God's Chosen Instruments

MAIN IDEA: God is now ready to appoint a highly trained, full-time missionary to the Gentiles. He selects Saul of Tarsus and changes his life to fit this role.

NOTE: This is a great picture of how God moves us from where we are to where he wants us to be.

SUPPORTING IDEA: God can call who every he chooses to fulfill his kingdom purpose.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Saul was certainly a zealous and passionate individual. The only problem was that his zeal was to exterminate the very people that God is calling him to join in spreading of the gospel message. Saul had no intention of letting the church end with the death of Stephen and the expulsion of believers from Jerusalem. Saul had obtained orders from the high priest and headed northeast to Damascus in Syria, intending to bring back as prisoners any Christians he could find.

Damascus was an important city, about six days journey on foot, and apparently this was a place to which many Christians fled following the death of Stephen. It would then appear that these papers from Jerusalem could be conveniently served in Damascus so Saul made this his first target, doubtless intending to follow up this campaign in many more cities.

NOTE: At this point in Christian History believers were not yet called they were called, “followers of the Way.” It was not until Antioch (Acts 11:26 that they were termed Christians. Notice that Luke wants us to know that this is not a gender specific persecution. Saul intended to arrest any and all who belonged to “the Way,” and bring them back to Jerusalem for imprisonment.

Saul had nearly completed his six-day journey as he approached Damascus, 175 miles north of Jerusalem, the second oldest city in the world still in existence (Tarsus is the oldest).

GOD TURNS SAUL’S MISSION OF HATE INTO A MISSION OF MERCY

Acts 9:5–6 ESV

5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

Note: The Greek word for Lord (Kyrios) could mean “sir”. Some have suggested that Saul used that polite form of address. More likely in view of light and sound coming down from heaven, he meant to say, “Lord” in a worshipful way. He could have never prepared himself for the answer that he would receive: “ I am Jesus,” whom you are persecuting. Before he could recover from the shock he received new orders to go into the city, the first of many commands from Christ this man would obey. In Saul’s view, one of the worst aspects of Christian blasphemy had been their claim that Jesus of Nazareth was alive; now he must face this reality.

The Lord gave to His newly chosen one a new faith....

New interpretation of the OT

New perspective on divine redemption

new world-view

new identification with followers of the Way

New mission for his life

Conversion Is Like Waking Up to an Alarm Clock

Bible scholar N.T. Wright uses the analogy of waking up in the morning for how some people come to Christ through a dramatic, instant conversion and others come to Christ through a gradual conversion:

Waking up offers one of the most basic pictures of what can happen when God takes a hand in someone's life. There are classic alarm-clock stories, Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, blinded by a sudden light, stunned and speechless, discovered that the God he had worshipped had revealed himself in the crucified and risen Jesus of Nazareth. John Wesley found his heart becoming strangely warm and he never looked back. They and a few others are the famous ones, but there are millions more.

And there are many stories, thought they don't hit the headlines in the same way, of the half-awake and half-asleep variety. Some people take months, years, maybe even decades, during which they aren't sure whether they're on the outside of Christian faith looking in, or on the inside looking around to see if it's real.

As with ordinary waking up, there are many people who are somewhere in between. But the point is that there's such a thing as being asleep, and there's such a thing as being awake. And it's important to tell the difference, and to be sure you're awake by the time you have to be up and ready for action, whatever that action may be.

1. Christianity is a converting Religion

WHAT IS CONVERSION

It is a change in Character, Form and Purpose

a change of attitude, emotion, or viewpoint from one of indifference, disbelief, or antagonism to one of acceptance, faith, or enthusiastic support, especially such a change in a person's religion.

To be a Christian is to:

To believe that everyone has sinned against the one and only Holy God

To believe that Jesus Christ God’s one and only Son has come into the world to die once and for all in the place of sinners

To believe everyone who repents and believes will be reconciled to God and have eternal life

To believe that those who don’t will perish.

Not only that but to:

To believe that the most loving thing in the world we can do is to pray and witness and live so as to persuade others to change the way they think, feel, live, and become Christians as we are.

This is the way things were from the beginning, when Christians saw Christianity as a converting religion. It tried to win converts from all other religions and walks of life because besides Jesus,

Acts 4:12 ESV

12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

NOTE: The Pharisee Saul, who later became the missionary Paul, saw Christianity as a threat to his own religion, so he attacked it with tremendous zeal - until the undeniable truth overcame him and made him one of the greatest converts that Christianity has ever known.

Cultural Shift in how we see your Mission as the Church

Should Christians say that their aim is to convert others to Faith in Christ

John Piper

Given the the very definition of conversion, Yes, all Christians should aim to convert people to faith in Jesus Christ. This is one of our aims in all we say and do. We hope and pray that everything we say and do will have this effect. In other words, our aim is not to say things and do things that are ineffectual. We desire—we hope, we yearn, we pray—that what we say and do will have this effect: that people will treasure Christ above all. Not to want this is either unbelief or lovelessness.

Note: Even though God is the ultimate and decisive cause in the conversion of someone coming to Christ, we are not merely casual agents or observers of this conversion.

Christian conversion moves blind people to glorifying God people.

Christian conversion involves spiritually blinded people being able to see the Glory of Christ.

Though God opens the eyes of the spiritually blind God will eventually send Paul to open their eyes.

2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV

6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Christian conversion moves self treasuring people to Christ devoting people.

Christian conversion involves winning people from treasuring one thing above Christ to full devotion in Christ.

Christian conversion moves sin and destruction people to light of the world people.

Christian conversion involves bringing people back from the path of sin and destruction.

Christian conversion moves worldly affection people to God’s own heart people.

Christian conversion involves turning the heart toward the true God and away from the wrong affections of the world.

One way to think of conversion is to think of a Conversion van....

The Essence of Conversion is to Turn

God only selects and calls people who will serve him in a visable and public way, but also those who support that work behind the scenes.

I. To Turn

We must turn from one way or thing to another.

The interior is turned.

One way of thinking to another

PROBLEM

Many times people see Salvation as a one and done, momentary action and miss the process that is taking place at the moment of our Salvation.

II. The Extent of our Turning

A. Similar to the Conversion van

Exterior remains essentially the same.

Interior is turned.

When a man is converted something happens.

B. Biblical teaching.

1 Thessalonians 1:9 ESV

9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Acts 26:17–18 ESV

17 delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

B Implications

Salvation is more than praying a prayer.

Conversion involves turning.

No turn, no conversion.

Have you been converted? What is causing you pause or problems in your turning?

2. Paul’s conversion was for you personally

What I want you all to see this morning is that the conversion story of Paul with all of it’s parts is for you personally. God’s infinite design in converting Paul was to show you that if he can reach and convert Paul, there is hope for you and for all people to be converted.

DON’T MISS THIS FACT ABOUT THE RESULTS OF PAUL’S CONVERSION

1 Timothy 1:15b–16 ESV

15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

GOD HAD YOU IN VIEW WHEN HE SAVED PAUL

What an awesome thought that God saved Paul for your benefit in order that you might see the “overflowing grace” of God and the divine “mercy” and “perfect patience” and take courage and hope for your own salvation and for the salvation of others.

The conversion of a Zealous Opponent

The conversion of Paul was the conversion of someone who was utterly commited to oppose Christianity at any cost.

NOTE: Luke stresses this in Acts 8:3 when he says, “But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged of men and women and committed them to prison.”

Now, in Acts 9:1-2 He says that Paul was not just threatening the Christians, but he was, “breathing threats.” It is as thought the persecution of Christians was the very air he breathed. This was not a minor peripheral thing in Paul’s life. It was not just a hobby or a past-time with Paul. It went right to the core of who he was as a Pharisee. Christianity with it’s message of Salvation apart from the works of the law would turn all of Paul’s religious work and achievements to rubbish. And be the end of all of his boasting. Paul later makes this clear in his letter to the Church at Philippi.

Philippians 3:7–8 ESV

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 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

What God wants us to see

The most unlikely people can and will be converted

Paul is the last person that anyone would have expected to be converted. His opposition is too deep and too articulate. So much of his life would be threatened if Christianity were true! Not to mention that he has taken such a public stand that it would be utterly humiliating for him to now change his mind and support the very thin that he fought so hard against.

The chief of sinners was converted. And that means hope in evangelism and in your own faltering walk with the Lord.

Conversion comes to us suddenly and unexpectedly

Acts 9:3 ESV

3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.

Paul never links his conversion to any preparatory work of God in his life at all. He did not see his conversion as the climax of a long process of God’s convicting him of sin or of frustrating him with his life or of scaring him with death or hell. All those things may have happened in an instant. but there was no long process. The conversion was sudden and utterly unexpected. Paul was blind but now he see’s.

NOTE: A thing to remember is that we should not despair over those who show no signs of being prepared for conversion. It is a mistake to think that prayers for others are only effective if they have immediate effect in some kind of openness or interest of spiritual sensitivity.

Paul was not open and not interested and not spiritually sensitive to the Gospel. He was utterly closed by any stretch of the imagination convinced that Christianity was untrue and spiritually dead in trespasses and sins as he says in:

Ephesians 2:3 ESV

3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

NOTE: Paul was not ripe for the picking. He was beyond picking. He was hard and dry and shriveled up. What happened to Paul was unexpected and totally overpowering and the same thing happens in the lives of people today. We should keep praying, and keep speaking the truth in Love.

Paul’s conversion was a work of Divine Grace: Jesus totally took over the Damascus road in a big way. He was not responding to anything that Paul had done to win God’s grace. It was utterly sovereign, that means it was utterly the free unmerited and overwhelming favor of God. Whatever resistance that Paul might have been able to put up against God’s sovereign grace gave way before the triumphant love of God.

“While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Acts 9:17–18 ESV

17 So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “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.” 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized;

Note: The evidence of God’s sovereign work in our life causes the scales to fall from our eyes and the Holy Spirit loosens our tongue to proclaim the Glory of God.

Big Idea: Our call is not to protest the Culture but, to proclaim the Gospel to the culture.

What is Culture:A culture is a way of life of a group of people-the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next.

The gospel must be preached afresh and told in new ways to every generation, since every generation has its own unique questions. The gospel must constantly be forwarded to a new address, because the recipient is repeatedly changing his place of residence.

To speak about global issues to inner-city people with their problems and never speak to their issues is to fail them.

3. Our conversion should always lead us to Proclamation

Supporting Idea: The change in conversion is directly related to the new believer placed between himself and God. In this case, one who had spoken publicly against the name of Jesus now proclaims it at every opportunity.

Why so many believers go their whole lives without sharing the gospel with one person? or making one convert in their lifetime?

The idea of our Christian faith, and beliefs has long been considered a private matter between a person and their God. Who or whatever that may be for them.

However, in scripture we do not see a picture of such a follower of Christ. Every time someone is converted to the Christian faith it leads to Action. There is no such thing as a part way Christian, or a closet Christian. That person does not exist in the economy of God.

1 Peter 3:15 ESV

15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

Who do we share the Gospel with? When do we share it? How do we share it?

NOTE: For some time American Christians have been convinced that their witness is in terms of “sharing the gospel.” On one level the terminology is positive, conveying the gracious act of giving others a treasure we possess. However, if by “sharing” we imply a kind of charity where we only give the gospel to willing recipients, then our Christian language needs to change.

Sharing the gospel is not a biblically accurate way to describe what is happening, scripture instead speaks of it in terms of preaching the gospel, declaring and proclaiming the message.

2 Timothy 4:2 ESV

2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

You may say, what could be wrong in sharing the gospel? Isn’t the greater problem that people aren’t sharing it at all? However, I think the greater issue is the urgency in which we proclaim the gospel to a lost and dying world.

Throughout the book of Acts we find repeated examples of authoritative witness - even in the face of suffering - from the apostles and early Church. We find them proclaiming the gospel and preaching boldly. We see them testifying before governors, bearing witness before civil crowds and angry mobs. What we do not find them doing is “sharing the gospel.”

What if you are a baseball coach simply telling your pitcher to toss the ball? Not to throw strikes. Or work the corners, OR change speeds, Or pound it inside. Just toss the ball. Would the pitcher have an accurate understanding of their responsibility? What if you told your starting quarter back, just toss the ball down the football field with no instructions.

SHARING THEN MORPHS INTO GIVING SOMETHING TO SOMEONE WHO DESIRES IT.

Children share (or don’t share) legos with other kids who want them. Friends share a great cookie recipe with another friend who asks for it. In each case, we share with others because they are asking for what we possess. But the reality is, few people are ever going to come up to us and bet us to share the gospel with them.

To evangelize is to preach the good news, far more than just sharing it involves testifying to Christ - warning, persuading defending, pleading, and calling......

NOTE: Luke points out that Paul now went right to work proclaiming to have seen and experienced Jesus Christ the son of the living God. Immediately the scales fell from his eyes, and immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues. Notice the first place he went was the very place where he had been scheming with the religious establishment of the day to get rid of the Christians. You can imagine the bewilderment of the Jews in Damascus who had anticipated a raging bull persecutor to clean out the Christians from their city.

9:23-25 - Most scholars believe that many days may have been as long as three years. “Now the Hunter became the hunted”

NOTE: Paul already had converts and they helped him escape. Paul viewed this incident in his second letter to the Corinthian church to demonstrate the humiliation he experienced for the name of Christ.

The planned triumphal and powerful entrance into Damascus with the authority of the high priest ended with a Christian fugitive being lowered over the walls, just a basket case for Jesus.

Four Obstacles to Proclaiming the Gospel

1. Lack of knowledge

How many times have you heard the gospel in a sermon, book, or conversation? If you have been a Christian even for a short time, you have likely heard the gospel hundreds of times. Yet, many of us still struggle to articulate the truth of the gospel in a simple coherent, intelligible way. Could you proclaim the essentials of the gospel message in 60 seconds?

2. Apathy

Some of us just don’t care that much about lost people. We wouldn’t ever say it, but our priorities and lives reveal it. WE make no time in our busy schedules to interact and engage with those who don’t know Christ. We have long stopped praying for the lost. Lost people are a low priority in our lives.

3. Fear

What will others think of me? What if they reject the message and the messenger. Some are paralyzed by the thought of being disliked, marginalized, laughed at, or openly mocked. We are afraid we will lose business or get passed up for that promotion. What if they stop inviting my kids to birthday parties? What if talking about Christ makes them feel uncomfortable.

4. Lack of Compassion

Maybe we simply lack compassion for the lost. We have long forgotten what it was like to live without hope, lost and apart from Christ. We rarely consider that those who do not obey Christ “will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of God in a very real place the bible calls hell. We can say we care however, we rarely if ever cry out to God for the salvation of our neighbors, coworkers, and family members. Paul’s compassion in Romans 9:3 is utterly foreign to us: “ I could with that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers.”

Within the context of the Christian community we need other believers to remind us of ht every truths we need to hear.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“We speak to one another on the basis of the help we both need. We admonish one another to go the way that Christ bids us go. We warn one another against the disobedience that is our common destruction. We are gentle and we are severe with one another, for we know both God’s kindness and God’s severity.

All Christians need other believers to help them grow in their understanding of the gospel. We all need others in our lives who spur us on to even greater compassion and zeal for the lost by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ willingly and boldly.

4 Steps to Proclaiming more of the Gospel

1. Pray Together for the Lost

Whenever we gather together as a community of believers we should always make it a priority to pray for the lost in addition to our other prayer concerns. When your bible study leaders ask for prayer requests, how often do our minds go immediately to the lost in our community? Remember that after Peter and John were released from prison, the Church gathered together to pray for greater evangelistic zeal and boldness to proclaim the gospel message.

A great way to consistently do this is at the close of our Bible study or community groups each week ask this question: What truths did we learn about God and who can we share this with in our spheres of influence this week?

2. Recall the gospel together.

As God’s people recall the gospel truth together, and all that God has done to show us grace upon grace, it helps combat gospel amnesia by reminding one another that God’s mission is to save sinners through the work of his son Jesus. You were converted and saved to proclaim the good news of the gospel.

3. Apply the gospel Together

In Galatians 2:11-14 Paul opposes Peter because Peter’s conduct and behavior were not in step with the gospel. We need fellow Christians who will tell us that its not okay to not care about the lost. Such attitudes are not in step with the gospel.

When fear and apathy are exposed, it is a fresh opportunity to apply the gospel to our own lives. If we are fearful of what others might think, we are reminded that our identity is in Christ and our lives belong to him.

Evangelism is one measure of our spiritual maturity. For many, theological knowledge does not translate to fruits of the Spirit - namely love.

4. Prove the power of the Gospel together

If we do not believe in the sufficiency of the gospel we will never boldly proclaim it. However, if we truly believe that God’s word does the work of conversion through the power of the Holy Spirit, we will unashamedly share the simple and unadulterated truth of the gospel. But a gospel that can save by grace through faith - apart from works - as a free gift (Ephesians 2:8-9) is believed, treasured, and declared boldly.

Therefore, with fellow believers we must constantly remind each other of the sufficiency of God’s word to be about the mission of God in the world.

If we fully understand that our confidence does come in our knowledge, ability, or social status, but in the transformative power of the gospel alone, we can now boldly and indiscriminately proclaim this good news with sacrificial love to the lost in the hope that some will be saved.

CONCLUSION

What the Church Really Needs If the church were to lose its hierarchy, its clergy, its vast collection of buildings, its stores of learning amassed over the centuries, even the text of its sacred books, and had to face the world with nothing more than the living presence of the Risen Jesus and the mission to proclaim the Good News to all nations and people, it would be no less a church than the church of Peter and Paul. Perhaps it might be more of a church than it is now.

How are you proclaiming the gospel in the Culture where God has placed you to live, among the people that he has saved you to proclaim the gospel to?