From Fear to Faith

This week is historically known as Pentecost Sunday because it is the closest Sunday to being 50 days after Easter. I had plans to preach from Acts Chapter 2 today, as many other pastors will do. But, as I studied, I found that I wasn't quite done with my look at the Early Church Christians. We'd looked at Peter and Paul and Stephen and Silas, even Mary and Martha. But there is another group that I feel compelled to study.

We're going to be looking at Acts Chapter 9 today, starting in verse 20:

 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

23 After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, 24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25 But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.

26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews,[a] but they tried to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

This portion of Scripture is from the days immediately following the conversion of the Apostle, Paul. This account is in the first 19 verses of the chapter. And while this conversion account it full of great messages, it's not what caught my attention this week.

Paul is an amazing story, through and through. Every part of his conversion and life seems almost larger-than-life. And honestly, I think it's why is hard for me to relate to. Peter, I understand: his life goes from on-fire for God to a fiery trainwreck as he tries to do it himself. Then, he repents and starts over again. But Paul? Paus is grounded in a way that is almost beyond my comprehension.

Notice is verse 20: He meets the Lord and "at once" he began to share his faith. I would imagine that his previous life as a persecutor/prosecutor of the Jews felt like a failure. Yet, he used it and it became his greatest tool. He used his knowledge and training with the Pharisees to prove the Jesus is the Christ. He goes from the destructor of Christians to being their greatest champion...nearly overnight.

But, it's not Paul that I really want to look at today. I want to focus in on verse 25. Here we find a group of believers who appear to just be regular people. Yet, their actions in verse 25 save the life of the man who they were terrified of, just a short time before.

I want to review what we do know about these believers:

1. We never know their names. Despite being heroes who literally save the life of the Apostle Paul, they are unknown..

2. We know nothing about their lives before of after this event. We don't know where they came from, nor do we know what they did for a living.

3. Despite barely knowing who Paul was, outside of their fear of who he used to be, they were willing to risk their lives so that Paul could continue sharing the Gospel.

4. 4. Although we know the eventual impact of Paul, they had no idea that the man they were choosing to save would

   *Spend the next several decades spreading the Gospel to the world

   *Take three missionary journeys to take the Gospel everywhere from Jerusalem to Rome to Spain.

   *Write the bulk of the New Testament.

   *They simply knew that they needed to help anyone who wasn't afraid to preach the good news of Jesus Christ.

5. Despite being just regular people, everyday Christians, they completed one of the most important tasks in Christian history: they saved the life of Paul, and this when he was still virtually unknown as a Christian leader.

   
   

So, what lessons can I learn from these Christians today?

First: Never give up. Don't give in to fear. Don't give in to judgement. NEVER let go of the ropes, even if it hurts. The result of the temporary discomfort could be bigger than you can possibly imagine.

Second: Don't make excuses for not working for the LORD. It's easy for us to give up because we're not "Paul's" in the faith. Without these Christians holding the ropes as he was lowered out of the city, there wouldn't be a Paul. The same is true for us. Without the power of the pew, there is no pulpit.

Third: (and related to the second point), don't compare your gifts to the gifts of others. Use the gifts that God has given YOU, no matter how small they may seem. The handyman with a length of rope probably never thought he would be used to save the life of the man who would share the gospel to Roman leadership. The lady who had a large basket in the back of her closet never thought that it would be used to save the life of the man who would write 2/3 of the books in our New Testament. They guy standing as a lookout, risked his life while he was just doing what he could. And when it was all over, someone had to tend to their wounds and clean up. Which leads me to my next point:

If you're still alive, God has a purpose for you. Don't put yourself out to pasture.