And when Saul had come to jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple.  (27) But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles.  And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.  (28) So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out.  (29) And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed among the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him. (30) When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus. (31) Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified.  And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they multiplied. 

The Acts of the Apostles was written by Luke as a history and theological study of the early Church. In today’s verses in chapter 9, Luke takes up Sauls/Paul’s journey after his conversion at the gates of Damascus. Paul was a Hebrew born of Hebrews; he was a Rabbi and studied under the most famous Rabbi of his time. He lived his life as closely to the Law of Moses as anyone was able and was passionate about his Jewish faith. When Paul heard that a Jewish carpenter from Nazareth was acclaimed to be the Messiah his passion turned to supreme violence and he became an extreme persecutor of this “heresy”.  Jesus of Nazareth was not at all what the Jews thought the Messiah would be – that the kingdom promised of the Messiah would be of this world.

Paul’s  dramatic, sudden and total conversion on the road to Damascus was transformative to say the least. Forever the history of the world was changed in a moment.  Paul is the pattern for transformation by faith in Christ Jesus and the greatest ever example of the power of the resurrection.

Paul did not return to Jerusalem until years after his conversion and even after this time his actions as persecutor of those of the Lord struck fear in the faithful, even the apostles. We don’t know why Barnabas sponsored him in Jerusalem but Paul’s actions in speaking boldly for Christ after his transformation gave him credibility. Clearly from today’s verses Paul was successful in proving Christ Jesus was the Messiah promised in all of scripture to the point where he needed to be smuggled out of that city for his safety.

All the faithful have a conversion story and all are like Saul. We have been reborn and transformed never to go back. We are new men and women and have all been on our own road to Damascus.

Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!  Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know Him.  (2) Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 

John begins chapter 3 of this letter emphasizing the favor of God who has bestowed His love on the faithful so they may be children of God through Christ Jesus. It is also called grace.  It is NOT that we are worthy to be adopted because then it would not be a free gift of God.  This adoption does not depend in any regard to good works of men  or through any merit on our part.

The reason why God defers the manifestation of our future glory is that Christ is not yet manifestated in the power of His kingdom when all – believers and non believers will see Him. The faithful will be “like“ Him and saved to eternal life but the wicked will dread His presence and they will be judged.

i just finished reading c.s. Lewis book, “Surprised by Joy” where Lewis describes first,  his belief in the one God and then his faith in Christ Jesus.  I thought this a good place to describe one man’s experience of conversion which was certainly an election by God but also a rational journey to become an adopted child of God.

“I was by now too experienced in literary criticism to regard the Gospels as myths. They had not the mythical taste.  And yet the very matter which they set down in their artless, historical fashion – those narrow unattractive Jews, too blind to the mythical wealth of the Pagan world around them – was precisely the matter of the great myths. If ever a myth had become fact, had been incarnated, it would be just like this. And nothing else in all literature was just like this. Myths were like it in one way. Histories were like it in another.  But nothing was simply like it. And no person was like the Person it depicted; as real, as recognizable, through all that depth of time……..yet also numinous, lit by a light from beyond the world, a god. But if a god – we are no longer polytheist – then not a god, but God.  Here and here only in all time the myth must have become fact; the Word, flesh; God, Man.  This is not a ‘religion’, not a ‘philosophy’.  It is the summing up and actuality of them all.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His servant, Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.  (14) But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, (15) and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. (16) And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know.  Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.   (17) Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.  (18) But these things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.  (19) Repent Therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord

The acts of the apostles was written by Luke and is a history of the early church of Christ Jesus.  In our verses today, Peter and John were going to the temple in Jerusalem to pray when they were asked for alms by a crippled man (crippled from birth), who was laid daily at the gate of the temple.  Peter blessed the man in the name of Jesus Christ and helped lift him up and he was healed – not just healed but leapt about, dancing and praising God.  This man with his lifelong disability was well known to the community and the people were astounded at what happened.  Peter then spontaneously addressed the crowd asking why they looked so amazed at the miraculous healing and disavowed any healing powers on the part of man – he, Peter, was just the conduit for God’s works.

This was the occasion for the second powerful sermon by Peter recorded in Acts.  And this from an uneducated fisherman from Galilee who just a short time before had not only denied Jesus Christ publicly, he had fled in terror from the scene of the passion of Christ.  Now we are told that he spoke full of the Spirit with all boldness and power.  He used this miracle to reprove the Jews for the horrible sins they had committed in putting the Christ to death   and rejecting God.

Now, with authority,  Peter tells them that in faith in Christ the cripple was healed.  And that this was done in their presence and could not be denied. This miracle was the foundation for his sermon preaching the gospel for the gospel can’t be proclaimed unless it begins with Jesus; who He is and what He has accomplished. That Christ willingly died for us as the only perfect and acceptable offering to God for the forgiveness of sin and that Christ Jesus was then raised from the dead and ascended into heaven.  This is the central fact of Christianity.

In verse 17 Luke records that Peter basically then offered hope of God’s mercy to those who respond and repent.  Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, and eternal life is promised to those who believe.  Jesus will return again to fulfill God’s promises and also to judge those who reject the gospel.  The good news is not appreciated unless people know the bad news.

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves Him who is begotten of Him.  (2) By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.  (3) For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. and His commandments are not burdensome. (4) For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.  And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. (5) Who is he who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?  (6) This is He who came by water and blood- Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood.  And it is the Spirit who bears witness because the Spirit is truth. 

It is apparent that the world we live in is not as it was meant to be. But God promised a remedy and redemption in a Messiah – He appointed the only one who could be satisfactory; His only begotten Son. Jesus Christ accepted that office and all things are promised through Him. Jesus is the volunteer sent by the Father and all of the Bible is Christ centered.

We are told that because of the acceptable sacrifice of the cross those who believe in the Christ are justified and made right with God. This saving faith is above the reach of the human mind but is a gift from God. No one can get there on his/her own but by the Spirit of God only can we be reborn. In this first letter John the apostle is showing us what love is when we are transformed by the Spirit for we don’t truly love God if we don’t love each other. He is basically saying that love for God is the source and cause of love for each other. If we are truly reborn we will want to live in love and obedience – we want to behave as we believe.  And because of this our burden will be light indeed. Paul the apostle declared that he had learned to be content in all situations and that is certainly my ideal.

John tells us the way to overcome the temptations and stumbling blocks of this world is through faith, for the Spirit is our seal when we are reborn.  The Spirit removes fear – declares we are saved and beyond the reach of spiritual danger; gives us grace and courage when we need it. This doesn’t mean the faithful escape constant conflict but faith is not of one day. The Spirit in our lives is perpetual and we are already victorious. This confidence does not make us indifferent but bolder.  In Christ the divine is now our preoccupation.

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  (2) Set your mind on things above, not on things in the earth.  (3) For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  (4) When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

The letter to the Colossians was written by the apostle Paul while he was in prison in Rome for preaching the gospel. Word had come to Paul about persistent heresies in that city and he was writing to encourage the faithful to remain steadfast in the doctrine he preached.  In Colosse the heresies were that Jesus was less than God; that Jesus Christ did not take on a true human nature; that higher and secret knowledge was accessible only to a few and this knowledge was necessary for salvation. There was also a cult of asceticism and an insistance on maintaining  the rites and rituals of the Jewish faith.  In another words, in Colosse there was an undercurrent of Jesus plus.

Paul preached justification by faith alone in the completed and wholly acceptable sacrifice of Christ Jesus. He rejected the inventions of man – the rites and ceremonies of human tradition which are dead to the faithful through the death of Christ Jesus. The Colossians were warned not to convert New Testament principles into the establishment of rules as the approved standard of godly life.  This practise tended to pride and self satisfaction – and the rules  he rejects concern morally indifferent things.

In faith we die with Christ and in faith we are reborn; we have been transformed as new men and women.  Our manner of life is now in Christ.  Paul urges them, and us, to be preoccupied with the divine and that to guide our earthly responses. The faithful should take care not to be sidetracked or intimidated by human philosophy – human rules, ritualistic or legalistic. Christ alone is sufficient.  That is the message of Easter; the miracle of the resurrection.