A Killer Comes To Christ
Part 3*
(Acts 9:19-30)
By Dave Redick
Hwy 20 Church of Christ, Sweet Home, OR
Wouldn't you have a hard time trusting someone like Saul? Especially if it had been your loved ones he killed? Even when there is forgiveness for past wrongs, trust is not something that just magically reappears. It takes time and it takes effort on the part of the one who has broken the trust and the one who forgives.
Matt Hensley(1) tells a remarkable story of his conversion to Christ. He usually does so while holding a strange ornament he keeps on the mantle of his fireplace. The ornament is the two shells of an oyster, closed so that they are holding a piece of printed paper.
Hensley, a professional diver, had long avoided those who tried to interest him in the things of God. He felt he didn't need any help in his life and besides, he was far too busy. Then, while diving off the coast one day something caught his eye. He spotted this particular oyster attached to a rock on the bottom. That was not unusual, but what the oyster held tightly between its top and bottom shell was. As he swam closer to take a look, he saw that the little creature held a piece of paper. Curious over such an odd occurrence, he reached out and took the paper, opened it carefully, and saw that it was a piece of literature presenting the claims of Christ. This strange happening impressed him so much that he concluded he could no longer hold out against God. On his return to shore he called a friend who came and taught him the gospel.
No, Mr. Hensley doesn't know how the paper got there or why he just happened to swim by at the right time to see it. A strange coincidence? Perhaps. I don't think you could convince him of that.
While men and women usually are brought to Christ in more conventional ways, there are the occasional stories like this one that defy any explanation, except the supernatural. Another such story of conversion that involved uncommon occurrences is that of Saul of Tarsus. I've already told you the story in several previous messages, so I won't tell it again here. But I would like to deal with some of the events in the wake of Saul's conversion that are important to our understanding the New Testament.
When a person surrenders to the Lordship of Jesus Christ there is a change that comes that is unlike any other. That can certainly be seen in Saul's story. Less than a week before his baptism he was on a search-and-destroy mission, hunting down Christians and sometimes killing them. A week later he reappears in public preaching the same Jesus he used to revile. His contemporaries, even the Christians of his day, found it hard to believe.
Later, when he was Paul the Apostle, he would write of the tremendous change in his life this way:
"Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."(2)
We've been looking into Saul's conversion. In this message I would like to go over the first several years of Saul's new life as a Christian. We'll be looking at Acts 9:19-30.
Saul had been confronted by Jesus Himself in a blinding flash of light on the road leading to Damascus as described early in chapter 9. He was without sight for three days and then was taught by one of the Christians of the city, a man named Ananias. At the conclusion of Ananias' teaching, Saul was baptized. We'll pick up the story there, in verse 18.
(Read 9:18-21)
At first the Christians had a hard time believing it could be true, that this persecutor could really be changed. But it wouldn't be long before they would see that he was indeed a changed man.
As far as I'm concerned, the most convincing testimony of the credibility of Christianity is the way it changes lives, and not in just a few cases. Millions of people have had their lives changed dramatically by becoming Christians. There is ample evidence of such change right here in this congregation. Some of you weren't very pretty before God came into your lives. Of course, that could be said of me as well. Now we're different.
Baptism marks only the beginning point of the new life - a life of change for the better. Seldom is it very long before that change begins to become evident - as seen here in the case of Saul.
(Read v. 22)
"Increasing in strength" is a good description of what a new Christian should be doing. He or she shouldn't allow themselves to be satisfied with anything less.
Saul's increase in strength showed itself particularly in his use of the Scriptures. He confounded the Jews who lived at Damascus. He bested them in his explanations of the meaning of the Word of God.
Saul was able to do this so soon after his conversion because he was already familiar with the Bible. He was a rabbi, a teacher among the Jews. The primary difference now, though, was that at last he had the key that unlocked the things he had formerly puzzled about. He now knew the person and purpose of the Scriptures - the central theme of the Bible - The Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus referred to Himself in these same terms in several places in the Bible. In Luke 24, when He spoke to the two men on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection, it says,
"And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures."(3)
Jesus said to His critics who refused to accept Him in John 5:39,
"You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life. John 5:39-40.
Jesus is in all the Scriptures. They bear witness of Him. Those who reject Jesus will never understand the Bible. Those who truly accept Him begin to understand it for the first time in their lives.
As we come to verse 23 we need to note something that Luke did not record that Paul would mention later in his Galatian letter. First, let me read the verse.
(Read v. 23)
Aside from telling us that now the persecutor was being persecuted himself, Luke mentions a period of "many days" between Saul's initial preaching of Jesus in Damascus and the plot of the Jews to kill him. He doesn't mention what happened during those days. But Paul, writing later in the book of Galatians, tells what happened during that period that actually stretched into three years. It is interesting and important if you wish to understand the impact of Paul on Christianity.
(Read Gal. 1:11-18)
So after his conversion and initial preaching, Saul went into Arabia for a time, then returned again to Damascus. The natural question to ask is "What did he do in Arabia?" The answer is that we don't know for sure. Some say he may have gone down to Mt. Sinai to meditate on his newly found faith. Others speculate that he just went into the desert like Elijah. It seems most reasonable not to speculate at all, but to assume that during this time of up to three years he received the revelations from Jesus that he spoke of in Gal. 1:12.
(Re-read Gal. 1:12)
This would qualify him to be an apostle, having spent the better part of three years with Jesus just like was required of the other Apostles.(4)
Paul would later speak of himself as an Apostle "untimely born." 1 Corinthians 15:6-8 says,
"After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as it were to one untimely born, He appeared to me also."
This "appearance" of Jesus to Paul would probably include the appearance on the road to Damascus and the revelations in Arabia.
So why am I telling you this? It is important for you to know because Saul, who became Paul, was the thirteenth Apostle. To new students of the Bible that sounds a bit strange. "I thought there were twelve..." Yes, there were twelve and those twelve were sent to the Jews. Paul would be sent to the Gentiles. The Holy Spirit saw the need to clarify his credentials for us so we would accept his writings as the early church did.
At any rate, when Saul returned to Damascus, he found a scene like some he was already familiar with, only his own part was now reversed. As he used to try to kill the Christians, now the Jews were trying to kill him!
(Read v. 23-24)
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 11:32 that even the governor of the city was in on this conspiracy to kill him.
You may at this point recall the prophetic words of God to Ananias back in Acts 9:16 when he said, "I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake." This is the beginning of that suffering - the first link in a nearly constant chain of trouble that would end only when his head was severed from his body in a Roman dungeon many years later. Paul was either intensely loved by those who accepted Christ or intensely hated by those who didn't.
That same potential is there for anyone who really tries to make a mark for Christ. Satan doesn't take kindly to those who upset his control of the masses. Do nothing for God and you'll receive little real persecution. Make inroads into Satan's territory though, run your mission behind enemy lines, and you'll suffer for it.
In a popular song a few years ago called "Run to the Battle," Steve camp sings,
"Some people want to live within the sound of chapel bells, But I want to run a mission a yard from the gate of hell... "
What a tremendously challenging thought! To press the battle right up into Satan's face! That is the kind of person Paul was. But he suffered for it and so will anyone else who determines that his or her life is going to really count for Christ.
Is that scary? Yes. But such a one will not be without God's support and the support of those who truly serve Christ. In Saul's case here, God provided through the Christians at Damascus.
(Read v. 25)
It must have been a great encouragement for Saul to see these people who had formerly been the hard sought victims of his hatred whisk him away to the wall of the city after dark and gently lower him in a basket to safety outside.
By the way, don't underestimate the power you have to encourage another Christian by your support. Even if God isn't using you on the front lines at the moment, never forget that you may be the deciding factor in another Christian's efforts by encouraging him or her.
Actually, there is something more to notice here. Look closely at verse 25 again. Notice who helped him escape. It says "his disciples." These would probably be those who had become Christians because of his preaching in Damascus and perhaps even in Arabia. Already Saul had won followers to Christ and these followers cared enough for him to risk being arrested by the governor to save his life. From now on everywhere Paul went he made Christians. Even when, many years later, he waited in the wings of the emperor's palace in Rome, on trial for his life, he made Christians. He would write from his captivity, while chained to a Roman guard, to the brethren at Philippi, "All the Saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household."
So, having barely escaped with his head still on his shoulders, Saul takes a breather in the safety of the wilderness, right? Not on your life. He headed straight for Jerusalem to preach there! (I can't help but wonder if the thought crossed his mind that he might become a martyr in Jerusalem. If they wanted him dead in Damascus, it could only be worse in the Holy City!
(Read v. 26a)
J.W. McGarvey wrote some lines in his commentary on Acts that depict what it might have been like for Saul as he left Damascus and neared Jerusalem for the first time in three years. Remember that he left there as a "favorite son" persecutor. Now he is returning as a hated, turncoat disciple of Jesus of Nazareth:
McGarvey writes, "Early in the night's journey he passed the spot where Jesus had appeared to him. We shall not attempt to depict his emotions when the walls of Jerusalem and the battlements of the temple came once more into view. As he approached the city he saw the place of crucifixion; and he may have passed near the spot where Stephen was stoned, and where he himself was consenting to his death. He was about to meet again, on the streets and in the synagogues, his old allies whom he had deserted, and some of the disciples whom he had persecuted. The tumult of emotions we will leave to the imagination of the reader..."(5)
(Read v. 26)
Can you blame these people? Wouldn't you have a hard time trusting someone like Saul? Especially if it had been your loved ones he killed? Even when there is forgiveness for past wrongs, trust is not something that just magically reappears. It takes time and it takes effort on the part of the one who has broken the trust and the one who forgives. That is true in any case where trust doesn't exist. Trust is earned, not granted freely.
But if trust must be earned, there has to be opportunity extended to earn it. These Christians were a bit slow on that score, just like we often see today in cases where memories of deep hurt exist.
So God used a man who has already appeared in the pages of Acts, a man named "Joseph," a Levite of Cyprian birth.(6)
The Christians called him "Barnabas" (i.e., "Bar" meaning "son of," and "Nabas" meaning "encouragement" or "consolation.") This man was such an encouragement to the believers that they had nicknamed him "the Son of Encouragement."
Barnabas' character is a study all by itself. He was a man who knew what Jesus spoke of when he taught in the Sermon on the Mount, "blessed are the Peacemakers." He knew also the true meaning of love that Paul would someday put into writing in 1 Corinthians 13: "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."(7)
It is often said that when we have failed, we need someone to believe in us. This man saw the disciples' rejection of Saul and would have none of it.
(Read v. 27)
Barnabas saw that Saul's own reputation was getting him nowhere C in fact, it was landing him outside the fellowship of the brethren. So he put his own reputation on the line and took Saul under his wing. I like the way Luke puts it: "Barnabas took hold of him..."
Who knows what might have happened to Saul had the Jerusalem Christians been allowed to reject him. Had he fallen away, two-thirds of our New Testament wouldn't be there!
Barnabas "took hold of him" and brought him into the fellowship. You know, there are plenty of times when that is necessary today as well. When a person first becomes a Christian, he is an outsider. He knows only a few or perhaps even no people in the church. Worse yet, he often feels like an outsider. He doesn't know the language or the customs of the people in the church. He still has many of his old habits.
If he is shy he may just fall away. What he needs is a modern day "Barnabas" C a son or daughter of encouragement to "take hold of him" and bring him into the fellowship. He needs someone who will stick with him like a peeling sticks to an orange until he finds a place of acceptance. I had someone like that for me. His name was John Bell. John made it his business to keep me in the faith. He stuck with Kathi and me like a flea sticks to a hound. He "took hold of me" right after I got out of the baptistery and didn't turn me loose until I had my "sea legs."
Could you do that for someone? It's even more important with someone who has a very rough background (like Saul here) since their life is going to be so different and some may even be repulsed by what they've been in the past. We need people who make it their business to be modern day Barnabas's.
So, with the help of the Son of Encouragement, Saul was given a chance to redeem his violent reputation. He wasted no time getting to it. He spent 15 days with Peter as we are told in Galatians 1:18 and then went out into the city to preach.
(Read v. 29a)
The Hellenistic Jews were Saul's old buddies. He, too, was a Hellenist (a Jew born outside Palestine). It is natural for a new convert to go first to his own people C his old friends and associates. He can usually speak to them more effectively than anyone else can.
You newer Christians are in a unique position, one that I cannot be in and neither can some of your brethren. You have an audience we don't have: for awhile in the future you will have their ear because you know them and they know you. Have you spoken to any of them about Christ? Do they know that your life is changing? Do they know of your conversion?
Seventy to eighty percent of us initially took interest in Christ because someone we knew was a Christian. Very few people take up Christianity on their own. If you are in your first year of faith you probably know more unbelievers right now than you will ever know in the future. You are, therefore, a key person in God's plan. Be aware that God wants to use you to influence those you know.
Now the Hellenists had their own synagogue in Jerusalem. It was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen according to Acts 6:8. It was the one Stephen had been preaching in when he was dragged before the council and stoned. Could it be that Saul entered this same edifice and was now preaching in the same place Stephen had? The chances are very good that he did. That is further verified when you see that they wanted to do the very same thing to him they had done to Stephen.
(Read v. 29b)
When people don't want to believe they usually try to silence the one that speaks to them if he is in any way persistent and they cannot ignore him. In Saul's day the best way to do that was with rocks C just as they had done with Stephen.
(Read v. 30)
Once again it was the brethren who stepped in to save Saul from death. It is possible that he resisted their urgings to get out and save his life. I say that because of what Paul would later say as he described this event in Acts 22:17-21:
"And it came about when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance, and I saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.' And I said, 'Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in Thee. And when the blood of Thy witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the cloaks of those who were slaying him.' And He said to me, 'Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'"
So Saul goes to the Gentiles, the thing we saw announced through Ananias.
(Re-read v. 15)
So Saul became the great Apostle to the Gentiles, the other twelve Apostles to the Jews.
Saul now drops out of sight as far as Acts is concerned, and doesn't resurface until chapter 13 where he is hard at work in the Antioch Church, the strongest church among the Gentile believers (sometimes called the "second Jerusalem"). From this place he and Barnabas would launch their first missionary journey.
Conclusion
Saul's conversion and initial steps of faith provide more of the kind of faith building stuff that we began talking about. Christianity changes lives like nothing else can. He who is in Christ is indeed a new creature. The old things have passed away. New things have come.
Is that true of your life? If you are a Christian it should be.
But maybe you're not a Christian. Maybe you still think it is just an illusion. E.Y. Mullins writes to those who say Christianity is a delusion in Josh McDowell's book, Evidence That Demands A Verdict, these words,
A redeemed drunkard, with vivid memory of past hopeless struggles and new sense of power through Christ was replying to the charge that "his religion was a delusion." He said, "Thank God for the delusion; it has put clothes on my children and shoes on their feet and bread in their mouths. It has made a man of me and it has put joy and peace in my home, which had been a hell. If this is a delusion, may God send it to the slaves of drink everywhere, for their slavery is an awful reality.(8)
Say what you might. You can't argue with results!
*Part 3 of a 3 part series. Click here to go to Part 1. Click here to go to Part 2. [Back]
1. Actual name unavailable. Story comes from Minister's Research Service. [Back]
5. New Commentary on Acts, J.W. McGarvey, Gospel Light Publishing, Delight, Arkansas, p. 187. [Back]
Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.
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All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.