A Chosen Vessel

August 29, 2010

Lesson: Acts 9:1–20

Key Verse: Acts 9:15

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Introduction

The church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is made up of people out of every nation; of lawyers, congressmen, businessmen, laborers, housewives, men and women out of every nation. The people of today are in its truest sense no different than those of the days of the apostles. These chosen people are those who have been delivered out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ our Savior. Sin has darkened the heart and only Christ our Redeemer is the light that pierces this darkness. There is no sin today that has beset the life that the people in the days of Paul did not have to face.

The Acts of the Holy Spirit is the revelation of the Spirit’s work with people, with the souls of those who have transgressed, repented, and believed. There are also the souls of those who rebel and forever know the wrath of God. The preaching of the gospel and the growth of the church is as viable today as it was then. And there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, today, as there was when the darkest of hearts came to know Jesus then.

One of these souls was Saul, whose name was changed to Paul. His threats would be changed to the witness of Christ Jesus; his persecution would turn to love of the brethren. And what a love it was. Paul expressed his darkness, saying, “For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it” (Gal. 1:13). He declared the light which pierced the darkness as that of the grace of God: “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace” (Gal. 1:15). This divine transformation of the soul resulted in God’s glory: “And they glorified God in me” (Gal. 1:24).

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Who Art Thou?—Acts 9:1–7

Saul was a Pharisee “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.” He went to the high priest requesting letters of introduction to the Damascus synagogues that he might root out those found in the way of Christ, to “bring them bound unto Jerusalem.” After his conversion, Paul testified to the harm he desired against the Christians: “and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them” (Acts 26:10–11).

As Saul came near the city of Damascus, a light shown suddenly from heaven. He heard a voice speak to him, saying, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” Is not the church of our Lord Jesus Christ His body? You cannot reject the body without rejecting Christ, the Head of the Church. Saul must also learn that to persecute Jesus is to reject him as the Messiah sent from the Father. Jesus said, “He who rejects me, and does not receive my words, has that which judges him” (John 12:48). Also, “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad” (Matt. 12:30).

Sovereignly, God reaches down from his throne of grace and lays hold upon his chosen servant. He will not only save Saul but use him for his glory. Saul would become Paul with much thanksgiving and rejoicing.

The heart of Saul is being humbled. No longer being able to direct his wrath against Jesus, he quietly asks, “Who art thou, Lord?” Paul is convicted of his sin and then moved to repent: “And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” The word of the Lord will not return to him empty, it will accomplish what he wishes to accomplish. The Lord seeks to save.

Saul confesses his new found faith in Christ as his Savior and Master, saying, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” To which the Lord answers, “Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.” As with every newly born again Christian, Saul must wait to hear what his discipleship will include. For we not only grow in the Word of God, but we also serve in that Word. As Saul was used with the gifts given him of the Lord, so must we wait on him and see what gifts will be ours in the service of the King.

Question: Are there any similarities in our conversion to that of Saul’s?

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Lord’s Disciple—Acts 9:8–12

Saul rose from the earth, and opening his eyes, he was unable to see anyone. Those who were with him, “led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.” There he stayed for three days “without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.”

Meanwhile, in the city of Damascus, there was a disciple whose name was Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, saying, “Ananias.” He replied, “Behold, I am here, Lord.” Again, a servant of the Lord Jesus finds peace when called upon in a vision. The heart of the disciple is prepared to hear from the Lord. Ananias hears his Lord, saying, “And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.”

Note that:

1. The heart of the disciple knows who is speaking to him.
2. The Lord knows that his disciple will obey him, telling him where he should go to meet Saul.
3. The Lord is, at the same time, working in the heart of Saul; for he is telling Saul about Ananias.
4. Ananias is also told that he is to be an instrument of healing, that Saul would receive his sight.

The Lord sovereignly acts in the lives of his saints. What a glory these saints beheld as they were bought face to face with their Savior.

Question: How is God’s sovereign work revealed in Saul and in Ananias?

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Sight Received—Acts 9:13–20

However, Ananias speaks his heart, for he has heard of the evil this man Saul has accomplished among the saints at Jerusalem, and the authority he carried from the chief priests in order to “bind all that call on thy name.” The assurance that the Lord gives to Ananias is grounded in this one particular fact: that the Lord has chosen Saul to be an instrument of obedience in his hand. The Lord says to Ananias: “Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”

Paul was to be a chosen vessel or instrument in the hand of the King of kings. And so Ananias, another chosen disciple of Christ, went to Saul, and putting his hand on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee …sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.” Immediately he received his sight, and was baptized. Saul was united with Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, now made a saint, set apart as the servant of the Lord.

Saul, soon to be called Paul, later defended his commission as an apostle of Christ, telling his hearers that it was through Ananias that he received the command of the Lord: “The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. For you will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.” It was Jehovah, the Triune God who chose Paul to see Jesus and hear his voice and to testify to all men of what he had seen and heard; so Paul preached Christ!

We must see our calling as having a divine source, as well as having a divine nature. It is not that we have chosen to serve, but that our Savior has chosen us to serve him. We are not volunteers, as if we can claim the time and place of our service. Neither are we observers, looking for others to do what ought to be done. The Lord has placed us in his body, the church. We are not all ears or hands, but, with the talents and gifts and time, etc., that the Lord has given us, he places us in his body to do what he wants to be done. We are to exercise our calling with the strength and obedience that he has graciously given us.

Question: How was Saul to be an instrument in the hand of the Lord?

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Lessons are based on the International Sunday School Lessons for Christian Teaching, copyright © 2010 by the Committee on the Uniform Series.