When did you become a follower of Jesus, or
are you still trying to decide if you really want to commit yourself to him?
Before you came into church, did you know Jesus or were you searching for
something to help you get through life and just kind of found your way here?
Who was a part of your making a decision for Jesus, what is it that caused you to start
searching and led you here and to Jesus?
One thing we learn in Saul’s story is that
Jesus
begins working in our lives and hearts way before we make a decision to follow
him and he leads us to the point where we choose him. Choosing Jesus is a real
choice, but it doesn’t start with us, it starts with Jesus. Some of your
stories are spectacular encounters with Jesus, but many of our stories are
about a long journey of faith and obedience within a supportive family and
church community who helped us get to know Jesus as young children. This is a
blessing.
If you have a spectacular story of meeting
Jesus,
that often means that there was hurt and confusion in your life, perhaps
loneliness as well. Some of you, you may even have grown up in the church, you
pushed back against God, you may even be pushing back right now, but Jesus
doesn’t give up and keeps coming after you even while he gives you room to
figure things out. Many people don’t meet Jesus until later in life, there’s no
age limit on meeting Jesus. Some of you may still be journeying towards making
a commitment to following Jesus, but know that Jesus is always there.
Saul has a sudden meeting with Jesus, an
unexpected meeting that changes Saul and leads him to accepting Jesus as his
Lord. Even those who don’t follow Jesus use Saul’s life changing encounter with
Jesus as an expression of a personal life changing moment; they call it a Damascus Road moment. Saul’s a Jesus
hater, a passionate Jesus hater. His goal is to destroy Jesus’ followers. Saul
admits it later in Acts 22, “I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death,
arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison,” and in Acts
26, “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.”
Hatred’s a powerful emotion and
Satan is able to use it to hurt and even destroy others. Hatred and fear often go
hand in hand. Deep inside, many people fear Jesus and so react with anger
against his followers. The church is also not immune to feeling hatred and
fear, but our fear is often against those who believe differently than us. This
is why Jesus sums up the law as “Love God with
everything you are and have and love your neighbour as yourself.”
After-all, we’re all created in the image of God, even those we don’t like,
those we hate.
Jesus has plans for Saul, and so
while Saul is travelling to Damascus to hunt down more followers of Jesus,
Jesus sets up a meeting just outside of town. Here’s how Luke tells it, “As he
neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around
him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul,
Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus,
whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into
the city, and you will be told what you must do.” Imagine what’s going
on in Saul’s head, something weird is happening and he’s not sure what, but
because Saul’s a well-educated Pharisee, a man who’s studied the Scriptures deeply,
he realizes that this is a God moment. So, he asks, “Who
are you, Lord?” Now imagine Saul’s shock and horror when he hears, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into
the city and you will be told what you must do.” Fear must be flooding
into his heart and Saul doesn’t dare not do what Jesus says, but when he stands
up to go into the city, Saul discovers he’s blind. He had been blind to who
Jesus is, and now Saul’s blind to the world around him.
As Saul stumbles his way into the city and
finds a place to stay, Jesus goes to meet someone else who’s going to impact
Saul’s life. “In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord
called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. 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. In a vision he has
seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” “Lord,”
Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he
has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority
from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” But
the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my
name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show
him how much he must suffer for my name.”
Ananias isn’t all that excited about
what Jesus has called him to do, but he’s obedient and goes and places his
hands onto Saul’s eyes, and through the power of Jesus, heals Saul. He tells
Saul who it is that he met outside Damascus, “Brother
Saul, the Lord--Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming
here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Right away Saul can see again, and because he can see, we know that he is
filled with the Holy Spirit, all because Jesus arranged a meeting on a dusty
road outside of Damascus, a foreign city, an unexpected place. I’m guessing the
only thing that gives Ananias any satisfaction in healing Saul is Jesus’
promise that Saul is going to suffer for Jesus’ name. I’m also guessing that
Ananias must be wondering why Jesus would choose murderous Saul to be his
chosen instrument.
Saul becomes a Jesus follower; he’s
changes his mission in life from getting rid of all the Jesus followers and
becomes one of the very people he hated so deeply. Saul’s a completely
different person all because Jesus reaches out to him first. If Jesus would
have waited for Saul to reach out to him, it would never have happened. There’s
comfort and hope in knowing that Jesus reaches out to us first and that when we
choose him, we’re responding to what he’s already doing in our hearts and
lives. It means that we don’t have to worry about whether or not we can drift
so far from God that we can lose our relationship with Jesus. Ephesians 1
reminds us that Jesus chose us already before the creation of the world to be
holy and blameless in his sight, chose us to belong to him!
This is why the Canons of Dordt and our
confessions are so important because they keep reminding us that God chooses us
first and he will never let go of us. He may let us wander away for a while, but he draws
us back again, the good shepherd comes after his wandering sheep. I know that
because I was one of those sheep who had wandered away, but in the middle of
the ocean God came to meet me again through the person of a ship’s chaplain.
This is more than head knowledge. When you’re crying into your pillow
at night because one of your kids is a wandering sheep, we trust that Jesus
will meet our kids and draw them back. Things like election and perseverance of
the saints are doctrines of comfort and hope. Every time we see a baptism,
we’re reminded that Jesus reaches down through the veil between heaven and
earth and places his seal and claim on our children. It means that if you’re
wondering if God could ever forgive you for the rotten things you’ve done, if
he could ever love you in your addictions and brokenness, you can find hope and
comfort in the knowledge that Jesus has already made the first step in coming after
you and he’ll use the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and people who follow him to draw
you to him, or back to him.
This is the message of the cross, that our sin is not enough to separate us from Jesus’
love, that his love and sacrifice washes away our sin and brings new life. Our
circumstances may not change, by following Jesus we may even have to suffer for
it, but Jesus will use even that to help others get to know him. Following
Jesus, we gain a new family, new hope and new goals and a new identity: beloved
children of God called to invite others to join us in following Jesus.
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