Back to writing my own lectures; I did not like reading the one that came with the material.
Acts 22-Have You Met Jesus?
Pray.
Paul is in a tight place. He is in Jerusalem and the Jews from Asia have followed him to stir up trouble. He has been beaten and arrested. He is granted one wish, however, and that is to speak to the people, his accusers.
When Paul spoke to his audience, he was able to immediately get their attention. Do you know how he did this? He spoke in Aramaic. It would be like if our class moved to China. Everyone but us would speak Chinese. After a while, you would understand some Chinese, but you wouldn’t be comfortable with it. Whenever someone speaks in English, you would automatically start to listen. This was how it was for the Jews. They were used to people speaking Greek but when Paul spoke in Aramaic, they recognized it and could understand him.
Paul told them that he was everybit as Jewish as they were, probably even more so. He was raised in Jerusalem and had studied under the very best of teachers, a man named Gamaliel. When he first heard of the Way and the followers of the Way, he became their fierce and dedicated enemy. He told his audience that he chased the new Christians to make sure they were arrested and persecuted.
Paul told his audience, the people who were beating him and wanted him arrested, that he used to be JUST LIKE THEM.
How are we like Paul? We know Jesus, that is one way. Also like Paul, we have similarities with “the world”, the people who we need to tell about Jesus. Just like people who don’t know Jesus, we are sinners. We have sin in our lives. But what is different between us and people who don’t know Jesus? We have Jesus. Jesus has made sure that our sins are washed away.
Back to Paul. Paul finished telling the audience about how he was a devout Jew. He told them about how he was on his way to Damascus, chasing down some Christians who he wanted to arrest and bring back to Jerusalem for punishment. What happened on Paul’s trip? Paul was just walking down the road in the middle of the day, and suddenly a super bright light from heaven flashed down and a loud voice said “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Paul immediately called the speaker “Lord”. He knew who was talking to him. I think that instantaneously, he knew. And he probably thought he was in MAJOR trouble. Paul told his audience that his travelling companions could see the light, but could not understand the voice. Who was the voice that spoke to Paul? It was Jesus; the voice identified Himself as Jesus. And Jesus told Paul that Paul had been persecuting Him, and that Paul was to continue on to Damascus where he would be told what to do. But was it easy for Paul to get to Damascus? No, he was blinded by the light. His companions had to help him. Once Paul got to Damascus, he was met by a man named Ananias who, with the power of God, healed Paul’s eyes, and also told Paul that God had appointed Paul to tell everyone about what had happened to him and to tell them about Jesus. Paul went from being a major persecutor of the new Christians, to the biggest spokesman they had.
How did you meet Jesus? Most of you are probably like me, I always knew of Jesus. I grew up knowing about God and knowing that Jesus loves me. I became a Christian when I was 8, and I can’t remember any big realization that I needed Jesus in my life, I just always knew that I needed Him and one day I decided that it was the day and so I asked Jesus to come into my heart. So I didn’t have a big, eventful meeting with Jesus, like Paul did on the road to Damascus. And when I was younger, sometimes I doubted my salvation because I thought you had to have a big, life-altering event when you became a Christian. I now know that I was wrong, that some people, like Paul, have an exciting story to tell about when they met Christ. But not everyone does. Maybe you are like me and have always known God’s love. But maybe you haven’t always felt God’s love. That does not mean it isn’t there. The Bible tells us that God loves us all the time, even when we aren’t thinking about Him. Have you met Jesus? Is He more than someone you talk about at church and CBS? Is He your close, personal friend who wants you to tell Him all of your cares and concerns? He wants to be if He isn’t.
Paul finished his speech to the Jews in Jerusalem by telling them that God was sending him to preach to the Gentiles. Those were fighting words. The Jews did not think highly of the Gentiles, and while they didn’t like that Paul was preaching to the Jews, they REALLY didn’t like it when he said he was also preaching to the Gentiles. They got all riled up again and the Roman Commander took Paul away. He was about to be flogged. What does that mean, to be flogged? The Bible says that he was being stretched out to be flogged when Paul asked a centurion if it was legal to flog a Roman citizen who was not found guilty of any crime. When they found out that Paul was indeed a Roman citizen, they did not continue with the punishment. This had happened before to Paul. His citizenship of the Roman Empire saved him from a cruel punishment.
Are we all citizens of the United States here? I think we are. When you become old enough, you will be able to vote in elections, you will be able to join the military if you want to, you can get any job you are qualified for. If we believe that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins, we are also citizens of heaven! What are those benefits? The first thing that comes to my mind is that one day we will be able to live in Heaven with God forever, in God’s house in one of the many rooms that Jesus has prepared for us. Or maybe they are different houses, I don’t know. When I think of being a citizen of heaven, I also think about who my king is. My king is God. I have to follow His rules. But to relate it to Paul, we can think about how our heavenly citizenship saves us. Paul’s Roman citizenship saved him from beatings. Our Heavenly citizenship saves us from an eternal life without Jesus. Being a citizen of heaven ensures that we will forever be with Jesus and will never have to pay the price for our sinful natures.
Philippians 3:20 (New International Version)
20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ
Pray.
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