Grace has been defined as “undeserved blessing freely bestowed on man by God…”
If that’s true (and I believe it is), the opening verses of Acts 8 do not appear to be very gracious.
“Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison. Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.” (Acts 8:1–4)
Those words do not sound like “undeserved blessing.” In fact, we are prone to think they sound like “undeserved suffering.”
But there is grace in these words. Look at them again.
“Saul was in hearty agreement…” We tend to forget the background of the apostle Paul when we read the New Testament. After all, he wrote 13 epistles, established many churches, and was imprisoned and tortured and ultimately martyred for the gospel. We read his letters and forget that before he was Paul the slave of God, he was Saul the persecutor of Christ. He was in hearty agreement with the death of Stephen and he quickly involved himself in the persecution of the church (v. 3). He self-admittedly delighted in terrorizing the church, gladly sending believers in Christ to their deaths and relentlessly pursuing them until he captured them (Acts 22:4; 26:9-11).
And Christ saved him. Christ. Saved. Saul. That, my friends, is amazing grace. After his name was changed from Saul to Paul and after he had given his life in service of Christ, Paul affirmed that this salvation was a great act of mercy and grace by God (1 Cor. 15:10; 1 Tim. 1:12-17).
There are lessons for us in this reminder. Never forget what you were without Christ. Our sins before Christ were likely different from Paul’s, but we were just as much under the condemnation of God. Without Christ, we were children of wrath. We deserved all of God’s infinite and eternal wrath. And He saved us. The magnitude of that grace led Paul to declare: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Tim 1:17) Paul’s understanding of grace led him to worship. And it should do the same for us. Never forget what you were without Christ, and always let your remembrance of what you were without Christ culminate in doxology. Our awareness of God’s grace in our lives is not to be considered with the same cool detachment that we might consider an architectural blueprint or a checkbook register’s balance sheet. Grace considered should produce bowed heads and hearts.
There is another word of grace in these opening verses: “therefore” (v. 4). Saul and others were severely persecuting the church, and because of that persecution, the church scattered. And when the church scattered, so did the gospel. In other words, persecution was the means that God used to advance the gospel quickly throughout Asia. Without that persecution, the natural progression of the gospel would have been slower and it would not have had the enduring legacy of being a truth that people were willing to die to affirm. He was using persecution to bestow his blessing on others who did not deserve his salvation.
Here is one more lessons for us today. Before you bemoan suffering, trial, and persecution, remember that you cannot see with God’s eyes what He is doing. Just as the early church did not immediately comprehend the good effect persecution was having in the spread of the gospel, so we also are unaware how God is using our suffering and persecution for our good and the good of the gospel. Do not speak against your suffering. The sovereign God is accomplishing all His purposes for you and others in your suffering.
As you go through the next 18 hours of this day, be purposeful in looking for signs of God’s grace — and don’t just look for the so-called “blessings.” Look at the hardships that you are enduring as reminders of the kind of life from which God saved and the favor God is using to advance the gospel.
Words of Grace 