Sermon for 1 August

The conversion of Paul

The last time I spoke, we covered the baptism of Cornelius and his household. As I said two weeks ago, it was a very big deal because the Christian movement expanded from a small Jewish sect into a worldwide religion. We also discussed the significance of divine communication in dreams and visions. This week lets go back one chapter to the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus.

Saul was born in Tarsus in what is modern day Turkey. Tarsus has been a major center for trade for over 4000 years. It was once on a caravan route and now has a population of about three million. It is thought that Saul was trained in his family’s business working with leather and making tents. As a boy, he was sent to Jerusalem where he was a student of the famous teacher, Gamaliel. As a young man, he persecuted the early Christians with zeal and was at the stoning of Stephen. We don’t know that he actually threw stones, but he was there and did not disagree with the proceedings. Then Saul got an open warrant from the High Priest to go to Damascus and seek out Christians there to be brought to trial.

You are all familiar with the story, I am sure. While enroute Saul was struck by a blinding light. The voice of Jesus came out of the light and convinced Saul to change his views. Two points are significant before we move on. 1: This was not a vision. It was not a private conversion between Jesus and Saul. Everyone in Saul’s traveling party heard the voice. It was real. It was the last recorded appearance of the Risen Christ and was just as real as the appearances to Mary, Peter and the others. 2: This was not a genteel discussion. Jesus did not give Saul a chance to object or debate. Saul was struck blind and knocked to the ground. At that point, he was a dedicated listener. Can you imagine Saul’s state of mind? He had been grizzly bear hunting with a bb gun, and the bear had turned on him. “I’ll do anything you want.”

Why Saul or Paul? I’m not sure when his name changed. Why this guy? I don’t think I would have liked him. He was arrogant, holier than thou, self-centered, and critical of others. But he was perfect for the job. God doesn’t choose messengers who are not perfect for the task. In many cases it is difficult to recognize God’s reasoning, but here most of it is transparent. Paul had a mobile profession. You don’t need a lot of tools to be a tentmaker, so he could take his job with him. On occasion when he would run out of funds, he would set up shop and make a few tents. He did not have to beg for subsistence. This allowed him to be more independent that other traveling evangelists. Paul was a Roman citizen. As a Roman citizen, he was not subject to Jewish law. Stephan’s crime was to claim Jesus as the son of God. Under Jewish law that was blasphemy and punishable by death. Paul, however, as a Roman citizen could shout the good news out in public and could not be tried by the courts of Judea. That was a big advantage. He still had to be concerned about being murdered and was threatened a few times, but he didn’t have to worry about the courts. The third and most important reason God chose Paul was his character. He was a zealot. He actually went beyond zealot, and was more of a fanatic. He wore a set of blinders that shut out anything and everything except his cause. Saul blindly persecuted Christians with fanaticism. After converted by Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul became fanatically pro-Christian. He was perfect for the job.

Even though Paul was perfect for God’s mission, he still needed to mature and be trained. Scripture tells us he spent three years after conversion preaching in Damascus and made little headway except to generate enemies. He then went to join the Disciples in Jerusalem. They sent him home to Tarsus where he stayed for fourteen years until Barnabas asked him to go to Antioch. Paul was finally ready to fulfill his mission among the Gentiles.

It is important to note here that Paul never wavered from his new cause of Christianity. He tried to join the group but wasn’t ready, so he was sent away to grow and mature. Moses was chosen but tried to talk his way out of it. Jonah was chosen and ran the other way. It took a great fish to pick him out of the water and set him on the path God had chosen for him. Even after Jonah succeeded in bringing God’s message to Nineveh, he sulked under a tree for days because the citizens of Nineveh were his enemies. But not Paul. He stood obediently on the sidelines thinking, “Send me in coach.” Then when he was sent in, he made the best of it.

Paul successfully laid the groundwork to make Christianity a world-wide religion, but the real hero of this story as far as I am concerned is Ananias. This is a different Ananias than the one who tried to lie to God when he withheld some of the proceeds of his land sale. This is Ananias of Damascus, and we know little of him except he was a devout Christian and was not a refugee from Jerusalem. He was a native of Damascus. The Lord appeared to him in a vision and told him to go find Saul and help him regain his sight. Ananias almost objected but only told the Lord he knew this Saul had been persecuting Christians. Then Ananias obeyed God. We talked about visions last time and how hard it is to listen for God’s command. But Ananias listened and obeyed even though he was told to help his enemy. Not many would have done that? I wonder how many people God tried to communicate with before He found the one who was listening and would obey?

The main lesson here is obedience. Obedience to God’s call. We discussed listening last time. I even wondered how many times God has spoken to me when I wasn’t listening. Listening is certainly part of obedience to God’s message, but it isn’t the only part. God gave us free will. He gave us the free will to say “no.” He gave us the option to be too busy to do what God wants. He gave us the option to tell God to wait until I have finished doing what I want to do. Ananias could have told God that he would get around to visiting Paul after dinner, or after he got his big project finished, or after the kids graduated, or whatever excuse we can think of. God doesn’t always slap us up side the head and strike us blind. God’s call us usually more subtle. It would be easy to claim we didn’t know it was God calling. Or that we didn’t understand what He wanted, but we would be deceiving ourselves. We know when it is God. We seldom misunderstand what God wants, us to do. It is more common that we find his call objectionable. Like Jonah, we don’t want to give comfort to our enemies. Too often we refuse to obey God just because we don’t want to do it.

Pray with me. Lord help us be obedient. Help us accept your will. Help us top realize you are much smarter than we are. Help us to realize you see the big picture. Help us to see beyond our selves. Help us fulfill your will. Amen