Paul is Radically Changed (But Not Really)

The last two weeks we’ve seen two Baptisms, the Ethiopian official and now Saul/Paul – “And now” to quote Ananias, “what are you waiting for?” If you are trusting in Jesus Christ for your salvation then Baptism is the symbol of that commitment that binds Christians together from every nation on earth.

(Let me know if you would like to be baptized) – Now – a bit of clarification/explanation – in the Bible we see people getting Baptized immediately after they place their faith in Christ. It was NEVER a symbol of spiritual maturity and never denied to someone because they may or may not know much about the Bible. So why do we wait? Simple. No deep spiritual meaning. We like to make it a party and have gather together to be witnesses.

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Vs. 21 “Isn’t this the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem?” Then vs. 31 – After Saul leaves the area” Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace….” Paul has been radically changed by JC – but not really. Still the same man. As my brother Matt put it “Still the crusading academic.”

The Jewish historian Josephus notes at this time that the wicked emperor Caligula, a friend of King Herod Agrippa, was at around this time trying to get a statue of himself set up in the Jewish temple so the Jews and Rome were on the brink of war and it’s possible that they were both too distracted to persecute the Christians at that time. Side note: the highest ranking Roman officer in the region, the Governor of Syria, Publius Petronius, was ordered to set up an image of Caligula in the temple but he refused because it would have been a stupid thing to start a war over. Caligula ordered for the official to be executed but by a twist of fate news announcing the death of Caligula (assassinated by his own Pretorian Guards) arrived before the order for his execution and so the order was rescinded.

In any event, Saul was a rabble rouser. We learn elsewhere in Scripture that the trip to Damascus was not Saul’s first time to travel to other cities to stamp out the church. He had done it before. He is a man on fire – and the Roman Empire had built 53,000 miles of roads.

Paul is intense, focused on a mission. When he believes something is right he goes full tilt.

And this man who put his heart and soul into destroying the church becomes a follower of Christ and according to vs. 20 “At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.”

Paul was radically changed by meeting Christ – but not really.

(talk)

The same part of his personality that made him a missionary farce – was the same part of him that had been used to tear down the church. What made Saul, Saul, made him either a great force for good or a great source of mischief and it all depended upon him bending the knee. (explain)

When you become a Christian, you become a new person () “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”) but your essential self – the unique you, is not erased – instead you become the true you – the best you – the you that God intended you to be. The closer we are to being 100% sold out for Christ, the close we get to being the people God intended us to be all along.

A hard driver that comes to Christ becomes a hard driver for Christ. A gentle person who comes to Christ becomes a gentle Christian. NOW – sometimes a person becomes a completely different person when they become a Christian, but even in those cases I wonder if what they become in Christ wasn’t there before faith but buried under sin or simply missed or ignored. Surrendering to God unlocks the best part of ourselves and the more we surrender the more of our true selves we discover. “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?”

A righteous anger towards injustice is a good thing, but “the wrath of man will not accomplish the righteousness of God.”

Persuader can be a manipulator – how can you know if you are using your gift for God? Are you persuading people to get closer to God and more involved in Kingdom work or are you using your gift of persuasion to get what you want? That’s manipulation.

A missionary gift can be a manipulator or a chameleon (describe)

A hard worker can be a great example to others and an encouragement to strive for excellence, or a hard worker can be driven by the need to be successful, sacrificing family and relationships to attain selfish goals.

Conversely an easygoing person can become lazy.

A person good at opening up can become a complainer or addicted to the attention of others.

On the other hand a stoic person can become judgmental and unsympathetic.

An intelligent person can become haughty and unteachable.

An artistic person can use their creativity for God or for themselves.

A person who is compassionate and sympathetic can be afraid to stand for truth

Someone who is very bold to assert truth can be uncaring (talk)

A powerful singer or worship team member can start to think that the music portion of the service is about them

Think of a rich man or a beautiful woman. Both are blessed by God and both may find that the very thing they have been blessed with can also be a curse to keep them from honoring God as they should. “It is hard for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.”

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves”

“Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.”

says of pastors, “Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” And the primary way people get equipped is learning the Bible and then doing what it says.

So God, working through His church, wants to equip every Christian so that they can, in turn, work hard to build up His. So the question is, are you working to build up the church, the Body of Christ? If you think the answer is honestly no, then you still are not answering the call God has placed on your life.

Our strengths can become our weaknesses.

Brother-in-law Chet said yesterday, “Satan is clever.” To which I added, “And relentless” and Chet then said, “And it only gets worse the more you do.”

Here is what the website Bible.org had to say about Satan’s attempts to make us unfruitful Christians. “We can stand against Satan’s persistence by realizing the magnitude of the work God has given us. If you don’t realize the magnitude of God’s work and plan for your life, it will be easy to compromise.” (repeat/explain)

Paul taught Timothy something with similar ramifications. Listen to what he said: “Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer” ().

Chrysostom said of Paul : “Let us imitate this man. Let us take our souls in our hands, ready to confront all dangers. His flight was not an act of cowardice; he was saving himself for the preaching. Had he been a coward, he would not have gone to Jerusalem. He would not have immediately resumed teaching…. He would have learned a lesson from Stephen’s suffering.”

Sisters – brothers – we should follow his example. The great missionary Paul himself told the Corinthian church in “I urge you to imitate me.”

But we should also prayerfully look at ourselves, who we are, who God has made us to be, our personality, abilities, spiritual gifts – and bring those in humility and complete surrender to the throne of God and ask Him to use us to build His church. If we don’t use our abilities for God, they will become a snare to us. Our strengths, given to us to build the Kingdom, will become our weaknesses.

Saul took what looked like a weakness – his drive, his intensity, his driven nature, gave it to God, and it became a tremendous strength.

The things that make you, you, that make you and I who we are, will become either our strengths or our weaknesses - to the degree in which we use them for the glory of God.