Title: “I see better when I’m blind.”
Series – “On mission”
Text: Acts 9:1-19
Subject: How does Saul of Tarsus becoming a believer in Jesus?
Complement: Jesus reveals himself to Saul with blinding light and personal voice – showing himself alive – providing irrefutable proof of his messiahship.
Exe Idea: Jesus reveals himself to Saul resulting in his conversion.
Hom idea: Jesus revealed himself to Saul and has & will(!) reveal himself to you.
Preaching idea: God makes himself known in the risen Lord Jesus.
(Oldest mosaic of Paul – 5th century)
Introduction: baggage can be heavy to carry around...
In 2013 we took a trip to Ukraine with our 2 daughters...(12 and 14)
• 12 bags x 4 people
• London Heathrow airport
• London subway – “The Tube”
• Thankfully we made it and didn’t lose ourselves or luggage...
What kind of baggage do you travel with?
• Memories
• Sadness...
• Lost children... siblings... accidents...
There’s a man in acts chapter 9 that’s carrying a lot of baggage... his name is Saul. Saul of tarsus.
Read passage: Acts 9:1-9
9 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
See also Acts 22 and 26
Acts 22:19 “‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. 20 And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’
Acts 26: 9 “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.10 And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.
Situation: Saul’s Past.../Your Baggage!
• A devout Pharisee
• acts 23:6 ... “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees...
• some of you are “PK’S” .... that’s nothing compared to being a PK _Pharisee kid!
• Jewish parents...
• Taurus – in modern day Turkey
• Also had roman citizenship
• Saul was a Brain – trained by Gamaliel
o Who is Gamaliel?
o Best scholar of his day
• Saul was an Over-achiever
o Gal 1:14 “advancing in Judaism beyond my peers”
• Saul had Zeal...
o If Saul was a hockey player – he would be ... wait for it...Brendan Gallagher + Shea Weber + Cory Perry all in one.
• Murderer?
• Threat-maker – v. 1 “breathing out murderous threats”
• Verse 1 – “take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
• Self-description – “chief sinner” ( 1 tim 1:15)*
• 1 cor 15:8-11 “I persecuted the church of God”
o I’m the least apostle...don’t deserve to be called one”
• Gal 1:11-17 13 For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
Possible dialogue:
Saul to High priest (Caiaphas/Annas) –
“Would you write me a letter authorizing me to arrest and imprison followers of Jesus? These people are heretics and are blaspheming God.”
Caiaphas: “Right away, Saul.
Caiaphas immediately writes a letter... “Saul, you are doing a great service to God and our religious tradition.”
Saul: “Yes sir. These people need to be stopped”.
Complication: Saul was as far from belief in Jesus as you could go – he had baggage...and reputation...
**Saul of tarsus was convinced that Jesus of Nazareth was an ordinary and very misguided man. Not the long-awaited and much prophesied messiah! To believe this, Saul had to be convinced that the resurrection did not happen... for him and all the Jewish religious authorities this was a big lie. In Saul’s mind This lie was a threat to Judaism and an offence to God himself ...
Also notice... everyone was afraid of Saul ! ***he wasn't being witnessed to in an evangelistic campaign!
Even if he became a believer -- Who could trust him - for all the trouble he caused?
Honestly... are you going to invite Saul to your small group?
Who could forgive him for all the violence?
o Threats
o Beatings
o Stephen’s martyrdom
o All in the name of God... and Jewish piety
• Everyone was afraid of him!!!
Paul’s Self-description of his past :
1 cor 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
So much for being “on mission”
So much for telling the good news of Jesus... stay away from him!!!
**So the “witnessing campaign” is handled by Jesus himself – no intermediary!
And Jesus makes one dramatic move!
Saul is on a horse...travelling to Damascus. Jerusalem is 200 kms from Damascus!!
3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
• Light!
• Knock-down!
• Blindness!
• Voice – “why are you persecuting me???”
Picture the scene... heading to Damascus to arrest Christians, he now finds himself blind and led by the hand...
8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
How’s that for being humbled!!!
Meanwhile...God taps Ananias (of Damascus) on the shoulder...
10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
Translation ? “Lord, he’s coming after me” (and my family/friends)
Jesus ? “GO!” (verse 15)
Resolution: “I am Jesus” – Jesus personally recruits him!(AD 35)
Here on the road to Damascus Saul of Tarsus has a close encounter with Jesus of Nazareth...
Who are you? (Lord/sir)
“ I am Jesus – whom you are persecuting.”
*** Immediately Saul of Tarsus is confronted with the fact of Jesus of Nazareth is very much alive. Which means... on life’s most important question – Saul, the scholar... had it all wrong.
Immediately, the implications are clear...
• All the persecutions of Saul are now seen for what they really are – against Jesus himself ( “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”)
• Repentance is in order
• The prophecies are fulfilled
• The messianic age has dawned.
What about you? How will you respond to Jesus?
You can’t sit on the fence when it comes to Jesus.
Here’s what they said on the street about Saul’s Conversion – “the man who formerly persecuted us is now proclaiming the faith he once tied to destroy.” Gal 1:23
Paul, the Christian was himself persecuted – 5 times he received from the Jews 39 lashes...
Paul’s Missional Assignment:
Acts 26: 16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
Dr. R. Longenecker:
The words of the risen Jesus calling Paul to his mission (vv. 16–17) recall the commissioning of the prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah:
“Stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.… I am sending you … to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me” (Ezek 2:1, 3);
“You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you” (Jer 1:7–8).
The commission itself (v. 18) echoes that of the Servant of the Lord in Isaiah 42:6b–7: “I … will make you … a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”
Longenecker - “Indeed, Paul’s mission was a prophetic one that perpetuated the commission originally given to God’s Righteous Servant, Jesus Christ. And Christians today, as God’s servants and prophets, are called to the same kind of ministry.
Application: you’re also being called... don’t write God off – don’t write yourself off – don’t write anyone off !
Do you know the gospel?
Do you know the way of salvation?
Have you repented of your sins?
Do you believe in Jesus? ... do you believe he is alive?
Do you know that he’s coming back one day? ... you need to be ready for his coming!
...because he is your judge.
One more thing...
Life outside of Christ is hard...
Jesus said to Saul -- “it's hard to kick against the pricks...” 26:14
Acts 26: 13 About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions.14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
• An ox goad was a stick with a pointed piece of iron on its tip used to prod the oxen when plowing.
• The farmer would prick the animal to steer it in the right direction.
• Sometimes the animal would rebel by kicking out at the prick, and this would result in the prick being driven even further into its flesh.
• The more an ox rebelled, the more it suffered.
**In the Greek world this was a well-known expression for opposition to deity
• It's hard to live contrary to God’s will.
In our modern society people are searching for meaning...
Bono – (You2) song:“You still haven’t found what you’re looking for...”
o A song of spiritual longing
o Bono sang in the upper register of his range to add to the feeling of spiritual yearning
o One of their most popular tracks
o "The Joshua Tree takes its title from the tree that somehow survives in the desert, and much of its material suggests an attempt, within the aridity, to quench a profoundly spiritual thirst."
o Ranked #93 of the top 500 songs of all time.
Lyrics:
I have climbed highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you
I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
There are people listening today – who are searching for meaning and yet resisting God... you know you need to repent/surrender.
• Deep down in your heart – you want to be saved! ... what’s holding you back?
o Baggage?
o Unable to forgive yourself?
o Religious anxiety
o Fear of changing lifestyle?
o Loss of friends
• “I know... and you know... “it's hard to kick against the picks/goads – it's hard to swim upstream... you were designed to live for God... life is too overwhelming without God... going it alone... what security do you have for eternity?
Paul said: “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision...”
Acts 26:19 “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. 21 That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. 22 But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— 23 that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”
illustration: testimony of Frederica Mathewes-Greene,
When I was around eight or nine, I went through a spurt of having very strong faith. My parents didn't think it was entirely healthy to be that religious. When I'd say that I wanted to be a nun (because we didn't know of any other way of giving your whole life to Christ), they said that was neurotic and that I was running away from life. So I got the message that it wasn't good to be too religious.
When I was 12 or 13, I began to doubt the entire Christian story. I felt almost as if I'd had somebody try to cheat me. They had fed me this long, complex story about virgin birth, born in a manger, died on a cross, came back to life ... it just sounded preposterous to me. I thought that it was something that no normal, sane person could be expected to believe, and I'd been made a fool.
I began then to consider atheism, agnosticism, and various other religions. But I rejected Christianity with vehemence. Initially I chose Hinduism because it seemed to me the most intriguing and colorful of all the different world religions.
[What ultimately led me out of Hinduism] was a strange experience. I was with my husband on our honeymoon, hitchhiking around Europe. He was an atheist who had been assigned in one of his classes to read a gospel. And he kept saying, "There's something about Jesus. I've never encountered anyone like this before. I know that he's speaking the truth. I'm an atheist. But if Jesus says there's a God, there must be a God."
It was a very scary experience for me, because I didn't want him to be a Christian. He was not ready to make a full commitment to Christ at that point, but he was curious and wanted to study more?.
We're in Dublin sightseeing. I walk into a church. We're admiring the windows and altar and so forth. In a corner of the church there was a small altar with a white marble statue that showed Jesus' heart exposed on his chest with flames coming out of the top and thorns wrapped around the heart. As I was looking at this, I suddenly realized that I was on my knees. And as if a radio inside of me suddenly clicked on, I could hear a voice. I didn't hear it with my ears, but it was like a presence that filled me.
The voice said, "I am your life. You thought that your life was your history, your name, your personality. You thought that your life was the fact that your heart beats. But that is not your life. I am your life. I am the foundation of everything else in your life."
It was pretty incontrovertible who it was that was speaking to me?. I started reading the Bible, ...Gradually we were able to come into faith.
It was several months later that a friend of ours said, "Well, have you ever given your hearts to Jesus? Have you ever asked Jesus to be your Lord?"
You have to realize that both of us grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, him Episcopalian, me Catholic, and our response was, "We're not Southern Baptists." Our association with that kind of talk is that you have to be Southern Baptist for Jesus to be your Lord.
He said, "Actually, it's for everybody."
We said, "Well, you know, we're in graduate school."
"No, even for you."
So the three of us knelt down together and prayed and asked Jesus to be our Lord, having no idea what that would mean but wanting so much to find out.
(Source: "The Dick Staub Interview: Frederica Mathewes-Greene," ChristianityToday.com, (10-1-02)
In his novel “The Testament,” John Grisham paints a portrait of one man's surrender to God's will.
Nate O'Reilly is a disgraced corporate attorney plagued by alcoholism and drug abuse. After two marriages, four detox programs, and a serious bout with dengue fever, Nate acknowledges his need for God.
With both hands, he clenched the back of the pew in front of him. He repeated the list, mumbling softly every weakness and flaw and affliction and evil that plagued him.
He confessed them all.
In one long glorious acknowledgment of failure, he laid himself bare before God. He held nothing back. He unloaded enough burdens to crush three men, and when he finally finished Nate had tears in his eyes.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to God. "Please, help me."
As quickly as the fever had left his body, he felt the baggage leave his soul. With one gentle brush of the hand, his slate had been wiped clean. He breathed a massive sigh of relief, but his pulse was racing.
Source: John Grisham, The Testament, p. 374
Conclusion: Paul fulfilled his assignment – he became a pioneer and preacher and writer of much of the NT. Every Sunday his words are spoken in untold languages.
