THE GOSPEL
OF THE HOLY SPIRITSermonic Studies on the Book of Acts by Rev. Ken Behnken
8. GOD’S KEY PEOPLE. Acts 9:1-22 and 1 Corinthians 15:8-10
Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest 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. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" "Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting," he replied. "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 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. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him, "Ananias!" "Yes, Lord," he answered. 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. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight." "Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name." But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."
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." Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food he regained his strength.
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, "Isn't he the man who raised 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?" Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ."
In the Upper Room, as part of his farewell discourse, Jesus told his disciples, "You have not chosen me; I have chosen you." This was specifically true of the Twelve. Jesus had personally chosen and called each one of them to follow him as his disciple.
Though he was not in the Upper Room to hear these words of Jesus, they are strikingly true also of the person who is the main character in the drama of Acts. Saul of Tarsus was conscientiously opposed to the Christian faith and its claims. He saw it as a departure from "the faith of the fathers", destructive of the system he was sworn, as a Pharisee, to uphold and defend. So he willingly and enthusiastically became the "District Attorney" for the Sanhedrin in its efforts to curtail and possibly stamp out the movement that was pointing to Jesus as the promised Christ. It was this Saul, persecutor of Christians, who was dramatically chosen by Jesus – and called to faith by the risen Jesus himself. You remember, we talked about Saul being set up for this by the God-incidence of his witnessing the martyrdom of Stephen and hearing his dying testimony – but it was to be the exceptional, personal, direct call of the risen Lord Jesus himself that would turn Saul the Persecutor into Paul the Apostle.
The story is clearly told by Luke in Acts 9. We don’t need to elaborate on the details. But we do need to stand in awe of the way Jesus reached out personally to make Saul one of his chosen key people. The transformation was immediate. Saul didn’t argue. He didn’t ask for time to decide. He was thoroughly familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures – and when he was convinced by this personal contact that the Crucified One is now the Living Lord everything fell into place for him. And he went immediately into the synagogues of Damascus to proclaim and argue from Scripture that Jesus is indeed the promised Christ – much to the consternation of his former henchmen, who were continuing their rejection of Jesus and their persecution of his followers.
Saul became Paul, and was faithful to his calling. An apostle, he steadfastly insisted that he had been sent "not from men nor by men, but by Jesus Christ." A missionary, he, more than any other person, was God's instrument to carry the Good News of Jesus to the Greek and Roman world. A theologian and teacher, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he analyzed and systematized and formulated the meaning of the life and death and rising of Jesus – presenting Christian doctrine in clear, compelling terms so we, too, might understand and experience the Good News that we are "justified by faith, apart from observing the law."
Through it all, Paul did not lose his sense of wonder at being chosen by Jesus to be one of his key people. To his young coworker, Timothy, he wrote, "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst. For that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for all who would believe in him and receive eternal life." And in First Corinthians we hear him say, "Last of all the risen Jesus appeared also to me, as to one abnormally born. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me."
So Saul the Persecutor became Paul the Apostle. And along with the Twelve he was assigned that special place in the life of the church designated by the title Apostle – and is often referred to as Saint. Paul. Later, when the church acted to define the canon, the boundaries, of the New Testament, the primary question asked about the various writings that were considered was: "Can we be sure it is from an apostle or someone closely associated with an apostle?" The church did not want second or third or fourth generation opinion and interpretation; they wanted apostolic authority. And so today we can look to our New Testament and with confidence, and depend on it to be Spirit-guided, apostolic authority, brought to us through God’s key people to make us wise to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. And as it combines with the Old Testament we see it as God's inspired Word to us. Lutherans recognize it as the only source and norm of Christian teaching. And when you open your New Testament you find that more than a third of it was written by Jesus' key person, Paul the Apostle.
The choosing of the apostles was specific and direct – by Jesus himself. But soon the church was extending the call of Jesus to other key people who were chosen by Jesus through the Christians themselves, as they asked for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In that way, you remember, Stephen and his fellow deacons were chosen by Jesus and assigned key positions in the affairs of the Jerusalem congregation. In that way, Barnabas and Paul were set apart by Jesus through the Christians of Antioch in Syria and were sent out as missionaries to the Gentiles. In that way, Jesus chose Mark and Silas through their selection by the two missionaries to travel with them as their companions and helpers. In that way, Jesus chose Timothy and Titus and Luke, who joined Paul’s company to assist him in his apostolic ministry. In that way, men in the local congregations formed by the apostle were chosen by Jesus as they were elected to serve as elders, or pastors.
Our Lord Jesus still operates through his Church in this way today. We pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, asking Jesus to make his choices through us, and then we vote to elect key people to key offices to carry out key functions in the church. When a new Pope is elected in Rome much drama and publicity accompany the event, and understandably so, for he provides direction for more than 500 million Roman Catholics around the world. Less dramatic, but no less significant for our church, is the election of people like _______ to be President of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, and ________ to be President of our ________ District. They are key men in the life of our church body. And in local congregations, where the Church lives, the seeking and election and calling of a pastor who is Jesus' choice is a matter of similar importance – for congregations often take on personalities and attitudes that reflect the personalities and attitudes of their pastors. It's not that congregations are just passive in this. The congregation is the church, after all, and has the final authority is determining the direction the congregation is to be taking. But there’s no getting around the fact that pastors play a key role. I guess the ideal is to aim for a balance between the pastor’s leading the congregation into directions and toward goals he has in mind and his willingly serving to implement directions and goals determined by the congregation – all the while with both pastor and people being instructed and guided by the Word of God.
There are many key people, of course, who are not professional pastors or teachers or other full-time workers – and churches would not be able to function without their voluntary service. Elected officers, board chairmen and committee members, Sunday School and Bible Class teachers – all serve as extensions of the ministry of the Word. And their importance in the life of the church is sometimes most clearly seen when, for some reason, they do not function as they should. The list goes on and on. Think of what goes into allowing our worshiping together as we do on a Sunday morning: ____'s work in the church office to prepare the service folders, those who see to it that the church is clean, the Altar Guild and the flower providers, the greeters, the ushers, the musicians, the duty elders, the lectors, the acolytes, the child care providers, the coffee hosts – key people all. You count on them to perform as assigned. And just the fact that you end up taking their service for granted shows that their dependability is a key factor in making them key people in our church.
God’s key people are not found only in the organization we call our church, of course. Mothers and fathers in the home are our Lord's primary key people. His assignment is that they "bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord". And all of us who are parents and grandparents know very well that what we do has more impact on them that what we say. Also spouses and brothers and sisters are God's key people as they display the love to Christ to one another in their life together. Seen together, such considerations make a truism out on an old saying that "unless the church is in the home, the home is not in the church."
So . . . we’re all God’s key people in our varied positions and roles. And all of us are called by Jesus Christ – not to be apostles, at least not in the sense of the Twelve and of Paul, and surely not to write or rewrite the Holy Scriptures. But all of us are called to be key people through whom God is at work. What we do have in common with the apostles is the sense of wonder that we share with them – that Jesus has chosen us, sinners though we be, to be his own, and has made us in one way or another to be his key people to carry out some sacred service in Jesus' name. And we share with Paul and with the Twelve and with all who serve as the Lord’s key people the deep sense of thankfulness that in all we say and do we live under his forgiving love. Jesus is there at our side to bless our successes and to forgive our failures as we seek to serve in his name as his key people.
Think of yourself! The Lord Jesus, who gave himself so you might be cleansed of your sins, has chosen you and made you what you are and put you into your particular place in life so that, in your own way, you can be his key person. He counts on you. There is no one in all the world who has exactly the same position in life, the same web of relationships, the same opportunities, the same abilities, that you do. If you won’t function in what he has chosen you to be and do in the place where he has put you, there is no one who can do it for you in the same way you can. Hear his call today! Commit yourself anew to being the key person your Lord wants you to be -- knowing, as St. Augustine did, that "without God we cannot, and without us God will not.".
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