Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

The Insanity of God … It’s the story of a guy we’re going to have here later in the year who served in Somalia.

He talks about how after he’d answered the call of God things in his life got really difficult—it seemed to him like God was insane!

I love the title, because it captures how we feel sometimes.

How I feel.

That God himself is not insane for He knows exactly what He is doing, but how he does it we do not always agree with it and rarely do we understand it.

From the world’s point of view the cross of Jesus will always be a stumbling block.

From the world’s point of view God does not come and die, God comes to control and destroy.

From the world’s point of view, if we were God, we would act from a position of power, not from a stance of love and humility.

Today, as throughout all of history, a God who “so loves the world that he gave his only begotten son” is an act of insanity.

For those of us who know Jesus, we want to model such insanity to all the peoples of the world because it is an insanity motivated by love, sacrifice, and obedience.

It is an insanity motivated by going not staying.

It is an insanity motivated by giving not receiving.

It is how the world looks at God.

This should be how the world looks at us.

Join the insanity.

I want to show you a few things that happened to Paul right after his conversion that probably left him asking those same questions.

● Hopefully as a comfort to you …

● Paul would later say in 1 Timothy 1:16 that his conversion and calling was a pattern for all of us … which means there are things about his story that should help you make sense of yours.

● (And if you’re not a Christian, btw, maybe you’ll see what God is trying to do in your life.)

Acts 9:15–26 God was telling Ananias not to be scared to go and talk to Paul, because, remember, Paul had been public enemy #1 of the church.

God says, [9:15] “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.”

● Those two things don’t seem to go together.

Chosen … to suffer?

● Suffering is what the enemy causes, right?

Or isn’t it what happens when you do stuff wrong?

1. Chosen, yet opposed

● People rejected his message; impugned his motives, and tried to kill him.

● Sometimes this is your biggest surprise: people are supposed to listen!

○ I’ve experienced this

● Probably the worst of this for Paul was that most of this came from his fellow religious Jews.

They were supposed to understand! ○ It was the religious studies department of the college I went to that led in our being removed.

○ The worst names I’ve been called around here have come from other so-called religious people ○ 8 years ago I served on this thing called the Baptist World Alliance: trending left … statement on evangelism.

With an extraordinary amount of restraint … booed by every tribe, tongue and nation at once.

● Even the church didn’t have Paul’s back! vs. 26 says, “They were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.”

CAN I ASK YOU A QUESTION?

Are you ready for this—to be criticized, belittled, to have your motives impugned?

And when it happens, will you keep preaching?

Notice in the next few verses how often the word “boldly” was used: [27] At Damascus Paul … 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.

● Question for you: What if Paul had not continued to preach boldly?

You and I would not be sitting here.

● Whose life is depending on you being bold?

○ FInd a illustration.

“Freedom lies in being Bold”

More people would be saved and more Christians were bold.

● There are some things so important that they are worth people thinking you are out of your mind!

● God give us more people to study and learn to defend the faith.

Who can dispute, like Paul … who can withstand the mockery and keep going!

○

2.Chosen but had to be Prepared (but had to be confirmed) Heavenly CHoice , Human confirmation

Something you don’t immediately see here … there is a lot of time that passes in these verses.

In vs. 23 it says, “After many days had passed he escaped from Damascus and went to Jerusalem …” (vs.

23).

Many days is 3 years.

How do we know that?

Paul tells us himself in Galatians 1:15–18: [15] (Right after I was saved) [16] I did not immediately consult with anyone; [17] 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.

[18] Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas (Peter) and remained with him fifteen days.

3 years passed before Paul met the first Apostle!

What did he do during those 3 years?

Spent time with Jesus; brought Jews to Jesus one by one.

Then, after 3 years he got his first introduction to the pastor, Peter … then he left again.

For fourteen years.

How do I know that?

Paul explains in Galatians: [1] Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me.

(Galatians 2:1) Well, what happened during those 14 years?

Again, we’re not sure, though we get clues in his epistles: he had some visions in which God clarified his calling and gave him some crucial insights about Jesus; and we know he was persecuted, a lot. 2 Cor 11:24–27, Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.

(“minus one”: Jews didn’t want to break law … During the last half of Acts he suffered at the hands of Gentiles, not Jews … which means that these happened in these first 14 years!

[25] Three times I was beaten with rods.

Once I was stoned.

(Not stoned to deal with the pain, but pelted with baseball sized rocks until people think you are dead.

Raudel said, “If all this was happening to me, I’d probably be getting stoned a lot, but the other kind).

Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; How many times would that have to happen to you before you’d quit getting back on the boat?

[26] 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, danger from false brothers; [27] in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

in that little white space in your Bible between vs. 26 and 27.

And even after vs. 27, Paul really fades out of the spotlight until chapter 13, when he’s given his first official assignment.

There is some question as to what happened exactly when, but we know that there are 17 years between the time God called him in Acts 9 and when he is officially commissioned as a missionary in chap.

13.

God took a minimum of 17 years to prepare him.

“But God,” I’m sure he said, “why are things moving so slowly?”

This kind of delayed preparation is so common in Scripture I’d almost say it’s standard:

● God called Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt; then had him tend sheep for his father-in-law for 40 years.

● David was anointed by God to be the king of Israel, but then was sent back to the pasture to shovel sheep dung.

Later, when he got his first big break in the palace, he was falsely accused and would spend the next decade running for his life as a fugitive.

● God told Joseph he was going to use him to save Israel … and then sent him off to slavery and prison for two decades.

● Moses: 40 years.

David: (15 years) Joseph, 20 years.

Paul: 17 years.

Are you complaining about how long God is taking with you?

● Billy Graham, “If I had it to do over again … I would spend more time in spiritual nurture, seeking to grow closer to God so I could become more like Christ.

I would spend more time in prayer … I would spend more time studying the Bible and meditating on its truth, not only for sermon preparation but for life.”

○ Don’t waste your white space!

It’s where you learn character; it’s where you learn patience.

○ It’s where God teaches you.

Preparation gets you ready for Gameday.

*Preparation also confirms the call.

Paul in the text received a Heavenly Choice Human Confirmation.

3. Paul was chosen, yet he suffered.

If you have to choose one word to characterize those first 17 years, it is “suffering.”

That’s what God had said: “He is a chosen instrument of mine … and I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”