Church on the Move, Where are We Supposed to Be?

God's Power to Transform

April 22, 2007

Joe Kutter Preaching

What in the world is God doing?  Or, what is God doing in the world? The thesis of this sermon series is that God is “on the move,” that God is doing things in this world and that we have been given the privilege of joining God in that work.

So, how do we go about the business of looking for God? If we want to find God at work, where do we look?  First, we look to see what God has done in the past and then we look to see if God is doing similar things today. The first place we look is in the pages of Holy Scripture.

Today, we are visiting the most famous Christian conversion story of all time. It is the story of “The Damascus Road,” the story of Saul’s encounter with the living Christ.

We first meet Saul at the execution of the deacon Steven. Steven, one of the original seven deacons, first assumed responsibility for serving the poor and then became a witness to the gospel of Christ. His testimony so enraged the local authorities that they arranged to have him stoned. They killed him with rocks. Can you imagine a more brutal death?  They killed him with rocks and as they did this nasty violent thing, a Pharisee named Saul stood by and watched as he guarded their cloaks.  It appears that he did not throw any stones. He just took care of the cloaks of those who did.

Now we come to chapter 9 in the book of Acts.  “Meanwhile, 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 who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” (Acts 9: 1-2, NRSV)

What kind of man is Saul?  To my mind, he is a religious fanatic who is willing to use violence and brutality to purge his society of people that he regards to be heretics or infidels. He was more than willing to assist in the assassination of Steven. He was willing to go to Damascus for the explicit purpose of arresting Christians and transporting them in chains back to Jerusalem for trial and punishment. To the Christians of Damascus, Saul must have looked just like a terrorist. He was “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.”  The American notion of religious freedom would have never occurred to him.

Now Saul is on the road to Damascus with his band of enforcers. Suddenly, there is a blinding white light that knocks Saul to the ground and he hears a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”  The voice did not say, “Why are you persecuting my disciples?” The voice said, “Why me?”  Could it be that Jesus so lives within each disciple and that Jesus so lives within the church, called “The Body of Christ,” that when one of his disciples is persecuted, Jesus, himself, is personally wounded?  When any one of Jesus’ disciples suffers, Jesus suffers the sorrow with that disciple.

Saul answered, “Who are you, Lord?”  He had a pretty good idea. This is my best guess. Saul went after the followers of Jesus’ Way because he had studied Jesus and He knew about Jesus and he feared Jesus’ power. He understood, as few others understood, that if Jesus’ Way prevailed, then everything in his world would change. And Saul did not want to change. 

“I am Jesus,” he answered. He then told Saul to go into Damascus and to find a particular house and to wait for instructions and Saul, blinded, was led into the city.

So, what in the world is God doing?  It would seem that God is already working on the hearts and minds of those who hate him!  Obviously, some are successful in their resistance and denial. But God is already working to transform their lives.

Jesus knew this when he instructed us to love our enemies. Why? Because God is already working in their lives and there is no way for us to know what might happen.

Now, as Paul Harvey might say, for the rest of the story. Ananias was a disciple of Jesus. He was one of Jesus’ students, one of Jesus’ followers.  The path that Jesus taught is the path that he tried to live and, like the other early Christians, he was called a follower of “The Way.”

One day, Ananias has a vision. I think that this is a strange idea to twentieth century people. He had a vision. Most scholars would describe this as being similar to a dream or a day dream in which the physical realities fade in one’s awareness and one becomes aware of a deeper reality. In this altered state of consciousness, Ananias heard the voice of Jesus.

Was he praying? Was he reading the scriptures?  Was he simply open to a visit from God? I do not know. Had he already heard of Saul’s experience? We know that he had heard of Saul but did he know about the light and the voice? We do not know.

Ananias was told to get up and go to the place where Saul was staying. He was told that Saul was praying and that Saul had been told that a man named Ananias would find him and lay hands on him and pray for him and that his sight would be restored.

Ananias responded in an absolutely reasonable way. He said that he would rather not! (That is a free translation.) He said, “I know all about this man. I know what he did in Jerusalem. I know about Steven. I know the kind of suffering that he has imposed on the sisters and brothers of The Way. And I know why he is in Damascus. He is not here to do us good! This man came to Damascus to put us in handcuffs and take us back to Jerusalem where we will be put on trial and after that only really bad things can happen.

Can you imagine if this were put to a vote in a church business meeting?  Would all who are in favor of going to visit Saul tonight please say yes. Those who are opposed will please vote no. How would you vote?

Right then and there, Ananias had to ask the question, “What in the world is God doing?”

Now listen to the Lord’s reply. If you do not know the story, you may be surprised. “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel. I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” (Acts 9:15-16, NRSV)

This is God’s plan for Saul. The persecutor will become the persecuted!  He will preach the gospel and he will suffer for it! That is what the Lord told Ananias.  Now I must ask you, would you convert for that? 

There must be more to it than that. Ananias got up and he went to see Saul. He said, “The Lord sent me here to pray for you so that your sight might be restored and that you might receive the Holy Spirit.” (9:17) Ask Saul, who became Paul, at the end of his life, was it worth it? Was all of the suffering worth it? And he would say, absolutely, without a doubt, yes. God’s Holy Spirit made it all worth while.

Saul was baptized and he began his Christian journey there in Damascus. He was welcomed into the Christian church and he began to preach and sure enough, before long, he had to run for his life.

Now, for one last act in this Christian drama. Saul returned to Jerusalem where he tried to join the local church. Do you know what happened?  They turned him down!  They still remembered the old Saul and they did not believe his conversion story. Would you? They were afraid that he would infiltrate their fellowship and then use his information to destroy their congregation.

It was not until another disciple named Barnabas took Saul under his wing and interceded in his behalf that the church was willing to consider the possibility of Saul’s conversion. It seems that Barnabas, rather than judging first and asking later, listened to Saul’s story and listened to his heart and believed him and then stood up for him in the Jerusalem church.

So, what in the world is God doing and where is God inviting us to join? It may be that you are most like Saul in this story. It is not that you are a religious, motivated terrorist, but that you have your ideas and nothing is going to change your mind about anything. You are smart. You are well informed. You believe what you believe and that is that.
I ask you to consider the possibility that the Lord has something new to say to you.

Or maybe you are most like Ananias. Perhaps you have been invited to carry good news to the person who seems least likely to receive it and maybe, just maybe, you do not want to go.

Maybe you are like Barnabas. You have a gift for encouragement. You know how to listen to the heart as well as to the words and you are being asked to make the stranger welcome in Jesus’ church. It may be as simple as making the person in the pew next to you feel welcome. “Hi, I’m glad to see you this morning.”

What in the world is God doing?  Let me remind you of John 3:17. “God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved.”
God wants nothing less than the salvation of the entire world – without exception. And you and I and First Baptist Topeka have been invited to join the mission.

Think with me for a moment. Somewhere in heaven:

A man named Ananias is forever remembering the day that he met Saul

There lives a man or woman who introduced Billy Graham to Jesus

There lives a man or woman who pointed Mother Theresa to Christ

For every famous Christian, there is an unknown soul who was willing to get up and go, willing to say the prayers and offer the invitations and make the stranger welcome.

We want to be those people; the inviters, those who make strangers welcome, those who trust in the transforming power of God. At First Baptist, those are the people we are choosing to be.

We have decided to follow Jesus when he said,

Go and make disciples of all nations

Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you

And, lo, I am with you always, until the end of the age.

We have seen a little of what God is doing in this world and we are going there just as fast as we can. Wouldn’t you like to come along?