A Perplexing Faith
(Acts 9:19b-31)
1. PARIS (AFP) – Heart attack survivors who eat chocolate two or more times per week cut their risk of dying from heart disease about threefold compared to those who never touch the stuff, scientists have reported.
…the new study, led by Imre Janszky of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, is the first to demonstrate that consuming chocolate can help ward off the grim reaper if one has suffered acute myocardial infarction -- otherwise known as a heart attack.
"It was specific to chocolate -- we found no benefit to sweets in general," said Kenneth Mukamal, a researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and a co-author of the study. "It seems that antioxidants in cocoa are a likely candidate" for explaining the live-saving properties, he told AFP in an exchange of e-mails.
2. It seems like everything they used to say was bad for you is now good for you, and everything they said was good for you is bad for you -- or not as good as they thought.
3. Take raw vegetables and spinach. They now say raw spinach is not nearly as good for you as cooked; the same is true with tomatoes. The cookies releases nutrients your body would not absorb otherwise.
4. There are lots of confused and confusing people and facts in life.
5. And sometimes God’s working in someone’s life can be very confusing…like Paul’s.
Main Idea: When God works deeply in a life, spectators can become dizzy and confused.
I. The PERPLEXING Nature of Paul’s Faith to the Jews (19b-25)
Geography (and Galatians 1) takes us from Damascus to Arabia back to Damascus to Jerusalem to Tarsus (map will be projected)
A. The Synagogue LEADERS Were Puzzled
1. Paul was welcome in the synagogues, this meant he kept the Law
2. His great training under Gamaliel gave him credibility
3. But his reversal about Jesus being the Messiah upset them
4. And his expertise at proving that Jesus was the Messiah from the Old Testament "baffled them." Still best apologetic.
B. Paul becomes a NEW enemy to the unbelieving, hostile Jews
1. Their plan: to kill him
2. Paul escapes in a basket
3. Note how inconsistent God’s miracles are: The Holy Spirit transports Philip but Paul escapes in a basket.
C. Paul was in Arabia for perhaps 3 years (see your notes). This is where God gave Moses the Law (Mt. Sinai) and where Elijah the prophet escaped to, where he heard the voice of God. It is in that same region where Paul was instructed by the Holy Spirit.
Probably a period of preparation and developing his theology. It was also about the same amount of time the disciples spent with Jesus.
When God works deeply in a life, spectators can become dizzy and confused
II. The Perplexing Nature of Paul’s Faith to the DISCIPLES (26-30)
A. Saul was DREADED by the church (26)
1. Their hesitation was understandable.
2. But Saul needed the church; he was now a believer; his old friends were now his enemies, and those who should be his new friends wanted nothing to do with him.
3. He was like the little boy who had made his mom and dad very upset with him. So they made him sit by himself at a different table during the evening meal. After the meal was finished and everyone was getting up, the boy quickly bowed his head and prayed, "Thank you, Lord, for preparing a table before me in the presence of my enemies." [source: sermon central, Steve Shepherd]
B. Barnabas embraces and CONNECTS Paul (27)
1. Barnabas’ nature to take others under his wings, develop them, & connect them.
2. Steve Shepherd used this illustration:
I heard about one young man who had come from a pretty wild life to accept Christ. And even though he had been wild he was very friendly, funny and everybody seemed to like him. People couldn’t help but like him. He wasn’t in the church very long when a man from his Sunday School class called him on the phone and said, "I was just wondering how you were doing tonight."
The new convert replied, "Well, I’m just sitting here all by myself realizing that I can’t have any women and can’t go out with my old drinking buddies. I was just thinking about the joy of the Christian life!" [Source: Sermoncentral]
3. When someone is new to our church, do you ever take it upon yourself to connect them to others? Or do you leave it to somebody else … maybe nobody? Do you introduce them to others or invite them to activities? Out to eat?
4. The mission of HPC is Reach, Connect, and Deepen.
C. Paul debates with the GRECIAN Jews (28-29)
Possibly the same Jews who stoned Stephen when Saul was part of their synagogue; Saul is an old buddy who is now their adversary; sort of like Moses returning to Egypt. An insider is now an outsider.
D. He FLEES for his life (30)
In Acts 22, Paul adds that the Lord appeared to him in a vision and told him to leave.
When God works deeply in a life, spectators can become dizzy and confused
III. The Positive Result of Perplexed Adversaries: PEACE and Growth (31)
When God changes lives, our spiritual adversaries are disarmed, or at least taken aback. The word translated "then" or "so" suggests a result of what happened above.
A. PEACE
1. Paul was the spearhead of persecution. With his 180 degree turn, the persecutors lost their morale and retreated for a while.
2. When lives are transformed before the eyes of lost people, they may not come to the Lord, but they are humbled and sedate
B. STRENGTHENING
1. This is our word "edification," meaning "building up." We might call this "growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ," as Peter does in 2 Peter 3:18. I call it, "building spiritual muscle." Church program is the gymnasium. If don’t work out, you don’t build muscle. Some atrophy.
2. Pink’s leg.
I was visiting Pink at the nursing home. His legs had been like sticks, because he could have no therapy until his sore healed. Skin hung down, and he had no muscle. But now he is getting rigorous therapy; the skin has tightened, and muscle is now beginning to form.
That’s what edification is. It is the building of spiritual muscle, primarily through learning the contents and meaning of the Word of God and doctrine. It involves encouragement, serving, and training to do the will of God. It is "growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ," as Peter does in 2 Peter 3:18.
The Church program, body life, and educational ministries are the gymnasium. If don’t work out, you don’t build muscle. You atrophy. Many Christians have spiritual legs that are sticks with skin hanging down. And it doesn’t bother them one bit. They are not willing to apply their minds to study; they will never get better in this life.
3. Christian life is a battle, need spiritual muscle building and warfare training.
4. But church is not enough: you must also do your home calisthenics. I
5. magine getting into the boxing rink with no training?
6. When it comes time to determine what we do in church, listen to Paul in I Corinthians 14:26b, "Let all things be done for edification."
C. ENCOURAGEMENT by the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit seeks to use you to encourage. Hebrews 10:25 reads, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another…"
D. CONVERSIONS
1. This growth was conversion growth; it was the church universal that was growing, not just a particular congregation.
• not just salvation decisions, but discipleship decisions; baptized
• took up their studies in the Word of God and spent time in prayer.
2. Conversion growth is not something evenly proportioned; the Holy Spirit works in ways beyond our control. Europe is filled with people whose hearts are hard toward the Lord; in South America, people are open and being saved right and left. In the U.S., hearts are getting harder all the time. Our job:faithful
3. It is estimated that about 10% of the Jewish people became believers in Jesus by the end of the first century.
4. Not long after this, Jewish hearts would become hard toward the Gospel and the gentiles would be receptive.
E. Living in the FEAR of the Lord
They were serious about honoring God.
We pray before meals to bless God’s name to honor Him.
We try to be ethical -- not to cut a good image -- but to honor God in our dealings.
Parents need to pass the fear of the Lord down to their children, but we cannot pass down what we do not possess ourselves.
When God works deeply in a life, spectators can become dizzy and confused
CONCLUSION
1. My challenge to you is this: let God get a hold of you.
2. Reach out and perplex someone this week!
Luke’s accounts, like the Gospel accounts, are summaries which include only the details necessary to make the narrative coherent. Although accurate, they are incomplete. Here is some additional information we get from Galatians 1:17-2:1.
Paul is saved and begins preaching in Damascus, but leaves for nearby Arabia after a little while. He spent three entire years there in that secluded region. It is likely at this time that the Lord taught him much of the doctrine we see in his epistles. David Stern comments, "From his vast treasure of Jewish knowledge, his many years in the Gentile world, and his personal experience with the Messiah he developed the foundations of the transcultural Judaism which came to be known as Christianity." If 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 are a clue, then Paul received special revelations from the Lord at this time.
Some compare Paul’s time in Arabia as equivalent to the three years the 12 Apostles spent with Jesus. Paul then travels back to Damascus (Galatians 1:17) and preaches until he has to escape. He then makes a trip to Jerusalem where he remains for 15 days (Acts 9:26, Galatians 1:18-19).
Paul seeks to fellowship with fellow believers, but the disciples do not trust him (Acts 9:26). Barnabas befriends Paul and introduces them to the other apostles who are in town, Peter and James (the Lord’s brother). After this, the other believers open their arms to him.
