Saul/Paul- The Divider turned Uniter

Acts 8:1-3, 9:1-2, 10-16, 20-22, 28-31 

In focus. Rightly seeing God & How he sees us. Vision matters. It makes all the difference in the world. Eye problems effect almost 90% of us at one time or another in our lives. Near sighted. Far sighted. Cataracts. Color Blindness. Have you ever seen videos of people who wake up from surgery after fixing serious eye problems and see their reaction? Or maybe you have seen videos of people who are color blind who have received a pair of glasses that enable them to see things in color for the first time. It is amazing to watch and brings tears to your eyes knowing the difference it will make in their lives. 

When your vision is corrected, it is life changing. 

We often go through life believing we see God a certain way when in reality He is not that way at all. He is not a wish granter. He is not an angry God who enjoys our punishments. God is perfect. We need to see him without all the flaws we assigned to him. We need to put things in focus. 

Has anyone ever said to you, “Look, right there!” “Where?” You said. “How could you not see that?” We may have missed something one of a kind because we need our vision corrected. We may miss the majesty and power of God on display right in front of our eyes. 

This year, I really hope you look hard, take off your lens of preconceived ideas, wipe them clean with scripture, and see what God is going to point out through the lives of people in scripture that have some of the same vision problems we do. 

Throughout the year, I will post a number of these post on this subject. We are going to start the year looking at the life of Saul or Paul, depending on when you pick up his story. As we look at each person this year, we are going to ask two questions: 

1. How did they see God? 
2. How does God see us? 

First, let’s look at how Saul saw God. We know a number of things about Saul (or Paul) from scripture and history. He was a tentmaker only a few years younger than Jesus. Saul’s father was a Pharisee. (Acts 23:6)  He born in a Roman city making him a Roman citizen. But he is also a Jew. “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city.” (Acts 21:39) Romans 11:1, “I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.” Saul came from the tribe of Benjamin, the same family King Saul came from. He trained at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the select group of masters of the Jewish Law. So here he was living with this heritage and in service to the God of Israel. 

If we had to sum up how Paul saw God, we could say he felt chosen by God. After all, God had always chosen his family. He choose his ancestor Abraham, King Saul, and now him to be appointed by God. He saw God as the God of the Jews only. He saw those who followed this Jesus, as impostors to the one true God that appointed him. 

Acts 8:1-3 And Saul approved of his execution.

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. 

Acts 9:1-2 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 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. 

Is there anything wrong with his vision? How do you think he saw God? Did God support his efforts to persecute the church? Saul thought he was clear on what he was doing. His passion made sense to him. He even did it with the support of the temple. God’s temple. But Saul missed some things. He didn’t hear Jesus talk about the kingdom of God. Where was he when Jesus was preforming miracles? Did he ever stop by the empty tomb? God was fully behind Jesus but Saul missed it. Saul must have thought that this moment had died out with the death of Jesus. Can you imagine his shock with thousands began following in a matter of weeks? God had opened the eyes of so many and he was about to open Saul’s eyes. 

How did God see Him? We need to look no father then the conversation God has with Ananias about Saul. Look at Acts 9. 

10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” 13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

I can’t imagine Ananias had been a disciple very long before this and we have no indication of why God choose him and not someone else. He is as ambiguous as us. But immediately he knew who God was talking about. And he couldn’t be more surprised. God told Ananias that Saul was going to be a chosen instrument for God. Not chosen to crush this moment but lead it, unite it, and expand it. He wanted this Jewish Roman tentmaker to leave his inner circle of chosen people to spread the message to kings and Gentiles that the kingdom of God is open to all. 

Acts 9:20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21 And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” 22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

Acts 9:28 So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.  29 And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him.  30 And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. 31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

He regained his sight. His vision of how saw God him was corrected. He saw the way God saw him. It made all the difference in the world. He Paul goes on to write more than half of the New Testament over just 17 years, 4 of those while in prison. He had scattered the church and now he was writing letter after letter, missionary trip after trip, one discussion after another to unite the church. 

We find ourselves in a similar situation sometimes. Not dragging people out of their homes, but seeing God incorrectly. We may think God is ok with things we are doing, we have even convinced ourselves that he approves and supports us in them, but we have missed things. You will overwhelmingly know if God is supporting you. You will see things happen that you can not explain. Things that only God can do. God has made his will known, his purpose clear, and your involvement in his kingdom defined. 

He needs us to see him correctly and understand how He sees us. It decides what we do with in our faith. 

ONE. Unity became so important to Paul because it was important to God. God showed him that. He showed Paul how far they each had to come for unity. What would it cost them to be one. What did it cost Paul to participate in it and lead others to peace? What was the price paid to make us one? Our unity must be as precious to us as the blood of Christ was to God.