Scripture: Acts 9:10-19
Listen Link: www.lcepc.org then look for “sermons” tab.
To set the scene, think of how hard this must have been for Ananias! It starts out innocently enough. Ananias is praying as a good servant of the Lord ought to be. He hears the voice of the Lord speak to him. That is not unusual for those who are in the Spirit. So, at this point everything is fine. In fact, Ananias was probably delighted to be aware of God speaking to him and in having this conversation. Intimacy with God ought to be the goal of every Christian’s prayer life.
The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord.” He answered. If the Lord spoke to me in a vision, I would be eager to hear what else he had to say! And what the Lord says starts out with a street address. “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street.” Ok, so far so good. I know where that is. Then Ananias hears, “Ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
“Okay, Oooo I get to do a healing prayer for a man from Tarsus named Saul. Ok, wait! What!? Saul?!” “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem.” I know this guy! He is not a nice man! He’s not even a believer! He’s persecuting us and arresting us! “And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” I call on your name. This Saul guy would arrest me! This is a dangerous mission! I could die! What about my family? What would the kids do without me? I don’t think it’s a good idea at all! Are you sure, Lord?”
That’s the amplified version according to me. Not all of Ananias’ thoughts or words were recorded in Scripture. But it’s pretty easy to read between some of these lines and understand what he was really thinking. And God understood all this. That’s why he re-emphasized His command, “Go!”
And further, God bolstered Ananias’ courage by explaining, “This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
That would truly be a switch. Saul was causing Christians to suffer for the name of Jesus. Now says God, Saul is going to get a taste of his own medicine. And God told Ananias that Saul was going to proclaim God’s name to the Gentiles! I wonder what Ananias thought of that! Make note of the fact that this happened before we hear about Peter going to visit Cornelius. That happens in chapter 10. We’re in chapter 9. So, Ananias was the first Christian to hear this news that the Gentiles could be saved by faith in Jesus! Ananias found out Saul was going to be a missionary to the Gentiles before Peter was called by God to go visit Cornelius. So, the church has not yet issued its approval and Ananias was basically acting on his own, except that he was about to do it because God told him to. But think what chutzpah that required of Ananias!
What do you suppose would have happened if Ananias had a cell phone and could have asked the other church leaders about this? I mean he could have gone right to the top. “Hello, Peter? Hi, it’s Ananias. Listen, I have to ask you something. I think I just had a vision from God, and it sounded like He was asking me to go talk to that Saul of Tarsus guy, you know who I mean? … Yeah! That guy! Anyway, God told me that Saul is blind now and I am to go and pray for his healing… Yeah, maybe that would make a believer out of him. But, right now since he’s blind, he’s harmless! So why not leave him that way? Like, what if he gets healed, and doesn’t become a believer? … I know scary, right? Oh, but get this. I think God said that, “this man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings.” What do you think? Should I go do the prayer thing like I think God told me to? Is it all right if we start talking to Gentiles now?”
At that moment, which remember now, happened before Peter had his own vision in which he was told to go visit Cornelius, Peter would have said, “No. Absolutely not! Jesus is for the Jews!” I’m thinking it’s probably a good thing that cell phones weren’t invented yet. And come to think of it, maybe there were a couple of nearby Christians who heard about Ananias’ mission, who might have tried to talk him out of it.
There’s also this. Once the Christian community heard about Saul being blinded, which would have meant the end of his role in the persecution, they probably would have given thanks to God for the answer to their prayers that Saul would be stopped. And what happened to Saul could easily be seen as God’s justice. Saul had it coming, and he got something of what he deserved. So that’s another reason people in the Christian community might have tried to talk Ananias out of his wild idea that he should go and visit Saul and heal him.
Ananias had to decide for himself to obey the Lord’s directive, that seems to go against all common sense. He decided he knew what God wanted him to do and he acted boldly to obey. I really admire this guy. And that makes it interesting to me that we never hear from him or about him again.
That’s right. This particular Ananias has his 15 minutes of fame right here. He was bold and obedient. He visited Saul and then we never hear from him or about him anywhere else in Scripture! He’s not a great church leader. He doesn’t go into the “healing ministry.” He gets no credit for ever preaching to Gentiles himself. He’s just an ordinary believer who was faithful and bold enough to do this one great thing. And we all ought to be glad that he did, because if Saul had not been healed to proclaim the gospel to Gentiles, we might not be here today.
This story reminds me of how many Christians play minor and supportive roles, but key roles nevertheless, that lead to other people becoming great leaders in the Christian church. I’m thinking of people like the Sunday School teacher who encouraged Billy Graham, and the unschooled church leader who was just reading a sermon that lead Dwight L. Moody to faith. There are countless unnamed and unknown figures who played supportive roles in the church whose influence shaped the ones who became famous.
And sometimes those things that God asks us to do can seem outside the realm of common sense and they require great faith and bold action from us. So, I want to define what it is to be Bold in your faith by putting it in an acronym of the Word BOLD.
B stands for “Be willing.” Ananias was commanded by God to go and pray over Saul. But he was not a puppet. Ananias himself had to be willing to believe that it was really God asking to do that and he had to be willing to go see Saul. And once he got there, he had to be willing to forgive the man so that he could sincerely pray the prayer God gave him and give the instructions Saul needed for the next phase of his life. We will also be bold in our faith if we tell God we are willing to do whatever he asks of us.
Sometimes this will also require us to “Overcome fear.” That’s the O in bold. I’m sure Ananias had good reason to be afraid to get anywhere near Saul! Based on Saul’s reputation and mission, any Christian would do well to stay far away from Saul under normal circumstances. So, Ananias had to trust God enough to overcome his fear of Saul. Sure, we can say all we want, “the Lord is my refuge.” But when the Lord asks you to step out in faith and do something unusual, out of your comfort zone and quite different from what you might expect or desire, that’s when you’re going to see if the Lord really is your refuge enough so that you overcome your fear of the unknown so that you can obey His command.
L stands for “Love otherishly.” Otherishly is my own made up word but I think it is a better opposite for selfish that the world selfless. I feel like explaining that again. That’s because selfless love isn’t selfish, but there’s still self in it, just a little less. Otherish love gives us a better focus in the “other,” the one we love. Now that might not be an obvious phrase to include in what it means to be bold but think about it. To love other people the way God does might require quite a bit of boldness, or it might at least look bold to people who not filled with the Spirit. It’s 1 Corinthians 13 love and it goes beyond what humans normally think of. Ananias was bold to go and minister to Saul with a prayer for him to be healed. It was an act of otherish love. There was nothing in it for Ananias. It was all for Saul’s sake that God even asked Ananias to go. All our ministry, when it is really bold, will be characterized by this otherish love.
D stands for “Do whatever your hand finds to do.” When you’re willing, and overcome fear, and motivated by otherish love, then you are more likely to find some pretty amazing things to do for the Lord and for the sake of the lost. That’s good advice for whatever you can do on your own. But there can be bigger ideas that require a lot of people to pitch in, like church ministry. That’s when it is still a good idea to see if others are willing to help.
Even in my marriage, sometimes I get a wild idea about a special way to serve God, but if Kathy doesn’t also say yes to that crazy idea, then it’s a no go. It’s just me being crazy. But when it’s really from God, He has also already moved her heart to say yes. And in our ministry together, new ideas that are from God will stir the hearts of any and all who are listening for God’s direction. Then we move forward together. And theoretically that works the other way too. If Kathy ever did get a crazy idea, she wouldn’t move on it unless we’re in agreement.
So, bold Ananias went to the house and entered it. I’m sure Saul didn’t answer the door. He was probably sitting quietly in an inner room still praying. So, whoever did answer the door wanted to know who was there. Imagine Ananias talking to the door keeper and saying. “My name is Ananias and I was sent by the Lord God to pray for Saul so that his sight may be restored.”
Now, you have to understand, this house was probably not the home of Christians. More likely Saul would have found hospitality with a Pharisee or some other religious leader who knew he was coming. But the host could not have been prepared for the sight of Saul when he actually showed up. The mighty man of God, the Pharisee authorized to arrest the believers in Jesus, was being led by the hand, helpless and blind. Saul must have explained his predicament. So, the host took him in to take care of him while they figured out what to do next. Perhaps at some point Saul shared his own vision with the man who was taking care of him, so when Ananias arrived and explained who he was, even though he was entering hostile territory, he was ushered in to meet Saul.
There, in that inner room, Ananias introduced himself as the man whom God had sent. After that, “placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” I see Ananias’ bold faith in the fact that he called Saul, brother Saul! Ananias was now fully convinced that God would do what He had said and make Saul a believer and servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in order to touch the man who had wanted to kill him just a few days ago, Ananias had to genuinely forgive Saul too.
Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. Something like scales. I wonder if Saul could have picked them up off the floor to examine them with his healed eyes. They would have been quite the souvenir! But, the scales were immediately forgotten about. Good riddance perhaps. The important thing is that Saul got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
That’s the story back then. And today, we’re still living in the story of the Christian Church. We’re still living under the power and under the direction of the Holy Spirit. And we’re still called to be bold in our faith. Probably in most of our lives, nothing so spectacular will ever be asked of us. But it could! And it does not mean we do not have to be bold in other ways. Whatever God does ask of us could have spectacular results of fruitfulness if we are bold enough to obey. Be bold! Be willing! Overcome fear! Love otherishly! Do whatever good thing you find you can do for the Lord and for the sake of the lost. It could turn out amazing!
Listen Link: www.lcepc.org then look for “sermons” tab.
To set the scene, think of how hard this must have been for Ananias! It starts out innocently enough. Ananias is praying as a good servant of the Lord ought to be. He hears the voice of the Lord speak to him. That is not unusual for those who are in the Spirit. So, at this point everything is fine. In fact, Ananias was probably delighted to be aware of God speaking to him and in having this conversation. Intimacy with God ought to be the goal of every Christian’s prayer life.
The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord.” He answered. If the Lord spoke to me in a vision, I would be eager to hear what else he had to say! And what the Lord says starts out with a street address. “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street.” Ok, so far so good. I know where that is. Then Ananias hears, “Ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
“Okay, Oooo I get to do a healing prayer for a man from Tarsus named Saul. Ok, wait! What!? Saul?!” “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem.” I know this guy! He is not a nice man! He’s not even a believer! He’s persecuting us and arresting us! “And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” I call on your name. This Saul guy would arrest me! This is a dangerous mission! I could die! What about my family? What would the kids do without me? I don’t think it’s a good idea at all! Are you sure, Lord?”
That’s the amplified version according to me. Not all of Ananias’ thoughts or words were recorded in Scripture. But it’s pretty easy to read between some of these lines and understand what he was really thinking. And God understood all this. That’s why he re-emphasized His command, “Go!”
And further, God bolstered Ananias’ courage by explaining, “This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
That would truly be a switch. Saul was causing Christians to suffer for the name of Jesus. Now says God, Saul is going to get a taste of his own medicine. And God told Ananias that Saul was going to proclaim God’s name to the Gentiles! I wonder what Ananias thought of that! Make note of the fact that this happened before we hear about Peter going to visit Cornelius. That happens in chapter 10. We’re in chapter 9. So, Ananias was the first Christian to hear this news that the Gentiles could be saved by faith in Jesus! Ananias found out Saul was going to be a missionary to the Gentiles before Peter was called by God to go visit Cornelius. So, the church has not yet issued its approval and Ananias was basically acting on his own, except that he was about to do it because God told him to. But think what chutzpah that required of Ananias!
What do you suppose would have happened if Ananias had a cell phone and could have asked the other church leaders about this? I mean he could have gone right to the top. “Hello, Peter? Hi, it’s Ananias. Listen, I have to ask you something. I think I just had a vision from God, and it sounded like He was asking me to go talk to that Saul of Tarsus guy, you know who I mean? … Yeah! That guy! Anyway, God told me that Saul is blind now and I am to go and pray for his healing… Yeah, maybe that would make a believer out of him. But, right now since he’s blind, he’s harmless! So why not leave him that way? Like, what if he gets healed, and doesn’t become a believer? … I know scary, right? Oh, but get this. I think God said that, “this man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings.” What do you think? Should I go do the prayer thing like I think God told me to? Is it all right if we start talking to Gentiles now?”
At that moment, which remember now, happened before Peter had his own vision in which he was told to go visit Cornelius, Peter would have said, “No. Absolutely not! Jesus is for the Jews!” I’m thinking it’s probably a good thing that cell phones weren’t invented yet. And come to think of it, maybe there were a couple of nearby Christians who heard about Ananias’ mission, who might have tried to talk him out of it.
There’s also this. Once the Christian community heard about Saul being blinded, which would have meant the end of his role in the persecution, they probably would have given thanks to God for the answer to their prayers that Saul would be stopped. And what happened to Saul could easily be seen as God’s justice. Saul had it coming, and he got something of what he deserved. So that’s another reason people in the Christian community might have tried to talk Ananias out of his wild idea that he should go and visit Saul and heal him.
Ananias had to decide for himself to obey the Lord’s directive, that seems to go against all common sense. He decided he knew what God wanted him to do and he acted boldly to obey. I really admire this guy. And that makes it interesting to me that we never hear from him or about him again.
That’s right. This particular Ananias has his 15 minutes of fame right here. He was bold and obedient. He visited Saul and then we never hear from him or about him anywhere else in Scripture! He’s not a great church leader. He doesn’t go into the “healing ministry.” He gets no credit for ever preaching to Gentiles himself. He’s just an ordinary believer who was faithful and bold enough to do this one great thing. And we all ought to be glad that he did, because if Saul had not been healed to proclaim the gospel to Gentiles, we might not be here today.
This story reminds me of how many Christians play minor and supportive roles, but key roles nevertheless, that lead to other people becoming great leaders in the Christian church. I’m thinking of people like the Sunday School teacher who encouraged Billy Graham, and the unschooled church leader who was just reading a sermon that lead Dwight L. Moody to faith. There are countless unnamed and unknown figures who played supportive roles in the church whose influence shaped the ones who became famous.
And sometimes those things that God asks us to do can seem outside the realm of common sense and they require great faith and bold action from us. So, I want to define what it is to be Bold in your faith by putting it in an acronym of the Word BOLD.
B stands for “Be willing.” Ananias was commanded by God to go and pray over Saul. But he was not a puppet. Ananias himself had to be willing to believe that it was really God asking to do that and he had to be willing to go see Saul. And once he got there, he had to be willing to forgive the man so that he could sincerely pray the prayer God gave him and give the instructions Saul needed for the next phase of his life. We will also be bold in our faith if we tell God we are willing to do whatever he asks of us.
Sometimes this will also require us to “Overcome fear.” That’s the O in bold. I’m sure Ananias had good reason to be afraid to get anywhere near Saul! Based on Saul’s reputation and mission, any Christian would do well to stay far away from Saul under normal circumstances. So, Ananias had to trust God enough to overcome his fear of Saul. Sure, we can say all we want, “the Lord is my refuge.” But when the Lord asks you to step out in faith and do something unusual, out of your comfort zone and quite different from what you might expect or desire, that’s when you’re going to see if the Lord really is your refuge enough so that you overcome your fear of the unknown so that you can obey His command.
L stands for “Love otherishly.” Otherishly is my own made up word but I think it is a better opposite for selfish that the world selfless. I feel like explaining that again. That’s because selfless love isn’t selfish, but there’s still self in it, just a little less. Otherish love gives us a better focus in the “other,” the one we love. Now that might not be an obvious phrase to include in what it means to be bold but think about it. To love other people the way God does might require quite a bit of boldness, or it might at least look bold to people who not filled with the Spirit. It’s 1 Corinthians 13 love and it goes beyond what humans normally think of. Ananias was bold to go and minister to Saul with a prayer for him to be healed. It was an act of otherish love. There was nothing in it for Ananias. It was all for Saul’s sake that God even asked Ananias to go. All our ministry, when it is really bold, will be characterized by this otherish love.
D stands for “Do whatever your hand finds to do.” When you’re willing, and overcome fear, and motivated by otherish love, then you are more likely to find some pretty amazing things to do for the Lord and for the sake of the lost. That’s good advice for whatever you can do on your own. But there can be bigger ideas that require a lot of people to pitch in, like church ministry. That’s when it is still a good idea to see if others are willing to help.
Even in my marriage, sometimes I get a wild idea about a special way to serve God, but if Kathy doesn’t also say yes to that crazy idea, then it’s a no go. It’s just me being crazy. But when it’s really from God, He has also already moved her heart to say yes. And in our ministry together, new ideas that are from God will stir the hearts of any and all who are listening for God’s direction. Then we move forward together. And theoretically that works the other way too. If Kathy ever did get a crazy idea, she wouldn’t move on it unless we’re in agreement.
So, bold Ananias went to the house and entered it. I’m sure Saul didn’t answer the door. He was probably sitting quietly in an inner room still praying. So, whoever did answer the door wanted to know who was there. Imagine Ananias talking to the door keeper and saying. “My name is Ananias and I was sent by the Lord God to pray for Saul so that his sight may be restored.”
Now, you have to understand, this house was probably not the home of Christians. More likely Saul would have found hospitality with a Pharisee or some other religious leader who knew he was coming. But the host could not have been prepared for the sight of Saul when he actually showed up. The mighty man of God, the Pharisee authorized to arrest the believers in Jesus, was being led by the hand, helpless and blind. Saul must have explained his predicament. So, the host took him in to take care of him while they figured out what to do next. Perhaps at some point Saul shared his own vision with the man who was taking care of him, so when Ananias arrived and explained who he was, even though he was entering hostile territory, he was ushered in to meet Saul.
There, in that inner room, Ananias introduced himself as the man whom God had sent. After that, “placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” I see Ananias’ bold faith in the fact that he called Saul, brother Saul! Ananias was now fully convinced that God would do what He had said and make Saul a believer and servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in order to touch the man who had wanted to kill him just a few days ago, Ananias had to genuinely forgive Saul too.
Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. Something like scales. I wonder if Saul could have picked them up off the floor to examine them with his healed eyes. They would have been quite the souvenir! But, the scales were immediately forgotten about. Good riddance perhaps. The important thing is that Saul got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
That’s the story back then. And today, we’re still living in the story of the Christian Church. We’re still living under the power and under the direction of the Holy Spirit. And we’re still called to be bold in our faith. Probably in most of our lives, nothing so spectacular will ever be asked of us. But it could! And it does not mean we do not have to be bold in other ways. Whatever God does ask of us could have spectacular results of fruitfulness if we are bold enough to obey. Be bold! Be willing! Overcome fear! Love otherishly! Do whatever good thing you find you can do for the Lord and for the sake of the lost. It could turn out amazing!
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