WARNING PREACHY…
In
Jesus Manifesto[1]
authors Leonard Sweet & Frank Viola ask a very good question…
“What was it
about Jesus that was so incredible, so captivating, and so compelling that it
caused a former Pharisee to be totally enamored with Him?”[2]
As
I am sure there are a number of ways this could (or should) be answered, I’m
going to go out on a limb and offer my two-cents.
Jesus actually
existed.
Before
he became known as the Apostle Paul, his name was Saul and he was an up and
coming Pharisee; a Hebrew of Hebrews, an educated leader and teacher of the
Jewish Law. He made a name for himself
going after and arresting Christians for their heresy of teaching people about
Jesus. (Philippians 3:4-6) On one occasion when Saul was traveling to Damascus
to arrest Christians, he learned that the Lord Jesus Christ actually existed.
Acts 9:1-9
1Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats
against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and
asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any
there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as
prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey,
suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to
the ground and heard a voice say to him,
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now
get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they
heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the
ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by
the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did
not eat or drink anything.
I
imagine a scene where a highly educated and powerful young college man was itching
to make a name for himself by going on mission that would change his political position
in the Jewish community forever. His zeal
for the Jewish faith was red hot and his youthful enthusiasm for his task had
even caused him to oversee the death of one of the Christian church’s first
deacons: Stephen. (Acts 7:54-8:2) This task lead him to travel to Damascus in
order to arrest the Christians there, but while on his was He is stopped by an
angelic being.
Saul
encountered this angelic being and fell to the ground hearing it ask him why he
is persecuting him.
Saul
asked “Who are you Lord?”
“I am Jesus whom you are persecuting” was
the reply.
This was huge!
The
very first thing that Saul learned about Jesus was that He actually existed and
was alive. He knew Jesus was a spiritual
teacher who had been arrested and executed on a Roman Cross in the past, and he
had heard the rumors of Jesus’ resurrection from the grave, but like many other
people, he did not believe that those rumors were true.
This
event changed everything. From that day
forward, this youthful educated man became the greatest evangelist the early
church had ever known. Saul’s name
changed to Paul and the rest of his life was to tell people about the dead man
who had come back from the grave.
The Start of
Change…
As
the reality of the resurrection of Jesus became a fact in Paul’s mind, He was
all in, and in my personal experience it was the same way. No, my experience with meeting Jesus was not
so eventful, but when the realization that Jesus was very much alive and active
came to me in a very real and present sense, then I had no choice but to become
aware of His awesome presence in every aspect of my life and world. I could no longer ignore Him. Spiritually, I had become new inside; I had become
Born Again.
What will change
your life?
“It’s
not the doctrine of the person of Jesus.
It’s an inward revelation of Christ in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”[3] If you don’t know that Jesus is alive then
seek Him. The task of the Holy Spirit is
to reveal to men the living savior, and I can attest that when you cry out to
Him, Jesus will make himself known to you.
Matthew 7:7
& 8
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who
asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door
will be opened.
[1] http://amzn.to/2yyWtza
[2] Sweet,
Leaonard & Viola, Frank, Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and
Sonvereignty of Jesus Christ (Nashville: Thomas Neslson, 2010) 24.
[3] Sweet,
Leaonard & Viola, Frank, Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and
Sonvereignty of Jesus Christ (Nashville: Thomas Neslson, 2010) 19.
