From Saul to Paul: Put Away Childish Things

God receives the glory first, because the Lord has kept life, sustained family, and made a way when doctors did not know what else to do. Jesus Christ stands as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit stands as blessed comforter, and the church stands under the hand of the God who is “the giver of every good and perfect gift.” The testimony of a second opinion and a life preserved says plain that the Lord still works through care, wisdom, and people who refuse to give up too soon.

First Corinthians 13:11 brings the word for Men’s Day: childhood has its own way of speaking, thinking, and reasoning, but manhood lays childish things aside. The passage calls men from boys to men, not just by age, but by maturity. Manhood in the Lord means speech has to change, thoughts have to change, and reasoning has to change. The childish things cannot lead a grown man in God’s work.

Paul’s letter to Corinth comes from a man who used to be Saul, the chief Pharisee and persecutor of the church. Jesus met Saul on the Damascus road with a light so bright that it knocked him down from the beast he was riding. Saul knew it was no ordinary light, and the Lord asked, “Why art thou persecuting me?” That encounter changed the killer into a believer, and the enemy of the church became one of the strongest workers for the church.

Barnabas knew Saul’s past and was afraid, but the Lord made it clear that Saul was no longer the same man. Jesus had softened his heart. Jesus had changed his ways. An encounter with Jesus means the places once gone are not gone anymore, and the things once said are not said anymore. The Lord makes a new man.

The same Jesus still meets people on their own road. A road from Oakland with dreams of being a rap star became a place where the Lord started changing words, desires, and direction. Even a father’s correction about lyrics full of cussing became part of God’s mercy. Jesus can take a man’s mouth, heart, and future and turn them another way.

First Corinthians speaks to a church full of worldliness, divisions, gross immorality, confused freedom, misused gifts, lack of love, and misunderstanding about resurrection. Yet the Lord still calls the church toward spiritual maturity and kingdom purpose. Now is the time to come to Jesus. No one can stand in the way, because there is no one like King Jesus, and “can’t make me doubt him” belongs to the one who knows too much about him.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Manhood lays childish things aside First Corinthians 13:11 does not treat maturity as a matter of birthdays, but as a matter of changed speech, changed thought, and changed reasoning. Childishness can remain in a grown body when the tongue, mind, and decisions are still ruled by the old way. Godly manhood begins where a man stops defending childish things and starts putting them aside before the Lord. [51:34]
• 2. Jesus changes the whole man Saul did not merely get new information on the Damascus road; Saul met the living Christ and became another kind of man. The encounter touched his heart, his direction, his danger to others, and his usefulness to the church. Grace did not excuse his past, but grace made his past no longer the master of his future. [62:06]
• 3. A past cannot outrun grace Barnabas had reason to fear Saul, because Saul’s history was not imaginary. Yet the Lord’s word over Saul became stronger than Saul’s record against the church. When Jesus softens a heart, the people of God must learn to discern the difference between old reputation and new creation. [60:57]
• 4. Changed words reveal changed direction The road from Oakland shows that conversion reaches even into a man’s language, dreams, and self-expression. A mouth once filled with words that did not honor God can become evidence that the Lord is redirecting the whole life. Jesus does not only rescue souls in theory; Jesus changes what comes out of a person when nobody is pretending. [64:21]
• 5. Now is the time for Jesus The call to come to the Lord rests on the truth that no one can stand in the way of a soul answering God. Jesus is not presented as one option among many helpers, but as the only one who can do a life any good. The giver of every good and perfect gift calls sinners to put their hands in the Lord’s hands and keep their eyes on the Lord’s prize.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [47:12] - Giving Glory to God
• [48:25] - Testimony of Life Preserved
• [50:25] - Reading First Corinthians 13:11
• [52:14] - From Boys to Men
• [56:19] - Saul Before Damascus
• [57:16] - The Light on the Road
• [59:16] - Jesus Confronts Saul
• [60:16] - Barnabas Receives Saul
• [62:06] - An Encounter Changes a Man
• [63:36] - A Personal Road from Oakland
• [68:13] - Corinth’s Need for Maturity
• [70:04] - Saul Becomes Paul
• [71:05] - Invitation to Come to Jesus

1. In 1 Corinthians 13:11, what three areas are named as needing to change when a child becomes a man?
2. In Acts 9:3-6, what happened to Saul on the road before his life began to change?
3. What details were given about life being preserved through sickness, a second opinion, and help that came when doctors did not know what else to do? [48:25]
4. What kinds of problems in Corinth were named as signs that the church needed spiritual maturity? [01:08:13]

1. If manhood means a change in speech, thought, and reasoning, what does that suggest about the difference between growing older and actually growing up in the Lord? [51:34]
2. Saul’s past was real, yet Jesus declared that he was changed. How should that shape the way people think about a person whose life has been turned around by Christ? [01:00:57]
3. Acts 9 shows that Saul did not simply get advice; he encountered the living Jesus. What does that say about the kind of change a person really needs? [01:02:06]
4. James 1:17 calls God the giver of every good and perfect gift. How does that truth help make sense of giving God glory for healing, wisdom, and people who refuse to give up? [47:12]

1. A grown man can still be ruled by childish speech, childish thoughts, and childish reasoning. Which of those three areas feels most in need of God’s work right now: speech, thought, or reasoning? What has been showing that? [51:34]
2. Jesus changes what a person says, where a person goes, and how a person lives. What is one clear way Christ has already changed direction in life, and what is one area where that change still needs to go deeper? [01:02:39]
3. Changed words reveal a changed heart. What comes out of the mouth during stress, frustration, joking, or private moments? What might those words be revealing right now? [01:04:21]
4. Some people carry a past that still follows them in other people’s minds. Where is there a struggle either to believe that grace can truly change a person, or to believe that about oneself? [01:01:34]
5. Corinth was full of division, tolerated sin, confusion, and lack of love. Which of those dangers seems most threatening in church life or home life right now, and how can greater maturity in Christ meet it? [01:08:25]
6. God uses means as well as miracles, including wise decisions, caring people, and timely help. Where has God provided a “second opinion,” a faithful person, or an unexpected way through in this season? [49:03]
7. Now is the time to come to Jesus, and no one can stand in the way of a soul answering him. What would it look like to respond more fully to Jesus today instead of putting it off? [01:11:05]