the spiritual is more important. 

There is a history in the United States where some people grew indignant that Christians would feed people, but expect them to hear a sermon to receive the food.  Some churches even began to think it was a sign of high morality to feed people and no longer share the gospel.  They would only share the gospel if a person asked them to do so.  Do you know who has that policy today?  Communist China does.  You will get in trouble if you share the Gospel with people unasked.  We may look down on the communists, but some people in the Church of America have had the same policy for nearly a century.

Of course, when would you ever have to choose between sharing the gospel and giving people food.  We should do both.

Believers must keep their eyes upon Jesus and the work that He has given us to do.  If we are always looking at the wicked, questioning why God doesn't deal with them immediately, then we will be sidetracked and weak.

I believe that the prayer in Acts 4 is quite instructive here.  After their release from jail and being threatened by the Sanhedrin, they prayed, "Lord, look on their threats, and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus."  They weren't praying for worms to eat the intestines of their tormenters.  They were praying for boldness and the attendant power of God to minister in the face of those threats.  May God help His Church today to quit worrying about the wicked and start praying for boldness to minister in the face of the wicked for His glory, and His glory alone!

Struck Down God audio

The Acts of the Apostles 40

Subtitle: Saul Goes Back to Jerusalem

Note: After this sermon we will be taking a break from the Acts of the Apostles.  This series will pick up again on May 21, 2023.

Acts 9:26-31.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 19, 2023.

Did you ever have to go back to a place where you really didn't want to go?  Sometimes God takes us back to face a few things that we would rather not face.  Sometimes there are things that we should go back and face, but it's to late.  If people are gone, or have died, or the opportunity has passed, then we may have to simply go forward while facing them internally and in different external forms.

Last week, Saul had to slip out of Damascus at night because there were some Judeans who were plotting to kill him.  This leads to him going back to Jerusalem.

Let's look at our passage.

The Jerusalem church is cautious

Luke does not tell us exactly what leads Saul to go to Jerusalem.  I believe that he is being led by the Holy Spirit, which is a theme throughout this book, as well as the whole Bible.

According to Galatians 1:15-21, this is happening about three years after Saul's amazing conversion outside of Damascus.  The people in Jerusalem would know that something odd happened to Saul, since he never came back with prisoners.  Also, the rumors would have also been circulating that he had become a Christian.

When Saul arrives in Jerusalem, he finds that the Jerusalem is very cautious.  We are told that he "tried to join the disciples..."  This term is most likely talking about the general believers that still remained in Jerusalem following the persecution led by Saul earlier.  At this point, the term "apostle" and the phrase "The Twelve" was being used of those closest ones who walked with Jesus. 

These Twelve were unique because they bore the responsibility to establish what Jesus taught in a faithful manner that people could trust.  It is interesting that Jesus did not write any of his teachings down, neither did he baptize any of those who followed him.  It was the 12 disciples who became apostles who baptized followers in the name of Jesus, and who laid out the teachings of Christ.  Jesus did this on purpose.  God can do everything without us, but He doesn't want to do that. 

You were designed to work with God and have Him work through you.  This is an important point because, if we were designed that way, we will have trouble living life without Him.  I like to use a catamaran as an illustration.  These small boats with a big sail are functional because they have a large counter-balance that hangs off to one side.  They can cut through the surf at amazing speeds because they are light and generally stable.  However, if you take off that counter-balance, you will find it very difficult to do much sailing at all.  Your sail will be "bowing" to every little wind that comes along.  This is us without the stabilizing presence of God within our soul.  You may look like you are sailing to a world that has redefined what it means to sail, but the truth is that you are unable to accomplish that for which you were created.

We do not know how Saul's conversion affected the persecution.  Did it end, or continue?

Saul would naturally not have any Christian contacts of his own, since he had been dragging them to jail, but he may have been given some names from the believers in Damascus.  Yet, he finds the church skittish of him in general.  They do not believe that he could have truly been saved.  Their fear of what Saul had done in the past made it harder for them to believe the miracle that Christ had done in Saul's heart.

It is easy in our experience as the American Church to accuse these early believers of being judgmental and even unchristian.  However, if your life and the life of your loved ones was on the line, you might think differently yourself.

The Jerusalem church, like any other persecuted churches down through history, would have developed careful ways.  Though we should be willing to die for Jesus, we are not told that we should try and make that happen.  I talked about these matters in my sermon series entitled, "Lessons from the Underground Church."  When the lives of your loved ones are on the line, you do church differently.  Many people today are walking out through miles of jungle to a secret meeting place so that they can honor God and worship Him with other believers, as His Word commands.

Which brings up an American issue.  If you need church to look a certain way, or be a certain way, in order to participate, then you are in a bad position.  You really need to take hold of that attitude and square it away with Jesus.  Take that attitude out, throw it on the ground, and stomp on it.  Get on your face before God and say, "God, change my heart!" 

We have lived in a blessed land, and yes, praise God for it!  Yet, we know that the most blessed people throughout history have spent that blessing mostly on their fleshly desires.  They squandered it.  If God took out blessings away, would you even be a Christian?  If even a small amount of blessing is removed, we are often unable to take it. 

Be very wary of this attitude building in your heart.  Some might complain that the Bible doesn't say we have to walk out into the jungle in order to be saved, and faithful to God.  No, it doesn't.  However, those are the kinds of things that faithful believers do.  We will want to obey the command of our lord to worship God together, but they don't want to see their loved ones killed.  So, they choose not to meet at their house and not to worship loudly.  This is the response of faith to the Words of Christ.  Don't play a game like the hypothetical questioning person above.  Take up your cross, and follow Jesus.  These are the words of our Lord Jesus.

Thus, there is a true need for caution in persecuted, underground churches.  This is the testimony of the Church down through the ages.  The "authorities" will use the conversion process in order to infiltrate the group and spy out who all is involved.  Many a time, a  person has lied saying that they believed in Jesus, but they were only worming themselves into the group.  William Tyndale was ratted out this way, and later put to death for daring to translate the Bible into English. 

Just as "loose lips sink ships" cautioned the WWI and WWII generations, and "loose tweets sink fleets" cautions the modern era, so Christians were not quick to divulge there meeting places and members.

Of course, Saul could be offended by this, and accuse them of not being Christian.  However, he doesn't do that.  How dare they question whether he is saved or not!  Please note that Saul doesn't need anybody to stroke his ego and tell him that he is a Christian.  He has a relationship with Jesus.  If you have a relationship with the One who went to the cross for everyone, then you will be able to carry a cross for your spiritual brothers and sisters.  Saul knew that he deserved every slammed door that he received.  Many of them had lost loved ones because of him.  He did not deserve a place in their midst.  Instead, you go to your knees and pray for your brothers and sisters that God will heal their hearts and help them to know that you truly have changed.

If you were in that situation, how would you know what to do with a guy like Saul?  The answer is not in building some religious sounding, but actually natural, wisdom.  Persecuted churches must not develop a law that says we never let outsiders in.  And, neither should we build a false principle that says that the church must always accept the people who come to them.  Making protocols, or decrees, like these is really a childish level of being a Christian.  We can remain children and simply follow the human wisdom we think is fit, or we can seek God and hear from Him on the subject. 

Believers in such situations do need to be cautious, but they also need to be taking their caution to the Lord in prayer.  In the context of a regular prayer life, this will become as natural as breathing.  If you remain a spiritual child, then you will make childish decisions.  Saul takes it in stride because he is not a child spiritually.  He has a strong relationship with Jesus.  He doesn't need them to never make a mistake in order to love them and serve them.

The apostles accept Saul

Notice that Saul is accepted by the church in Jerusalem, even though it started out rocky.  God used the mature individuals in the church to recognize that the Spirit of God was working in Saul.  They led the church in embracing him.  So, it actually worked like it was supposed to do, regardless of some bumpiness on the road.

God spreads His gifts.  Just as the two-year old is not put in charge of the security of the house because there is a dad who can do that much better, so it is in God's spiritual house.  God gives elders who have been faithful over a long period of time, and who have learned through many spiritual experiences the ways of God.  They help watch out for the body of believers as protectors, but also as those who have discernment in matters such as this situation with Saul.  Be thankful for the elders that God has placed in your life, and don't be too quick to cast off their wisdom.

Remember, you will not be a child forever.  I remember when I was in my early twenties that my grandparents and my dad all died within three years.  It felt like the roof had been torn off of my life.  I couldn't talk with my dad or grandparents about things I was facing.  It was harsh.  You are exposed to life and you are thinking to yourself, "I'm not ready."  However, God is always with us and fills in what is missing in our lives.

I say that to encourage you to enjoy these years of having mature believers around you.  Soak up what they have learned, and keep growing in the Lord.  The day will come all too quickly where you will need to be the mature one for others.  And, believe me, this isn't as fun as we may think it is.  Maturity means doing the duties while others play.  However, there is a joy in such duties that no amount of play can replace, a joy of relationship with the Lord!

The answer in tough situations like Saul's is for everyone to be focused on relationship with Jesus.  This is why Barnabas steps up.  He has enough maturity to take Saul to see the apostles.

Now Barnabas was introduced in Acts 4:26.  His birth name is Joseph, but the Greek spelling often dropped the "ph" and spelled it Joses.  Barnabas is actually a nickname that the apostles gave to this Joseph because he had sold some of his property to care for widows and the poor in the church.  Barnabas means "son of encouragement."  This is a Hebrew way of saying that Barnabas is a chip off of the old block.  In this case, his mother, father is encouragement. 

True to his nickname, Barnabas "somehow" runs into Saul and takes him to the apostles.  He is not just a wealthy donor.  He is a true worker for the Lord, of which this is just one thing.  I believe that the Holy Spirit is involved in this development.  Saul was running into shut doors, and it may have felt like God was telling him to leave.  However, Saul kept humble and kept waiting.  God eventually brought Barnabas to him.  Don't let yourself become so discourage by obstacles that you forget about God.  He has a reason in letting those obstacles remain.  Wait upon Him for His answer.  God was bringing Saul to Barnabas.  He just needed to stay faithful.

Saul is brought before the apostles and relates his story of conversion.  This leads to him being accepted into the group.  Saul is not under "trial."  However, it is only natural that he should make the case for the reality of his conversion.  It is in Galatians 1:18 that we are told that not all of the apostles were present.  Peter and James the brother of Jesus are the ones he met with.  It also tells us that he stayed with Peter for 15 days.

We are not told that Peter and James make an official pronouncement.  Instead, it just states the reality of his acceptance.  Peter's association with Saul would be enough for the others, particularly those who had come to faith in Jesus through Peter's ministry.

Though we are not told how Peter and James knew to accept Saul, they knew the only way that matters, by the help of the Holy Spirit.

Saul ministers in Jerusalem

Saul very quickly does what he does best.  He begins to speak to his fellow Judeans about Jesus.  This is going to end in an attempt on his life, just as things had ended at Damascus.  We don't want to be judgmental of Saul, but there was something about this man that ticked off his Judean brothers.  I believe it has something to do with the phrase, "he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord."

Is there any other way to represent Jesus, but boldly?  Of course not!  However, this boldness shows that the Holy Spirit was powerfully upon Saul.

It is good for us to pray, "God, I don't want to be a coward.  Help me to be bold!"  There is a bit of coward in all of us, okay so there is a lot of coward in all of us.  We can be really strong as long as we have a group or system around us.  These are the things that we surround ourselves in the natural to make us feel powerful.  Yet, if  you strip those things away from such people, you will find a very scared person at their core.  These things in the natural are like a kind of natural armor we use to protect ourselves instead of leaning upon Jesus Christ.

Pray for Jesus to be the spiritual surgeon who cuts out the cowardice from your heart because we can do bold things, and talk big, but it isn't the true bravery that comes from God.  Even courage and boldness can be perverted from the good that God intends in them.  We can boldly follow the wrong purposes.  So, these virtues need to be purified in prayer before God.  "God, I want to be bold, but for your things, and in the right way!  God, I want to be courageous, but not in sin.  I want to be courageous for You!"  This is the kind of prayer we need to pray.

So, Saul speaks boldly in the name of Jesus for God's purposes, like Stephen did just three years before this.  Notice that he debates with the Hellenists, the same group Stephen had trouble with.  I could let this slip by, but it is significant that Saul disputed with them.  Luke told us during Stephen's story that the Synagogue of Freedmen were from many areas including Cilicia, where Saul's hometown of Tarsus is.  I believe Saul focused on them because he knew them best, and may have counted many of them as friends.  They needed to hear the gospel.  Yet, the dispute becomes very heated.

There is a time to walk away in disputes, like when you are about to lose your cool.  This is a spiritual thing.  We are not told how they do it, but there is an attempt to kill Saul, or at least a plan is started.

This sinful part of natural man is always with us.  They tried defeating his arguments about Jesus first.  When that didn't work, they retreated to simply shutting him down for good. There is nothing wrong with disputing with people in order to show them truth, but a Christian must always keep an attitude of peace about them.  The world resorts to bully tactics.  Today it is shouting people down in public, or cancelling them online.  Though we may not agree with another person,  we should not let rage and anger drive the bus of our actions.

Of course, in Stephen's case, the "authorities" always cloak themselves in a cloak of morality, and the color of law, as an excuse for simple weakness of argument.

Again, God's people should never rely upon the sinful works of the flesh to accomplish the will of God.  Spouting venomously against others online, or in person, using intimidation, or manipulating the group behind another person's back, all of these are wrong and not of the Lord.  It goes without saying that flat out murder is wrong as well.

After this, Saul is sent to Tarsus and there is peace in the region.  This seems to be a decision by the church, "the brethren."  Of course, we have already been told that God's plan is for Saul to minister among the Gentile nations.  However, it was important for Saul to come back to Jerusalem where he had spent his adult life training under Rabbi Gamaliel.  It was important that Jerusalem know that Saul of Tarsus was indeed a Christian, and the same thing is most likely needed at Tarsus, explaining why he goes there next.

We may want the story to be that a person is saved, and all their friends and family are saved too.  That sometimes happens, but is not always the case.  We can be too quick to think that we have done something wrong when people don't respond in faith.  However, remember that the Lord himself was crucified by the people he witnessed to.  Did he fail?  We don't want to use that as an excuse.  We must wrestle through this issue before the Lord in prayer.  Lord God, help me to become better at witnessing for you!

The churches in the region had peace and were edified.  We know that there continued to be difficulties. Perhaps, the persecution wasn't quite as bad.  However, for the believer, peace is never about having no troubles.  Peace is about having the strong assurance that the God of the universe is with you and working all things to your good.  This is the peace that passes all understanding, and internal peace.

Make sure you are focused on being used of God and then trust His leading.  If you are doing this, then you can rest in it.  This is not a resting of inactivity, but an inner attitude that knows you are saved, and God is using you to save others!  Amen.

Saul Goes Back audio

The Acts of the Apostles 39

Subtitle: Saul Preaches at Damascus

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.

Saul is a new man in Christ Jesus

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!

Saul Preaches audio