Paul was not content to persecute Christians only in Jerusalem. He pursued them wherever they went. One place the believers fled was Damascus the capital of Syria. Some Christians had gone up to the Jewish synagogues there. (It is important to remember that up until this time all Christians were converted Jews; thus they still went to worship at the Jewish synagogues.) The Jewish high priest in Jerusalem had authority over these synagogues in Damascus, so Paul obtained a letter from the high priest authorizing him to seize the Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem.

Now the Christian religion is called THE WAY and is a suitable name because it is in fact the way to salvation and eternal life. Christ himself is our true way.

At about noon, as Saul drew near Damascus a light brighter than the sun flashed around him. Then Saul heard a voice. Those that were around him heard the voice but could not understand it. Jesus himself was speaking to Saul. When Jesus asked Saul why he was persecuting him he realized that it was not only men he was persecuting but The Lord himself. Saul knew at once that he was in God’s presence. Jesus the light of the world was talking to him. But even though he knew that the light was the Lord, Saul up until then had not known that the Lord was actually the risen Christ. “Who are you Lord?” he asked and the reply came, “I am Jesus.” Here we see the first step into Saul’s conversion. He was ready to do the Lord’s work. His mind and will had been changed.

Make no mistake, up until this point Paul had been nothing but a terrorist with the blood of many on his hands. He hated the name of Jesus. So much so, he became a self-avowed, violent aggressor, persecuting and killing Christians in allegiance to the God of heaven. Shocking though it may seem we must not forget the pit from which he came. The better we understand the darkness of his past the better we understand his gratitude for grace, and that brings me to my first point.

Regardless of how we look, we all have a past that is neither pleasant nor encouraging. It’s the life we lived before turning to the Savior. Our existence before Christ was among the wretched and let’s never forget what life was like outside the boundaries of grace. Saul was there and so were we.

Second, no matter what you have done no one is beyond hope. That’s the great hope of the Christian message. Thirdly, you have found a new beginning with God. When Saul knelt before the living God, he finally faced the reality of his sin. Deep within, Christ transformed his life and he started doing what was right. Grace provides that sort of new beginning.

The ninth chapter of Acts begins abruptly; Saul’s blood is boiling. He’s on a murderous rampage towards Damascus. He was borderline out of control. His fury had intensified almost to the point of no return. Such bloodthirsty determination and blind hatred for the followers of Christ drove him hard towards Damascus. If you were a follower of Jesus the last thing you would want would be for him to knock on your door. Why Damascus? At over one hundred miles the journey was no small undertaking, but Saul knew there were thousands of Christians there. He devised an aggressive plan to storm the city, capture them and drag them into court. Thankfully God had other plans.

And those plans meant spreading the word to many people in lots of countries and traveling thousands of miles. Would you have given up at the thought of it? Though he was beaten and stoned many times, he carried on. He traveled mostly on foot and if not it was on an old cart or the back of a sweating beast, enduring the extreme weather conditions. Food rations were slim and there was no modern health care. Hostility was rife; every day he and his companions were in harm’s way but they pressed on.
We Christians have become a soft bunch. We look out for ourselves our rights and our conveniences. We have little tolerance for anything that interrupts our life of ease. Sacrifice rarely crosses our minds. When we are called upon to consider paying a heavy price we wince and stammer and politely excuse ourselves. Or we say we will support those who are called to go.

Try to imagine life with Paul. Would you have gone along? To places unknown? Would you have left a successful life for who knows what?

Though not that old Paul already had scars from Philippi, bruises from Lystra, memories of the mob in Thessalonica, wounds from Berea and still he continued. You should find that determination inspiring. He had given his all to Christ and so must we.

The Christian way is different; harder and easier. Christ says, Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time and your money I want you. No half measures are any good. We think it is impossible to hand over our whole self, all our wishes and all our precautions but it is far easier than what we are trying to do. We try to remain ourselves and keep personal happiness and at the same time be good. We try to let our hearts and our minds go their own way, centred on money, ambition and pleasure and in spite of this to behave honestly and humbly. Well this is what Christ warned us we could not do. If you plant grass seed you cannot grow wheat. If you want to grow wheat you need to plough the soil and plant for wheat.

Paul’s job was to draw men to Christ and encourage them to give all areas of their lives to God. The pursuit of happiness by being morally good ends in frustration. Jesus encourages those who would follow him to count the cost of being one of his disciples. What has being a Christian cost you?

To be a disciple means to go with Him in an attitude of study, obedience and imitation.

The mechanics of it may have changed but the priorities and intentions stay the same. In the heart of a disciple there is a desire and settled intent. The disciple of Christ is above all else to be like Him. The decision you make should end up in your life being dedicated to being like Him. The disciple is one who, intent on becoming Christ-like, and so dwelling in His faith and practice, progressively arranges his/her affairs to that end. By these actions, even today, one who enrolls in Christ’s training becomes His pupil or disciple.

And if we intend to become like Christ, that will be obvious to every thoughtful person around us as well as ourselves. Love your enemies; bless those who curse you; walk the second mile with an oppressor – in general live out the gracious transformations of faith hope and love.

Paul remains the one man who, apart from Christ Himself, continues to feed our souls with life changing truth like no other spiritual mentor in history.

Saul probably never recovered from the mental image of Stephen’s death. He may have kept one of the robes he held, now stained with the martyr’s blood. It wasn’t the fact that Stephen had died that troubled Saul; it was the way he died that haunted him. No screaming and no pitiful pleas for mercy. No cursing and no recanting of his faith. Instead his face shone like that of an angel and he prayed. With compassion for his executioners, he petitioned, “Don’t hold this charge against them Father for they know not what they do.” I suspect that in some unguarded moment on that walk to Damascus he relived in his mind how peacefully Stephen had died and it troubled him. Saul could not have failed to notice the courage of his prisoners. The believers he captured rarely resisted the torture. Though some shrank in their faith the vast majority continued to swear allegiance to their master. Their undoubted courage in the face of certain death must have frustrated Saul. He simply could not put it out of his mind. Now he had the message, no more running, the fight was over and God had won. God will do whatever it takes to bring us to the point of absolute dependence on Him. He will relentlessly, patiently and faithfully keep on at us until we finally and willingly submit to Him.

You’re not bad people, I know that. More importantly God knows that. Your life may be clean, you don’t cheat or lie, you’ve never been the subject of a scandal and never hurt anyone. In all you live a life that is impressive to others, but you are light years from being righteous before God. Until you’ve surrendered your life to Christ alone – by faith alone – you are as lost as Saul was on that Damascus road

If you have never made that decision or need to recommit yourself, bow your heart before the living Christ and receive Him as your Savior. Sooner or later God will get your attention, no matter what it takes. He will bring you to a place in your lives where there is no point in continuing to fight. Don’t wait for a storm; by then it may be too late. Settle it now, give Him complete control. Stop your own Damascus road journey. Like Saul surrender and you will never regret it.

One of the secrets of Paul’s success is that he kept going. He led the same way regardless of the direction of the wind before him or against him. Oppression and hardship did not matter. The only priority that mattered was that Christ was proclaimed. Every trail he blazed led others to the cross. Honesty was his middle name. Integrity marked his steps. Paul understood the perils of telling people what they wanted to hear rather than declaring what they needed to hear. To him the stakes were eternal. His motive for ministry wasn’t complicated: Please God, not people.

Paul stood crippled from the unjust blows of his enemies; he stood broken in body but never in spirit. In fact he rarely drew attention to his scars. On the few occasions that he did it was never about him, it was always about the Savior. That’s greatness. It isn’t about the actions against him or even the accomplishments he achieved. His greatness is about his response to those hardships. Few individuals have experienced the degree of suffering that comes near to the magnitude Paul suffered. The pressure he lived with must have been unbearable at times. He writes about it in his second letter to the church at Corinth.
Let’s hope and pray that you will never suffer the way Paul did. But the end target must be the same for you as it was for him. Spread the word of God and glorify Christ. You must learn to respond to pressure. The way he responded must be your way too.

Paul allowed his afflictions to strengthen his trust in God alone. He has delivered us. He is delivering us and He will deliver us. Paul focused on God’s ability to handle the circumstances from start to finish. That freed him to lean on and tap into God’s power alone. To describe his life in ministry he used words like afflicted, perplexed, persecuted and struck down. That was Paul’s life as an ambassador for Christ. More often than not he was like a sheep ready for slaughter. Would you have swapped places? Remember not once did he blame God for his afflictions. He confidently relied on his Lord.

Paul viewed what happened through the eyes of faith. That remarkable trait allowed him to be numbered against other greats like Moses. Like Moses Paul endured the hard times by focusing on the eternal. He used his trials as reminders to focus on things not yet seen. When your heart is right you can do that. There is no fire in the world the can warm a cold heart. A cold heart stays riveted on the hardship and refuses to see beyond the present. Paul’s heart blazed with the fire of faith, allowing him to see the unseen. That’s what kept him together under pressure. His heart stayed warm. The longer the persecution continued – the hotter his fire for God. Allow adversity to strengthen your faith. Paul’s strength came from his weakness. His pride departed him and in its place emerged a genuine humility that no amount of hardship could erase.

But how about you? Are you afflicted and burdened excessively? Do you feel under pressure and close to despair? Well maybe that’s where God wants you to be. Are you feeling crushed and confused and misunderstood? Well surrender and embrace your weakness. Trust in God’s strength and power. Do you have disturbed sleep, feel discouraged? Are you disappointed about yourself or someone else? You can’t handle the pressure alone, acknowledge it and release God’s strength. Don’t let fear control you.

Your final home will not be on planet earth. Your future is assured and in the meantime God is in full control.
Remember that for every achievement there is a price; for every goal there is an opponent; for every victory there is a problem and for every triumph there is a sacrifice

And for those of you living with criticism, especially negative, follow Paul’s example and remain calm. Rest your case with the Lord. Take your battles to Him in prayer. With a clear conscience and committed to the truth, lay your case before Him. Start there and the judge of all truth will guide you to your next step. Don’t stop. Don’t tell yourself that you are the kind of person that they say you are. If what is being said is not true then don’t believe it. Count on God to give you the strength and courage to stand on the truth. His grace has brought you safe this far and it will be His grace that will lead you home.

Prayer:

Lord God, how thankful I am for your word that lives forever. Thank you for the way your truth comes to light when we see it as print on the pages of the Bible. Thank you for the power of your word that transforms lives and mends broken hearts and strengthens the frightened. May we, in the process of time, begin to feel more at home in your word, so that the life of another becomes ours and the truth becomes a principle to live by. Thank you for coming to our rescue day by day by your grace, and for those who are most afraid I pray that they will know your peace and relief from anxiety as they turn to the Bible for hope.

Amen.

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