In this enlightening episode, we delve into the transformative journey of Paul, a prominent figure whose life was drastically changed by an encounter with the resurrected Christ. Once a persecutor of Christians, Paul’s miraculous conversion showcases the profound power and impact of faith. We explore the dynamics of his newfound beliefs and the incredible cost of losing worldly reputation for spiritual truth.
00:13:34 Closing Remarks and Broadcast Information
SPEAKER 02 :
The Christian community is faced with the miracle of Paul. Now, Paul is as much a miracle as anything could be. Here is this Pharisee, very dedicated man, a member of the tribe of Benjamin, a member of the Sanhedrin, and a dyed-in-the-wool extremist, who kept the commandments of God and all the rituals perfectly, he says, in the book of Philippians, and yet he was turned around in such a way as to shock even Christians in his day, and it took them many months to believe that his conversion was genuine. This man who persecuted Christians, who dragged them to prison and in some instances may have been responsible for their deaths, this man was converted by Jesus Christ, after Christ’s resurrection, mind you. After he had died and gone through all the ignominy of the loss of his life before the Christians, in the face of the Christians who were so utterly shocked and chagrined and humiliated by his death, they went through all of that experience of losing Christ and then gaining him again. So Paul wasn’t considered part of the apostleship for quite a while, but then it became very evident to the Christians that this man had been set apart very specifically by God to witness to the world. I doubt very much that the Christian church would have prospered and spread as it did so rapidly without the presence and existence of Paul. And this is the man who was faced with the resurrected Christ in such a shocking way. He asks, who are you, Lord? I am Jesus whom you persecute, he said, whom you are persecuting. And it is hard, isn’t it, Paul or Saul, for you to kick against the goads, the pricks, the pricks of conscience that are coming to your mind so regularly. It seems that Paul must have known something about Jesus Christ. There are some, though there’s no real evidence for it, who believe that Saul was that young man, about 22 or 23, who came to Jesus when Jesus was in his ministry on earth and asked, Lord, what shall I do to be saved? Jesus says, keep the commandments. He says, all these I’ve kept since my youth up. And Jesus says, go and sell all you have and give to the poor and come and follow me. And the man went away sorrowful. Who was that man? It’s possible, there’s no evidence for it, that it could have been Paul. Can you imagine that Paul did not have some inquisitiveness about Jesus? Can you not imagine that he would have at least wanted to hear him out, or not hear him out, but at least hear him at the back of the crowd without being identified? That is quite possible. And so, what we know about Paul is that he had a shock revelation. a shock that Jesus was in fact the Messiah, the Son of God, and he had been trying to stamp out this Jesus for quite some time, stamp him out, that is, through his followers. Finally, though, when it all becomes clear to Paul and he is thrown off his horse, as it were, and is blinded for three days and cannot speak, and he’s meditating in those days, wondering what in the world had happened to him, Who was this Jesus? Who spoke to him? Could he possibly have been the Messiah? And he begins to ponder the Scriptures, look for evidence, not simply the evidence of the resurrected Christ, but the prophecies about him, so that he could be fully persuaded that this Christ was the power of God. Once all that became very clear to him, and he was received by the Christian brethren, then Paul is able to say, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Now remember what happened to Paul. He lost his job. He lost his position in the Sanhedrin. He lost his reputation before the Jewish people. He was an extremely well-educated man. But because of accepting Christ, he lost all of this. He lost his pension through the Sanhedrin, through the synagogue. He had to start building, making tents again to make a living. In all of this, when his reputation was in ruins, he said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, of the good news about the Messiah. The word Christ is the Greek word for the Hebrew word for Messiah. And so he’s saying, I am not ashamed of the good news about the Messiah. So he has settled it in his mind. when so many had not settled it because there were so many people claiming to be messiahs, so many people rising up in a political way to stand against the Romans and then finally being hounded down and killed.
SPEAKER 01 :
He was this Jesus who was also killed, this messiah, but he rose from the dead.
SPEAKER 02 :
Do people believe that? Some did, many didn’t. But he goes around the Mediterranean proclaiming that Jesus rose from the dead. I am proud, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Why does he say he’s not ashamed of it? Because, in verse 16 we’re reading from Romans here, it is the power of God. It is the power of God to salvation. Now, when you and I think about power, we think of political power, perhaps, financial power, the wealthy, the billionaires, military power, the strongest nations of the earth, atomic power, the ability of one nation to wipe out another. But this is power in a very different sense, though it’s the same word, dunamis. This is power in weakness. Here is God who comes to the earth as a baby. Here is God who grows up slowly as a human child.
SPEAKER 01 :
Here is God who works in a carpenter’s shop.
SPEAKER 02 :
And here is God who goes about preaching without any fanfare, without any public approval, without any position in the Jewish hierarchy. He goes about teaching and preaching, revealing that he is the one sent from God, the door to the sheep, the light of the world. that all who believe in him shall have eternal life. And yet he is the one who is dragged before the authorities and finally found guilty of blasphemy and executed.
SPEAKER 01 :
That is God’s power. And yet how is it revealed?
SPEAKER 02 :
In and through human weakness. This is what you and I have to embrace all over again because we are so tempted by power. Not simply the power of money and political prestige and some kind of strength of arms as a government. We have to accept a certain power that makes us appear to be weak. For when we talk about the power of God, we do not talk about the power of human beings. When we talk about the power of God, we talk about God revealing himself to us while we were sinners and powerless and enemies. And so you and I have to come before God and say, Lord God, in what am I trusting? Am I trusting in my prestige, in my reputation, in the way I have social respect in the community? Am I trusting in the fact that I’ve been voted to this or that organization, that I have been elected as a member of some city council, that I am well respected in the community? Is that the power I’m trusting in? Because Paul had lost that kind of reputation. He was seen as a crackpot. He was seen as somebody who had lost his mind. And yet he says, I am not ashamed of the good news.
SPEAKER 01 :
And I am brought to that issue myself.
SPEAKER 02 :
What do I rely on? Am I content to be not very well known? Am I content to be known as one who has failed in his ministry years ago? Am I content to be one who does not have much of a reputation? I need to be. I want to be. I’ve become over the years afraid of a good reputation. I have seen when I did once have a good reputation that people flocked to me. But when I lost that reputation, people disappeared. And so I found it quite an astonishing thing to discover that human support is very frail. It is very tenuous. It is perhaps even fake, because people cling to you when you’re well-known or when you succeed, but they don’t cling to you when you have failed. Jesus failed from a human point of view. He died, and many deserted him at that point. But those faithful disciples, they just, though they were so confused, they hung on. They believed. They were disappointed. They were saddened. They were confused. But they still believed in the things that Jesus said about himself. And they were so delighted and surprised on that resurrection day when finally their belief turned into vindication. And they knew finally that the Messiah was indeed, that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. Now you and I, when we trust in Jesus, lose our reputation in many instances, because Christians are not very well liked these days. They’re looked at as fanatical or as politically cruel or harsh or demanding of others and critical of others. And there are many Christians, for instance, in Nigeria, some 128,000, I believe, who have been killed in the last several years. And so, what do Christians do when everything is against them? They trust in the reputation of another, Jesus himself. Jesus has a reputation before God. But if you have a reputation before God, you do not have a reputation before the world. The world hated Jesus, and it hates him today, and it’s bound to hate his followers. And we have to ask ourselves, am I willing to put faith in one who is not well-loved, who is even hated and despised? This is why you and I have to ask ourselves the question, where is our self-respect? Is it in ourselves? Is it in our families? Is it in our reputation? Is it in our wealth? Is it in our social accomplishments? Or is it in Christ alone?
SPEAKER 01 :
I am not ashamed of the gospel, says Paul, even though he lost everything for the gospel.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for listening today, Colin Cook, here and how it happens. And what a privilege we have of trusting in one who has no reputation and yet has the most wonderful reputation before God, Jesus Christ. I’m happy you’re listening to this broadcast and this new series in the Book of Romans. Please join me Monday through Friday. at 10 o’clock in the evening, repeated at 4 in the morning on KLTT AM 670 in the Denver and Colorado and surrounding states areas. Or listen any time of the day or night on your smartphone. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com and key in How It Happens with Colin Cook when you get there. And thank you for all your support as this program continues. I’ll see you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
