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 Acts 9:32-43: Jesus at work!

“32 As Peter travelled about the country, he went to visit the Lord’s people who lived in Lydda. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralysed and had been bedridden for eight years. 34 ‘Aeneas,’ Peter said to him, ‘Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.’ Immediately Aeneas got up. 35 All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. 36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 37 About that time she became ill and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38 Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, ‘Please come at once!’ 39 Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood round him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. 40 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning towards the dead woman, he said, ‘Tabitha, get up.’ She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41 He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. 42 This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. 43 Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.”NIV

This short section, presenting two glimpses into the ministry of Peter at the time, shows that the ministry of Jesus was continuing. They have the feel, the atmosphere, of stories from the gospels; there are gospel echoes. Peter was the human instrument, but Jesus was continuing both to do and to teach (see Acts 1:1). The ‘acts of the apostles’ has been called the ‘acts of the Holy Spirit’. However, it has been suggested that a fuller, if more wordy, title could be, ‘the continuing words and works of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.’

David Pawson said that at the ascension Jesus just ‘switched bodies’. In the gospels we see Him moving towards Jerusalem in a physical body; in the ‘Acts’ we see Him gradually moving out from Jerusalem in a spiritual body, the church. But it is ‘’this same Jesus’’; He is alive and active and doing ‘’greater works’’ than ever He could in His human body – ‘’greater’’ in quantity. When Jesus is obviously present in His church, people get amazed and God gets the glory. How we need this spiritual reality.

‘’Everybody who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him walking around and woke up to the fact that God was alive and active among them.’’ The Message.

Acts 9:26-31:The gift of encouragement.

“26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews,  but they tried to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. 31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.”NIV

In the unfolding story of the infant church, Saul (Paul) gets many more mentions than Barnabas. He has lots of lines to deliver in this play, whereas Barnabas appears on the stage just a few times. Saul becomes high profile; Barnabas doesn’t.. Yet reading between the lines, the progress of the early church owed a lot, humanly-speaking, to Barnabas and his gift of encouragement (and maybe to others too who, like him, did not have star-billing, but quietly and faithfully went about their lives of service.) What a wonderful thing Barnabas did for the church when he took Saul by the hand and brought him into the church at Jerusalem (27). He smoothed the way and allayed their understandable fears. In the church today we know about the big name speakers, but often we don’t hear the stories of the anonymous, godly believers who encouraged them when they were younger. The church needs its Saul’s if it’s going to grow, but how it also needs its Barnabas’s.

Another attempt was made on Saul’s life, yet in the wake of these events the church ‘’enjoyed a time of peace’’ (31) after a season of persecution. It was only for ‘’a time’’, but during it the church prospered (31),experiencing the kind of growth we all long for, I’m sure – that in both quality and quantity.

 God in charge, Acts 9: 19b-25:

“Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, ‘Isn’t he the man who caused havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?’ 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah. 23 After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, 24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25 But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.”NIV

As Saul vigorously pursued his aim of arresting Christians and destroying the church, God showed him who was really in charge. Christ Jesus ‘’took hold’’ of him (Philippians 3:12). He was ‘apprehended’. The one carrying the arrest warrant was himself ‘arrested’. Someone said that he felt the hand of the Heavenly Policeman on his shoulder. He was taken into custody. His immediate plans were thwarted, and he became forever afterwards ‘’the prisoner of Christ Jesus’’ (Ephesians 3:1). Now that Saul was a Christian, he found himself subject to the kinds of attack he had launched on others. He was ‘kicking the other way’ and his former team mates were now his opponents. They wanted to kick him off the park.Today’s passage speaks of a careful, well-organised plot ‘’to kill him’’ (23). However, it failed because there is One who is in charge of all human affairs. From the time of his conversion onwards, Saul knew he was going to suffer a lot for Jesus’ sake (16). Nevertheless, he was immortal until he had accomplished all God’s purpose for his life. It is, I believe, the same for you and me.

PRAYER: Lord God, I believe you’ve ‘got the whole world’ in your hands; and I also believe you’ve got my little life in your hands. So I am safe and secure in a hostile world.

Acts 9:19b-22: A new man.

“Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, ‘Isn’t he the man who caused havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?’ 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.”NIV

God makes such a thorough job of changing people that those He works on regularly show little resemblance to what they once were. Just a short while earlier Saul had been persecuting the faith, now he was promoting it. Furthermore, he was doing so with such clarity and power that his life was now in danger. He himself became a target and was drawing fire. Saul was a pot broken in the Potter’s Hand, that he might be made again in the image of the Potter. The Master craftsmanship cannot be doubted by any of us who still benefit from the ministry of Paul (once Saul) in the pages of the New Testament.

‘The new convert started at once to testify of the Saviour. We have no right to keep to ourselves the great treasures that we have discovered, but must copy the lepers of 2 Kings 7:9. He probably showed, from a comparison between the predictions of the Old Testament and the facts of our Lord’s life, that the key exactly fitted the ancient lock, and so proved its genuineness.’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Devotional Commentary’,p.489.

PRAYER: Lord, because everyone is held in your Hands, you can break, and make, and mould according to your will.

Acts 9:10-19: Special assignment.

“10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, ‘Ananias!’  ‘Yes, Lord,’ he answered.  11 The Lord told him, ‘Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.’ 13 ‘Lord,’ Ananias answered, ‘I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.’ 15 But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.’ 17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord – Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here – has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptised, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.” NIV

‘The supernatural is too closely intertwined with the story to be taken out of it without reducing it to tatters. The greatest of Christian teachers, who has probably exercised more influence than any man who ever lived, was made a Christian by a miracle. That fact is not to be got rid of.’ Alexander Maclaren. When someone is converted, the ‘fruit’ will start to show itself. Here we see a first bloom in Saul’s life: ‘’…for he is praying’’ (11). You can understand the reticence felt by Ananias. He knew Saul’s reputation. He knew his track record. He knew exactly why he had come to Damascus. But although he was initially hesitant, Ananias proved to be as ‘available’ to God as was Philip in the previous chapter. He was sent on a special assignment, and it was, at least in part, to give Saul details of his special assignment (15, 16). Here is an example of God working at both ends of the line, to bring the right people together at the right time. Ananias was ‘’a disciple’’, and showed it by his obedience. God is able to correct anyone’s thinking when this is required. True fellowship is found at the feet of Jesus, who is Lord. Repeatedly in today’s reading you get to see that Ananias knew Jesus as ‘’Lord’’. However, we have also seen that Saul had started to call Jesus ‘’Lord’’ (5). When two people, however different, can genuinely call Jesus ‘’Lord’’ that is the basis for true brotherhood – for genuine fellowship (17). ‘How sweet and strange to speaker and hearer would that ‘Brother Saul’ sound! Alexander Maclaren.

Acts 9:1-9: Darkness to light

“Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ 5 ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked.  ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. 6 ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’  7 The men travelling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.”NIV

‘’Meanwhile’’ even as the church was expanding; even as ‘Philip’s’, led by the Spirit, preached the Word in diverse places, Saul was out to destroy the Christian movement. This was his avowed intent. He was committed and diligent in his quest to oppose the church and stop its progress. (Notice that Christians belong ‘to the Way’ in at least two senses: they follow Jesus who said,’’I am the way’’ – John 14:6 – and they endeavour to walk in His way.)  But God intervened. Never give up on anyone. Don’t stop praying. If Jesus could meet with someone like Saul, speak to him and turn him around, He can do it to anyone.

‘When God needs captains for his army, he not unseldom takes them from the ranks of the enemy.’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Devotional Commentary’, p.489.  Saul was obviously a strong man – used to being in charge; to getting his own way. From now on, he would know Jesus as ‘Lord’ (5). He would find himself under orders, submissive, obedient (6). Also, in the encounter with the risen Lord, Saul was humbled (8, 9). He found himself weak and needy and vulnerable. He was knocked off his high horse, and ‘fell to the ground’ (4), where he truly belonged – at the feet of Jesus. (It’s the place where we all belong did we but realise it.) He was blinded physically, but was made to see spiritually. For the rest of his days, this proud man would be led ‘by the hand’ (8) – led by an unseen hand. But he would learn to follow.

Don’t miss the important truth lying at the heart of the passage that what we do to Christians we do to Christ (4, 5). The Head and the body are one.

PRAYER: Lord, I pray for ………. You know it feels to me like he/she will never be converted. But I also know that you can do far more than we can ask or imagine. You are able.

Acts 8:36-40: Philip, a man available.

“36 As they travelled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptised?’  38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptised him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and travelled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea. ” NIV

I once heard John McInnes, a wonderful, cheerful Scottish missionary, speak about ‘Philip, a man available.’ Reading Acts 8, I think that is an excellent distillation of what we know of the man. There are obviously details of Philip’s life and ministry omitted.But a picture emerges in this chapter of a man who kept in step with the Holy Spirit. By the time we reach the thirty sixth verse, the conversation had obviously moved on and the treasurer was ready to commit. He desired to be baptised. We see in ‘Acts’ that baptism is the outward part of Christian initiation. It implies that there was repentance and faith in his heart. Water baptism alone will no more make you a Christian than going through a car wash will turn you into a car.

It is interesting to note that after he was suddenly bereft of Philip’s company ‘’…the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing’’ (39). We can become too attached to people. It’s understandable that we feel a deep connection with those who point us to Christ. But that’s the thing, Philip had focussed this man’s attention on Jesus; he had preached Christ and not himself. So when Philip was no longer around, the man’s joy was undiminished. He didn’t have Philip in his life, but he did have Jesus, He had found the treasure in the field and that was all that mattered. Philip, did his work well as a signpost. Many years ago, I read John Pollock’s biography of Billy Graham. It was a heart-stirring read. One story from it has always stayed with me. Billy Graham is almost certainly the best known preacher of his generation. He reached celebrity status in the eyes of many – not that he ever set out to achieve that. One day he went into a room full of people who were obviously delighted to have him with them. But, said Pollock, by the time he left the room, no-one seemed to noticed. He had got them talking about Jesus.

Are you available today for meetings the Holy Spirit may schedule; for appointments He sets up? Are you ready to go if He says ‘go’, to stay if He says ‘stay’? Are you prepared to speak the Name ‘Jesus’?

PRAYER: Holy Spirit, take me, move me, use me. I want to glorify Jesus.

Acts 8:29-35: Start where they are:

“29 The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.’ 30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ Philip asked. 31 ‘How can I,’ he said, ‘unless someone explains it to me?’ So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:                                                                                                                                                                                        ‘He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,                                                                                                                                               and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,                                                                                                                                                 so he did not open his mouth.                                                                                                                                                                        33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.                                                                                                                                 Who can speak of his descendants?                                                                                                                                                             For his life was taken from the earth.’                                                                                                                                                         34 The eunuch asked Philip, ‘Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?’ 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.”NIV UK

I want to make three observations from this reading:

1. When God shows you the next step, ‘run’ after the thing He has shown you (30). There is an urgency about doing God’s will. ‘How certain these Spirit-filled men were of the heavenly impulse! Every appearance suggested that this man was needed in the city, but the inner voice was the deciding factor, and his journey was so timed as to bring him in contact with a soul that was groping its way toward Christ…Live in touch with God, and he will put you in touch with souls.’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Devotional Commentary’, p.488;

2. Start where people are. As Philip got close to the chariot, he heard the Ethiopian reading out loud from the book of Isaiah (30). That’s where Philip started – right where this gentleman was. His simple question opened the doorway to a deeper conversation, and before too long this man had become a Christian (see Isaiah 56:3-8). ‘How manifestly the meeting of these two, starting so far apart, and so ignorant of each other and of the purpose of their being thrown together, reveals the unseen hand that moved each on his own line, and brought about the intersection of the two at that exact spot and hour! How came it that at that moment the Ethiopian was reading, of all places in his roll, the very words which make the kernel of the gospel of the evangelical prophet? Surely such ‘coincidences’ are a hard nut to crack for deniers of a Providence that shapes our ends!’ Alexander Maclaren.

3. Keep the focus on Jesus (35). I heard a preacher say that if you talk about the church you are ‘leading with your jaw’. If at all possible, keep away from questions of where Cain got his wife etc, and if you do get led up some side path, quickly bring the traveller back to the main road. Jesus is the central issue – Jesus and His cross. What do you think about Jesus? At all costs, get your conversation partner to consider Jesus, if you possibly can. It is rare, I think, for an a person to seriously look at Jesus, with an open heart, and not be converted.

To conclude today, here is a further lovely thought from F.B.Meyer:  ‘The Bible is a good travelling companion. Take it on your journeys. Read it as other men do their newspapers; not exclusively, but boldly.’

PRAYER: Lord, please make your way plain to me, and may I run to embrace your good will.

The steps of a good man, Acts 8:26-29:

“26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Go south to the road – the desert road – that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means ‘queen of the Ethiopians’). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.”NIV

 ‘’The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD…’’ (Psalm 37:23 KJV).

‘Evangelism is harvesting where God has already ploughed, sowed, cultivated, and nurtured. We go where He has gone before us.’ Jerry Root.

It has been said that in the Kingdom of God, the reward for work well done is more work. But the more work may not initially look like promotion. Philip had been an instrument in an exciting ‘revival’ in a bustling city, but as he listened to God and followed His leading, he found himself moving from a ‘big’ sphere of ministry towards a smaller one. Philip was directed to ‘’the desert road’’ (26). Initially that may not have seemed too promising. But never hesitate to go where God’s finger points. It doesn’t matter whether you are speaking to large crowds or are helping one individual, so long as you are in the centre of God’s will. This was by no means a demotion. Philip was off on another adventure in the Spirit. He found himself crossing paths with a senior politician from Ethiopia. This man was reading the Bible, and whenever someone takes a serious look at Scripture – and especially the Person of Christ – they are likely to become lost to the devil’s cause! So it was to be in this case. Jerry Root says that in our witness we don’t take Jesus to people; He is already present, at some level, in everyone’s life. We find Him active in surprising people and surprising places.  But when the Lord starts to show you a new direction, you still have to take the first step, and it may not always appear as an attractive proposition. However, we read about Philip that ‘’he started out’’ (27), and as he did so, he found himself written into another beautiful story. In the Christian life you often only have light for the next step. Then when you have taken it, there is light for the next…and so on.

Things are not always as they seem. It was just one man. It wasn’t a crowd. But who can tell how many he influenced for Christ back home in Ethiopia? Who can say what impact there was on the continent of Africa as a whole from this single conversion? This could have been the beginning of something far bigger than the Samaritan revival. But even if not, Philip’s change of direction and ministry was worth it, because one man, one woman, one child is always worth it. Each human being is valued at the immeasurable price of the blood of Jesus.

I heard a preacher say this morning, ‘What was the last thing God told you to do? Well, go and do it.’  It’s time to ‘start out’, and who can say where it will lead you?