Welcome to the family
Acts 9:1-19
This is a story of
how unlikely and unpromising outsiders make a significant difference to the
life and witness of the church, so that everyone grows in their faith and
knowledge of Jesus.
1) divine
encounters
Jesus is the main
actor in this story – not Paul, nor Ananias!
i) stopped
in his tracks: Paul has
plans, letters from the high priest; he’s making a name for himself; he’s
religious, certain and sincere – and
Jesus stops him dead; knocks him down and shouts in his ear: ‘have I got your
attention!’
> how long before
Jesus gets our attention? We might have been
coming a month, a year, a lifetime: are we listening to him?
ii) shocked into
faith: their short
conversation leaves Paul a changed man:
ü
why? see how Jesus identifies with those he died
for (4): when they suffer, he suffers; that’s how much the church matters to
Jesus
> how much does the
church matter to us?
ü
who? What does Paul see? We don’t really know.
What he hears shocks him to the core – and he lives a lifetime with that
question (5; see Ph 3:10)
ü
what? Jesus is alive and glorious (as Stephen
claimed), the start of Paul’s understanding of him as God (see 2 Cor 4:6); the cross is not a mistake but God’s plan to put
things right; the church is God’s new people drawn from all over the world; all
Paul has lived for crumbles (1 Ti 1:15), only to be rebuilt by Jesus > that’s what it means to be
converted: is that true of us?
2) dangerous
liaisons
It was getting hard
being a Christian: Stephen was dead – how many more would follow him? And Paul
did this! The little group of believers in
i) love
our enemies: Ananias tells
God what he thinks of Paul (13f); he’s not one of us. In effect, he’s telling
God that God can’t love him like he loves us and that we shouldn’t either. But
Jesus said love your enemies (Luke 6:32-36; Matt 5:44): this is not negotiable
if people are going to see God reflected in us!
> So are we praying for Osama, for those who
speak badly
about our church, for those whose lifestyles we deplore?
ii) trust the
gospel: the early
Christians had seen people healed, selfish hearts melted; did Ananias really
not believe the gospel could change the life of this enemy?
> do we think gospel is just a good idea, a
high ideal to aim for but nothing more?
Rom 1:16 – Paul’s testimony and he should know!
iii) make room: Ananias is not only told to welcome Paul
and pray for him, but also take word of prophecy to him (15f): this is how Paul
heard his call to mission (this is part of the revelation he speaks of in Gal
1:12): this outsider is going to be a key part of the church’s mission – in
Damascus and then to the wider world
>
what kind of things do we say to each other? And not
just those we know well?
This lesson is so
important, it’s taught twice in Acts 9 – Barnabas is the means through whom the
> have we learned it? Is this what we
practice? Who knows who we might be welcoming when we embrace the newcomer?
Further questions (remember to look at the questions
scattered through the notes)
1. What did Paul learn about Jesus on the road to
2. Have we ever ‘had a word’ for someone else in the church?
Has someone had a word for us?
3. How can we ensure that we welcome people who are different
from us into the church?
4. Are we willing for God to send us people who will make a significant
contribution to the mission of the church – even if that means changing the way
we do things?
5. How do we hear God speaking to us? Do we share what we’ve
learned with others in the church?