Empowered by the Spirit to Be a Sent Saint
Acts Ch. 6-11: Empowered for Jesus' Mission

Fear Not

All right, here’s how it works: God’s going to ask you at some point in your life—you’ve been there, or you are there, or you will be there, or you will be there again. God asks you to do something, tells you to do something, and you’re fearful to do it because of the potential results, implications, complications. It could be something that is difficult all the way, to something that is perhaps even dangerous. Have you been there?

How many of you then start to live up in your head, or is this just me? All right, do you live up in your head, and all of a sudden, you start thinking of all the things that could go wrong, all the things that could go bad, all the ways you could get harmed? The next thing you know, you’re pretty much freaking out. Is it just me? OK, well thank you for being here to support me. I appreciate that.

What happens is we anticipate the future. Sometimes we grow fearful because we don’t see a lot of hope, and sometimes that fear causes us to be false prophets. I know the future and it’s going to be bad. And then we live in anxiety for something that may or may not happen.

This is such a common issue for us. It’s a common issue for me, and I’m in one of the most difficult seasons of my whole career as a pastor. I’m trying to figure out, “OK Lord, what do you want me to do?” Because sometimes the voice of Jesus gets drowned out by the voice of fear, and sometimes it’s hard to hear what Jesus is saying because fear is trying to drive a decision.

This is such a common issue for God’s people that the Bible gives one command more than any other command. About 150 times, the Bible says, in various ways, God says, “Fear not.” You know why? Because people are always afraid. God’s people from beginning to end, even those who love the Lord, even those who serve the Lord, even those who are walking with the Lord, they’re fearful, they’re anxious, they’re worried, they’re concerned, they’re uncertain.

The Vision

So today, what we’re going to see is a case study for one of God’s people, a man named Ananias, not the same guy mentioned in Acts 5. In Acts 5, a guy named Ananias stole from God and died, so different guy, all right? But this guy named Ananias, he does love the Lord, and God asks him to do something that is very difficult, perhaps even dangerous, and his first response, it’s fear, it’s anxiety, it’s uncertainty, it’s a degree of unwillingness. And it becomes a case study for us.

So if you would turn with me to Acts 9:10, we start with the vision, and Ananias literally gets a vision from God, and here is what the Scriptures say: “Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision,” so we’ll have to explain and explore what a vision is, “‘Ananias.’ And he said, ‘Here I am, Lord.’” All right, so he loves the Lord. He’s responsive. “And the Lord said to him, ‘Rise up and go to the street called Straight.’”

This is like an ancient shopping district. It was a well-known street. The archeologists have found it. It still exists because what the Bible says is true and eventually they dig it up and confirm it.

“And at the house of Judas”—not that Judas. That guy already betrayed Jesus and hung himself. This is another Judas who’s really bummed that he’s named Judas, all right? At the time it was probably a really popular name. One year, it was like, “Ooh, popular girl names. Popular boy names, Judas.” The next year, you’re like, “Not popular anymore. Something happened.” “Look for a man of Tarsus named Saul,” so we’re looking at Saul of Tarsus and how he became Paul the Apostle. “For behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.”

So what’s happening here is, God gives two visions, one to Ananias and one to Saul. And the vision to Ananias is, “Do you see this guy named Saul? He’s over on Straight Street. He’s praying, he’s blinded, he’s waiting for you to come, and to lay hands on him, and pray over him that he might be healed.”

Then God similarly gives a vision to Saul as he’s praying, “A guy named Ananias is coming.” Pretty specific. “You’re actually going to know his name. And he’s going to pray over you and you’re going to receive your sight.” So, God gives a vision to both. Now, in this, I want you to see that our God is a miraculous and a supernatural God, and there are two errors we can make. God can’t do stuff like this or God always does stuff like this. Not everybody gets a vision, right? Like if you’re at the grocery store, you’re like, “I don’t know, Lucky Charms or Cocoa Puffs. I don’t know. I don’t know, Lord. Give me a vision.” You know, not all the time are you going to get a vision. These are rare. These are unusual. These are occasions where God needs to give revelation.

And what it is, it’s the application of Scripture and the implication of Scripture. But it’s wrong to say, “And God does this all the time and we should just be running around looking for visions.” But it’s similarly wrong to say, “God can’t do this.” As a newer Christian, I actually had somebody say that to me. I was studying the Bible and I asked an older Christian. I was like, “What about this?” And they said, “Well, God can’t do that.” I was like, “I thought part of the perks of God was you could kinda do what you want.”

That just seems like—right? I mean, the Bible says God sits in heaven and does whatever pleases him. God gets to do whatever God wants to do, but God doesn’t have to do anything. In between these kind of extremes, and there are theological teams for both, I think is biblical Christianity. God can do anything and some supernatural things he does, but not all the time, and we can’t make him do those things. He’s free to do as he wants, when he wants, how he wants, where he wants. He’s God. That’s his jurisdiction.

What they both receive is a vision. So, I want to unpack that for you.

What’s a vision? I want to distinguish it from a dream. A dream is when you’re asleep and you see something. Now, you need to know this, not every dream is a revelation from God, all right? Amen? You ever had a dream where you were like, “I don’t think that was the Lord.” No, it wasn’t, OK? It wasn’t, right? OK, not every—so some of you are hypersensitive. You’ll be like, “Ooh, it was a dream. Must be the Lord. How do I interpret it?” Not necessarily. OK, I didn’t intend this. I verbal process a lot.

I’ll tell you the weirdest example because we’re all here. I had a gal years ago come up. In a sermon, I told a story about one of my kids, something about a panda. I don’t even remember what it was. And this woman had a dream about a panda that represented China, so she told me that she was quitting her job and moving to China because one of my kids got a panda. And she said, “I saw a panda in my dream, and so I interpreted that as the panda represents China, and it was confirmed by your son getting a panda, so I quit my job and I’m moving to China.” And I would say, “That may be a bit much that you had a dream about a panda and move to China,” OK?

What that is is taking a dream, that’s trying to infer and interpret into it all kinds of meaning that maybe, perhaps, probably, I’m pretty sure, let’s just say certainly, the Lord didn’t intend, OK? So, not every dream is God revealing himself. Sometimes you’re like, “It was amazing. I made my own salsa, and then I had a dream.” Nope, that wasn’t the Lord, OK? Not every dream is from the Lord, and similarly, a vision is like a dream. The difference being you’re not asleep, you’re awake. And these are the days before screens, and it’s kind of like—a vision is kind of like seeing something on television or on a screen. You’re seeing something happen, unfold before you. God is revealing things to you visually. And you’re not asleep like a dream, you’re awake and you’re seeing something.

Now, what I want to say about this is that God still does this on occasion. I’ve had some dreams from the Lord, prophetic dreams. He wakes me up, speaks to me, gives me Scripture, and then things happen just like God has revealed, and he was telling me in advance what was going to happen on a few occasions. I’ve not had a lot of visions, but I have had a few. And you can’t predict them, you can’t make them happen, it’s just God decided to show you something.

Was It from the Lord or Not?

How do we know whether it’s a vision from the Lord or not from the Lord? Because the Bible says that Satan masquerades as an angel of light, that we don’t believe in just being spiritual because we believe in addition to angels there are demons. We believe just because you see something or hear something, we don’t assume it has to be the Lord, amen?

In 1 John 4:1, he says, “Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether or not they are from God.” Well, how do you test the spirits? Two very simple ways. Check it by the word of God, and secondly, check it by the people of God. The Holy Spirit inspired the writing of Scripture, and the Holy Spirit indwells God’s people, and so if you want to know whether or not it was the Holy Spirit, check with God’s word, check with God’s people. And since the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of Scripture, if what you’re hearing or seeing contradicts what God is saying, then you know it’s not true. I had this—not long ago, I had a young woman come. She said, “I’m a Christian, I’m dating a guy who’s a non-Christian, and I feel like God has told me to marry him.” Answer? Wrong number. That wasn’t the Lord who called, because what the Lord doesn’t say is, “I’m commanding you to do something that I’ve commanded you not to do.”

See, God’s not crazy. God doesn’t change his mind. God doesn’t contradict himself. No, the Bible says a believer should marry a believer. A believer should not marry an unbeliever. And if what you heard was, “Marry an unbeliever,” that wasn’t the Holy Spirit. That wasn’t God because that contradicts the Scriptures. Check with the word of God and check with the people of God. Say, “You know what? I think I heard, I think I saw, I think God is leading me, I think God is telling me, but let me check with God’s people.” People who love the Lord, people who know the Bible, people who know you, people who don’t just say yes, and agree with you, and take your side, but people who love you enough to take the Lord’s side, people that are filled with the Holy Spirit and have godliness and character. And say, “You know what? I want to run this by you. What do you think about this?”

Well, both of these men get a vision, and they check it by the word of God, and they check it by the people of God, and they’re going to talk about it to the Lord. And the vision of Ananias is, “You need to go to Saul and talk to him.” And the vision to Saul is, “Ananias is coming to talk to you, so prepare your heart to hear from him.” “And Ananias, you’re going to lay hands on him and pray for him. And Saul, that is going to be the means by which I choose to heal you.” How would you respond? God told you to do this. Now, do you remember who Saul of Tarsus is? Good guy or bad guy? Bad guy. What’s he do? Murders Christians.

The Venture

What’s Ananias? A Christian. And God’s saying, “Hey, go meet with Saul one on one. Close your eyes and pray.” Ananias—we then see the venture. “But Ananias answered, ‘Lord.’” He’s going to start off real respectful. “Lord, I have heard from many about this man.” “I don’t know if you get the news up there, but the reports down here are he’s a really bad guy. He murdered Stephen the deacon. He arrests Christians. He’s now got legal jurisdiction to travel upwards of 150 miles to arrest us, and drag us back, and beat us, and harm us, and maybe kill us. I’m just letting you know, this is the news.” “How much evil he has done to your”—what are the Christians? “Saints.” OK, keep a mental note of that. We’re going to come back to that word in a little bit. “At Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all those who call on”—he can arrest us!

This is like a bounty hunter with a warrant. “But the Lord said to him, ‘Go.’” Probably not as much conversation as Ananias was hoping for, right? “I need you to do this.” “I don’t know. I’ve got fears. I’m worried. I’m sort of freaked out. He could arrest us. He could kill us. It could go really bad. What about my family? What about my—” “Go. For he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

How often is it that God is calling you to do something and to endure something and your first response is, “I would rather not”? “If we’re voting, I vote no. If you want to talk about this, I’ll give you all the reasons why I think you’ve got a bad plan, Lord.” Right? Ananias is fearful. Are his fears grounded in reality? Yeah. There are times that your fears and my fears, they’re not grounded in reality. We kind of get ourselves worked up. We sort of overthink it. We live in our head. We get emotional. We get cataclysmic, right? It’s an avalanche of bad circumstances and this is where we could end up.

Sometimes our fears are founded in reality; his are founded in reality. Right now, if the Lord whispered in your ear, “Hey, there’s a terrorist that I want to save. Go to their house and talk to them,” you’d be like, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

We would never give this as general counsel, right? If somebody came in and said, “Pastor Mark, somebody wants to kill me. What should I do?” “Interesting you would ask. I was reading in Acts 9, I think you should go meet with them one on one, with your eyes closed, at their house.” We wouldn’t give that counsel. There are texts of the Bible that are prescriptive. They command everyone everywhere. There are other texts that are descriptive. They explain something specific for one person in that instance. It’s describing a specific call to Ananias, and he’s afraid. And here’s what I love about the Bible, the most honest book that’s ever been written: It oftentimes shows that when God asks his people to do something, their first answer is often not, “Yes Lord, right away. Yes Lord, right away!” Oftentimes, the first answer is, “No, find someone else. Let’s talk about it. Could we edit the terms? Can I climb in a fish and go somewhere else?” Right? I mean, but this is wonderful because it gives us insight.

Some of you wrongly think that if God says, “Go,” and your first action is a question instead of a step that you are in defiance, and the truth is you may just be in process. Ananias is like . . . God says, “Go,” and if you look at Ananias, has he gone anywhere? No. God’s going to be patient and gracious to get Ananias into a place of obedience.

This is where God is a Father, and he’s patient, loving, gracious, and kind to get his kids into the place that he needs us to be. He’s going to allow Ananias to articulate his concerns and to work this through.

You need to know that God is like that, that God loves you with a fatherly affection. And it doesn’t mean that defiance or rebellion is good, but it means if you don’t at first agree, that God the Father wants to work it out with you and get you into the place of obedience. But here’s what you don’t see. You don’t see God giving Ananias a lot of promises, “It’s going to go great. He’s going to be saved. He’s going to be healed. He’s going to write books of the Bible. He’s going to be the Apostle to the Gentiles and you’re going to have a story to tell your grandkids. And oh, by the way, you’re going to make it in the Bible too as the guy who helped Saul. Now go.”

He doesn’t get any of that because we live by faith, not by sight. And so God isn’t going to give him facts, God is going to give him himself. God doesn’t always tell us what’s going to come, but he tells us that we can trust him and that he knows what’s going to come. And so in this, as Ananias and God are sort of working this out, he’s going to obey, but he’s still not going to have all his questions answered or his fears alleviated. His fears are still going to be there.

Do you think as he walks up to Saul’s house he’s still got that feeling in his stomach like, “I hope this goes well. I hope I’m not the second murder victim of this guy.” And God commands both Ananias and Saul, and he is going to send them both—because to be a believer is to also be a missionary. And so he tells Ananias, “I’m sending you to Saul,” and then he says, “And I’m going to send Saul to the Gentiles”—the non-Jewish folks like us—“to the kings and those in authority, as well as to the Jewish people. So, Ananias, you’re sent to one guy and that guy’s going to be sent to many people.” And I want you to see this.

Some of you, God’s going to call you to go invest in one person. Others of you, God’s going to send to go invest in many people. And it’s about being faithful to what God has called you to. And Ananias is lifted up as a godly man who obeyed. We’ll see that in a moment. And he invests in Saul who becomes a godly man by the grace of God and is one of the most important people in the history of the world.

Christian Suffering

But to be a Christian is to be sent, and what causes us not to go is that we’re fearful of what could happen to us negatively as a result of proceeding forth to talk about Jesus, and so they both need to overcome their fears. Well, what we see is—the case is that he says this. God says in verse 16, “I’ll show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

Up until this point, Saul had not suffered; he’d caused others to suffer. He had not been persecuted; he had been persecuting others. And part of the call on his life is a call to suffer, and I need you to know that this is the tough part of the call on the life of every Christian. We oftentimes don’t tell you this. Oftentimes, a pastor or preacher will get up and say, “You’re a sinner. “You’re headed to hell. “But Jesus lived a perfect life, and he died in your place, and he rose, and he’s alive and well today, and he wants to forgive you, and love you, and save you, and take you to heaven forever.” And you say, “Yay!” And then we forget to tell you, “Oh, and before that, you’re going to suffer.” Oh. Heaven, yay! Suffer, no. OK, and so it is very clearly stated that part of his calling was to speak about Jesus, and as a result, suffer like Jesus.

I need you to know this about Christian suffering. It’s part of just Christian living. Paul articulates this a little bit later, Philippians 1:29. He says, “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” It says if you’re going to believe in Jesus, you’re also going to suffer for your believing in Jesus. There are times that we suffer because we said, did something sinful or foolish. There are times that we will suffer and it’s demonic, or somebody attacked us, or something bad happened and we’re victims. There are other times that it’s self-inflicted. There are lots of kinds of suffering in the Bible.

What he’s talking about here is a particular kind of suffering that comes because you love Jesus, because you serve Jesus, because you speak of Jesus, you’re going to suffering like Jesus. And I need you to know this, Christian. When you’re suffering, God is not punishing you. Jesus was already punished on the cross in your place for your sins, so when you’re suffering don’t assume wrongly it’s like karma. We believe in grace, not karma. Don’t think, “I did something wrong. I now need to suffer to pay God back for what I’ve done and God is punishing me for what I’ve done to pay him back.” That’s not true. Jesus already suffered in your place, and it would be unjust for you and Jesus to both suffer. Jesus already suffered. That penalty and price was paid and you don’t need to suffer as well.

But it does mean that though Jesus has suffered for you, if you love him, and serve him, and speak about him, some people will hate you because you belong to him and they ultimately hate him. And you’re going to suffer. You may lose a relationship. You may take some hits to your reputation. You may be one who is affected at work. You may even lose your job. I don’t know what it is, but you’re going to suffer. And if you’ve been a Christian for a while, in some ways, you’ve already suffered.

This is nothing that we seek, but it’s something that we accept, and that God will use even suffering to make us more like Jesus and to give us a greater love and affection for Jesus because we have caused him to suffer for us.

The Visit

So, this is Ananias and God working it all out. “I’m going to send you to Saul. I’m going to send Saul out to speak and to suffer. I’m not going to tell you anymore. Now go.” Well, we then see the visit, and we read this. “So Ananias departed and entered the house.” He just—he had to be a little anxious, right? A little anxious. I would be. “And laying his hands on him.” Walks in and lays hands on a guy who murders, persecutes, arrests, and harms Christians. “And said”—what’s the first word? “Brother.” Brother. “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road”—he’s going to talk to him about Jesus—“by which you came has sent me.” I’m a missionary. “‘Sent me here so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ And immediately something like scales”—Luke, who’s writing this, is a medical doctor. This may have been like scar tissue. “Fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose, was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened.” So, Ananias overcomes his fears and obeys his God. And I want you to be encouraged that he didn’t start, “Yes Lord, I’ll go right now,” but “Hey Lord, let’s talk this through.” But he got to the place where he was obedient and did what God asked him to do.

I want you to know that God loves you, and God’s patient with you, and God’s gracious with you. And God wants you to obey him if there’s something clearly stated in Scripture that he’s called you to, or you’ve investigated and you believe that he has called you to through his word and his people, and it seems to be confirmed by the Holy Spirit. If you’re not in the place of obedience yet, I want you to see that your story can be like Ananias, that God can get you there, and you can obey him, and you can overcome your fears, and you can walk in faith.

The Holy Spirit Transforms Sinners

Now, God is faithful, and he protects Ananias, and he saves and heals Saul. And here’s what I don’t want to do. I don’t want to say, “And that’s how it works every time. If you obey God, it’ll be amazing. It’ll all work out. I’ll be great”—because sometimes it doesn’t. If you keep reading, by the end they murder Saul. For Stephen whom Saul has already murdered, he was obedient and got murdered. I don’t want to—I don’t want to give you a promise that may not be true, and I don’t want to say, “Obey God. It all works out. It’s amazing, better than you could have hoped for, I promise.” It may be, “Obey God and you get crucified like Jesus,” OK? But in this instance—OK, I’ve already discouraged you.

Here’s a little hope: it went pretty well, amen? You’re like, “Oh, that was good. Tell me it could happen like that.” It could happen like that. Saul gets healed, filled with the Holy Spirit, becomes a great pastor, writes books of the Bible, does massive evangelism and church planting, lots of people get saved. It works out great and Ananias has a great story to tell his grandkids. And Saul receives three things. He receives the Holy Spirit, he receives healing, he receives help. In receiving the Holy Spirit, it comes through the laying on of hands. So the Holy Spirit, he is God. He lives in God’s people. He empowers us for life and ministry.

That’s exactly what the Holy Spirit did in the earthly life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus’ life, all the miracles, the casting out of demons, the teaching of Scripture, the living in holiness was all by the person, the presence, the power of God the Holy Sprit. And the Holy Spirit lives in the children of God, and he makes us more like Jesus, and he teaches us more about Jesus. And as we lay hands and pray over people, God the Holy Spirit loves to save people, he loves to answer prayers, he loves to heal people, he loves to transform people.

So here, Ananias is filled with the Spirit, and he is laying hands and praying over Saul, and Saul receives the Holy Spirit, and one of the things that happens to him is he’s healed. Now, what I want you to see is this theme and thread throughout the book of Acts. And it’ll say on various occasions in various ways the Holy Spirit came upon a person or a group of people. And it’ll say things like, “They received the Holy Spirit and spoke in other tongues,” which can be foreign languages and/or a prayer language. Sometimes it’ll say, “They received the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with great boldness.”

So, all of a sudden, people who are a little timid, and a little shy, and all of a sudden they’re like, “You know, I’m going to talk about Jesus because I want people to meet him,” and they get bold, OK? Sometimes it says they received the Holy Spirit and they got a vision or a dream. They got a revelation from God. Sometimes it says they received the Holy Spirit and they were healed.

Evidences of the Holy Spirit

What I would submit to you is that these are evidences of the Holy Spirit being at work in someone’s life. We make a great mistake when we take one of the many evidences and we make it the only evidence that someone has the Holy Spirit. I had a woman come up to me at a conference years ago. You know, we planted the church, and I’m teaching the Bible, and you know, she came up and she said, “It’s amazing how much you get done without the Holy Spirit.” I was like, “Wow, really? Thank you. Apparently he didn’t gift you with encouragement.” I was like, “What do you mean?” She said, “Well, you don’t speak in tongues.” I said, “I never have.” She said, “Well, then you don’t have the Holy Spirit.” I said, “How did I get saved without the Holy Spirit? How do I do anything without the Holy Spirit?” It’s not like God’s there going, “Pretty good all by himself.” You know, like, I can’t do anything without the power, and the grace, and the love of God. But for her, and she was a product of her teaching, it was, there’s only one way to know if you have the Holy Spirit and that’s speak in tongues. And I would say that’s one of the ways. Speaking the word of God with boldness, being saved, loving God’s people. There are lots of evidences that you have the Holy Spirit, OK?

Some of you are going to speak in tongues, some of you are going to get visions, some of you are going to get dreams, some of you are going to speak the word of God boldly, some of you are going to deeply love God’s people with God’s love. All right, there are lots of evidences. I’ll give you an analogy. It’d be like saying, “I love my wife Grace, and so here’s what I do to show her my love,” and I gave you one thing I said or did that showed my love. And then I determined, “And any husband who doesn’t do that doesn’t love his wife.” You’d say, “No, no, there are lots of ways for a man to love his wife. There are lots of evidences that a man loves his wife.” And we need to look for evidence that a man loves his wife, not just one evidence.

Do you get that? There are evidences that someone has the Holy Spirit, not just an evidence, and if you don’t have that evidence then you don’t have the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t say that they spoke in tongues here, but it does say he was healed. He received the Holy Spirit, he was saved, he was healed. He was healed. God still heals, OK? He does. We’ve seen it in the history of our ministry at Mars Hill, that sometimes by laying hands and praying, God heals. Does God have to have Ananias pray? Is God in heaven going, “I really wanted to heal Saul, but until Ananias gets there and gets not one, but two hands on Saul, I can’t heal him. I’m just really in this conundrum. I find myself in this impossible situation where my healing hands are tied until Ananias’ hands are on Saul”?

Is that the case? No. No, you know, I’m wondering at some point if Ananias was like, “So, OK, let me get this straight. You want to heal Saul. OK, feel free. Feel free, and I’ll sit here on the couch, because if you want to heal him, you can heal him. You can go to him. I don’t need to go to him.” Why does God call Ananias to go lay hands and pray over Saul? Is it because God needs Ananias to go lay hands and pray over Saul? No, it’s because God wants to use this opportunity to teach Ananias something about himself, and he wants him to be there to love and encourage Saul, and he wanted Saul to hear this word from a fellow Christian, “Brother.”

See What I’m Like

I told you this story before. When I was a little boy, my dad was a construction worker, and he always wore jeans, and my grandpa wore overalls, and they both wore steel-toed work boots and T-shirts. My dad dressed like Fonzie and slicked his hair back and stuff. And they were both hard-working guys. My grandpa was a diesel mechanic. My dad was a construction worker.

So I’d dress up like them when I was a little boy—3, 4 years of age. And sometimes, they both would take me to work with them. I got to go to work sometimes with my grandpa, and sometimes I got to go to work with my dad. And I had a little hard hat for the job site. I had a little lunchbox and a little Thermos. I did, little guy. They’d bring—sometimes I’d ride in my grandpa’s truck. He had a big truck. Sometimes he’d drive a truck. Sometimes I’d go to the job site with my dad and work on the construction project, OK?

Was I needed? Was the delivery of the good in the semi or the construction of the apartment building rising or falling with my contribution, yes or no? No. So, why did they bring me along? Because they loved me, because they wanted to get time with me, because they wanted me to see what they were doing. Ministry’s like that. God doesn’t need to send Ananias, and he doesn’t need to send Saul, but he sends them both because he wants them to join him in his work. That’s ministry. It’s your dad saying, “Come on. See what I’m like. See what I do. See what I’m about. Spend some time with me. I want you to get to know me better. One of the best ways you’re going to get to know me is seeing what I do.” Ananias goes and prays, and so we still pray for people through the laying on of hands. And there’s nothing magical about it.

This is saying, “The God who loves me loves you. The God who ultimately will heal his people at the resurrection of the dead has the power to heal right now. That you’re not alone, that as God is with me, God and I are here with you.”

This is why the Bible says, “If any of you is sick, come forward and the elders of the church will pray for you.” We do that after service. We welcome you to come forward so we could lay hands and pray on you. And we do that because we see that God loves to hear and answer prayer. And it was a blessing for Ananias to pray, and it was a blessing for Saul to be prayed for, and so when we pray for people, everyone’s blessed. And sometimes God says yes and heals, and that was the occasion. So he received the Holy Spirit, he received healing, and he received help. And now he’s got Ananias there, “Brother,” talk to him, pray for him, fed him, bring him back to health, encourage him, walk with him, right?

What every new Christian needs is a Christian filled with the Holy Spirit to come alongside, and to be a friend, and to walk, and to pray, and to encourage, and to give answers, and to come alongside. If you know somebody who’s a new Christian, God’s given you an opportunity to be in the position of Ananias and to come alongside. And when we have baptisms, I would just encourage you, be praying for that person to be surrounded with God’s people filled with the Spirit to love, and to support, and to serve them. Sometimes God’s just going to burden your heart to be that person for someone, and like Ananias, who didn’t even know Saul, pursued him. Sometimes God is going to burden you to pursue somebody, to pray for them, to encourage them, to feed them, to help them, to be there for them, and that’s what it is.

I want you to see that Saul has this massive ministry because Ananias had this simple ministry of ministering to Saul, ministering to Saul, not when he was Paul the great Apostle, but he was a dangerous, violent, new convert. Ananias was there. Now, he was also baptized, identifying himself with the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus, and it shows that when you become a Christian, you’re reconciled to God and to his people, that you are part of God’s family. That’s why he calls him a brother. And I love the fact that Ananias didn’t say, “You’ve lived a very bad life. You’ve done some very bad things and we are unwilling to accept you. And we’re going to need to see some years of change and repentance. And we’re going to need all those objectives to be accomplished and then we’ll accept you.”

He says, “You know what? Here’s where we’ll start: Brother.” Brother. “You’re part of the family. If the Father has adopted you, you’re brother.” So much love, and grace, and mercy, and compassion, and forgiveness here.

What I want to do now is I want to pick up a theme that I highlighted earlier, but we could easily overlook. It’s going to become a massive theme in the entire ministry of Saul. It’s a perspective that Ananias rightly has and articulates in chapter 9, verse 13, and then it is something that really lives deep in the heart of Saul, and it penetrates and permeates all of his teaching, all of his ministry, all of his writing for the next 10 years until he’s put to death. And that is that the Holy Spirit transforms sinners into sent saints. And when we’re talking about “saint,” we’re talking about your identity. When we’re talking about “sent,” we’re talking about your activity or your ministry.

Here’s what Ananias said in chapter 9, verse 13, before he went to meet with Saul. “Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your’”—what’s the word? “Saints.” OK. “Your saints.”

What does that mean? How many of you, like me, were raised Catholic? Some Catholics are Christian, they love Jesus. We agree with them on the Trinity, the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus, right? I was raised Catholic. I went to mass as a little boy. I was an altar boy for some years. In my teen years, I stopped going to church. I wasn’t a Christian. Some Catholics are Christian, I wasn’t. It wasn’t the church’s fault, it was mine. Nothing bad happened to me, I just got bored and left. And when I was growing up as a Catholic boy, we heard a lot about the saints. I went to Catholic school for three years. I learned about Saint Francis of Assisi, Bernard of Clairvaux, Teresa of Ávila, Saint John of the Cross, and all these, you know, great Christian leaders and also the saints.

I thought the saints were like superheroes, you know? Like, wow. You know, Superman, he could fly. That’s amazing, you know? And Spiderman, web, that’s amazing. And this guy can practice chastity, that’s amazing. You know, like, look at these superheroes, that’s amazing, you know? And I thought, “Well, these are like superhuman superheroes,” and it was because in the Catholic tradition “Saint” was really loaded as a term. So, the first saints were Christian martyrs, people who died because they loved Jesus.

Actually, the first Christian martyr in the New Testament is Stephen. We met him a few chapters prior, and this guy Saul oversaw his execution and murder. And the saints originally were people who loved Jesus, and they died because of their love for Jesus, and God’s people would honor them, which is a good thing to do. But then after a while, it came to memorializing or even venerating them.

Then all of a sudden, a process was put in place, and then you could have schools named after you, and a holiday named after you, and it blossomed into something to where only a select few ever achieved sainthood. And I was certain there’s no way I’m a—I would never be like, “Hi, I’m Saint Mark,” because you’d all laugh like you did, thank you. Right? But in the Bible, every Christian is a saint. And if you ask the average Christian, “Tell me about yourself,” they will say, “I am a sinner.” OK, are you a sinner? OK, let me just say this clearly, we’re all sinners by nature and choice. The Bible says, “All have fallen short of the glory of God. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” First John says, “If we say we don’t have sin, we’re deceived and liars.” That’s a big claim.

We’re all sinners. We sin in our thoughts, we sin with our words, we sin with our deeds, we sin with our feelings, we sin with our motives. Theologians will talk about this as total depravity, that sin has infected and affected the totality of who we are. So you can’t say, “Well, my thoughts are pure.” No. “Well, my feelings are pure.” No. “Well, my motives are pure.” No. “Well, my mouth is pure.” No. “My hands are pure.” No. There’s nothing pure, amen? And even non-Christians get this when they say, “Nobody’s perfect.” So, we’re all sinners by nature and choice, but is our primary identity as a Christian sinner? I would submit to you, primary identity of a non-Christian is sinner. If you’re here, I love you, we’re glad to have you.

This is where I offend you. If I haven’t already, let me do so now, OK? You are a sinner. God is holy, you are unholy. God wrote a book, you’ve broken a lot of his rules, the laws. You are guilty, you are a sinner. The wage for sin is death. You’re going to die and you’re going to hell, unless you become a Christian. And that is that Jesus is God become a man to reconcile God and man, that Jesus lived a life we’ve not lived. He lived a life without any sin—pure, holy. In fact, Jesus on one occasion stands up publicly and says, “Who can prove me guilty of ever sinning?” That’s an unparalleled claim. In fact, we think that the holiest people are the most contrite people who acknowledge how unholy they are. Jesus says that he’s perfect and never sinned. He goes to the cross and dies. Why does he die? Not for his sin, he had none. He dies for our sin as a substitute. He trades places with us. He takes our place.

The Cross

This is where it all comes down to Jesus and it all comes down to the cross of Jesus. What happens on the cross is something that the great Protestant reformer Martin Luther calls, “The Great Exchange.” Paul later is going to write of this in 2 Corinthians 5:21. He’s experiencing it here as a new believer, and then he’s going to articulate it for the rest of his life. He says this in 2 Corinthians 5:21, one of my favorite verses. “God made him”—he’s talking about Jesus—“who knew no sin to become sin”—that would be our sin—“so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

So, here’s what happens on the cross: Jesus took your place, and he put you in his place. Many Christians are more familiar with the fact that Jesus took their place than the fact that Jesus also put them in his place. The result is that Jesus was condemned and died to pay the penalty for your sin, and in putting you in his place, you are seen as holy, righteous, blameless, pure, faultless, accepted in the sight of God. Did you know that? Did you know that?

This is so different than religion. I need you to know this. Religion says, “You’re bad. Do good. Pay God back.” Jesus says, “It is finished.” He did everything. You don’t need to pay God back. You can stop beating yourself up, Jesus already took the beating. You don’t need to primarily see yourself as a Christian as a sinner, as a guilty, wicked, vile, corrupted, broken sinner. Are you a sinner? Yes, but you’re a saint who sins. Your identity is saint even if some of your activity is sin. And see, what sometimes happens is religion corrupts. And religion exists in various religions, but it is, “I need to see how evil I am, how vile I am, how bad I am, how dark I am, how guilty I am, how unworthy I am, how filthy I am,” and it’s like, “Oh, I forgot to stop being obsessed with myself and to start looking to Jesus. I became so obsessed with my uncleanness that I forgot his cleanness. I have been so obsessed with me that I forgot to look up to him.”

That’s why the Bible in Hebrews says, “Fix your eyes on Jesus.” I’m not saying that we don’t acknowledge our sin. I’m not saying we don’t deal with our sin. I’m saying the way that we deal with our sin is acknowledging that Jesus has made us into saints. I would never look at one of my kids and say, “You are horrible. You are evil. You are vile. It is hopeless. Change!” Because I have just declared that an impossibility. I would look at them and say, “In Christ you are clean, so live clean. In Christ you are holy, so live holy. In Christ you are forgiven, so go and sin no more. In Christ you have new desires, so nurture those desires and not the old ones. In Christ you have a new mind, you can start thinking differently about this. In Christ you have a new power, you can start living differently as a result of this.” And my hope would not be in the child, but for the child in Christ. And God’s a Father, and he wants all of his kids to know who they are, and who they are in his sight because of his Son is saint. I’ll explain this to you biblically. I’ve done the research on this. We hit it a little bit in Ephesians. I want to revisit it. About 300 times, the Bible refers to people as sinners.

How many times does the Bible refer to Christians as sinners? OK, maybe three times. And those three are debated, it may be referring to non-Christians.

Forgiven Sinner Made Saint

Here’s the big idea: The difference in identity between a non-Christian and a Christian is the difference between identity as sinner and identity as forgiven sinner made saint. And the people who say, “I was a sinner, and I’m a sinner, and I met Jesus”—what they’re saying is, “and he did nothing.” And that’s not helpful to his glory or your good. “I was a sinner, I met Jesus, and he made me a saint, and because of that I’m overcoming my sin. I’m living up to the identity that he has established for me.”

How many times, then, does the Bible refer to the believer as a saint? About 200 times. I want you to see yourself as God sees you. OK, to be sure, some of you don’t think about your sin enough. You’re like, “I’m a good person.” Oh, no you’re not. You know, just ask your mom. Right, like, you’re not. But some of your consciences are so tender, and maybe even your intentions are good, but your focus is off. And between—you read the Scriptures, you’re like, “Oh, I am so sinful.” And then your conscience, “Oh, I’m so sinful.” Holy Spirit convicts you, “I’m so sinful.” Then Satan accuses you, “I’m so sinful.” Then you listen to me yell at you for an hour every week. You’re like, “I’m so sinful! Ahhh!” And then you could think, “You know what will make me holy? Realizing and obsessing how sinful I am.”

No, realizing and obsessing how wonderful Jesus is, that he would forgive, that he would make clean, that he would accept, that he would adopt, that he would adore, that he would dwell with, that he would give an inheritance to you and me in love and in grace. You realize, “I’m a saint. I don’t have to do this anymore. Saints don’t have to do this. I can stop. I don’t have to think like this anymore. Saints don’t need to think like this. I can think differently. I don’t want to do that anymore. That’s not what saints want to do. I have new desires. I want to do what the Lord wants me to do.”

You are a saint. I wrote it down. Sin may explain some of your activity, but does not define your entire identity in Christ. You may sin some of the time, but you are a saint all of the time in Christ. Sin is some of what you do, but not the totality of who you are in Christ. There is a difference between having sin and being sin in Christ. Because you have a new identity as saint, you can have a new victory over sin in Christ. As a sinner, God saw you as you were, but as a saint, God sees you as you are in Christ. I’m not talking about making less of your sin, but making more of your Savior. You’re a saint.

I want you to embrace this truth and I want you to carry it with you, if you’re a Christian or become a Christian today, for the rest of your life. That something changed when I met Jesus, and I’m not who I will be upon the resurrection of the dead, but I’m not who I was before I met him. That I am living up by the power of the Holy Spirit to the identity to which Christ has called me, by his grace for his glory. And part of that is not only being a saint but being sent.

This is not just good news for us to enjoy, it’s also good news for us to share. And so he sends Ananias to Saul, and he’s going to send Saul to various groups of people, and he’s going to send you. And God’s going to burden some of you, saying, “I need to talk to so-and-so.” “I need to pray for so-and-so.” “I need to buy a Bible for so-and-so.” “I need to follow up with so-and-so. I need to serve so-and-so.” This may be family, friend, neighbor, coworker. It may be someone that God has already placed in front of you. Your mission field might be where you work. “Who should I talk to?” Your mission field may be where you go to school. “Who should I talk to?” It may be where you live. “Who should I talk to?” It was crazy this morning as I was praying for you and me and us. I got a text from a guy who’s a non-Christian that I know I’m supposed to talk to, and we’ve been getting close, and it’s apparently time. I’m like, “Lord, please help the people of Mars Hill talk to the people they’re supposed to talk to.” This guy’s like, “I want to talk to you.” I was like, “Oh, I forgot to pray for me too. Looks like I got an appointment.”

There are people out there that God is preparing their hearts just as he was preparing the heart of Saul, and he’s preparing you to go pray for them, and talk to them, and love them, and serve them. And if we overcome our fears—”What might they say? What might they do? How might they respond?” We then can be faithful and walk by faith, not by sight, to go talk to them about Jesus and just see what happens. And this is wonderful because the only thing better than getting good news like, “You can be forgiven and a saint,” is to then share that good news and see someone else come to meet Jesus, amen?

An Opportunity to Respond

What we’re going to do now, we’re going to respond, because that’s what saints do. And we’re going to respond in tithes and offerings. For those of you that have given, thank you. We finish our fiscal year this month. It’s been honestly the most difficult season I’ve ever had, we’ve ever had. But for those of you that have been generous and prayerful, we love you, we appreciate you, we praise God for you. And just pray that we’d finish our fiscal year strong, and for those of you that have been generous, thank you.

We’ll also respond by singing and celebrating the goodness of Jesus. If all we were here to talk about is you and me, it’d be like, we’d just sing songs about our sin and that would be like a funeral. But we sing songs about our Savior, so it’s more like a wedding. We’re going to partake of Communion, remembering Jesus’ broken body and shed blood in our place for our sins. We become saints through Jesus. And as we prepare our hearts, I want to let you know about Community Groups. These are groups that meet throughout the week. We’d love to connect you to one. There’s probably one near you.

Community Group Questions

Just like Ananias came alongside Saul, people want to come alongside one another. And as you’re preparing for group this week or preparing for your own devotionals, just a couple things I wanted you to consider.

Number one, is there anything fearful God is asking you to face right now? You say, “Boy, I’m really scared about this but I believe it’s the right thing to do, and I want to check that and proceed by faith.”

Number two, do you see yourself and others more as sinner or saint if they’re a Christian?

Some of you love to see yourself as sinner and other as saint.

Do you see yourself and others who are Christian primarily as sinner or saint?

Number three, in what ways have you suffered for being a Christian?

Number four, is there anyone God is asking you to talk with about Jesus? Like God told Ananias, “Go talk to Saul,” is there somebody like that that God has appointed for you?

Lastly, is there anyone who is sick that you need to lay hands on and pray for? Ananias went, and he laid hands on Saul, and he prayed over him. Is there anybody you need to pray for? And if you can get near them, pray for them, maybe even right here in the service. Maybe it’s this week, maybe it’s in Community Group. If you’re far away and you can’t get to them, you could still call them and you could pray for them. And I’m going to pray for you right now.

Prayer

Father God, I thank you for the wonderful opportunity I have to teach the Bible at Mars Hill Church. I love studying the Bible, and I love teaching the Bible, and I love that I have people who want to learn the Bible. And Lord Jesus, we thank you so much that the Bible is the most honest book that’s ever written. It doesn’t just say, “Ananias obeyed, and Saul was healed, and filled with the Holy Spirit, and changed the world.” It says, “And Ananias struggled and wrestled to get to the place of obedience in overcoming his fear.” Lord Jesus, that’s really helpful for me. It’s really helpful for us. It says that you are gracious and patient to get us into the right place. And even if we’re not there, you’re getting us there and we want to get there to that place of surrendered obedience to where we do what is right regardless of whether or not it, quote unquote, “works.”

And Lord Jesus, I pray for those who are not Christians, that they would see themselves as sinner and that they would turn to the Lord Jesus to be forgiven and declared saint. And I pray for those who are saint, Lord God. They may feel horrible, guilty, convicted, even condemned or ashamed of things they have done or failed to do. I pray that they would know that the way out of their guilt, and their misery, and their shame is Jesus, and his perfection changing them, his love grasping them, his forgiveness cleansing them, and his life traded for their life so that we might walk in our new identity as your holy, righteous, redeemed, adopted, loved, forgiven, adored, and never to be abandoned saints. In Jesus’ good name, amen.

Let’s stand together now. Whether God is calling us into a situation that we’re fearful to enter or calling us to wait patiently in one that we are tempted to run from, we need to remind ourselves that he has commanded us to fear not for he is with us. Let’s cling to that truth as we sing now.

Note: This sermon transcript has been edited for readability.