“Brother Saul”

Read: Acts 9:7-19

“Brother Saul”

The Lord will send someone. It is not only that the Lord HAS SENT Christ, but also that Christ is working in his people and HE WILL SEND SOMEONE. Some of you need to hear that this morning because you are in need of someone coming to you. Others of you need to hear it because God is calling you to be the one SENT. Either way, we must be reminded that God has not forgotten about us… and that he is going to send help. He will bring those people we need most in our lives exactly when we need them. The hard part is that this doesn’t happen before we have endured the “pruning” that we must endure. (cf. John 15) “And for three days he (Saul) was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.” (v.9) The Lord shows up in and through his people when we are truly most hungry and thirsty… when we have been “struck” with hunger and thirst.

Saul was sitting blind, and not eating or drinking for three days… and yet that did not mean he went without “seeing” during this time. Sometimes we need the Lord to make us blind to the natural world so that we can actually see what he has for us: “and he (Saul) has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” (v.12) The nest step that Saul would take with the Lord was revealed to him in a vision while he sat hungry, thirsty, and blind. We may not like to hear it, but at times our “vision” is most clear when we are blind, thirsty, and hungry… not when our senses are overloaded and we are fat and happy! Saul just had to sit and wait for the one that the Lord had shown him.

Imagine being Ananias… the “sent one”. God shows up in a vision and sends him to seek out this murderous “persecute’r” Saul. I want you to notice one subtle detail here before we go further: God doesn’t just unload the mission on Ananias, it begins by him calling his name. “Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”(v.10) The Lord waited for him to answer… the Lord waited for him to say, “here I am”. What would our lives looked like if we said “here I am” more often? Are we willing to answer this way when the Lord shows up? Would we dismiss it if it “came in a vision”? Sometimes God paints a picture in our minds of something or someone… a place, a scenario, an opportunity, a person… and we cast this vision aside as random chance. What if we started answering “here I am”? What if the Lord actually sending us… communicating with us. Sometimes it may be in a dream. When we wake up and remember our dreams… do we even bother to ask the Lord if it was from him? Do we say, “here I am Lord”? This takes practice. We need to practice listening to the Lord. Imagine how easy it would have been for Ananias to dismiss this vision from he Lord. It was crazy! It was totally understandable to not want to go. It would have seemed like a normal amount of self-preservation to stay back and not go… but he didn’t. It takes supernatural intervention and strength to reach out to an enemy. We just might find out that God has already changed that “enemy” into an ally… into a friend.

God did something powerful for this “sent one” Ananias. God's mission will always supersede our self-preservation and sometimes even our common sense… so to speak. The Lord may very well send us out to engage someone we think is our enemy… he may call us to a place that we perceive as against us. Will you be willing to go? We will never truly participate in the powerful and supernatural work of the Lord until we learn to answer “here I am” and then actually GO to the place or people he is calling us to. When Ananias shows up, he calls him “brother Saul”. (v.17) He calls him his “brother”. This is the same Saul that set out on this journey to come and kill people like Ananias… and now they have embraced each other as brothers. In this day and age of division and animosity, do we really believe that the Lord could bring about some “brother Saul” moments for us? God is using his people to restore sight to those who are “blind”.

Seasons of blindness, hunger, and thirst are always followed by seasons of growth and new identity for the people of God. “And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened.” (v.18-19) The scales will fall off… the “shackles” will be removed… God will send someone to bring freedom… or he will come himself! “Immediately” Saul assumes his new identity by aligning with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection through baptism. (cf. Rom. 6:1-11) He eats and his hunger is no more… he drinks and is no longer thirsty… “he was STRENGTHENED”. God will not only send someone, he will satisfy your hunger, quench your thirst, and strengthen you! What “vision” is he working on for you today? Will you answer “here I am”? When he tells you where to go, and who to reach out to… will you do it? Even when we are blind, hungry, and thirsty… the Lord is still speaking to us… look for the vision he is sending you in those moments! If Saul can become “brother Saul”, how much more can democrat, republican, rich, poor, white, black, immigrant, citizen escape these former titles and become unified as brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus is working ahead of time in the hearts of those who are headed down the road ready to kill us! Who will be your “brother Saul”? Love you guys. - JDP