Lord, You Want Me To Do WHAT?
Acts 9:1-19
Saul of Tarsus had about everything a man could
want. The best education available; he was a respected leader; and
he enjoyed power, wealth and prestige. Many feared him. Saul
was convinced that he was doing God a favor by wiping out the radical
new religious group that was following the teaching of Jesus Christ.
He and the other Pharisees had demanded they no longer teach about Jesus
but the radicals would not listen. So Saul was rounding them up so
they could be tried – and sometimes put to death.
At the time of today’s story, he had obtained
papers from the High Priest so he could journey from Jerusalem to
Damascus to arrest the Christians who had fled Jerusalem. We often
see pictures of Saul riding a horse, but in all probability he walked.
Roman soldiers liked horses; strict Pharisees did not. They
preferred walking.
 It’s
about 200 miles from Jerusalem to Damascus – so it was a 6-day walk –
and one could not travel on the Sabbath. Therefore, Saul had a lot of
time to think things over. Since we know how the Holy Spirit
operates, I would suspect the Holy Spirit had been dealing with him, and
Saul probably had an uncomfortable feeling that he was not doing God’s
will. Saul had authorized Stephen’s stoning… and as Stephen
died he had an angelic look and quiet spirit about him that Saul could
not get away from (Acts 7:51-60).
Ananias, whose name means “the Lord is
gracious,” was a quiet man – evidently he’d lived in Damascus all of his
life. He had heard that Saul was on the way to his city to arrest
Christians, so he had been praying for their protection. Little did he
realize that soon he and Saul would be meeting face to face – with a
totally different outcome than he expected!
Both men wanted to serve God.
Jesus spoke to both men… in love, as only Jesus can speak, for God is
love and Jesus is God. And both men were shocked at what the Lord
asked them to do! Thus my title, “Lord, you want me to do
what?”
Saul and his traveling
companions were almost to Damascus when suddenly everything changed! He
was blinded by a flash of light – somewhat like a lightning strike – and
instantly this proud man lay prostrate on the ground!
Lying there in shock he
heard a Voice – “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” Can
you imagine what he must have felt!
“Who are you, Lord?”
(“Lord” was a title of respect.)
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”
(Oops!)
“Now get up and go into the city and you
will be told what you must do.”
This was a voice of authority, but not
a voice of anger. God, through His Son, had created Saul and
gifted him for the work he was calling him to. He loved Saul.
We need to keep this in mind as we
invite people to a relationship with the Lord. The scriptures teach us
that “God is not willing for anyone to perish” (eternal death),
but wants everyone to repent of their sin and receive Christ.
God is not mad at anyone and we should not be either!
Note too, when someone persecutes a
Christian, he is persecuting Christ, for we are His body. By the
same token, we must be very careful about what we say about other
Christians, for again, we are speaking against Christ.
So the young, proud leader is now
helpless and blind. Those he was leading had to lead him by the
hand to the place Jesus had designated.
After three days of total fasting, God
felt Saul was ready for the next step. The Lord appeared to
Ananias in a vision. “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
“Go to the house of Judas on
Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is
praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and
place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
God knows who you are, and where
you are!
Can you imagine what went through
Ananias’ mind? “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many
reports about this man and all he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.
And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all
who call on Your name.”
Question: Who has the most authority? Jesus or the chief priest?
I may be all wrong, but I suspect Jesus
smiled as He said to Ananias, “Go! This man is My chosen instrument
to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the
people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for My
name.”
Ananias got the message. The next verse
tells us that he went in obedience to the Lord, placed his hands on Saul
and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord – Jesus, who appeared to you on the
road as you were coming here – has sent me so that you may see again and
be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Immediately something like scales
fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see again. He got up and was
baptized, ate and regained his strength.
Certainly a dramatic conversion!
It is interesting that this story is told three times in the book of
Acts. Why? First, Paul needed this dramatic conversion so when he
was suffering the incredible persecution he experienced, there would be
no doubt in his mind that God had called him to ministry.
Second, it is important because the
experience and his consequent re-education established him as an
apostle. Although Saul/Paul did not see Jesus in the flesh, he did see
Him in visions.
Third, most of his new doctrine was
worked out in the Arabian Desert during a 3-year period that followed
his conversion. People were excited about his conversion, but they had
difficulty trusting him because of the harm he had done. If
Barnabas had not come along beside him, it would have been very
difficult for him to get established in his ministry.
What can we learn from this?
- We know that God wants everyone to be saved
– and we know that it won’t happen because of man’s free will; sadly
many people will not accept the salvation God offers.
- Since God wants people saved, it is our job
to share the Gospel with people as God gives us the
opportunity. We should not be as stubborn as Ananias was.
- We know that God does things in His own
time – even though we do not always understand why, He seems to
delay some things. I do not know why God allowed Saul to cause such
pain in the Christian Church prior to his conversion.
- Philippians 2:12, 13 “Therefore, my dear
friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now
much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with
fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to
act according to His good purpose.
- Proverbs 19:2, 3 “It is not good to have
zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way. A man's
own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the LORD.”
Naturally I had a motive in my subject
for this message. I’ve had an awful lot of time to study and
reflect over the past few months because of my disabling illness… I’ve
gone from lots of joy to depression several times. Mostly I
wallowed around in the middle… Some of you have experienced the same
feelings.
Finally I said, “Lord, are you trying
to get something through to me?” No, God does not send us illness,
but yes, He does use the difficult times to speak to us.
Yesterday, as I was praying about
today’s service, my thoughts were taken to Acts 4:19, 20. “But Peter
and John replied, ‘Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's
sight to obey you rather than God; for we cannot help speaking about
what we have seen and heard.’”
Acts 5:40-42: “His
speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged.
Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them
go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been
counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.”
The believers in Acts
sought to do the very things that would cause them to suffer! They
had no desire to compromise the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit asked me
if I was willing to pray such a prayer! I “counted the cost” and
agreed to rise to the challenge of becoming more of what God has called
me to be.
What does that mean?
This world is in a mess. It’s amazing what people will do for
money – what they will do to get what they want. Women kill other
women so they can kidnap their newborn babies. People are strung
out on drugs… you know the stories!
I believe the battle
starts by spending more time in prayer – brave prayers – prayers that
irritate the devil! We will see where God leads us after that!
This morning the Lord is asking us
to examine our hearts:
1.
Is Jesus first in your life?
2.
How important is the work of Christ?
3.
How important is the work of our church?
4.
How important is intercessory prayer?
5.
Is anything impossible for God? |
