Acts 9:26-43 – The Name We Live to Proclaim

Greetings

Good morning brothers and sister, very glad to be opening God’s word with you this morning.

But as we do, let us pray and ask God for his help.

Heavenly Father, as we open your word this morning, please be with us and help lift our eyes upon you. May we be reminded once more of your grace and mercy, and help us become bold preachers of your name and glory. Amen.

Introduction

Friends, what comes to your mind when you hear the name Jesus?

Now I think most of you, when you hear the name Jesus, you will think of Jesus as our Lord, or Jesus who died for our sins, or Jesus as God.

Or for our younger listeners in the room, Jesus is good, Jesus is King, or Jesus loves me!

And this shouldn’t surprise us because I’m asking this question in a room where most of us would call ourselves Christians, and we trust in the name of Jesus.

However, if I asked this question outside of these walls, I would get a radically different response.

Because the people in our communities, most of them do not yet trust in the name of Jesus.

To them, Jesus may or may not be a historical person. Jesus may just be some ancient fantasy story. Some would even think that Jesus is the reason why our world is so divided, or even think that Jesus is the root of all evil. Still others might reply: who cares?

Friends, the reality is that this is the world that we live in. A world that does not trust in Jesus.

And so as Christians who call on his name, who trusts in him, there will always be a tension between us and the world.

Sometimes, you don’t quite feel it; other times, it’s so hard you want to give up and give in.

The world seeks to live a life apart from the source of life, which is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

To them, the name of Jesus is not life but death.

But take heart, because Jesus has already defeated and overcome death, and his name is the only name that gives life.

And therefore, Jesus is the name that we must proclaim as long as we live.

And I think as we look at our passage today, we find precisely these three things.

And so the three points for this morning are:

1)    Jesus, the name that brings death

2)    Jesus, the only name that gives life

3)    Jesus, the name we must proclaim

Context

Now before we jump right into our passage today, I think it would be helpful for us to zoom out and see where we are at in the Bible as a whole, and then to see where we are, in the book of Acts.

This will help us grasp more clearly what is happening in Acts chapter 9 and why this is such a significant moment in all humankind’s history.

For most of this year, we have been looking at Genesis, the book of beginnings, as it is called, and we’ve been looking at the beginning of God’s plan to save as we study the promises that were made to Abraham.

One of those promises was that ‘all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you’ (Gen 12:3b)

Now, in Genesis we have seen faint examples of Abraham blessing others, but surely it wasn’t ‘all the peoples on earth’.

Now, if we fast forward all the way to the gospel of Luke – some of us might know that Luke wrote both the gospel of Luke and Acts – we see that it begins with the birth of Jesus and ends with the ascension of Jesus.

Meanwhile, Acts begins with Pentecost, which is when Jesus’s disciples receive the Holy Spirit, and immediately they proclaim Jesus as Lord.

In the first eight chapters of Acts, the gospel was mainly spread to the Jews, but it is after chapter 9 that the Gentiles will be blessed with the gospel of Jesus Christ through the man called Saul.

As we have heard last week from Acts 9:15, Saul is Jesus’ chosen instrument to take his (Jesus’) name to Gentiles and Israelites, which means all the peoples on earth. Because Israelites refers to Jews and Gentiles refers to non-Jews!

Last week, we mainly focused on Saul’s encounter with Jesus and how he was then converted and baptised.

This week, we will continue from there and see what happens to Saul and then Peter when they proclaim the name of Jesus.

Jesus, the name that brings death

So let’s begin with our first point and see how Jesus is the name that brings death.

Now, if you look back a couple of verses and go to verses 19 and 20, you see that right after Saul’s conversion and baptism, Saul immediately began proclaiming Jesus, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

In verse 21, we see how the Jews were shocked because Saul was supposed to persecute those who call upon the name of Jesus, but now Saul himself is proclaiming Jesus’ name!

And how did Saul respond?

Well, in verse 22 it says,

But Saul grew stronger and kept confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

Saul doubles down on his effort, not just proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God but going on to prove from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah, just as Peter and Stephen have done before him.

In verse 23 we see that Saul preached Jesus for many days. In fact, from Galatians chapter 1 we see that Paul stayed in Damascus for three years.

Saul hopes that his message along with his zeal will convince the Jews that his conversion is genuine and most importantly, that his own people will come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

Sadly, the Jews cannot have it anymore, and in response, they plotted to kill him.

But by the grace of God, some disciples in Damascus, who lived in a house on the wall, helped Saul escape through an opening in the wall by lowering him in a large basket.

Almost like how Rahab saved the Israelite spies.

Now, although Saul hoped to see conversion, he was instead met with persecution.

So, in verse 26, Saul returns to Jerusalem, the home base of early Christianity, hoping to find refuge among other followers of Jesus.

Yet, Saul was not immediately received by the disciples.

Which is unsurprising, because the last time he was in Jerusalem, he agreed to and perhaps even participated in the killing of Stephen, the first Christian martyr.

Thankfully, Barnabas took him in. Barnabas is a disciple trusted by the apostles, and he convinced them that Saul had been commissioned by the Lord Jesus himself.

And so, Saul found his refuge in Jerusalem, but what does he do next?

He proclaims the name of Jesus Christ.

Verse 28,

Saul was coming and going with them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

And so he gets himself killed again, in verse 29, the Hellenistic Jews sought to kill Saul, and so the disciples in Jerusalem had no choice but to ship him off to Tarsus, all the way up to modern-day Turkey.

Now, I think at this point we all notice a pattern.

It begins with Saul boldly proclaiming Christ, people want to kill Saul, Saul flees to a new place, Saul begins proclaiming Christ, and the cycle continues.

And so if we were to assess Saul’s ministry, we must say it’s not going so well, is it.

Most missionary agencies would have pulled out their missionaries and demanded that they return home at once!

However, everything that Saul did was according to God’s plan.

The Bible tells us in verse 31 that, because of Saul, the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was strengthened.

What seemed to be persecution and fleeing was actually God’s plan of strengthening his church across the region.

And I think this is a huge encouragement for all of us today as Christians who share in the same mission.

Saul has shown us what it means to be a Christian. A Christian is one who will proclaim the name of Jesus, even if it is uncomfortable, inconvenient or brings us harm.

For us, it might mean relational challenges with our friends and family, a costly shift in our priorities, or living without security and stability.

But the Bible reminds us that God is in control, and God works everything for the good of his people.

So really, there can be no real losses, only eternal gains.

There will always be some people who will be offended, who will hate you, who will want you to lead a life that is more like them than it is like Jesus.

However, there will be many more who are struggling to find meaning in this life, who are looking for hope in the wrong places, and who are desperate for a Christ-centered community that will welcome and love them.

And frankly, sometimes, gospel fruit is not that obvious to our eyes.

As Saul preaches the name of Jesus, even though death keeps knocking at his door, life springs up in all of God’s churches. Verse 31 tells us that because of Saul’s selfless preaching, the believers in that area learn to fear the Lord and not people, and they are ever more encouraged by the Holy Spirit, and the church increased in numbers and continues to grow.

Saul did suffer for the name of Jesus, but his suffering was never in vain.

Because ultimately, the name of Jesus is life, and it is the only name that gives life.

And that’s our second point, Jesus, the only name that gives life.

Jesus, the only name that gives life

When I was 12 years old, my family moved back to Hong Kong from Canada and I began studying year 7 in a public school.

Now, because of the cultural differences between Canada and Hong Kong, I just couldn’t fit in socially and academically at school.

As a result, I was often bullied, and school was very hard.

By year 8, I genuinely doubted what life is and what life means. Is suffering all there is to life?

Praise God, a few years later, I found life in Jesus during an evangelistic talk at a school assembly.

But as I look back at my life, what really happened was Jesus found me. It was only because God sent a pastor into my school that day, that I found my faith in Jesus.

This is what happens to Aeneas and Tabitha, as the apostle Peter continues Jesus' ministry and brings the good news to them.

Turning to our Bibles, in verse 32, Luke tells us that while Paul was ‘travelling’ from place to place to proclaim the gospel, the apostle Peter was also travelling from place to place.

Peter was busy visiting and discipling the members of the church.

Here, it tells us that Peter is in Lydda, which is modern-day Lod, a city northwest of Jerusalem, about a 12-hour walk away.

Here, Peter found a man named Aeneas, who was paralysed and bedridden for eight years. Medically speaking, this man can never be healed, and the muscles in his body would have deteriorated so badly that even if he can move, it would take years of physical therapy and still his motor functions might never be restored.

But when Peter says to him, “Aeneas, get up and make your bed”, he immediately got up. Just like how Jesus asked the paralytic to get up, take your mat and go home in Mark chapter 2.

Except, that is not exactly what Peter says.

If we look closely at verse 34, Peter says, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed.”

Aeneas was not healed through Peter’s power and authority, but through Jesus’ name.

And we see the same happen in Joppa, which is another 5 hours’ walk northwest from Lydda.

In verse 36, we are introduced to a disciple named Tabitha or Dorcas, and she became sick and died.

When the disciples found out that Peter was nearby, they urged Peter to come and visit.

When Peter came, in verse 39, the widows showed him the clothes and robes that Tabitha had made for them, affirming what was said in verse 36 that Tabitha was indeed a disciple of good works and service.

In verse 40, we see that what Peter does mirrors what Jesus did when he raised Jairus’ daughter to life in Mark chapter 5.

Just like Jesus, Peter sent everyone out of the room, and then Peter tells the woman to get up, and Tabitha got up.

Except when raising Jairus’ daughter, Jesus did not need to pray. Jesus simply said, “Little girl, I say to you, get up,” whereas Peter knelt down, prayed, and then asked Tabitha to get up.

And in both healings, the ultimate result was that many more people turned to Christ.

In verse 35, after Aeneas was healed, it says:

            So all who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.

Likewise, in verse 42, after Tabitha was raised from death to life, it says:

            This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

In both these healings, we clearly see that even though Peter was the one performing the healing, the source of the healing was Jesus himself.

And Peter himself knows this.

Earlier in Acts chapter 4, when Peter addressed the crowd after he asked the lame to walk, Peter accused his fellow Israelites of killing Jesus, the source of life.

And Peter ends his speech with the famous verse:

There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

Indeed, the symmetry between Peter’s healing in Lydda and Jesus' healing of the paralytic in Mark chapter 2 reminds us that it is only through the name of Jesus that anyone can have life, and it is only through the name of Jesus that our sins can be forgiven.

And so, even though proclaiming the name of Jesus might bring death and harm upon us, we must proclaim his name! It is the only name that gives life.

As followers of Jesus, as sinners who are washed clean by his blood, Jesus’ name is a name we must proclaim.

And so let me finish with our third and final point: Jesus the name we must proclaim.

Jesus, the name we must proclaim.

Some of you might know that my wife Hanna is a music therapist, and she mainly works with cancer patients in palliative care.

One time, there was this young woman whom Hanna was serving. She was in her late twenties, she was terminally ill with cancer, and doctors said she only had weeks left to live.

This was a Chinese, and her husband was also Chinese, and by the grace of God, both of them were Christians.

However, the woman’s parents in China have yet to hear the gospel, and she was deeply troubled.

And so, on her deathbed, she commanded her husband that he must give up everything here in Australia, return to China and preach the name of Jesus to her parents. So that they too may be saved.

Shortly after, she died, and she was only twenty-eight years old.

This woman moved to Australia to look for a better life and a better future. But shortly after she was engaged to her fiancée, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

She could have complained to God and asked why. Why did God take away my life? Why did God take away my marriage? Why did God allow all this suffering?

But in her dying moments, she only had her non-believing parents on her heart. Her only hope was that someone would proclaim the name of Jesus to her parents.

This woman’s testimony reminds us of what we’ve seen in the ministry of Saul and Peter.

This woman is not bothered by death, she knows that one day death will come. And more importantly, this woman knows that death has been overcome.

She knows that true life can only be found in the name of Jesus, who is life.

But the challenge for us is that there are still many, like her parents, who have yet to receive the life that is on offer through Jesus’ name.

Do we know that Jesus is the name that we must proclaim?

Are we so moved by the grace of God, and so convicted by the Spirit, and so grieved by the souls that will be cast to hell, that we cannot help but proclaim the name of Jesus?

Friends, I stand before you today, sharing with you the love of God and the name of Jesus, not because it is my job, or because I have no choice.

I am proclaiming the name of Jesus because I am a sinner who should have no place in the house of God, yet Jesus, God’s only son, took on my sins and died in my place. He received the punishment that I should receive, and the wrath of God was poured upon him instead of me.

But praise God, we not only share in the suffering and the death of Christ, but we also share in his new life as Christ rose from the dead.

In our frail bodies and our weak souls, we have the most precious treasure that has ever been bestowed upon humankind.

We have everlasting life and fellowship with God.

And as Christians, there can only be one response,: we proclaim and share the name of Jesus to all who have yet to place their trust in him.

Brothers and sisters, harm may come our way, and there is a cost in following Jesus, but Jesus reminds us in John chapter 16 verse 33, that we will have suffering in this world, but we can have courage because Jesus has overcome the world. And again Jesus promised us in Matthew, during the great commission, that he will be with us always until the end of this age.

Friends, Jesus is the only name that gives life, and I pray that all of us will proclaim the name of Jesus as long as we live. Amen.