True Repentance

On 19th November, Lorna spoke about the story of Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8:9-25. Simon had practiced sorcery and boasted that he was someone great, and many of the people who saw him had called him ‘the great power of God.’ He then believed the good news of Jesus and was baptised, but when he witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit coming on people after the apostles laid their hands on them, Simon offered to pay them for this ability. Simon likely thought that following Jesus wouldn’t interrupt the life he was leading. Instead of getting his significance and livelihood from being impressive as a sorcerer, he could be even more impressive as a Spirit-empowered Jesus-follower. Peter made it clear that Simon’s heart wasn’t right before God and he needed to repent. 

This Sunday we will look at the conversion of Saul/Paul in Acts 9 (Listen Here.) He said about himself, ‘I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.’ (Galatians 1:13-14). But when Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, everything changed in his life. Instead of continuing to ‘advance in Judaism’ according to the standards of his contemporaries, his repentance meant that his entire life was turned upside down and he went in a completely new direction. His zeal against the message of Jesus was transformed into zeal for the message of Jesus.

How do we live like Simon, outwardly saying that we follow Jesus, but still trying to gain our significance in ways that are opposed to Jesus? What can we learn about true repentance from Saul’s conversion and allow Jesus to turn our lives upside down?