Vetting S(P)aul (Third Sunday After Easter 2022)

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.