The Backstory Matters Acts 9:1-20 April 10, 2016 I. You ever start watching a TV program that you normally watch and it starts out and you find you have no clue what is going on and none of it makes any sense. A. There s nothing happening that connects what you re watching with what you watched the last time you saw the show. And then the words come up Three weeks before indicating that you weren t supposed to know what was going on and the continuing show will explain it that is it will give you the backstory for what the show opened with. B. Well, this story about Saul s conversion is definitely a story that needs some context. It is definitely a case where the backstory matters. II. So here are those words, Three weeks before.
A. Three weeks is just kind of my guess, but at some point before Saul s blinding experience there was a follower of The Way named Stephen. The scripture tells us that, Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. B. So Stephen went into the Freedmen Synagogue and started preaching and arguing with the teachers in the synagogue and totally perturbing the leaders. The result was that some of the men conspired to have him arrested stoned for heresy and blasphemy. C. Their conspiracy played out and Stephen was arrested. In his defense he gave his testimony before the Council, but he really didn t help his case and angered the members of the Council and so [picking up the story in Acts] When the Council heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen. 2 2
3 But filled with the Holy Spirit, Stephen gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Look, Stephen said, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God! But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. [Who was apparently overseeing the stoning]. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. When he had said this, he died. 3
D. And that is the first we hear about Saul; this young persecutor of the followers of The Way of Jesus. E. From there this zealous Pharisaic Jew trying to protect his religion from this new heretical movement that threatened his faith went before the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. F. And this is the point at which we pick up the story that we heard read as our scripture today which tells of Saul s conversion; the story of Saul seeing the blinding light and having a vision of the Risen Christ. G. But now, as the late Paul Harvey would say, The rest of the Story. H. It seems that the men who were traveling with Saul stood speechless because they heard the voice but didn t see anyone. 4 4
Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to Ananias in a vision, "Ananias." "Here I am, Lord." He answered. The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name." But the Lord said to him, 5 5
"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." So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days Saul was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." I. Sometime after his conversion, Saul began going by the name Paul, and so now we know him as the Apostle Paul. 6 6
III. So now you have the backstory and the rest of the story, but there s this one line that we passed over rather quickly. God said, I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." A. Wait a minute. God s convincing Saul Paul, whatever his name is, to become a follower of The Way by telling him how much he s going to suffer for making this major change in his life? B. You d think God could come up with a bit better marketing plan. C. You know like the marketing done by the mega churches and preachers of the prosperity gospel. 1. Like for instance, if you convert, life will be wonderful, you ll get rich, God will give you whatever you ask for and everything be wonderful and full of bliss. 2. If you just believe in Jesus then life will be a walk through the garden of paradise and if it s not then that s just because you re not believing correctly. 7 7
D. Why didn t God tell Saul that kind of stuff? E. Where did God get the idea that a good tag line for church growth was promising that life is now going to be full of suffering? IV. So if I m hearing this right, then being Christian doesn t mean that life is going to be like a bowl full of cherries. A. You mean I m not going to get up every morning singing, Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay My, oh my, what a wonderful day Plenty of sunshine headin' my way Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay. B. Well, you might do that, but there will still be days when life really stinks. C. But even more than that, as Paul found out, trying to build God s beloved community, is not all peaches and cream, but quite often it can be frustrating, painful and even tortuous and life threatening. 8 8
V. Well it worked for God, so let me have a go at it. A. If you really want to be a true follower of Jesus, then there will be times of great suffering in your life. B. If you re going to dedicate your life to knocking down the barriers to love in the world, well expect to get knocked down a few times yourself. 1. You re probably not going to get rich. In fact, your struggle for justice and peace may very likely cause you some financial loss. 2. You ll have people abandon you, or worse-- attack you, slander you, conspire against you. 3. Many will want to silence you and end your quest to overcome the powers of evil. 4. Some of you may actually be killed because of your efforts to build God s beloved community. 5. In short, you may find that you re not the most popular kid on the block. 9 9
C. That s not a message you re gonna hear at some mega church seeker s service, so why did God lead with it in converting Paul to the way? 1. Well, probably because God is honest. God was only telling Paul the truth. 2. As Jesus, Paul, Peter, Stephen, MLK, and millions of other Christians have discovered, if you are going to dedicate your life to building the beloved community of God then you re going to come up against the powers that be and they are going to do whatever they can to beat you down. And they don t really play by any rules of Christian love. 3. It was only fair for God to let Paul know what he was getting into. 4. In the UCC statement of faith there is the line, God calls us into the church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship. We all too often hear the part about joy but don t want to hear the part about the cost of discipleship. 5. But I think many of you already know there is a cost. 10 10
VI. I m sure most of you have already paid some cost well beyond your pledge or contribution to the boiler fund. A. I m sure there are those who have paid a cost because they refused to go along with corruption or lying or cheating. B. Perhaps you ve changed jobs or lost friends or been alienated from family. C. Perhaps you ve chosen an occupation that brings you some suffering and provides you with barely a living wage because you feel called by God. D. Perhaps you ve given significant amount of your time and resources to building the kingdom; time and resources that could have been used to make your life easier and you a bit richer. E. Maybe some of you have been in jail as a result of following God s call. F. Perhaps you have suffered slander and lies and persecution because of following God s call. 11 11
VII.Why did God not lie to Saul and sugarcoat it and try to deceive Saul by making him think that following Jesus would all be happy and joyful? A. Because God loved him. B. And so I will promise you, that if you truly follow in Jesus footsteps, if you truly live a life of a disciple of Christ; then there will be some suffering. C. It may be some comfort that Jesus tells us Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. VIII.The good news is that blessed are those who build the beloved community of God, for that is where true joy and happiness and value and purpose will be found; the kind of wealth that cannot rust or decay but will live on eternally. AMEN! 12 12