Saul has left the building
Acts 9:20-31
For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, 20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’ 21 All who heard him were amazed and said, ‘Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?’ 22 Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah.
23 After some time had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, 24 but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night so that they might kill him; 25 but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.
26 When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. 28 So he went in and out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He spoke and argued with the Hellenists; but they were attempting to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
31 Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
This passage shows us Saul as sold-out for Jesus as he had been sold-out to punish those who followed Jesus. Saul was fearless in his proclamation that Jesus was the Son of God, the very thing that only days earlier he would have arrested people for saying. As with many converts, he was very difficult to argue against. Saul had learned the arguments against Jesus Christ being the Son of God, therefore he could anticipate what the opponents of Christianity would say. It is easier to win an argument when you know what people on the other side are going to say before they say it. Saul was so devastating in debate that people wanted to kill him. With his life in danger the Christians in Damacus smuggled him out of town and he went back to Jerusalem.
In Jerusalem, his old friends wanted nothing to do with him, Saul had switched sides. And the people who should have been his new friends, the Christians, wanted nothing to do with him because they were afraid of him. Only when Barnabas became his mentor and advocate was Saul accepted in the church. Again Saul made enemies among his former friends, and they wanted him dead. So the Christians again got him out of danger.
Here we have part of the narrative interest in Acts – Saul who had the dramatic conversion leaves the scene – is he gone, or will he be back?
Vs. 31 is easy to skip in all the excitement about Saul. But the point is important: the church found security in two things – 1. the fear of the Lord – that is, wonder at who God is and a willingness to obey this awesome God and 2. The comfort of the Holy Spirit – that is, the certainty that the Holy Spirit would strengthen and support them in the challenges of following Jesus.
PRAYER:
O Lord, may we live in awe and wonder of you so that our lives are transformed and we are shaped into people who obey you. We thank you for the Holy Spirit who strengthens and supports us as we seek to follow Your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.