This post by christinecoltman was originally published at GRACE PLACE
Acts 9:1-31
Here we are with such a well known passage. I am praying tonight God can open our eyes and show us new things to soften our hearts and turn them to Him.
Let us pray.
So how can we get a new take on this passage? I know many of you will have read it again with your study buddies but let us try again with fresh eyes. I am going to break it down in different ways to see if getting different perspectives on it will illuminate things not seen before. None of this is new or an original thought and I am grateful to a lot of resources, especially John Stott, but praying that God
has helped me pull it together in a way that will make us think afresh tonight.
We are now going to read the passage; it is quite long but worth listening to.
As you listen: What strikes you?
Do any words or phrases stand out?
Anything that makes you think I have never noticed that before?
Anything you think, I wonder what that means?
After the reading I will just give you a minute to jot your thoughts down, with pen paper or phone, whatever works for you.
Read Acts 9:1-31
You will have heard of colouring by numbers, which is about my level, but tonight it is ‘Bible study by numbers 1 to 5’.
So number 1: Saul
Saul is our main character of the story tonight. We have already seen him in these studies where Jill showed him to us approving of and encouraging the death of Stephen by stoning. Now encouraged and fired up by his ‘success’ of
crushing followers of The Way, he decided to go out on the road to continue his persecution. (As a small aside, followers of or people belonging to ‘The Way’ was the original name for early Christians, describing their life as a path or journey following Jesus, who called Himself “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,”. This was emphasizing a dedicated way of living, believing, and practicing His teachings).
Who was Saul?
Apart from being the last person anyone expected to turn out to be a goodie! Saul was a Jew as he says in Philippians, “circumcised on the 8th day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee”. But he was brought up and lived in Tarsus, which is now in modern Turkey. At this point it was a Greek city, so he would have spoken Greek, but it was under Roman rule so being born there he would have been a Roman citizen. All of these are points God uses in the story much further along than our passage goes today. But it goes to show he was chosen, a particular person with the right gifts for God to use.
When are we talking about? There is some debate but this passage was thought to be between AD 34-37. Why Damascus? There is no clear answer to that, but there was a large Jewish committee there with many of them following Jesus, so I guess he thought it was a good place to start the next stage of persecution. We know that Damascus is about a 150 mile journey from Jerusalem which would have
apparently taken about a week, and he was almost there when the life changing events happened.
Saul was proud, arrogant, and thinking he was there to wield power and influence. Remember he was carrying his letters which showed his authority. Then Jesus intervenes!
This is a scene depicted often in pictures. Look at the image and imagine yourself in the scene. Supernatural lights, and voices from heaven jolt Saul into a new reality. A voice speaks to him in Aramaic; “Saul, Saul why do you persecute me??” Saul grasped that this was a supernatural voice. So he asked “who are you Lord?”. He answered him, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting”. Wow, Saul was laid low and humbled as his eyes were opened to realise Jesus was speaking to him. Jesus who was alive and resurrected, who identified so closely with his followers that when
you persecuted them, you persecuted him. What a life changing moment. His spiritual eyes were opened and his physical eyes were shut; why was this?
Maybe it was as a sign, to just give him the space to process what was happening. Just reflect on that moment how do you think he felt, as his rage and self righteousness melted away. How sweet would that grace have seemed. Hopefully, those of you who have done the study will have already been reflecting on your own
‘eye-opening’, or do I mean ‘eye-shutting’ moment?!? Just take a moment now to think back. It may have been this dramatic, but it may have been more gentle. It doesn’t matter what the moment was like, it is how you respond to it that matters.
What about the poor men with him? They must have been completely confused! They heard sounds but no words; they may have seen lights, but most dramatically their angry, bullying, arrogant leader was now on the floor needing them to guide him.
Now we move on to number 2: Ananias and Barnabas.
There are two other people named in our passage who often don’t get much of a mention but they play a very important part in God’s plan. Saul could have not gone on to do his life’s work without the actions of these two men.
Lets start with Ananias, who has been called an unsung hero. Just imagine – Ananias was a Jew, and well aware of Saul and his reputation and the plans he had made to come to Damascus to arrest believers. Ananias might even have been at a prayer meeting calling on God to stop Saul coming!! So imagine his shock and horror when he is told by God to go to him. I’m not surprised he is reluctant and needs telling twice. Ananias then took a deep breath and went “ok God” and walked off down the street to see Saul. I can’t even think how hard he would have been praying…
“God I really hope I heard you right, otherwise it will be short visit” and potentially Ananias would not be coming home that day. As he went through the door, maybe aware of Jesus’s love for him and the forgiveness he had received, Ananias reached out his hands. “Brother Saul” or “Saul my brother”. What a welcome into
the family of God! Who of us can say we are that welcoming to new believers we meet? What a role model; Ananias saw Saul as God sees him… washed by Jesus’s blood and loved and forgiven and welcomed. It is not totally clear from the text, but it can be assumed that Ananias then baptized him and they ate together. Ananias put aside his personal fear and hesitations and trusted God, and welcomed Saul in to the family of believers in Damascus.
A bit later in our passage we come to Barnabus son of encouragement. There is some debate of how long this was after Saul’s conversion, but from his later letter it is thought to be 3 years or so after the early events. People were afraid of him still; his violent acts and plans were still fresh in people’s memories and he
was feared by many, so he was not welcomed. God however did not want his plans interfered with; this was the chosen instrument of God to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. So he sent Barnabus to Saul’s rescue; Barnabus presented Saul to the other apostles, especially Peter and James, and testified to his work preaching in Damascus and of the story of his conversion. He was then welcomed in to the family.
So a few things to notice. In both places Saul sought out other Christians. Straight from his conversion he wanted fellowship with others, to encourage and
witness to each other. From this we need to be aware of the great responsibility of the church to welcome new believers and befriend them, drawing them into the family of God. Are we as individuals and as a church living out the challenge of Ananias and Barnabus, putting aside our own prejudices and judgements to accept and welcome people as Jesus welcomed and accepted us?
As we reflect on this, let’s stand up and move to a different seat. Why did Jesus meet Saul on the Damascus road? Saul would have been praying in the synagogue regularly. Why didn’t God meet him there? Sometimes a change of place takes us out of our comfort zone and makes us more open to God, so let us move seats and see if it gives us new perspectives.
Ok as we settle again we are onto number 3: 3 days, 3 relationships.
So what had convinced Barnabus that Saul’s change was for real. Saul demonstrates true change by radically changing his relationships, his conversion brought dramatic changes in 3 different relationships.
1) Relationship to God.
His first 3 days as a Christian were days of prayer and fasting. As he talks about in later letters, in those 3 days Saul was increasingly aware of his sin and the forgiveness he had received. As he reflected on his past behaviour he was filled with an awareness of the depth of divine grace and mercy. His theology changed forever and he realised the new and old way could not co-exist. For if righteousness is through faith by grace then it is no longer by works and sacrifices. As all believers do, he gained a new awareness of God the Father; no longer the distant rule bound God of the Old Testament, but ‘Abba Father’ who gave his son for our forgiveness. He also grasped a key concept for all his later preaching, of the believer being in Christ, of dying with Christ and
being raised with Christ.
2) Secondly, Saul’s relationship to the church had a complete 180 degree about turn. He went from persecuting the church, to being an integral leader in the church. He went from breathing fire, dragging people to prison and trying to tear the church down to spreading encouragement, teaching people and building up the church. He went from aggressor to brother. This complete change was one of the most striking aspects of the conversion and many have said it is a convincing proof for the existence of God and the truth of the Bible.
3) Thirdly, his relationship to the world saw radical change; he went from a narrow minded, strictly hierarchical, ‘Yahweh for the Jews and Jerusalem’ focused mind set, keeping only the right people in, oppressing and persecuting any who disagreed with him. To witnessing to the end of the earth welcoming all who believe into fellowship and sharing God’s love with all people. Jesus appointed him as a servant and witness, and an apostle to the Gentiles, as he says in Romans 11:13.
As an aside, what does being an apostle mean? And why is Saul one when the other 12 were all with Jesus from the beginning? As you can imagine many books and hours of sermons are written and spoken about this. The short answer is that he had a divine commission from Jesus himself; He was the sent one (‘apostolos’) to the Gentiles. He was a witness to the resurrected Christ in the encounter on the Damascus road and showed he had been given divine authority through the signs and wonder he performed. He was also recognised by the other apostles (in the end) in his lifetime as an apostle.
Moving on to number 4.
These are the 4 characteristics Saul showed as a witness.
- He was Christ-centered.
As soon as Saul started preaching he was fully focused on Jesus. As we can see from our passage, he was preaching Jesus was the son of God and proving he was the Christ. He wasn’t just telling people about the amazing things which had happened to him, but using them as a hook and then redirecting people’s gaze to Jesus. His story was just a proof of Jesus’s resurrection and Lordship. - He was Spirit-empowered.
As we read in the rest of Acts and Paul’s letters, he spoke with the convicting power of the Spirit, he healed the sick, he was guided about where to go and who to talk to by the Spirit. Many miraculous things happened in his presence to add weight to his message as a witness for Christ to the world. - He was courageous.
Having been a persecutor of the church, he was well aware what he was getting into and the opposition he would face. He spoke boldly and courageously, and not unexpectedly, as we see in this passage, very quickly he was running for his life. But this did not stop him. He just moved to the next place and spoke boldly again. - He was sacrificial.
Saul suffered throughout his life; he was imprisoned, had personal rejection, was stoned and left for dead. He could easily have been martyred like Stephen early in his ministry but God had other plans and warned him to flee.
Lets just take a few moments to reflect on our own relationships and witness. This is not about comparisons but more about letting the Holy Spirit talk to us and maybe prompt us in areas He wants us to move and grow.
Thinking about your relationships with God/church and the world, are there things you need to focus on or change?
As you think about your witness in the world, what strikes you? I am aware I need to be more aware of the movement of the Spirit and listen more closely to the small quiet voice to guide my life and relationships.
Happy to talk more about this if you want to ask later.
We finally arrive at number 5.
For the final verse of our passage which shows the 5 characteristics of the church at that time.
There was peace; Saul who had been leading on the persecution of the church had converted and become part of the church and this seemed to have meant there was a respite from persecution for a short while. God had provided a time for his church to regroup ready for the next challenge and not to get complacent. There were also changes in the Roman Emperor’s priorities at this point which again might have taken some pressure off.
A little phrase here which we might not even notice has huge significance: ‘the church through out Judea, Galilee and Samaria’. If you know your Bible, the whole book talks of conflict between these countries and people groups, but here they are united. It also says ‘one church’ in 3 places, showing unity and fellowship. If only people spoke this way about the church today.
It was also ‘strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit’. This speaks of gaining spiritual maturity and being guided and empowered by the Spirit. Strengthened to endure the trials ahead. This is the work Jesus spoke of the Spirit doing; that he would be the comforter and remind them of Jesus’s words.
The church was also ‘growing’ numerically, as seen in other places in Acts with the early Christians communal way of living; breaking bread together, financially supporting one another and having close fellowship drew people in so they could then hear the good news of Jesus. Is our church that attractive today?
They were also ‘living in fear of the Lord’. This is not cowering fear, but holy reverence respecting God and his holiness and authority. This would have been counter-cultural and bore fruit of genuine joy in the goodness of God.
As we draw to a close. Lets listen to the passage again. Do different things strike you? Do you have any thoughts of comments to share?