FROM THE DUST TO THE DESPERATE: A MAN APART
#212a FROM THE DUST TO THE DESPERATE: A MAN APART
Scripture Acts 9:1-20, NIV Orig. 1/21/1962
Rewr. 5/23/1979
Passage: 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.
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.” 15 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. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” 17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “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.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.
Purpose: To call attention to the clear declaration of Scripture of the process of conversion and commitment and setting apart of the believer that is contained in the gospel message.
Keywords: Christ Commitment Conversion
Timeline/Series: Acts
Introduction
Several years ago a Broadway play appeared on the scene called Merrily We Roll Along. It was written by a playwright by the name of Richard Miles. While the author had become successful in terms of his profession, his ideals had suffered greatly, and his life-style had become shameful and degrading.
The play depicted Miles’ life in reverse. Each successive scene showed the actors getting younger. The role representing the playwright became more and more idealistic. The action of this drama travelled back into the past, until finally, the characters in the play were sharing Miles’ college commencement. Richard Miles was the class valedictorian. As the final curtain went down, Miles was saying, “Lastly, this I have learned: I have learned to value ideals above all else. Let them be our heritage, our guiding force.”
The essence of the play declared that the man looked back with regret to the losing of his ideals. They could not be sustained against the temptations to achieve personal success. This was a burden under which Saul was living. He was determined to be a success. The idealistic upbringing and training of a young rabbi had by now been so compromised, that he yielded unthinkingly to the dictates of those he wished to impress.
Meanwhile Saul was still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the High Priest and applied for letters to the synagogues at Damascus authorizing him to arrest anyone he found, men or women, who followed the new way, and bring them to Jerusalem, NEB.
Saul’s thinking was not far removed from that of George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright. The agnostic Shaw wrote: I am by nature and destiny a preacher. . . . But I have no Bible, no creed; the war has shot both out of my hands. The war has been a fiery forcing house in which we’ve grown with a rush like flowers in a late spring following a terrible winter. And with what result? This: That we have outgrown our religion, outgrown our political system, outgrown our strength of mind and character. The fatal word “not” has been inscribed into all our creeds. . . . But, what next? Is “no” enough? Is “no” enough? For a boy, yes; for a man, never. . . . I must have affirmations to preach. . . . The preacher must preach the way of life—Oh, if I could only find it!
It’s too bad about George Bernard Shaw. He never found it. But out on this Damascus road this day, Saul will discover. He will discover what ideals are all about. He will discover what it takes to turn his ideals into reality. He will discover the “way of life” and that “way” will become what the preacher in him must preach.
I. First of All, a Claim is Extended. V6, And he, trembling and astonished said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” And the Lord said unto him, “Arise, and go into the city, and it will be told thee what thou must do.” In blindness we grope. Make no mistake about it, here is a genuine encounter with the Lord of life. It is a matter for marveling to discover how adequate to the here and now God’s working always is.
When I share an extensive coverage of my own testimony, it is blocked out in segments of time roughly paralleling my pastorates. In the first, I had to come to terms with what I would preach. “We would see Jesus.” In this one I have had to learn to trust God to work through problems of church leaders who are not church lovers.
No matter how distasteful the experience is, the end-result is one of growth and spiritual nurture. The Christian life is not unlike those early, formative days in a baby’s life when he has wearied of wallowing and begins to walk. He grows. He is nurtured. A step is taken. A fall. A word of comfort and affirmation. He is encouraged to try again. A step. Then two. With many falls and several hurts, and sufficient affirmation he is on his way.
There then begins to develop a life of form and substance. Go into the city, and it will be told thee what thou must do. There is this initial act of faith unto obedience. John 14:22, One of the disciples, Judas, not Iscariot, asked Jesus how he would make himself known to his followers and not to the world in general. V23, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and he will come unto him and make our abode with him.
From this initial act of faith there springs the circumstance out of which we grow as Christians. In the city he encountered that which affirmed him in his initial act of faith. It became increasingly more to his advantage to seek and follow the course of God’s will. It is important that we affirm each other. The more settled we are in faith, the more determined to be faithful to our Lord, and supportive of others who are still in discovery. It is essential that we accept the Word of God as the basis of our authority. This means that confrontation is sometimes the appropriate means of affirmation. We are responsible for our advice. It better be thought through very carefully when you speak or act against those whom God has called to give spiritual affirmation.
II. Secondly, a Change is Essential. V8, And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes opened he saw no man: But they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. The change was rather a dramatic one. He, at first, was on his way to Damascus to discomfit any who had become followers of Christ. He experiences the presence of the Living Christ. Now, he is on his way to Damascus for others of these followers of Jesus to affirm him in the faith. That doesn’t mean to lay their hands on him, or to ordain him to the ministry, or vote him into the church. You see, God laid his hands on Saul, and that is all that any of us need, or have any right to expect.
The change came about by virtue of Saul suspending his own will in the will of God. Galatians 1:13f, For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church . . . beyond measure, and tried to destroy it. . . . 15, But when he who had set me apart, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me. . . . 23, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.”
You see, the only miracle that had taken place was that a man had lifted his vision from himself and his own ego needs, to the vision of his loving, merciful heavenly Father. This would be a good place to stop and insert what God has done for you this week.
III. Lastly, Then, a Commitment is Inevitable. V20, And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God. With Saul it was unquestionably a commitment to Christ. V5, “Who art thou, Lord?” How often Paul identifies himself as the servant. Romans 1:1 and others: δοῦλος, “doulos.”
He uniquely feels forgiveness. Christ will mean little to you if you do not experience His forgiveness for your sin. The greater the sense of forgiveness, the deeper the impact of Christ upon the life. Remember the sinful woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee, Luke 7:47, For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.
Acts 1:8 Witness unto me
Acts 2:36 God hath made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ
Acts 3:26 God having raised up His Son Jesus
Acts 4:30 Signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus
Acts 5:30-32 Raised up Jesus, exalted Him to be prince
James Stewart, in his book, A Man in Christ1, writes, “Everyone who has experienced a great forgiveness, everyone to whom the love of Christ has meant all the difference between victory and defeat, between radiant happiness and despair, will understand the spirit in which Paul spoke of himself as Christ’s ‘slave.’ The ransomed soul was bound to its Ransomer. No demand that Jesus could make would be too great. Life’s crowning joy would be to toil unceasingly for the One who had saved him from death and from something worse than death. With glad heart Paul acknowledged himself a bondman to the greatest of all masters. He was slave: Jesus was the Lord.”
But don’t make the mistake of presuming that the commitment is easily made, or for that matter is always made for Christ as Lord. There have been many who refused to turn from their vaunted “Damascus Roads” even at the intercession of Jesus. Judas lived and studied and even prayed with Jesus for three years, but his own will in the end destroyed him. He refused to accede to the will of God. And I remind you, God did not have to reach out in anger and strike Judas. His discordant heart destroyed [him]. And today, even though the evidences of Jesus’ integrity are clearer than ever, people in huge numbers are refusing to believe, to accede to God’s will.
Links and references
Man in Christ (https://pmoser.sites.luc.edu/jsstewartarchive/Stewart%20ManInChrist%201935.pdf), P. 302.
1 Stewart, J. (1935). A Man in Christ: The Vital Elements of St. Paul's Religion. Regent College Publishing.