Acts 09_26-31 In God's Providence

Read Acts 9:26-31 – Did you ever hear anyone talk about a God moment? It usually refers to a moment when something happens that seems unexplainable except for God. But, Beloved, I want you to know something this morning. All moments are God moments. Every single moment of every single day.

Ray Pritchard in his book on Proverbs says, “Feel free to have no opinion about that.” Meanin if God sometimes does things we can’t know why, so don’t let questions halt progress. He goes on, “Live life forward, but understand it backwards. Then, you’ll see God’s hand.” Great advice.

So, what is providence? That’s God working through everyday events to complete His plans. He does it all the time. Prov 16:9: “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” We plan, but God orchestrates every event to His ends. In this passage God moves His people from an irrational fear of man to the fear of the Lord, providentially. False perceptions get corrected, God’s people get placed rightly, and the church multiplies – all thru God’s providential oversight. We see it all in hindsight.

I. God Uses Barnabas’ Intervention to Get Saul In

Three years after his conversion, Saul arrives in Jerusalem. Imagine his frame of mind. He’ll face former colleagues, teachers and the high priest who sent him off to imprison Xns, not join them. He won’t be welcomed by that crowd.

He’ll also face people he threatened in the past. And he needs to share with the apostles his own appointment as apostle to the Gentiles. He’s not received with open arms. 26 “And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.” We’re not told how he tried to join them. But the imperfect tense “attempted to join” indicates repeated failed attempts. They feared him, didn’t believe him and were not having him. He was in a tough spot.

But here comes Barnabas to the rescue -- the “son of encouragement”, lived up to his name. Barnabas, you may recall, was a Levite from Cyprus who had sold property to help the poor (Acts 4:36). Later, when a church gets planted in Antioch, Barnabas is sent to be their pastor. He was highly regarded by the apostles. In vouching for Saul, he was putting his own good reputation on the line to get Saul in. But when no one else would give Saul the time of day, Barnabas “took him [literally, by the hand] and brought him to the apostles.”

So, how did Barnabas know of Saul’s conversion and preaching in Damascus? Perhaps Barny invited him to lunch, and gave him a hearing – something the rest of the Jerusalem disciples wouldn’t do. He believed a person’s past need not define their future – that Jesus transforms lives; he investigated where others feared to tread. He was willing to give the benefit of the doubt – a 2nd chance – to believe the best about someone until proven otherwise. Having heard Paul out, he brought him to the apostles and said, “Hey guys, he’s for real!” Barnabas was a forgiver and reconciler – willing to forgive the past.

This reconciliation was critical for Saul. The forgiveness he received reflected God like nothing else. He also had to tell the apostles of His appointment as apostle to the Gentiles “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18).

Not all the apostles were there. Paul says in Gal 1: 18 “Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.” So, this wasn’t a large meeting. But Peter, the current leader, and James, who followed, now knew of Saul. He is now in at the highest level.

This visit also enabled Saul to speak with other eyewitnesses of Jesus. This was important as he later defends Jesus’ resurrection to some Corinthian skeptics: I Cor 15: 5 “and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” Saul needed this meeting all arranged providentially by God thru Barnabas. Without him, things could have been very different.

Nothing shows forth the gospel like genuine reconciliation between believers, right? Yet how often we stubbornly hang onto real and supposed offenses. Shame on us. Every church, our too, needs some Bridgebuilders like Barny, who will put personal interests aside, think the best of others and create peace through the power of the HS. Providential instruments of God’s grace.

II. God Uses the Hellenists’ Rejection to Get Saul Out

Now it gets interesting. Paul did more than meet with Peter and Jas in Jerusalem. 28 “So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him.” As in Damascus, he “proclaimed Jesus” (v. 20), and was “proving that Jesus was the Christ” (v. 22). He’d seen Jesus, and could show how OT prophecies fit Jesus like a glove. He had to be Messiah. That was Paul’s message.

But notice to whom he went – “the Hellenists” – Jewish people from foreign countries, who’d resettled in Jerusalem and established Greek-speaking synagogues. That’s who Paul was targeting. Others were targeting local Jews. Paul was targeting Hellenists, but soon they were targeting him, too. They resented being back into a religious corner and set out to kill him.

BUT – who else have we seen carrying out a special mission to the Hellenists?

Acts 6:8 “And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, [Hellenists all] rose up and disputed with Stephen.” They eventually killed Stephen with Paul’s approval. So, is it possible that Paul, out of guilt, is taking up Stephen’s mantle – taking the gospel to the Hellenists? In any case, within 2 weeks he has stirred up the same hornet’s nest as Stephen. They want to kill Paul, too.

But in God’s sovereignty, he saves Paul. Paul later testifies in Acts 22: 17 “When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ 19 And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. 20 And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’ 21 And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’” God had plans for Paul outside Jer!

But isn’t God’s providence amazing. He uses Barnabas to get Paul in so that he could gain an audience with the other apostles. That gave them a chance to compare notes, to strengthen their faith, and to see that God had providentially added another to their number. But that having been done, God uses the Hellenists to get Paul out – to move him on to other places where he will become, outside of Jesus, the foremost propagator of the Christian faith.

See, all moments in the life of a believer are God moments. We just need to open our eyes. God works thru normal events every day. Dr. Steven Gammons was the CCCC Conference Minister who spoke at the 2009 convention in Iowa. Twenty years earlier he’d been pastoring a church, but wrestling with the possibility of joining the Navy as a chaplain. He had just gotten an offer for a three-year enlistment that would change his whole life. Well, David Mains was spoke at a conference about windows of time, using the 3-1/2 year window when God answered Elijah’s prayer by sending no rain and the 3-year ministry of Jesus as examples. He said one must be sensitive to God’s leading and act promptly or God’s window may close. Gammon’s said, "I was saying Amen to every line of the message. ’Preach it, brother’. THEN David Mains looked directly at the section where I was sitting, pointed his finger that way and said, "As you wrestle with God’s direction for your life, are you willing to make a 3-year commitment to some life-changing circumstance that the Lord is asking you to consider?" God’s providence – using everyday events – moved Gammon’s into a new phase of ministry as a Navy chaplain.

God is always there in life’s events – big or little. He is moving – and we are either moving with Him – or necessitating His discipline to get our attention. If I had time, I’d tell you how God providentially moved us to Eaton, CO, but the point is God moments are everywhere – all the time – good or bad. The hand of God is constant. We need only look for Him and we will find Him.

III. God Uses the Brothers’ Protection to Move Saul On

Now, an interesting point. Do you realize that from a human perspective, Paul’s ministry has been an abysmal failure up to this point? When he preached to the Jews in Damascus, they “plotted to kill him” (23). And when he preached to the Hellenists in Jerusalem, “they were seeking to kill him” (29). There is no mention of converts at all. No one is an overnight success in ministry. The results are always up to God, but God uses people who have been prepared through tests and experience. And Paul’s not there yet.

One pastor, Wm Quayle, described it this way. He was teaching on homiletics – the art of preparing a sermon -- and a student asked, “Isn’t preaching the art of making a sermon and delivering it?” Quayle replied, “Why, no, that is not preaching. Preaching is the art of making a preacher and delivering that!” That’s true of whatever giftedness God has given you. To make Moses required 40 years in Pharaoh’s court and 40 more years herding sheep in the wilderness. Joshua followed Moses for 40 years before he took over. David gained experience as a shepherd and then as a soldier before God brought him to the throne. And Paul needs some seasoning as well. Don’t be discouraged if it’s not all rosy as you begin to minister your gifts. Keep working at it. Gain the experience that God will use in His time and His way.

But there’s a further issue with Paul. He later admits in testimony before King Agrippa, that when he first met Jesus on the Damascus road, he was told Jesus was “sending” him to the Gentiles (Acts 26:17). Yet here he is, three years on, and no sign yet that he’s been to any Gentiles. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t, but it’s not emphasized. So, in a sense, he’s in the wrong place. He needed to come to Jerusalem to meet the apostles and compare notes, but his role was not to take Stephen’s place. So, the Lord told him in a vision, “Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles” (Acts 22:21). Paul needs to move on.

Once again, God intervenes providentially. 30 “And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.” Faced with death threats, the brothers got him out of town. They escorted him 65 miles NW to the coastal city of Caesarea and shipped him back to Tarsus. And then – Paul disappears from the biblical record for about 7 years. Seven years of preparation, but preparation through doing it would appear

Tarsus is in the province of Cilicia; to its east is Syria. Paul later says that following his two-week stay in Jerusalem: Gal 1:21 “Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.” And the Jerusalem church later addresses a letter to Gentile churches this way in Acts 15:23: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings.” It seems fair to assume that Paul was anything but quiet during those seven “quiet” years. He was establishing churches in Gentile communities and fulfilling his unique calling already.

But what is touching about this episode is how God used the very brothers Paul sought to kill earlier to spare his own life, at the same time – moving him on to his life’s calling. There is nothing better than to know that you are in God’s hands. There is never panic in heaven. As Adrian Rogers used to say, “The Trinity never meets in emergency session.” But God is always there directing our lives to His intended plan and purpose.

Conc – And notice the result of all this: 31 “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.” This deserves its own sermon – how the church prospered in good times as well as under persecution. How the fear of the Lord was accompanied by the comfort of the HS. All bc God was working behind the scenes to get Paul in, to get Paul out, and to move Paul on.

No circumstance is just a circumstance. It is the presence of God in your life. Paul Burrell was butler and confidant to Princess Diana. He tells how young Wm once had a friend, Sam, come for the weekend. On one occasion the two boys burst into a sitting room where Paul and the Princess were deep in conversation. William said, “Oh, sorry, Mummy. I thought you were alone.” As the boys exited the room Sam was overheard asking Wm, “Why is he always around?” Wm replied, "Oh, that's only Paul. He's here all the time." And so is God there – all the time. But we must look for Him, count on Him and trust Him. Every moment is a God moment. Let’s pray.