SAUL’S CONVERSION
ACTS 9:1-16
For quite some time I had been encouraging each of you to bring your Bible with you to church...In fact I made you show them to me on many occasions. But besides just carrying it with you to church I repeatedly stress the importance of reading it.
And the reason, of course, it because of all the benefits that come as a result of time spent in the Word. It is how God speaks to us more times than not...it helps us to learn about the Christian life and how it should be lived...so many things there that are beneficial for us.
But there are things about the Bible that are really hard. For me, one thing I find is that every time I open my Bible I have to deal with another kind of believing altogether...the kind that will never allow me to manage my own life anymore.
I guess the real danger in reading the Bible is that you run the risk of meeting Him. You run the risk of finding God...and if that wasn't enough...you find that He's not at all the kind of God that you thought He was.
You find that He's not a God who will stay up there in the heavens somewhere, and let you look at Him...or talk about Him. If you read the book and find Him, you'll find that He is forever coming down... and at His convenience, not ours.
He is forever calling and choosing people...for some purpose He has in mind...and it may not jive with our ideas or purposes in the least. And, quite honestly, I believe that is why so many fail to read this book with any degree of regularity. Take the story of Paul's conversion there on the road to Damascus.
What God had in mind for Paul certainly didn't match up with what Paul had in mind for himself. Paul was a very busy religious man. And Paul's life was centered on something that was familiar to him... something which seemed solid and secure. But suddenly it was snatched away from Him.
In its place something had begun which to him didn't look anything at all like something that was a firm foundation...not a solid place on which to base his life. This is what he was fighting against so desperately.
In fact it seemed to him like the ultimate of insecurity. But the key here is that Paul went from something to something else. And that's the way it works if we follow God's direction.
First, let's look at the "from what"...
Did it ever actually occur to you that Paul wasn't converted from an evil life? He was not an evil person, especially as we look at it. He lived a very religious life...He knew the Scriptures, and knew them well...studying under one of the greatest teachers of all time.
He kept all the commands...tithed...attended church every time the doors were opened. He did it all. To quote a familiar parable...He had everything inside of him swept and garnished. In fact, he was not only cleaned, but starched and ironed and everything.
Yet something was wrong. He doesn't seem to have had any overwhelming sense of sin. His conscience didn't bother him...he wasn't bored with a religion that had nothing for him to do.
But all through his life, Paul had been trying to manufacture his own stockpile of good behavior and righteous living...and that is tiring business. That is something that will flat wear you out! And that is the very reason that Christianity turns out to be so dreadfully dull.
**During the last, say 25-30 years, there has been an interesting phenomenon especially among young people...riots and rebellion. Look at the 60's in America...and it is happening around the world all the time.
Why are these things happening? What is it that stirred up the youth of America...and now young people all over the world? It's is partly because the culture of which they are a part has lost its enthusiasm. I remember the 80's...my high school years...
I rebelled right along with the others because I didn't want to be a part of a dull, self-satisfied, hum drum culture...it was B-o-r-i-n-g. I wanted excitement...something that would stir me right to the depths of my being..something that I could enjoy without being ashamed of it.
And people today want the same thing... especially our young people. Dull and boring don't make it! I hate to think it, but it's true that for the most part we have to say the same thing about Christianity.
And that is a crying shame...no, it's really a sin...because in fact Christianity is really the most exciting thing that the human mind ever could conceive or for that matter, even handle.
You can call Jesus anything you like...but you can never say He was dull. Take a look at the life of Jesus. But to do that we must first forget the picture that we always conjure up when we think of Jesus... you know the one...
Jesus was not some religious stuffed shirt. He was every bit God, in the flesh, and as such He never sinned...He never became a part of the "world" but yet He was always doing something out of the ordinary. He spoke the Word of God, and in places most of us wouldn't be caught dead in.
He went out among the sinners...and not in a way that would hide the fact of who He was. He was exciting, and dynamic, and the people saw in Him something the dull, lifeless religion of the Pharisees could never give. In fact, it was because His enemies couldn't tame Him that they had to crucify Him.
I honestly believe that if Jesus came to earth today, and did the same things He did when He walked the earth 2,000 years ago, we'd also reject Him...because we are becoming as religious as the Pharisees.
Most of what we call religion today is merely something that we catch a glimpse of, but yet is always just out of reach...but we have to keep on grasping for it, like a drowning man trying to keep his head above water...
We find ourselves like Paul, desperately far away from the kingdom of God just when we think we are safely and squarely right in the middle of it.
We have gotten used to the pride...that we actually call humility, and are quite content to mistake our satisfaction with what we are for what Christ really desires us to be......as seen in His word.
Some of you may be saying to yourself right now, "Thank God, I'm not like that." But instead of thanking God, you must let me thank you, because you've helped me make my point. That's just what the Pharisee said in the temple. And that is more than self-righteousness...its blasphemy!
So why can't we come to terms with what we obviously can't avoid? It isn't safe to believe in the God of the Bible. And isn't that what we really want...safety and security? Other than spiritually speaking, that is something that we seldom see in the Scriptures.
All the people I read about, especially Paul, gave up all thought of that once they got saved...I mean really saved. You show me a dull Christian in the Bible...show me one that got saved and then retired to the safety of a sanctuary before they would ever let their "religion" show.
If your Christian life is dull...you haven't been taking any chances. If it is uninteresting...you've made it that way. And you're not likely to help things much by acquiring a few added interests like luncheons or lectures or social clubs.
Life doesn't want to be safe...it doesn't want to absorb something - it wants to create something!
The Christian life was meant to be far more than we allow it to be. But at this point we've got to add something. Paul was not only converted from - he was at the same time converted to ...but to what?
Now, I don't want you to let the word conversion upset you. It doesn't necessarily have to do with becoming either a saint or a Christian. It very simply has to do with turning around, which is a maneuver we engage in pretty much every day.
Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, had come to earth in the form of a man. And after His earthly work was finished He ascended into heaven...but He wasn't now somehow out of the picture. He had a very direct, personal confrontation with the apostle Paul.
And because of that Paul had to do an about face...from one kind of belief to another kind entirely. He was physically tossed out of the security of what God had done...to the insecurity of what God was doing. And he found it to be the insecurity of that amazing grace!
You see, Paul didn't get a blueprint of what needed done...and neither will you. The Lord told him, "You get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." We get our instructions one step at a time. And that brings a great amount of uncertainty at times...
But one thing you can be sure of. It will not be some weak-hearted or cowardly thing...it will be a brave thing...something that will take more than you have in you of yourself. It will be something that God wants to get done...through you!
Paul realized this...and realized also how absurd it was in his case. It bewildered and baffled him every time he tried to figure out the reason Jesus wanted to use him in such a way. But after such an encounter with the living Christ, nothing mattered but obedience.
Paul knew he couldn't manage it on his own...but who can? Yet Paul knew enough about the past, and had already plunged deep enough into the present to know how God works.
He came to realize that whatever salvation there was...it was God who brought it...but that didn't let him off the hook. He hadn't arrived to the place where he could now ease up and just live a quiet Christian life. That time will never come this side of glory!
When the love of God truly gets a hold of you, it will completely turn you around. It turns Sinai into Calvary (men turned away - men freely come). When you truly get the love of God deep inside your heart there is nothing that will keep you from doing His will.
But there was something else that Paul knew. He no longer had any special privileges. He used to have, as a Jew...or thought he had. And he had done his best - by strict obedience - to hold on to them.
The gospel had stripped them all away...but he never let the obedience go. Paul still lived the heart of the Law...but he lived it as love. And that made the difference. The boundaries of God's kingdom were not his to mess with anymore. He let God be God!
But there was still even more. And this Paul didn't know. There was still verse 16. (READ)
How many of us are willing to listen to that part?
Paul found out all about the suffering. That is something that hasn't been given to many of us. We just have to face the disciplines of daily life...and sometimes that is hard enough. We have to face uncertainties and it's insecurities...and death, when it comes to us or one of our loved ones.
But Praise God we don't have to face them alone. Jesus spoke to Paul on another occasion and told him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in your weakness." He'll not only see us through, but give us an exciting, abundant life…if only we'll believe
A man once bought one of Whistler's paintings and asked the great artist to help in finding the right place for it in his home. The artist agreed to help, and walked patiently from place to place while the man held up the picture in various locations.
Finally, Whistler said, "You are going about this all wrong. What you need to do is move all the furniture out, hang the picture where you want it, and then arrange all the furniture in relationship to the picture."
This morning Jesus is giving a similar message. He doesn't want to be added to what you already have. He wants to be first...and if you let him come in, He'll help you arrange all the rest so that you can experience all the joy of having the greatest treasure on earth.
