When God Calls Your Name: Saul, Saul
Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.
As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?"
And the voice replied, "I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
What are the six hardest words to say in the English language? I pose that they are "I am sorry. I was wrong." Nobody likes to be wrong. It is part of our nature that we always want to be right – and even when we know that we aren’t, we’re unlikely to admit it. I was recently asked the question, "What is a significant political or religious idea that you’ve changed your mind on?" I had a hard time answering that question, not necessarily because I never change my mind, but because changing my mind seems to indicate that at one time or another, I was wrong. I don’t like to admit that I’ve been wrong.
When a politician admits to having been wrong, he is called a flip-flopper. But when a politician fails to admit where she was wrong, she is considered to be bullheaded and stubborn, arrogant even. There’s just no winning!
What if you happened to be wrong about something? What would it take for you to come around? In today’s scripture, we find someone who was wrong – dead wrong. Saul was a well-known persecutor of the church. His goal – to stamp out this new movement, and he had a lot of work to do. You see, the early church was growing by leaps and bounds. Thousands of people were converting at a time. Can you imagine having a service where three thousand people accepted Jesus Christ, all in one day? How about five thousand? This is how the church was exploding, and Saul wanted to do something about it.
I’ve talked before about how sometimes God speaks by 2x4 – this is definitely one of those cases. Jesus Christ showed up in a blinding light and spoke to Saul. Talk about a 2x4! God had to blind Saul in order to get Saul to hear Him. Have you ever had to lose everything in order to finally hear God’s voice? Have you had to hit rock bottom in order to realize where you’d been missing the mark?
Not only does Jesus have to blind Saul, but he also calls his name… (you guessed it) twice. Part of the problem, as I see it, was that Saul was already blinded. His problem was that he was blinded by religion. I might ruffle a few feathers here when I say this, but I believe it: religion isn’t as good a thing as some might lead you to believe. Religion is simply a belief in a divine power or the system of belief, worship, and conduct required by that belief. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s certainly not the goal. Religion is only a reaction to the divine. The only thing that makes religion good is when it is paired with relationship. Saul had no relationship, only religion, and that’s a dangerous combination. This is what fuels kooks like Osama bin Laden and the KKK. This is what fueled Saul, as well.
This is why God called Saul’s name twice – to give Saul credit, he was really trying. He really, truly thought that what he was doing was right. He never set out to be the bad guy. He was simply trying to preserve his religion and to do what he felt was his religious duty.
Because he was missing the mark so badly, God called his name twice (and blinded him as well!). Then (and I think this is neat), God gave Saul the next step. Do you remember what God told Moses when He called his name twice? God told Moses, "You will lead my people out of slavery." Can you imagine what Saul would have done if God had told him what the future held in store for him?
"Oh, yeah, Saul, you’re going to be my missionary. You’re going to be put in prison, you’re going to be whipped too many times to count, and you’re going to face death again and again. You’re going to face 39 lashes five times. You’re going to be beaten with rods three times, you’ll be stoned, you’ll be shipwrecked three times, and you’ll spend an entire night and day adrift at sea. You will be hungry and thirsty and alone and cold." This is all from Paul’s later account in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27. "Then, Saul, you’re going to be imprisoned again and eventually die in prison." What do you think Saul would have done with that? I don’t think he could have handled it all when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. So Jesus told him simply, "Now get up and go into the city, and you’ll be told what to do." Often we want Paul Harvey’s ‘the Rest of the Story’. We want to know where we’re going to end up, but God only gives it to us piece by piece.
So what is our next step? I’m convinced that religion has gotten in the way of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Many of you have heard about the couple who began to cook a Thanksgiving ham and before she put it in the oven, the wife cut both ends off. Her husband asked her why she did it, and she responded by saying, "That’s how you cook a ham." Truth was, her mother always did it that way, so she called her mom and asked her, "Why did you always cut the ends off the ham?" Her mother didn’t have a good response: "I guess I did it because my mom always cut the ends off." So they called her mom and asked her the same question. "Oh, I cut the ends off the ham because I didn’t have a big enough pot to cook the whole thing in."
Another way to see it is this: sometimes at night, I’ll be reading a bookTara to get finished reading her book so we can go to sleep. Meanwhile, she’ll be reading, waiting for me to get finished with my chapter so we can go to sleep. We both want the same thing – we both have the same goal, but neither of us does anything about it because we don’t realize the other’s intention. Then, although our intentions were good, we both end up unhappy.
When we as a church are more concerned about our habits and traditions than about the reason behind them – or, more appropriately, about the relationship behind them, then we are just cutting the ends off the ham. When we go about what we’re doing the same way we’ve always done it, even though we have good intentions, we don’t end up fulfilled and Jesus isn’t glorified.
How about seeing what Jesus wants? How about seeing the needs of the community and the world and acting upon them?
As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?"
"Who are you, lord?" Saul asked.
And the voice replied, "I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
Acts 9:1-6
What are the six hardest words to say in the English language? I pose that they are "I am sorry. I was wrong." Nobody likes to be wrong. It is part of our nature that we always want to be right – and even when we know that we aren’t, we’re unlikely to admit it. I was recently asked the question, "What is a significant political or religious idea that you’ve changed your mind on?" I had a hard time answering that question, not necessarily because I never change my mind, but because changing my mind seems to indicate that at one time or another, I was wrong. I don’t like to admit that I’ve been wrong.
When a politician admits to having been wrong, he is called a flip-flopper. But when a politician fails to admit where she was wrong, she is considered to be bullheaded and stubborn, arrogant even. There’s just no winning!
What if you happened to be wrong about something? What would it take for you to come around? In today’s scripture, we find someone who was wrong – dead wrong. Saul was a well-known persecutor of the church. His goal – to stamp out this new movement, and he had a lot of work to do. You see, the early church was growing by leaps and bounds. Thousands of people were converting at a time. Can you imagine having a service where three thousand people accepted Jesus Christ, all in one day? How about five thousand? This is how the church was exploding, and Saul wanted to do something about it.
I’ve talked before about how sometimes God speaks by 2x4 – this is definitely one of those cases. Jesus Christ showed up in a blinding light and spoke to Saul. Talk about a 2x4! God had to blind Saul in order to get Saul to hear Him. Have you ever had to lose everything in order to finally hear God’s voice? Have you had to hit rock bottom in order to realize where you’d been missing the mark?
Not only does Jesus have to blind Saul, but he also calls his name… (you guessed it) twice. Part of the problem, as I see it, was that Saul was already blinded. His problem was that he was blinded by religion. I might ruffle a few feathers here when I say this, but I believe it: religion isn’t as good a thing as some might lead you to believe. Religion is simply a belief in a divine power or the system of belief, worship, and conduct required by that belief. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s certainly not the goal. Religion is only a reaction to the divine. The only thing that makes religion good is when it is paired with relationship. Saul had no relationship, only religion, and that’s a dangerous combination. This is what fuels kooks like Osama bin Laden and the KKK. This is what fueled Saul, as well.
This is why God called Saul’s name twice – to give Saul credit, he was really trying. He really, truly thought that what he was doing was right. He never set out to be the bad guy. He was simply trying to preserve his religion and to do what he felt was his religious duty.
Because he was missing the mark so badly, God called his name twice (and blinded him as well!). Then (and I think this is neat), God gave Saul the next step. Do you remember what God told Moses when He called his name twice? God told Moses, "You will lead my people out of slavery." Can you imagine what Saul would have done if God had told him what the future held in store for him?
"Oh, yeah, Saul, you’re going to be my missionary. You’re going to be put in prison, you’re going to be whipped too many times to count, and you’re going to face death again and again. You’re going to face 39 lashes five times. You’re going to be beaten with rods three times, you’ll be stoned, you’ll be shipwrecked three times, and you’ll spend an entire night and day adrift at sea. You will be hungry and thirsty and alone and cold." This is all from Paul’s later account in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27. "Then, Saul, you’re going to be imprisoned again and eventually die in prison." What do you think Saul would have done with that? I don’t think he could have handled it all when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. So Jesus told him simply, "Now get up and go into the city, and you’ll be told what to do." Often we want Paul Harvey’s ‘the Rest of the Story’. We want to know where we’re going to end up, but God only gives it to us piece by piece.
So what is our next step? I’m convinced that religion has gotten in the way of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Many of you have heard about the couple who began to cook a Thanksgiving ham and before she put it in the oven, the wife cut both ends off. Her husband asked her why she did it, and she responded by saying, "That’s how you cook a ham." Truth was, her mother always did it that way, so she called her mom and asked her, "Why did you always cut the ends off the ham?" Her mother didn’t have a good response: "I guess I did it because my mom always cut the ends off." So they called her mom and asked her the same question. "Oh, I cut the ends off the ham because I didn’t have a big enough pot to cook the whole thing in."
Another way to see it is this: sometimes at night, I’ll be reading a bookTara to get finished reading her book so we can go to sleep. Meanwhile, she’ll be reading, waiting for me to get finished with my chapter so we can go to sleep. We both want the same thing – we both have the same goal, but neither of us does anything about it because we don’t realize the other’s intention. Then, although our intentions were good, we both end up unhappy.
When we as a church are more concerned about our habits and traditions than about the reason behind them – or, more appropriately, about the relationship behind them, then we are just cutting the ends off the ham. When we go about what we’re doing the same way we’ve always done it, even though we have good intentions, we don’t end up fulfilled and Jesus isn’t glorified.
How about seeing what Jesus wants? How about seeing the needs of the community and the world and acting upon them?
I want to close with a scripture from Isaiah 55:6-12: Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil one his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and the trees of the field will clap their hands.
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