PROCLAMATION CONFLICTS
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on October 19, 2022 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group: October 19, 2022 from Acts Acts 9:20-31
Theme: A faithful proclamation of Christ results in conflicts with the unbelievers of this world—but also in the salvation of those who believe.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
Think of what it must have been like for Saul of Tarsus. He was hanging by a rope, hunched down inside a basket, swinging in the dark from a window, as he was being lowered to the ground by people that—just a short while before—he was planning to drag off to prison and to death. Surely, he must have been amazed that things could change so much. After all, he had been a dignified Pharisee—trained in the finest school under the most esteemed teacher in Judaism of the day. He had power and authority and influence. People feared him. Now, he’s dangling in a basket—trying to make his escape by night—fleeing for his life—hoping that the Christians who had hold of the rope didn’t have slippery hands … or unforgiving hearts.
But in a sense, this shouldn’t have been a surprise to him. Back in Acts 9:15, the man Ananias—whom the Lord had sent to lay hands on Saul and pray for him—told him,
“Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:15).
How true those words proved to be over the lifetime and ministry of this man Saul—who became known and loved by us as the apostle Paul. The story of his conversion is what’s told to us in Acts 9:1-19; and almost immediately afterward, that promise from God concerning his call and ministry began to demonstrate itself.
Jesus Himself had warned that this kind of thing would be so. He told His disciples:
“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also” (John 15:18-20).
And if this would happen to Saul—someone who was, at one time, on the world’s side in its hatred of the message of the gospel—how much more would it happen to you and me? Saul’s—or Paul’s—post-conversion story in Acts 9:20-32 teaches us an important lesson: A faithful proclamation of Christ results in conflicts with the unbelievers of this world—but also in the salvation of those who believe.
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Look first at Acts 9:20-22. It’s there that we find …
1. THE PROCLAMATION OF PAUL (vv. 20-22).
We’re told what happened after he became converted to the Christ that he once opposed:
Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God (v. 20).
He had been on his way to the city of Damascus with authority from the high priest to arrest Christians. He indeed went to the city; but as it turned out, it was to be baptized. And then, he didn’t return home to Jerusalem. Instead, he went to the Jewish synagogues and preached that the Christ that he had been opposing—and who met him on the road and transformed his heart—is the Son of God! What a startling transformation! What an act of irony on the part of God! Verse 21 goes on to say;
Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?” (v. 21).
And yes indeed, it was! It was something that Paul himself later testified. He said in 1 Corinthians 15:8-10 that, just as others saw the risen Christ;
Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me (1 Corinthians 15:8-10).
Now; there was an event in Paul’s experience that Acts 9 doesn’t tell us about. After he was baptized in Damascus, he apparently first went to Arabia … and then, afterward, returned to Damascus. Galatians 1:13-17 tells us about this:
For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus (Galatians 1:13-17).
What did he do in Arabia during that time? It’s very likely that he spent some time in deep reflection—thinking carefully about all the things that he had learned in the Scriptures during his growing up and training. He realized that all the promises of the Scriptures about the Messiah—who he had just met on the road to Damascus—had been fulfilled in Jesus. However long that time was, it must have been a time of deep reflection for him. So; when he came back to Damascus, his heart was fully convinced; and he began “immediately” to preach in the synagogues.
The Jewish people in Damascus were amazed at the transformation. And it goes on to tell us in verse 23;
But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ (v. 23).
Paul was a man with a remarkable mind; and with a great storehouse of knowledge and understanding with respect to the Old Testament Scriptures regarding Christ. And note carefully that the two themes of Paul’s message—that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He is the Christ—are in perfect harmony with the great profession that the apostle Peter made in Matthew 16:16; “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Saul was now a whole-hearted preacher of the gospel.
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Now; you’d think that the Jewish people who had seen this transformation in Saul of Tarsus would have been motivated to re-evaluate their own position. But no. We’re shown next that Paul’s new message resulted in …
2. THE STIRRING-UP OF CONFLICTS (vv. 23-30).
How long Paul carried on his preaching ministry in Damascus isn’t told to us. But apparently—try as they may—they couldn’t argue against the testimony he was setting forth about Jesus. And so, we’re told in verses 23-25;
Now after many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him. But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket (vv. 23-25).
This must have been a very humbling experience for Saul—the former Pharisee. In fact, he used this incident in 2 Corinthians 11 to show how he boasted in the things that were his infirmities in order to exalt Christ. He wrote;
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me; but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands (2 Corinthians 11:31-33).
What a remarkable thing this was! The Jewish people in Damascus, who were once so excited about his zeal against the Christians, were now wishing to kill him for preaching Christ so powerfully! And what a remarkable thing it also was that those Christians,–who Saul had only recently sought to arrest and drag to their executions—were now graciously holding the ropes and helping him to escape! What a testimony all of this was to the transformation God had brought about in him! … and in the hearts of the believers!
And so; by God’s grace, he made his escape. But the troubles were far from over. We’re told in verse 26;
And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple (v. 26).
Can you blame them? We’re told in Acts 9:13-14 how troubled Ananias was when the Lord told him to go and lay his hands on Saul. He heard about “how much harm he has done” to the saints in Jerusalem. It would have been tempting for the believers in Jerusalem to think that this was another trap that Saul was setting for them. But then, a very important brother in the church arose. His name was Barnabas. We’ve already met him in Acts 4:36-37. He was a generous Christian who sold his land for the care of other needy Christians, and brought the money to the feet of the apostles. We’re told that his name originally was Joses; but the apostles gave him the nickname Barnabas—which means “Son of Encouragement” or “Son of Consolation”. He certainly proved to be an encouragement to Saul. We’re told in verses 27-28;
But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out (vv. 27-28).
Sometimes, when a new ‘Saul’ is brought to Christ—someone with a notorious past—a ‘Barnabas’ needs to come alongside and help the church to welcome him or her. Barnabas proved to be a long-time encouragement—not only to the church, but also to Paul. He ended up working later on with Paul in many of his missionary journeys.
So; with Saul now fully welcomed into the church family, we’re told that he began to preach in Jerusalem in great earnest. And—as you might expect—this stirred up more conflict. The Hellenists—who were Greek-speaking Jewish people—got into a debate with him. Verses 29-30 tell us;
And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him. When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus (vv. 29-30).
Perhaps those who had seen what had happened to Stephen (as was told to us in Acts 7) feared that the same thing would happen to Saul. So they got him out of town. They sent him to the coastal city of Caesarea—where we read earlier that Philip the Evangelist had taken up residence (Acts 8:40)—and then, eventually back up to his hometown of Tarsus in Cilicia.
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All of this conflict must have seemed hard. But it had been in the plan of God all along. God was showing Saul—the former persecutor—how much he must suffer for the name of Jesus. It was all preparatory for the ministry that Saul of Tarsus would later fulfill as Paul the apostle.
And in the meantime, we then read of …
3. THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH (v. 31.)
Verse 31 tells us;
Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied (v. 31).
It’s interesting to note that, after Paul was sent away, it was then that the church was said to have “peace”—testifying to the conflicts that Saul’s faithful preaching brought about. But we’re also told of the church’s growth—testifying to God’s great blessing on Saul’s ministry through the gospel.
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Saul’s post-conversion story reminds us that the message of the gospel—faithfully proclaimed and faithfully demonstrated in the transformation of lives—will always stir up trouble in the unbelieving world. But praise God that—even in spite of the conflicts—God saves souls. As Paul himself would write later …
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Corinthians 1:18-25).
AE
