Conversion

Reference: Acts 9:1-22

Conversion…The reading from Acts 9 tells what I would say is the most famous conversion story of all time. The story of someone filled with disbelief in the one true God coming to faith and the knowledge of the truth. This story is about someone who not only disbelieved, but someone who persecuted the followers of Christ, hated the idea that the Messiah had come, and had killed those who were preaching Christ crucified and raised from the dead. This Saul, later known as Paul, not only was converted to become a believer, but to an Apostle of Christ, to the man who went on Missionary journeys to preach the gospel to the Gentiles and show them the power of Christ crucified and raised from the dead, the man who wrote numerous letters to churches throughout the world many of which have been saved and are now placed in holy scripture.

How strange this conversion must seem to anybody who has ever converted. Usually in our culture when we speak of conversion or know anybody who has actually been converted to Christianity, we are speaking of people who have been on the fence and unsure about this Jesus guy for quite a long time, and about this book called the Bible, and eventually through much careful thought and deliberation and a whole lot of work from the Holy Spirit, these people come to faith in Christ and believe that he was crucified and raised from the dead for the forgiveness of their sins.

It is very seldom that we find such immediate change from one side of the spectrum to the other. People often seem to move much slower than that, we don’t expect change overnight. But this was the hand of God at work in Saul’s life, calling him to faith, calling him to ministry, calling him to serve.

I’m now going to show you a more modern version of “conversion” not to the Christian faith, but more generally from evil to good. It is from the box office smash hit Spiderman 3. In this clip, you will see Spiderman aka Peter Parker in a black suit, not his usual red and blue. This suit has made him turn into a terrible and powerful creature and he wants it to stop. And you will see the man who will become his nemesis, Eddie Brock praying for something quite unusual. Let’s watch.

Clip… (coming soon)

So Eddie prays that Peter Parker would die. Isn’t that a bit strange. I am fairly certain I’ve never prayed a person would die. I’m sure I have sinfully wished so in my heart, but I’ve never gathered the nerve to ask God to take someone’s life.
But you’ve got to wonder if maybe some Christian people in the first century AD didn’t pray that Saul would be killed. He was “breathing threats and murder against them” he was making their lives miserable, his death would have made things much easier for followers of Christ, and in fact it did.

Did you see where Saul died in the text.
I’ll recap Saul’s death.
“So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hand on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized!”
And in being baptized, he died. He died the death that all of us who have been baptized have died. The death of which Saul, better known as Paul to us writes of in Romans.

Reference: Romans 6:3-11

So you see this prayer for death of another person, may be one of the most loving prayers one can pray for another, in the correct context of course. Eddie wasn’t justified in praying for the death of Peter Parker, but in a way what he prayed for happens, even if it wasn’t what he truly wanted.
But praying that a person may die to sin and become filled with the Holy Spirit through the water and words baptism may truly be a life saving prayer. Amen.

Delivered January 25, 2008.