Vetting S(P)aul
Text: Acts 9: 1 -15
Act 9:1-15 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest (2) and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. (3) Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. (4) He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" (5) He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. (6) But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." (7) The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. (8) Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. (9) For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. (10) Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." He answered, "Here I am, Lord." (11) The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, (12) and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." (13) But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; (14) and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name." (15) But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel;
You know its going to be a bad day when you wake up in the hospital in traction and your insurance agent tells you that your accident policy covers falling off the roof, but it doesn’t cover hitting the ground. (Michael E. Hodgin. ed. 1002 Humorous Illustrations. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004, p. 371). How many of you would like that kind of trouble?
Who likes trouble? Do you think that troublemakers like trouble? How do you think it must have taken Saul by surprise to think that he was doing the Lord a favor persecuting Christians when he got chastised by the Lord Jesus Christ?
Wait a minute! Didn’t Jesus say that others would trouble us, harass us, persecute us, disown us, boy-cot us, and chase us out of town? Jesus did not say all of those things in those exact words but Jesus did tell us that there was a cost of troubles for following Him! (See Luke 14:28 - 33).
Could it be that sometimes those who trouble Christians are troubled because they themselves are spiritually lost? Saul was a religious man because he was a Pharisee and yet he was blinded by his agenda to hunt down Christians.
Today we will explore two things agenda and assurance.
AGENDA
What is an agenda?
1) Defining agenda: Is an agenda a plan, a list of items to cover at a meeting? Is an agenda a docket of court cases? Is an agenda a schedule, a time table or even a vendetta? Doesn’t is seem as if Saul had an agenda in his quest to arrest all the Christians he could find?
2) Saul’s agenda: What exactly is Saul’s agenda? Was he a Sanhedrin-appointed bounty hunter or self - appointed bounty hunter? Acts 8:58 tells us that those who stoned Stephen, (who according to the scriptures is the first Christian martyr (which is a Greek word that means to witness). In Acts chapter 8 Saul gives his approval of Stephens death and seems to have become a self-appointed bounty hunter to hunt down Christians. He went from house to house dragging Christians off to put them in prison (Acts 9:1 - 3). Saul was “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples and he even went to the high priest to ask them for letters to the synagogues in Damascus so that if he found any “followers of the Way” he would throw them in prison (Acts 9:1 -2).
Are trouble makers always religious?
1) Idolatry: Yes troublemakers are always religious. Do all trouble-makers worship the Lord Jesus Christ? No. In fact, many call themselves atheists while claiming that they do not believe in any god or deity. Yet, they are religious. How? They are religious because they worship the idols of success, materialism and the praise of others which are all based on the care of this world.
2) Man - made gods: Pastor W T Holland once said, “Howbeit every nation makes gods of their own. In their mythologies, the Greeks and the Romans created gods in their own image. Their gods were not contrasted as being totally different than other people. They conceived of their gods as being like themselves, with the only difference being not in kind but in power. This was not revelation but projection. Unfortunately, like the ancients, people still make gods of their own”. (T T Crabtree. ed. The Zondervan 2001 Pastor’s Annual. W T Holland. “The Image of God”. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000, p 159). The god of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4) would not have it any other way. Why? The reason why is because Satan is thief who wants to deceive (John 8:44), kill, steal and destroy all the sheep of God’s pasture John 10: 10a). Only the Lord, Jesus Christ can give us an abundant life (John 10:10b).
3) Voices: We all serve the voice of the ones we listen to. Now consider Saul, a trouble-making Pharisee who doesn’t know that he is himself is troubled because he does not think he is lost. Saul wanted to stop the “followers of the Way” (Acts 9:2). It was not until Acts 11:26 when they became known as Christians. Whose voice was Saul listening to?
4) Origin: Where did Saul come from? We do not hear a thing about him until they stoned Stephen to death. Was he a member of the Sanhedrin? The Sanhedrin was the highest Jewish court during the times of Roman rule. Was Saul among those from the Sanhedrin who falsely charged Stephen with blasphemy before they accused him, produced false witnesses who testified against Stephen (Acts 6:13)? Did the Sanhedrin think of themselves as lost or the heroes who saved the day?
5) Conspirators: There has always been opposition to God’s kingdom from the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane; from before Christ was crucified till those who follow Christ after His resurrection in every age. Sometimes conspirators come from religious people or groups like the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin and sometimes they come from atheists. Either way, Satan is behind all that stirs them up! Do conspirators ever consider themselves as lost?
6) Hero or Villain? : Did Saul think of himself as a hero or a trouble-making villain at this point in his journey? Isn’t it ironic that Saul is a bad guy chasing good guys?
7) Defining moment: Saul had his Damascus Road experience and where he was convicted by Christ for persecuting Christians, blinded by the light and dwelling at a residence on Straight Street (Acts 9:11). He was then rescued by Ananias whom God had dispatched to go and lay hands n him and pray for the recovery of his sight (Acts 9:10- 12). Saul was being rescued by a Christian. Was that not an example of forgiveness---turning the other cheek, praying for and loving an enemy? Can you imagine how Ananias must have had some reservations about how God was using him as an instrument in Saul’s vetting? “So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together to fit into God’s perfect plan of bringing good into our lives, for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose” (Romans 8:28 TPT).
ASSURANCE
Can anyone really have genuine assurance apart from God?
1) Calling and choice: God always calls us to serve Him, but God does not force us to serve Him! John 15:5 reminds us that apart from God we can do nothing!
God already knew the plans He had for Saul with the custom designed future and a hope that God had specifically planned for Saul (Jeremiah 29:11 paraphrased). Consider how beautifully The Passion Translation words Psalm 139:3 - 4: “You are so intimately aware of me, Lord. You read my heart like an open book and you know all the words I’m about to speak before I even start a sentence! You know every step I will take before my journey even begins” (Psalm 139:3- 4 TPT). Saul later known as Paul, wrote thirteen books in the New Testament and God knew the words (Psalm 139:4) that God inspired Paul to write through the inspiration Holy Spirit (see 2 Timothy 3:16 cf. Matthew 10:20).
2) God’s salvation versus agenda: Saul was never going to be happy serving an agenda because it would not be able to save Him! An agenda cannot pay the price for our sins! An agenda cannot bleed the sin washing blood that only Jesus Christ bled on the cross for us! An agenda cannot make us right with God! An agenda can never give us the assurance that our sins have been forgiven! Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one can come to God the Father except through Jesus Christ (John 14:6).
3)Defining, eye opening moments: Sometimes God will use eye opening moments to help us to see the light of the Gospel. What happened to Saul was dynamic and eye-opening within his character and outward through his witness to the Gentiles! The Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes the word dynamic to mean “marked by usually continuous and productive activity or change”. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dynamic). When Ananias did what the Lord told him to do, laying his hands on Saul’s head and praying for him not only did the Lord answer his prayer and restored Paul’s physical sight, but the Lord also filled Saul with the Holy Spirit, “dynamically”! (see Acts 9:11-17). In Acts 13:9 Saul becomes known as Paul!
What does assurance mean to you? Is it something that can be seen or experienced?
1) Yielding to God’s Perfecting love: When we walk with God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:22) which means it does not happen by default. We have to be yielding. As “God’s beloved ones” Philippians 2:12 reminds us that “…just like you’ve always listened to everything I’ve taught you in the past, I’m asking you now to keep following my instructions as though I were right there with you. Now you must continue to make this new life fully manifested as you live in the holy awe of God—which brings you trembling into his presence (TPT). God can perfect His love in us because God has given us of His Spirit so that we might have boldness on the day of judgment (I John 4:17)
2) Faith and assurance are linked: Hebrews 11:1 tells us “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (NRSV) . As mentioned before, the work of the Holy Spirit is dynamic--- “marked by usually continuous and productive activity or change”!
3) Vetted by God: We, too, can have assurance that God vets (approves) us through His only begotten Son who died on the cross (John 3:16) as the lamb of God who came to take away our sin---the sin of the world (John 1:19). Col 1:20 tells us that “… by the blood of his cross, everything in heaven and earth is brought back to himself—back to its original intent, restored to innocence again! (NRSV). Have you been washed in the blood of the lamb of God?
In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
