Today we’re kicking off a new series, for the next 5 Sundays we’re following the journey of two of the best known followers of Jesus, the journeys of Peter and Paul as recorded in the book of Acts and the gospel of John.
These are two action-packed stories to follow! We hear a lot about Peter and Paul, Peter who walked alongside Jesus throughout his ministry, and Paul who turned from Christian-hater to one of the best known Christians in the world. So much to insight to gain from these two guys and the influence their stories have had on Christianity throughout history, and we also get insight into the intensity of the human experience when it comes to encountering – and being encountered by- Jesus.
Our journey over the next 5 weeks covers roughly 15 years of Paul’s life, beginning with his conversion to the faith as we’ve heard today, and moving though to one of his stays in prison – this one in Philippi with another follower Silas. And we have some excerpts from Peter’s journey mixed in here, the continuation of Jesus’ ministry through Peter as he is restored by Jesus himself, raises Tabitha back to life and preaches about the full reach of Jesus’ love for all people.
We’ll touch on the relationship between these two apostles as well, two key people God used in the early days of the church that continue to significantly impact it today.
So today we start off with a bit of both > We’ve got the beginnings of Paul’s story, we go right back to the start with Paul today where his name is not Paul, it’s Saul. Always strikes me to think that we have all these writings of Paul in the New Testament, but right back at the start of his journey he is not Paul yet, he’s Saul and what do we know about him at that stage of his life? He was a persecutor of Christians. That’s a very unlikely starting point for one of Christianity’s best known figures.
And in our gospel reading today we go to Peter’s journey, a wonderful part of his journey, where he is restored by the resurrected Jesus > after denying Jesus three times he then gets to say – three times – that he loves Jesus. What relief and joy would have been in Peter’s heart in these moments!
Back to Paul > his first mention in the bible is a long way from the Paul we know from his many writings and profound teachings on Jesus > in his first mention he is a ‘young man named Saul,’ and he is present at the stoning of Stephen. Those who are there witnessing this laid their coats at his feet (Acts 7:58). Chapter 8 verse 1 says ‘Saul approved of their killing him.’ This Saul approves of a follower of Jesus being put to death. How he could this man go from approving of such things to dedicating his life to spreading the gospel of this very same Jesus?? Talk about a major life-change, realignment, transformation in heart and soul even!
Our passage in Acts chapter 9 today is where things start to shift in the life of this young man called Saul.
Where do we start today? Saul is ‘breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.’ That’s pretty intense! Not just saying those guys are no good, they’ve got it wrong, but he’s got ‘murderous threats’ for them. He takes it a step further than our politicians do, they might heavily criticize the other side and try to paint everyone but themselves in a bad light, but this is a whole different level of disdain going on here.
Saul looks like a young man motivated to action, he wants to go out and hunt down those who belong to ‘the Way’ as we read here, then bring them back as prisoners to Jerusalem. He seems to be motivated, passionate, hungry, a man on a mission. And what does God do with all that?!
God’s going to use it!
Saul has these gifts in terms of being a man of action, and God is going to use that for his good purposes. And it’s not a subtle nudge from God here is it! Nothing subtle about it…
A light from heaven flashes around Saul and he falls to the ground… we can see God has got his attention! Not only that, but then God speaks to this young man saying ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’
The all-knowing God, he knows everything this young man’s done in his life so far, he knows he is on a mission to capture followers of Jesus, and he calls him out on it. God stops him in his tracks, and asks him ‘why?’
We don’t get an answer to this question from the young man, instead he asks, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Interesting choice of words, why does he say ‘Lord?’ This could be a bit of a hint at a statement of faith, as if Saul now realises who he’s been persecuting. To call God ‘Lord’ is a sign of reverence, respect, Saul is at the Lord’s mercy here!
From ‘breathing out murderous threats’ to ‘who are you Lord,’ already a big shift going on here.
And this voice from heaven has more words for Paul, we read this is Jesus, and he knows Saul is persecuting him, and he has a place for him to go and work for him to do. Probably quite a lot to take in for this young man, who also is not able to see for the next three days. That’s a profound encounter with Jesus isn’t it!
If we think about what this would be like, this blinding encounter with Jesus that Saul has, I wonder if as Christian people this is something we long to experience ourselves… We long to experience God in this way, in a tangible, physical, in-your-face way, experiencing the certainty of his presence with us, that he is real and he is with us.
Maybe this is a bit like what it will be like to be welcomed home to heaven when that times comes, but we do have tangible, physical ways to experience God even now in the waters of baptism, in the body and the blood given for us, in the community of believers around us, in the word of God passed down from generation to generation. These things might not be blinding like this light from heaven Saul experienced, but they are constant aren’t they, constant & reliable reminders of God’s presence with us. Not based on one single experience but on continued experience, and some of us may have had profound experiences in our lives at different times like Saul as well.
We might also at times feel really far away from the first-hand, eye-witness accounts of Jesus followers, the people who were there, experiencing all this in the moment, but that doesn’t mean God can’t reach us here today. Through his word and Spirit he does reach out to us, to all people, with a welcoming hand and a loving embrace. Really we actually get closer and closer to God in our walk as Christian people, ultimately walking into that welcoming hand and loving embrace at the end of our days on earth, all the while carried along by the power of God’s word and his Holy Spirit with us today, yesterday, tomorrow, forever.
If we jump over to Peter for a moment, in his restoration by the resurrected Jesus, we see there as well how well our God knows his people – he calls Peter by name there too! He comes to us thoughtfully, intentionally, with a greater purpose than we can see in the moment.
This might not be a blinding light experience Peter has – although he and the disciples are basking in the glow of the resurrection, like we are too all these years later – their Saviour is not dead, he’s alive and he’s still with them!
And the terrible, terrified state Peter was in when he denied even knowing Jesus three times gives way to what must’ve been incredible relief, hope, probably an overwhelming experience – a bit like being knocked to the ground by these words from Jesus! Jesus repeats the first words he said to Peter, back at the start of his ministry, what are those words? ‘Follow me.’ You are still mine Jesus says, I still have work for you to do.
Here we see forgiveness, restoration, grace in action. And you and me get to see grace in action through faith in what we have, what we get to receive from this Jesus who died and rose again for us > not only for the people who were there, but for you and me today, for all people of all times.
So we’ve got an amazing couple of stories to follow as we continue this series, Saul who goes on to be Paul, Peter who goes from denying Jesus to humbly serving him.
To close out this first bit of Paul’s story, we see Jesus calls him to follow too.
Ananias, a disciple God speaks to in a vision here, says he will restore Saul’s sight. Ananias is not sure about this guy of course, he has been a strong persecutor of Christians after all.
But what does God say to him? ‘This man is my chosen instrument.’ Amazing to think this is who God chooses, to be his ‘chosen instrument’ no less. What a privileged position we might say, being a chosen instrument of God himself.
But there’s one more bit to this, God also says this: ‘I will show him (Saul) how much he must suffer for my name.’ There’s a bit of the fear of the Lord in this isn’t there, God first makes sure Saul stops what he was doing, and then turns him into a chosen instrument for his good purposes.
The road of the ‘chosen instrument’ is a road of suffering. A sobering thought there. Knowing God and serving him is going to involve a bit of suffering, it’s not going to be easy. The best of what we can experience in having an experience, an encounter, an ongoing relationship with the living God, coupled with the worst life can offer > don’t we see this in the lives of both Peter and Paul.
So let’s follow along on this journey together, let’s seek to learn from these guys, learn from not only their strength of faith and conviction, but also their weakness, their dependence on God, their examples as humble followers of Jesus, let’s go after this ourselves as people who have heard God’s call and seek to follow him.
Lord we thank you for the journeys of Peter and Paul, that you would restore Peter who denied you and you would call Paul to important work despite his own intentions as a young man. We ask in this series you would teach us what it is to have faith, to be dependent on you, how we are called to serve others through these incredible acts we have to follow. All this we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Tom Kitson 