Godspeed: On a Journey with Jesus - Paul Conversion

Godspeed • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

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Saul was on the road to Damascus, and he planned to persecute followers of the Way when he arrived in Damascus. On the road, he heard the voice of Jesus calling him to repent and believe in the resurrection. Saul, who would later be known as Paul, transformed from a person who aimed to be right with God by keeping the law perfectly to a person who trusted in the sufficiency of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. When we are on a journey going in the wrong direction, God’s Word has the power to change the whole trajectory of our lives. Saul transformed from a man breathing murderous threats into a living testimony of the power of Jesus. Jesus has the authority to take a person from death into resurrection. The Word of God preached and believed leads us to change directions. God’s grace has the divine power to rescue us. There is no fall so deep that grace cannot descend to it. God lifts us up to the lofty heights of becoming instruments of grace.

Notes

Transcript

On the Road to Damascus

Acts 9:1–2 ESV

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Paul worked to preserve the purity of God’s people. He went to Damascus to persecute people who he believed were distorting God’s Law. He trusted that righteousness was found in keeping the law. Indeed if boasting is found in our righteousness, Paul had many reasons to boast. Philippians 3:4-7

Philippians 3:4–7 ESV

though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Paul persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. He was zealous for traditions to be preserved. Paul did not wake up in the morning and decide to be a persecutor of God’s people. He earnestly believed that he was protecting God’s Law by working to silence the people in Damascus.

In the middle of the story of Paul’s conversion we will not find the story of a wicked man becoming a righteous man. We will find conversion is the story of a person on a journey in the wrong direction and being turned around toward God. He was convinced he was going the right direction. Paul changed direction.

Paul moved from trusting in his own righteousness according to the Law toward trusting in the righteousness of Christ. Paul moves from being tradition and law centered toward centered in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

On the road he became blind after seeing Jesus, his blindness falls like scales from his eyes after the ministering of the Word and Baptism by Ananias.

The movement of seeing to blindness to believing becomes a common trope in some early stories of saints. One common story around the sainted woman Veneranda is that she through hot oil on the eyes of an emperor and then healed him. It is said that he then became a believer after this moment. Also this illustration of blindness happens in the story of St. Christopher, a saint about whom little information can be verified. 40 archers were said to be sent by a king. A king wanted Christopher to worship false gods, and Christopher refused. The king had him imprisoned, tortured, but could not kill him. The king sent two women to seduce Christopher, but Christopher converted these two women to become believers in Jesus. 40 archers were then sent to assail him. Christopher deflecting the arrows and mythically sent an arrow back into the king’s face. The king was blinded. When Christopher sees this, he offers to heal the king by his blood. The king beheads Christopher, and then mixes the blood of Christopher with some clay, and his eye is healed. The king converts to Christianity.

The blindness and seeing analogy present in these stories of saints illustrates the pattern of conversion. The blindness of unbelief becomes more than a spiritual event but becomes a physical event. The healing and conversion brings the restoration of sight.

One way I think of this conversion of Paul. He had been working at keeping tradition and obedience to the law as his destination, he changed into a person that kept good news of salvation in Jesus as the beginning, ongoing, and ultimate destination of his journey.

How does conversion happen?

Hearing the Word of God

Paul retells the story of the road to Damascus multiple times. The first time we find it is in Acts 9. This on the road moment was probably 4-7 years after the crucifixion of Jesus. It was miraculous, supernatural, and indeed a revelation of the resurrected Jesus.

Artwork from this moment on the road will often focus on Paul being brought to his knees by the thunderous voice of Jesus. A white horse often will be near by and the surrounding soldiers will usually look confused. The emphases in the traditional artwork will be on the frightfulness experienced by Paul. The man with authority and power in this world is contrasted with the authority and power that comes from heaven.

Paul’s conversion is not only recorded in Acts 9, but also in Acts 22, and for a third time in Acts 27. The second and third tellings are part of Paul’s testimony of the graciousness of Jesus Christ to visit him. The second time he addresses the crowd in Jerusalem. The third time he addresses King Agrippa and defends himself against accusations that he is destroying God’s law.

Paul also describes his conversion in his letters, in Galatians 1:15, He emphasizes that Jesus called him by grace.

Galatians 1:15 ESV

But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace,

In 1 Corinthians 15: 8, Paul emphasizes that while it would seem he was too late to be a witness to the resurrection of Jesus, the same Christ that died for our sins, was buried, and raised on the third day appeared to him.

1 Corinthians 15:8 ESV

Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

In 2 Corinthians 12:1, Paul emphasizes that he will not boast in his own strength, but that even in his weaknesses Jesus appeared to him.

2 Corinthians 12:1 ESV

I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.

While the artwork might focus on Paul being afraid, Paul does not focus on being afraid. Paul marveled that he would be able to receive the good news of the resurrection of Jesus. Paul knew that he could not earn or deserve the Word of Christ. Philippians 3, Paul describes all the empty trophies that are rubbish compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing his savior Jesus Christ. Before his conversion, Paul believed that he could be righteous according to the Law. But Romans 3:10

Romans 3:10 ESV

as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

became real for him when he became a wtiness to the surpassing graciousness of Jesus Christ.

There is one more spot in Paul’s letters that I think reveals how Paul experienced his conversion. Romans 10:17

Romans 10:17 ESV

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Paul trusted that conversion on the road happens when we meet Jesus Christ, when we hear the Word of Christ.

Unbelievers go confidently forward, unaware that they are blind to the graciousness of God. The Spirit of God works the word of Christ into our minds and hearts to lead us to the truth. We repent when we become aware of our blindness and trust that Christ alone be thou our vision and our strength.

Conversion is the Story of Repentance

Martin Luther’s 95 theses posted to the Castle Church doors in Wittenberg in 1517 began the Reformation. Thesis 1, “Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, in saying “Do penance…,” wanted the entire life of the faithful to be one of penitence.

Matthew 4:17 ESV

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Conversion is not simply a miraculous, supernatural event that has happened in the past. Conversion is the daily rhythm of repentance. The Word of Christ turns us away self-centered righteousness toward trusting in his grace to be sufficient.

Some religious traditions will have a pattern of people sharing their testimonies. The pattern will be to describe the wretchedness of the previous life and the amazing wonders of the new life in Christ. Paul does share his previous life, but he speaks of the glorious life he lived according to the standards of the world. His new life is filled with beatings, imprisonments, and difficult conflicts with people in opposition to the gospel.

Paul’s conversion is what Lutheran Reformation, and indeed all of Scripture is about, the truth of God’s Word. Paul did not confess private opinions or only a personal biography. He confessed the truth that he was willing to stake his very life on, here in this world, and more importantly before the judgment seat of Almighty God. 2 Corinthians 4:13

2 Corinthians 4:13 ESV

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak,

Christians, if you want to be true and faithful to the teachings of the Bible, turn away from saving yourself and turn into the promises of Jesus Christ. In all circumstances, for preaching, teaching, and sharing your conversion proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.

Conversion is not excluded only to those who posses a story of being a lousy wretch whose life gets transformed by knowing Christ. Conversion is the story of everyone who was born in sin and dying in the law and becoming a new creation in Christ.