MY CHOSEN INSTRUMENT
Acts 9:1-31
Key Verses 9:15-16
15But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."
What was Saul doing after Stephen's death? (1-2) Why do you think Saul was not satisfied after Stephen's death and continued to persecute all the more?
Look at verses 1-2.
Stephen’s death lit a fire in his heart to passionately persecute all the more and he went on a persecuting campaign beginning with hunting down believers and putting them in jail.
These verses show us Saul’s mind set: he meant business and systematically found out how to efficiently persecute by first going to the high priest to get letters of authority.
These verses also demonstrate how sin builds in our hearts and makes us captive to it (cf. Gen 4:6-7), as sin only grew in and manifested itself in Saul.
Describe the Lord’s appearing to Saul in verses 3-4. Consider the Lord’s question to Saul in verse 4. Was the answer to the question for the Lord’s sake or Saul’s sake? What problem did Saul have that the Lord revealed here? What did the Lord reveal about himself?
Look at verses 3-4. Verse 3 says, “At this time…” It was when Saul had become so bad that the Lord appeared to him and called him.
It was for Saul’s sake. The Lord called out to Saul twice by name, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” The Lord knew Saul and he knew why Saul was persecuting him. But Saul needed to know why he was doing what he was doing from the Lord’s perspective.
He was persecuting the Lord.
This is very shocking to realize. Saul had been a trained and well respected Pharisee. He was a Jew of Jews. He genuinely thought he was serving the Lord, but it turned out that he was in fact persecuting the Lord all unbeknownst to him. How embarrassing and frightening to realize!
It was not the Lord’s problem, but Saul’s problem. He had been pursuing zealously the wrong way and was persecuting the Lord himself.
1. Here we see how Jesus identifies with his disciples.
What was Saul’s response to the Lord’s question? (5) What does Saul’s response show about the cause of his problem? What did the Lord further reveal about himself in answer to Saul’s question? (5b-6) How might this revelation have affected Saul? What does this event teach about the importance of knowing the Lord?
Look at verse 5. “Who are you, Lord?”
Saul did not know who the Lord is. This was the cause of his problem. He thought he had been serving the Lord when in fact he did not know even know who the Lord is.
Look at verses 5b-6.
1. The Lord revealed that he is Jesus. The same Jesus whom Saul thought he had to persecute and eliminate from the face of the earth was in fact the Lord! And it was Jesus’ disciples that Saul was intensely persecuting that belonged to the Lord Jesus.
2. He gave Saul a command and sent him into the city to await further instructions.
He must have suffered indescribable shock at this revelation. The Lord had not been his Lord, but something or someone else was his lord. Since Saul did not know whom he was serving, he ended up serving himself, his own ambition, sin and the devil.
It is most important for one to know the Lord.
What did the Lord reveal about Saul to Ananias? (15-16) What does it mean to carry the name of Jesus? (cf. Act 4:12) What is the significance of the Lord using the word “instrument” to refer to Saul? Why did the Lord appear to Saul and choose him? (Eph 3:7-8) How did Saul later encourage other believers regarding Jesus’ grace and apostleship? (Rom 1:5)
Look at verses 15-16. He had chosen Saul as his “chosen instrument.”
In Acts 4:12 Peter talked about the name of Jesus. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” The name of Jesus is the power of salvation. In Jesus’ name we have forgiveness of sins and hope in the kingdom of God. It was to carry this glorious name that Saul was chosen. What a great task he had been chosen for!
The Lord called Saul his chosen “instrument,” he did not even say, “person” or “servant”. The word instrument denotes mastery and use. When Saul did not know the Lord, something else was his lord. It means that Saul was previously not under the power of God, but under the power of the devil. Saul had been an instrument of sin, death, and the devil. But he was chosen to be the Lord’s instrument for his holy purpose of world salvation.
It is very striking that the Lord appeared to and chose this man Saul who had been so bad and harmful. Why did he do it? He appeared to Saul to become Saul’s Lord and to choose him as his instrument. He did it to bring Saul under the power of God and save him from the power of the devil. And yet why Saul? It was not because he was well trained, ambitious, or any other human factor. It was 100% Jesus’ grace. This was Saul’s own repeated confession. For example, in Ephesians 3:7-8 he says, “ 7I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.8Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ…”
Romans 1:5 says, “Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.” Saul did not separate the grace of Jesus with the choosing as his instrument in apostleship. Here Saul says, “We have received,” not “I.” This grace and apostleship is for all believers.
Read verse 16 again. What does it mean that he would be shown "how much he must suffer for [Jesus'] name"? (16; Acts 5:41) How was this part of the solution to Saul’s problem? How did Saul respond to Jesus’ grace and choosing him? (7-9, 11, 20; 1 Cor 15:9-10) What can we learn from Saul about how to respond to Jesus’ grace?
Saul was also chosen to suffer for Jesus. It means that this too was from Jesus to help Saul.
It was part of the solution because:
1. Saul is being used as the Lord’s instrument. So far, in the book of Acts, suffering for Jesus’ name has been presented as a reason to rejoice. For example, Acts 5:41 says, “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” Now Saul found himself in the position of also being counted worthy of suffering disgrace for Jesus. He deserved to suffer according to his sin, but instead he was shown grace to suffer for Jesus, being counted as belonging to the Lord.
2. It is the way for Saul to know Jesus personally and experience the power of his grace and resurrection for Jesus also suffered much but overcame by God’s power.
Saul accepted it and obeyed. He went into the city as Jesus commanded, then he prayed according to the vision of being healed by Ananias, then verse 20 says “at once” he began to preach that Jesus is the Son of God. Saul didn’t hide in his feelings of pride or self-condemnation because of his past behavior. He received Jesus’ grace as it is and obeyed.
Saul confesses in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10: “ 9For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”
Saul was who he was all by the grace of God. And he worked hard not because it was his character to be passionate or zealous, but simply and fully because he held on to Jesus’ grace. So he worked hard that that grace might be “without effect.” He never forgot the contents of his old life versus the new life he had been chosen for.
We learn from Saul’s example about receiving Jesus’ grace. It comes freely to us. We only have to receive it in full faith and obedience. We must pray to do our best according to this grace. Even apostleship and suffering is part of Jesus’ grace to us so that we may know him and experience the power of his resurrection.
What sufferings did Saul experience in Damascus and Jerusalem? (20-30) How did the Lord help Saul through Ananias and Barnabas? How was the Holy Spirit working in and through the church through these events? (31)
The Jews tried to kill him in both Damascus and Jerusalem.
1. Through Ananias the Lord: a. restored Saul’s sight, b. Ananias called him “Brother Saul,” meaning he had accepted Jesus’ grace to Saul without any compensation from Saul, c. Ananias became a witness of Jesus’ grace to Saul to help him be accepted by other disciples.
2. Through Barnabas Saul could be accepted by the disciples in Jerusalem since they had a very difficult time to believe the authenticity of Saul’s conversion. Through these two servants Saul could be accepted as a brother in Jesus and grow as a bold and useful instrument.
Verse 31 says, “Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.”
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