TRANSFORMED!

Transformed!

The man we know as St. Paul, the Apostle and writer of many New Testament books, was formerly known as Saul. Saul was born and raised as a Jew. Saul studied Jewish Torah (the written Law is typically considered the first 5 books of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, a.k.a. The Pentateuch, and the oral Law, which is the several hundred traditions falsely attributed to Moses but actually developed by Jewish leaders in the 400 intertestamental years between the close of the Old Testament/O.T. and Christ’s birth) under the Rabbi (teacher) Gamaliel, which was apparently like a musician today being accepted to the Juilliard School of music.

We glean some insight into Saul’s obsession with persecuting Christians in Acts chapter 26 when, as Paul is giving his own defense before King Agrippa, he says in vv. 9-11, “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.”

So what had to happen to Saul to cause the brutal, ferocious, and tenacious Pharisees’ top recruit to not only switch teams, but become the chief advocate, evangelist, missionary, and discipler of Christianity???

What could possibly happen to Saul, the zealous and self-described “obsessed” persecutor of Christians, which would compel him to endure WITH GREAT JOY the following (from 2 Cor 11:23-28):

“I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches…”

About a week ago I was hit with a nasty stomach flu. At one point I was so exhausted and tired I wanted nothing else but to sleep. A dog was barking non-stop and it was preventing me from sleeping. Every time I’d start to doze off something happened to wake me again…  my wife would roll over in bed, that dog would bark, our little boy came into the room, etc. At one point I was so miserable I thought I was going to lose my mind. Then I look at Paul… prison, flogged, beaten, pelted, shipwrecked, hungry, thirsty, sleep deprived, naked… all the while moving from country to country, city to city, with the pressure and concern of the churches and the spread of the gospel message.

So what happened???

In Acts chapter 9 we read, “As he (Saul) neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied.”

Saul, the determined, dogged, and relentless persecutor of Christians, encountered the risen Christ and was immediately transformed into a righteous disciple of Christ.

Contrary to what is frequently taught today in “world religion” courses at universities across the globe, Jesus did not come and establish a “new” religion called Christianity. No, Jesus, i.e. the 2nd Person of the eternal Holy Trinity God, came as was prophesied and eagerly anticipated since the time of Adam & Eve’s rebellion in the Garden of Eden in order to redeem fallen and depraved humanity; humanity whom They (Trinity God) created in Their image and likeness (Gen 1:26-27) for eternal fellowship with God.

As Paul is testifying on his own behalf before King Agrippa in Acts 26:6-7, Paul himself points out that Jesus is the fulfillment of everything the Jews are taught to believe and anticipate in saying, “And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I am on trial today. This is the promise our twelve tribes (the 12 tribes are from each of the 12 sons of Jacob/Israel and are collectively the Jewish people) are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me.”

What happened on Paul’s road to Damascus was a reality-changing experience. Paul didn’t fall for some new fangled religion by getting high on peyote or LSD. No, Paul encountered the Sovereign King of the Universe, Jesus the anticipated, incarnate, crucified, resurrected, and glorified Immanuel (God with us), and God cleared up Saul’s misguided, erroneous, foolish, unwarranted, and blasphemous worldview through the encounter via a simple eternity-changing statement, “I am Jesus/Yeshua/Joshua (name means ‘The LORD saves’), whom you are persecuting.”

Jesus did not say that Saul was persecuting Christians or disciples or anything else. Jesus said that in pursuing, arresting, charging, and murdering the followers of Jesus that Saul was actually persecuting our Creator, Savior, Redeemer, and King - Jesus Himself. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

Jesus didn’t leave Saul in a state of utter brokenness and guilt for his misguided and murderous obsessions. Instead, as we read in Acts 26:16-18, Jesus changed Saul’s name to Paul and said, “‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’”

When we have an authentic encounter with the risen Christ our former twisted and perverted worldview of egotism and selfishness is replaced with the only true reality - God is our Creator, Jesus is our Messiah/Christ/King, and we/humanity are God’s children redeemed from our rebellion/sin by His righteousness and victory over satan, sin, guilt, shame, and even death.

In Acts 9:18 we read of Saul’s encounter with Christ, “And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. And having risen up, he was baptized…”

Saul, like all of us are conceived in sin and born into this world separated from our Creator because of it. We are spiritually blind from the moment of conception until we, like Saul, have an encounter with the Risen Christ on our road to Damascus. Saul temporarily lost his physical sight through that encounter, which was a small price to pay for the transcendent gift of faith that comes exclusively from God - not from ourselves (see Eph 2:8). In that passage from Acts 9:18 above, the scales of our perverse and twisted philosophical and religious worldviews fall from our eyes when we encounter God - the ultimate and exclusive authentic reality.

So what happened to Saul/Paul? He had an authentic encounter with the Risen LORD that was framed by a simple statement from Jesus, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

The world is full of broken, fallen, spiritually dead, rebellious, zealous, obsessed persecutors of Jesus. Some of us have experienced an eternally life-giving/altering encounter with our Creator and Risen LORD when through Scripture and prayer He revealed Himself to us and said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

After the scales fell from your eyes were you transformed and become involved in the reality Jesus calls all of His friends and followers to? He invites all His friends and followers, just like Paul in Acts 26:16-18, to STAND, SERVE, WITNESS, to OPEN their eyes, to TURN them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God - SO THAT - they may RECEIVE forgiveness of sin and to RECEIVE an eternal residence in the house of God because they are SANCTIFIED by the gift of faith in Christ given by God.

What about you? Have you encountered the Risen Christ in that way to where your former worldview has been utterly eradicated and wholly replaced with God’s eternal and glorious perspective? Has the goal of your life become like that the saints throughout history: to STAND, SERVE, WITNESS, and PARTICIPATE in the dead being snatched from the clutches of satan and eternal separation from God?

That’s what it means to be TRANSFORMED. That’s what it means to become a follower of Jesus Christ.

Blessings,

-Kevin