Josh Gordon What Jesus Touches, He Changes 1/29/16

Josh Gordon What Jesus Touches, He Changes 1/29/16

There is a story about a little girl who proudly wore a shiny cross on a chain around her neck. One day her preacher noticed how proud she seemed to be of her pretty cross, and said to her,

“Honey, don't you know that the cross Jesus died on wasn't beautiful like the one you're wearing? It was an ugly, terrible, wooden thing." The little girl smiled and said: "Oh, I know that. But they told me in Sunday school that whatever Jesus touches, He changes.”

Whatever Jesus touches, He changes. And that’s what our passage this morning is all about. Jesus touched Paul, and Paul was never the same again. Now, before we get to our text for this morning, I want to introduce you to Saul.

Of course, those of you who know the Bible well, know that Saul was Paul’s name up until he became a Christian, and after his conversion he eventually became known exclusively by the name of Paul. Saul was born a Jew in a city called Tarsus down on southern coast of what now call Turkey. Somewhere early in his life, his family moved to Jerusalem and while there Saul had the opportunity to study at the feet of a man named Gamaliel, one of greatest Jewish Rabbis of the day.

Saul was a man who took his faith seriously. He later described himself this way:

Philippians 3:5-6

5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.

One day he probably would have grown up to be an important Jewish rabbi. Perhaps he'd have been even greater than Gamaliel himself, if it hadn’t been for Jesus.

Saul hung out with the Pharisees and the Pharisees despised Jesus. And this distaste for Jesus was something Saul shared with Pharisees. So when Jesus was arrested, Saul was probably in the crowd as they cried out: CRUCIFY HIM! CRUCIFY HIM!

But now Jesus is dead. And Saul’s thinking, “Good riddance to bad rubbish.” But then there were these rumors that Jesus wasn't dead. Rumors that He had risen from the dead and appeared to His followers. And Peter and John, those ignorant fishermen from Galilee, had been out preaching to crowds of people about this Jesus. They even had the audacity to stand before the Sanhedrin and defiantly refuse to cease their false teachings. Saul is furious! How dare these ignorant men challenge the Sanhedrin?

That would have been bad enough, but then there was this fool of a man – this Stephen - who stood before the crowds and lectured them about their history as a people of God. And then this Stephen said that God didn’t need the Temple for worship in, and concluded by saying in Acts 7:51-53:

51 "You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. 52 " Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; 53 you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it."

When Saul and the other men in the crowd heard that, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. And when they dragged him out of the city and stoned him, Paul was happy to watch over their clothing, approving of what was happening.

This incident was the turning point in Saul’s life. From this point on Saul knew what his mission would be: It would his goal, from this time on, to snuff out this heresy before it got out of control. If they believed in a resurrection, Saul would make sure they made that appointment.

Near the end of the book of Acts, as Paul was on trial for professing Jesus is the Son of God, he said:

Acts 26:10-11

10 "And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them. 11 "And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.

And – of course – that was precisely what Saul was in the process of doing on road to Damascus.

Now, there are people who believe that Saul was just a bitter, mean-spirited bigot. And that’s possible, I suppose, but I doubt it.

First, Jesus sought Saul out. Jesus went looking for Saul to fulfill a specific mission. I seriously doubt that Jesus would have wanted to use an unstable and irrational man for such a purpose. And Paul didn’t take it on himself to attack Christianity. He didn’t run down the street brandishing a knife and yelling curses at Christians. We’re told at least a couple of times that he acted under the authority of religious rulers. He went to men of responsibility in Israel to get permission to do what he did, and when he arrested Christians, he brought them back to those authorities. Saul was not bigoted. He was a man who was zealous for God. He was doing what he thought God wanted him to do. He was just wrong.

He saw this new faith as being an attack on the God he served. And he was NOT going to just look the other way while these “Christians” undermined the faith of his fathers. Now, what I find interesting about Saul’s conversion is that Jesus hadn’t done this before. I mean, Saul had been persecuting Christians for some time now. Why would Jesus wait until this specific moment to drop Saul in his tracks? I think the answer to that question is found in Saul's retelling of this incident later in Acts.

Acts 26:14

14 "And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'

A goad is essentially a stick with a pointy, iron tip at the end. Farmers used it to prod the oxen to change directions when plowing. Now, what possible goads could Jesus have been talking about?

Well one of those was what Jesus promised in the book of John.

John 16:8-11

8 "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

In other words, part of the Holy Spirit’s job is to confront us. To get in our faces and convict us of our sins, and our need for righteousness and the fact that there’s a judgment coming.

And that’s what the Spirit’s been doing to Saul. The Spirit has been convicting him. And I get the impression He’s been doing this to Saul for some time now. The Spirit had been softening Saul up for Jesus. The Spirit was working on Saul to get him to doubt his convictions and getting him to question his persecuting of Christians.

How could the God’s Spirit “soften” Saul up? One way that comes to mind, is that, as Saul talked with those Christians who were facing imprisonment and even death, God made him realize that THEIR faith was real. And this observation of their faith, I suspect, shook Saul.

An early leader in the church named Jerome wrote, “The church of Christ has been founded by shedding its own blood, not that of others; by enduring outrage, not by inflicting it.” In other words, in the days of the early church, people were won to Christ by the witness of Christians who were being persecuted. It was HOW these believers responded to mistreatment and abuse that shook people and converted them to Christ.

So, the Holy Spirit softened Saul up, and THEN Jesus came for a visit. And when Jesus came for a visit Saul went to his knees. Because when Jesus touched Saul, Jesus changed him. From the day that Ananias baptized Saul for the forgiveness of his sins, Saul became a man on fire for Christ. You couldn’t shut him up for anything.

He was a driven man. He was a changed man. Eventually, even his name was changed, from Saul to Paul. Ultimately, Paul wrote half of our New Testament. The man who sought to destroy Christianity became its most powerful voice.

The question for us this morning is this: why did Paul change? Well, the simplest answer is: Jesus went looking for him. Paul had the kind of passion that Jesus was looking for. Granted, Paul’s passion was misplaced, but he was HONEST in what he did. The thing is, Paul ultimately had to make a choice. Even when Jesus confronted him he could have said “NO, that’s not how I was taught.”

He wasn’t raised to follow Jesus. He could have said no. It wouldn’t have been very smart, but he could have. And, you know, you’ll run into that kind of thinking once in a while. You’ll show someone something from the Bible, and they’ll struggle with it. Because that’s not how they were taught. That’s now they were raised.

Another preacher told of a time he was trying to convert an older lady. She was struggling with the idea of needing baptism, so he had her read him Mark 16:16, which says

16 " He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved;

Well, this lady turned to that page in her Bible and recited, “He that believes shall be saved and then baptized.” He was a bit astounded and had her read it again. Again, she recited, “He that believes shall be saved and then baptized.” He had her read it a third and a fourth time, getting the same thing back. Finally he had her read it a fifth time, and he told her to look at the words.” Finally, she read, “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved. Oh! I’ve never seen that before!”

She’d never seen it that way before because she’d never been taught it that way before. She was raised being told that baptism followed salvation.

Just like this lady, Saul wasn’t raised to think that there could ever be a man claiming to be the Son of God who wasn’t also a king. So when Jesus came along claiming that He was, Saul knew that He was wrong!

But Saul, on that road to Damascus and in the three days following, had to make a choice. Was it going to be what he grew up learning? Or was it going to be what Jesus told him? It’s only when he started listening to Jesus that his life began to change.

There are a lot of people, preachers included, who will tell you that Saul was saved on the road to Damascus. But that’s not true. If it were, Ananias wouldn’t have needed to come along and, in Acts 22:16, tell Saul

16 ‘Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.'

Saul still had to wash his sins away three full days after Jesus appeared to him on the road. That washing away of sins only happened when Ananias baptized Saul into Christ. Now, there’s one more thing I want to make a point of here – Jesus could have forgiven Saul his sins on the road – but He didn’t. Why not? I don’t know for sure, but I think it’s because Saul needed to understand the salvation process because he was going to be doing it for decades to come.

So it was left to a guy named Ananias. He’s never mentioned in Scriptures before or after Saul’s conversion. He wasn’t an apostle, didn’t plant any churches, wasn’t a great orator as far as we know. He wasn’t famous or important. He was just like you and me.

At that moment, Saul was ready to belong to Jesus. So Jesus told a Joe Schmoe Christian named Ananias to go get the job done.

Well, when someone is ready to belong to Jesus, they’re not gonna argue with you. All they’re gonna want to know is how they can belong to Christ. They want to be touched by Jesus – and changed by Him.