Former President George H. W. Bush, the elder Bush, was speaking to an appreciative audience some years back, immediately after leaving office. He explained what it was like to go from being Vice President for eight years and President for four years, to being a private citizen.
“The first day I woke up,” he said, “I reached over to push the button to get somebody to bring me some coffee, but there was no button, and there was nobody to bring any coffee.” Then he added, “Barbara said, ‘Get out of bed and make the coffee yourself.’” (1)
That would be quite a shock. One moment you are the leader of the most powerful nation in the world. The next you are an average everyday American. That’s the beauty of democracy. We spread the privilege of serving. Our theme today is leadership, authority.
There is an old Peanuts comic strip. Linus is upset over the news that one of his school teachers is about to be fired. He turns to Lucy and says, “They can’t fire Miss Othmar! I’ll write a letter of protest! I’ll blow this thing wide open! I’ll write to someone in authority! Someone who can really do something!”
Linus composes himself for a moment as he prepares to set his pen to his paper. It is obvious he doesn’t know anyone of authority. Finally he asks Lucy, “How does one go about getting a letter to the Apostle Paul?”
Well, the Apostle Paul did have a certain kind of authority. Think how closely we study his words in the church today. There was a time, however, when he had a different kind of authority, an authority that sent chills down the spines of Christian believers.
As you well know, before his conversion Paul had a different name, Saul, and he was a man to be feared, especially if you were a Christian. Saul seemed to take delight in persecuting the followers of Jesus. That was because of his fierce devotion to the faith in which he was nurtured. Saul was Jewish. He called himself a Hebrew among Hebrews, so fervent in the faith and traditions of his own people that he stood by and watched over the cloaks of the mob that dragged Stephen off and stoned him to death. Stephen’s crime? Preaching the good news of Jesus Christ (Acts 7:55-Acts 8:3).
Later on, Saul had risen to such prominence and respect with his own people that he could go see the high priests of the Sanhedrin and receive from them letters that gave him the authority to persecute and arrest any Christians he came across. Saul was a big, self-righteous man with big, ambitious plans. He probably felt very special, very important as he rode along, tall in the saddle on the way to Damascus.
Luke, the author of our lesson from the book of Acts describes the situation like this: As Saul neared Damascus suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” the voice replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. Suddenly Saul didn’t seem all that big and fearsome, did he? That can happen in life.
A pastor writing on the Internet tells about a man he knew, a very proud man who was well off financially. He had an attractive young wife, a good job, lived at the beach, and all the rest. He came to church sometimes and was always friendly and supportive.
One day this man read in the newspaper that one of his sons was being sought for committing murder. The man talked to his pastor, at first convinced that his son didn’t do it. As the years went on, the son went to trial and was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole. The father continued to support him, always convinced of his innocence. The father didn’t want his son to be alone at the other end of the country so he found a church of his denomination near the prison and the church folks began to minister to the son. When the father visited the son, he attended that church himself. He said to his pastor that nothing had ever humbled him like the shame of having a son in prison and at the same time finding more love from God than he had ever known. (2)
Saul could have related to that father. He had been riding high. Now he was brought low. Luke tells us that for three days Saul was blind, and did not eat or drink anything. But then Saul experienced the love of God. This love came through an ordinary Christian disciple living in Damascus named Ananias. This is the only time this particular Ananias is mentioned in scripture except a little later on when the Apostle Paul is giving his testimony and he describes Ananias as “a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living [in Damascus]” (Acts 22:12). Other than that we know nothing. But the little we know of him is sufficient. Ananias didn’t need Paul’s impressive credentials and connections to be used of God. As Saul lay blind and helpless Ananias had a vision in which the Lord called to him, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered. That’s always the response of faith, “Yes, Lord.”
The Lord told Ananias, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.” Evidently being stricken as he was had humbled Saul to the point that he was calling on God for help. The Lord continues with his instructions: “In a vision [Saul] has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel . . .”
Then Ananias, probably quite reluctantly, went to the house where Paul was staying. 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.”
Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized into the very faith he had set out to destroy, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Then Luke adds these very descriptive words, “Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.”
I believe you will agree, this was quite a transformation. Saul could sing quite literally, “I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.”
So Saul, the ambitious man with big plans, has an experience that brings him to his knees. And he realizes that his whole life has been one big mistake. And through the touch of an ordinary man named Ananias, Saul’s life is radically changed, and he becomes an Apostle of Jesus, whose followers he had persecuted.
Do such things happen to people in the real world that kind of radical life-change? Sometimes.
Some of you will remember the name Eldridge Cleaver. At one time Eldridge Cleaver was the much maligned leader of the Black Panthers, the violent militants of the early 1960s. But something significant happened in Eldridge Cleaver’s life.
Pastor Ray Stedman tells of a conversation he had with Cleaver sometime back. In that conversation Cleaver gave one example from his former life. He said that while he was a Black Panther he was filled with a terrible feeling of hatred and violence against any law enforcement agency. He couldn’t help himself. Every time he would get near an officer of the law he would feel this terrible sense of anger and murder and rage within him. But one night in the south of France, in a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, Eldridge Cleaver had a vision, an inner view, of the face of Jesus Christ, coming out of his boyhood to him. It drove him to reading the Scriptures. He read Psalm 23 over and over again. He said that ever since that time on the balcony, he had never had that feeling of hatred again. He has looked for it, and expected it, but instead, there has been a feeling of love for everyone he meets. (3) Again, what a transformation!
Even though we could never mention Eldridge Cleaver’s name in the same company spiritually with St. Paul, nevertheless their experience of Christ shared some similarities. Both were delivered from feelings of hatred to feelings of love and acceptance by their experience of the risen Christ.
Here’s what I find fascinating, however. Sometime after his experience in Damascus, Saul changes his name to Paul. What’s fascinating about that?
Saul, the Hebrew name, means “asked for” or “prayed for.” You’ll remember that the people of ancient Israel asked God for a king. God gave them a king. Does anyone remember his name? That’s right. His name was Saul. Saul was “asked for,” “prayed for” by the people of Israel. Undoubtedly this New Testament Saul was named by his parents after this first king of Israel since they were both of the tribe of Benjamin.
There was just one thing wrong with King Saul he was a big disappointment. He was driven by his ego and became desperate to maintain his position, finally being driven mad in his determination to destroy young David who, you’ll remember, was becoming more popular than he was. Maybe Saul’s name was part of the problem ”asked for,” “prayed for.” Such a name has to make you feel important.
The New Testament Saul, like his namesake the former king of Israel, was a man who became haughty in his power and authority enforcing Jewish Law and had to be brought low. So, Saul either chose or was given a new name, Paul. Now here’s what’s fascinating: Paul, a Latin name, means “Small” as in tiny, little, insignificant. It is intriguing to me that the Apostle chose to identify himself in this way. The once “big man,” identifies himself after his conversion, as “Small.”
It happens sometimes in sports. A 300-lb. lineman will be called “Tiny” by his teammates. But it doesn’t happen often and I believe it is significant in Paul’s situation. He wanted people to know he wasn’t the same man he had been. In fact, later Paul may have been making a pun on his name meaning small, when he refers to himself as the “least of the Apostles.”
Sometimes as adults even Christian adults who are also parents or bosses or leaders in our churches or communities, we can let a little bit of authority or power or success go to our heads. We may think because we are used to making decisions that we are somehow in charge of our lives, running things, and we may forget that every job we do, every dollar we earn, indeed every step we take and every breath we draw, is all by the grace of God. A person may be anointed and commissioned to do a task for God, but if he or she ever forgets that it is God who empowers us and God to whom we should look to direct our steps, we run the risk of getting far off track.
Saul thought he knew what he was doing. He believed he was serving the God of Israel by carrying out his own hate-filled agenda. Saul thought he knew everything he needed to know about God. He had no idea that God had revealed so much more through Jesus of Nazareth. Saul thought he had power and authority, but God took away his autonomy and independence. God literally knocked him off his horse and blinded him in order that he might see more than he had ever seen before. Saul was brought low, forced to recognize not only the true Jesus but also the truth about his own actions. Instead of serving God, he was persecuting God’s only Son. And now, upon realizing that Jesus is Lord, the one with true power and authority over everything, Saul was humbled to the point that he could become a magnificent ambassador for Christ.
Saul had a reputation . . . but he received a revelation a revelation about himself and a revelation of God in Christ Jesus. From this day forward he would subject his reputation and his authority to the will and glory of Jesus Christ. The converted Saul who once thought he had it all figured out now sees himself as an unimportant and weak “vessel,” and a mere slave to an all-important and all-powerful Lord (2 Cor. 12:5-10).
And the same thing can be true of us. Until we submit ourselves to the Lordship of Christ, each of us finds ourselves traveling a dangerous, difficult road. Up until we yield ourselves to God’s leadership, we live our lives puffed up with an inflated sense of our own authority or power, and warped by our own selfishness and self-importance. Even though we may believe we mean well or see ourselves as good people, until we enter into a living relationship with Jesus, until the Lord introduces himself to us and enters in to live and love through us, then we are like Saul. We might think we are doing well, but sober reflection will reveal that our lives are empty.
Lee Strobel once knew that emptiness. Though he was a successful journalist, by his own account he was not a happy man. He describes himself at that stage in his life as “profane and angry.” To prove his point he cites a time when he came home one night and kicked a hole in the living room wall just out of anger with his life. Can you imagine the impression his conduct made on his five-year-old daughter? But Jesus Christ came into Lee Strobel’s life and changed his life radically. He says that five months after he gave his life to Christ, his little girl went to her mother and said, “Mommy, I want God to do for me what he’s done for Daddy.” It’s hard to argue with a testimony like that. Strobel says that God changed not only him, God changed his family and changed his world. Today he is a well-known author and pastor.
Can you give the same kind of testimony? Saul was a big man with big plans. But he was an angry man who took out his anger on others. Christ humbled Saul and gave him a new name, Paul, a name that means small. Ironically, after becoming small, after becoming the least of the Apostles, Paul became the second most influential man who ever lived after Christ himself. After his blinding experience on the road to Damascus, he became a man who could see the purposes of God so clearly that to this day we study his words with rapt devotion. Even more importantly he became God’s instrument. It was in dying to his former self that he became alive to God’s plan for his life. And God used him in a mighty way. Friend, God can use us too if we will humble ourselves and believe the Gospel.
1. Gerhard Gschwandtner, Personal Selling Power, July/August 1994, p. 26.
2. http://www.raefordumc.net/2009/07/mark-1035-45-sermon.html.
3. http://www.pbc.org/files/messages/4754/3533.html.