Title: True Change! (Acts 9:1-15)
Contents
Title: "Real change!" (Acts 9:1-15)
In today's era, the world is changing at such a rapid pace as we all feel it with our skin. In the old days, it was said, "In 10 years, even rivers and mountains change." But these days, we need to correct the saying, "In a month, even rivers and mountains change." I see the world changing so easily. However, there are some things that must change, but sometimes things that should never change are easily changed. Among the things that should never change for us, things like faith and love toward God, love between husband and wife, and beautiful friendship between friends. However, it is better to change our wrong thoughts and habits, false minds, prejudices, etc. quickly.
Academically, there are two types of change. One is a physical change and the other is a chemical change. Physical changes refer to morphological changes, such as making a desk out of wood or a chair. However, chemical change refers to the complete change of content or properties of a substance into a completely new substance.
So, what kind of change is our Christianity?
The Christian transformation is a spiritual transformation. It is a spiritual transformation through the working of the Holy Spirit. It is a change of the whole person, and it is something that has to be completely and fundamentally changed. In that sense, our Christianity is a chemical change rather than a physical change, that is, a change only in a certain form, and a more profound spiritual change.
Today, we meet a man who has been completely completely changed in the text of the text. He is a man named Saul. Today, through the Word of God, we are pondering the words that Saul changed and became an apostle of Paul, and we would like to receive grace together with the title of true change.
1. What kind of person was Saul?
He was born with Roman citizenship from an early age, and was harvested under Gamaliel, who boasted of the best education at that time.
He rose to prominence early in the world and took the lead in arresting Christians, imprisoning them, and persecuting them. In today's text, he was the one who went to the high priest and received an official letter that could bring Christians in Damascus and went forward with great force.
But before God, as he confessed in 1 Timothy 1, he was an assaulter, a persecutor, and the chief of sinners. But while he was running to Damascus to arrest people who believed in Jesus, he met the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus.
The resurrected Jesus appeared to Saul as he was running to Damascus and said, "Saul! He spoke and came to Saul. Therefore, his life was completely changed 180 degrees and he started a new life.
2. The change of Saul to become Paul was a complete change from above.
People like new things in their own way and they like change. So I try to change the furniture and try to change the environment. However, these external changes cannot be regarded as changes in the true sense. A true change must be a change from the heart.
Because when you change your mind, your appearance will change and your behavior will change.
But changing your mind doesn't mean everything. In fact, although we have a desire in our hearts, it is true that we often fail because of the weakness of our bodies. Although people have all the thoughts they want to change, they are often drawn to the flesh and cannot follow their heart's desires.
Therefore, true change is possible only by the power from above by the Absolute, not by the will power of man.
True change requires meeting Jesus, who is the way, truth, and life of life. In the text, Saul, who persecuted and opposed Christianity, changed and became a completely new person because he met the resurrected Jesus. Jesus Christ is the One who enriches our lives in a whole new way.
Anyone who encounters Jesus Christ whole-personally changes his or her life completely. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, the new has come." A woman at a well in Suga City also became a completely new person by meeting Jesus. Even Zacchaeus, who had been ostracized by many people, met Jesus and started a new life as a descendant of Abraham.
If anyone truly meets Jesus, their status changes. Those who used to be children of the devil will have the authority to become children of God. It is the one who has passed from death to life. His life is changed. Your view of life will change, and your view of the three values will change completely.
ex) At a church in Chicago, USA, there was a funeral of a three-year-old girl. A child who died of starvation because she could not eat. However, at the funeral of this poor girl, there was an alcoholic who came to the funeral of this poor girl with bloodshot eyes wearing ragged clothes. He took off the shoes of the dead child while people were praying. The person who sold them and drank alcohol was the father of the dead child.
Twenty years later, at the First Presbyterian Church in Chicago, a man was shouting in front of thousands of members.
?쏧t was me who stole the shoes from my dead daughter?셲 funeral. It is the great God who brought me back to life and made me a servant of God.??
He was the Rev. Mel Trader of Chicago. God is the One who transforms people who look like junk and defective products into a new person as long as they meet Jesus, who has risen from the resurrection and ascended to heaven.
Today, I hope that you and I will meet the resurrected Jesus in the Holy Spirit and become believers who experience a new change while listening to His words.
3. Those who have experienced real change have a great mission.
After meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus, Saul completely changed and became a new person. During that time, Saul, who had killed, persecuted, and tortured those who believed in Jesus, was completely changed in an instant and became the apostle Paul.
After Saul met Jesus, he stumbled on the spot. And he realized that he had been living a bad life during that time. Were the words of the Christians that I persecuted and tormented so thoroughly?
He fell on his face in agony and tried to get up, but he could not open his eyes.
Reluctantly, he was supported by the people next to him, and he went to Damascus and prayed for three days, destroying food and drink. And through the disciple named Ananias, whom the Lord had prepared, he prayed for him and he saw him again. Scales fell from his eyes, and he was able to see again. What had hitherto been veiled from his own eyes has come off. And he saw the Lord again.
What he saw again was not only that his physical eyes were opened again, but that his spiritual eyes were also opened. His mind has completely changed. He who persecuted and opposed the church became a witness of the gospel and was used as a minister of the gospel.
All of us who worship today must become completely new people by meeting Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. As hymn 208 says, ?쏛fter the Lord Jesus came into my heart, I changed and became a new person??. I had to stop doing profane things?╈?and become a new person.
Indeed, we believers must change everything and become new people through faith in Jesus Christ. The history of changing myself first and also changing others because of me in my changed image must occur. You must become a worker of the gospel that changes the world. Our church should be a church that experiences change in the Word of God and a beautiful church that changes lives.
I pray in the name of the Lord that the beautiful history of Saul's transformation and becoming Paul overflows in the Word.