Become more like Jesus
Acts 9:1-25
October 30, 2016
A real vision of Jesus catapults a person toward constant transformation.
Notice how a genuine encounter with Jesus changes us:
1. It changes what we see. Vv.1-9
2. It changes what we hear and do. Vv.10-19
3. It changes what we become. Vv.20-25
Most of us here this morning claim to be Christ-followers. I prefer the term Christ-follower to the term Christian because there are millions of people who call themselves Christians who have no real intention or desire to follow Jesus.
When Jesus began His earthly ministry, He called them to follow Him. In Matthew 4 He said, “Follow Me” to Peter and Andrew—and they left their nets and followed Him. In Luke 5 He said to Matthew, “Follow Me”—and he left his tax table and followed Jesus. In Matthew 16 Jesus said, “If you want to be my disciple, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.”
I know many of you call yourself Christians, but honestly, if you’re not following Jesus, living, spending, speaking, acting like Jesus--if you’re not denying yourself and dying to self so that you can live for Jesus, then you are tragically self-deluded.
Christ-followers follow Jesus. Imagine that! Now, I’m not saying that we do it perfectly—that’s what grace is all about, right? But the genuine Christ-follower has it deep in his/her heart to walk with Jesus, please Jesus, follow Jesus, and become more like Jesus.
A real vision of Jesus catapults a person toward constant transformation. There’s no, “Yea, I guess I am a Christian” There’s no showing up to church when it’s convenient. There’s no half-hearted worship when you are in church. If you really know Jesus, you’re never the same. It changes everything about you.
Turn with me to Acts 9:1-25 If you’ve been around Rush Creek any time at all, you’ve seen our vision statement. And it begins with the phrase, We want to become more like Jesus.
If you’re a true Christ-follower, you want to become more like Jesus. The thought captivates you and motivates you to be like Him….to imitate Him. When I was in 6th grade, moved to a new part of town. Guy down the street Creekmore/Creeky Scott. So cool. Wanted to be just like him. Shoes/tips up; pants legs turned under; certain kind of bike. Wanted to be just like him.
As Christ-followers, our number one desire is to be imitators of Jesus—want to be just like Him. And our passage today sets the tone and the scope of what true salvation means in a life.
vv.1-3 “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest 2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 4 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Acts 9:1-4
Many of you know that the man in this story, Saul, later is known in the Bible as Paul, who would end up becoming one of the Apostles and writing much of the New Testament, 13 books in all.
‘threats and murder’ 30 years later, Paul admitted that he had been involved in martyring Christ followers (Acts 22:4) He was so dedicated to the cause that he began to export his hatred toward Christ-followers into other countries and cities.
‘Damascus’ 130 miles NE of Jerusalem
‘synagogues’ Early Christians still saw themselves very much Jewish and so they congregated like other Jews at synagogues.
‘The Way’ This was an early term used for Christianity. Why “The Way”? Christ-followers were on a different path; Jesus had said, “I am the Way” (John 14:6) You want to know the way to God? The way to life? The way to purpose? Jesus is the way.
‘Persecute Me?’ Saul writes years later in 1 Cor. 9:1 that he indeed saw the Lord Jesus. Jesus was there in some kind of physical or observable form.
Notice that Jesus made no distinction between Him and His church. Jesus did not say, “Why are you persecuting my church?” He said, “Why are you persecuting Me?” I get a little tired of folks believing that a church is man-made thing and therefore something not to be cherished and valued: “Oh, I’m ok with God, just not His church.” Or, “We shouldn’t let people know about what the church is doing—let’s just talk about what God is doing.” Listen, the Scripture talks about the church in exalted terms, most significantly, The Bride of Christ. When Sue and I got married, the Scripture says that we became one flesh. We are one. You treat my wife with disrespect, you treat my wife with disdain, and you’ll have me to answer to. How much more then is the relationship between Jesus and HIS Bride.
He asks Saul, “Why are you persecuting ME?”
vv.5-6 5 “Who are You, Lord?” he said. “I am Jesus, the One you are persecuting,” He replied. 6“But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”Acts 9:5-6
‘Lord’: this is the general term of respect for someone; but here obviously it is used in a heightened sense because of the flash of light. Paul did not immediately recognize who was talking to him, but he knew this being was supernatural!
‘the One you are persecuting.’ Again, Jesus makes no distinction between Himself and His church.
‘get up and go’ Paul is on his knees, no doubt shading his eyes from the brilliant light and God tells him to get up and go to Damascus.
vv.7-9 “The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the sound but seeing no one. 8 Then Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. 9 He was unable to see for three days and did not eat or drink.”Acts 9:7-9
‘hearing the sound but seeing no one’ Those with Saul were hearing something, but they could not distinguish what exactly was being said.
‘he could see nothing’ Temporarily blind One minute he is charging up the road toward Damascus to arrest, torture or even kill—the next minute he’s being led like a child.
‘eat or drink’ He was all shook up! No doubt, he was so shaken to the core that he began to question everything he had believed about God and the Scripture and began a 3 day non-stop quest to discover the truth. Even though he couldn’t read the Scripture, as a Pharisee, Saul had huge amounts of it memorized. He began to go thru the Torah, then the History books, then the wisdom literature, then the prophets—overlaying the fact that Jesus was the Son of God over his previous understanding of them—and coming out with a whole new picture.
vv.10-16 There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Here I am, Lord!” he said.
11 “Get up and go to the street called Straight,” the Lord said to him, “to the house of Judas, and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, since he is praying there. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and placing his hands on him so he can regain his sight.”
13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And he has authority here from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.”
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go! For this man is My chosen instrument to take My name to Gentiles, kings, and the Israelites. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for My name!”
17 So Ananias left and entered the house. Then he placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, has sent me so that you can regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18 At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. 19 And after taking some food, he regained his strength.”
‘Straight’: still a street named this in Damascus about a mile long
‘in a vision’: So now Saul has received a vision that someone was going to come to him.
‘Saints’: set apart ones; applies to all true believers, not a special class of Christians as the Catholic church teaches.
‘he has authority’ As if God didn’t know that already! Isn’t it funny that we feel compelled to tell God stuff? As if this omniscient God needs our counsel/wisdom.
‘Your name’ Name is used 3 times here. There is something in a name, particularly God’s name. To do something in God’s name is to do it on His behalf. In the name of Jesus, the blind were healed and the lame walked. Whoever calls on the name of Jesus are saved.
‘brother Saul’: After His interaction with the Lord, Ananias was emboldened to go find Paul and his fear was replaced with love and affection for Saul.
vv.19-25 “Saul was with the disciples in Damascus for some days. 20 Immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues: “He is the Son of God.” 21 But all who heard him were astounded and said, “Isn’t this the man who, in Jerusalem, was destroying those who called on this name and then came here for the purpose of taking them as prisoners to the chief priests?”
22 But Saul grew more capable and kept confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that this One is the Messiah.
23 After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him, 24 but their plot became known to Saul. So they were watching the gates day and night intending to kill him, 25 but his disciples took him by night and lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the wall.”
Notice how a genuine encounter with Jesus changes us:
1. It changes what we see. Vv.1-9
Did you know blindness affects 1 out of every 200 people on the globe. Up til now there has not been much that can be done about it. But recently advances in science are focusing on genetic replacement therapy and retinal implants.
Paul needed a genetic replacement. Until he met Jesus, his fallen nature limited his vision of reality. He saw members of The Way as Anti-God. He saw reality one way, But when He met Jesus, it changed his perspective forever.
A genuine encounter changes how we see reality. And our sight becomes more and more clear as we spend time with Him and are conformed into His image.
When Sue and I got married, we were so completely different; saw so much of life differently. But the longer I’m around her, the more I’m with her, I begin to see reality from her perspective.
To become more like Jesus means that we have that initial encounter with Jesus, but we have the ongoing encounters with Him on a daily basis so that the Holy Spirit transforms us to become more like Jesus.
Are you spending time in the Word of God? Are you shaping your vision of reality based on the word of God or the word of Trump or the word of Clinton or the word of popular culture? A genuine encounter with Jesus changes what we see.
2. It changes what we hear and do. Vv.10-19
Saul is not the only one who experiencing a genuine encounter with Jesus. Ananias is minding his own business, probably watching the Cowboys play the Damascus Bulldogs. And Jesus appears to Ananias and says, “Hey bud—I want you to go over to Straight street and look for this guy Saul—and here’s the good part, you’re going to get to lay hands on him and pray for him and anoint him and he’s going to be quite the man on mission for Me.”
Ananias had to gulp—“You mean, lil ol me is going to go find this guy who is torturing and killing Christ-followers? And I’m going to identify myself as one of those people he hates?” Talk about stepping out of his comfort zone!
So what did Ananias do after he heard God’s word to him? He went! He did what God told him to do. Now that’s a novel idea: God’s word says to do something and His followers do what they’re told.
You want to know why your life is not that much different than it used to be? Why you’re life is not filled with the abundance of God? Why you’re not making an impact in this world for the sake of Jesus? It’s not because you haven’t heard what to do—it’s because you’re not doing it!
You can hear me admonish you to study the word and memorize the word and learn how to pray effectively and immerse yourself in kingdom living—and most of you walk right out, crawl in your cars, and rarely give another thought to what you’ve heard.
My kids when they were home, I’d tell them to do something, and they’d go, “Ok or uh huh.” But then what did they do? Nothing! In one ear and out the other.
There is no life transformation without hearing and doing. Hearing in the Bible usually means more than just hearing something audibly; it means hearing with an intent to follow through. This is why Jesus would finish some of His sermons: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
A genuine encounter with God means that you hear, that you listen with an intent and willingness to do what you heard.
3. It changes what we become. Vv.20-25
This encounter with Jesus changed everything about Saul. Instead of becoming a persecutor of the church, he became it’s biggest promoter. What was his message? V.20 “Jesus is the Son of God.” He didn’t believe it quietly. Listen, whatever you think you believe internally that doesn’t make it’s way into your behavior—that’s not genuine, NT belief…it’s just mental recognition. Did you know that Satan believes that Jesus is the Son of God? He knows that more than anyone else! But his mental assent to that fact is not making its way into who he is and what he’s becoming. And that is so many of us this morning. We believe in our minds, but not really in our hearts.
What you may not know is that Paul tells us in Galatians that after this he went away for 3 years to really study the Scripture and as a result he was compelled to travel the known world to tell people the good news that we can only be saved by grace through faith in Jesus.
This morning I want you to meet someone who has been radically changed by a genuine encounter with Jesus…. (interview)
