Acts 9: From Paul's Transformation to Transmission

Introduction

"Who are you, Lord?" That is the question Paul asks on the road to Damascus. Philippe D. turns it back on each of us: and you, who are you? This message is the second in the series "Apostolos, everyday ambassadors" at the Église Évangélique Apostolique de Genève. The series follows the life of Paul: the sending, the transformation, then collaboration, presence, pressure and perseverance.

The preacher picks up where Pastor Raphaël left off the week before: the ambassador par excellence is Jesus Christ. Because he was sent, we can be sent. This is not "figure it out as best you can." In the congregation, he says, there are "apostolos," people who are sent, and "kaleo," people Jesus is calling right now. The message is for both.

It comes in two parts: a man to whom God reveals himself, which is the transformation; and a man who passes it on, which is the transmission.

Outline of the message

1. The message of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." Paul writes this several years after meeting Jesus. All things have become new: priorities, frame of reference, the way he sees others and life, his identity.
Those who have discovered who Jesus is carry a precious message: it is possible to be at peace with God. This is not a reconciliation you have to patch together or earn. Jesus did it in your place; he opened the way.
"We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." For Philippe D., Paul's cry is the cry of many today. When you have tasted God's love, his faithfulness, what he calls his everyday "concreteness," you cannot keep it to yourself.
He tells of his own beginnings in the faith, nearly 35 to 40 years ago: he was so on fire that the Lord had to calm him down. "It is as if you had discovered the vaccine for a deadly disease: you do not want to keep it to yourself."

2. On the road to Damascus: from darkness to light

Before his conversion, Paul spread terror. A zealous Pharisee, he had Christians stoned, convinced that Jesus was an impostor who had not risen.
Acts 9: a light from heaven surrounds him, he falls to the ground and hears: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He answers: "Who are you, Lord?" "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." He has to be led by the hand into Damascus, and for three days he can neither see nor eat.
Galatians 1:18: three years later, Paul goes up to Jerusalem to get to know Peter and stays with him fifteen days. The preacher imagines everything they must have told each other.
He also imagines that this story may have inspired Peter when he wrote that God "called us out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9). He makes clear that he is not claiming it, but it is exactly what Paul lived through.
Each person has their own temperament, and someone less fiery is no less sincere. The principle is the same for everyone: being called out of darkness into light.
Mary Magdalene illustrates this passage. Delivered from seven demons, she is the first at the tomb and the first to be sent, so much so that she has been called "the apostle to the apostles." With a group of women from the church, the preacher had nicknamed her "the radiant one," because she came out of darkness into light.

3. Three days of blindness that transform

"I think we move past this too quickly." For Philippe D., these three days contributed to Paul's transformation. He compares them with Jonah's three days in the belly of the fish and Jesus' three days in the realm of the dead: there is a before and an after.
Sight is a major sense. What we see influences us: the fruit "pleasant to the eyes" in Eden, the starting point of many addictions, or simply the bowl of chips on the table. We see, we take.
He invites the congregation to close their eyes for a moment: the other senses grow stronger. God leads Paul to look within himself and beyond.
Just before the exercise, he had announced "an extraordinary experience" to share. With eyes closed, it is the last sentence that stays in your mind. In the same way, Paul stays three days with the answer to his question: "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." No passing train, nobody to tell him it was only an emotion. The preacher is convinced that a face-to-face meeting between God and Paul took place.

4. Conversion, a U-turn

Not every conversion happens the same way, but the principle is the same. The word can be frightening and bring a cult to mind. In reality, to be converted is to turn around, like in the supermarket when you realize you forgot the frying pan at the other end of the store.
Paul was heading in one direction: arresting and killing Christians. In meeting Jesus, he discovers that he was not working for the right person. When he regains his sight, he is no longer the same man.
From persecutor, he becomes a preacher of the good news. From terrorist, he becomes a bridge. There is only one mediator between God and men, Jesus; but those who know Jesus become a bridge between people and him.
From invader, he becomes ambassador: "Mission is not colonization, it is coming to bring a message." From destroyer of Christians, he becomes a founder of churches.

5. The message does not change, the method does

Paul did not only hand down the gospel to us, he handed down how to pass it on. He adapts his words to his audience. The preacher gives the references for a personal Bible study.
In Athens (Acts 17), before the philosophers, he quotes no Jewish Scripture. He starts from a local element, the altar "to an unknown god," quotes the Greek poets Aratus and Epimenides, and speaks of the Creator God to gently lead into the subject of the resurrection.
In the synagogue (Acts 13), he does the opposite: he tells the story of Israel, Egypt, the desert, King David, and quotes the prophets and the psalms to show that Jesus is indeed the one they were waiting for.
Before polytheist farmers (Acts 14), he speaks of nature, seasons, rain, harvests and food as proofs of God's goodness.
Before the governor Felix (Acts 24), he uses legal language and sticks to the facts. Before Agrippa (Acts 26), who knows Jewish customs, he appeals to the prophets and tells of his path as a Pharisee.
Paul invented nothing: "Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1). Philippe D. believes he imitated Jesus' method as much as his character.
Jesus, an "extraordinary teacher," speaks to Nicodemus about new birth and the bronze serpent. To the expert in the law, he asks: "What is written in the law? How do you read it?" (Luke 10:26). To the Samaritan woman, he speaks of living water. Before those who want to stone the woman caught in adultery, he offers a line of reasoning: "He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her."
To crowds of farmers, fishermen and craftsmen, he speaks of seeds, the lost sheep, the found coin and the father waiting for his son. With his disciples, he is direct. The gospels themselves adapt to their readers; John begins with "In the beginning was the Word" for an audience of Greek culture, and James draws on the wisdom of the proverbs with the horse's bit and the ship's rudder.
Everyone can have their own style, shirt and tie or a colorful sweater. But difference has its limits: you do not show up at someone's home with all your clothes on inside out. The message itself does not move.

6. "All things to all people": listen before you speak

"I have become all things to all men" (1 Corinthians 9:22). In the age of social media, there are influencers and the influenced. Paul is not a man who goes wherever the wind blows him, and this is not about manipulation.
It is about finding "the right adapter so that the current flows." Becoming all things to all people does not mean becoming like everyone else, but seeking to understand them.
"Before being a spokesperson, let us learn to listen." Listening is proof of love: when I love, take an interest and understand, I am better placed to help. And every person we meet can also bring us something, if we are receptive.
Before wanting to speak into people's lives, we have to earn their respect. The temptation is to put everyone in the same small square box where we feel safe.
Jesus' success came from the fact that he loved people, even before presenting his message. "We are not here to sell life insurance." You have to know where the person is, truly listen to them, without preparing your answer while they speak.
What we remember about Paul is not so much what he said or did, but what he became: a kind man rather than a violent one, even though he had a strong character and made mistakes.
To give directions to Geneva's train station, the way is not the same depending on whether you start from here or from Champel, or on the weather. You have to know where the person is. Jesus knew that the Samaritan woman was thirsty: "If you knew the gift of God..."

7. Who are you? Jesus introduces you to someone

There is what I say, what I do, what I am, and there is what God does: the kingdom of God is not in word but in power. Beyond his words, the preacher prays that the Holy Spirit would gently ask each person: who are you?
Paul asked: "Who are you, Lord?" The Lord sends the question back: and you, do you know who you are? Paul thought he knew. He was missing the target for which God had created and called him. Coming out of those three days, he discovers who he is.
Paul knew his God: "I know whom I have believed." He knew himself: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief." He knew his gifts and the society he lived in. The prophets of old, he says, had their social networks in one hand and the Word of God in the other.
This week, an intern he supervises in his work, in the field of addictions, presented the book she had chosen for her placement. She had not chosen it for its knowledge about addictions, but because it spoke about posture: how to avoid mistakes, how to talk to people, how to understand them better. "That is my whole message." Before playing surgeon of the human soul, examine your posture toward those around you.
The sentence that changed his life, four or five years ago: "We do not introduce Jesus to someone. It is Jesus who introduces us to someone." He understood it when he heard the story of a church in France that organized gatherings over coffee. A Christian who came for the first time laid out points 1, 2, 3 of salvation right away and destroyed everything, without seeing the work already under way.
If someone entrusts their child to you, you know they know the child, their allergies, their bedtime, and you take care of them responsibly. In the same way, God has known each person since their mother's womb. He entrusts them to you so that you listen to them and seek his heart for them, without imposing your own story: for some, conversion is radical; for others, gradual, with ups and downs.

Conclusion: God wants to walk with you

God lifted Paul up by revealing himself to him and transformed him in the shadow of his presence. Paul passed on to us the good news and the way to pass it on. Philippe D. prays that the "apostolos" would learn to listen and to adapt their way of being with love and compassion, and that the "kaleo" would hear God's call, today or in five or ten years: God has his time for each person.

God's message, he says, is: "I know you, I call you, I know your questions and your struggles, and I want to walk with you." In him there is eternal life and the forgiveness of sins, but not only that: eating together, laughing together, being there in hard times and dancing in joyful ones. "You have an idea of who you are, and you are not entirely wrong. You only have part of the picture. Come into my presence and I will show you who you really are."

He ends with a prayer: that the church would be a place of welcome, listening, respect, revelation, healing and restoration, and that God would forgive the times we put people in a box, starting with himself.

Key takeaways

In Christ, you are a new creation, and God entrusts you with the message of reconciliation: we can be at peace with God because of what Jesus did.
Paul's three days of blindness were a time of face-to-face with God: there was a before and an after.
To be converted is to turn around. Paul goes from persecutor to preacher, from terrorist to bridge, from invader to ambassador.
The message does not change, the method does. Paul and Jesus adapt their language to those who listen to them.
We do not introduce Jesus to someone: it is Jesus who introduces us to someone. Listening and loving come before speaking.

Personal application

If God asked you the question "Who are you?", what would you answer today? And what do you think he knows about you that you do not yet know?
Do you need time away from distractions, like Paul during his three days, to let God speak to you?
With the people around you, are you looking for the "right adapter," or are you waiting for them to step into your box?
When you talk about your faith, do you truly listen, or are you already preparing your answer?
Which person has Jesus "introduced" to you lately, and how can you care for them with the responsibility of someone entrusted with a child?

Verses cited

Frequently asked questions

Why are Paul's three days of blindness important?

Philippe D. thinks we move past Acts 9:9 too quickly. Deprived of sight, with nothing to distract him, Paul stays three days with the answer to his question: "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." For the preacher, these three days contributed to his transformation: God led him to look within himself, and a face-to-face meeting took place.

What does "the message does not change, but the method does" mean?

Paul does not speak the same way to the philosophers of Athens, in the synagogue, to polytheist farmers or to Roman governors. Jesus did the same with Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, the crowds or his disciples. The gospel stays the same; what changes is the way of making it understandable, like an adapter that lets the current flow.

Is becoming "all things to all people" manipulation?

No. For Philippe D., 1 Corinthians 9:22 is not about manipulating or becoming like everyone else, but about seeking to understand them. It starts with listening, which is proof of love. Before wanting to speak into someone's life, you have to earn their respect.