When God Calls Your Name: Saul / Paul Series

When God Calls Your Name… Twice: Saul/Paul

Scott Bayles, pastor

Blooming Grove Christian Church: 9/4/2016

After church one Sunday, a pastor stood at the front of the church greeting people as they left. A sweet, little, elderly woman stopped and said: “Pastor, please speak louder. I can’t hear you when you preach.” The pastor replied modestly, “Oh, you’re not missing that much.” The woman responded, “Well, that’s what everybody tells me, but I want to hear it anyway.”

This morning, I am hoping you will hear God communicate something special to you regardless of the quality of my sermons preparations. For the last several of weeks, we’ve been talking about how you might respond if God called your name—not just once, but twice. As I mentioned before, God calls plenty of people in the Bible often by name, but I’ve only found seven times where God calls out someone’s name twice in a row—Abraham, Abraham! Jacob, Jacob! Moses, Moses!

Each time that God calls someone by name twice, he follows it with something profound and potentially life-changing. He called Samuel to demonstrate just how important it is to listen to God’s voice. He called Martha to remind her to slow down and spend time at the feet of Jesus. He called Simon Peter to warn him about the snares of Satan, and encourage him to get back up after he falls.

The last person that Jesus calls by name twice is Saul who eventually becomes Paul. The story of Paul’s encounter with Christ is so compelling that it’s actually told three times in the book of Acts—first, as it happens in Act 9, then Paul himself retells the story two more times in Acts 22 and Acts 26.

I know this is another familiar tale but just to make sure we remember the setting I would remind you that this takes place in the early days of the church. Saul was a Pharisee from a very important Jewish family. He once referred to himself as a “Hebrew of Hebrews” (Philippians 3:5). In other words, when it came to religion—he was as religious as you could get. In fact, Saul was zealous about his religion—so zealous that he couldn’t stand the idea of anyone leaving Judaism to become a Christian! So as Christianity began to spread throughout the Jewish community, Saul became enraged. He made it his personal goal in life to put an end to Christianity.

In the name of God, he went after these heretics—these threats to his faith—and either arrested them or killed them. For months, the man born as Saul was the greatest threat to early Christianity. Bank-rolled by Jerusalem’s religious leaders, he passionately pursued Christ-followers all over Palestine, flogging them until they renounced their faith in Jesus. Those who remained firm in their faith, he sent to prison…or worse.

The Bible says, “Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains” (Acts 9:1-2 NLT).

Saul received the letters he requested then recruited some extra muscle for his mission. Armed and ready for any resistance, Saul and his henchmen mounted horses and blazed a trail for Damascus. Along the way, however, Saul encountered the risen Christ and everything changed—including his name.

Around noon, as Saul and companions approached the city, a blaze of light, light brighter than the sun, poured out of the sky on Saul. If you’ve ever performed on stage—perhaps in a pageant or a high school musical—then you what it’s like to have a spot light shine down on you… the heat… the brightness that’s almost blinding. Now imagine a spotlight so bright that it outshines the sun. Wrapped in heaven’s light, Saul fell to his knees and shielded his face. That’s when he heard it. Someone was calling his name… twice: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is useless for you to fight against my will” (Acts 26:14 NLT).

“Who are you, lord?” Saul cried out.

And the Voice responded, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.”

Jesus certainly knows how to get someone’s attention, doesn’t he?

What I find most curious about Christ’s conversation with Saul is Jesus’s statement, “It is useless for you to fight against my will.” Older versions actually offer a more precise, and perhaps more puzzling, translation. Literally, Jesus said, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (Acts 26:14 NASB).

Apparently, "to kick against the goads" was a common expression found in both Greek and Latin literature—a rural image, which arose from the practice of farmers goading their oxen in the fields. Though unfamiliar to us, everyone in that day understood its meaning.