Christ Builds His Church by Converting Impossible Sinners

Introduction

Who is the main evangelist or missionary of the early Church?

In Jerusalem, the primary evangelist was Peter. He‘s the one preaching at Pentecost, and he’s the preacher Luke focuses on until Stephen’s sermon of judgment… after which persecution scatters Christians into Judea and Samaria.

Then in Samaria, Luke focuses on Philip as the main evangelist or missionary. It’s Philip who gained the attention of the Samaritan crowds, and it’s Philip who evangelized, baptized, and sent out the first Ethiopian convert.

In Acts 9, we are about to meet yet another evangelist or missionary… Saul/Paul. For nearly the rest of the book of Acts, Luke will focus on Saul’s/Paul’s missionary efforts and experiences. One might argue that Saul/Paul was indeed the main evangelist of the early Church.

But I think there is a more obvious person we might be overlooking if we say Saul/Paul was the main missionary. This is our opportunity to use that go-to Sunday school answer… Jesus.

Our passage this morning, along with the entire book of Acts, emphasizes the fact that Jesus is actually the main missionary.

Jesus is the main character of the gospel story… and Jesus is the initiator and enabler of the spread of that good news.

Jesus sent His Spirit to empower His witnesses in the world, and Jesus commissioned His followers as witnesses.

By His Spirit, Jesus progressively works out His logistical plan to evangelize the world, based on the blueprint He gave in Acts 1:8… He said to His disciples, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

May the Lord help us to see the wonder of His grace this morning, and may He also help us to find courage and hope in the fact that Christ Himself is the builder of His Church in the world.

Scripture Reading

Acts 9:1–31 (ESV)

1 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 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.

3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

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.”

7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 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. 9 And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 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, 12 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.”

13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”

15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

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; 19 and taking food, he was strengthened.

For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. 20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21 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?”

22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

23 When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, 24 but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, 25 but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.

26 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. 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. 28 So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.

29 And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. 30 And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

31 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.

Main Point

Jesus Christ builds His Church, despite all opposition, by converting impossible sinners through the proclamation of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Message Outline

An Insolent Opponent

A Gracious Sovereign

A Conversion with a Commission

Suffering but Welcomed

Despite Opposition, Christ Builds His Church

Message

1) An Insolent Opponent

Saul’s conversion stands out among the others in Acts 8-10.

The Ethiopian (Acts 8) and Cornelius, along with many other Gentiles (Acts 10), were God-fearers, searching the Scriptures and aiming to live (as much as they could) as servants of the God of the Bible.

Saul, on the other hand, was the very embodiment of self-righteous, arrogant rebellion that seemed to mark most of Israel’s leaders and many of its citizens.

David Peterson, commenting on Acts 9, said,

“through various means, Luke characterizes Saul as God’s enemy, ‘stiff-necked’ and resisting the Holy Spirit like all the other opponents of Stephen (7:51–52). He has murderous intentions against ‘the Lord’s disciples’ (8:3; 9:1) and is set like Herod and Pontius Pilate ‘against the Lord and his anointed one’ (4:26–27; cf. 9:4–5). He experiences a blinding like that of Elymas, who is later described as ‘an enemy of everything that is right’, who perverts the ways of the Lord (13:10–11; cf. 9:8–9).”

Saul was overtly hostile to Christians and Christianity.

Saul was “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” (v1).

Saul was traveling to Damascus with the intent to “bind” and “bring…to Jerusalem” [presumably for imprisonment and/or execution] any man or woman he might find “belonging to the Way” (v2).

Some years later, Saul/Paul confessed in his own words.

He said, “I was a blasphemer, [a] persecutor, and [an] insolent opponent” (1 Tim. 1:13).

This speaks of Saul’s/Paul’s violent and arrogant opposition to Jesus Christ and any who would follow Him.

Saul’s opposition to Christ had been so aggressive that no one could believe he had been converted.

Ananias said to Jesus, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man...” (v13), and Ananias didn’t want to be anywhere near Saul.

All the Jews in the synagogues throughout Damascus “were amazed” to hear Saul “proclaiming Jesus… saying, ‘He is the Son of God’” (v20-21).

Even “the disciples” in Jerusalem “were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that [Saul] was a disciple” (v26).

But, Jesus builds His Church, not by destroying all those who oppose Him, but by converting some of the very sinners who stand against Him so violently.

2) A Gracious Sovereign

Jesus is the heavenly sovereign.

As Saul made his way to Damascus, to arrest and imprison (and probably kill) more Christians, he saw “a light from heaven” (v3) and he “heard a voice” (v4).

This is a theophany (or, more specifically, a Christophany).

This sort of experience is the way the Bible regularly speaks of God confronting humans in real time and space.

Moses spoke of God’s presence at Mt. Sinai as a “great fire” and a “voice” the people of Israel heard “from the heavens” (Deut. 4:36).

Throughout much of Israel’s existence, God’s presence was visible on and in the “tabernacle” or “tent of meeting” in the form of a brilliant light or “fire” (Ex. 40:34-38).

When Jesus was transfigured in front of His disciples, revealing just a taste of His divine glory, Mark and Matthew both described bright light and a voice from the heavens (Matt. 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-7).

Saul saw the glory and heard the voice of the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity!

When Jesus said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (v5), there is no doubt that Saul felt the same dread and the same sorrow as those Israelites who responded to Peter on the day of Pentecost.

Peter had said, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36).

And some of them “were cut to the heart,” and they said, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).

Jesus showed incredible grace.

This whole encounter demonstrates Jesus’s incredible grace!

Jesus showed grace by not destroying Saul on the spot.

Jesus showed grace by revealing Himself to Saul, so that Saul would know that Jesus truly was/is the Christ.

Jesus showed grace by appointing Saul - an insolent opponent - as His “chosen instrument… to carry [the name of Christ] before…Gentiles…kings and the children of Israel” (v15).

But there is a special display of grace in the gentleness with which Jesus confronted Saul.

R.C. Sproul said it like this:

“When Saul is addressed by the heavenly voice, he’s addressed in terms of the repetition of his name: ‘Saul, Saul.’

Search the Scriptures and see how many times in the Bible anybody is addressed for any reason by the repetition of their name. You will discover that it occurs less than twenty times in the whole scope of redemptive history.

And if you would examine each of the occurrences that are recorded for us, you would see something emerge very clearly.

When Moses was called in the Mideonite wilderness, God called out of the burning bush, ‘Moses, Moses.’ When Abraham was at Mount Mariah and was just about to [sacrifice] his son on the altar, the voice of God came to him, saying, ‘Abraham, Abraham.’

When Elisha stood on the earth and watched the ascent of Elijah, he said, ‘My father, my father, the chariots of Israel!’ When David mourned the loss of his son, he cried ‘Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son!’

Over and over and over again we see this, and it’s always an expression, in the Hebrew tongue, of profound personal intimacy.” [1]

Friends, do you know the incredible grace of Christ?

Ephesians 2:1-7 says,

“2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 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. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Jesus spoke the direct truth.

Jesus didn’t pretend that this was all just a mistake or a misunderstanding.

Jesus said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” (v5).

Saul was clearly, arrogantly, and violently hostile to the claims of the Christians; and, therefore, he was hostile to the claims of Jesus Christ Himself.

To persecute the people of Christ in the world is a direct assault upon Jesus Himself!

This is a particular subject worth diving more deeply into, but maybe another Sunday...

For today, let’s notice the compatibility of truth and grace.

Brothers and sisters, do you talk to your loved ones about Jesus with both truth and grace?

Do you tell them that the love and grace of Christ is more wonderful than they can imagine?

And do you also tell them that the judgment of Christ is more terrible that they can imagine (Rev. 19:11-16)?

Do you tell them that obedience to Christ begins with love for Him, not behavioral modification?

And do you also tell them that anyone who does not aim to obey Christ is showing that they actually have no real love for Him (Jn. 14:15; 1 Jn. 5:2)?

The grace of God in Christ converted the insolent opponent in our passage today… and simultaneously commissioned him as the Christian missionary extraordinaire.

3) A Conversion with a Commission

Jesus Christ builds His Church.

This whole episode presents Jesus as the intentional and active party.

Just as Jesus had sovereignly confronted Saul on the road to Damascus, Jesus also sovereignly sent Ananias to heal him, to grant him the Holy Spirit, and to baptize him.

Note the imagery and the elements of conversion here.

When Jesus confronted Saul on the road, Saul was still opposed to Christ; and, therefore, he was stricken blind and “saw nothing” (v8).

While Saul waited in Damascus, he “neither ate nor drank” (v9), which implies either repentance or anticipation of further revelation… or both.

When Ananias came and “laid his hands” on Saul, Saul was “filled with the Holy Spirit” (v17), he “regained his sight” (v18), and “then he rose and was baptized” (v18).

Saul’s conversion came along with a particular commission.

Jesus said that Saul was “a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (v15).

There is a real sense in which all Christians are commissioned to “carry” or “bear” the “name” of Christ in the sight of the watching world.

Christians take on the name of Christ in baptism, and Christians take on the responsibility or task of bearing Christ’s name through evangelism.

The Apostle Paul says, “through Christ [God] reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation… Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us...” (2 Cor. 5:18-20).

But Saul was especially commissioned as “a chosen instrument” to “carry” the name of Christ far past the boundaries of Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria (Acts 1:8).

In fact, our passage this morning is the close of one section and the beginning of the rest of the book, which shifts away from Peter as the main apostolic preacher/evangelist and focuses from here on out almost exclusively upon Saul/Paul.

And yet, whoever the missionary, the preacher, or the evangelist is… it is Christ Himself - through His present Holy Spirit - who continues to be the main character of the Acts storyline.

Jesus is the one who builds His Church, and expands His kingdom on the earth… and He does it by converting sinners, even impossible ones, through the proclamation of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit.

But there was one other feature of Saul’s commission, besides that he would carry Christ’s name. Jesus also said that Saul would “suffer… much” for the sake of Christ’s name (v16)… And Saul’s evangelistic strength in Damascus was soon opposed, just as was the case with the Christians which he himself had opposed in Jerusalem.

4) Suffering but Welcomed

There is no shortage of irony in this passage.

Saul was the greatest opponent of Christianity in v1, but Saul became such a strong advocate for Christianity that he “confounded” all who heard him by “proving that Jesus was the Christ” (v22).

Saul’s eyes were fine until he saw the glory of Christ, and only then was he struck with blindness. This physical experience symbolizes the spiritual reality, that Saul had been blind to the truth about Christ all along.

Saul had been the tip of the spear with regard to the persecution against Christians during this time, but Saul himself became the target of persecution aimed at Christians, and he had to be helped to escape by the very Christians he’d come to Damascus to imprison and kill.

And when Saul came back to Jerusalem, he needed the testimony of a generous friend to convince the Apostles to welcome him as a brother in Christ.

Barnabas was singled out as one of those Christians who had sold property in order to give the proceeds away to any fellow Christian in need (Acts 4:32-37).

Barnabas’s given name was “Joseph,” but the Apostles called him “Barnabas” because he was such an “encouragement” to them and others (Acts 4:36).

Interestingly, Barnabas became quite a friend for Saul, and this develops more throughout the storyline of Acts.

Saul’s suffering began almost right away.

Luke says that there were “many days” that “had passed” from the time Saul began “proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues” (v20) and “proving that Jesus was the Christ” (v22).

But soon enough, Jesus’s commission (“I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” [v16]) became a reality in Saul’s life.

And Saul/Paul did indeed suffer much throughout his service to Christ.

In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul said he suffered “imprisonments” and “countless beatings,” and that he was “often near death.” He said, “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, [and even] danger from false brothers...” Saul’s/Paul’s service to Christ was “in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, [and] in cold and exposure” (2 Cor. 11:23-27).

Friends, do you have a category for suffering as part of your Christian experience?

Do you expect to suffer for Christ? ...to suffer for doing right? ...to suffer for speaking the truth? ...to suffer for sharing the gospel? ...to suffer for giving your time and treasure away for the sake of evangelism? ...to suffer worldly loss so that others might gain eternity?

Jesus Christ builds His Church (i.e., His people in the world), not without opposition or suffering or difficulty, but despite all opposition… and this is the steady drumbeat of Acts.

5) Despite Opposition, Christ Builds His Church

We’re told about further opposition against Saul and yet another escape (v29-30), and then our passage ends with v31. “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.”

Let me point out two things:

Christ, by His Spirit, is the builder

“the church… had peace and was being built up… walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied” (v31).

This is exactly what Jesus said He would do!

In Matthew 16:13-20, when Peter made the good confession, that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus pronounced a blessing upon Peter. Jesus said that God Himself had revealed this marvelous truth to Peter, and then Jesus made a wonderful promise.

Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (v18).

Christ normally works through everyday people in His Church-building project

The church in Damascus

We have no record of any coordinated evangelism mission to Damascus.

And yet, there were already many in Damascus “belonging to the Way” (v2), there were “disciples” (v10, 19), and people “who call on [Christ’s] name” (v14).

And all of these were in a town that was about 135 miles north from Jerusalem!

The instruction in the New Testament

The New Testament teaches us that the very reason Christ instituted the local church was for the “building up” of the “whole body,” which is “joined and held together” by “love” so that all may “mature… to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-16).

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up” (1 Thess 5:11)… “strive to excel in building up the church” (1 Cor. 14:12)… and “When you come together… Let all things be done for building up” (1 Cor. 14:26).

May God help us to rest and to celebrate and to be invigorated by the fact that Jesus Christ builds His Church, despite all opposition… by converting impossible sinners (like us)... and building converted sinners up through the everyday efforts of everyday saints... through whom the Holy Spirit matures and grows… until that day when Christ’s universal kingdom/Church shall become visible… and all opposition and suffering and hardship will cease.

Endnotes

[1] See the full article here: https://www.ligonier.org/posts/saul-saul-why-are-you-persecuting-me

Bibliography

Calvin, John, and Henry Beveridge. Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010. Print.

Peterson, David G. The Acts of the Apostles. Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009. Print. The Pillar New Testament Commentary.

Polhill, John B. Acts. Vol. 26. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992. Print. The New American Commentary.