Breathe in Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Breathe out love.

 “The Era of God With Us”

(Acts 9:1-2, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, January 1, 2012)

1 But Saul,

Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee. He describes himself later in his life in this way:

I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:4-11 ESV)

Later in Acts he is quoted as speaking before the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem, saying:

I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. I persecuted this Way (followers of Jesus) to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished. (Acts 22:3-5 ESV)

And later in the same book we read this quote, when he was in front of a different authority:

I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities. (Acts 26:9-11 ESV)

This Saul, a great defender of the Pharisaic way and a persecutor of the church, became one of the most persuasive defenders of Christ as Messiah that the church has ever known. The chapter that we begin this morning tells us what happened to make Saul, the hater of the Way of Christ, into Paul, the apostle and teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord,

This morning we need to give some serious consideration to the fact that this Saul had been and was “still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.” This is the same Saul who had been in Jerusalem on the day when Stephen was put to death by stoning. Saul had watched the cloaks of those who murdered Stephen supposing that they were serving the Lord by ending the life of this great man. Stephen prayed for them that day. Falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” But Saul, we are told, “approved of his execution.” Saul was “still” the same as this chapter begins.

We are used to religious disagreements, both inside any group and between various groups. That should not surprise anyone. But we are rightly alarmed when we hear of people breathing threats and murder against other people who, like them, were created in the image of God.

This struggle was between the Jewish faith of the Pharisees, and the Jewish faith of those who were known as followers of “the Way,” eventually called “Christians.” We could easily forget that this was a struggle between two groups of zealous Jews. Both sides had a devotion to something beyond themselves. Are you able to distinguish between the two groups? One is well represented by Saul of Tarsus; the other by the apostle Paul. That's worthy considering, since we are talking about the same person, but then these two men do not seem to be the same person.

Both men had definite belief systems and rituals, were serious about the Bible, and zealous for the religion of the God of the Jews. Saul the Pharisee was zealous for the Pharisaic view of the Law, that combination of biblical law and Jewish tradition that was so offended by the behavior of Jesus Christ. According to them, Jesus did not do ritual purification right, He did not keep the Sabbath right, and He did not show sufficient deference for the religious leaders of the Pharisees.

The apostle Paul was a different kind of Jew. He was more zealous for Jesus than for ceremonial law-keeping or liturgy. He was the chief representative in the Mediterranean world of Christian Judaism. He was more interested in love than in circumcision. He also insisted that Gentiles did not have to become practicing Jews in order to be disciples of Jesus Christ. He was so captivated by Christ, the cross, and the resurrection, that he wrote to the Corinthian church, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” He believed that the love of Christ claimed people and changed people. He was filled with the Holy Spirit.

went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Paul faced the hatred of men like Saul. Paul's enemies were zealous about the things that Saul loved. Saul approved of the murder of Stephen. Saul was ready to arrest other Jews in distant cities because they believed that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. That's why he was on the road to Damascus. He had important papers with him, letters to the synagogues of that Syrian city from the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem who agreed with him. He was ready to take parents away from their children and young men and women away from their parents in order to bring them before the authorities in Jerusalem. He longed to see Christians in chains. That was Saul. He had bad religious breath. He was breathing in hate, and he was breathing out murder.

Paul's heart was different. He loved his countrymen the Jews, though they exasperated him. He wanted to see them free in Christ, alive in the Jesus who died for their sins, and full of the love of the Holy Spirit that Jesus sent down form heaven. His breath was... heavenly.

What was wrong with Saul's Pharisaic Judaism? There was no Jesus in it, and there was no Holy Spirit in it. If you do not have the Son and the Spirit, then you do not really have the Father either. What are you left with? … idea constructs, liturgy, and law that only bring death. Where does your religion take you? Do you want people to be free? Do you love your enemies? Remember the One you represent. He said this at His death: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. And trust Him.

Where was the Almighty I-AM when Jews were killing Jews, all claiming to follow Him? He was where He was when the Sanhedrin determined that His Son was a blasphemer, and when religious leaders said to the Man on the cross, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” He was showing us life and glorifying His Name by letting us see the difference between religion that has the Son and the Spirit and religion that does not. It is one thing to say that a religion that is all theology, liturgy, and law makes you murderous; it is quite another to feel the difference between hatred that is ready to kill and love that is willing to die. But God made Saul into Paul. He can fill us all with the Son of His love and with a new Spirit of gentleness. He can make us disciples of Jesus Christ. It is time for God to be with us.

“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5:12

1. What is the story of Saul of Tarsus?

2. Why did Saul stand against the disciples of the Lord?

3. How zealous was Saul for God? How zealous were the disciples of Christ?

4. Why was the story of Saul's persecution of the church so important?

OT Passage: Psalm 146