Good Preaching

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

GOOD PREACHING

Acts 9:19-22

Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 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 Christ.  

NIV

What we are seeing in Saul, is a changed life. Jesus has told us that unless we change and become like a little child, we will not even see the kingdom of God. Saul experienced that change. He was an enemy of God, although he was a zealot religiously speaking. He did not accept what God did for him by sending Jesus to die on the cross for the forgiveness of his sin. He refused to see Jesus as the Christ and wanted to destroy all those who accepted Jesus and put their faith in him. However, after his collision with Jesus on the road, being blinded, now the scales had fallen off his eyes and now he could see. Even though that was physical healing, there is a dual meaning to once being blind and now we can see. Because Saul’s spiritual eyes were also opened, as soon as he regained his strength, he spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. Surely, he witnessed to them about his experience with Jesus on the road. We are not told, but it would seem right that he also asked those disciples about their experiences, and how they came to faith in Jesus. Saul did not waste much time before he began to witness about Jesus being the Christ, He when to the synagogues, the place where Jews were still without the knowledge that Jesus was the Messiah and he preached that Jesus is the Son of God. This was not just a changed man, but he became more and more powerful in his preaching about Jesus. Saul was being transformed right before their eyes. He was reflecting Jesus with the ever-increasing power of God working in him. People were astonished at the transformation in Saul. This should be our story as well. People should be astonished by the change and the transforming power of God in our lives. However, that can only happen if we reveal ourselves to them. That is if we confess and profess our faith in Jesus as the Son of God. That we make some noise with our voice, maybe not preaching, but at least being a vocal witness of what God has done in our lives including our experience of becoming freed from the penalty of sin, and how we came to this faith in Jesus. We cannot believe that people will just see us as different and ask us why. We cannot think that we live much differently from the world. We work, we save up for our retirement, and we might even invest. We have our homes, our cars, our toys, all the stuff everyone else has, and in some cases more than some, although we might have less than some as well. Saul was not a poor man, although he was poor spiritually. Now he is rich in Christ, as we are now. How can we be silent when we are among those who have yet believed that Jesus is the Son of God, and accepted him as their Lord and Savior? How can we not put a voice to our faith? Some would quote James when he said that faith without works is dead and look at that as working or doing good deeds in the church. However, the good deeds are going out and preaching among the gentiles, sharing the good news about Jesus. The only true way people can know we are different is not by the things we do not do, but by the things we do and say, sharing with them our faith in Jesus, telling them they can be free from the burden of sin, that they can have eternal life and the peace of God in their lives. This is good preaching, and people need to be astonished.