In Jesus Holy Name July 31, 2022
Text: Acts 9:1 Redeemer Lutheran
“Never the Same Again”
“You’ve got to be kidding me?” Have you ever heard those words? I think I would be saying when I read Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9 is the conversion of Saul who held the robes of the men who stoned Stephen, the first martyr in Jerusalem. You going to use this guy? And God says, “yes”.
Read Acts 9:1
He could not find enough Christians in Jerusalem to arrest and persecute. So he goes the High Priest and gets permission to seek out Christians in Damascus.
Read Acts 9:3-6
I want you to notice what is not here. One of the things we learned in Sunday School was that because of this experience on the Damascus Road Saul changed his name to Paul. That is not true. Luke continues to use his name, Saul, until the first missionary journey. Then Luke in Acts 13 writes: “Barnabas and Saul, who was also called Paul proclaimed the word of God.”
Paul grew up with his feet in two worlds. He grew up in a Greek world with Jewish parents, but also a Roman citizen because of the city in which his parents lived. He was a Pharisee, who spoke at least three languages. Fluent in Aramaic, Greek and Latin. My guess is that lived all his life with both names. He was a legalist to the core.
Raised a Jew, trained as a rabbi, he became a violent persecutor of the early Christian church. He hated Christ and his followers so much that he did his best to eradicate the new religion as if it were some sort of dreaded virus. He was a terrorist who did his evil deeds in the name of the God of the Bible. He hated Christianity and he loved Judaism.
He was lost and didn’t know it.
Before Jesus came into his life, Paul spent a lifetime trying to save himself. His salvation depended on his perfection on his performance. Then God intervened on the Damascus Road.
Max Lucado notes that Paul had blood on his hands and religious diplomas on his wall. (Anxious for Nothing” p. 42)
Read Acts 9:10-12 Loose translation. Wait, Wait… you ‘ve got to be kidding…. I know he has come here to arrest Christians… you want me to be arrested… Ananias read Acts 9:15-19
The one who had approved the first martyrdom was made an apostle and would eventually become a martyr himself.
Some people argue that God changed Paul on the road to Damascus. I would argue that God did not change him at all. God did turn him around 180 degrees. But that man, Saul was so fanatical about killing Christians…he was just as fanatical about his faith in Jesus, the Messiah. His character did not change. He was just a fanatical about the gospel, telling people about Jesus as their savior as he was before. God knew exactly the kind of man Paul. His character traits, his background, his languages, made Paul ideal for spreading the story of Jesus.
Once Jesus appeared. Once Paul saw Jesus, He no longer valued his Jewish resume. He no longer depended on his good works to earn God’s favor. Paul gave his guilt to Jesus an accepted the righteousness of Jesus as his own. (ibid)
Christianity is supremely a religion of conversion. Everything we say and everything we believe is built upon one fundamental and revolutionary premise: You don’t have to stay the way you are. Your life can be radically changed by God. Conversion is a miracle that happens when the life of God intersects with human personality. Once God enters the picture, your life will never be the same again.
Paul was religious, and by all the Jewish standards a very good person but he could not save himself. On the Road to Damascus, the voice of a seeking God knocked Paul off his high horse and turned his world upside down. Once you hear Jesus call your name, you like the wise men, begin to travel by a “different route” (Matthew 2:12) (“Jesus Speaks” Leonard Sweet p. 58)
The Damascus Road is one of the greatest “hide and seek” stories of history. The voice and blinding light is a post resurrection appearance of Jesus. He seeks out Paul. Just as God came looking for Adam and Eve, so He came looking for Paul.
Paul was a sinner. But God.
Paul hated Jesus. But God.
Paul tried to kill Christians. But God.
Paul wanted to destroy the church. But God.
Paul enjoyed being lost. But God.
Paul wasn’t looking for a new life. But God.
Paul intended to kill more Christians. But God.
Jesus entered Paul’s life without ringing the doorbell. This is pure sovereign, saving grace. “That’s not fair,” you say. Paul would never say that. If God had waited for an invitation, Paul would never have been saved. He was lost just like Lazarus was dead. It’s not as if Lazarus was sitting around in the tomb saying, “I wish someone would raise me from the dead.” No, he was dead! Jesus came along and raised him without his permission.
Salvation begins with God—not with us! Salvation is of the Lord. That’s is why Paul could write: “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this faith is not from within yourself, it is a gift of God not by works so that no once boast. “ Ephesians 2:8-9) And again in Romans Paul writes: “since we have been justified through faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ….for you see, at just the right time when we were powerless Jesu died for the ungodly.”
Rev. Ray Pritchard wrote: God had his eye on Paul while he was still in the womb. While he was a toddler, God was watching his every step. During his rambunctious teenage years, God kept him in sight. During the long years of rabbinical training, God was calling him to salvation. Paul didn’t know it, didn’t feel it, was totally unaware of it, and in fact couldn’t see it at all until after he came to Christ.
Then he could look back and see God’s fingerprints in every part of his life. The Hound of Heaven was on his trail and when the time had fully come, God reached down, met him on the Damascus road, and brought him into the Kingdom. Nothing had happened by accident. All was ordained as part of God’s divine plan.
God takes responsibility for our salvation. He arranges the circumstances so that we can know him personally. We rarely see that in advance, but looking back we can clearly see how the hand of God was graciously drawing us to himself. Conversion is not a cooperative venture between God and man it is 100% the work of the Holy Spirit. Even the ability to believe that Jesus died on the cross in order to erase our broken commandments and to know in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead is a gift from God. Thus all the glory belongs to the Lord.
