Preach, Train, Send

Preach, Train, Send

Introduction

• Easter is coming

• The Purpose of Saul is the purpose of the church.  It is the purpose for which we gather here in this building.  We are not here for entertainment, or to feel good about ourselves, or to be a social club.  Our mission is much sharper. Much more important. 
  • It can be summed up in two words.  MAKE DISCIPLES (How? Preach, Train, Send)
• This will be our third and final week speaking on the conversion of Saul.  
  • Interchangeable (Saul and Paul)
  • At the beginning of chapter 9, Paul had come with the full authorization of the high priest in Jerusalem.  However, something happened between the beginning of that mission and his arrival in Damascus: he met the High Priest. He met the eternal High Priest, who will never retire or abdicate His office He will never die as all the lines of high priests in Israel had, one after another.  Their term was limited, but the Heavenly High Priest changed the orders, gave a new commission, overruled the high priest in Jerusalem, and gave Paul a whole new mission, which he began to carry out immediately.

Acts 9:20-31

Context/Story

Let’s let this text be our guide for our sermon this morning.  Let’s keep it open, dig into each word.  

Preach Christ (vs 20-21)

• • He starts by going to where he knows.  He begins with his home turf.  These are his friends and family.  (that is a great place to start for all of us!)
    • Pharisees: “Hey Saul! So glad you could make it! These Christians are causing a lot of problems for us.  They think Jesus is God!  We could really use your expertise here!”  Saul: “Funny you should mention Jesus, I met him a bit ago on the way here, and it turns out that you are wrong, you are in sin, and you need Him!”  
      • Wait… this isn’t right?!  Wasn’t he killing preachers, now he’s preaching… Didn’t he hate Jesus? Now he loves Jesus… What happened to this guy?”
      • He would have been quickly ostracized.  They were expecting a bulldog, someone to tear apart those who were causing the Jews problems in Damascus… but what they got was the opposite.  

• Jesus is called 2 things

• • • The Son of God
      • This is a claim to divinity. Paul saw him, It was unmistakable.  Paul knew he was God instantly. There was no question.
        • Jesus Puts it this way in John 10:30 – I and My Father are one.
        • Or in John 14:9b – He who has seen Me has seen the Father
          • He’s saying that God is his Father and they’re equal. He’s putting himself on the same plane as God the Father. They have the same attributes, the same authority, they share in the same glory.
    • The Christ
      • This means the Anointed One, or the Messiah. In the Old Testament, prophecies were given and everybody was waiting for the coming of the messiah, this person would be unlike everyone else, in a category unto themselves, the person who would come with God’s power and God’s authority on God’s mission for God’s glory, the Anointed One. Nobody like them, nobody alongside them, nobody in the same category as them. And Saul is saying that Jesus Christ is the Anointed One. He has authority as God and power as God that is unprecedented, unparalleled, and unequaled.
  • These titles Paul is throwing around are only as important as they are accurate.   If Paul is lying or mistaken, then the Jews should not listen to him, and neither should we.  But we have to note that Jesus himself claimed these exact same titles.  
    • Matthew 26:63b-65 – And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!”  
      • This is kind of funny – The high priest is putting Jesus (The Living God) under oath, and commanding Jesus to tell the truth, because the living God is watching, and Jesus is saying, I sure am!
    • 64 Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”  65 Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!
      • Blasphemy – When someone who is not God says he is God, that is blasphemy.  
        • But Jesus, Calmed the storms, He cast out demons, he healed the sick, raised the dead, Never sinned, and overcame the grave.  He has the Resume to back up his claims!

• Just so you know, there is no other major world religion in the history of the world that has its founder making this claim, “I’m God.”

• • • • • Friend, if you’re not a Christian, you need to know that’s why they crucified him. Not because he fed people, not because he petted lambs, not because he hung out with children, they killed him because he said he was God, and that’s either true or false.
  • Apply

• Has your view of Jesus changed?

• • • How many of you, this has been your experience? You thought Jesus was a good man, now you know he’s the God-man. You thought Jesus was a good example, and now all of the sudden you realize he’s Lord, God, Savior, King, and Christ. That your understanding of Jesus has completely expanded, and changed, and transformed. 
      • If you are trying to figure out whether or not someone you are talking to is a Christian, a good question to ask them is, “what do you think about Jesus?”  
        • If their answer is not, “he is God, and lord and savior” they need to have their view of Jesus changed.
          • This is what happened to Paul (He is developing!)

Develop Leaders (vs 22-29)

• This text is largely about the development of Saul, and in vs 23 it says, “after many days” There’s a time gap right here in Acts, and most Bible commentators believe that that gap is explained by Paul writing in Galatians 1
  • Galatians 1:15-18 – But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days
    • Chapter 2 of Galatians then tells us that Between acts 9 (conversion) and Acts 13 (First missionary Journey)  17 years pass.  These are preparatory years
      • This is standard practice for God (Moses – 40 years, David – Ran for a decade, Joseph – Deliver his people, but then sold into slavery for 20 years.
      • Are you ever frustrated with how long God is taking with you?
        • Don’t waste your white space! (singleness, Joblessness, suffering) Focus on growing as Paul did, in character, wisdom, and spiritual strength. 
• He is learning theology
  • Not from the apostles, not from flesh and blood, but in solitude, Paul learned his theology from Jesus himself.
  • 3 years of solitude in Arabia (same place as Moses and the burning bush, same place as Sinai and the 10 commandments, same place that Elijah preached)
• He is learning to preach Christ
  • Notice how he did not preach something else…  he did not preach popular social concepts of his day.  He didn’t preach self help, He didn’t preach how all ways lead to heaven.  He didn’t preach inclusivism, He didn’t preach whatever hobby horse or personal story he had that day.
    • When we preach, we preach Christ.  Every passage, every text, we point it to Jesus. He is the lynchpin of all of scripture.  Nothing makes sense without him, but with Him, EVERYTHING FALLS INTO PLACE
  • Boldness
    • Paul was almost immediately under extreme persecution.  What if he had not continued to preach boldly?  You and I would not be sitting here.  
      • Whose life is dependent on you being bold?
        • There are some things so important that they are worth extreme actions.
• He is learning how to lead
  • Not hierarchy, but brotherhood.  
    • Positional vs Relational Leadership 
      • Paul was as much an apostle as Peter or James, or John. he had seen Jesus, he had spent time with Jesus training, learning, and growing.  He had the position, but no one wanted to follow him.  Because he could not be relationally trusted!
        • “Hey, can I join the bible study?”  
        • “No, we canceled the study indefinitely”
        • “Hey aren’t you supposed to pray with your eyes closed?
        • “We pray with our eyes open now…”
• He is learning how to handle conflict and disputes
  • The Hellenists – Jews who embraced Greek culture. Had their own synagogues all throughout Rome.  Most of the Synagogues Paul would preach in would be Hellenistic synagogues.
    • These are the same people who killed Stephen.  He is back in Jerusalem, trying to speak to his old disciples.  He would have known them by name.  He would have known their wives and their children’s names.  Saul is a Hellenist himself. 
• Apply
  • Don’t be complacent with your growth.  
    • In my time as a pastor, I have found that someone’s physical age and their spiritual age rarely match up.   
      • I have seen Senior adults who are spiritual infants (more than I care to admit), and some teenagers who are solid as a rock in their faith.  
    • The most dangerous thing you can do in your faith is to think you are good enough, have come far enough, are strong enough.  Thinking you don’t need to grow or learn, or take your faith as seriously anymore.  That is a recipe for disaster. 
  • We have a phrase here at celebration.  “We want to raise people up to the highest level of God’s calling for them”
    • Philippians 3:12-14 – Not that I have already attained,[c] or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have [d]apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
    • Not the highest level of your calling on your life.  Not what you are comfortable with.  But with what God wants from you and your life. 
      • Discipleship 1, Discipleship 2, Discipleship 3.

Multiply Churches (vs 30-31)

• • Christianity grew and spread to Caesarea and then to Tarsus 
    • Caesarea and Tarsus
      • (Saul’s hometown) port cities/trading cities, Caesarea and Tarsus would have been perfect places to share the gospel of Jesus.  Those who converted would have gone all throughout the Roman empire.  
        • This is actually not too different from Montrose, or Grand Junction.  People from all across the western slope make the drive to Montrose to buy and sell needed goods. 
          • We live in a strategic place for the gospel to spread.  A place worth traveling to, so they can meet their physical needs.  Our job, is to help them see, and meet their spiritual needs as well.

• 4 Characteristics of a Thriving Church

• Edification

• • • • Means to instruct and improve
      • Not focused on others problems, not searching for specks in your brother’s eye, but looking for logs in your own.  Not filled with Gossip and negative talk toward others in the body, but filled with the spirit.
        • How do I need to grow in godliness? How do I need to grow in humility? How can I be built up so that out of deep love and affection for your church and your people, I can help the leaders to be built up and together we can help the people to be built up?

• Peace 

• • • • There are a lot of things to be afraid of in this life.  
        • Fear causes us to live without any faith, without any hope. Instead, we live in anxiety, terror, and fear of the worst-case scenario.
          • This is why the number one command of the Bible, the thing that the Bible commands more than anything else is “Fear not.”  He says this about 150 times.
            • “For I am with you”

• Fear of the Lord

• • • • Those who have seen the Lord, experienced the Lord, know what it means to revere God above everything else this world has to throw at us.  We don’t fear men, we don’t fear circumstances, we don’t fear financial trials, we don’t fear suffering.  We revere God, we fear God, we Obey God.
        • Proverbs 9:10a – “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  

• Comfort of the Spirit

• • • The spirit is moving, people are growing, people are walking in obedience, people are sharing Jesus, and it says that as an outflow off all of these things, CHURCHES ARE PLANTED.  
      • Sometimes churches today can get frustrated when other churches are planted near them.  They see it as a competition.  They see it as a barrier to their own health.  
        • But churches need to look inwardly before they can successfully look outwardly!

The Backdrop of Suffering (Conclusion)

• If Paul had written a book that was not inspired by the holy spirit, it think it would have been called, Your Worst Life Now
  • Paul didn’t just start his ministry in opposition and suffering, his whole life was characterized by it.  
  • Paul spent his best years in obscurity and prison. He never made any money. When he died, He was executed by Nero and his body was discarded. We have no grave. Scholars say his body was probably eaten by dogs.  
  • Now, we see how God was behind it all, but Paul couldn’t see that then!  
    • Here we are 2000 years later, Nero’s empire has crumbled and we’re reading the books of Paul; we name our sons “Paul” and our dogs Nero. 
    • So, from our perspective now, we see that Paul won, but from Paul’s perspective, even at the end of his life, it sure seemed like he was losing.
• From your perspective now, does it seem like you’re losing? God will be faithful to you as he was to Paul.  There is a purpose for your difficulties. So don’t waste your white space on self pity.  Do not fear.  For God is with you.