Acts 22:1-21 You Will Rejoice!

Acts 22:1-21  Then Paul said: “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city.  I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors.  I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.  I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify.  I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.  “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.  I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul!  Saul!  Why do you persecute me?’   “‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.“  ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied.  My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.  “‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.“ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus.  There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’  My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.  “A man named Ananias came to see me.  He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’  And at that very moment I was able to see him. Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.  You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.  And now what are you waiting for?  Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’  Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.  You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.  And now what are you waiting for?  Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’“  When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me.  ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’  “‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you.  And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’  “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”

In the above scene, Paul speaks to the mob who attempted to kill him.  Paul is rescued by Roman soldiers, carried on their shoulders into the barracks.  Because Paul wanted to speak to these rioters, the Roman commander allowed him to do so.  Paul addresses the mob in Aramaic, causing the riotous crowd to calm down.  By speaking to the angry crowd,  Paul probably thought he could alter these people's view of him by speaking of his conversion.  He first relates how he was as zealous about Judaism as any of them, for he studied under the prestigious Gamaliel.  He was trained well in the law and the Jewish traditions.  His Judaic zeal was so great that he persecuted and killed the apostate Christians.  I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.  He went on to say that one day his attitude towards Christians and Jesus changed completely.  He was on the road to Damascus to arrest Christians there and to bring them back in chains to Jerusalem.  However, as his companions and he were approaching Damascus, they were confronted by a brilliant light, so powerful that they all fell down.  Then he alone heard a voice out of that light, ‘Saul!  Saul!  Why do you persecute me?’  He asked who He was and he told him, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.  Paul alone was struck blind by this light.  After this confrontation he was helplessly blind, needing his companions to escort him to Damascus.  In Damascus A man named Ananias came to see me (him), one who was well versed in the law and the Jewish traditions, well respected in the Jewish community.  He laid his hands on him and prayed, immediately his sight was restored and he was filled with the Spirit of God.  Then he told him that Jesus, the Lord, had commissioned him to know his will and to hear words directly from Jesus’ mouth.  You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.  Paul more than any of the other disciples will hear of God’s mysterious plan formulated from the beginning of time to save humans from destruction through the works of his Son, Jesus Christ.  

Because of the hardness of the hearts of the Jews and because their ears have been stopped and their eyes have been blinded by their own efforts to please God, Paul is sent to the Gentiles.  Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.  This statement enrages the Jews who are listening.  They consider themselves as the only people who are right with God because of their knowledge of the law and its regulations.  But Jesus knew their leaders were hypocrites, for they were not living up to their knowledge; they were not close to God but far away from him.  Their allegiance was to their heritage of being children of Abraham, but not to the God of eternity.  They lacked the love and mercy of the grace of God; instead they viewed God as rigid and demanding, the mercy of God was pushed aside in their thinking.  As we see in the above scene, God has a timetable for everything that is happening on earth.  Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately.  We see the Lord telling Paul to hurry.  Why hurry?  God is in charge of happenings on earth, why quick?  But the events on earth are on God’s timesheet, not man’s.  The Lord wanted Paul to move quickly into addressing the needs of the Gentile world, not to be lethargic and lazy in fulfilling God’s will for his life.  In Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25 about the master going away to a far country, the master gives three servants bags of silver according to their abilities.  One is given 5 bags of silver, another two bags of silver, and one was given one bag of silver.  The first two doubled the amount given to them by the master, but the third lived his own life in the way he desired.  He buried the money so that he would have it when the master returned.  But the judgment of the master of the third servant was very harsh.  Wicked and lazy, the third servant lived his life, indulging himself with the things of this world.  He was a worthless servant, not doing the will of the Master.  Paul was directed away from his self-life by the Lord.  Quick, get moving now.  The timetables for our lives are on God’s agenda for us: his will, not ours.  If He calls, we should answer quickly.  Paul answers and goes back to the Gentiles.  We see God’s timetable for people everywhere in the Bible.  A good example of God’s timing is Peter’s escape from prison.  When the angel enters his cell as Peter was sleeping, waiting to be executed the next day, we hear the angel tell Peter, Quick, get up!  God had a timetable for Peter, and He wanted Peter out of that jail immediately.  He had a purpose for Peter to fulfill in his life.  Peter was not to die that day.  Peter would be used to open the mystery of God of his salvation plan for all people on the face of the earth.  Cornelius and his household would all receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the same gift the apostles received on Pentecost.  Peter was not to die as James did by Herod’s hand; instead, he would continue on with his life, fulfilling God’s agenda for his life.  He would not be put in the category of a worthless servant, experiencing life for his own benefit.  No, he would live his life to express the will of God to all people.  Sometimes the will of God is not to move on so quickly.  We discover this idea in Paul’s experience in Philippi.  He was beaten with rods and thrown in jail.  This was illegal in a Roman city: to beat a Roman citizen before a trial to defend himself.  When the city officials realized what they had done, they were fearful of consequences from Rome, so they released Paul and Silas, wishing for them to move on to the next city, but Paul rejected this idea to move on quickly.  But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison.  And now do they want to get rid of us quietly?  No!  Let them come themselves and escort us out.”  (Acts 16:37)  He forced the leaders of the city to humiliate themselves by admitting they were in the wrong.  He placed fear of retribution on their heads: something they would have to live with the rest of their time in power.  God has his timetable for all of us, either to move on quickly or wait for what God wants in our lives.  We are God’s servant, not our own servant.  We are to live for his glory regardless of the consequences in our lives.

Abraham was chosen by God to be a man of faith.  By trusting in God’s love, way before the regulations and commandment of the law, he received the mercy and grace of God, a mercy that would cover all people on the earth if they would put their trust in God's love for them, which today comes through trusting Jesus the Christ and his work of love on the cross.  Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.  (Genesis 18:18)  In today’s focus we see Paul carrying out the promise of God through Abraham, to bless all people on the face of the earth.  Paul is sent to the Gentiles; his focus in life is to spread the Good News to those who were living in darkness.  They were humans under the power of sin.  Their lives reflected the devil and his character.  As Paul tells the Galatians, The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  (Galatians 5:19-21)  Paul’s ministry was reaching into this dark world.  The devil did not like this invasion of his territory, so he had placed a target on Paul’s life.  Paul never knew whether death would catch up with him by the hands of the wicked.  But, he was unwilling to cease his ministry because he had seen the risen Christ, just as the apostles had seen the risen Christ after his death on the cross.  They, except John, would die violent deaths without recanting, for they had seen the risen Christ.  As Jesus was talking to the apostles about his death and his subsequent resurrection, He tells them Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.  (John 16:22)  No persecution, no threat of death, no death can take away your joy of seeing me alive after the crucifixion.  This joy will abide with you through all your trials and tribulations.  Paul knew this peace and joy the disciples felt, for he too had seen the risen Savior.  He too had heard his voice, and he too would know the purpose of Jesus Christ on earth.  He explains very clearly to the Colossians who Jesus is and why He came to earth.  The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.   For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.  For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.  (Colossians 1:15-20)  Paul knew God was in the reconciling business in the telling of the Good News.  Friends around this breakfast table, you are the good news, the reconciled ones that God has chosen through Christ from the beginning of time.  You are the ones God will honor before all angels and principalities of the unseen world.  Just as God the Father loves his only begotten son, He loves you in the same way.  Jesus’ love for you was so great that even when you were enemies of his He died for you.  Paul was stopped on the road to Damascus; he a flaming enemy of Christ.  God said to him, Saul, why are you persecuting me, why not submit to my will and have eternal peace with God.  Paul was struck blind, but when his eyes were opened he was filled with the Spirit of God.  The purpose of his life was laid out to him by Ananias. So dear friends today is a good day to GET UP!