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A Life of Proclaiming

Pastor Jeremy Schultz
April 18, 2010

It all started because the synagogue in Damascus sent letters asking for help. You see, a short while before, some men must have entered their fellowship who professed to be followers of the Way. They were Jews...at least they were Jews by faith...but they were different. These men claimed that the Messiah had already come. They said that His name was Jesus and that He had been crucified and raised to life on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. If only these men had kept quiet or had kept to themselves, it might not have come to this. But now it was clear. These men and their message were dangerous and they had to be dealt with.

You see, they were telling people that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision meant anything. What mattered, according to them, was faith in this Christ! Well, the men of the Damascus synagogue knew better! Circumcision, like the holy Torah – the law of God – had been passed down by their fathers for generations! This was their faith! This was their identity! By keeping the covenant, they hoped to be saved! But now these followers of the Way were proclaiming something different – a freedom from the Law, which they said could never save anybody anyway. They were proclaiming that Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us! Well, that's how it started. And that's why the letters were sent. Something had to be done to take care of this problem.

It was the chief priests then in Jerusalem who read the letters requesting help. 18 months had gone by since they had crucified Jesus. But His followers seemed to be multiplying every single day! When one of them, a man named Stephen, was stoned, well they thought that was it. But they only still increased and spread out, proclaiming Christ wherever they went. Some made their way as far as Damascus. So that's where Saul, the Pharisee, went.

Saul was clearly the man to end this threat to the Jewish faith. He was a righteous man; a man full of vigor and passion. He was zealous for the holiness of God and for the holy Torah. Saul was a leader in every imaginable way. When he walked, he made men tired; and when he talked, he made men wise. And so Saul was going to Damascus, to round up these followers of the Way – to bind them and bring them back to Jerusalem so that an example might be made of them. What kind of an example remained to be seen. Perhaps they would be verbally abused. Perhaps they would be beaten. Perhaps, like Stephen, they would be stoned. But one way or another, this problem would go away.

Then along the way, something quite startling occurred. As Saul and his companions neared Damascus, a thud across the back of the head knocked Saul completely to the ground. Now, this might make sense, if a stone or something was thrown. But it wasn't. It was the light. It was the force of the light so bright from heaven that knocked Saul to the ground. To just see it happen, you might have thought Saul was joking around. But then the steady roll of something like thunder came as the firmament of the sky seemed to part. The companions couldn't make out anything. But there was Saul, flat on his back, staring up into that bright light. And then they heard him say, "Who are you, Lord?" And then, just as quickly as it began, it was over. The light was gone. The companions were panicked. And Saul was still on the ground, panting, groping for his bearings and crying out for help. Saul, the Pharisee, burning with zeal for the things of God, had his eyes burned by the light of God and Saul was blind. He was led by hand into the city. And for three days, he ate nothing, drank nothing and saw nothing. The course of Saul's life had just been changed forever! What that meant, he would soon see!

After three days, a man named Ananias, came to Saul. He placed his hands on him and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Something like scales then fell from his eyes and Saul could see again. He was baptized as a follower of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit came upon him.

Now as amazing as all of this is, here's what really gets me. Are you ready? The very next thing that Saul does is to enter the synagogue at Damascus - the very synagogue that he was already coming to! But now, instead of rounding up Christians to persecute, Saul immediately began proclaiming that very name of Jesus that he was sent to persecute, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God!

As we continue to discover life in Christ today, we discover specifically that it is A Life of Proclaiming. I want you to think first about those men that came to the synagogue in Damascus. These followers of the Way (of Jesus), why wouldn't they just keep quiet? Why wouldn't they just try to blend into their new surroundings and settle into a new and comfortable life? The answer is simple. They knew the truth. And so they took the truth wherever they went!

They knew that Jesus was the Messiah that was promised to come. He was crucified for the sins of the world and was raised to life again for our justification. They knew that we cannot keep the law of God and hope to be saved. In fact, because of our miserable condition, the law is only going to convict us of our sin. That's why the sacrifices of the OT were endless. That's why there was never enough blood that could atone for the sins of the whole world. But when Jesus came, about whom both the law and the prophets testify, He became the sacrifice of atonement once and for all. He kept the law in our place! This was the truth that they could not keep in.

Now I want you to also think about Saul. Think about how after he was baptized, he went into that very synagogue and began proclaiming that Jesus is the Son of God. And proving to them from the Scriptures that He is the Christ! Why would He do that? Why didn't he just go back from where he came, thankful that he had his vision back? The answer again is simple. Saul had seen the Lord! It was Jesus who appeared to Him on the road as Saul would testify over and over again. 18 months after Jesus had ascended to heaven, He appeared to Saul and changed his life!

So what else could Saul do? He could not hold it in! He didn't need to consult with anyone! He needed to let it out! And that's what Saul did. And this became his pattern wherever he went. Saul, a Jewish man with a Jewish name who desperately wanted his own people to know Christ Jesus and be saved – always went first to the synagogues to speak to the Jews. But with his Roman or Gentile name, Paul, this man also went as an apostle to the Gentiles so that all the world would know about Christ!

So now, I want you to think about yourself. Probably everyone in here can point to a time recently when they have specifically invited someone else to believe in Jesus even more firmly. You could easily be thinking of a situation with yours or another child. You might be thinking about a conversation with your brother or a person from work who you invited to a family baptism party. What you see in all of this is clear. A life of proclaiming is what we live as God's children.

This is not a job best left for the experts. This is not a task that requires a seminary education. You can earn such a degree. You can, in the eyes of others, be trained as an expert. But these people in Acts 9 proclaimed Jesus simply because they knew the truth. Saul proclaimed Jesus simply because he had seen the risen Lord. You also know this truth. You also see Christ in the Word and Sacraments. This is the life we discover in Christ. A life of proclaiming! Amen.