“You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”
We considered last week two stories of Jesus illustrating the arduous task of moving from milk to maturity in the Christian life. This week we look at the life of Paul and see how he navigated his life into the port of maturity.
Paul’s father was a Roman citizen who was also a Pharisee of unmixed Jewish blood. He was born in Tarsus which was the home of the best university in the known world. He went to school in Tarsus to become a rabbi which dictated he learn a trade, tent making. After completing his preliminary education, he was sent to Jerusalem and became a student of rabbi Gamaliel who was president of the Sanhedrin. He spent several years studying the scriptures here before returning to Tarsus. Barnabas may have been a classmate of Saul.
Paul returned to Jerusalem after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. He was probably a member of the Sanhedrin about two years later when Stephen was martyred because of his strong witness that Jesus was, in fact, the promised Messiah. Saul (who later became Paul) probably was in charge of Stephen’s martyrdom. Stephen was a Greek speaking Jew who was eloquent and very persuasive causing severe controversy within the Hellenistic synagogues.
Stephen’s death occurred three or four years after the resurrection and probably was the flashpoint for Paul’s journey to Damascus where persecuted Christians had gone from Jerusalem to take refuge. Saul was on the last leg of this 6 day, 130 mile trek to find these “Christians” when it happened, Acts 9:3ff.
A bright light blinded Saul as it flashed around him and he fell to the ground. Those traveling with him saw nothing but they did hear the voice speaking to Saul, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
“Who are you, Lord?”, Saul responded.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”
With open eyes Saul could see nothing. His traveling companions led him to Damascus where he blindly went without food and drink for three days.
God directed Ananias to open his eyes, baptized him and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Saul took a few days to gain back his strength, packed up some Old Testament manuscripts and headed out to the Arabian desert to sort things out.
The early years of Saul/Paul have a similar pattern we observed in the disciples and Peter. The disciples, including Peter, were with the Jesus for three years sitting under His ministry and participating in it. Saul has a dramatic vision which keeps him blinded for three days and then is healed and filled with the Holy Spirit. He takes this abrupt revelation of truth to the desert so he can study and re-examines the scriptures.
Three years later he shows up in Damascus. He meets with the disciples and begins preaching in the synagogues. Saul now understands Stephen’s testimony in light of Isaiah, Jeremiah and the rest of OT prophets that Jesus is the promised Messiah. He settles in with the Christians and begins teaching in the synagogues proclaiming that Jesus was the Son of God. The Jews are amazed and confounded because he was proving that Jesus was the Christ from their scriptures.
God had not prepared the hearts of the Jews to hear this message. This was Saul doing his thing, doing what he was trained to do and doing it well. The Jews plot to kill him and look for opportunities to snatch him. Saul became aware of the plot and his disciples lower him in a basket over the city wall at night so he can escape.
Saul heads back to Jerusalem but the disciples did not believe he had become a Christian. Barnabas brought Saul back to the disciples and vouched for him so that he was able to start preaching at the Jewish synagogues. It only took about three weeks for the local Hellenistic Jews to come together and devise another plot to kill Saul. Once again the disciples were able to rescue Saul and send him back to his hometown of Tarsus. Saul spends another three years in Tarsus licking his wounds and trying to figure out why he was not being blessed by his Lord and savior.
Saul was not only rigorously trained, he was a Roman citizen. He was a Pharisee and an insider with elegant credentials. This is quite different than the picture we saw last week of the disciples. We saw last week how Jesus was shaping Peter during their walk on the beach in a different way than John who trailed behind. Now we have Saul who is different still but they all have one thing in common, the will to do what they think is right.
God gives us through Jeremiah a picture of how he fashions and shapes us for use according to His plan and purposes.
“The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at the wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.” - Jeremiah 18:1-4.
The scripture in this passage clearly identifies God as the potter and Israel as the clay who is about to be taken captive by Babylon. Here are some images to help to better visualize this scriptural graphic:
The vessel being fashioned is being rotated on a turning table so that the constant turning vessel is being shaped in the potter’s hands. The vessel is formed out of a large clump of clay mud. The disciples, Peter, John, Saul-Paul, you and I are being shaped because we are in Christ. This is part of our salvation. The Holy Spirit who dwells within us is our mentor taking us from milk to maturity.
Saul went into the Arabian desert for three years after his conversation to understand the gospel in terms of Old Testament scriptures. He returned able to prove Jesus was, indeed, the Messiah prophesied by the prophets. He was able to do it so effectively the Jews wanted to kill him. His disciples had to sneak him over the Damascus wall in a basket at night.
Saul did the same thing in Jerusalem. But once again the Jews plotted to kill him and the disciples in Jerusalem came to his rescue sending him back to his home in Tarsus.
Saul had taken himself out of the potter’s hand because he understood with his own mind the factual truth about Jesus and was ready to do battle. This is what Saul was trained to do as a Pharisee, a Sadducee and a person who was comfortable being in leadership. Saul was living in the Spirit but walking in the flesh, Gal. 5:25. Saul had not yet become Paul who would learned how to walk but by faith rather than sight.
About 12 years after Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, Paul finally is called by God through Barnabas to go Antioch but it wasn’t his ministry. He was being shaped and prepared by God for God’s ministry. Paul himself would use the vessel simile writing much later to Timothy, “… if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable use, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” -2Tim. 2:20ff.
Paul uses this same graphic speaking about the Jews and Gentiles in Romans 9:19ff. It is God doing the work but it us up to us to put ourselves in His hands. Once we do, then He continues with the finishing touches.