From Persecutor to Apostle (Acts 9:1-25)
Billy Milton - August 8, 2004
When I was a teenager an evangelist called James Aitken was working in our area for a few weeks. I called him Uncle Jim. As part of his daily routine he would visit people in their houses and talk to them and invite them to his gospel meetings in the evening. One day he went to the door of a man who was famous for being an atheist and, not just an atheist, but someone who also hated Christians. Uncle Jim was not familiar with this man’s reputation when he knocked his door so when the door opened he launched into his familiar spiel as he had done thousands of times before. This time, however, the result was spectacularly different. Before he could do anything this man punched him and pushed him violently onto the ground and whilst Uncle Jim was lying defensless and shocked the man grabbed a walking stick and ran up and raised it high to give him a good beating.
At that point Uncle Jim shouted out the strangest thing that might just have saved his ribs from being broken! He yelled out, “Stop! You would make the most amazing Christian!” The man was so astonished at what Uncle Jim had shouted that he lowered the stick and said, “What did you just say?” Uncle Jim then began to tell him about the Apostle Paul who had also beaten up Christians and then become one of the greatest Christians who had ever lived. The man was so intrigues at the story of Paul that he ended up coming to hear Uncle Jim preach that night. I don’t know if he ever became a Christian but I do know that God can, and often does, save the most unlikely of people. People like Saul of Tarsus….
Outline of Saul’s Conversion The conversion of Paul is such a dramatic and important event in the life of the early church that Luke actually tells the full story three times, in chapters 9, 22 and 26. In summary….
(1) Saul had launched a campaign of violent persecution against the followers of Jesus & the high priest had sanctioned it. Why are we not surprised at that?
(2) Heading for Damascus to wreak more havoc. Bright light from heaven shines & he falls to the ground.
(3) He hears the voice of the risen Jesus, answers him & Jesus talks again. (v4)
(4) He is given instructions where to go & what to do and a man called Annanias in complete obedience to God’s prompting, and at the risk of his life, prays for Paul’s healing and salvation. An amazing story I’m sure you’ll agree.
His conversion was a major shock to anyone who had heard of him. Comparable say to Ian Paisley becoming a Roman Catholic today! Can you ever imagine that happening? We can understand a bit more about why this was such a shocking thing to happen when we look at Paul’s background which he helpfully outlines for us in Phil. 3:4-6.
PowerPoint slide:
~ circumcised on the 8th day [Covenantal]
~ of the people of Israel [National]
~ of the tribe of Benjamin [Tribal]
~ A Hebrew of Hebrews [Filial i.e. Family connections]
~ a Pharisee [Ceremonial]
~ zealous [Committed]
~ faultless [Integrity]
Now this, I’m sure you’ll agree, is all very impressive. His credentials are impeccable. His pedigree up there with the very best but do you know how he describes all these benefits in v 8? He calls them skubala a Greek word meaning ‘dog poo’ and considered such an awful word that the early scribes wanted to remove it from the Bible as being unworthy of such a book. All his greatest assets were skubala!
What had happened to Paul at his conversion? Well he tells us himself in 2 Cor 5:17-21. He says that he became a ‘new creation’. Not just a change of mind or a turning over of a new leaf but a completely new person. Paul wasn’t just a guy that was determined to sort his life out – he wasn’t just a guy that had gone through rehab and was now ready to try really hard again – Paul was quite literally a new creation. He tells us that the old man was gone. A man called Ezra Taft Benson wrote the following: “The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take us out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of the people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mould men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behaviour, but Christ can change human nature.” Paul was not just a nicer person – he was fundamentally different. Along with the new person came a new purpose in life which was unbelievably different from the old purpose. Once he had relied on himself and sought to destroy the Christians and mocked the name of Christ, now v 20 tells us he preached in the synagogue that “Jesus Christ was the Son of God.” Explain the significance in a monotheistic society.
However, and some of you will not be too impressed by what I’m about to say now, sometimes this dramatic story of Saul’s conversion can get directly in the way of people coming to Christ! Let me explain. Satan is a master of the black arts of persuasion and if you have a little piece of Biblical knowledge, but have not yet committed yourself fully to Christ, he might be trying to persuade you right now to wait for a ‘Damascus Road experience’. Some cataclysmic, irresistible intervention from God in your life. “Its up to God to come down from heaven and stop me in my tracks and shake me into faith.” In Luke 16 a rich man wanted just such a direct intervention, a message from heaven, and Jesus told him, “You’re not going to get it friend!” We cannot depend for our conversion on an extraordinary intervention by God. In fact, you don’t need to, because he has provided in the Bible all the information you need for salvation. If you refuse to believe what he tells you, no sound and light display will change your destiny.
On the other hand, the essence of what happened to Paul can happen to us today. It most probably will not be as dramatic an encounter as Paul’s was, but no encounter with the risen Jesus Christ can ever be described as ‘an every day occurrence’. It should be a life-changing event. I say ‘should’ because sadly many people go into it almost with the attitude that they are doing God a favour, & consequently go at it in a half-hearted manner. Many others today just do it because their parents did it & to step outside of the Christian social group, conversely, would bring the same stigma as Paul would have experienced by joining it!
The new Alpha publicity material features a picture of a mobile phone with the words on the screen saying, “Is there more to life than this?” If that’s the type of question that has been nagging at the back of your mind recently then the answer for you is, “Yes! There is more to life.” By giving your life to Jesus today you will know the type of certainty that Paul could speak of in Philippians 1:21 when the one time Christ-hater says, “For me to live is Christ, to die would be gain.”
But perhaps you are even a step beyond where Paul was. You’re not a Christ-hater, in fact you are aware that there is a spiritual dimension to your life that is not being fulfilled. Perhaps you have come to realise that the type of person that the Bible calls a sinner might very well describe you? If so the best news you could hope to hear is that you too can become a new creation by meeting with Jesus in the same way that Paul did. As I’ve said before, probably not as dramatically… but thankfully with the same life-changing result.
Maybe you’ve never even considered the possibility of becoming a Christian. Well God sometimes delights in doing the unexpected and perhaps this is your moment. God asked Paul, “Why are you kicking against my proddings, Saul?” Saul stopped kicking and began following and serving. Maybe this morning its time for you to stop kicking also?