Are you a Tool? audio
I have a great collection of tools in my work shed. Most of them came from my father and grandfather though some I’ve bought for myself. Of course the fact that I have them there doesn’t necessarily mean they get used; or get used well when I do use them. But the ones I do use and can use well are the ones I particularly look after. I enjoy woodwork and so I have some good quality chisels and planes. But as many of you will know, a chisel or a plane aren’t much use unless they’re sharp and without chips in the blade. So I sharpen them regularly.
But we’re not here today to talk about my hobbies, we’re here to talk about witnessing to the gospel. So what have tools got to do with that? Well, as we’ll see in a moment God’s tools are people and he chooses to use the most unlikely of people as his tools in that task of sharing the gospel
I mean, who could be more unlikely than Saul? He hasn’t got a clue has he? I wonder if you’ve noticed over the past few weeks how there’s something of a theme of blindness and sight running through these chapters
First Stephen retells the story of the Jewish people and the members of the council, including Saul just can’t see what he’s talking about. Then in ch8 there’s both the Samaritans and the Ethiopian Eunuch who hear the gospel and instantly respond as though they suddenly see things clearly. In two chapters time we find Peter having his eyes opened to the place of the Gentiles in God’s plan. And here in the middle is the most striking example: Saul, spiritually blind to start with, is struck blind physically by an encounter with the risen Christ then has his sight restored through the intervention of Ananias, previously one of his enemies.
There’s no doubt, as ch. 9 begins, that Saul is a dangerous opponent of Christianity. He’s not satisfied with instigating this great persecution in Jerusalem. Now that most of the Christians have fled he proposes to follow them as far as Damascus, to track them down and wipe them out. He makes sure that he’ll get the cooperation of the Damascus synagogues by getting letters from the high priest and then he sets out.
Later on in Acts (26:11) he describes his attitude at this moment as being in a raging fury. And that makes what happens all the more remarkable doesn’t it? There’s no way that Saul is temperamentally prepared for Christian conversion at this point. There haven’t been any bridge-building efforts to bring him close to the point of decision making. No-one’s been softening him up to hear the truth about Jesus. He’s about as opposed to becoming a Christian as I guess it’s possible to be. He’s like a modern day Muslim extremist who’s been won over by Isis.
But what he doesn’t realise is that opposing the Christian faith means he’s opposing Christ himself, as he soon discovers.
He’s going along the road, approaching Damascus when suddenly there’s a great blinding flash of light all around him. He’s so terrified he falls to the ground.
Then he hears a voice speaking to him. “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” he asks. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Hang on a minute! Isn’t Jesus dead? In any case how am I persecuting Jesus, even if he is risen from the dead as these Christians claim?
This is a good example of the way that the Acts of the Apostles are in fact the ongoing works of Jesus. Not only are the things they say and the things they do the words and works of Jesus, performed by his followers in the power of the Holy Spirit, but also the things they suffer are things that Jesus Christ suffers. Saul isn’t just throwing Christians into prison. He’s persecuting Jesus himself. And suddenly he discovers that all that these Christians have been saying is true. Jesus is risen. He is alive. And he has a job for Saul to do.
I’m sure Saul had no idea at this stage just what would be involved in this task of his. All he knows is that he’s to go into the city and wait for further instructions. It’s a bit like “Mission Impossible”. Except that there’s no explosion as the message self-destructs. He doesn’t need an explosion, because he’s already had a blinding light all around him.
Now I want you to notice that although he’s been doing incredible damage to the Church, there’s no hint of judgement in what Jesus says to him. He does ask him why he’s been persecuting him, but there’s no judgement implied. Rather God offers him the grace of the gospel in a remarkable way. I guess it’s similar to the grace received by the criminal who was crucified with Jesus. All Saul has to do is to respond with faith to this call to follow him. And that’s what he does.
He’s led into Damascus where he spends three days fasting. This may be a response to what he’s just experienced, this revelation of God in Jesus Christ. It’s what Moses and Elijah experienced. A miraculous vision of the living God. So his fast may simply be a response to that. Or it might be in preparation for a further revelation to come; for the revealing of God’s plan for his future. But whatever the reason, he spends 3 days fasting and praying, at the end of which he sees a vision of someone coming to his assistance to help him see again.
At this point another actor comes into play. This man is a Christian. His name is Ananias. And he’s heard all about Saul. He protests: “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; 14and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.”
Jesus is asking him to do a very courageous thing isn’t he? Here’s Saul, in Damascus to try to root out the followers of Jesus. So this could easily be a trap. Ananias is being asked to walk right into the lion’s den. But perhaps it’s a sign of his maturity as a Christian that this danger doesn’t stop him from doing what Jesus tells him. We’re told he goes and enters the house. Even that phrase has a sense of menace about it doesn’t it: he enters into the enemy’s lair.
Yet through this act of courage, Ananias becomes instrumental in the major work of the gospel in the first century, in the spread of the good news to the Gentile world. Saul, he’s told, is to be “15an instrument, [a tool,] whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel.” That’s the sort of thing you’d say about an ambassador isn’t it? Perhaps that’s why Paul uses that term in 2 Cor 5 when he’s talking about our task of taking the gospel to those around us.
But Saul’s task isn’t quite as glamorous as a modern day Ambassador’s. No need for a tuxedo where he’s going! Jesus says “16I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” Here’s the complete turnaround. Saul has been bringing suffering on Jesus’ followers, and he himself will suffer in Jesus’ name.
And notice the gracious way Ananias greets him when he gets there. What does he call him? “Brother Saul”. Do you find that amazingly gracious? I’m not sure we would have been that gracious would we? He knows exactly what Saul is like, why he’s come here. Yet he accepts him as a Christian brother even before he’s laid hands on him and baptised him. If Jesus has accepted him, extended his grace towards him, then that’s the least Ananias should do.
I guess that’s an important lesson for us to learn as well isn’t it? If God has shown his grace to someone we know who’s offended in some very public way, how can we not show the same grace to them? Certainly we should be looking, at the same time, for the fruit of that grace to be shown in their lives but the first move for us is to show them God’s grace and mercy. Who knows whether that might be the breakthrough that brings them to faith in Christ.
For Saul the fruit of that grace soon becomes apparent. As Ananias lays hands on him he receives the Holy Spirit and his eyes are opened. We’re told by Doctor Luke that it’s as though scales fell from his eyes and his sight was restored. Then we see the full impact of his encounter with Jesus. We’re told “immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” They’re astounded to say the least. I guess the bush telegraph had prepared the locals for his arrival but now he’s doing just the opposite of what they were expecting. Instead of arresting the Christians, now he’s taking their side. And then we see just why God has singled him out for this task of taking the gospel to the Gentiles. “Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah.”
While his conversion may have been sudden, in the blink of an eye, as it were, it certainly hasn’t come out of the blue. God has been preparing him for some time. We saw a few weeks ago how Saul was present as Stephen gave a most eloquent exposition of the gospel. And that must have had an impact on him. But even before that he was one of the pupils, in fact the star pupil, of Gamaliel, one of the leading rabbis of his time. So when he was converted, he had all the training, all the theological education, all the tricks of rabbinical argument ready at hand. That, combined with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the fact that he was teaching what God intended to be understood from the Scriptures all along, meant that no-one could stand against him. So much so that again the Jews decide to resort to assassination to rid themselves of this adversary.
But their plot is discovered and Saul escapes via a basket lowered from the city wall.
Now at this point, Luke’s narrative probably jumps 2 or three years. According to Paul in Gal 1 he moved in and out of Damascus over a period of 2 or 3 years, so the “After some time had passed” in v23 could be those 2 or 3 years. And then in v26 “When he had come to Jerusalem” may mean after those 3 years, in which case he only stayed for a fortnight or it could be another 14 years later. In any case when he did return to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples they didn’t want to know him. They all had friends and family who were in gaol or dead because of Saul, so they weren’t very happy with the thought of him joining them.
But then Barnabas pops up again: the “Son of Encouragement.” We’re not told that he received a vision like Ananias. It seems he just looks Saul up and listens to his story and is wise enough that he’s convinced by it. And so he takes him to the apostles and speaks for him. This of course is the beginning of a lifelong friendship and partnership in the gospel. In a few chapters’ time Saul and Barnabas will be set aside by the Church at Antioch to go on their first missionary journey together to take the gospel to Asia Minor.
Barnabas has a good enough standing in the church that they listen to him and Saul is accepted as one of them. And again he goes out into the marketplace, arguing, this time with the Hellenists, a group of Greek speaking Jews, that Jesus is Lord. And again he’s so successful that he’s in danger of being killed by his enemies. And so he leaves Jerusalem and sails for Tarsus from where Barnabas will call him to come to help with the new Gentile converts at Antioch.
And again the Church is at peace. They enjoy a period of consolidation as the gospel continues to be proclaimed and the numbers of Christians increases.
It’s a great story isn’t it? But is it more than just a good story? What does it say to you and me? Does the title of today’s sermon help? What did Jesus say about Saul?
“He is an instrument [a tool] whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel.” He’s an instrument, a tool in God’s hand. If you’d asked the Christians in Jerusalem or Damascus what sort of person might be a good tool for doing God’s work Saul would have been way down the bottom of the list wouldn’t he? Very little potential there! But that’s from the perspective of ordinary human beings. From God’s perspective he was ambassador material. All he needed was the filling of the Holy Spirit and suddenly he was a force for the gospel to be reckoned with.
But Paul isn’t the only one that that’s true for. Each one of us could be one of those instruments that God uses to bring others into his kingdom. When Paul talked about ambassadors for Christ in 2 Cor 5 he was talking about you and me, ordinary people, with all the faults and weaknesses of normal human beings, but people who are given a great responsibility, a great privilege of representing Christ to the world around us. You may never have been blind to God like Saul was. You may not be a great preacher like Saul was, but you could be a person of grace and mercy and kindness like Ananias, a person of encouragement like Barnabas, someone who prepares the ground for your non-Christian friends so they don’t need to encounter that shining presence of Christ before they’ll believe.
The light of the gospel comes to people in lots of different ways, some spectacularly, some quietly and gradually, but it almost always comes through someone who tells them about Christ or who introduces them to a community like this where they’ll hear about him in a variety of ways.
So let me finish by asking: are you ready to be a useful tool for Christ? Are you being useful to God in your everyday life? Let’s pray that God would enable us to be just that.