The Turning Point | Trinity Sermons

Today's reading is from the book of Acts, chapter

Acts 9:1–9

9, verses 1 to 9. Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing

out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples.

He went to the high priest 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. As he neared Damascus on his journey,

suddenly a light from heaven flashed. He fell

to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul,

Saul, why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord?

Saul asked. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,

he replied. Now get up and go into the city,

and you will be told what you must do. The men

traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They

heard the sound but did not see anyone. 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. For three days he was

blind and did not eat or drink anything. The

word of the Lord. The reason we were gone for

three weeks is that my family had this amazing

opportunity, a bucket list moment really, to

walk part of the Portuguese Camino. Porto in

Portugal up to Santiago de Compostela in Spain

and we got to do it as a family This was a photo

that was taken when we finally arrived at the

Cathedral and in Santiago. It was it was awesome

It was amazing. And although it might sound to

you pretty daunting Wow walking 300 kilometers

It's actually like super easy. It's like really,

really hard to get lost because you just keep

the ocean on your left and keep walking. Just

keep walking. Just keep walking. And that being

said, though, just to prevent people from getting

lost, they put all over the place these yellow

blazes of like arrows and scallop shells. And

so, you know, you don't have to walk for more

than like 10 minutes and you'll see another arrow.

arrow, another shell, something pointing you

in the direction that you need to be going and

just kind of reminding you, hey, you're getting

there. You know, stick with it. You're almost

there. You're not almost there, but you're going.

Now, listen, listen. Even though there was all

that help along the way, it did not stop us from

getting lost from time to time. In fact, I wanted

to share with you. I had my AllTrails app. I

don't know if you guys have that on your phone,

but I had it on my phone running the whole time

that we were walking just so I could kind of

map where we went. This is just one example of

when we clearly, looking back, we did not know

where we were going. We were like, is it this

way? No, turn around that way. No, back around.

And it was probably a little frustrating for

us at the time until we finally found one of

those yellow arrows. And we were back on our

way. Now, when this kind of thing happens to

you, it's actually really, really frustrating.

Because you have to go backwards. You have to

retrace your steps. And the thing about going

backwards is it feels like it's such a waste

of time. But in those moments, going backwards

is actually the first time you're moving forward

in a long time. And so that's kind of why on

the Camino, and I would say also in life, sometimes

the only way forward for us is actually to turn

around. And the sooner we turn around, the sooner

we actually start moving forward. So listen,

today we're starting a brand new teaching series.

We're calling it 180. It might sound like a bit

of a strange name for a teaching series. 180,

what does that mean? 180, what we mean by 180

is like that thing where you turn around, as

in 180 degrees, as in you were heading this way,

and now you are... heading that way that kind

of of 180 and you can do a 180 all over the place

you can do a 180 on the basketball court you

can do a 180 in your car by making a u -turn

you can also do a 180 in your life and actually

that is what this this whole series is really

about you see the bible is full of stories of

People making 180s. In fact, God has this remarkable

habit of meeting people who are very confidently

heading in one direction and then grabbing them

and turning them around. You know, grabbing hold

of Moses and saying, Moses, no, you're going

to Egypt. Grabbing hold of Jonah and saying,

no, actually, you're going to Nineveh. Or grabbing

hold of like Zacchaeus and say, Zacchaeus, you're

no longer going to be greedy. You're going to

be generous. hold of Peter. Peter, you're no

longer going to deny me. You are going to proclaim

me, right? God specializes in these kind of 180

turnarounds, and it's not just in the Bible,

okay? It's not just in the Bible. God does this

today, and he does it in your life, and he does

it in my life, and I would say it actually doesn't

even matter who you are, what's going on in your

life. A 180 for you could be just around the

corner. Some of you here today, you love your

life. You love the direction your life is going.

You're happy with your career, with your schooling.

You're so happy with the choices that you have

made. Well, it doesn't really matter. Even though

you don't want anyone to mess with your plans,

God can, boom, reach in, turn you around to a

complete 180 in your life. And then there are

others here who are actually quite frustrated

with their life. You don't like the direction

of your life. You're like, how did I get here?

How do I get out of here? It feels like you're

going maybe the wrong way down a one -way street,

some kind of street to nowhere. Well, again,

guess what? Bam! Just like that. God can step

in, grab a hold of you, turn your life around,

and point you in a brand new direction, point

you toward a brand new future. That is the kind

of thing God does. That is a 180. So I would

say if you're here today, whether you're on Easy

Street, Or whether you're on a dead -end street,

a 180 could be just around the corner. That's

the kind of thing God does. But for the next

six weeks, we're going to be looking at a very

particular 180 that happened. Now, I'm not a

betting man, but I would say, I don't think there

is a more dramatic example in all of human history

of a human life being turned around, 180 degrees

turned around, Then there is the example of this

fellow we're going to be looking at. His name

was Saul. Saul of Tarsus. And you need to know

this, actually, that Saul was actually born right

around this very same time that Jesus was born.

And there doesn't appear to be any evidence that

the two of them met in flesh and blood. I mean,

in our story today that Micah read, they clearly

met. Saul was this very, very, very devout. follower

of Judaism. And when I say very devout, he even

says of himself, you know what Saul wrote about

himself? He says, I was advanced in Judaism beyond

any of my peers, beyond anyone else my age. And

he came from a certain school of thought in Judaism

that really, really, really was strict. It was

strict in how it followed the ancient kind of

traditions and the ancestral. traditions of Judaism

without any veering, without any deviation, a

straight, straight path of how you follow God.

And actually, if anyone were to deviate from

that, well, that would be something that needed

to be fixed, even if that meant using violence.

But you might not really have ever heard of Saul

of Tarsus, who of Saul of Tarsus, because he

actually has another name that we're all more

familiar with, and that is Paul. the apostle,

Paul the apostle. And just to let you know, I

think scholars would say that actually, he went

by both names throughout his life. Saul was kind

of the name that he used when he was in kind

of Hebrew circles, when he was talking with other

Israelites. And maybe Paul was the name he used

when he was, you know, traveling to non -Israelite

areas and speaking there. But here's the question

we have to wrestle with. Here's the question.

How did Saul of Tarsus This strict, disciplined,

focused, and even violent follower of traditional

Judaism. How did he become Paul the Apostle?

Because it was not a little tweak. It was not

a minor course adjustment. Oh, you're 10 degrees

off, or you're 15 degrees off course. No, it

was a complete 180 degree turnaround. You know,

if you want to do a little deeper reading over

these next six weeks, I invite you to get yourself

a copy of N .T. Wright has a book called Paul

Biography. And right in there, N .T. Wright says,

he says, when Saul encountered the news about

Jesus, he had been going full tilt in the opposite

direction. direction full tilt in the opposite

direction so so the story of saul of tarsus actually

is is a long story and that's why we're going

to cover it over over several weeks and today

we're just going to get started just going to

get started by looking at his turnaround his

turning point uh some people would call this

his moment of conversion but i don't really like

so much using that word to say, oh, on the road

to Damascus, Saul was converted. Because it makes

it sound like that somehow on that road, Paul

decided, hmm, I'm no longer going to follow the

Jewish religion. Now I'm going to follow the

Christian religion, right? That it doesn't work

that way, right? First of all, it's not simple

like that. Because if you were to ask Saul, he

did not think he was joining a new religion when

he started following Jesus. And secondly, it's

not quick like that. The evidence would suggest

that even though this was a profound moment for

Saul, it would take months, even years, before

he had really turned himself around and finally

found that yellow arrow that was pointing him

in the new direction. So in the weeks ahead,

we're going to look at how that long turnaround

happened. But today is about... the turning point,

the turning point itself. I've given you just

some teaching notes, some sermon notes to follow

along. And I also want to let you know, it could

be a little confusing today because although

Micah read that passage, we're going to have

to look at a number of different passages because

Paul tells the story of his turning point in

a number of different places. Yes, it happens

in Acts chapter 9, but it's also Acts chapter

Acts 9 · chapter mention Acts 22 · chapter mention

22 and chapter 26. And then he even mentions

it in some of his letters, like the letter to

the Galatians. So we're going to to be jumping

around from scripture to scripture, but I just

want to finally say one more thing. This is not,

we're not doing this just as an exercise to look

at how this man's life was turned around, right?

This isn't just about the 180 in Saul's life.

Again, it's about the fact that God can do those

kind of 180s in our life too. And so actually

every week during our Trinity Talks podcast,

Deacon Bill is going to be sitting down between

the services to talk to one of you. about a 180

that you've experienced in your own life and

how God grabbed hold of you and turned you around.

So that's part of it too. So let's dig into this.

Who was Saul of Tarsus? Let me just remind you

what I just told you. He was part of a school

of Jewish thought that adhered very, very, very

closely to traditional ancestral beliefs about

Judaism. And for that reason, anyone who got

into Judaism and started to like, you know, deviate

it or adjust it or change it, he hated them.

And that is why he hated, capital H -A -T -E

-D, he hated. Christians, hated the church because

he saw Christians as deviants. He saw them as

people who were trying to twist the true Jewish

faith, and they had to be eradicated for that

reason, right? Even if it meant using violence

in order to preserve the true faith. And I got

to tell you, in the past week or so, the more

I've looked at Saul, my opinion of him has changed.

I think this guy was a complete monster. Let

me give you five examples. First of all, Saul

was ferocious. We read in Acts 8 .3 that Saul

began to destroy the church. That's the Bible's

word, going house to house. Now that word in

Greek, destroy, conjures up the image of an animal

that is wild, going crazy. A wild animal going

crazy in your vineyard, ripping out every vine.

Picture a wild animal chasing down its prey and

finally grabbing hold of it. I don't know if

you've ever seen a wild animal devour its prey.

It is not a pretty picture, but that's what Paul

was like. He was ferocious. He was devouring.

He was consuming. He was entering house after

house. And he was sending these innocent Christians

to prison. But he wasn't just sending them to

prison. That's the second thing about Saul. He

wasn't just ferocious. He was murderous. You

know, I think sometimes we think of... Saul,

and we say, oh, Saul, man, he sure made things

tough on those early Christians. Tsk, tsk. He

made it really difficult for them. No, no, no,

no, no, no. Paul was not just a bother. Paul

was a butcher. He wasn't just a meddler. He was

a murderer. His own words. I put many of the

Lord's people in prison, and when they were put

to death, I cast my vote against. You, I vote

for you to die. I vote for him to die. I vote

for her to die, to be stoned to death. Or how

about, again, Paul says this, I persecuted the

followers of the way, that's what they called

Christianity in the early days, to their death.

It doesn't get any clearer than this. This man

was a murderer from the moment that we meet him.

He was ferocious. He was murderous. But thirdly,

he was callous. He didn't care. He didn't care

if you were a man or a woman. He didn't care

if you were a mother or a father. He didn't care

if you were a husband, wife, newlywed, grandma.

It didn't matter to him. Saul asked for letters

to the synagogues in Damascus so that if he found

any, any there who belonged to the way, he might...

take them. That's the key word, any, right? Anyone,

anywhere, any age, any gender, any story, any

excuse. It made no difference to Saul. It made

no difference, right? He didn't show pity on

some people, say, I'll give you a pass. He didn't

show compassion on other people. No, he would

haul you out of bed in the middle of the night,

send you off to prison, send you off to death,

men or women, right? More than one child was

left an orphan by the time Saul was finished

with them. So, fourthly, though, he was devious,

right? So Saul didn't just use brute force to

root out Christians out of their homes. He also

used cunning to root them out. In Acts 26, Paul

says this. He says, Many a time I went from one

synagogue to another to have them punished, and

I tried to force them to blaspheme. enraging

fury against them. Now, what does that mean?

Well, you see, in those days, Christians were

still going to synagogue. In fact, in those days,

most Christians, again, they didn't see themselves

as starting a new religion. Christianity was

almost like a reform movement within Judaism.

And so Saul would go to synagogue too. And then

maybe during the service, I don't know if this

is how it happened, but maybe it happened like

this. During the service, he'd say, hey, I got

an idea. Why doesn't everyone stand up one at

a time? And why don't we all say, Jesus is accursed.

I hate Jesus. Let's go. You first. You, you,

you. And of course, everyone would stand up and

do it. And of course, Christians couldn't. They

couldn't deny their Jesus. And so... there was

no escape. It was terrifying, and they would

be found out. And the worst part was, it says

that then the community was enraged against them.

The fury of the people, which meant that they

would then be attacked by their own countrymen,

their own fellow Jews. It sounds horrible. In

fact, later on, you know, when Paul was on the

new road, he would write that one mark of a true

Christian was someone who would not Deny Jesus.

He had been on the other side of that and seen

people refuse to deny Jesus. So there he was.

He was ferocious. He was murderous, callous,

devious. And lastly, I want to say that he was

zealous. I was just as zealous for God as any

of you are today. Or in Galatians, he wrote,

I persecuted the church violently. I tried to

destroy it. So extremely zealous I was. Now,

do you actually want to know how zealous this

guy was? I was doing a bit of the math. And our

story today. We are told that he was going to

go arrest Christians in Damascus and bring them

back to Jerusalem so they can be imprisoned or

killed. All right? That is a 300 -kilometer journey.

That's as long as the Camino that we just walked.

And he was like, yeah, I'm going to walk 300

kilometers to Damascus. I'm going to get these

guys. I'm going to bring them back 300 kilometers

just so, right, we can root this out. He was

obsessed. It even says so in Acts 22, I was obsessed

with persecuting them, that I even hunted them

down in foreign cities. Obsessed people don't

stop, right? They don't rest. They don't do anything

halfway. Everything is extreme, and Saul was

extreme. And that is, I think, what makes him

so, so frightening, is that he did not think

he was fighting against God. He thought he was

fighting for God. Saul was not waking up every

morning saying, gee, how can I do something evil

today? He woke up every morning and he said,

how can I defend the truth? How can I protect

the faith? And that is the trouble with zealous,

obsessed people. They are sure that they are

right. And I would say there is no harder person

to turn around than the person who is absolutely

certain that they are in the right and that they

are doing God's will. We still see this in the

world today. In fact, later in life, Paul would

be deeply wary of zealous people. In Romans 10,

2, he says something like, hey, I know a thing

or two about misdirected enthusiasm, because

he had been there. He had been sincere, he had

been zealous, he had been obsessed, and he had

been wrong. Like a steam engine that was heading

the wrong way down the track. So there he was.

Who was Paul? Where was he headed? He was ferocious,

murderous, callous, devious, zealous. But, but,

as we know, God can do a 180 in anyone's life,

even on a runaway train. Like Saul. So let's

talk about that 180, okay? Let's talk about that

180. How on earth could a guy like this change?

Well, that U -turn that happened on the road

to Damascus. as he was headed up to round up

more Christians. There's actually been a whole

bunch of theories about what happened to Saul

on that trip. Some people say, oh, I think he

was just overcome with conscience, his conscience.

He was overcome with guilt. Or some even say

he was just overcome by the heat and that he

fainted. And all these theories have been proposed.

But I think that the best place for us to find

the answers of what actually happened to him

on that road is just, again, let's go back to

the story that we just heard and read what the

Bible says. And the first thing that we can see

is that Whatever happened to Saul on that road,

it was sudden and it was not subtle, right? Because

many times when people encounter God, it's a

slow process. Maybe it was for you. You seek

God, you pray, you know, you study, you think

about it. And maybe for you, it was this slow

dawning realization of who Jesus was. And if

that's how it went for you, there was absolutely

nothing wrong with it. That is a beautiful, slow

dawning. But that was not Saul's experience.

Acts 9 .3 says, as he neared Damascus on his

Jordan, suddenly, suddenly a light from heaven

flashed around him. Subtly, not subtly, right?

Abruptly. It was out of the blue. It came out

of nowhere. Paul had not been gradually warming

up to Christianity, gradually drawing closer

to Jesus. No, he was literally, as the reading

said, still breathing out threats. against God's

people, and this happened. It was sudden. You

couldn't have seen it coming. It was not subtle.

But secondly, it was powerful. It was not peaceful.

Now maybe, again, when you found Jesus, or maybe

when you find Jesus, because I don't know where

we all are on that journey, it's going to be

a real peaceful... that you're overcome with.

You know, the gentleness of Jesus will speak

to you. The book of Revelation, Jesus says, Behold,

I stand at the door and I knock gently. That's

wonderful. Answer the door. Go. Don't resist

a peaceful offer of salvation from God. There's

nothing wrong with that. But that is not how

it worked for Paul. Paul did not get a soft knock

on the door. Paul got a hard knock to the floor.

He didn't get this peaceful offer of salvation.

He fell to the ground. And you heard a voice

say, Saul, why do you persecute me? This is not

a picture of Saul slowly deciding to choose Christ.

This is Christ. deciding to choose Saul. And

Saul is not like answering a knock at the door.

This is Jesus breaking the door down into Saul's

life. So again, I don't know how it worked for

you, but when it came from Paul, it was a powerful,

not a peaceful experience to meet Jesus. Thirdly,

though, Paul's experience was public, not private.

And what I mean by this is that when Jesus spoke,

To Saul, he spoke through outward manifestations,

right? It wasn't inward feelings. There was a

light. There was a light. And Paul said, even

my companions could see the light. It was a real

light. And there was a voice. And Paul says,

my companions heard the voice, right? They didn't

understand who was speaking, but they all heard

it. This was no hallucination. This was no inward

illumination. This was a bright blazing light.

This was a loud. blaring voice. And again, some

people, it doesn't work that way for them. Some

people, maybe you encounter God through inward

illumination, through an inward sense of conviction.

And that is great. It might've been hard to convince

people that that was really going on. When we

say, oh, God spoke to me and said this. Sometimes

it's hard to convince them that God really did

that because nobody else heard that. But whatever

happened to Saul, it was not internal. It was

not an internal feeling. His companions knew

something was going on. They saw it. They heard

it. These events were outward, not inward. They

were public, not private. And fourthly, and kind

of related to that, it was painful and not a

pleasurable experience for Saul. But when Christ

comes into your life, many people describe it

as pure pleasure. You know, joy, ecstasy even.

On the other hand, if you're like Saul, the whole

experience might have been brutal and painful

and agonizing. He was smacked to the ground.

He was blinded and he had to be led by his hand

into town. My companions saw the light. They,

whoops, Saul got up from the ground. And for

three days, he was blind, and he did not eat,

and he did not drink anything. In the Bible,

blindness is a sign of ignorance. Being led by

a hand is a sign of weakness. And not eating

or drinking for three days is a sign of fasting.

It's a sign of repentance. This is all painful

stuff. This guy is bruised. He is blinded. He

is weak. He is repentant, right? He doesn't know

what's going on. He doesn't know where he's going.

He can't even see where he's going. Sometimes

God comes to us. It's pure pleasure. Saul didn't

have it that way. It's not quite how it worked

for him. It was pure pain. And that's why fifthly

and finally I want to say this experience for

Saul was a turning point, but not the ending

point. The story doesn't end here. Saul is actually

kind of turned around here, but not... really.

He doesn't understand what all this means at

this point. And in the weeks ahead, we're going

to see how this 180 continues in his life. Right

now, though, he's just sitting blind and bruised

in the dark. And I think that's actually pretty

realistic because I don't think anyone's life,

yours, mine, or Saul's, ever gets turned around

in an instant. Psychologically, that's actually

probably impossible. No, this is a turning point,

but it's not the ending point. And this is where

we're going to kind of leave the story for today,

kind of mid -turn. And you might say, oh, that's

kind of a sucky way to end. That's kind of a

bad way to leave a sermon, leave the story, kind

of halfway through a big change in the middle

of the moment. But actually, you know what? That

might be where some of you are. This very morning,

you're in the middle of a moment. You're in the

middle of a change. You're in the middle of a

180 yourself. Maybe something stopped the forward

progress that you were making. Or maybe your

plans started to fall apart. Or maybe you're

now questioning things like Saul that you once

were so, so certain about. And it feels like

your life has stopped moving. You haven't fully

turned around. You're struggling still. You're

suffering. You're uncertain. You're in the middle

of a turn. Maybe God has turned you 45 degrees.

Maybe 90. Maybe 120. But you still haven't made

that full 180. And if that's how you feel, it's

okay. Because like Paul, your story's not over

yet. And like Paul, God is not done yet. Saul's

180. It didn't happen overnight. And neither

does ours. Eventually, you're going to find that

yellow arrow. And it'll show you the new way

to go, but that can take time. And as you're

doing that, I want to leave you with this. Here's

two things you can do. It's the same two things

that Saul did. First is this, call out to God,

right? Here he is, right? Calling out to God.

Who are you, Lord? That is the question of someone

who's in the middle of a 180. Who are you, Lord?

What are you doing to my life, Lord? Where is

this all going, Lord? The Psalms are filled with

prayers like this. This is a 180 prayer. And

so if your life feels like it is spinning around

this morning, or if you've been knocked to the

ground, just keep crying out like Saul did. Keep

calling out like he did. God will answer. And

then secondly, reach out. Don't just call out

to God, but reach out to friends. That's what

Saul did too. He was beaten and blinded. And

what does he do? He reaches out his arms to his

friends. And his friends grab hold of his hands,

his companions, and they led him, the scripture

says. They led him into the city. They walked

with him in his time of struggle. And if you

need... that kind of help in your life today,

then I'm asking you to please reach out. Reach

out to friends. Reach out. Text a prayer request

into the church. Reach out to the church. Pick

up the phone and call us. Reach out to Reverend

Bill for some care. He'll point you in the right

direction. And if you see someone, if you see

someone out there and they're struggling, then

you reach out to them and help them up. This

is my prayer that our church will be a place

where we both find help and we offer help to

others. But I really do have to stop there because

that is actually the next part of Saul's story.

And that is the thing that we are going to cover

next week. So I hope you'll continue to track

with us and join us as we continue this study.

But let me just end with a prayer. Let's bow

our heads with a short prayer. Lord, thank you

so much for Saul's story. Thank you so much for

the way you're working in all of our stories,

whether it's subtle or sudden, peaceful or powerful.

We pray that you who have begun this good work

in our lives will bring it to completion in your

perfect timing. We pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.