Last week we talked about Stephen, who was the first follower of Jesus to be put to death for his beliefs. However, as we discussed he was not the last, and there was one man who viewed it as basically his personal mission to stamp out all Christians: his name was Saul.
Saul was there watching Stephen be stoned. It’s not clear whether he participated, but it is clear that he is happy about it. Someone read Acts 8:1-3.
1 And Saul approved of their killing him.
That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison.
Saul approved of Stephen’s stoning—a stoning that was more of a mob action than an execution. Saul saw this man stoned to death and thought, “Yep, we did a good job.” And then from that day forward, Saul made it his personal mission in life to stamp out all Christians. Someone read Acts 9:1-2.
9 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Saul is not just content to stamp out the Christians in Jerusalem. He hears about Christians in a place called Damascus, and he asks the High Priest if he can go there personally and stamp them out—to arrest these men and women following Christianity and drag them against their will back to Jerusalem to be tried in court. And knowing Saul, he would probably be happy to see them all die like Steven.
He basically wants all Christians to die, he wants the whole movement to die before it can get any further. Why? Why is Saul like this?
Well, if there is one person in the Bible who we know a lot about, it’s this man named Saul. As we’ve talked about before, he is the apostle Paul, who wrote the majority of the epistles in the Bible. He is responsible for writing the books of Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, 1st and 2nd Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. He wrote 13 books of the Bible. And if those books give us one thing, it’s insight into the mind of Paul. He talks about himself, critically, and why he did the things he did.
Keep a finger in where we are in Acts because we’re going to come back but we’re going to flip around a bit to understand Saul a little bit better. First I need someone to read Acts 22:3-4 and someone else to read Philippians 3:4-6, so we can read these back to back. (Wait til the two identified students both find their verses)
Okay read Acts 22:3-4.
3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated strictly according to our ancestral law, being zealous for God, just as all of you are today. 4 I persecuted this Way up to the point of death by binding both men and women and putting them in prison,
I want you guys to flip to Philippians. Someone please read Philippians 3:4-6.
4 even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
In the Acts segment Paul is giving a speech about himself and n the Philippians segment it is literally Paul writing about himself. In both these cases he’s talking about who he was before he was a Christian and a bit of why he did it. So who was Saul/Paul and why did he do the things he did?
Saul was born Jewish. He wasn’t just Jewish he said—he was the Jew’s Jew. That’s like saying you’re a man’s man—you’re the man that other men think of when they think of the most manly man ever. Saul was the most Jewish Jew ever. He took pride and comfort in his status. Because unlike the disciples, Saul wasn’t like a fisherman or a carpenter—no Saul was literally raised to be a leader in the Jewish community. He was educated by one of the leading members of the council—Gamaliel—who is the guy we talked about a few weeks ago who convinced the other council members to ignore the threat of Peter and John and the disciples.
Saul was educated and taught in the law. He was taught not just to read and write—but to read and write well. In a time where if a person knew how to read it was a few words, Saul was being taught to write persuasive essays and debate his faith.
And because Saul was raised to be a leader and defender of his faith, his faith and his identity as a Jewish man was literally the most important thing about him. He wanted to uphold the Law to the upmost of his ability, not just that he was upholding the law himself, but be a leader and make sure everyone else was upholding the law.
So what does this have to do with persecuting Christians? Saul saw them as a threat to Judaism, the Law, and God. In his opinion it’s heresy and blasphemy and basically a cancer growing in the heart of Judaism. And he is personally going to cure this cancer by removing it from the rest of Israel.
So Saul heads to Damascus, and things don’t quite go as he expects.
Someone read Acts 9:3-9.
3 Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. 8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Saul is on his way to Damascus—intent to get there and drag people to “justice” when suddenly a light from heaven surrounds him. He falls to the ground, overwhelmed, and hears a voice. “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
And Saul is just like, “OMG. Who are you? What is this? What is happening?”
And of course it’s Jesus, he’s sort of like, “Have you been persecuting more than one group recently? Obviously it’s me, Jesus.”
If I was Saul, I’d be super worried at this point that Jesus was here to like personally strike me dead. Instead, Jesus is like, “Get up and go to the city, and there you will be told what to do.”
Saul gets up to go, and he can’t see anything—the light struck him blind. He can’t see. So the men with him have to lead him to Damascus. Fortunately .the men around him also heard the voice—even if they didn’t see anything—so they don’t think Saul is like crazy. They are just as stunned as he is.
Three days on the way to Damascus Saul is without sight, and he fasts during that time.
Someone read Acts 9:10-17.
10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” 13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; 16 I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 17 So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
In Damascus there happens to be a Christian named Ananias. God comes to him in a vision, and Ananias is all like, “I am here God! Tell me what to do! I am yours to command.”
And then, God tells him what to do—he tells him to go and find a guy named Saul and heal him.
Now must of us think that if God appeared to us and told us what to do, we’d do it. That if God would just speak to us clearly, we would follow him without question. But the Bible shows us over and over and over again that that’s not true. God tells people directly to do something and instead the people are like, “Um, God, are you sure you meant that?”
So instead of being like, “Yes, God! I’ll do it” Ananias instead is like, “Umm, God? I’ve heard about Saul before. I don’t know if you know this, but he’s like a bad dude. Surely, you don’t mean him. Surely you’re going to like smite him or something. Surely you wouldn’t ask me to heal the guy who has killed so many of your followers.”
But God is just like, “I have chosen Saul. You have no idea what he is going to go through for me—what I’m going to ask him to do—and he will take word of me to the Gentiles and Kings and everyone. He will spread my word as no one has before, and he will suffer for my sake.”
Maybe it’s that last bit about suffering that gets Ananias out the door, like “I hate him, but at least he’s going to suffer.” I don’t know. But in the end, Ananias does go out and he does heal Saul, in the name of Jesus.
Someone read Acts 9:18-22
18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, 20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21 All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” 22 Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah.
Saul’s sight is restored. It’s like he had cataracts and they fall off his eyes and he can see again! And as soon as he gets up, he is baptized—a symbol of a new life, that his old sins are washed away and a public declaration that he is now a follower of Jesus.
After that, Saul hangs out in Damascus eating food and recovering and just taking some time. I also imagine during this time he was talking to the disciples, trying to learn everything he could about Jesus.
Then as soon as Saul regains his strength, he goes to the synagogue and starts proclaiming Jesus. He’s doing the very thing he came to arrest people before.
Everyone who hears him is stunned. They know who Saul is—they’ve heard about his mission to take out all the Christians. He knows what he came there to do. And instead he’s doing the exact opposite.
This complete change, this complete turn-around is a gamechanger, it’s an inspiration, it’s a powerful show of the change Jesus can have on someone’s life, how an encounter with Jesus can change everything. They can’t deny it when they see Saul. Something happened to Saul—someone happened to Saul. And considering how much Saul had invested in the Jewish establishment, no one can believe this would be a hoax or a joke. Saul must have seen something, he must have encountered something. This is real.
Saul has too much to lose for it be anything but real.
Someone read Acts 9:23-25.
23 After some time had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, 24 but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night so that they might kill him; 25 but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.
Saul’s witness is too powerful—it’s too much. And soon the very people he used to work for want him out. It’s too much, for him to turn traitor. So they plot to kill him.
Fortunately, somehow Saul gets wind of this. Maybe he still has friends in the Jewish establishment and they leak it to him. I don’t know how he finds out, but he does. And the people who want to kill him are watching the gates all day and all night, waiting for Saul to come out so they can kill him.
Saul has to sneak out. The other disciples help him. They go to the city wall, they find an opening and then they lower him from the wall in a basket. It probably took a bunch of dudes to do this, it’s not easy to lower another person in a basket without just straight up dropping him. But Saul does make it out.
There is an irony in all of this. That Saul, who was the hammer of the Jewish government, the one who was hunting Christians down, and instead Saul is now the one who is hunted.
Someone read Acts 9:26-31.
26 When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. 28 So he went in and out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He spoke and argued with the Hellenists; but they were attempting to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
31 Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
Saul escapes Damascus, where he became public enemy number one, and goes to Jerusalem. There he attempts to join the Christians in Jerusalem and they basically are too scared of him to let him join. News didn’t travel back then like it does now. There was probably nothing Saul could have said or done that would convince the disciples in Jerusalem that he wasn’t there to kill him.
But one guy goes out on a limb—a guy named Barnabas. He takes Saul at his word, that he’s not there to get on the inside of their organization so that he can take them down from within. Barnabas then takes Saul directly to the apostles—Peter and John and all of them. Barnabas vouches for Saul, and gives him a chance.
And the apostles listen. And then they basically set Saul loose on Jerusalem. He immediately starts preaching. And once again it’s this huge turn around. Everyone knew Saul, everyone knew who he was and what he stood for. He was the Jew’s Jew. There was no one more Jewish than Saul. And now suddenly he is proclaiming Jesus?
It’s unfathomable!
And again people want to kill him. And again the other believers have to basically disappear him and send him somewhere else.
And the church continues to increase!
This is just the beginning of Saul, and what he is going to do. We’re going to see much more of him, because as I’ve already said, he wrote most of the New Testament. Saul isn’t going anywhere, and no one is going to stop him.
He is going to preach the word until the day he dies, even though it has cost him his social standing, his job, everything. It doesn’t matter. Because now Saul knows the truth, he knows Jesus is the way, and no one is going to stop him from boldly proclaiming that all over the world.