“One-Eighty”
Acts 9:19b-31
August 26, 2007
One-eighty. It’s the term we use to describe an abrupt and total about-face, a full change of direction and focus. It’s a term that we can with ease apply to Saul, the man who not only had a saving encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, but he had an encounter that utterly, one-eighty changed the course of his life. It’s a reminder to us of a key fact of Christian living and it’s this: when we think of God’s grace, our minds immediately go to the fact that it is by grace that we are saved, through faith, of course. God’s grace saves us! But right along with that, we have to remember that the same grace of God that saves us is the grace of God that changes us. I’m not sure we give that equal footing, but we should, the fact that God doesn’t save us by grace to leave us where we are, but to revolutionize our very lives. Grace saves us, and grace also changes us. We see that happening in today’s text (read and pray).
Does the Bible contradict itself? Today’s passage is grist for some who would say that it does. Saul, later Paul, gives some details of his conversion in Galatians 1, some of his own autobiography in defending to the Galatian church his position as God’s apostle, and at first blush, the details of that account don’t line up with this story terribly easily. Bible’s wrong, right? No…what we must remember, though, are a couple of things: one, that Luke records certain events of history that are specific to his own purpose here, as Paul records certain events of history that are specific to his very different purpose in the book of Galatians. If Karen and I went to a Falcons game, the report that I gave afterwards and the report she gave would be very different. I’d be talking about draw plays and play-action passes and zone blitzes and critical interference calls. She’d be telling the story of the weather, the comfort of the seats, the cost of the concessions, and how long it took to find a good parking space. She might mention the score; I might be able to recall what it was I ate that she stuck in my hand as I was transfixed by a 4th-and-1 with two minutes left! Same game, different reports for different reasons. Similarly, Luke in writing Acts and Paul in writing Galatians mention or leave out certain aspects of Paul’s story in concert with the things they wanted to emphasize.
Two, there are ways to harmonize these two accounts, and it’s invalid just to jump to the assumption, as certain critics of the Bible do, that there’s no way to mesh the two together. I say all of this to say that, if you find yourself reading Galatians in your own study time, and find some things that don’t seem to add up quite right, remember these two truths.
Remembering these truths, let’s wade into several truths from this passage that illustrate that 180-turn that Saul made:
I. A Changed Man - :19b-22
Transformed by his new Master
A. A New Message
Saul had been given papers authorizing him to go into the synagogues in Damascus and bring back the followers of Jesus bound hand-and-foot to Jerusalem, where they would be imprisoned and very possibly executed. Where did he go following the Damascus Road experience? Right into the synagogues, of course! But instead of “you have the right to remain silent; anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of Sadducees”, he had a different message: “This Jesus? He’s really, honestly, truly the Son of God!” And in saying that, understand what he was saying: this would be understood clearly by his hearers to mean “the Messiah, the Promised One of Israel”.
Notice that the focus of his message was Jesus. John Stott wrote, “Testimony is not a synonym for autobiography”. In other words, if your message isn’t about Jesus, your message isn’t the gospel. If it’s about you, or about trendy techniques, or pithy pointers, or incredible ideas, or self-help soothings, or poignant panaceas, then it isn’t the gospel. If Jesus Christ isn’t front-and-center, in your life and in your story, then it’s not the message of God. It might be funny; it might be interesting; it might be well-voiced; it might rhyme or reason well; it might awe its hearers and captivate its critics. But if it isn’t Jesus, then it isn’t God’s message. Saul proclaimed Jesus and proved Jesus, because to Saul, the message was Jesus.
B. A New Effect
The word here is “amazed”, and in the original Greek, the term meant “freaked out, dude!” Well, maybe not…but what a different effect than his hearers might have anticipated at the sight of his face! They feared the very real possibility that he would have their heads for their belief in Christ; they knew that he’d been sent to round ‘em up for the slaughter. Instead, lo and behold, they had a significant emotional reaction, but it was one of delighted amazement!
C. A New Strength
1. Growth in understanding
Brand-new believer Saul became an “immediate” proclaimer of Jesus. Did he have a fully-formed theology? No; while God could have imparted much to him supernaturally by way of knowledge, we don’t see that as being necessary. He learned much as the rest of us would, as the Holy Spirit gave him understanding. But the fact that he might not have known all that he eventually would know didn’t stop him from giving a witness of what he did, and the Damascus Road experience convinced him of this core issue: this Jesus Whom he’d persecuted by persecuting the church was none other than the resurrected, living, Son of God!
He became something of a champion in apologetics…let me define that word for you, because you’ll hear it with some regularity, and I want to know that you know what I’m talking about. Though it sounds like “apologizing”, it doesn’t mean that; Paul is not saying, “excuse me, I hate to intrude, but do you think that there’s any chance that this Jesus fellow might be, like sort of in some way, uh, the Son of God?” No…the art of apologetics involves giving a reasoned, articulate defense of one’s position. Peter tells us that every one of us needs to be ready and able to give a reason for the hope that is in us. We did some of that in our Thursday Bible studies, working our way through the Scriptures so that we could articulate the Bible’s teaching on salvation in Christ, justification and sanctification and those meaty subjects. I plan to run another segment of that in the not-too-distant, and if you’re not confident in your abilities in those areas, perhaps you should join us.
2. Growth in ability to articulate and defend
I imagine that he became more skilled verbally as well; he might have been gung-ho in his zeal to persecute Christians, but do we have record that he had much opportunity to articulate his position? But now, here he is, speaking regularly for Christ, and undoubtedly, this sharpened his skills, as it would for any of us. I may not be much of a speaker now, but trust me, I cringe mightily when I think of what I said the very first time I stood in front on anyone and tried to speak. I trust that that is not on tape anywhere, but I’d be willing to pay hush money to have it destroyed! Saul grew in his facility, I believe, to articulate his newfound faith.
II. A Marked Man - :23-25; 29b-30
Persecuted by his co-conspirators
“When many days had passed” – Luke is vague as he records this period of time, but we know from Galatians that this was a period of three years, when Saul headed to Arabia. The reason for this trip is conjecture; some see it as a mission, but others as an extended time when Jesus revealed Himself much more fully to Saul. Saul spoke of the profound fact that Jews and Gentiles were one in the body of Christ as a “mystery”, specially revealed to Saul by Christ Himself, and some speculate that this extended time in Arabia might well have been when this took place. Some even postulate that the three years Saul spent in the relative wilderness of Arabia corresponds to the three years that the other apostles spent directly with Jesus, that Saul and Jesus were playing “catchup ball” in Arabia. Maybe!
But at any rate, when this time was over, some of the very men who had gone with him, likely, and other sympathetic Jewish individuals who rejected Jesus, were determined to put a stop to him; further, in II Corinthians 11 we learn that the city manager, a secular individual who’d grown to see Saul as a nuisance, was in on the plot as well. They weren’t messing around; they were playing hardball, and murder was on their minds. God used some of Saul’s newfound friends to protect him, a scenario we see played out twice in this passage.
Note something interesting here: “his disciples”. Now, this doesn’t mean that these folks were not first Christ’s disciples, but what it does suggest is that Saul was effective and persuasive in his sharing of Christ. He shared a bond with these Christians. True conversion should always result in the establishment of a vital connection to church membership. This was the NT pattern, and it should be the pattern today, and the response to the idea that “I can be a Christian without being part of a church” should be with the rejoinder, “maybe, but not a very good one!” Now and again, I run into folks who’ll say something like that, and they’ll have some excuse, usually detailing how a church has “done them wrong”. Guess what? It happens. Churches do a lot of little things wrong, and sometimes they do some big things wrong. But that doesn’t negate this fact: if you are a follower of Jesus, you need a church. If you wait ‘til you find the perfect one to join, don’t join it, because then it won’t be perfect any more. But one thing we will emphasize and re-emphasize at Red Oak is that we must have each other to be what He wants us to be.
III. An Accepted Man - :26-27
Welcomed by his former enemies
We can easily understand the initial reluctance of the Jerusalem believers to welcome Saul so quickly into their midst. Was he just putting up a front in order to find an even more effective way to bring down the whole house of cards, to put more followers of Jesus in jail or to have them executed? Going “undercover” might be an effective way of doing that; it’d be human nature to be suspect. Did you happen to see the AJC front-page article this week about a couple of private investigators hired by an insurance firm to dig up dirt on another couple, and they tried to do this by joining the church small group that the couple was already members of, down in Stockbridge? Sleezy to the max (and if you want to read the article to make sure you don’t have your auto insurance with this company, see me…
At any rate, a man named “Barnabas”—actually, nicknamed “Barnabas”, that name meaning “son of encouragement”—came to Saul’s rescue. Barnabas had likely known Saul before, known of his integrity of character, and been utterly convinced of the genuineness of his conversion. Barnabas took Saul to Peter and James (we know this from other Scripture) and convinced them that Saul was sincere. When Saul needed a true friend, he found one in Barnabas, and thus those whom Saul had so vigorously persecuted previously became his colleagues in faith and ministry. I don’t think it a stretch to say that Christian history would be different if Barnabas hadn’t stuck his neck out for Saul! Now I know God is sovereign, and He accomplishes His purposes every time. That said, He always uses means; what if Barnabas hadn’t been obedient to God and courageously vouched for Saul?
Table Talk – Who has been a “Barnabas” in your life? Who has been an encourager to you in your walk with Christ, and how? As you talk around the table, compile a list of characteristics of a good “Barnabas”.
Go over answers. Now, I have no idea if the plural is “Barnabases” or “Barnabi”, but whatever it is, we need more of them! When a new person walks through these doors, regardless of what she looks like, what baggage he may seem to have, every last one of us needs to have a warm welcome and an encouraging word. We will be a friendly, grace-oriented, accepting church that greets others with grace. The grace of God saves people, and the grace of God then changes people. And if we get into the business of expecting people to change prior to experiencing God’s grace, and prior to our loving and accepting them, then we are in the wrong business. What if a couple that’s living together starts coming to Red Oak? Great! I wish every couple living together in this community would be here! What if a homosexual couple comes to Red Oak? Great! I wish every homosexual couple in this community would be here! Go on down the line! Granted, the parallel isn’t perfect here; Barnabas knew Saul to be a follower of Christ, and some folks who come here won’t be; sure. But the greater point I want to make is that people with a Barnabas spirit welcome others, encourage others, look for ways to build others up, see in others what some don’t see by the grace of God. But I believe in the grace of God to save and then to transform! And I believe that if that grace can save and change Saul, it can save and change anybody! And I believe that if that grace can save and change me, it can save and change anybody!
IV. A Useful Man - :28-29a; 31
Effective in Kingdom service
Apparently, the persecution that began with the martyrdom of Stephen died out with the conversion of Saul, and the church began to experience a respite from the trouble. This is a summary statement to wrap up the point, but I believe Luke makes it here because Saul has now become a significant contributor to the progress of the gospel, to the success of the church. This persecutor of the church has become tremendously useful in the Kingdom!
And when God changes us, He does so that He might make us useful instruments in His Kingdom. There is a purpose to the change, in other words; there is a reason that God is doing something new and different in our lives, and it is that we might become people who make a difference for Him here and now. I spoke of Barnabas seeing in Saul something that maybe even Saul didn’t know was there, and I see potential in some of you that maybe even you don’t know is there. That potential is there in significant part because of the power of God, and the challenge for each of us is to allow God to transform us and use us according to His will and His plan.
A one-eighty: not too strong a term to use to speak of the change in Saul’s life. A completely changed man, marked for harm by his former colleagues, accepted as a brother by his former enemies, useful in service to the Christ Whom he had worked so hard against. And if God is working in your life, it’s to accomplish that one-eighty in you as well.
Table Talk – Can you identify areas of your life where God is working to change you? “The story (of Red Oak) will be told in the lives that are changed!” Share some of them with the group (if they aren’t too personal).
