Slowly Built Up
“You need to read between the lines.” Have you ever heard someone say that or something similar? Usually, it doesn’t turn out well when you are expected to read between the lines. It’s like when your wife has a stern look and you ask, “What’s wrong?” and she says, “Nothing.” And you say, “Are you ok?” and she says, “I’m fine.” You can read between the lines in that situation, but you’re left guessing…what in the world did I do? You know, it’s better to just come out and say it instead of having to read between the lines. In today’s text, we’re going to read between the lines. We’ll see how it pans out for us.
Our salvation is based on real reality. (19b-22)
It takes something incredible to completely turn someone’s life upside down and change the whole trajectory of their future. People don’t just change long-held fervent beliefs overnight unless something truly remarkable happens. That’s what happened to the Apostle Paul, or as he is known in our text as, Saul of Tarsus. Something truly miraculous had to happen to him for him to turn from devout pharisee and Christian persecutor to zealous Christian and Christ defender.
Here's what happened…he encountered the truth. Francis Schaeffer coined a term “true truth.” He used the word to combat a notion in his time (relativism) that has become prominent in our time. Truth isn’t based on what someone feels or even what someone believes, but it is based on a real reality. There is an objective reality. There is no “your truth” or “my truth,” there is just “true truth.”
As Dallas Willard used to say, “People don’t like the truth because they want a little room to wiggle around in.” Truth imposes itself on us and immediately reveals to us whether we are in line with it or not. In the words of Søren Kierkegaard, “The truth is a snare: you can not get it, without it getting you; you can not get it by capturing it, only by its capturing you.” Of course, we can ignore the truths we discover, but only to our detriment. One of the lessons we all had to learn as children is that we needed to adjust our beliefs so that they correspond to the truth, because the truth will not adjust itself to match our beliefs. As we all know, this can be extremely uncomfortable, but ultimately it is the only sure path to reconciliation and healing.[1]
Francis Schaeffer in his book “The God Who is There” said,
“True Christian faith rests on content. It is not a vague thing which takes the place of real understanding, nor is it the strength of belief which is of value. The true basis for faith is not the faith itself but the work which Christ finished on the cross. My believing is not the basis for being saved – the basis is the work of Christ. Christian faith is turned outward to an objective person: ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.'”
The Apostle Paul’s, and our own, salvation is based on “true truth.” The real reality is that Jesus is the long-promised Messiah, is God in the flesh, lived a perfect life, died a sacrificial death on the cross, rose from the dead, and is coming back again.
1 Timothy 2:3-7 – 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
Saul being built up led to the church being built up. (22, 31)
The church grows as you grow. Do you seek to grow? The church is full of many people who are content to stay as they are. They want to do the bare minimum and just survive. That’s not what God has called us to. We should be growing until the day we die. How did Saul grow? That’s what we’re going to see in most of this message. As we see how Saul grew, let it lead you to see the ways that you need to grow as well.
Saul learned through solitude. (23)
“When many days had passed…” What are many days? It depends on what you’re doing, right? If you’re a kid in school, a five-day week of school is “many days.” When you’re at the beach, a five-day vacation is not “many days.” What are the “many days” here? Thankfully, we don’t have to read between the lines here. We have the wonderful privilege of hearing from the Paul of the future about his experience of conversion in the past. He recounts this for us in Galatians 1:15-17 about this time directly after his salvation.
Galatians 1:15-17 – 15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
Verse 18 then lets us know it’s three years until he goes to Jerusalem. What did Paul do in these three years? One thing he likely did was spend time alone with God, reconciling his past pharisaical faith and knowledge with the truth of what he now knew to be true about Jesus. He went away to Arabia, which is where Sinai was. The very area the law was given, the former pharisee law-keeper surely contemplated the grace of God through Jesus.
R. Kent Hughes says of this,
“Moses spent forty years learning to think he was someone, forty more years learning who he really was (in the same desert where God later discipled Saul), and only then forty years serving profitably. Jesus spent eighteen years preparing for three years of ministry, and at the beginning of the three years, forty days alone with the Father. We need to retreat regularly—often daily—to commune with God and be prepared by him to accomplish his purposes for us.”[2]
Hear how another commentator explains how this time likely affected Paul’s thinking.
“Paul saw with greater clarity than anyone before him the full implications of this message. How was the good news of salvation through Christ related to the divinely given Torah? Have God’s promises to Israel been annulled or abridged by the coming of the Messiah? What role does circumcision have in the new community (ekklesia) God was now calling forth? As one who had persecuted the first Christians in Jerusalem, Paul doubtless knew a great deal about the structure and leadership of the church there. How should he relate to them now? The resolution of these and other questions would require extensive time alone with God, a time for prayer and searching the Scriptures, a coming apart to be prepared for being sent back forth.”[3]
The richest theology we have in our Bible comes from the Apostle Paul. No doubt, he long wrestled with that theology and its implications long before he wrote them down. We need to get alone with God and contemplate the things of God.
Saul learned who Jesus was. (22:8)
Twice we hear questions Paul asked as he encountered Jesus. It gives us a little insight into the questions he likely pursued in his solitude and contemplation.
Acts 22:8 – And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’
Who do you say that Jesus is?[4] That’s the question that each one of us has to answer…must answer. Hear some of what Paul ended up concluding about Jesus.
Colossians 1:15-20 – 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Paul went from persecuting those who followed Christ to having high Christology, believing Jesus Himself to be the God that he had been seeking to serve as a pharisee. You, too, must see Jesus as He truly is before you will place Him on the throne of your heart and follow Him with your life.
Saul learned what God wanted him to do. (22:10)
Acts 22:10 – And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.’
Do you ask God what it is that He wants you to do? It’s likely you don’t reject the truth of Christianity and you believe in true truth about who Jesus is. That’s probably not your hang up. But can you say the same about your life…what you pursue and how you live? Are all your pursuits and the trajectory of your life under the lordship of Christ, or do you follow the desires of your flesh, even if those desires aren’t bad? Do you seek to follow Christ in all that you do?
Here, again, is some of what Paul ended up concluding.
Colossians 1:21-29 – 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Saul recognized that God had called him to be a minister of the gospel, making the word of God fully known, warning and teaching everyone that they would come to know the Jesus Paul himself had intimately come to know and love. And he also knew he was called to suffer. And though that’s not the desire of his flesh…because none of us wants to suffer…he rejoices in his suffering because he is walking in the will of God.
Saul learned to trust God through disappointment and difficulty. (23-25; 2 Corinthians 11:30-33)
2 Corinthians 11:30-33 – 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. 32 At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, 33 but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.
The earliest experiences of Saul show he was rejected at Damascus and then experienced rejection by the mother church of Christianity. But he kept following Christ. He persevered and came out on the other side stronger, because he was trusting in the Lord’s strength, not his own.
Saul learned to trust God through other believers’ care. (26-28)
Galatians 1:18 – 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days.
Because of Barnabas, Saul got to know James (the brother of Jesus) and spent two weeks with Peter. Think how healing this must have been for him. You will not grow in isolation.
Many fruit trees will not bear fruit in isolation. They need cross pollination to bear fruit. Do you know what that means? They need other trees of the same making to bear fruit. It’s the same with you and me. We will not bear fruit alone.
Who has helped you grow closer to Christ? Through their teaching and through their care? Who can you pour into or encourage in their relationship with Christ?
We are built up through slow growth and monotonous faithfulness. (29-31)
This point summarizes this entire message. We can glance over this text and it can seem like the Apostle Paul hopped right into ministry, immediately grew, and was immediately effective. That’s not the case. We don’t hear from Saul again for 8-10 years, until Barnabas comes to Tarsus to ask him to help with the work in Antioch. There is around 13 years of slow growth and monotonous faithfulness that preceded Paul’s effective mission.
Just like apple trees need other apple trees to bear fruit, also, fast growth is detrimental to trees. I read this in Better Homes and Gardens about fast growing trees: “The trade-off for their speedy growth is they often start declining after they reach maturity, so they have a more limited life span than slower-growing trees. And sometimes, their wood is more prone to breaking in storms, so you'll need to prune them regularly to help keep them under control.”[5]
What does all of this mean for us? Your faithful attendance to church matters. Your faithful attendance to Community Groups matters, spending time discussing the Word of God with other believers. Your daily quiet time with the Lord matters, in prayer, in studying the Word, in contemplating what the Word means and how it applies to our lives and the world we live in. Your faithful service to the Lord in ministries where there’s no applause matters. Your week-in and week-out faithful service matters. Even and especially when you feel like your desires and preferences aren’t being met.
Don’t chase glitz and glamor. That won’t grow you. It may grow a crowd, but it won’t grow you. Chase everyday faithfulness. That’s what Saul of Tarsus did. And it changed him. And he changed the world. Let the same thing happen in you and through you.
[1] Greg Jesson, “Francis Schaeffer’s Enduring Relevance: It All Comes Down to ‘True Truth,’” SBJT 24.2 (2020): 59.
[2] R. Kent Hughes, Acts, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1996), 137.
[3] Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 125.
[5] https://www.bhg.com/gardening/trees-shrubs-vines/trees/fast-growing-trees
