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by Sandy Shaw
Following that incident outside Damascus when the risen and living Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, apprehended and arrested Saul of Tarsus, the exciting adventure and narrative continued.
We are in Galatians Chapter 1. The apostle Paul spent some three years in the wilderness. Jesus spent His first 30 years in obscurity. Moses was 40 years in the desert looking after sheep.
These can be dark days, but there are treasures in the darkness. Sometimes to find the real treasures we have to go through days of darkness, whatever they might be for you.
God had His eye upon Paul even before he was conceived. Now, you will not find that in any other faith! "This is the man I want - yes, he is anti just now - yes, he is attempting to wipe out everything I have birthed - we will change all that - and channel it in a different direction." That is our God.
Then - Jesus Christ sent him to foreigners - to Gentiles - to us. The rowdiest child in Sunday School - in class – in the community – can become the greatest leader in the Kingdom of God. Always remember that.
Life was never the same again for Paul. Three years in the desert to think it all over - to work it all out on the light of what was in the Old Testament.
We should never be in too much of a hurry to rush off into full time service. Three years in school with the risen Jesus – then he went up to have a chat with Peter.
Paul never wrote off anyone. He knew God had never written off him. Paul was not a loner - he was a fellowship man - a team man. Paul was a concerned preacher and apostle.
Verse 20 - Believe me, O Galatians - God is watching me as I write. I am not making this up, and what I am preaching others agree with.
There were others supporting him - encouraging him - praying for him - and we see that after his missionary journeys, when he returns to Jerusalem and Antioch, to report on what he has been doing.
Yes - and 14 years later I went up to Jerusalem. I had been preaching. People were criticising what I had been preaching and teaching. I went to see James and Peter and John - not on my own - but with Barnabas and Titus. I wanted to be reassured that I was not running in vain. I did not want my life to be wasted.
The problem was circumcision. These false brothers had come in persuading, even insisting, that Gentile males receive the mark of the Jewish male. They had infiltrated our ranks - to spy, not to praise - not to worship but to clipe! They wanted to make us slaves and place us under the yoke and law of Judaism from which Jesus Christ had set us free.
The attack on this occasion was not from the outside but from the inside. Persecution can help the Church of Jesus Christ grow - but this was perversion.
Paul is defending the unity of the Church of Jesus Christ. Oh, the devastation that comes from a lack of unity can never be underestimated.
Paul is defending our freedom in Christ - freedom from the law - and freedom from sin.
When you take away freedom you change the nature of the Gospel, and reduce the power of the Gospel.
Give thanks that Paul fought this fight and faced it early on, and that the Church of Jesus Christ faced this early on, and dealt with it, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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