Meeting Paul Series

Acts 9 - 3/26/17

Turn with me this morning to Acts 9.  We have been working our way through the book of Acts, a transitional book in the NT that records the spreading of the gospel as the church is formed.  Jesus told his disciples that they would be witnesses in Jerusalem, then to Judea and all Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth.  In Acts 2 we see the gospel going to Jerusalem - the disciples are gathered in the upper room, waiting for the Holy Spirit.  Peter stands up on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes, and thousands are added to the church.  Then the gospel goes out to Judea and Samaria.  We saw the examples of Stephen reaching out to the Hellenized Jews and Philip the evangelist traveling throughout Samaria, going from city to city sharing the good news of Jesus.  We read in Acts 8:40 - Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.  That brings us to chapter 9, where we find the next wave of the gospel - the uttermost parts of the earth - which indicates all the regions of the Gentiles.  And the key character we are going to see is the Apostle Paul.  We saw him back in chapter 7 at the death of Stephen - at that time he went by the name of Saul - and he was there giving approval for Stephen’s stoning.  Today, we see the story of Saul’s conversion, calling, and change.  

Read Acts 9:1-9 - Pray

The first thing we see this morning in the story of Paul is

• His Potential - Paul is a type A, driven personality.  He is a work-aholic.  He is a man who is always taking action.  I don’t picture Paul sitting around looking for shapes in the clouds.  He is a man on the go.  And that is one of the reasons why he has such great potential.  Paul is “zealous” for God.  He has great zeal, great passion, a great fire in his heart.  

When you look at a group of kids and think which one might be the best servant of God, it is not necessarily the quiet, shy boy who doesn’t do anything wrong - often it’s the biggest troublemaker, the one always dreaming up new pranks to do.  But it takes God getting hold of his heart and changing him.

God saw great potential in Saul.  Before his conversion he is not acting like a Jewish rabbi, wanting to debate different views about the Torah - instead he is more like a terrorist.  He is so passionately convinced these Christians are a cult, teaching things that contradict the bible, that no only is he opposed to them - he even goes so far as to get permission to track them down and bring them back to Jerusalem to face the consequences.

Remember we saw in chapter 8 that a great persecution came on the church and the disciples were scattered, taking the gospel with them wherever they went.  Well, Paul wasn’t happy about that.  It says in verse 2 that he wants to go clear up to Damascus to bring them back.  That doesn’t mean a whole lot to us, until we start comparing a map.

Damascus is 175 miles from Jerusalem.  And Paul didn’t have an automobile - he didn’t even have a motorcycle.  So he is either traveling on foot or possible by horse or mule, the distance from here to Fort Wayne, IN or here to Sandusky, OH to corral all these Christians.  Why would Saul spend weeks of his life to travel a couple hundred miles to round up those who believed differently than he did?  First, because Saul was such a sincere believer in God.  He was so passionate about his belief that he didn’t want others “blaspheming” his ideas he didn’t want them starting other churches, and he didn’t want Rome having to get involved in any way.  Because Jerusalem was the mother church of Judaism, the synagogues throughout the region would all comply with Paul’s letters giving permission to imprison these followers of Jesus.  So Paul was passionate.  But then we also need to consider

• His Problem - Even though he was sincere, he was sincerely wrong.  He was passionate, but he was passionate about his tradition.  You can wholeheartedly believe something, but not believe the truth.  Paul was rounding up these Christians and killing them because he thought they were teaching heresy, even though Paul was the one who was mistaken about the truth.

The Jewish culture was one that elevated “tradition” over truth.  Jesus constantly was condemning the Pharisees for their failure to see and acknowledge the truth.  Jesus says in Matthew 14 - And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?  Paul writes in Romans 10 - Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.  For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.  Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.