Preparing for Ministry - Acts 9:19-30 - Part 16
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning! Welcome to our first annual Church in the Park service. While we may be in a different location, our study through Acts continues. Saul has just experienced Christ on the road toward Damascus and is led into the city by the hand since he cannot see at the moment.
It is in the city that he finds himself in the home of a man named Judas while he is hoping to recover his sight. Three days pass when a man named Ananias is called to the side of Saul. It is here that Ananias lays hands on Saul and says, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
It is as this point that Saul’s sight is restored and he is baptized. This is where we will pick up this morning. A remarkable conversion has taken place; perhaps the greatest (or at least most outwardly aggressive) opponent of Christianity has been brought into the folds of God’s grace. He has experienced Jesus face to face and come to the humbling reality that He is the Messiah.
The reality of his persecution against not only the Church, but also against Jesus is a low point for Saul. But it is that brokenness that brings him into forgiveness, mercy, and salvation.
Saul (also better known as Paul) would become one of the greatest missionaries of the early church, planting no less than 9 churches in Gentile regions and writing (through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) 13 or 14 books (Hebrews being unknown to this day).
But it wouldn’t happen overnight. It would take seasons of preparation and ministerial failures to help mature Paul into the man we know him to be. This is what our passage is all about this morning—the importance of preparation. And do not think that preparation is ONLY for pastors and ministers. Preparation is far more than just seminary. Preparation comes in many ways and even through disappointments and failures (as we will see with Saul). But as difficult as those chapters are, they very well may be maturing us for greater opportunities for service. This is a message that I hope encourages us to greater ministry to bring God the glory He is due. I also hope it would be an encouragement for any this morning that may feel their ministry or calling has been ineffective or has plateaued to an extent; for those saying to themselves, “I thought this would have been better…”
Paul was remarkable; his ministry was incredible; his resume by the end of it would make him a remarkable hire for any church. And even so, he was met with failure on many occasion and disappointment right off the bat.
If Paul was here today I think he would agree with me; sometimes what we see as failure in ministry is simply God preparing us for something greater down the road.
If you have your Bibles with you this morning, please turn with me to Acts chapter 9 as we begin in verse 19.
PRAY
For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
Saul had not yet had the training or experience but he did the one thing he knew he had to and that was to proclaim Jesus. And the response from the people was amazement. I mean this is a man who was—just days prior—hunting them down! He was one of the greatest opponents to the faith and now he is walking into synagogues proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah! It is truly amazing, and the response is what one would expect.
And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?”
The word “amazed” in the Greek is ekstasis which means ecstatic. And I will say that although Saul was new to “the Way,” he was no doubt incredibly intelligent, he had a deep knowledge of the Law and Prophets as a protégé under the rabbi Gameliel. He was a formidable opponent to the early Church in part because of these things and now he would prove to be a formidable opponent to Pharisees and Sadducees. We can already see this taking shape in verse 22.
But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.
Things seem to be going well for our newest and hottest convert. Already he was confounding opponents and proving to them that Jesus was the Christ. Perhaps this brought about a sense of pride for Saul. I’m not sure since it never says one way or the other but I could understand if it did.
It’s been said there are three stages in every Christian life—”This is easy!” “This is hard!” and “This is impossible!” Saul is at stage one but will soon find himself at stage two and eventually at stage three.
We must understand that even though Saul has a lot of things going for him—his educational background, his confidence, his articulation and debate skills, his study of the Scriptures—he was still not ready for the mission God had for him. This is why I think there was some pride still lingering within Saul because one cannot have a truly successful ministry and be filled with an arrogance.
And you can see in Paul’s future letters that the confidence he had never wanes, it is just directed towards God rather than himself and he shows remarkable humility throughout.
So what we see next in chapter nine is how God prepares Saul for ministry. And you may be surprised at just how much time will pass between verses 22 and 23. Let us continue.
When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.
Luke is somewhat vague here in verse 23 but we come to read elsewhere that these “many days” were actually three whole years!
But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days.
The majority of scholars agree that this period of “many days” and the period with which Paul writes about to the Galatians is one and the same. And so the first step in Saul’s preparation for ministry was a time of solitude in the desert—just him and the Lord.
What is significant as well is that this is the Sinai desert. This isn’t what we know today as the Arabian peninsula; no, this was the same wilderness in which God has prepared His leaders before. This is the same region in which Moses spent forty years being prepared to deliver the Lord’s people from Egypt. It is the same wilderness the Elijah appeared.
As one theologian points out, here in Sinai Moses received the Law and Saul learned about God’s grace. I think our culture today can learn a lot about this moment. I think that if a figure such as Saul had such a miraculous conversion today, we would immediately promote him and get him to share his testimony left, right, and center. We would put him on a platform and place him on a pedestal that he would not be spiritually mature enough to handle.
When in reality, what he needed was a humbling and a time of spiritual maturation. And again, pointing to the real possible reality that pride was still present in Saul at this time is perhaps seen in what he writes to Timothy speaking of those who should be considered for leadership.
He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.
The natural tendency today would be to promote Saul. But God’s plan was to seclude him in order to prepare him. We don’t know what exactly took place in the Arabian desert for Saul; these three years are a mystery to everyone aside from God and Saul, but I do believe that he wrestled with and came to an answer to two questions—the same questions that he asked on the road to Damascus.
Who are you, Lord?
What shall I do, Lord?
And I think these two questions are imperative for every one of us to answer in our lives; and during seasons of preparation are the perfect times to find such answers.
Because I think that by answering these two questions we find out who God is, and in turn, who we are and what we are to do.
WHO GOD IS
The first thing Saul would learn (as evidence of his ministry) was who Jesus is. He already has a great start as he was proclaiming (and proving) that Jesus was the Christ.
This is Jesus’ prayer for all of us; to know Him!
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
And Saul would truly know Christ and have an unquenchable thirst to know him deeper still for the rest of his life as seen in his letter to the Philippian church.
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— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
Saul first experienced the love of Christ on the road to Damascus. Jesus told him, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” He came to realize that Christ identified so strongly with His followers that when they were persecuted, He was persecuted. He was a God who empathized with His people, a Messiah who understood and experienced suffering—as he experienced the pain, heaviness, and loneliness of the cross for us.
And that understanding would continue to deepen throughout the course of his life and ministry.
WHO HE WAS
Secondly, Saul began to understand truly who he was. Whenever we come to see ourselves for who we truly are in light of who God truly is there is a brokenness that comes over us.
A great example of this is seen in the prophet Isaiah. He was entrusted by God to give the nation of Judah to give them warning for their sinful living and exhort them to return to the Lord. And for a time he saw himself as above his peers, one of the very few faithful among the many depraved.
But then he sees a vision of the Lord and his whole understanding of himself changes.
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
He saw himself through the eyes of a perfect and holy God. Isaiah would later write, in chapter 64, that all of mankind’s righteous deeds are like a polluted garment (filthy rags in other translations).
This humble understanding of who we are and who God is, is exactly what we all need to come to. What he needed was to get over being Saul, which is what he did.
Eventually we will get to the part of Acts where we see him referred to as Paul, which was his preference. Saul was his Hebrew name, Paul his Greek name, and as an apostle to the Gentiles that would be what he would go by. But I also think there was another reason; the name Paul (Paulos) in Greek means “small.” He understood who he was and who God is. It is what we all need if we are to find ourselves to be effective servants for God’s glory.
I love Alan Redpath’s quote:
When God wants us to do an impossible task, God takes an impossible man and crushes him,
We must come to the end of ourselves before God uses us. Have we come to that point?
WHAT GOD WANTED HIM TO DO
Once Saul understood who Jesus is and who he is, he would come to understand what God desired him to do.
And Saul would understand that he was chosen to be a great missionary for the Lord. He would also learn that service and suffering would—at times—go hand in hand. This is something Jesus promised Ananias.
For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
And Paul would confirm this struggle.
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
Of course, these three years in the wilderness weren’t the only time Saul spent in the presence of God, but it was a preparatory season in which he was broken down and built up. He was humbled and focused. It was a necessary season, and I believe to an extent, it is something necessary for all of us if we are to be effective in our service.
If we desire to serve God, we must spend time with Him. In our jobs, you cannot do what your superiors want you to do if you aren’t conversing regularly. Likewise, we cannot know and do the will of God if we are not in proper communication with Him.
Now, God may not ask us to spend three years in the wilderness and seclusion (although He might!). But we do need that one on one time with Him.
Moses would spend the first 40 years of his life thinking he was someone else (son of the Pharaoh). Then 40 years learning who God was calling him to be. And then 40 years of effective ministry leading God’s people in the wilderness.
Jesus would spend 18 years preparing for 3 years of ministry, which began with 40 days alone in the wilderness. Jesus would also be an example for us of going off daily to a quiet place to spend time in the presence of the Father.
We need to retreat regularly—often daily—to commune with God and be prepared by Him to accomplish what He is calling us to. And I think a great reminder for our culture is that this doesn’t happen overnight. Sure, Saul’s conversion was quick, but the preparation for ministry took years. And would also take failures and struggles and disappointments to continue to produce a perseverance and depth of faith in him.
As one pastor explained it: It takes time to make good coffee—and to grow in maturity. In a culture that is impatient and rushing this way and that, we must be reminded that God is never in a hurry. His mission and His plan is building for eternity.
The minister Lloyd Ogilvie stated:
When I look to those times out of the mainstream of what I thought the Lord was doing, I can see that I was being better prepared for fast-moving currents which later carried me on the high seas of adventure and effectiveness. The Lord will not use us until he has made us ready. Then we thank him for knowing what he is doing.
So now Saul was ready, right? Successful ministry is right around the corner! Yes, and no. He’s ready to enter into the field of ministry, but he was going to face some difficulties right off the bat as we have already read.
When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.
While ministering in Damascus, Saul ends up facing the same persecution that he was dishing out years prior. He’s now experiencing the other side of the effort. But what is more, this is the response to his ministry and outreach—an attempt on his life.
And one can wonder what his initial prayers were like. “Is this really what all the preparation was for? Just to nearly brought to death, having to escape through an opening in the wall? I thought I was going to help save souls!”
But on the other side of the coin, perhaps this was kind of exciting for Saul. In the words of Winston Churchill, “Nothing is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.” But all in all, I believe this was just another step in his preparation and maturity. It was a humbling experience as he would write about it to the Corinthian church later on.
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.
I believe that this stiff resistance happened for a couple reasons. One, sometimes there isn’t a positive response to the gospel; after all it can be offensive. It tells us we are sinners. It tells us we are condemned to hell. It tells us we need a Savior. It oftentimes calls out our sin, and our flesh certainly doesn’t like that. But also, on a personal level, God was still molding Saul into the man he needed him to become. This was just another blow at his pride and this was a stepping stone to helping him come to terms with the reality that this is God’s work above his own.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
So by God’s grace and God’s guidance, Saul escapes from Damascus and makes his way back to Jerusalem.
And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.
Saul’s time in ministry is certainly starting off roughly. First, the Jews in Damascus respond to the Gospel with an attempt to take his life and now the believers in Jerusalem are rejecting him. Although I do find it understandable with what he had been responsible for previously. But this is where he finds himself; rejected by the Jews and rejected by the Christians. However, hope is not lost; verse 27.
But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.
Good old Barnabas. We all need a Barnabas in our lives; someone to come alongside to support, and encourage, and love. In fact, I think we should all seek to be a Barnabas in others’ lives.
No one else was willing to put their life on the line for Saul. Could this be a ploy from the hunter of Christians? Perhaps; but Barnabas—it appears—was a witness to the spiritual transformation of Saul and stands by him.
The name Barnabas means “son of encouragement” and is perhaps one of the most fitting names in Scripture because it seems that every time he makes an appearance in Scripture that is what he is doing.
And so Barnabas stands in the gap for Saul and they would become dear friends in life. Barnabas is an encourager, an interceder, a reconciler. And while Saul has faced some difficulties early on in his faith, we also see how God has protected him and cared for him.
Jesus directly meets Saul on the road to Damascus. But he also sends a faithful servant in Ananias to restore his sight and pray over and baptize him. Yes, Saul faces a life-threatening confrontation from his enemies, but God protects him and through the help of some kind believers, he escapes the threat. Yes, Saul was initially rejected by the Church in Jerusalem, but God sends his way the son of encouragement to stand in the gap for him and help bring him into safety and into the fold of the church.
The Greek language implies that Barnabas literally took Saul by the hand and led through the throng of the apostles. And because of this kindness, Galatians tells us that Saul got to know James, the brother of Jesus, as well as spend two weeks at Peter’s house.
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.
And so Saul would start, once again, to preach the name of Jesus.
So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
So things are still not going great for Saul. I think early on he is already learning how much he must suffer for the name of Jesus. But this is ministry. This is sharing the gospel. This is evangelism. For every wonderful story of conversion and salvation, there are others of rejection, anger, dispute, and even life-threatening situations.
And I don’t say this to discourage anyone, but to understand that this is the task we have been given. For Saul, this led to him being sent off to Tarsus for a season.
What can we learn from all of this? One, is that God will do what He needs to do to break down our human flesh and our pride in order to teach us that without Him we can do nothing.
And this can come in a myriad of ways. Sometimes through the loss of a job, or the death of a loved one. Perhaps it is financial burdens or a heartbreaking relationship. It may come in moments or in seasons. It may come as one thing or it may come in waves, but we must all come to the end of ourselves from time to time and when we do, God loves to build that person up in Himself. To renew and restore them. We saw that with Saul and many of you here probably have experienced it in your own life a time or two.
Second, it takes time to be built up by God. Just like any aspect of our lives, maturity takes time (more time for some). So utilize those seasons of quiet, still waters. Take the time to recharge and recalibrate and to just enjoy basking in the presence of God. Yes, there is a job to do and yes God will call you to it. But there may be a season of preparation beforehand.
But as we close, I want to read verse 31. Because up to this point it’s been a real struggle for Saul. However, there is some encouraging things happening.
So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.
When Saul was terrorizing the church there certainly wasn’t peace. But now there is. And the collective whole of the body of Christ is being built up, they are walking in proper fear of the Lord. They are being comforted by the Spirit.
So even though the response in Damascus and Jerusalem weren’t what Saul was hoping for, great things are still happening. Lives are being changed. Hope comes on the wings of the gospel.
God calls each of us into a life of ministry. This doesn’t mean you will be a pastor (though I’m a living testimony of “never say never”). It doesn’t mean you will necessarily be called into church leadership or be part of a Christian organization—although, again, you might. But ministry goes far beyond churches and organizations. As a spouse or a parent, your ministry begins in the home. These are souls that God has placed in your care. HUGE responsibility. Perhaps your ministry is among your co-workers or your neighbors or family members. What I’m saying is that there is no set, cookie-cutter way that ministry must look like.
God leads us all into different avenues with the same task and same goal—to bring the life and light of Jesus Christ into the hearts of people. So I am encouraging you to allow God to mold you and to mature you. See those seasons of trial and difficulty and perhaps failure as seasons that are the testing of your faith which is producing in you a steadfastness. Preparing you for an even greater work.
We have a wonderful and humbling opportunity to be used by God for His work and His glory. So let’s do it!
PRAY/COMMUNION
MEMORIAL DAY STATEMENT
This weekend, our country observes Memorial Day. It is both a solemn and sacred time to honor and remember the fallen heroes—men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice protecting our country and securing the freedoms we enjoy today (including the first amendment which gives us the freedom to worship as we are this morning).
In the book of Romans, Paul exhorts us to give “respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed” (Rom. 13:8). So we honor these brave men and women and we lift up our hearts in deepest gratitude for their sacrifice.
We also pray for comfort over the families that still carry the weight of their absence. We ask for the presence of God and His peace to wash over them today. May they find comfort in Him. We also lift up our current service members who continue to protect us and our freedoms. Let us never take for granted what we enjoy, remembering the great sacrifice required.
Let us pray for them, but before we begin let us honor those fallen with a moment of silence.
PRAY
