This past Monday-Memorial Day-our family drove over to Bowie to spend the day with Sue’s parents and siblings and their children. We do this every year. In fact, it’s kind of become a Memorial Day tradition. We all meet at Sue’s sister’s house. Her brother, Lewis, spends the morning grilling several kinds of meat. Everyone brings side dishes and desserts to share-and we pig out on both quality FAMILY TIME and quality FOOD. To us those two things just seem to naturally GO TOGETHER-a house FULL of family and plates FULL of good food. And that’s the way it is in life-some things just naturally seem to COMPLIMENT each other: popcorn and a good movie, coffee and conversation, etc. You know what I’m talking about.
Well, the fact that we are so used to COMPLIMENTARY things like this going together-well sometimes it makes it hard for us to understand that many times in the Kingdom of God seemingly UNCOMPLIMENTARY things-even opposite things-go together. Remember? Jesus taught that, “the FIRST shall be LAST.” and that, “we GET by GIVING” and that “we begin to really LIVE when we learn to DIE to self.” etc.
Now, I don’t know about other pastors but I call this “the principle of oxymoronic truth” because OXYMORONS are seeming opposites that compliment each other-and when this happens in the Kingdom of God, powerful TRUTH is revealed. I bring all this up because there are at least two examples of this principle to be found in today’s text, Acts 9:1-31. Go ahead and turn there and as we watch The Visual Bible, see if you can SPOT these “oxymoronic principles or truths.”
1 – 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 saints 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 carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings and before 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 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.
21 – All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”
22 – Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.
23 – After many days had gone by, the Jews conspired to kill him,
24 – but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him.
25 – But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.
26 – When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.
27 – But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.
28 – So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.
29 – He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him.
30 – When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
31 – Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.
Okay-how did you do? The first example of oxymoronic truth I see in this text is this:
1. Our HOLY God can use a well-known SINNER.
Now in our mind set the last person we would think of our Holy God using would be an infamous SINNER like Saul-but of course He did. In fact, thanks to the AMAZING grace of God, Saul-or Paul as he has been known since his conversion-became the greatest missionary ever-his life was powerfully used by God! And this IS amazing to us because “HOLY GOD” and “KNOWN SINNER”-well, those two phrases just don’t seem to go together do they?
Plus-We know that Saul wasn’t just your typical, every day sinner. He did horrible things before he became a Christian. In fact, later in his life Paul himself admitted that, he was the “the worst of sinners.” (1 Timothy 1:16). And, historians would agree with his self-assessment because in his early days he set himself up as the ARCH-ENEMY of the early church. Think of him as Superman’s LEX LUTHOR or Sherlock Holmes’ DR MORIARTY or Spiderman’s DOC OC all rolled into one-because originally his sole purpose in life was to destroy the church.
And this fact was well-known. Do you remember what the members of the synagogue in Damascus said about him? Look back at verse 21. Referring to Saul they said: “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this Name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” That’s what Saul did-he made it his goal to find, arrest, and even execute all Christians. In fact, the idea of persecuting followers of The Way consumed him. Luke tells us that the very air he was breathing was that of threats against the disciples of Jesus.
Now, why was Saul like this? How did he end up the most well-known religious terrorist of his day?
Well, to answer this question we need to look back at Saul’s upbringing. He grew up in Tarsus-a city that was located on the main trade route between the Orient and Rome. Saul’s father was a tent-maker and living in that city where caravans were constantly coming and going apparently brought him nearly unlimited business-and great wealth. He used his vast wealth to give his son the best education possible while at the same time making sure Saul understood everything there was to know about his Jewish heritage. John Pollock, author of The Apostle: A Life of Paul, describes Saul’s early life like this:
“Paul’s parents were Pharisees, members of the party most fervent in Jewish nationalism and strict in obedience to the Law of Moses. They sought to guard their offspring against contamination. Friendships with Gentile children were discouraged. Greek ideas were despised. Though Paul could speak Greek from infancy, and though he had a working knowledge of Latin, at home his family spoke Aramaic, the language of Judea, a derivative of Hebrew. They looked to Jerusalem as Islam looks to Mecca. Their privileges as freemen of Tarsus and Roman citizens were nothing to the high honor of being Israelites, the People of Promise to whom alone the Living God had revealed His glory and His plans. By his thirteenth birthday, Paul had mastered Jewish history, the poetry of the Psalms, and the majestic literature of the prophets…A swift brain like his could retain what he heard as instantly as a modern ‘photographic mind’ retains a printed page. He was ready for higher education.”
That’s at age 13. Pollock continues:
“…probably in the year that Augustus died, A.D. 14, the adolescent Paul was sent by sea to Palestine. During the next five or six years he sat at the feet of Gamaliel. [Under his tutelage] Paul became a skilled rabbi-part preacher and part lawyer…who prosecuted or defended those who broke the sacred Law. Paul outstripped his contemporaries at this. He had a powerful mind which could lead to a seat on the Sanhedrin…and make him a ‘ruler of the Jews.'”
So understand-due to his strict Jewish upbringing and Gamaliel’s rigorous instruction Saul had become a very PROUD man-especially when it came to his Jewish heritage. He knew the Jewish Scriptures like the back of his hand-including all the prophesies about the coming Messiah-but like his proud Jewish peers, Saul misinterpreted them. I mean, he had a very exalted concept of what God’s Messiah was going to be like and in his mind Jesus of Nazareth was not it by a long shot. The mere suggestion that a Galilean peasant, Who had wound up being crucified by the Romans would be God’s Anointed, seemed to Saul to be an absolute insult to Judaism. I think Warren Weirsbe get’s it right when he gives the following imaginary answer Paul might have given to some brave soul who dared to ask why he persecuted Jesus’ followers:
“Jesus of Nazareth is dead. Do you expect me to believe that a crucified nobody is the promised Messiah? According to our Law, anybody who is hung on a tree is cursed. Would God take a cursed false prophet and make him the Messiah? No! His followers are preaching that Jesus is both alive and doing miracles through them. But their power comes from satan, not God. This is a dangerous sect, and I intend to eliminate it before it destroys our historic Jewish faith.”
So in Saul’s mind he doing a good thing. He thought he was persecuting the church in the name of God. He knew the Scriptures but his flawed interpretation justified his actions. Now make sure you understand the problem here. Saul had head knowledge. His parents had taken special care to insure He had RELIGION but he didn’t have a RELATIONSHIP with God. All he had was an inherited, ethnic faith.
Parents, pay special attention here. You see, it is important that we teach our children the doctrines of Christianity. It is important that we help them understand the morals and ethics that go with our faith. But it is FAR MORE important that we introduce our children to the person of Jesus Christ. If our kids grow up believing that Christianity just means going to church every Sunday, learning all of the right songs, praying the right prayers and even standing for the right things, then we are failing as parents. If our children equate Christianity with just being against abortion, premarital sex, drugs, and alcohol, and all of the other taboos of our day, then we have failed them. You see we don’t want our children to inherit our religion. We want them to meet our Savior. The most important thing we can do for our kids is introduce them to Jesus. Think of it moms and dads. Do you want to stand there on judgement day and hear Jesus say to your children, “Depart from Me for I never KNEW you” (Matthew 7:23)? Well, fortunately for us, as we saw illustrated a moment ago-Saul MET Jesus and became a believer himself. While en route to Damascus to arrest the Christians who lived here-in essence, God arrested him! A bright light shown from heaven-so bright that it knocked Saul to his feet. Christ Himself appeared to him.
Saul actually SAW Jesus in all His glorious brilliance-and at this point let me point out another sort of oxymoron. You see, ironically the last person to have seen the resurrected glorified Christ, was Stephen and now, the man who held the coats of those who stoned him was the next to see Jesus. Who would have thought!
Well the amazing sight of our resurrected Lord was the last thing Saul’s eyes beheld for three days because when Jesus left, Saul realized that he had taken his sight. Think of it. For the first time in his proud, self-sustained life, Saul found himself a desperate dependent. He had to actually be led into Damascus by the hand, an entry to the city that was very different than what he had originally anticipated. In the hours and days that followed Saul reviewed in his mind what had happened and he realized that this Jesus of Nazareth was in fact the Messiah, the Son of God. It dawned on this Jew of Jews that he had been fighting God Himself. He had been opposing the very One he was supposed to be serving. He must have shaken his head for days thinking, “What have I done…what have I done…how could I have gotten it so wrong?”
Now, to a person of no religious concerns, that might not be important. But to a proud Jew, like Saul, it was everything. I mean, he wanted to be on God’s side above all else. To discover that he had been contending against God instead of serving God must have been a terrible humiliation. I am sure he was filled with terror thinking, “What is God going to do to me after what I have done?!”
Well, we all know the answer to that question. Saul repented of his sin and our Holy God forgave him and then took the life of this WELL-KNOWN sinner and used it in a powerful way. No one can look at the life of Saul-that infamous sinner whom God turned into PAUL, a now-famous saint-and say otherwise. This is probably the most powerful conversion of all time. It appears in the book of Acts THREE times! Paul, who was the OPPONENT of Christianity became the PROPONENT of Christianity. He who HATED Christ now HERALDED Christ. God took Saul’s strength’s-his educated mind and understanding of the Scriptures and used them to convince other Jews that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. By the way-let me take this chance to point out that there is nothing wrong with getting a good education. I’ve repeatedly heard people put down others who go to college or seminary to prepare for God’s call as if doing so was less spiritual or something. Well, if you think that way then listen. The person God used most in the New Testament was Saul and as I said, he had received the best education his day and age had to offer. And-the person most used by God in the Old Testament was Moses. He too received the best education available at the time-so today’s ministers have good proof texts for our doing the same. Remember-we are called to serve God “with our all our heart, all our soul, and all our MIND!” (Matthew 22:37) God used Saul’s education.
God also took Saul’s undesirable qualities and replaced them with desirable ones. He replaced Sauls’ cruel hatred with love, his rough-hard nosed treatment of people with gentleness, his pride with humility. And all this re-shaping made him PAUL-PAUL who immediately began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues in Damascus and eventually in towns and cities all over the world. Charles Swindoll puts it this way,”I know of no other person in the Bible, aside from Christ Himself who had a more profound influence on his world and ours than Paul.”
Well, this should encourage us-because if God can use a sinner like Saul-then He can use a sinner like me and you. In fact, the files of heaven are filled with stories of redeemed and refitted renegades and rebels. This reminds me of MEL TROTTER who lived in the early part of the 20th century. He was an alcoholic who again and again promised his wife that he would give up drink for good. Once he managed to stay dry for eleven and half weeks but at the end drink overcame him. He sold their horse to pay for another round of drinks. He reached the point that he committed burglary to feed his awful habit. His wife and child suffered terribly for his sin, going without food-since he wasted his income on booze. When their son was about two years old Trotter came home from another drinking spree and found him dead in his mother’s arms. He put his arms around his wife and apologized profusely. Later he swore on the baby’s coffin that he’d never touch another drop. But two hours after the funeral he staggered home blind drunk. He had stolen his son’s shoes off his little lifeless body, sold them, and used the money to get another drink. Eventually the guilt of all his sins led Trotter to decide to end his life and on January 19, 1897, he walked toward Lake Michigan, intending to drown himself in it’s freezing waters. On the way he passed the door of the Pacific Garden Mission. He went inside and heard the testimony of another alcoholic-Harry Monroe-who told how Jesus had delivered him from this addiction. Trotter responded by asking Jesus into his heart and life. God forgave him and freed him from this bondage. Then God used him to found more than 60 other such rescue missions. Trotter eventually became supervisor of a chain of them stretching from Boston to San Francisco.
Now, as I said, in the Kingdom of God oxymoronic truths can teach us a great deal. And as we have already seen this particular example is no exception but I want to point out two other lessons we can learn from the fact that our Holy God can and still does use sinners.
A. First, when we stray from God, as Saul did, our loving Heavenly Father often uses PAIN to get our attention.
I mean, our Lord blinded Saul-so that he could “see.” He caused him to endure the discomfort and fear of being sightless, because as his Creator, He knew that this was the only way to make Paul understand. And many times God uses the same tactic on you and me. This reminds me of the story of a shepherd who lived in Ireland. His granddaughter went to visit him. One day she walked into a barn and saw a young lamb with its leg in a splint. She asked her grandfather what had happened and he said,
“That lamb had a bad habit of running off so one day, I broke his leg.” When the old man said that, she began to cry. “Why on earth would you do that?” She asked. Her grandfather replied, “Well, the little guy had a bad habit of running off and every time he would do that, he would be in danger. He could fall off the edge of a cliff and kill himself, or a wolf or some other predator could find him, kill him, and eat him. Every time he ran off, I would have to go find him. Then, I would set him with the rest of the flock only to have him run off again. So I broke his leg. Then I set the bone and put a splint on it and as I was doing this, I talked to him comforted him, consoled him. Now, I have to carry water in to him every day. Not only that, I have to feed him by hand. As I do I continue to talk to him and comfort him. By the time his leg heals, he will know my voice. He will know that it is I who take care of him. He will come when I call him. He will stay with me, no matter what. I will be able to lead him, and the rest of the sheep will follow him. This lamb will one day be the best sheep in the flock…because I broke his leg. You see, in order to break its WILL, I had to break its LEG.”
Many times for God to be able to use us, He must first break us as he did Saul. He broke him and then He restored him. And in that process Saul met and got to know His Master and Redeemer. He followed Him faithfully for the rest of his life-and in so doing he has inspired countless others to do the same. Well, let me ask you. Are you going through a painful time? If so, could God be allowing this pain so that you will turn from dependency on self, to dependency on Him? Could He be teaching you to listen to and heed His still, small, voice? This leads to another bit of oxymoronic truth that we can see here…
B. …God SEEKS us even when we run from Him.
In fact, God ALWAYS yearns to be in relationship with us no matter how much we sin against Him. No matter how far we run from Him. He pursues us. That old saying is so true, “No matter HOW FAR you’ve run from God, it’s always only ONE STEP back to Him.”
And we see that here in Saul’s life because his experience on the Damascus road was not a sudden CONVERSION as much as it was a sudden SURRENDER. You see God had been pursuing a relationship with Saul all his life but Saul had resisted Him. This is what Saul was referring to later in Acts when he shared his testimony with Agrippa, and said that for years he had been “kicking against the goads” of God. Now a GOAD was basically a long, stick, that was blunt on one end and pointed on the other. Back then, farmers used the pointed end to urge a stubborn ox into motion. Occasionally, the beast would kick at the goad. But the more he kicked, the more likely it would be to stab into the flesh of it’s leg causing greater pain. Saul realized that God had been seeking him for years, using various “goads” to prod him to turn from his sin:
1. First, there was the goad of JESUS’ life and words. You see, I’m sure Saul had heard Jesus teach and preach in public places. After all, they were about the same age. Surely this zealous young Pharisee would have been one of the first to go and investigate this popular Teacher and Healer from Galilee. And I think the words and works of Jesus haunted Saul. He knew in his heart that they were truth but he fought that by thinking this must be of satan!
2. Second, we see the goad of Stephen’s peaceful DEATH. As I told you two weeks ago, Saul never forgot Stephen. And it wasn’t the fact that Stephen died as much as it was the WAY he died. No screaming; no pitiful pleas for mercy; no cursing; no recanting his faith. Instead Stephen prayed for his executioners just as Jesus had done. Well, I imagine Saul wondered, how could a bad man die like that? It didn’t make sense!
3. And then third, we see the goad of other Christians’ courageous FAITH. Surely Saul could not have escaped noticing the courage of his prisoners. The believers he viciously apprehended bravely endured the torture. They stood in firm allegiance to their Master, Jesus and their undaunted courage in the face of certain death must have made Saul question his actions.
So God sought Saul-He goaded and prodded the stubborn pride of that Ox/Pharisee. Day after day Saul kicked against these goads, until finally on that Damascus road he got the message and surrendered his life to our Lord. C. S. Lewis likened God’s conquering Saul’s rebel will to a divine chess player systematically, patiently maneuvering his opponent into a corner until he finally conceded, “Checkmate.”
Well, let me ask you? Are you walking in relationship with God? If not, then He is seeking you-He’s calling you-perhaps even goading you-to repent of your sin and turn to Him.
And Christian, ask yourself. “Am I kicking against the goads? Am I resisting God?” Perhaps He’s calling you to join this church or to witness to someone or to make peace with an individual you just don’t like. Well, Paul would say to Christian and non-Christian alike, “Stop running. Stop resisting. Stop kicking against the ‘goads’ of God.”
So, our Holy God can indeed forgive and cleanse and use horrible, well-known sinners like Paul to further his kingdom. But there’s another example of oxymoronic truth in this text. You see Saul’s conversion shows us shows us that not only can God use a KNOWN SINNER…
2. He also can use an UN-KNOWN saint…
Remember? In Damascus there was an unknown disciple named Ananias and Jesus gave him the assignment of going to visit Saul to lead him to faith. I don’t know about you-but this doesn’t make sense to me. I would have thought Jesus would have called for one of the “big guns” here-perhaps even Peter himself to deal with someone like Saul-but no-God picked a relatively unknown man. In fact, this is the only time we read anything about this Ananias in the Bible.
And-I want you to understand how difficult this assignment would be for this unknown saint. You see, Ananias had not heard of Saul’s Damascus road experience. All he knew was that Saul, the Persecutor, was on the way to arrest Christians like himself. So, it would be like asking a Jew living in Austria in the 1940’s to pay a personal visit to Adolph Hitler. In fact, when the Lord told Ananias that Saul was PRAYING instead of PREYING on Christians it was almost beyond belief so he asked for clarification and God gave it to him, saying, “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles…”
Well, Ananias obediently went and in the power of the Spirit of God he led Saul out of the darkness-both physical and spiritual, guided him to faith in Jesus, and baptized him. This shows that in God’s kingdom we don’t have to be known to be used in a powerful way. Ananias has been called one of the forgotten heroes of the faith-BUT HE’S NOT ALONE. There are countless numbers of them serving Christ behind the scenes all over the world. They are content to remain in the shadows, oblivious to the lure of lights and applause. In fact, the truth is, only a rare few in God’s family enjoy fame and renown, position and influence. The great majority of Christians are “Ananiases”-serving God in powerful ways-doing essential ministry.
These unknowns are vital because they keep the Church-the Body of Christ-functioning and in good health. We’d be sunk if it weren’t for all they do-behind the scenes, unnoticed. Only when eternity dawns will we know, the enormity of their investment in the cause of Christ. Think of it. Saul would never have become Paul with out Ananias. He would have remained blind and trembling had the disciple of Damascus refused to obey and go to Straight Street. All this was set into motion because God used the memorable faith of a little-known but faithful hero. His obedience changed the destiny of millions.
This reminds me of the story of a 14th century Italian artisan who was commissioned to design a huge stained-glass portrait of Christ for a window in a cathedra in Chartres, France (a place well known for its stained-glass work). After sketching the design, he gathered and carefully shaped all of the pieces of glass he was going to need. He then laid them out on the floor of the cathedral.
Even in this unfinished form, the window was beautiful to behold. Most of the pieces were large and amazingly colorful. In the midst of all these dazzling shards of glass was a very small, clear piece about as big as a fingernail. As the stained-glass portrait was assembled, that little piece was overlooked and remained on the floor where it lay even after the window was installed. On the day of the window’s unveiling, the entire city gathered to witness the brilliant stained-glass portrait. The artist stood in front of the crowd, made his speech and then dramatically pulled down the cloth cover. The crowd gasped at the beauty of the colorful window glowing in the sunlight. After a few seconds, however, the people grew silent. They sensed that the portrait was unfinished. Something was missing. The artist inspected his work and realizing what was amiss, walked over to where the little nearly invisible clear piece of glass lay, picked it up, and carefully fastened it into its proper place, right in the center of Jesus’ eye. Then as the sun hit that little piece, it gave off a dazzling light. To this day, the window still draws visitors and the first thing they notice is that sparkle in Jesus’ eye.
You know, our church provides a portrait of Christ for our community. As each of us work at the tasks God gives us, we furnish an essential part of that portrait. Some work at colorful jobs that are clearly visible by all-the preacher and staff…the soloists and teachers. These people receive much praise for what they do-but others (the vast majority) work behind the scenes doing things that often go unnoticed: like washing dishes after Wednesday night supers, or preparing the elements for communion, mopping up after baptism, or praying for the needs of the body, or folding and addressing THE SOWER, or washing nursery linens. The list goes on and on but because all these “invisible,” unknown members do these things, our community sees a clearer picture of Jesus.
As your pastor, I am so very thankful to these unknown saints. In fact I think of these precious people as the “sparkle ” in our Lord’s eye. And if you’re one of them-if you’re an “invisible saint” then I hope you know how precious…how indispensable you are to us. Remember, as Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 12:22, “…the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.”
LET US PRAY
Father God, I ask that You would speak to each of us now. Take the scales from our eyes-as you did Saul’s so we can see Your truth. Use Your Holy Spirit to guide us such that we understand all the things we’ve studied in Your Word this morning. I especially ask that You would speak to those present who aren’t Christians. Remind them that until they’ve surrendered their life to Christ, they are as lost as Saul was on the Damascus road. Remind us all of Your great grace Father-that GRACE that IS greater than ALL our sin-convict us of our need to truly repent of our sin so that You can use our lives and Father as we serve help us to live for one thing only-pleasing You. I ask all this in JESUS’ name. AMEN
If God has opened your eyes to a decision you need to make, we invite you to make it public now as we stand and sing. Won’t you come now as God leads?