The Damascus Road Experience (Acts 9.1-19)

Introduction

Two years ago, I married a couple called Julie and Laurent. They came and worshipped with us a few months before the wedding; you may remember them. Julie holds the late bride record for weddings I have officiated at; arriving 46 minutes after the service was due to begin.

But never mind. The story about how they came together is great. They met one evening about eight years ago. He was attracted to her. She was attracted to him. But there was a problem. She was a Christian. He wasn’t. So she declined. He thought she was playing hard to get so he persisted. She kept putting him off.

Until one day she sat him down and explained to him why in her view this relationship was a nonstarter. He had no Christian background at all and didn’t get it. She started praying for him. Nothing changed. She started fasting for him. She lost quite a bit of weight! She cried out to God for him, “Lord, I love this man, but I will not date him as long as he remains unconverted. Please, open his heart to believe.”

One evening, Laurent was driving his car and, out of nowhere, the Spirit of God came upon him in such power, such force, such intensity - with a revelation of the love of Jesus - that he had to pull over and surrender his life to Christ there and then.

I first met Laurent a week or two after this happened and I began to help him grow in his new found faith. He eventually became part of the leadership team in a church I was leading at the time. He is anointed in the prophetic and healing ministries and he has grown, by God’s grace, into a real man of God with maturity and stature. It was, you might say, a Damascus Road conversion.

Of course, that well-used English phrase “Damascus Road conversion” comes from the passage we read just now. People use it in many contexts to describe a radical discovery, a change of heart or a sudden and dramatic turnaround.

Are You Converted?

Saul's is one of the most unusual conversion experiences in the history of Christianity, certainly one of the most spectacular and unexpected.

As we’ve been reading through Acts, we’ve met Saul briefly already. We first came across him a few weeks ago, you may remember, holding the coats of those who were stoning Stephen to death early in chapter 8 where it says this; “Saul approved of [Stephen’s] murder.” This innocent man, Stephen was lynched and killed in cold blood by an angry mob and Saul thought that was totally OK. And the Bible goes on to say that Saul “began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.” He was a religious fanatic, determined to stamp Christianity out in the days of its infancy.

So zealous was he to crush the life out of the earliest church, he actually became a missionary, travelling from one country to another, to hunt Christians down and lock them up.

People have asked how a man from Judea in Israel could travel to Damascus in Syria, a territory under someone else’s jurisdiction, and just arrest people and take them off. But historians have discovered that the Governor of Damascus at that time, under King Aretas, was a political ally of the Jews. Not only that, but Rome had granted extradition rights to the Jewish religious authority known as the Sanhedrin. So the secular records fit precisely every detail of what the Bible says here. This is, we may be sure, a matter of historical fact.

Well, you know the story. Saul is struck down in the middle of the road, where he encounters the risen Jesus. And in that moment, which tips his world upside down, he turns from his murderous ways and becomes a disciple of the same Jesus whose followers he had pursued. He himself put it this way; “I was on my way to arrest Christians when Christ arrested me.”

He saw a bright light, fell to the ground and heard a voice. It was an encounter with the risen Jesus. The light blinded him.

Why do you think meeting Jesus turn him blind? We know that Peter, James, Mary Magdalene and 500 others met Jesus after the resurrection without losing their sight. What was different about Saul’s encounter that he should go blind?

The answer is that he was the only one to meet Jesus after he had ascended to glory. The book of Revelation tells us that his glorious, ascended, heavenly presence is brighter than the noonday sun. That’s the face that Saul alone saw. But that’s the face everyone will see when Christ comes in glory to judge the living and the dead. We will be unable to look.

Saul could see nothing, and yet he could see everything. He had been spiritually blind but now could see perfectly in high definition. He saw that Jesus was not a misguided troublemaker; he is the Son of God. He saw that all Jewish history, all those blood sacrifices, the temple, the royal line of the shepherd king David, the prophets and Psalms all point decisively and unmistakably to Jesus.

Are You a Justice or Mercy Person?

It was an encounter in which he traded a religion based on justice for a relationship based on mercy.

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between mercy and justice? There’s an old story about a man who was posing for his portrait and he said to the artist, “I hope your painting does me justice.” And the artist replied “Oh, it’s not justice you need, but mercy!”

Justice and mercy. This is why Jesus and the Pharisees were always at loggerheads. The Pharisees, and Saul was one of them, had an approach to religious belief that I see every day - even in the church.

It says that where you end up after you die depends on how well you manage on earth to live up to God’s standards. It says you must be good enough. It says you have to do your best to get to get to heaven and if you do well you will have deserved to get there. What could be fairer? That’s justice.

Now if that’s the way you see your Christian life I must tell you that this was Saul’s way of life, it is the way of every single religion in the world, but unfortunately it is the exact opposite of what Jesus came to bring.

The Jesus way is not about justice, it’s about mercy. The way to God is only opened when a man or a woman says “God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I don’t deserve eternal life and I’ll never earn it. I need grace.”

The good news is that Jesus gives grace and forgiveness and a new start to everyone who asks for it. Saul switched from a justice-based religion to a mercy-based relationship and so must all of us if we haven’t already done so.

This is what it means to be converted. Don’t tell me you’re religious, Paul was religious! Are you converted? It could have been an unusual, sudden and dramatic encounter like Saul’s. Or, more likely, it might have been a slower, more gradual process. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you can say this morning “I belong to Christ. I am no longer striving to get from God what I deserve by my own effort. I am trusting Christ to give me, by faith alone, what I do not cannot earn...”

Do You Ever Limit God?

We might describe Laurent’s encounter with Christ – at the wheel of his car driving home from work - as unbelievable. And "unbelievable" is a good word to describe Saul's conversion too. It seems, for example, that Ananias didn't quite believe it. You get that impression from v13-14.

God instructs this man to go and visit Saul, lay hands on him and minister healing to him. But Ananias says to almighty, all knowing God, the ever living Lord of heaven and earth (for whom nothing is impossible), “Lord, I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

He says, in effect, "No, Lord. I’m not sure this is wise." Do you ever put limits on God, even subconsciously?

How much could you be missing out on, due to limiting God to what your mind can cope with? Don’t limit God. The Bible says “Nothing is too hard for the Lord.”

Are You Willing to Take a Risk?

And God expects you to take risks. Ananias limited God with his thinking. But once he’d risen above his doubts, he had no hesitation in following the leading of the Holy Spirit. God says in v15, "Go!" and in v17 we're told that Ananias went.

Imagine the scene. He walks down the main east-west route which still exists today in the middle of this oasis city in the Syrian desert. He's wondering what he's going to say. His heart is in his mouth. He has sweaty hands.

The fact is he went. And at the end of the day, that's all we need to do. Jesus said, "Heal the sick, drive out demons, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, make disciples!" It doesn't matter what I feel about that, it doesn't matter if I make a complete idiot of myself every time I have a go. One thing matters; I say “yes” out of obedience or I say “no” out of fear. That's the issue.

When I was a young Christian, I received what I thought was a word from God about a man who had been a father to me in the faith, but had since gone off the rails and separated from his wife. It was a really hard word, with a revelation about an adulterous affair, about which I had no knowledge at all. I shared with his wife what I believed God was saying and asked her permission to gently but firmly confront this man with it. To my absolute horror, she said "yes."

So I went to see him – a man who had given me so much and to whom I was so indebted – and I explained to him that I believed God was saying, in a nutshell, that he should repent of rebellion and adultery. It is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

He looked at me straight in the eye, denied everything, and with an angry tone in his voice he showed me the door. I felt terrible. But when I phoned his wife, she told me that she felt strongly whilst praying that something had broken in him that night. Six months later, the truth came out, the word had been right, he turned from his sin, they got back together and have enjoyed 25 years of happy marriage and fruitful ministry since then.

Praise God! When he says "Go for it!" you've got to go for it. Ananias did and Saul goes on to be the primary architect and builder of Christianity, successfully planting vibrant Christian communities across the Roman world - but not without great personal cost.

Have You Counted the Cost?

In fact, as he reflected back on his life, years later, he said this: “I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. I’ve been flogged five times with the thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummelled with rocks... I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city [and] in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I’ve known drudgery and hard labour, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. And that’s not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches.”

Sounds like a complaint on Trip Advisor doesn’t it?

Acts 9.15 says “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.” Wow! That’s a life lived in the mighty power of the resurrection! Kings and whole nations are going to be touched by the gospel. We like that bit.

But the very next words are these: “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

We like that a bit less. But you see, Christians are not only anointed to live in the power of the resurrection, we are called to walk the way of the cross, marked by suffering, mockery, dishonour and to endure it with joy. Paul himself put it perfectly; “Suffering” he said, “yet always rejoicing.”

Are You a Christian Friend?

One of the first things you need after getting converted is a Christian friend to help you take the next steps. That’s why courses like Journeys and Alpha are so important. You grow in faith with a little group of friends who walk with you as you take those baby steps.

I love the way Ananias looks after Saul. One commentator said, "It is not always easy to show love and acceptance to others, especially when we are afraid of them or doubt their motives." That’s true isn’t it? If anyone had a good reason to be afraid of someone else, it was Ananias with Saul.

Ananias places his hands on the man, imparting the healing power of Jesus.

Then his words are full of affection too. "Brother Saul" he says. All the fear has vanished. All the barriers are down. All the debt is forgiven. All the past is forgotten with just two words. Brother Saul.

Saul had spent three days completely blinded, taking no food or water stuck in a foreign city. In v18-19 we can surmise that Ananias baptised him, found him a towel, cooked him up a good meal, made sure he was OK and put him in touch with other believers in Damascus. The second half of v19 tells us that he spent three days with them, enjoying their hospitality.

Nothing on earth in the field of human relationships comes close to the love in Christ we share as brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Ending

So what is God saying to you through this word today?

Are you, like Saul was, struggling to earn your way to heaven? It doesn’t matter if you’ve been coming to church all your life – can you say “yes” to this simple question: “Are you converted?”

Do you believe that God can bring to faith the most hardened heart?

Is there someone you can pray for that they would turn to him?

Could you get alongside a younger believer and help mentor them in faith?

You may be facing a choice where you need to step out in faith. That will be demanding but exciting. Or you can go the other way, which is familiar and easier. Do you need to go for it and take a risk?

Let’s pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 28th September 2014