Last week we saw JESUS take a man named Saul, the most least likely person, a persecutor of the church, a violent, bitter hateful man, and change his life forever. We met Ananias who God would prepare and use to participate in one of the greatest stories in history. Ananias laid hands on Saul, he received the Holy Spirit and was baptized.
Do you really believe that God can change people? Sometimes we see people and label them, and assume that the things that are wrong with them will be there forever. Maybe there are certain family members or friends, and you don’t really hold out a lot of hope for change. We may even give up praying for them.
When you begin to lose faith someone can be changed, or you can change remember Saul. Because there is no doubt the greatest lesson God wants us to know is no one is beyond change and redemption. Let’s read what happens next
Acts 9:19-31
As we read, it seems like everything rushes along quite quickly – Saul meets Jesus on the Damascus Road, Ananias heals him, he preaches and makes people mad, narrowly escapes out a window in the wall, goes to Jerusalem, and after Barnabus intercedes meets the Apostles, again gets people mad enough to try to kill him and again escapes to Tarsus.
It seems like Saul just explodes onto the scene as an incredibly mature, powerful Christian leader – without any time to grow or mature or develop. Well, that is not the case: listen to Paul’s own words in Galatians 1:11-18 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus. 18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days.
It seems that Saul learned so much about the Lord in such a little time. There’s a clue found at the beginning of verse 23: “When many days had passed…” We know from Galatians he spent three years in Arabia for some intensive spiritual revelation: Galatians 1:17-18 I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus. 18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days.
It makes sense this period of time took place between Acts 9:22 and Acts 9:23.
Here’s a timeline:
- Saul is converted (Acts 9:1-19)
- Saul preaches in Damascus (Acts 9:20-22)
- Saul retreats to Arabia (Galatians 1:17)
- Saul returns to Damascus (Acts 9:23-25)
- Saul visits Jerusalem (Acts 9:26-30)
I mention this to emphasize this point: spiritual growth takes time. It takes time to get to know and love Jesus more, it takes time to develop our spiritual gifts and learn to use them effectively, and it takes time to share our faith and lead others to Christ. We don’t just wake up one morning and discover that we are suddenly fully mature Christians.
It takes reflection and meditation, and it takes choosing to cooperate with what God is doing in our lives. Yes, Paul started fast, Vs20 “At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.” he was well trained in theology even prior to meeting Jesus, but he still took time to mature and grow – That is what he was doing in Arabia – getting to know Jesus in the desert, maturing as a child of God. Receiving by revelation the Gospel from Jesus Himself.
Application:
Study the lives of great men and women of God, and each can point to some formative times they spent alone with God. They may have been surrounded by people, but they were at a point at which they felt that God was all they had…and in their solitude, God shaped and molded them.
(Joseph-well-potters-prison) (Apostles) David was anointed king in 1 Samuel 16 about 15 years old. David becomes king of Judah, 2 Samuel 2, approximately 10 years later. David becomes king over all of Israel, 2 Samuel 5, when he is 30 years old.
Moses—you can divide his life into three 40 yr. segments:
1st 40 yrs.—Pharaoh’s house
next 40—the same Arabian Desert we read about today, just 3,000 years earlier!
Last 40—leading Israel out of Egypt and to Promised Land.
Which of these three 40 yr. periods were most important? We’d be tempted to say the latter, but it never would’ve happened w/out the middle period of solitude and transformation!
What was the last thing Moses did before leaving Egypt for the desert? He killed a man! He took matters into his own hands, so God sent him to the desert and it took years to sandblast the pride out of him! He learned that when you come to the place that God is all you have that’s where you find–He’s all you need!
After Arabia Vs23
When Paul returned to Damascus from Arabia, he was a marked man. Many wanted to kill him. Can you imagine how he must’ve felt having to be smuggled out of town, down that wall in a basket, like some criminal? But we know this was just a foreshadowing of a lot more suffering which was yet to come.
I want to zero in on Barnabus’ role in the story, According to Acts 4:36-37, Barnabas was the one who sold a tract of land and brought the money, and laid it at the disciples’ feet. (Son of encouragement)
When Paul escaped from Damascus, he went to Jerusalem expecting to join the other disciples. However, when he arrived, they would not accept him because they didn’t believe that he had really become a disciple of Christ.
But Barnabas comes alongside Saul and brings him before the apostles and this is what he says: Vs27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.
It was through his testimony of Paul that he was accepted as a disciple and began to preach in Jerusalem.
Barnabas took a risk for Saul. If Saul had been faking, he would have delivered the apostles into the hands of a killer.
It would have been easy to hate Saul for the things he had done but Barnabas welcomes him into the church and sticks up for him when no one else did.
He took a great risk and put his life on the line because he knew that Saul was going to do great things for God. Barnabas gives Saul a chance.
The church needs Barnabas’s. We are here for the glory of God.
We need people who work to raise up leaders. We need people who encourage others.
We need people who will dedicate themselves to helping others succeed, people who will make sacrifices of themselves for the good of the community.
Because a church without a Barnabas will be a church without a Paul.
If we want to see what the church is supposed to look like we need men and women who will use their gifts and abilities to help others succeed for the glory of God. What we need is a church that is dedicated to becoming Barnabas.
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