Acts 9:10-31
May 26, 2002
Our Call to Rescue
Rescue work is often difficult and extremely dangerous; it also involves preparation, courage and commitment. The story of John Everingham well illustrates this point. In August 1977 John Everingham, an Australian journalist working and living in Laos, was expelled by the Communist authorities after ten years of residence and work there. Sadly, he was compelled to leave behind his girlfriend, Keo, whom he loved very deeply. Over the following ten months, John thought constantly of Keo and planned how he would rescue her. On May 27, 1978, when his preparations were complete, John Everingham set out on his mission. Fitted with masks, finds, an oxygen tank and two breathing devices, he plunged into the swollen Mekong River. He had a compass stuck to his face-mask because of the zero visibility under water and he battled hard against the river currents. At times he tried to crawl along the muddy river bottom and at others he was tossed around helplessly in whirlpools. It was a difficult and dangerous mission. When he eventually surfaced he was still several hundred meters off shore and well past the spot where Keo was waiting with a fishing pole and a child in order to avoid arousing suspicion. Exhausted, John swam back to the Thai side and tried again but this time entered the river further upstream.
“I made it,” he exclaimed, “and I crawled out on to the river bank. Keo had given up and was walking away so I yelled and then she saw me and ran and fell into my arms.”
John had prepared well for the return because Keo was unable to swim. He put a slightly inflated life vest around her neck and a breathing regulator in her mouth. With their faces at surface level and a quick release strap binding them together, John pushed hard into the current in order to gain distance from the Laos side. Eventually they made it and Keo was rescued. All John Everingham did in planning and achieving Keo’s rescue was motivated by love. It was not duty, or even pity, which made John go to so much trouble in order to bring Keo out of her homeland; no, it was love. (E. Davies, The Ultimate Rescue, 17-18)
The work of rescue is at the heart of the Christian faith. Rescue well summarizes God’s grace in reaching down to rebellious sinners and drawing them to himself. As we began our examination of Acts 9 last week we saw God’s gracious rescue of Saul, arresting the persecutor on the road to Damascus, blinding him with the glory of his grace. But God’s rescue of Saul does not take place in a vacuum. The remainder of the chapter continues the story of this great rescue by God accomplished through God’s people. If we are to consider God’s grace in making us his own, we must examine that in light of how God uses others in that task. Acts 9:10-31 illustrates how we are used by God to rescue others. God uses us to rescue people from sin, rescue people from sinners and rescue people from saints. READ
Rescue from sin 9:10-19a
While God hunted Saul the hunter, the Lord arrested him who sought the arrest of Christians. The vehicle God used to rescue Saul from himself, from his own sin, was a believer in Damascus.
In Saul’s instance, God does supernaturally intervene, stopping him dead in his tracks, telling him that as he persecutes believers, he harms Jesus, the Messiah. Yet the work of rescue rests with this unsung hero of Damascus, Ananias. God could have done the work by himself on that road that day. In Jesus’ appearance to Saul, the entire work of evangelism could have been done then and there. But that is not how God works. The God of glory stoops down and uses sinful, fragile, weak people like you and me to be the means of grace, to share the gospel.
We are introduced to Ananias by God’s simple calling, in the form we often see in the Old Testament, as prophets were summoned by God and the response of availability given. But what God desires of Ananias was perhaps the furthest from his mind.
God specifies than on the main thoroughfare in town, Straight Street, in the world’s oldest city, in a specific house there is a specific occupant. You can imagine how Ananias’ heart sank when the words rang in his ear: “a man of Tarsus...named Saul.” What is more, he is praying and he has seen in a vision that you are coming.
Ananias bulks...for understandable reasons. His response is well founded:
“I’ve heard about this guy not from just one or two people, but many. He has done evil in Jerusalem and now we are not safe. He’s come with extradition papers to haul us off to jail.”
How would you respond if God tells you to go to Afghanistan, just outside of Kandihar, 3rd cave on the left, Bin Laden is praying and is expecting you? Go, lay hands on him and welcome him as a Christian. It would be one of those times we would respond to such a call by saying, “Here am I, Lord…send someone else!”
For us here that would be the extreme and an unlikely event.
But what if he places in your life, a gay man dying of AIDS, requesting you come to speak with him, pray for him, and sit with him. Would you go and do what Ananias did, touch this man ... or would you raise objections, concerns for keeping away, being silent.
What about that family member who has so often been hostile, whose conversations are more like confrontations, who seems to love debate more than truth. It is so much easier to inform God of the circumstances he seems to have forgotten. This person is hostile to the gospel, he’s closed, and he’s just not nice.
When Ananias goes, notice what he does, as one with definite objections, he typifies what our lives are to be all about. What does it look like when we are used by God to rescue another from their sin?
He goes with serving as his framework. He enters the house, not expecting Saul to come to him, but goes to a place that harbors Saul the persecutor. What is more he lays hands on him. Ananias reaches out to touch the one who sought to kill him. Saul, now blind but able to feel, receives a simple touch, a sign of his acceptance. Then he hears a voice addressing him: “Brother Saul.”
Let that sink in. He does not expect Saul to make the first move – but greets him with love. The first words which Saul heard from Christian lips after his conversion were of fraternal welcome. Was the arch-enemy of the church to be welcomed as a brother? Was the dreaded fanatic to be received as a member of the family? (Sott, Acts, 176)
The response was immediate. With God at work through his servant, Ananias, the scales fell from his eye and Saul could see. He was baptized, identifying himself with the body of Christ whom he had come to see killed. What is more – the fasting stopped and he was fed. The implication there is that Ananias cared about him spiritually and physically.
The work of rescue is dirty work, unpleasant, even painful at times.
We must beware of the lie that the Christian life is to be a comfortable existence, a life of ease and free from the degrading sins of those outside the protection of our unadulterated community. When we try to shield ourselves from others, we not only miss opportunities to serve, we sin.
We have no choice but to get dirty in the work of the gospel. While we affirm the truth that God is the agent of regeneration, that sovereign grace is what rescues a rebellious person, God uses secondary means. Even in the case of Saul where there was a supernatural vision, the simple work of restoration, of incorporation into the body seen in baptism was done not by God, but by a believer. This is to be our work in other people’s lives. It is all well and good to pray for those who do not know Jesus Christ as their savior, but until you are willing to get involved in their lives, perhaps even at great risk, you miss out on the necessary work.
Rescue from sinners 9:19b-25
The immediate response to rebirth is to spend time with other believers. When others are rescued they are drawn into the body of Christ, There is no other option. Few, though, have the meteoric rise as Saul.
Saul possessed an uncommon advantage over most people having come to faith. As a Jewish rabbi he already possessed an expansive grasp of God’s Word. With Christ as the key to God’s Word, it should not surprise us that he could proclaim Jesus in the synagogues so soon. This is not to say that he did not have much to learn. Even with his head start, v22 tells us that he increased all the more in strength. He was not stagnant in his Christian life. God’s work of grace in Saul’s life shows what the new birth is all about. He went from the man who made havoc in Jerusalem to proclaim Christ as God’s Son.
But all was not well in Damascus.
It should come as no surprise that the vacancy left by Saul in the realm of persecution was quickly filled by others wanting the job. Verse 23 tells us that after many days, the Jews plotted to kill him.
Galatians 1:17-18 gives us a better time frame. The many days of v23 is really 3 years, with some of that time spent in Arabia, which is the outskirts of Damascus, not modern Saudi Arabia. Sometime after his return, his number was up in Damascus, he had to leave. (see 2 Cor 11:30).
In v25 we have an interesting statement made. As the plot of his murder unfolded to Saul, knowing that he was a marked man and his executioners were waiting for him at the gates of the city, his disciples took him by night.
Once again we see a distinctive mark of the church – seeking the rescue, the security of its own. Saul, in the space of three years, growing in grace and knowledge, reaching out to others with the gospel, when his life is in danger, others come to his aid. I like to call this group the basket brothers, more unsung heroes of the church. They provided the necessary and dangerous support of Saul. They save Saul not from his own sin, but from those who seek his destruction, putting their lives on the line.
One of the magnificent 19th-century military expeditions conquered no new lands for Queen Victoria. You won't find it mentioned in history books, but because of the monumental logistics, military historians compare the landing in Ethiopia in 1868 to the Allies' invasion of France in 1944.
For four years Emperor Theodore III of Ethiopia had held a group of 53 European captives (30 adults and 23 children), including some missionaries and a British consul, in a remote 9,000-foot-high bastion deep in the interior. By letter, Queen Victoria pleaded in vain with Theodore to release the captives. Finally, the government ordered a full-scale military expedition from India to march into Ethiopia—not to conquer the country and make it a British colony, but simply to rescue a tiny band of civilians.
The invasion force included 32,000 men, heavy artillery, and 44 elephants to carry the guns. Provisions included 50,000 tons of beef and pork and 30,000 gallons of rum. Engineers built landing piers, water treatment plants, a railroad, and telegraph line to the interior, plus many bridges. All of this to fight one decisive battle, after which the prisoners were released, and everyone packed up and went home. The British expended millions of pounds to rescue a handful of captives. (J Reapsome, Current Thoughts and Trends, 5/99)
We may not have to go from India to Ethiopia to rescue those in need. We may only have to go around the block. The person who needs you to hold the ropes may be in same row or you’ll pass after the service. Are you willing to hold the ropes for a brother or sister in Christ?
Will you put your life at risk to help them when attacked by those outside the church, or help them battle the remnants of their own fallen nature? You can hold the ropes for others by simply committing to pray for them, encourage them, to warn them of danger you see in their lives.
Rescue from saints 9:26-31
No sooner does Saul leave Damascusand return to Jerusalem, there’s another assassination plot.
Kill the convert and put an end to the disciples of the Lord, called the Way. But while we see the same pattern enacted in Jerusalem, there is another interesting bit of information about Saul in this section. Not only must Saul be rescued from himself, and Ananias is sent in to help with that, and that Saul must be rescued from sinners who seek his life, here the basket brothers lend a helping hand. But also, and most distressing, is that Saul must be rescued from the saints, too.
While the disciples in Damascus welcomed Saul as a brother in Christ, those in mother church were wary.
Ananias’ fear is understandable. Saul had a history behind him. Verse 26 tells us that while he attempted to join the disciples they were afraid of him, not believing he was a disciple. What kind of involved plot would involve faking a conversion for three years and actively seeking others to join in the Way? Their fear of him seems more distrustful of what the future might hold if they associate with him more than just his sordid past.
In his autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi wrote that during his student days he read the Gospels seriously and considered converting to Christianity. He believed that in the teachings of Jesus he could find the solution to the caste system that was dividing the people of India. So one Sunday he decided to attend services at a nearby church and talk to the minister about becoming a Christian. When he entered the sanctuary, however, the usher refused to give him a seat and suggested that he go worship with his own people. Gandhi left the church and never returned. "If Christians have caste differences also," he said, "I might as well remain a Hindu." That usher's prejudice betrayed Jesus.
But one man refuses to respond with such suspicion, Barnabas. We first met Barnabas in 4:36 as one who sold land to help with the poor in Jerusalem. There we are introduced to Joseph, whose nickname is Barnabas, son of encouragement. Once again he proves himself true to his nickname.
Barnabas took Saul under his wing, stood up for him before the apostles. While others whispered behind Saul’s back, recounting his tales of persecution, perhaps even responsible for the death of their fathers and mothers, their own children, Barnabas saw the work of God’s grace in Saul. Barnabas’ gusty move epitomizes what it means to rescue a fellow believer from other believers.
It’s been said often that Christians are the only army which shoots its wounded. This passage pictures the warts of the church that remain to this day as well as the wonderful examples of God’s grace at work.
The apostles in Jerusalem, leery of Saul’s vision of the risen Christ, keep him at arms length. So too in our own day we can be so very slow to warm up to those different than us, not part of our club. Far too often we forget the commands read earlier from Romans 12
The renewal of the mind necessitates that we look for ways to serve others because of our organic connection with one another. As members of one body, possessing different gifts, we must be motivated by love to serve others.
Too often in the church, we forget that we must know the difference between what is the good and what is the best. For many, life in the church can be spent by doing the good, missing what is best. We live our lives like the Professor on "Gilligan's Island." While he found time to fashion generators out of palm fronds, vaccines out of algae, he never got around to fixing that huge hole in the boat so he could go home.
We must never allow construction of a building to obscure the hurting person next to you, youth programs for relationship with our youth, supporting missionaries while neglecting the lost who live next door to you. We do those good things, but never missing the best.
We are surrounded by hurting and often helpless people. Their lives may be a shambles because of their own sinful choices or God’s peculiar providence. Often it is a difficult tangle of a variety of issues. Our job as Christians is not to seek to offer explanations why their behavior is right or wrong or suggestions how they can have a better life. Rather you and I are called to serve, to encourage, pointing them to the only one who may offer them hope and help in their need.
What does this look like? It may be nothing more than a phone call asking how they are doing and just listening. It may be the offer of watching the kids for them to have an evening out. Rolling up your sleeves to do some physical labor, be it some needed but neglected yard work, car repair, home improvement work is all it takes. But no matter what is done, to do nothing, to stand by while others are hurting is never an option.
When there are people like Ananias, the basket brothers, Barnabas, the result is seen in v31.
The concluding verse is a great editorial conclusion to the whole of Acts 6-9. In the face of persecution not only instigated by Saul, but also then later directed toward Saul, God grants both peace and growth in spite of the troubles. It is not so much that they send Saul away to Tarsus and the troubles settle down. Rather, through this whole process, the church rallies around those that are theirs. God’s Word is soundly proclaimed and there is peace, there is growth.
He concludes with a wonderful encouragement: walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. This is one of the hallmark formula’s of biblical church growth.
While churches engage programs and strategies for development, too often this is missed. Notice the first key: fear of the Lord.
They have their priorities right. Fear is that wonderful reverence, not a servile stance. It was the fear of the Lord which propelled Ananias to come face to face with his persecutor. It is the fear of the Lord that emboldened those men to lower Saul from the basket, putting their own lives at risk. Barnabas could easily have been marginalized for taking Saul’s side against the apostles, but fearing God demands we take such risks.
The second component is comfort of the Holy Spirit.
During this time the church suffered tremendously, persecution was a constant dread; opposition by family and friends was unrelenting. Where there is fear of God there is also the comfort of God. His reassuring presence which does always remove the troubles, but it takes us through them. The comfort of the Holy Spirit is well evidenced by those people used by God such as Ananias and Barnabas.
One of the most moving passages in English literature comes towards the end of Charles Dickens's Tale of Two Cities, a story of the French revolution. Each day, a grim procession of prisoners made its way on the streets of Paris to the guillotine. One prisoner, Sidney Carton, a brave man who had once lost his way but had now found it again, was now giving his life for his friend. Beside him there was a young girl. They had met before in the prison, and the girl had noticed the man's gentleness and courage. She said to him:
"If I may ride with you, will you let me hold your hand? I am not afraid, but I am little and weak, and it will give me more courage."
So they rode together, her hand in his; and when they reached the place of execution, there was no fear in her eyes. She looked up into the quiet composed face of her companion, and said,
"I think you were sent to me by heaven."
God’s presence is most clearly experienced not in the solitude of loneliness, but found in the presence of his people. As we look for ways to serve one another, to rescue them from their own sin, from sinners who may attack them, even from the sin of fellow believers who set them aside, as we open our arms to love and welcome others, God will use us for his glory.
