The Conversion Of Saul
Acts of the the Apostles • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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When I was younger, I went through an existential faith crisis. As many of you have gone through, or maybe you’re going through now. Maybe you haven’t yet. I never questioned whether there was a god. Simply because the truth of a creator seems so obvious to me. For me, it was the reliability of the Bible. It was a question of whether Jesus was the true way.
I decided to let go of my faith completely and start over, seeking objective truth. I figured if the Bible was the word of God and Jesus was really the way, I’d make my way back. However, in the midst of that was real fear. What might that do to my relationships. To my family. I was starting to work toward ordination. Obviously that would have an effect on my career. But I knew I had to wrestle with it, no matter the consequences, because I still believed that the truth will set you free.
As a side note, this process game me much greater sympathy and empathy for people who come to faith in Christ, like Muslims or atheists. It’s hard to leave a community.
I read books by opposing voices and watched videos of people “dismantling” Christianity. What it started to do was solidify the truth of scripture. The core truth of Christ. A huge moment on my journey was the story we’re looking at today. The conversion of Saul. I could feasibly argue against some of the miraculous events in scripture, but there’s something about Saul. A man with a huge amount of historical documentation, both narrative as well as his own letters, with documentation outside of the Bible as well. History records a man who set out to destroy the church, and in a moment, joined the church and made the message of Jesus his primary calling in life, to great personal risk.
There is no one else in history that has a story quite like Saul, who became the apostle Paul. His testimony, his letters, brought me to a deeper faith in Jesus than I ever had.
When we first meet Saul, it’s at a public execution. A stoning. Specifically, the stoning of a man named Stephen.
57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
After Stephen is killed, we see
Acts 8:1 (NIV)
1 And Saul approved of their killing him.
What an introduction. What we have to remember is that Saul was a man completely sold out and passionate for God. Even now. The law of Moses required what happened with Stephen.
16 anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.
This new group of Jesus followers were not only claiming Jesus was the messiah, but that He was one with God. That He had the power to forgive sins. It had to stop. Now let’s jump ahead. We looked at Acts 8, the story of Philip, last week, and that brings us to what is known as the Conversion of Saul.
1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
Damascus was a place that had a significantly growing population of Jesus followers. It was a hub for commerce. Journey is the orange line on the map.
It doesn’t tells us specifically why Saul was going to that city. It was a little over 130 miles away. I think part of it was that passion of his. There is no where you can go to escape justice. You will answer for your heresy. Your apostacy.
And then something incredible happens.
3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
It sticks out to me what isn’t said. Do not be afraid.
7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
Some people don’t need much to believe. And then there’s others. Firmly planted. Immovable. And only a truly powerful act of God will get through. Saul’s the latter type.
10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered.
11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.
One of the things we keep seeing through Acts is the Holy Spirit working simultaneously in multiple people’s lives, preparing them for what’s to happen next. Saul, a man named Ananias is coming to heal you. Ananias, go heal Saul. It wasn’t even quite enough for Jesus to appear to Saul. He was blinded, and then the first interaction Saul has with a disciple in Damascus is to be healed by one. I want to bring up verse 15 and 16 again. This line is so powerful.
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
His is my chosen instrument. Out of all of the people to choose, why him? Because he is passionate. He is immovable. He knows the scriptures. He is a leader. Taking men to go arrest people over a hundred miles away. He’s like John Wayne. I picture him on a horse with his posse going to round up the criminals. And that’s the type of personality that can go even to the gentiles. That’s the kind of man that can go before kings.
That’s the kind of man who can suffer. When the truth is more important than yourself, you can endure anything. We are surrounded by a hatred of truth in our culture. Where personal feelings outweigh objective truth. But when truth is placed above even our own well being, that is where we find freedom, because we no longer have to be the source of truth, we can give that back to God. When it’s “my truth” then I have to get upset if you disagree. When it’s THE truth, then you can say whatever you want, because it’s separate from me. For Saul, this knowledge of the ultimate truth. The truth of Jesus, it enabled him to be this chosen instrument.
As a side note, it’s a common misconception that Jesus changed Saul’s name to Paul, like happened with Abraham and Sarah, or with Jacob to Israel. There’s no name change. Saul is his Hebrew name, and Paul is the Greek name.
We then read this
20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”
22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
He could prove Jesus was the messiah because of his knowledge of scripture.
To summarize the rest of this section, the Jews now want to kill Saul because he is a follower of Jesus now. It says his followers helped him escape. He goes back to Jerusalem. All the disciples are afraid of him, for good reason. Barnabas, though, vouches for him to the apostles. Saul left Jerusalem a hunter, but now the Hellenistic Jews in Jerusalem are hunting him. So the believers take him out of the city and he ends up in Tarsus.
We see this played out don’t we? The only thing people hate more than someone on the other side, is someone who WAS on their side and joined the other team.
Now that Saul’s crusade is over, and there’s no one else as zealous, apparently, as he was, we read this
31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
There’s so many things we can learn from the conversion of Saul. Different aspects of the encounter strike us each differently. But this is what has been laid on my heart to remind you.
God Redeems Our Story
God Redeems Our Story
Saul wanted people to die. Literally. He wanted to chase down people and bring them back to throw them in jail. He was terrorizing people. But when God uses us, he picks up right where we are in our story. We are forgiven when we turn to Him, but that doesn’t erase our experiences. But time and again, I’ve seen Him use those things to mold someone into an incredible follower.
It breaks my heart when people say “lighting will strike the church if I go in.” Because of who they are. The choices they’ve made. And maybe you’ve made some bad choices. Maybe people have gotten hurt. Maybe you’re hard to get along with. Maybe you’re bull headed. Or maybe you’re the opposite. You’re not a steamroller, you’re the one that get’s steamrolled. You’re afraid and maybe even cowardly. Your choices have consequences too.
It does not matter what you’ve done or what you’ve said, God can redeem your story. Now Saul could have said no. He still had a choice. But he said yes. He wanted to be used. He wanted to pursue the truth.
This is the very same Saul who later writes in his letter to the new church in Rome
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Not for the good of everybody and what they want. For the good of those who love him. Who have been called according to HIS purpose. Saul writes this from the heart. In all things. All circumstances. Even those bad ones. Even those ones that I will regret forever. Even in those things, God is working for the good for those who love him.
Even those things that break your heart. God uses it. Uses our experiences.
Saul preaches the gospel of Jesus for the rest of His days, from that moment on. Throughout his journey, even when he is imprisoned, he writes letters to the new churches. 13 of the books, or letters, in the new testaments are written by him.
We cannot change what happened in our past. But we can let God use those experiences. We can let those stories become testimonies of God’s grace and goodness. We can experience true joy in a relationship with Jesus and true purpose in letting our testimony lift others up. We can allow God to mold us, right where we are, the personalities and features we have, in to something we can hardly believe.
You do not have to die in your sin and bad actions. You can be forgiven. You can be baptized. You can know the presence of God. And your story can be redeemed, highlighting God’s grace and putting you on a new path.
