The Way to Obey F.R.O.G

Introduction:

Good morning Church, the last couple weeks we have looked at some topics that are so important in our walk with the Lord and having a healthy relationship with God like the ‘fear of the Lord’ - not being afraid of God, but being afraid to be away from Him.

Then worship - the enemy is after our worship, He wants us to worship something other than God and so I think it is good to reflect on “Do we have a healthy fear of the Lord and is our worship pure?”. Is our worship, just like the song ‘Heart of Worship’, about God or has it been more about us. So good things to seek the Lord with so He can examine our hearts. I want to look at Acts 9 today because I believe it highlights another topic that is important to are walk with Jesus, and that is Obedience.

I don’t you, but I would venture to say you are like me when it comes to faith and walking with Jesus, a question that often comes to mind is ‘God, what do I do?’ Or maybe ‘Where do I go from here?’ I think this is also something our church has been been asking from the leadership down the last several years with everything thing our church has gone through and experienced ‘Okay what do we do now?’ So look with me in Acts 9 as this text gives us some good insight. Just to give you some background.

Background:

Saul, who we know as Paul, was this very religious dude who thought he was following God and doing what was right. He thought he was being obedient, so much so that He was against those that said they belonged to the Way -”the Way referred to those that that believed Jesus was the Way to salvation”. He had approval by the Religious leaders to find these people, these christians and throw them in prison or even murder them. Again, this started when he heard Stephen’s great sermon just a few chapters before where Stephen highlights how Jesus is the Messiah that everyone had been waiting for. We see somehow Saul is connected to that story and it reads as if he was a leader that approved of stoning Stephen to death.

So it seems Saul was a leader that began a great persecution against the church and so that when we get to Acts 9 and Saul has an encounter with Jesus.

Read Acts 9:1-9

What is the author communicating?

The author Luke seems to be communicating here that Jesus is Lord, and has chosen people to play a part in His story of redemption/turnaround.

So we see Saul, who again we would all probably refer to and know as Paul, although at first he was against the Way of Jesus, believes in Jesus as Lord, how do we know this, He believes and receives the Holy Spirit and the evidence is that he obeys what God says do, *You see obedience isn’t what saves us, but it is the result or fruit of being saved* and later God calls Him a chosen instrument to preach and proclaim His name.

Transition Statement:

SO when I said earlier maybe you were like me and you maybe find yourself asking ‘God, what do I do?’ Or maybe ‘Where do I go from here?’

Well the answer is in the form of another question:

What does God say?

That’s the answer! What do we do? Well, We do what God says! Where do we go from here? We follow and OBEY what God says. Paul in this story asks two questions, first off he asks ‘Who are you, Lord?” and the second you see in the account in Acts 22:10 when he is retelling the story when he is on trial and it is the same question you and I often ask,

Acts 22:10 ESV

And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.’

SO I just want to encourage you if you are asking those questions “Who are you, Lord? or What do I do Lord?

These are great questions to ask and I would encourage you to keep asking them, as well as reading God’s word, in prayer, and seeking wisdom from others while you ask them.

BUT we make the question”What do I do Lord?” more complicated than it is, because literally we should do what God says. Jesus told Saul to go to Damascus and he would be told what to do. So Sual went to damascus. For example, if God tells us to forgive someone? We should forgive them. If God tells us and challenges us in his word to share the gospel with someone, we go and share the gospel. If God tells us to repent of a hidden sin in our life or convicts us of something, we should repent and follow Him. If God tells us to surrender and follow Him. What do we see from the disciples they follow Him.

Just a Quick note:

If you are not hearing what God says to do then:

- There may be sin in your life that is not dealt with. Sin keeps you from hearing God.

- You are not getting in God’s Word for it to shape you and change you. This is the main way God speaks to believers that have access to a copy of God’s word.

- You are isolated and not surrounded by healthy community that will speak truth into your life.

But I think the difficult part is actually being obedient. Like actually following through with what He says.

God is faithful to give us direction or instruction. In fact I believe the Lord is trying to speak to us all the time, we just might not always be aware, or obedient,

Transition Statement:

SO when it comes to obedience, why is it hard?

Why does obeying God seem so hard at times?

Transition Statement:

Well One of the reasons obeying God is difficult is because

We are Blinded by Pride.

Acts 9:1–4 (ESV)

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

Paul was so blinded by his Self-Righteousness that he was convinced that threatening and murdering people was him obeying God. Again, Paul was well versed in the scriptures, and yet because of his pride, self-righteousness he was actually blind of the truth and what God was saying.

Example/Illustration:

Gen. 3 Adam and Eve believed the enemies lie that God was keeping something good for them so they wanted to take it for themselves and blinded by pride they disobeyed God and sin entered the world and we are still witnessing the affects from it today.

Transition Statement:

Another reason obeying God is difficult for us is because

Obedience is connected to Suffering and Waiting.

Suffering and Waiting are not something we like and it makes it difficult for us to obey.

Whether the suffering looks like dying to self.

OR

the suffering may look like persecution.

Waiting - if we are honest waiting is not something don’t we like to do. I am so bad this, and Lord help me but we want things now. I am super thankful for my wife who helps slow me down and helps bring a voice of wisdom to have discernment and think and pray through rather than rushing into things.

Literally in this passage we see a little bit of both Suffering and waiting.

Acts 9:5–9 ESV

And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Jesus told Saul, that he was persecuting Jesus. Jesus told us in John 15:18-20

John 15:18–20 ESV

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

Then Saul who again we know as Paul would learn this and would later tell young Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:12

2 Timothy 3:12 ESV

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

As the story goes on, Saul is blind for three days waiting on God to send Ananias to him Acts 9:12

Acts 9:12 ESV

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.”

Suffering and Waiting are difficult for us especially when the world is good at giving us things quickly or showing us there are a way to get things faster.

I don’t care how fast we can get things in our world today, or how fast they will come, in this broken world we live in as we await the hope we have in God to restore all things we will encounter suffering and waiting.

Transition Statement:

BUT

There are also some

Ways to Obey

that we learn from Saul here to help being obedient easier for us. And I say easier because there will still be spiritual warfare and temptations to be disobedient.

The way we obey is important because it not only reflects the God we serve, but it reveals our motivation.

Transition Statement:

So one of the ways to obey that we learn from Saul here is

A humble heart helps us see clearly.

EXPLAIN:

A humble heart will take your eyes off of you, and onto Jesus. When your eyes are on the wrong thing you will go the wrong way.

When Paul realized it was Jesus, the Messiah, the Lord he was persecuting, He was humbled and said in Acts 22:10

Acts 22:10 ESV

And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.’

The first time he said ‘Who are you, Lord’ there are some scholars who believe He didn’t know it was Jesus our Lord but he knew it was someone with authority and then when Jesus told Saul who He was, Saul said ‘what shall I do, Lord?’ He was recognizing Jesus as Lord, of His life too because He was willing to do what God said to do. Paul in this moment realized up to this point he was in the wrong. He thought he was following God and in this moment he realized he had not been following God as he thought because he had been persecuting Jesus. The very one the scriptures he had studied was pointing too, he had missed. What a humbling experience. Being humbled is hard. We don’t like to be wrong, but the truth is there is no one besides Jesus that knows it all or has it all figured out, that is why we cannot boast in our own efforts or accomplishments because with out Jesus they mean nothing. Paul Himself in Philippians 3:7-9 says although he may have reason to boast if anyone does, he counts it all as nothing compared to knowing Christ.

Philippians 3:7–9 ESV

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Because without Christ or apart from Christ we can do nothing.

ILLUSTRATION:

If I am honest with you all, Pride is something that I struggle with, I like the spotlight, but the Lord as put me in seasons where there is not a visible platform to humble me and teach me that it is not about me, but it is about Him. The moments where I die to my pride, and allow the Lord to lead me and I trust him are the moments where my ministry and example are effective in reflecting Christ as Savior.

APPLICATION:

So reflect on your heart. Is it humble and teachable to receive from God, because God’s word says He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Transition Statement:

Another way to obey we learn from Saul is

Enduring faithfully produces good fruit.

Enduring faithfully looks like continuing to trust God and obey Him even in the suffering and waiting.

Again Suffering and Waiting are not something we like and it makes it difficult for us to obey.

So many times in the OT and even evidence in the NT that enduring suffering and waiting on God should produce dependence on Him, grow our faith, and become wise because we are looking to Him rather than ourselves.

In the text it says Saul waited for three days with out sight waiting on the Lord.

Acts 9:9 ESV

And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

He was suffering with blindness, no food or water, and waiting on God to move. I don’t know what this was like for Saul but if I am in his shoes it would be hard for me. Being blind is new, he had to have people help him walk when he was use to doing it all himself, he is probably thinking through everything that has happened and by the third day I would start to wonder okay God are you going to come through like you said. I think all of us when we suffer or wait it often times makes us question God rather than grow closer to Him - there was a poem Tanya gave to me this week that reflects our struggle when things might not go the way we want them.

ILLUSTRATION:

POEM -

A sign of spiritual maturity, Don’t hear me say that suffering and waiting are not hard, because they are and there are, often times lots of questions we have and things we don’t understand, but a sign of spiritual maturity is when we encounter suffering and waiting we grow closer to the Lord rather than apart from Him.

If you really look at this story It says Saul was waiting for three days, well what was he doing for three days, was he throwing a fit, and trying to figure this all out, was he complaining, was he angry. From what Acts 9:11 tells us

Because of Saul and the other heros of the faith that obeyed even in the midst of suffering and trusted in the Lord faithfulness through whatever they encountered God used them to grow the Kingdom of God and advance it for the glory of the Lord.

Acts 9:11 ESV

And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying,

He was praying, trusting the Lord was going to be faithful to His word, He was obeying what God said to do even in the waiting and suffering. So many passages in the Word help us to see that waiting and suffering are definitely a part of our world, but when we wait and suffer well, there is so much fruit. Take Romans 5:3-5

Romans 5:3–5 ESV

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Suffering and waiting are hard but for the believers in the room we don’t suffer and wait without hope.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Application:

Remember you are a chosen instrument of God and play a part in His grand story of redemption, so do not give up, do not lose heart. Continue to obey and trust God, and though you may not always see the fruit of obedience it will produce and grow.

Maybe you are encountering some suffering and waiting in this season. Suffer and wait well by drawing closer to the Lord and depending on Him, remembering you have hope.

INVITATION:

SO church how do you need to respond today?

Do you need to know who Jesus is today? He humbled himself and was obedient to the point of death on a cross to die for your sin so that you could live. He has been pursuing you and wanting you to be a part of His family in fact He is inviting you to join the family of God today. Will you humble yourself and trust Him as Lord of your life?

Maybe God has been telling you to do something, putting it on your heart and mind? My encouragement is obey Him.

DO you need to repent of the sin of pride? DO you need to let go of bitterness and forgive? DO you need to find a time and a place to spend quality time with God? DO you need to rejoice in the midst of the suffering and waiting you are currently experience because of the Hope that is to come?

Would you respond today church, after all

JESUS IS LORD, and He wants you to play a part in His story of redemption.