We’ve recently taken time to study the passage concerning Paul’s conversion experience, and not so much for focusing on Paul himself, but in order to get a closer look at this obscure fellow named Ananias and determine what we might learn from the very brief glimpse we are given of him in scripture.
So what I’d like to do today is pick up where we left off, and just read down through the verses of chapter 9, making, hopefully, some helpful commentary as we go, and then perhaps find some points of personal application before we close.
It is actually more accurate to continue calling him Saul at this point, since it will be some time before he begins using his Greek name, Paul, in ministry.
This change is introduced to us in an interesting way by Luke, in chapter 13. Up until now only the name Saul has been used. Then in verse 9 of that chapter Luke says, “But Saul, who was also known as Paul…” and from then on Luke only refers to the Apostle using the Greek, Paul.
So here in our text he is still Saul, and Saul has been changed, by the initiative of God. Saul was not seeking God;
Saul thought he was God’s mercenary, and with the same mindset that Moses had when he struck down the Egyptian, and the same that Peter had in the garden when he slashed off Malchus’ ear, he had been going about persecuting the followers of Jesus and in doing that, persecuting Jesus Himself.
Saul wasn’t seeking change for himself. The self-righteous never do. But God had a plan, and as is the case with every man woman or child who is finally awakened to their need for forgiveness and for a savior, it was by God’s initiative in Saul’s life that he came very suddenly to this spot on the road, confronted by the very One he was persecuting, and drafted into service.
But there had to be changes first in Saul as there needs to be in anyone new to the faith, and in Saul’s case the Lord made them very rapidly. There was work to be done and no time to waste.
So we move on from there or we’ll never get where we want to go today.
Verse 19 tells us that Saul stayed for several days with the disciples who were at Damascus.
It might seem strange to us, that he immediately began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, when we remember reading in I Timothy 5:22 his advice to Timothy not to lay hands too soon on any man, and we understand that to have reference to ministry. And the history of the church has borne witness many times over to the danger of taking a novice and giving him authority and setting him to the work of ministry without proper teaching and training and evidence of spiritual maturity.
But I would point out two things to you here, and one may seem to contradict the other but there is no contradiction.
First, we remind ourselves that Saul is a Pharisee who came up under the teaching of the most respected of Jewish teachers, Gamaliel Acts 5:34, 22:3.
So Saul was coming into this with a wealth of knowledge and understanding of the scriptures, which we know pointed to the Messiah. So when his spiritual eyes were opened and his mind was opened to receive truth, there had to be a lot of blanks filled in for him immediately.
Those early days for Saul, following his conversion, must have been almost overwhelming for him as the truth of scripture really opened up for the first time and understanding of what he thought he knew now rushed in like a flood!
But here is the other point, and it applies more straightforwardly to you and I.
The brand new Christian can go and proclaim Christ. It doesn’t take Bible college or seminary or years of personal study to do that.
People, all you need to be able to say is what Jesus did for you. I understood that I was spiritually dead because of my sin against God, and I heard that Jesus died to pay for my sins and rose from the dead, and that if I believed that I would be given spiritual life from above.
I believe that is what happened to me, and I believe because of that I am going to spend eternity with Jesus in Heaven.
If you can’t say that or something very much like it, then we need to sit down and talk.
But supposing Saul hadn’t made the connections yet. Let’s just pretend he hadn’t yet realized the connection between his vast Old Testament knowledge and the risen Christ.
I doubt it, but let’s just suppose. Even so, if all he knew was that the risen Jesus had appeared to him on the road and called him into the service of the gospel, he had enough to proclaim.
What is the central message of Christianity? The resurrection of Jesus Christ. If that’s all you know, then tell it! Proclaim it! If you are slow of speech and thick of tongue. If you are so shy that you can’t bring yourself to speak loudly in the grocery store. If you get rattled when required to think quickly, or you have difficulty remembering facts and are lousy at the trivia games. No matter. If you know Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, tell someone! You are qualified for that at the very least, by the indwelling of His life-giving Spirit in you.
Just tell someone that Jesus Christ died and rose again on the third day, and see how quickly you get a discussion going.
Well we have to move on.
Verse 21 “And all those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, ‘Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?’”
So the people are amazed, and Saul continues to grow in strength; I would take that to mean spiritual strength, and giving irrefutable proof to the Jews at Damascus that Jesus was the Christ.
So they plot to kill him. No big surprise that the ones who were quick to spill the blood of the Lord would be thirsty also for the blood of His saints.
We know they had the gentile governor of that city in on it also, since Paul told the Corinthian church that Aretas had been watching for him to arrest him II Cor 11:32.
You know the difference between stupid thugs and smart thugs? The stupid ones jump out of the alley and attack you. The smart ones manipulate someone else into doing their dirty work for them. The Jews manipulated the Romans into crucifying Jesus, and the Syrians into laying a trap for Saul. They were smart thugs. But they were still thugs.
Verse 26 “And when he had come to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.”
We can hardly blame them for their hesitancy. Is this a trick? Has he done all the damage he can overtly, so now he’s trying a more covert tactic to draw out followers of the way? Good and wise questions.
But Barnabas steps in and introduces Saul to the gang and they accept him, and he begins moving about freely in Jerusalem, arguing with the Greek Jews who were there, and getting them stirred up against him, so the disciples send him off to Tarsus for some R&R.
I’ve really spent much more time on this than I intended, so let me just highlight one more point and then I promise I’ll get to the main thing.
One below-surface message from this passage from verse 19 through verse 31, is that up to this point Saul was the primary danger to the new church. As soon as he gets converted the atmosphere in the entire region gets more relaxed and peaceful. He must have been quite the little terror!
“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and, going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.” Vs 31
Such is the setting of these two encounters of Peter’s, first in Lydda and then in Joppa.
Now that is not necessarily of great significant note. By that I mean, these next events in the ministry of Peter did not need peace in the region and in the church in order to take place.
We all are aware that some of the greatest recorded miracles of God took place in the midst of great oppression and persecution, and even in times of natural calamity and disaster.
So I don’t think there is some underlying message here to glean, that because of Saul’s conversion God was now freed to perform wonders.
On the other hand, the sequence of scripture history is more than just design of the writer; it is also Spirit-led, so I do believe it is of some note that as soon as Luke tells us the church has entered into a season of peace and comfort and increase, we see Peter leaving Jerusalem to travel about the region.
If we glean no other lesson from this, let’s get this out of it; that the wise Christian, and the wise body of believers will not sit back and rest during times of ease and relative comfort and favor with the people, but will make use of the freedom and ease of movement that peacetime provides, to ‘work while it is still day’, and reach those for Christ who, because of their physical or political or economical locals may be less available during times of trouble.
Peter goes traveling through ‘all those parts’, referring back to the previous verse which lists Galilee, Samaria and Judea, and he comes to Lydda which, according to my bible maps, is about 7 miles southeast of Joppa, which is on the Mediterranean coast of Judea.
Note that there is no discourse about what Peter was up to specifically. If he was traveling about the region, I suppose it would be safe to assume he was going about preaching Christ and ministering in His name, since that is what we’ve seen him doing in the most recent mentions of Peter.
Nor is there any reason given for him arriving in this small insignificant town of Judea. At least, not speaking in human terms.
But we quickly see why Peter is in Lydda, if we view his visit through divine eyes.
He has an appointment there that he is not aware of, until he comes upon this man, Aeneas.
Now it doesn’t say that Aeneas was a believer. It says Peter came to the saints who lived at Lydda, and there found a certain man named Aeneas.
We might suppose here that the wording suggests Aeneas was one of the believers Peter found when he came to Lydda, because Peter declares him healed in the name of Jesus Christ, but there is no narrative following the healing indicating that Aeneas then responded to the gospel and was filled with the Holy Spirit, as is the norm from Luke through all these early chapters of his letter.
On the other hand, while Luke calls Aeneas a ‘certain man’, he then says about Dorcas that she was a ‘certain disciple’.
And one commentator asserts that there is no recorded healing of a believer in the New Testament.
I think I’d have to search that one out for myself, and even if it is true it is not necessarily a statement of Aeneas’ spiritual condition.
But it’s a good exercise for us to think about these things and pay close attention to what we’re reading.
But here is the important thing for us to observe from this encounter. Verse 35 says that ‘all’ who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
Sharon would be the plane in which Lydda sits. And this is not an exaggeration on Luke’s part. If the number was many, I believe he would have said many. But he said that all who lived in this surrounding region turned to the Lord.
This is not a testimony of the charisma of Peter, but of the power of the Lord and the moving of the Holy Spirit. This man, Aeneas had been paralyzed for eight years, and whether everyone previously knew him or not, apparently his healing was so immediate and complete that no one could deny a wondrous miracle had taken place.
Now I have one simple point that I want to make here today, although we could enjoy several points of interesting discussion from this passage. But I want to go on first and take a look at the next encounter Peter has, in Joppa, then we’ll draw it all together.
In Joppa was a certain disciple named Tabitha. In the Greek, Dorcas, meaning ‘gazelle’. She is well-loved, and receives in scripture a glowing testimony for her constant and tireless work in ministry to others.
Don’t ever think that because you are not a pastor or teacher that you are not called to ministry in the Lord’s name.
Ministry is not the thing you do. It is loving Christ and letting Him manifest His life through you. The things you do are only the means that He has chosen to manifest Himself.
Therefore, the making of garments for the poor, or handing out water and first aid kits at a disaster sight are every bit as much ministry and kingdom work as establishing a mega-church or preaching to thousands in an arena.
If the thing we do is the focus, then the focus is on us. But if what we do is only the channel He uses to make Himself known through us, then the glory is His.
Peter understood that very well. It is why he said to Aeneas, “Jesus Christ heals you”. It is why, before praying for Dorcas, he scooted everyone from the room and knelt down to pray.
So Dorcas was a disciple abounding with deeds of kindness and charity continually, and when she suddenly grew sick and died she was sorely missed.
Now the custom was to wash the body in preparation for wrapping and burial, and it was equally the custom to get them in the ground very quickly. So it’s notable that they laid her instead, in an upper room, and then, having heard that Peter was in nearby Lydda, sent two men to fetch him.
They were probably among the many who had heard of what happened to Aeneas, which makes their sending for Peter all the more interesting. They knew Dorcas was dead, so why send for the Apostle, unless they had hopes for her yet?
Well, Peter comes at their bidding, listens to them as they show him garments Dorcas had made and tell him about how much they all loved her.
Now these are not just family members. They were fellow believers in Christ, but not necessarily blood kin of Dorcas.
It is not unusual for kinsmen, immediate family, of a deceased person, to be in such a state of grief that they are in denial about the death, or even holding out some hope that the Lord will give them back.
But how many people pass away and have non-family members wanting them back? I mean, how many of us, if we suddenly died and some friend was standing by saying, “Let’s pray earnestly and perhaps the Lord will raise him back to life”, would have a gathering of by-standers agreeing, and not scratching their chin and saying, “Well… hold on now… let’s not be too hasty…”?
I don’t think the Lord raised Dorcas up as much for herself, as for those who so deeply grieved her passing. She was a great blessing to her fellows, and therefore a great loss when she was taken away. To go home to be with the Lord would have been best for Dorcas. But so torn were the hearts of her loved-ones that Jesus had compassion on them and brought in Peter.
So Peter prays his prayer, Tabitha sits up and gets up and he presents her alive to those who moments before had been weeping over her body, and the word spreads all over Joppa, and once more, many believe.
And Peter stays for many days at the home of Clark’s ancestor, Simon Tanner.
Before I close just let me point out an outstanding point of Peter’s spiritual growth. Although he has struggled in the past with the Lord’s acceptance of those he regards ‘unclean’, and will struggle again, as we see in Acts 10 when he is sent to a gentile for ministry, yet here he is, staying at the home of a tanner.
People of that profession were generally despised because they worked with the hides of dead animals, and were therefore, to the religious legalists, perpetually unclean. But Peter has apparently begun to see people more through Jesus’ eyes, and I’m sure his staying there was a time of healing and great encouragement for this Simon.
So stepping back and taking in this entire section of scripture in a sort of panoramic view, we can see that so much of what was transpiring was by God’s own initiative and not man’s.
He confronted Saul on the road. He came to Ananias in a vision, then brought the two men together to set the ministry of Saul into motion. He brought Barnabas to the forefront in order to bridge the gap between these frightened Jerusalem believers and the newly converted Saul.
God, by His own initiative, established a time of peace and comfort and increase in the infant church, so she would have time to grow and expand and develop a wider range and scope of testimony throughout the land.
Looking closer, there is something typified for us in the accounts of Aeneas and Dorcas that I want to hold up for our final point of focus today.
Here are the stories of two people whose lives were about to be changed forever, each in a very powerful and amazing way.
Aeneas was paralyzed. Bedridden for eight years, unable to help himself, unable to be of any useful service to anyone else, apparently, and therefore hopeless as well as helpless.
Of the two, his circumstances may well be considered the most pathetic. Dorcas was dead.
In the thinking of most hers would have been the more obviously permanent condition; her suffering over and her story done.
Aeneas on the other hand was suffering. Even if he was not feeling physical pain or discomfort, there would have been the ongoing suffering of physical impotency and the emotional turmoil of being cared for day after day like a helpless infant, unable to fend for his most basic needs.
The thing they have in common, is that neither one is able to help themselves in any way. Now that’s a great understatement in the case of Dorcas, to be sure. But certainly if you were able to transport yourself back to that time and place and talk to Aeneas, and ask him if he felt he could help himself any more than the dead woman in Joppa, he would have replied that he certainly could not.
So neither one was in a position to seek or expect any help at all.
The initiative was God’s, entirely. He brought Peter to the region, and by His own initiative and for His glory, He reestablished these two people in productive society, in spiritual service, and brought widespread growth to the church and glory to His name.
These are not isolated cases. I could have chosen this theme from anywhere in scripture. The deliverance of Israel from Egypt. The raising up of the judges of Israel. The meeting and uniting of Ruth and Boaz. The bringing of Esther to the throne room for ‘such a time as this’.
When Jesus entered the Capernaum synagogue no one asked for anything. He called the man with the withered hand to the front by His own initiative and for His own purpose. He raised the widow’s son without being asked. The crippled man at the pool of Bethesda made no request and no inquiries. Jesus healed him by His own initiative.
Now your first reaction to what I’m saying may be ‘Well, yes. We understand this. We know that salvation is by grace through faith and not of works. Is that what you’re getting at?”
Fundamentally, yes. But for the mature believer it signifies something deeper than that. Let me illustrate with this.
During the time I was a police officer there was a dispatcher who was no more than a co-worker and casual friend to me. Near Christmas time one year, I walked into the dispatch center and she lifted a package from the table next to her and gave it to me. It was a Christmas gift, and it was personal. It was not one of fifty things she had made to pass out to all her co-workers.
I was quite taken back by it, not expecting anything at all from this person, and managed to blurt out the obligatory, ‘but you didn’t have to get me a present’.
Very matter-of-factly, she countered, ‘I know I didn’t have to, Clark. I just wanted to give you something. Merry Christmas’.
Now here was a totally unexpected gift from a person with whom I had no emotional ties other than as a casual acquaintance. This told me something very clearly, that I could never be certain of in the case of a loved one or a family member giving me a gift. It told me that the one and only reason I was receiving this unexpected gift is because the person giving it to me wanted to. Of her own initiative she thought about it, procured it, wrapped it, and gave it freely, obviously expecting nothing in return.
Christians, let your faith be strengthened and your encouragement renewed today. You serve a God who, throughout the history of a fallen race, has, of His own initiative, reached out, made contact, poured out blessing, provided salvation, brought life from death, when we had not asked, had no power to procure for ourselves, indeed, no desire to give in return.
This alone is the basis for our believing that all His future promises concerning us are true, our best and eternal interests are His abiding concern, and when we acknowledge that our days on earth are numbered, we can be equally assured that each one of them is in His very capable hands, and by His own initiative He will bring about our good and His glory in them all.
That’s it. Just some semi-random thoughts and hopefully a word of encouragement from this 9th chapter of Acts today.
When Jesus was on the cross He sensed separation from the Father in that moment in time when He became sin for us; for God cannot look upon sin.
He cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?”
His humanity experienced the utter despair of rejection and separation from God. But His Deity submitted, as always, completely to the Father’s will and to His trust, and His final words were, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.”
He knew and taught us, in this, the most dramatic and significant moment in all creation, that true faith rests on the goodness and faithfulness of God, to take the initiative, and, in perfect keeping with His perfection, bring forth life from death.
You can trust Him for that in your final moments on this earth, and you can trust Him completely for that in every circumstance of every day of your life.
Because you didn’t ask. He just wanted to.
