Monthly Archives: April 2019

THE BOOK OF ACTS – HE COULD SEE AGAIN

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HE COULD SEE AGAIN

“But the Master said, ‘Don’t argue. Go! I have picked him as my personal representative to Gentiles and kings and Jews. And now I’m about to show him what he’s in for — the hard suffering that goes with this job.’

“So Ananias went and found the house, placed his hands on blind Saul and said, ‘Brother Saul, the Master sent me, the same Jesus you saw on the way here. He sent me so you can see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ No sooner were the words out of his mouth than something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes — he could see again! He got to his feet, was baptized and sat down with them to a hearty meal.” Acts 9:15-19a (The Message).

Jesus does not make mistakes. Sending Ananias to Saul was no guess-work. He had the inside story and His plan was right on track! Ananias took a little persuading and no wonder because he was aware that Saul was a dangerous man. Once he was convinced that Saul’s conversion was genuine, he no longer hesitated to obey the Master

The way he addressed Saul was touching. “Brother Saul!” Saul desperately needed acceptance in this crisis. What if he had become an outcast, rejected by the religious party he represented as a turncoat, and under suspicion by the group he needed so desperately to connect with? Ananias was the link and he did not fail the Master in his assignment. Perhaps this powerful moment prompted the apostle Paul to write:

“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you in order to bring glory to God.” Romans 15:7 (NIV).

What a powerful experience! “Something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes.” This was much more that a miracle of physical healing. Paul knew what it was like to be spiritually blind. Was it Ananias’ act of brotherly love that was the final piece in the puzzle for him? Whatever happened in that moment, his sight was restored both outwardly and inwardly.

Paul must have drawn from his own experience over and over again as he poured his heart out in his letters to his many converts and fellow believers all over the Roman Empire. We are blessed to have the written record of his interpretation of the life and message of Jesus, filtered through his own mind and experience.

Speaking of his people and his state before he met Jesus, he wrote: “But their minds were made dull for, to this day, the same veil (of unbelief – writer’s comment) remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even today, when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But when anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” 2 Corinthians 3:14-16 (NIV).

Like the blind man of John 9, his unshakeable testimony was “‘One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!'” John 9:15 (NIV). The inward blindness of his heart was gone. The insight he received of the glory of Jesus and the kingdom of God so lit up his soul that he became as fiery a witness for Jesus as he had been an antagonist.

Nothing could put that fire out — not slander, persecution, suspicion, betrayal or even the threat of death could cool the passion of his heart for the Jesus who was alive, whom he had seen on the Damascus road and who had forgiven his misguided zeal and given him a new life.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – A MAN FROM TARSUS

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A MAN FROM TARSUS

“There was a disciple in Damascus by the name of Ananias. The Master spoke to him in a vision: ‘Ananias.’

“‘Yes, Master?’ he answered.

“‘Get up and go over to Straight Avenue. Ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus. His name is Saul. He’s there praying. He has just had a dream in which he saw a man named Ananias enter his house and lay hands on him so he could see again.'” Acts 9:10-12 (The Message).

Strange, isn’t it, that Jesus didn’t speak directly to Saul and heal him without going through another human being! He could have, but He didn’t. Why? Could it be that He takes His partnership with human beings seriously?

When God assigned the management of the earth to people, He really meant it. He also meant us to live together as a unit, interacting with each other in the oneness that reflects His oneness in the Trinity. Since Jesus not only reconciled us to God but also  to one another in Himself, it is always His way to foster unity between fellow believers by ministering His grace to one another through us by the Spirit.

Saul was isolated and disorientated by his shocking encounter with Jesus. He never dreamed that his mission to destroy the church in Damascus would turn out this way. On top of it, he was blind! Was this his punishment for what he had been doing? Then he dreamt that a man named Ananias came and prayed for him and his sight was restored. Was that wishful thinking? He did not know what to make of any of these things.

Jesus enlisted the help of a seasoned believer. Ananias was obviously comfortable with personal communication with Jesus. He was not thrown by this vision. His response was spontaneous. He knew who was talking to him.

“Ananias protested. ’Master, you can’t be serious. Everyone’s talking about this man and the terrible things he’s been doing, his reign of terror against your people in Jerusalem! And now he’s shown up here with papers from the Chief Priest that gave him licence to do the same to us.'” Acts 9:13-14 (The Message).

Ananias’ reaction was quite understandable if the news of Saul’s conversion had not yet reached him. Even if it had, he might have been suspicious. Was it a ploy to get in among the believers and then carry out his wicked plan to decimate them? Only a divine revelation would convince him that the change in Saul was real.

Saul needed the reassurance that the church would forgive and accept him. Because of the hostility that surrounded them, the believers stuck together and supported one another. How could Saul ever break through into the fellowship of a group of people he had come to destroy? Jesus’ solution? Ananias!

So He recruited Ananias to be Saul’s passport into the family circle in Damascus. From there he would find entrance into the wider church family when he could prove that he was no longer a persecutor but one of them.

Ananias needed convincing before he took on this assignment. Only reassurance from Jesus would set him on course to visit this man and welcome him into the fellowship of the church. He was not afraid to question His instructions and Jesus was not offended by his protest.

This story is a beautiful example of the vibrancy of a believer’s relationship to Jesus. This is no religious rigmarole but intimate fellowship with Jesus and the joy of doing life with Him. This is what He wants and this is how it should be.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – STONE BLIND!

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STONE BLIND!

“His companions stood there dumbstruck – they could hear the sound, but couldn’t see anyone – while Saul, picking himself up off the ground, found himself stone blind. They had to take him by the hand and lead him into Damascus. He continued blind for three days. He ate nothing, drank nothing.” Acts 9:7-9 (The Message).

We tend to think of Paul’s “Damascus” experience as the moment when he had a blinding revelation of Jesus, lying on the ground and hearing a voice so real that his companions heard it too. No doubt that was the beginning but what about the three days of blindness and fasting in Damascus that must have elongated and consolidated that life-changing encounter with the Master.

In his letter to the Galatians, in the heat of the defense of his apostleship, he refers, possibly, to this interlude in his life, suspended in time, when the on-going revelation of Jesus forever cemented his conviction and his loyalty to Him as the Son of God. He lived in the aura of this moment for the rest of his life.

“I want you to know, brothers that the gospel I preach is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

“For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man…” Galatians 1:11-16 (NIV).

What transpired in his heart in those three days of blindness and solitude? No-one dared go near him – at least none of the community of believers – because his reputation had preceded him. He was probably too stunned to say anything to anyone. Even those who hosted him, most likely people of his old persuasion, (seeing his travel companions were like-minded and would have contacts in Damascus), would have left him alone.

How would they have understood why he was suddenly blind and why the fire of hatred against the believers had gone out? They must have either tiptoed around him or left him alone to process what had happened.

Perhaps he reflected on the bewildering experience of watching Stephen die at the hands of vicious murders, witnessing such grace that it fired his antagonism even more. Now the Jesus whom Stephen saw in his dying moments was the Jesus who had spoken to him outside the city. So He was alive after all! He could no longer dispute that, and fighting against it was futile.

Whatever took place in his inner being during those days, Saul was convinced that Jesus of Nazareth had risen from the dead and that everything He had preached and claimed was the truth. From now on he, Saul, soon to be renamed Paul, would as fearlessly proclaim His resurrection as he had fought against it in his ignorance.

Nothing less than a personal encounter with the risen Jesus could have ever convinced him of the truth. For three days and nights he marinated in that moment until it energised and influenced every waking minute of the rest of his life.

Without the resurrection, our faith is as empty and ridiculous as any other religious fantasies taught and believed as fact. Jesus Christ of Nazareth claimed to be the Son of God and, to prove it, He said He would be crucified and, after three days, He would rise again. He said it and He did it! Whatever else He said, did and promised hinges on this.

In those three days of physical blindness, Saul came alive, and was able to “see” more clearly than he had even seen before. His eyes were opened and he saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – SAUL MOVES TO CENTRE STAGE

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CHAPTER 9

SAUL MOVES TO CENTRE STAGE

“All this time Saul was breathing down the necks of the Master’s disciples, out for the kill. He went to the Chief Priest and got arrest warrants to take to the meeting places in Damascus so that if he found anyone there belonging to the Way, whether men or women, he could arrest them and bring them to Jerusalem.

“He set off. When he got to the outskirts of Damascus, he was suddenly dazed by a blinding flash of light. As he fell to the ground, he heard a voice, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me?’

“He said, ‘Who are you, Master?’

“‘I am Jesus, the One you are hunting down. I want you to get up and enter the city. In the city you’ll be told what to do next.'” Acts 9:1-6 (The Message).

Poor Saul! He had no chance against Jesus. All his intentions to do as much damage to the church as he could, went up in a puff of smoke when he came face to face with his opponent.

Saul’s passage into the kingdom was a stormy one. Unlike the other apostles, he was not given an opportunity to spend time with the Master, size Him up and reach his own conclusion about Him. Only a once-off, terrifying encounter with the glorified Lord would be enough to change his mind and his direction for the rest of his life.

Saul was a religious fanatic, a Pharisee and a rabbi trained under the best rabbis of his day. He was of the same persuasion as those who crucified Jesus and stoned Stephen. He was not the sort of material for a humble and obedient disciple in that state of mind. When Jesus chose His disciples to understudy Him and to continue His mission, He studiously avoided the religious types because they were the ones most difficult to convince.

But Jesus needed Saul. He had the qualities of a great champion. His superior mind and knowledge of the Scriptures had great potential for being a leader, even of those who lived with and followed Him. Only a personal meeting would convince the man that He was the Son of God.

Jesus waited until Saul had reached his destination.

By this time, Saul had built up such a head of steam that he was ready to take on every person who dared admit to being part of this new “Way”. A blinding flash of light, a voice like thunder, and Saul finally got the message! Jesus was in charge, not Saul. He thought he had enough authority and power to stamp out what offended him in the name of God, but he had taken on more than he had bargained for. He had pitted his puny strength against the Lord of glory and lost! It was time to lay down his arms.

Jesus always deals with people as unique individuals. He knows just what stands between us and Him and how to expose the core of our hearts. For the rich young ruler it was his money, for Peter it was his self-sufficiency and for Saul it was his religion.

What is in the centre of your being that takes the place of Jesus? He wants nothing less than all of you. From a self-righteous, over-zealous religious bigot, in one blinding flash of revelation, Saul became Paul, the love-slave of Jesus.

“But whatever was for my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared with the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own…” Philippians 3:-9a (NIV).

THE BOOK OF ACTS – WHY CAN’T I BE BAPTISED?

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WHY CAN’T I BE BAPTIZED?

“As they continued down the road, they came to a stream of water. The eunuch said, ‘Here’s water. Why can’t I be baptized?’ He ordered the chariot to stop. They both went down to the water and Philip baptized him on the spot. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of God suddenly took Philip off, and that was the last the eunuch saw of him. He had what he’d come for and went off down the road as happy as he could be.   

“Philip showed up in Azotus and continued north, preaching the Message in all the villages along that route until he arrived at Caesarea.” Acts 8:36-40 (The Message).

Mission accomplished! The seed of God’s word was sown in the heart of an African man who came to Jerusalem seeking the Lord. He was on his way home, with his feet firmly planted on “The Way” and the joy of the Lord spilling out of him.

Although Philip did not mention baptism, why did the eunuch seem to know what to do to seal his new-found faith in the Lord Jesus? If he was one of people the Book of Acts called “God-fearers”, he would have understood the ritual of baptism in the Jewish faith.

Baptism was a common practice in Judaism. It was a ritual washing (mikvah) in running or “living” water to initiate someone into a new office, e.g., into the priestly office, or into a new phase of his life or identity with a new leader, e.g., the baptism of John or as ritual cleansing. Both John the Baptist and Jesus’ disciples baptized people regularly, according to John 4:1. No doubt this man, being a Gentile, had been baptized into Judaism at some time in his life as a sign that he had embraced the Jewish faith.

Just as He had done with the Passover meal, i.e. revealed its fulfillment in Himself as the Passover Lamb, so Jesus had also infused baptism with a new meaning – His resurrection.

When we eat the bread and drink the wine which symbolize His broken body and shed blood, we are expressing our faith in His sacrifice which redeemed us from slavery in “Egypt”. Likewise, when we are “baptized”, we are immersed in a watery grave as a symbol of our identity with Him in His death and we “rise” to a new life with and in Him. This is a clear and visible statement that we have died to our old way and have risen to a new life of identity with Jesus.

“We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Romans 6:2-4 (NIV)

The implication of baptism is much more than a ritual initiation into Christianity. It is a public confession of our identity with Jesus in His death and resurrection and a symbol of our cleansing from sin and embracing our new life in him.

“Since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3 (NIV).

Perhaps at this stage the eunuch did not understand all the implications of his baptism, but at least he knew that his life had changed direction. He was now on course to follow Jesus and be identified with Him and with all those who had become a part of “The Way”.