“Up and Down the Road”

Scripture: Acts 9:19b-30, Galatians 1:14-18; 21-24

Last week, we experienced the vision that completely changed Peter’s understanding of who was unclean and who wasn’t. And within minutes, the Lord gave him the opportunity to put this new appreciation for people into motion. He came to understand just how worthy the Gentiles were, and he began to share the grace and glory of Jesus Christ with the world, one Gentile after another.

We also saw the incredible change that God made in the life of Saul, a Pharisee who was committed to the Law of Moses, but who now was even more committed in the Life of Jesus Christ. We have seen how that new way of Jesus was working in Peter’s ministry, and today, we begin to see what this change would mean for the new disciple, Paul.

Read Acts 9:19b-25

He spent some time regaining his strength, and I don’t doubt that he needed that time! Imagine the stress that this encounter with the Lord must have created. Meeting Jesus, discovering that his mission to stamp out Christ-centered faith was a huge mistake, being struck blind, losing his independence, and receiving healing from prayers offered by one of the very people he had intended to arrest for heresy! Are there any of us who wouldn’t be emotionally and spiritually drained after going through all of this?

He would remain in Damascus for several days, preaching in the very synagogues where he had planned to find, arrest, and convict the faithful for blasphemy. Can you imagine the fear and consternation in the hearts of Jesus’ followers - first, when Paul, the Persecutor, walked into their house of worship, and second, when he began to proclaim, with power, the glory of Jesus Christ? I have no doubt that they didn’t trust their ears OR the words. But they were honest and truthful words, just the same.

And the power and impact of his preaching would continue to gain authority. Jews who had never come to Christ, began to believe because of his witness. The greatest hater of Jesus, and of all who followed him, and of all that he had taught and represented, had now become his greatest advocate! And it all happened through the love and grace of Jesus Christ. (Jeremiah 32:17; Matthew 19:26)
But after many days, and we’ll hear more about that lengthy period later, the Jewish authorities and teachers decided that they would have to silence this turncoat. When the Lord called Ananias to minister to Saul, the man was told “This man is my chosen instrument … [and] I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” And he would – both serve and suffer. He would preach and amaze everyone, while the Jewish authorities and the Romans would do their worst to end this upstart’s ministry.

But Paul had received three more gifts from God, in addition to faith – they were courage and boldness in the power and authority of God, as well as the call to ministry in the name of Jesus Christ, and nothing would deter his new found mission. God had a plan for him, and as part of that plan, he was about to learn what the hatred of earth felt like, as well as what the Lord could do through the faithfulness of a few believers. And as far as the Divine Plan was concerned, it wasn’t time for Paul’s experience with Jesus to end just yet.

Read Acts 9:26-30

Have you ever had one of those days when nothing seemed to go right? Everything you try fails; every decision you make doesn’t work the way you wanted it to; every place you go is nowhere near to where you are supposed to be. Ever had one of those days?

Same with Paul! He had welcomed Jesus into his heart and life, and the believers of Damascus just couldn’t believe that it was true. “This is the Persecutor - no one makes such a dramatic turn-around in such a short period of time. He must be up to something, and it won’t be for our good!”
The Jewish leadership wasn’t very happy either. He’s supposed to be one of us! What is he doing, talking in such glowing terms about this Jesus? He’s supposed to be arresting these people, not encouraging them and adding more to those lying ways.
But he would not be deterred. He had come to the truth of Jesus, and he just couldn’t turn back. William Barkley writes in his commentary on Acts of the Apostles (page 75), “Counterfeit Christianity is always safe; real Christianity is always in peril.” For Paul, as well as the Church of today, no truer words were ever spoken.

And the uncertainty over his new-found faith would continue. Even the Council of Jerusalem didn’t trust him. They knew his past all too well, and it was speaking much louder than his present. A few weeks ago, I think I mentioned that when we visited our son and his family in Ohio, he had been asked to preach at their church’s Sunday evening service, and his message was “It isn’t where you’ve been that is important, it’s where you are going!” Unfortunately, most people tend to focus on the former, and tend to ignore the latter! It’s far easier to make our judgement on what we know someone did, instead of on what the Lord is going to do through them!

But the Lord, just as he had sent Ananias into Paul’s life, he now sends Barnabas to encourage and support him. We first read about Barnabas in Acts 4:36-37. He was a Levite from Cyprus, whose name was Joseph. He was a faithful believer, who helped others whenever and however he could. The apostles saw a gift within him, and renamed him “Barnabas”, which means “Son of Encouragement” – seems like the right person to send and stand with Paul! His words of introduction and his very obvious heart for Jesus were all that it took to set the record straight regarding Paul’s new faith. But that doesn’t mean that all opposition vanished – Paul had been testifying to anyone who would stand still long enough to listen, and one of these groups were the Greek speaking Jews. They would be intellectuals like Paul, they would understand Greek philosophy, like Paul, they loved to debate issues of the day, like Paul, but they didn’t like Paul’s understanding and life in Jesus. They would debate any issue, but this thought that the old law was outside of God’s desire was just too much. And they planned to bring an abrupt halt to this profanity.

And the believers helped him to escape the “coming wrath” of the Jews.

Read Galatians 1:14-18

Paul’s ministry, and his struggle, had begun. But how did he get there? What would it take for any of us to begin a full and faith-filled walk with Jesus?

We are all sinners in need of the Lord (Romans 5:8), but when the Lord’s time arrives, we still have to make a decision – to either begin to love the Lord and his ways, or to continue to love the ways of earth. And if we are honest with ourselves, the Lord is the only rational choice. For Paul, and for many of us, Jesus’ call on our lives doesn’t always make sense at first, but the choice must still be in the Lord, rational and sensible or not! It will always bring his best to life within us.

For Paul, he began sharing his encounter with Jesus on the road, and in it, he freely described his former life and how it led him further and further away from the truth he was pursuing. Been there? I’ve done that - how about you? I’m not suggesting that we focus on the life we used to live, but if we forget just how far it took us from the love of Christ, we just might fall back into the old ways. There’s an old saying, that if we forget our past, we will be doomed to repeat it. Paul seemed to understand this long before anyone actually said it! So must we.

But should we just continue sharing Jesus without really examining our lives? Paul spent three years reflecting and remembering and studying and praying before he ever went back to Jerusalem to officially become a disciple of Jesus Christ, and only then to enthusiastically begin his evangelistic career throughout the Gentile world. He was getting to know the new “him”, and to let the Lord continue to reshape him, and remake him, before he took to the road again, but this time, it would be in praise of God and his New Lord Jesus, instead of in discrimination against him and his people.
And we, too, need to be certain of what the Lord God is calling each of us to do before we set off, following our own road of uncertainty.

Read Galatians 1:21-24

And in these final verses for today, we discover that Paul had finally arrived. Even those who he didn’t know, and who didn’t really know him, began to understand the change that had come into the man’s life. He had traveled the road in both directions – at first, to destroy, and now, to build up. And this was a far better path to travel, one that he would never deviate from.

That’s a good lesson for all of us – to trust in God’s way, and to stay true to it, regardless of where it takes us, or what it demands of our lives.