Blinded by the Light

So Wrong

It wasn’t just that I “didn’t like coffee”, I was like a coffee persecutor. I have a hard time just letting people like things that I don’t like.

It’s because I’m a terrible person.

As a teenager, I tried coffee. It was bitter and disgusting and gross! And no matter how you dolled it up, poured in creamer and sugar, at the root was this gross bitter awful taste.

So here was my theory that I spouted off to anyone and everyone. No ever asked… I offered my “sage” opinion.

Nobody likes coffee the first time they try it. They force themselves to like it or pretend to like it at first, maybe they come to actually like it later.

“The only people who like coffee are teenagers trying to pretend to be adults” - Dusty Mackintosh

The more I told that story, the harder it was for me to ever try coffee. I was more and more committed to the anti-coffee league. I went for tea, I ordered all kinds of specialty loose-leaf teas. Obviously better than coffee in every way.

If herbal tea is tea, than so is coffee. It’s just gross tea.

Of course, if miso soup is soup, then so is coffee. I’ll let you think on that one.

The more I spouted this kind of ridiculousness the more entrenched I was in it. Dusty - he hates coffee. It becomes more a piece of identity.

Then one day, in my mid-30s, I had a sudden realization. I’m an arrogant jerk. Many people had realized this many times before me, but I am still figuring out all the ways.

I thought, can billions of people who love coffee be completely wrong? The answer: yes. They can be… but is it just barely possible that there is something there to discover and enjoy? Yes, it’s possible. So I forced myself to drink a cup of coffee every day for a year.

And now, ladies and gentlemen… I confess my sins as a coffee-hater and pledge myself to the Way of Coffee.

Saul - Before

Saul, who held the coats as men stoned Stephen. Indicating at least his approval, and maybe that he organized the deed.

Acts 8:1–3 ESV

And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Acts 9:1–2 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.

Acts 22:3–4 ESV

“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women,

How committed is he to this course?

His whole understanding of God is wrapped up in this.

His career, on the rise, is all dependent on this.

His entire community, his sense of family, it is all fully committed here. Likely his parents are influential Pharisees in order for him to have trained under Gamaliel.

Gamaliel whom we met speaking wise words in the temple. A man so revered in the Jewish community that he himself was called the “beauty of the law”. As in the law was never so beautiful as when Gamaliel taught it.

His own mentor, Gamaliel has already written Christianity off, so his whole support structure is anti-Christ. He is committed in every way one possibly can be against the name and person of Jesus Christ.

And at the point you have started killing people.... dragging men and women to prison… “ravaging” the church… isn’t it too late?

What do you think the church was praying for?

Freedom from Saul, the ravager. Saul the oppressor. “Lord, protect us from him.” The enemy in every sense.

For the first time, here, the community of Christ is given a new name. Those belonging to “the Way.” “Any of the way”. What a great name! Way of salvation, way of the Lord, way of God… those are used interchangeably. Jesus called himself the “way, the truth and the life.” This is what the early church called itself. The name “Christians” comes quite a bit later and is “their word.” I think it is powerful and meaningful that the early church, when reaching for a way to describe themselves, described themselves as people of the road, people on the road, as if in motion or actively following, chasing after their Master.

Saul is on a VERY different road. On the road to “Damascus”. Traveling 135 miles to a big city, a prosperous commercial center. He would not appear “close” or “ready” to meet Jesus in any sense we would understand it. Absolutely nobody is looking at Saul and saying today is going to be the day that everything changes. The road to Damascus is hate heading for violence. It is persecution looking to persecute. It is the enemy of God’s people

All of that brilliance. All of that passion. Sincere and, I think, from the heart. “His truth” was that God was one and Jesus was a fraud, so all the “followers of the Way” were heretics. Dangerous false teachers and idolaters.

And we live in a world where passion is everything. “Live your truth”! “You do you!” Saul is living his truth out FULLY. He is chasing his understanding of the Divine.

No matter how right you think you are, if you are in disagreement with Jesus, you’re wrong.

The Road to Damascus

A story so good, Acts tells it thrice.

Acts 9:1–9 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?” 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.

I’ll read the story as Paul tells it himself in a few years.

Acts 22:3–11 ESV

“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished. “As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’ Now those who were with me saw the light but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. 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.’ And since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and came into Damascus.

Blinded by the Light

What happened here? From who Saul was, proud and confident, full of self-righteous zealotry… to a humiliated blind man, led by the hand and waiting on the word of Jesus.

What happened?

Everyone else heard the voice… but didn’t understand the words. They saw the blinding light, brighter than the noon day sun in Jerusalem (by the way, that’s very bright)!

What things do we have brighter than that? Nuclear explosions, I guess? Arc welding without a helmet? Like a tiny nova above the road and Saul looking right at it...

On a road that looks NOTHING LIKE repentance. NOTHING LIKE progress towards Jesus. It doesn’t have to. Jesus shows up.

In a moment of light.

Acts 9:5–6 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.”

Jesus identifies himself with his church. Paul isn’t persecuting his followers or his people or his church… he is persecuting Jesus himself.

You cannot love Jesus and hate his Church. (Church with a capital ‘C’). That isn’t the same as disagreeing with the church at times, or recognizing that it is full of sinners, and how many people have been hurt by sinners within the church. All of us, I bet. But Jesus here completely identifies himself with his people… to hate them is to hate Jesus. To persecute them is to persecute Jesus himself.

I think Saul (who would come to be known as Saul) would reflect on this later as he describes the church even in particular cities and places as Christ’s body. Unified diversity.

But Paul tells this story over and over for a purpose. He draws the contrast, he stresses the contrast between who he was before and on the road to Damascus… and who he was after. Saul is radically transformed on the road to Damascus from a proudly murderous zealot to a humbled blind follower. Saul is radically transformed on the road to Damascus from a proudly murderous zealot to a humbled blind follower.

There is no explanation or rationale for Saul’s radical except this: Saul saw the Light from Heaven - Jesus. Confronted by the objective reality of a risen Savior, Saul leaves everything he has and has been to wait on Jesus’ instructions.

Jesus changes everything.

Who are you praying for, that Jesus would show up for them? Maybe they are “close” like the Ethiopian eunuch on the road. You can hear them asking the “God questions”.

But maybe they are as far away from God as it is possible to me. Full of anger, full of hate, full of hurt.

When Jesus shows up, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter how “close” they seemed or didn’t seem to you. Jesus can reveal himself in the pages of Scripture, he can reveal himself slowly through the patient love and care of saints over the course of years, or in a moment of light.

So mothers pray for their sons, that they would a “road to Damascus” moment.

We pray for our loved ones.

“People don’t change”… and they don’t, generally. It is rare for a person to truly change in significant ways, for the course of their life to shift. But Jesus changes everything.

He is a God of transformations. From nothing to Creation. From death to resurrection. From Saul to Paul. From sinner to saint.

From the Road to Damascus to the Way, the Truth and the Life.

It isn’t too late for those we love to be saved.

It isn’t too late for our enemies to be transformed in a moment. Pray for them, pray for those who curse you. Bless those who persecute you. More about that next week.

Transform Me

Could my enemies be so transformed? Yes, in a moment.

My friends, my family? Yes. When Jesus shows up as only He can.

Can I be so changed? Jesus can transform you in a moment or over the course of a lifetime. He did both in Saul. He has done both in me.

We serve a God of transformations.

Jesus changes everything.

Maybe you are on the Road to Damascus. Not as dramatic as Saul, you don’t want to hurt anyone. But you are on the road that feels like it leads away from God, away from Jesus.

May Jesus meet you on the road. On the way, may He meet you as the Way, the Truth and the Life.

The day Saul lost everything he had going for him, what should have been the worst day of his life. This is how he described it:

Philippians 3:4–6 ESV

though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Philippians 3:7–8 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

May we be so transformed by knowing Christ Jesus, our Lord.

So, people of the Way, let’s worship the Risen Jesus and walk into His Marvelous Light.