Ananias Ministers to Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:10-19)
This sermon was preached on 12/2/2012
Saul of Tarsus, the great opponent of the Christian church, had encountered Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus and discovered that he was the divine Son of God and that his followers were disciples of the Messiah, united to him in a real union. Until now, however, the meeting had been kept secret from the disciples in Damascus. Perhaps they were wondering where Saul of Tarsus was because news of his intended visit there had reached their ears (v. 14), but there was no sign of him. Whatever their thoughts, they did not have a true picture of what was going on. They were still apprehensive, not realising that their Lord in heaven had reached down and removed the source of trouble in a gracious manner.
Right away we can see a powerful challenge to our own way of regular thinking. We judge current situations by the limited information we have of them, just as these disciples in Damascus did. Yet their limited information was actually dated information because events had moved on without their realisation of the change. The lesson for us is not merely to ask, ‘What could Jesus do in this situation?’ In addition, we must remind ourselves that the Saviour will have already done something about it.
Paul reminded the Ephesians that Jesus is the head over all things [which must include current circumstances] for the benefit of his body the church (Eph. 1:22). Our perspective of life has to be biblical, and one feature of a true outlook is an awareness that God is always active, working all things (including all ‘my’ circumstances) for our good (Rom. 8:28). No situation that believers face remains static because Jesus has been and will be involved in working in their situations for his glory, their good and the benefit of others.
1. The Lord of surprising requirements
Ananias seems to have been a leader among the disciples in Damascus. No information is given as to when he became a disciple. Perhaps he had heard Jesus during his years on earth (after all, Damascus was relatively close to Galilee, and Ananias could have been one of the disciples who had followed Jesus from there) or maybe he had been a visitor in Jerusalem at the Day of Pentecost and was converted during Peter’s sermon. Wherever he was converted, he was not one of the disciples who had been forced to leave Jerusalem by the persecution led by Saul. Instead he had been a resident in Damascus for a sufficiently long period to gain the respect of the Jewish community there. It is possible that he received this vision during a regular time of prayer or perhaps he was given it when he was in bed (he is told to rise in verse 11). In any case, he did not that day anticipate the task that he was about to be given, which was to bring assurance of salvation to one who shortly before had been a fierce enemy.
Ananias is an example of the vast number of unknown disciples who have performed crucial activities in the life of the church. As with many others who have engaged in such activities, Ananias may have assumed that this God-given task was perilous, but he soon discovered that his role was actually a privilege. He was instrumental in bringing Saul of Tarsus into the fellowship of the visible church in Damascus.
It is important to note that God always prepares the field in which his servants have to labour. The field on this occasion for Ananias was Saul of Tarsus and the Lord told him that Saul had also received supernatural information in a vision. Saul, in fact, was waiting for a man called Ananias to arrive. The field had been prepared, Ananias only had to walk in and fulfil his role.
This is a reminder that the Lord Jesus always has his man or men in place ready to work for him. Who in the church would have planned a strategy for dealing with the conversion of the persecutor, Saul? Whom would the apostles have designated for helping him? Perhaps they had their ideas, but it is unlikely that they had even thought of his possible conversion. The ones in Jerusalem did not know how to react to Saul. But Jesus already had his person ready for the role, living in Damascus until Saul came there.
There is another detail worth noting. Saul had been told this information before the Lord had spoken to Ananias. We can interpret the order of events as merely indicating that Jesus knows the future, so he knew that Ananias would go to Saul. I don’t think that is a biblical way of depicting divine foreknowledge. God does not know the future merely by looking ahead and noting what will occur; instead he knows what is going to happen because he has planned each detail in every situation. As our catechism tells us, he has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. So Jesus in heaven was working out all the details of God’s eternal plan concerning the conversion of Saul, which included the role that Ananias would perform.
Since God had planned this role for Ananias, it means that God had also prepared him for it. Obviously it was a surprise for Ananias when he received this divine instruction, but it was not a sudden impulse request by God. Instead he had been working in Ananias’ life to equip him for this role. The various experiences that he had gone through had been worked together by God in order to prepare him for this important mission. And while we regard his task as a most important one, it was not the climax of his life. Rather his participation in Saul’s life would equip Ananias for future tasks. We might remember him for this action in welcoming Saul into the church, but the believers in Damascus would have had a lot more to say about Ananias’ contribution afterwards.
This is how we are to regard ourselves at all times, but especially when a sudden burden is placed upon us. It is a wrong response to assume that we cannot do it or to suggest that someone else should do it. Such response indicates that we don’t believe God has prepared us for the role. It means that we don’t regard service as a privilege given to us by God.
2. The Disciple of Simple Responses
The visit of Jesus to Ananias is not a monologue but a dialogue. Jesus and his disciple engage in discussion. What features can be identified in the contribution of Ananias on this occasion?
First, we can see his alertness to the visit of Jesus. The response to the divine call was immediate because he realised that Jesus was speaking to him in the vision. I have no idea whether or not Jesus speaks in visions today, although contrary to many claims made today it is worth noting that nothing unusual is depicted of Jesus when he appeared to Ananias. In any case, I suspect that before Jesus would use an extraordinary means of contact he will use the ordinary ones. If we are not alert to his voice in his Word or in church services, it is doubtful if he will speak to us in more spectacular ways. What is important for us is to assess how alert we are to the voice of Jesus in the means of grace. For example, when we read the Bible today, did we react to it as the voice of Jesus addressing us? If not, we are not marked by alertness.
Second, we can see in Ananias the feature of availability. His response is straight-forward: ‘Here I am, Lord.’ Ananias is a soldier reporting for duty and a servant ready to perform his master’s bidding. He does not respond with an attitude of resentment because he has been interrupted. From a human point of view, the absence of this feature of availability is a reason why progress in the Lord’s kingdom is small. Availability reveals our priorities because we are always available for the things that are important to us.
Third, Ananias admitted absence of understanding. It is obvious that the request the Lord Jesus gave to him had the effect of puzzling him. We know that his bewilderment was based on lack of precise information regarding the great change in Saul’s heart. Still it is useful for us to note that Ananias freely expressed his confusion to Jesus. His ignorance did not cause him to become stoical, nor did it cause him to assume that he could not obtain further details. Therefore he freely expressed his concern to the Lord, and because he did so he received the encouragement that he needed. Jesus informed Ananias that Saul would play a very important role in the future development of the Saviour’s kingdom. The obvious lesson is that information and direction are given by Jesus to those who ask him for such details.
Fourth, Ananias displayed alacrity in his obedience. Once Jesus had given him encouragement by giving assurance of what would happen to him, Ananias rushed to where Saul of Tarsus was living. Clearly, by going immediately, Ananias brought help to Saul and joy to himself. And it may have been a very strong influence on Judas in whose house Paul was, because we don’t know if Judas was a believer – he may have been an innkeeper. Prompt obedience is always the best path to spiritual prosperity. Delay in obedience is equivalent to deprivation of blessings.
Fifth, Ananias was affectionate when he met Saul (remember Saul had left for Damascus to arrest Ananias and the other disciples). Ananias’ first action was to touch the blind Saul and his first words to Saul were ‘Brother Saul’. First impressions are very important. Ananias could have waited for Saul to confess his wrong attitudes. If he had done so and then touched Saul and spoken to him, it would have been a display of love – but it would not be as effective as what he actually did and said. Disciples of Jesus, by definition, are those who express affection for one another. After all, as the words of Ananias declare, disciples belong to the same family. Gracious gestures and loving words reveal the state of our hearts. Ananias’ heart was full of joy at the amazing grace of Jesus revealed in the conversion of Saul of Tarsus.
3. The Convert with Saving Evidences of Grace
Saul was a changed man and he very quickly revealed that he was. These evidences stand out clearly in the chapter. First, he was a man with a new faith, which he was willing to confess by baptism. From one perspective, if we had seen Saul’s behaviour in the house of Judas, we would not have noticed much difference in him. After all, Saul as a devout Pharisee had often engaged in external prayer and fasting, but these activities had not been acceptable to God despite the fact that Saul imagined that they were. But now there was a big change in him and Jesus draws the attention of Ananias to this great transformation: ‘Behold, he is praying.’ I wonder what Saul was praying about – restoration of his sight, guidance for the future, or assurance of the forgiveness of his sins.
The clearest evidence of a changed life is genuine prayer. A person can have convictions of sin merely from a guilty conscience; a person can have anticipations of God’s blessing from an optimistic frame of mind. Conviction and faith can have counterfeits. But it is hard to have a phony prayer life. Obviously one can have a hypocritical practice in which prayer is made for wrong motives. Yet if we are praying to God continually for mercy, for grace to be holy, for spiritual development, for increasing understanding of the Bible’s promises, for greater love to Jesus, then we have clear evidence of genuine conversion. Saul of Tarsus had this evidence, and Jesus was delighted with it.
Saul had a second evidence, which was a new fellowship: ‘For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus’ (v. 19). His heart was now knitted to those whom he had previously despised. Love filled his heart for the people of God whatever their age, class and background, and he immediately identified himself with them. This must have been a strong witness to the Jews in Damascus. As the apostle John was later to write, ‘We know that he had passed from death unto life because he now loved the brothers.’
The story of Ananias is a reminder that we can suddenly find ourselves called by God to engage in a surprising activity, one which we feel is beyond our capabilities, but one which he assures us he has prepared for achieving, and one which will bring great blessing to the church. Ananias did what he was asked to do. Will we?