The Book of Acts (August 25, 2024)

Acts 7:58 ~ “Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.”

Have you ever been to one of those travel-time share meetings? What about taking a free three-day cruise, if you listen to a two to three-hour sales pitch? Many times, you went into that event telling all who are with you, “We are NOT buying, just listening.” But during the event, you listen and start to think, this might just be a great idea.

How about watching a TV show or a movie and a commercial comes on about orphanages in Africa or elsewhere, they start showing all those kids, you have a heart string pulled, and you want to help? What about seeing the guy or lady holding a sign in town with their two kids sitting there?

All of these are events that are designed to change your mind and way of thinking. Each of these events have words or pictures or scenes to tug at the emotional side of your mindset and move away from the logical thinking side. What do I mean? Time share, free cruise and others want to play on your logic and explain how cheap it would be to buy this; however, they often talk about getting away and have pictures and displays of the beaches or mountains. This is an emotional pull. The commercials are filled with kids that look like skin and bones; can we say emotional pull? Is there anything wrong with any of this? I didn’t say there was, but the whole idea is to use words and sounds and sight to change your way of thinking. (What do you think I just did? Used my words to change your way of thinking!)

This is what has happened with a young man named Saul. You cannot tell me that anyone would just say it is OK to kill someone, right in front of the House of God! The words have been spoken, the sight of the religious leaders stoning a man to death, all of this has got to do something to one’s mind and way of thinking.

Acts 8:1–3 ~ “And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.”

Saul was well-pleased with Stephen’s death. An inflamed fury had been building up in him against the church, for he felt that the preaching of Christ threatened his religion, Judaism. In fact, Saul was the leader in persecuting the church, the one who fought more than anyone else against the church. He was apparently a leader among the religionists.

Galatians 1:13–14 ~ “For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.”

Saul was a religionist. This is one of the most dangerous people within the church world, why? Because they appear to be inside the church and working for the church. In fact, they are working for a religion and not a relationship. Is a man more important than religion, that Sabbath rules? The law said that persons could not be healed or helped on the Sabbath, unless life itself was threatened.

Matthew 12:10 ~ “And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him.”

We see a man with a withered hand and the religious leaders are more about following religious rules, rather than a man be healed. Should Jesus have put the man or the ritual first?

Let’s look at a more modern example. If someone’s cellphone happens to ring right … NOW … what would everyone do? Look around to see who the crazy person was that didn’t turn their cellphone off. How dare them disturb God! But, if that same person was at a night club, say comedy night, and the cellphone happened to ring, the comedian would make it part of the act, everyone would laugh and move forward. Do you see the difference?

Please understand, this is God’s house, and we have dedicated it for the worship of God and we must be respectful of God, but we must also realize that the person may have just forgotten or it might be a new person and how we treat them would be a matter of eternal consequences.

Let’s get back to Saul …

What Saul has witnessed caused the persecution to launch quickly against the Christians for the “attack” they were bringing against the religious leaders and their hold on people’s lives. Saul wished to act and to act quickly in wiping out the church. The believers were frightened and on the run. He had to strike immediately to catch them before they could escape.

The persecution was launched in fury and in violence. The idea is that Saul hotly pursued, chased, and hunted down the believers. He was bent on violence, utterly determined to stamp out the church. The “church” was all scattered abroad throughout Judea and Samaria, however, the apostles were centralized in Jerusalem.

• They had been given some freedom by the authorities on the advice of Gamaliel, a leader in the Judaism courts
• They were highly esteemed by the public at large. On other occasions the authorities feared to having them arrested, lest their arrest cause an uprising among the people.
• The apostles were courageous men, and they had learned to wait upon the Lord for instructions and directions.

We notice that in verse 2, the devout cared for Stephen, these were some of Stephen’s friends and fellow synagogue worshippers who may not have fully embraced the faith of Christ but cared for Stephen. They were deeply disturbed over his death, making great lamentation over him. God used Stephen’s death to continue Stephen’s witness …

• His witness was publicly honored
• He died what might be called a hero’s death

The church was severely persecuted by Saul, both men and women. Saul made havoc of the church, tried to devastate it, tried to destroy it, tried to ruin it, tried to wipe it out. We know that  throughout Saul’s time …

• He stormed the homes of believers, breaking open the doors, fiercely seeking every believer in “every house”
• He arrested all he could find, “hailing” them: constraining and dragging them, using whatever force was necessary to arrest and subdue them. The picture is that of forcibly dragging them from their homes through the city streets
• He arrested women as well as men. Women were considered unimportant and insignificant in Saul’s day. Yet the fierceness and savagery of Paul was so set on destroying the church that he went after the women as well. His crime against women was to be an offense Paul could never forget
• He imprisoned as many as he could find, and he found many …
  • committing them to prison
  • “binding and delivering into prisons both men and women”
  • “many of the saints did I shut up in prison”
• He stormed “every synagogue” and punished the believers who were present. He tried to force them to blaspheme the name of Christ
• He hunted them down, hotly pursuing them even into foreign cities, persecuting all he could track down
• He brought many to their death and gave his voice to the death penalty of many others

We need to note that the mercy and grace of God are fully demonstrated in the life of Paul. God’s mercy is available to all of us, no matter how terribly we have sinned. There is hope, forgiveness, and a glorious ministry for any of us, no matter who we are or what we have done – if we will repent and surrender ourselves to the Lord Jesus, to follow and obey Him.

1 Corinthians 15:9–10 ~ “For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

1 Timothy 1:12–16 ~ “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.”

The believers who were scattered abroad because of Saul went everywhere preaching Jesus Christ. God was using the evil to spread His followers and message all over the world. The believers didn’t hide in secrecy and fearful silence. They evangelized, declared, and proclaimed wherever they went.