Fall before Jesus and be raised to proclaim his glorious name
Passage: Acts 9:1-25
Big Idea: Fall before the glorious Lord Jesus, and may he raise you up to both call upon and to proclaim his glorious name.
1. Who are you, Lord?
2. Here I am, Lord
3. Call on the name of the Lord Jesus
I can’t remember when, but one of the first things I learnt about the sun was to never look at it.
Even if you have sunglasses on, you don’t look directly at the sun.
Eye experts tell us that if you look directly into the sun for ten seconds, it has the equivalent energy of dropping a double-A battery on your retina, the part in the eye that helps you see, from about 30 centimetres up.
You don’t look directly into the sun.
In today’s passage, we meet someone who got blinded, not by the sun, but by something even brighter than the sun.
This man saw the glory of Jesus and was blinded.
What is this glory of Jesus? What is it like and how should we respond to it?
That’s what we’ll look at in today’s passage.
This Sunday, we’ll continue our series on Acts.
And so, if you have your Bible there, please open it with me to Acts chapter 9, beginning from verse 1.
We’ll see three things:
1. Who are you, Lord?
2. Here I am, Lord
3. Call on the name of the Lord Jesus
Before we begin, let’s pray, “Grant, Almighty God, that as you shine on us by your Word, we may not be blind at midday, nor willfully seek darkness, and thus let our minds fall asleep. Instead, raise us up by your word, that we may serve and love you even more, as we seek your glory. For Jesus’ sake, Amen”
Who are you, Lord?
The Apostle Paul is one of the most famous followers of Jesus.
He wrote many books in the New Testament, including Romans, Ephesians and Philippians.
Before he was known as Paul, he was originally known as Saul.
In Acts chapter 7, we saw Saul as a young man who witnessed and approved the death of the Stephen, a follower of Jesus.
After Stephen’s death, Saul was hunting down the disciples in Jerusalem, going from house to house, dragging off men and women, in order to put them in prison.
He was still doing this in chapter 9, now going after the disciples of Jesus in Damascus, some 240 kilometres away.
Look with me at Acts chapter 9, verse 1-2,
“Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciplesa of the Lord. He went to the high priest 2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
But then, something extraordinary happens.
While Saul was on his way to Damascus, a bright light from heaven shines around him.
Rather than looking upward to see where the light was coming from, he fell to the ground.
This light wasn’t just any light; it was the glory of Jesus.
This glorious light from Jesus made Saul fall down.
Usually when we talk about light, we talk about it as a something that we see rather than something that we feel.
When we talk about the sun, we might say that it’s nice to feel the sunlight, but what we’re saying is that we’re feeling the warmth of the sunlight.
But here, it’s as if Saul could feel the weight of the light on him and it made him fall.
There was light, but it was light from heaven, it was glory of Jesus.
In Hebrew, the word for glory can mean heavy.
It was as if Saul felt the weight of Jesus’ glory, and it was a moment changed Saul forever.
Up until this point, Saul had been on a mission to persecute the followers of the Way.
He was absolutely convinced that they were wrong about God, and he was determined to put an end to them.
As he was chasing these followers of Jesus, Jesus, in his blinding glory, stopped him in the middle of his tracks, and he asked Saul, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
Saul thought he was chasing these misguided followers of Jesus, but Jesus said that Saul was persecuting Him!
That’s how much Jesus cared about His people and how much He identified with them.
You disrespect Jesus’ people, you disrespect Jesus.
You persecute Jesus’ own, you are persecuting Jesus.
You mess with Jesus’ own, you mess with Jesus.
And so, it’s as if Jesus was saying to Saul, “Saul, Saul, why are you messing with me?”
What Jesus said must have Saul shocked.
It made him question everything he thought he knew.
He had always thought he was on God’s side, fighting for the truth.
But now, he was faced with the possibility that he might have been wrong all along.
Maybe he wasn’t fighting for God, or the truth after all.
Maybe all this time, he had been living a lie and fighting against God.
So, Saul asked Jesus, “Who are you, Lord?”
Didn’t Saul know?
Didn’t he know who he was persecuting?
He knew he was persecuting Jesus’ followers, but he didn’t know that by doing so, he was persecuting the Lord.
He thought he knew the Lord, but he didn’t.
In Paul’s mind to call anyone Lord is to call that Person the God of the Old Testament.
Saul would’ve been saying this his whole life: The LORD our God, the LORD is One.
He had worshipped the God of the Old Testament his whole life, but he had never really understood Him.
He had never really known the Lord God of all!
And yet, Saul recognised that the person who had just spoken was the Lord, the Lord God of all!
It was a moment of pure shock and realisation.
Who is the Lord? It’s none other than the Lord Jesus, the One whom Saul had been persecuting.
Jesus told Saul to get up and to go to the city where he would be told what to do.
Now Saul was still on the ground, surrounded by others.
Those around Saul heard the sound but they saw no one.
Though the others have seen evidence of Jesus’ presence, Jesus chose to show himself specifically to Saul.
He didn’t want to reveal himself to anyone else around Saul.
Saul himself was completely blind by Jesus’ glory. He couldn’t see anything, but he saw and understood the glory of Jesus.
The others could physically still see, but they were blinded to Jesus’ glory.
They took Saul by the hand and led him to the city, and he didn’t eat or drink for three days.
What was going through Saul’s mind? Well, the Bible doesn’t say exactly. But we can imagine how horrible he must have felt.
We knew he was praying but what did he say to Jesus?
Maybe he prayed a prayer like this “Lord, I helped killed Stephen.
How could I have done such evil?
I was about to kill people like Ananias. What can be done for a man like me? I don’t deserve to see again, or rise again. Do with me what you will.”
Most Christians probably haven’t experienced anything remotely similar to what Saul went through.
But there’s one thing that’s common to both Saul and us: if we want to know Jesus, we must fall before his glory.
If we understand how incredibly glorious he is, we will realise that we don’t deserve to even stand in his presence.
If we were physically in front of Jesus, our instinct would be to bow before him.
He would be far too glorious, far too awesome for us.
We, too, would bow under the weight of his glory.
But for now, by faith, we bow before Jesus, we fall on our knees before his glory.
And as we bow before his glory, we pray.
As we pray, we might just ask the same question Saul asked: “Who are you, Lord?” Before we become Christians, we ask that question.
After we become Christians, we keep asking the same question as we grow in our faith in Jesus.
Who are you, Lord Jesus?
You are the King of glory! You are the Creator of Heaven and Earth, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
You are the Lamb who was slain and the Lion of Judah.
As you grow in your faith, keep asking, who are you, Lord?
We have so much to learn about the Lord Jesus.
Jesus, on the other hand, knows everything about us, all the good and all the bad.
He knows us and yet he still identifies with us.
He identifies with his people so much that when they’re attacked, he’s attacked. When the Church, when his people are insulted and persecuted, he’s insulted and persecuted.
Friends, before we point the finger outside, we have to point the finger at ourselves.
Don’t see each other as the world sees us.
See each other as the Lord Jesus sees you.
Don’t attack one another, don’t speak evil of one another, but love one another as Christ loves you.
If you do evil to your brothers or sisters, Jesus himself might ask you the same question as he did Saul: “Why are you persecuting me?”
And so, seek and long for Jesus’ glory, above all things.
How do you respond to Jesus’ glory?
Bow humbly before him as you live in it.
As you bow under the weight of his glory, pray.
Here I am, Lord
When you know the Lord Jesus, the Lord of Glory, you make yourself available to him.
Look with me at chapter 9 verse 10, “There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.”
“Here I am, Lord,” he replied.
Ananias was living in Damascus, and was probably attending a synagogue.
One day, Jesus appeared to him in a vision and told him to find a man from Tarsus called Saul, for Saul had been praying.
Jesus told Ananias that Saul saw in a vision that a man named Ananias would his hands on Saul and heal him.
Ananias then reminded the Lord Jesus who Saul was.
He had heard about Saul’s past, how he persecuted Christians in Jerusalem, and his plans to arrest people who called upon Jesus’ name here in Damascus.
It was as if he’s saying, “Lord, you sure about that? Do you really want me to help this man who’s done so much damage to your church?”
When I was serving in another Church, I shared the gospel with a group of young men of another religion who were very much against Christianity.
We would pray around Church, and they would surround us and shout over us in order to stop us from praying.
I didn’t know it at the time, but one of them would later be known as a terrorist mastermind.
It would be like inviting him over to Morning Dish.
Lord, are you sure? Do you really want me to help him?
Listen to Jesus’ reply in verse 15, “But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
Jesus chose Saul to take his name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.
Saul used to capture people who would pray in Jesus’ name and to speak in Jesus’ name.
Now Saul would be the one who prays and proclaims Jesus’ name.
He had to proclaim Jesus’ name to the Gentiles, people who weren’t Jews and who had never known anything about the true God.
He had to proclaim Jesus’ name before kings, people who had authority and could throw Saul to be feed lions.
He had to proclaim Jesus’ name to the Israelites, Saul’s own people, who would be the first to persecute Saul.
Saul would suffer for Jesus’ name.
That’s the man Jesus’ sent Ananias to heal.
Ananias’s job wasn’t to give Jesus advice or question him; his role was to obey Jesus.
Jesus didn’t need to be reminded about Saul; He had chosen Saul not only to save him but also to send him to spread the gospel to the Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.
And so, Ananias went and did exactly what Jesus told him to do.
Instead of being scared of Saul, he welcomed him by calling him brother.
As far as we know, he was the first Christian to ever talk to Saul after Jesus had chosen him.
Despite all that Saul had done to Christians, Ananias called him brother.
Imagine Saul hearing that while he was still blinded by Jesus’s glory.
What a relief! Jesus hadn’t abandoned him.
He had sent one of his followers to Saul; he had sent a brother to help him.
And more than that, Jesus sent Ananias so that Saul could be filled with the Holy Spirit.
By the power of the Holy Spirit, Saul could see again, his strength was restored.
He was a new person – he had been born again.
We don’t hear much from Ananias again.
As far as we know, he wasn’t a prominent Christian.
However, he was an obedient servant of the Lord, ready to do whatever Jesus tells him to do, ready to go wherever Jesus sends him,
That’s the kind of attitude we should all have.
Here I am, Lord. Where do you want me to go? What do you want me to do?
It’s so often the other way around, isn’t it?
We tell God what we want to do and where we want to go, without even thinking about asking God first.
We plan our careers, our families, and even our church ministries, without asking God first and then we just let God know about it afterward, if we remember.
But that’s not how followers of Jesus do it.
Followers of Jesus do what Jesus wants.
Jesus’ plan comes first.
We pray and we ask him, where do you want us to go?
We might not want to go where Jesus sends us, or do what Jesus tells us to do, but if we’ve understood the glory of Jesus and lived it, then that’s how we’ll respond. This will be our prayer, “Here I am, Lord.”
Hopefully by now, most of us who are in Growth groups are almost finished doing the Discovery Course.
We’re not trying to figure out what you’re good at.
We’re trying to figure out how you can be a gift to the Church.
God gave you to the Church for his purpose, not ours, and not yours.
It could be something as simple as welcoming someone at the door, or teaching children at KOGKids.
You might be really good at it, or not, at least not yet.
But whatever gift made you, have the same attitude as Ananias – Here I am, Lord. He’s Lord, we’re not.
Of course, God wants you to do much more than whatever you discovered at the Discovery Course.
There are things he wants you to do that you might not have thought of yet.
Just ask him. Ask him what he wants you to do?
How do you know what he wants you to do?
Check if it matches what he’s already told you in the Bible.
There are already plenty of things he’s told you to do in the Bible.
Start there.
When you come before his glory, offer yourself to him. Say to him, “Here I am, Lord.”
Call on the name of the Lord Jesus
Saul stayed with the disciples in Damascus and right away started proclaiming that Jesus is the Son of God.
He had no hesitation, no second thoughts.
He’d seen Jesus’ glory, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he was determined to tell everyone about it, starting with the synagogue.
The people were shocked. What had happened to this guy?
Wasn’t he supposed to take these people who called on the name of Jesus as prisoners to the high priest?
It seemed like he’d switched sides.
Last week, my sister’s family came from the United States of America.
My brother-in-law was usually the driver and so every now and then, he would try to sit in my seat even though he was a passenger.
Why? Because in the United States, the driver seat is on the other side, that is, on the left of the car, instead of the right.
My brother-in-law had to switch side when he’s here in Australia.
Has Saul switched sides? Yes! He kept talking about Jesus and proving that he was the Messiah, the anointed One.
He did it so often that the Jews at Damascus started to hate him.
When he found out what the Jews were planning to kill him, his disciples helped him escape by lowering him down the side of the city wall.
But he kept proclaiming and suffering for being a follower of Jesus, wherever he went.
Have you noticed how the Christians have been referred to in this passage?
Both verse 14 and verse 21 refers to Jesus’ followers as those who call on the Lord’s name.
Both Christians and the enemies of Christians saw Christians as those who prayed to and who put their trust in Jesus.
I wonder how our world sees us.
I wonder if those who don’t like Christianity see us as people who call on Jesus’ name?
I wonder whether we see ourselves as people who call on Jesus’ name?
I hope we do! I hope we pray so much that that’s what people know us for.
When Saul became a Christian, he immediately started preaching about Jesus. However, almost as soon as he started proclaiming Jesus, he faced trouble.
Jesus’ call for Saul to be his instrument to take his name to Geniles, kings and Israelites is utterly unique.
Even so, those who follow Jesus must be ready to suffer for it.
Jesus said, ‘“If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.’ (Matthew 16:24)
This is for everyone who wants to follow Jesus.
To follow Jesus means being ready to suffer for his name.
Whether you speak out in public or show your faith by your actions, you must be ready to suffer for it.
But here’s the thing: if we’ve truly understood and experienced the glory of Jesus, we’ll be excited to share it with others, even if it means suffering for it.
The glory of Jesus’ name is greater than anything else in the world.
You don’t hide God’s glory and beauty.
You must proclaim it, live it, and be willing to suffer and even die for it.
Do you know Christ’s glory?
Two weeks ago, Peter’s family and I went to the Reach Australia conference, and it was absolutely incredible!
There were more than 1300 people there, representing many church leaders and planters from across Australia.
They had this big vision of planting 300 new churches by 2030.
I remember hearing about it a few years ago when I first started, and I was like, “Who would want to plant a church? It’s so hard and expensive, and it can be really discouraging.”
And yet, they’re now at 150!
Men and women from all over Australia, from different backgrounds, are passionate about reaching Australia with the good news of Jesus.
It’s not always easy, it’s heartbreaking, and it can be backbreaking work, but the glory of Jesus moves us to keep proclaiming the word, even when things are tough.
And that’s what we want to see here at St Paul’s Kogarah as well.
We want to grow, we want to multiply, for God’s glory and for people’s good.
And so, how much are you willing to suffer for the glory of Jesus?
It’s tough to do it alone, and so let’s support each other and suffer together as a Church.
What is Jesus’ glory like and how do we respond to it?
The glory of Jesus is heavy – it weighs us down, it humbles us and makes us fall on our knees to pray.
The glory of Jesus leads us to call upon the name of Jesus.
We call upon his name and we ask, “Who are you Lord?”
We call upon his name and make ourselves available for Jesus, saying to the Lord Jesus, “Lord here I am.”
And we proclaim his name to all those around us, declaring that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
Friends, “Fall before the glorious Lord Jesus, and may he raise you up to both call upon and to proclaim his glorious name.”
Here are three questions for us to think about this week:
1. Has the glory of Jesus ever challenged your purpose in life? If so, how?
2. Has the Lord Jesus ever sent you to a person that you want to avoid? How did you respond?
3. Do people around you know that you pray to and speak about Jesus? If so, how?
“Fall before the glorious Lord Jesus, and may he raise you up to both call upon and to proclaim his glorious name.”
Let’s pray, “Father, we thank you for your amazing grace. We thank you that you would reveal yourself to us in the glorious Lord Jesus. Father, may the glory of Jesus humble us so that we come before you constantly in prayer. May we depend on you as we make decisions, as we proclaim the name of Jesus, as we live for the name of Jesus. Father, when we face suffering, help us to remember that Jesus is with us always. We pray this through Jesus Christ our Lord,to whom with you and the Holy Spirit,be all honour and glory, now and for ever. Amen.”