Called Out of a Corrupt World and Conformed to the Image of Christ

Prior to his crucifixion, Jesus faced a trial before a Jewish religious court called the Sanhedrin. He also faced a trial before  Rome's Jewish vassal King, Herod Antipas. Finally, he appeared before Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect under the emperor Tiberius. Likewise, Paul faced a trial before the Sanhedrin, and then a trial before the Roman procurator, Porcius Festus.  Finally, he appeared before Rome’s vassal king, Agrippa II (Acts 25).  Interestingly, Agrippa belonged to Herod’s dynasty.  God was clearly directing the steps of the apostle’s life as he transformed him more and more into the image of his son (Proverbs 16:9).

Amusingly, God then used the once hateful Paul to foil the evil antichrist schemes of wicked religious zealots to whose team the great apostle was formerly a part.  The plans of those wicked men who were out to kill Paul were failing at every step. They had hoped to put an end to his teachings and to stop the spread of Christian thought by terminating his life.  Instead, at each of his trials, Paul was put in front of people who had more civil authority than they did. Although these evil men considered themselves to be religious, their appeal to worldly tactics showed where their hearts really were. Ironically, that version of the Sanhedrin no longer exists.  Its most prominent members are hardly known, either by modern Jews or modern Christians.  Paul, on the other hand, is largely known and respected by members of both religions centuries later.  His teaching remains firmly in place, and his dedication to Christ and his church has made the gospel known all over the world and all across time!  God used Paul to turn what was once thought to be a rag tag, insignificant sect of Judaism into a powerful megaphone for God’s word.

Paul was able to do this because he changed his mind about who Jesus was.  That change of mind changed his behavior and it gave him the kind of courage to move out of his comfort zone and preach the gospel everywhere he went – even when it produced an unfair and undeserved hostility. 

When you trust Christ fully, God conforms you into his image, and you develop a kind of resolve that allows you to carry a cross, and to bear a burden, or to live with a purpose that is greater than anything that this world can offer. You become like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and are able to willfully proclaim your ability to suffer for the name of the highest possible good (Daniel 3:16-18). 

When God is your father, and Christ your brother, and the Holy Spirit the animator of your purpose, you have nothing to fear and everything to look forward to. Like Paul, you are able to see the win-win that to live is to live for Christ, and to die is to be with him gloriously in eternity (Philippians 1:21).