Scripture: Acts8:3; Acts 9:1-19
We’ve
all heard the reasons that our friends give for not attending church – “I’m
too old to change my ways.” “My
truth is a lot different than yours.” “If
I walked into a church, the ceiling would fall in on me.” “My
life has been so rough that God wouldn’t want me anywhere near Him!”
And
you have probably heard far more than these few. Of course, we all know that these aren’t
actually “reasons” – they’re excuses! Change,
even for the better, is the most difficult thing we will ever do, and it will
have to be by our own decision, not someone else’s.
But
that doesn’t mean that we should give up trying to show our friends the truth
of Christ! Perseverance is a Godly
trait, and is one that we should strive to gain for ourselves! In James 1:2-4,
we read “2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever
you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the
testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let
perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not
lacking anything.” When it seems
that impenetrable walls are being thrown up against us, we need to remember
that the Holy Spirit is able to make any wall come tumbling down! And this should give us an overwhelming joy
in just anticipating what will happen to any obstacle that stands between the LORD
and a person who has yet to come to His way.
And we just may be the means through which it all comes together!
And
this is the type of story that we will be reading about today. The object of God’s work will be a man by the
name of Saul, the means of that work will be a man by the name of Ananias, and
the wall that stands between Saul and Jesus is known as the Law of Moses. It’s a strong and nearly indestructible obstacle,
but the Spirit has been given a plan to break it into tiny little pieces, and when
it does, Saul will come tumbling down!
Lesson
number 7 from Acts – it’s never too little, it’s never too hard, and it is
never, ever, too late for the LORD!
Read Acts 8:3, 9:1-4
Saul’s
goal is to eradicate those heretics who believe that Jesus is Messiah, and he
has just come from witnessing the stoning of Stephen. One down, and many more waiting to
suffer the same fate! Saul was one of
those who had a zealous commitment to the Law of Moses, and those who were seen
as violating the Law were proclaimed as obstacles to the completion of Jehovah
God’s covenant with Israel. For Saul, seeking
out those believers of “The Way”, and putting a stop to their heretical
preaching, was a holy calling. And he
had no intention whatsoever of slowing down or limiting his reach into their
world.
He
wanted to extend his efforts into synagogues that were located well into gentile
territory before those profane believers could spread their venom any further. A letter of introduction from the High Priest
would go a long way in making his efforts easier and more effective. The elites of Jerusalem would let nothing
stand in the way of their persecution of believers in Jesus, and Stephen’s stoning
was just an example of their loathing for Jesus and His followers.
But
God wasn’t giving up either! And the
chief persecutor of believers, a zealot extraordinaire, was going to be the perfect one to bring into the faith, and the plan began
to unfold. If Saul liked
violence, let’s try out God’s version of getting your attention. But the voice from heaven doesn’t accuse the
man of violence against the faithful, but against God in Christ Himself. And Saul must have been thinking – “Could
this get any worse?”
Read Acts 9:5-9
As
if things hadn’t gotten weird enough, the man finds himself talking to not only
God, but to the very Jesus who he had been denying and insulting for so
long. I believe that Christ’s intention
wasn’t so much to frighten Saul into believing the Truth of God, but to come
to an understand that a divine plan was underway, and that it would include the
most unlikely man of all time – the one most feared by the faithful in Israel
and beyond.
There
is no explanation of what was coming, there is no invitation to become a follower,
there is not even a suggestion of what he will be doing when he arrives in
Damascus – just the command to continue on to the city, and he will learn more
when he gets there.
And
the experience wasn’t Saul’s alone – those who had been traveling with him
heard, but could see nothing but Saul on his knees, and obviously and powerfully
effected, by whatever was happening. The
Light of God’s truth is only given for Saul, and the others are left wondering
what this meant for their mission to Damascus.
Everything was changing, and the only thing they could do was to lead
their blind leader to an uncertain fate in the very city that they had intended
to ravage. They didn’t understand the
incredible change that was coming over Saul, but I think that they did know
that the mission to destroy The Way had just taken a whole new direction.
Read Acts 9:10-16
Have
you heard that God has a sense of humor?
He is about to use one of the people who Saul had intended to put in chains
and take back to Jerusalem to stand in judgment for his sins, to be the means of
Saul’s healing and to be God’s messenger for the future of Saul’s ministry in
Christ’s name.
Ananias
(not the same person who we read about in last week’s lesson!) is understandably
nervous about visiting Saul, but the LORD gives him a lot more
information than the other man received.
So our question might be “Why do some get more detail in their call than
others do?” Interestingly, those who are
already committed followers of Christ do receive more instruction, probably
because a level of trust already exists between them and their LORD. And his seemingly fearful response at the
thought that he would have to figuratively “enter the lion’s lair” doesn’t
deter God from giving him the answers that he needs to confidently carry out
the assignment.
Remember
the angel’s announcement to Mary? She
was a bit concerned, just as Ananias was, but God honors our faith, and the
faithful find great joy in following the LORD’s lead, wherever it may
take them. And both Mary and Ananias
became part of bringing the greater mission of Almighty God to bear on this world,
and neither of them had any significance that would have gained the adoration
and acceptance of the world. And yet, God
will call the most humble and lowly to carry out His will and plan of salvation
for the people of this world.
Read Acts 9:17-19
Ananias
delivers the message, and lays hands on Saul with the blessing of prayer, and
the future of the Church begins to be revealed.
Saul had been bent on destroying any hope that the faith could ever continue,
but now he was about to become the means that would help it grow by leaps and bounds. He had been proud of his Jewish heritage, he
had followed the Law as perfectly and as powerfully as he could, he had upheld his
legalistic faith to the extent that he hated all who were deviating from its
path, and in his zealous rage, he put himself exactly where the LORD
wanted him – in the same town as the faithful Ananias.
And
God began to work his wonderful ways within the man whom He had chosen to
spread the word of Jesus Christ and the salvation that He held for all who
would believe. Saul would become one of
the greatest evangelists that the Church would ever know, and God would be
pleased with him. But he would also know
the persecution that he had once forced upon the people of God, and would come
know the same suffering that Christ had accepted for him.
Ministry
is always a sharing in, with, and for Jesus Christ, and that means that we must
know and do anything that the great plan of Almighty God requires. And the timing of that Plan will always be
perfect. Saul discovered the grace and
mercy of Jesus at just the right moment, in just the right way, and in just the
right place for him to receive the blessing of Christ’s call on his life.
Saul
may have thought that his life was all set and moving on the path that his
Jehovah God had ordained for him, but the truth is that the life and path that
he was following was his own, and not the LORD’s. But no matter how committed this Pharisee was
to his brand of faith, and no matter how mistaken we may have been in living
life without Jesus in it, and no matter how young or how old we may be when
Christ’s love plays out its way for us, it is the right time in so many
ways. It is never too late, and it is
never to soon – it is always right on time.
I may
be the strangest example of God’s perfect timing, other than the one He had for
Saul of course, that you may ever meet.
And I am so grateful that He had His perfect plan working to bring us
together today.
May
the plan He has for you also be a blessing for you and the people beyond your reach
and understanding, just as it always has been for the faithful of this
world.
