Acts 9:1-19

Christian conversion has always been a subject of great importance. Many people are muddled about it. Some are invariably embarrassed when it is mentioned. Others associate it with brain-washing or emotionalism and argue that it is merely the result of a psychological pressure technique.

It is customary to dismiss the conversion of Saul of Tarsus as an altogether unusual and extraordinary phenomenon, an event so abnormal as to constitute no possible norm for conversion today. This is not so, provided that we distinguish between the essential inward experience and the accidental outward signs. There is no necessity for us to be struck by divine lightning and blinded, or to fall to the ground on our knees, any more than it is necessary to go to the Jerusalem road outside Damascus or to hear our name called in the Hebrew language. The light, the voice and the gates of Damascus were the dramatic outward accidents. The essence of the experience was that Saul by the sheer grace of God saw Christ, surrendered to Him and was welcomed into the Christian Church. There are, therefore, three actors in the drama of conversion - God, a human being, and the Church. Let me summarize the part played by each.

1. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

If there is one truth shining more brightly than any other in the story of Saul's conversion, it is the sovereign grace of God in Jesus Christ. It is He who chose to reveal Himself in glory and broke the silence of the desert with His voice. This is clear from two considerations:

Consider first what Saul was like. He is introduced as a bigoted Pharisee, who has plunged headlong into a career of persecution. He has hatched his own plot for the liquidation of Christians and has persuaded the High Priest to sanction it. Armed with this authority he is hastening to Damascus with "raging fury". There is neither doubt in his mind or pity in his heart. He is resolved to arrest women as well as men, to bring them bound to Jerusalem to be punished, and not even to stop short of murder.

This is the man who in a few days' time will be a converted and baptized Christian! But he is in no mood to consider accepting Christ. His mind is fogged with prejudice and poisoned with hatred. He is breathing out threats and slander. If we tell him that before he reaches Damascus, he will be a Christian, he will laugh us to scorn. But this is the case, for he has left out of his calculation the sovereign, saving grace of God in Christ.

Consider, secondly, what God did. Suddenly, perhaps near the gates of Damascus, He intervened. A light brighter than the noonday sun flashed from heaven and blinded him. A voice called him by name. The sovereignty of God expressed itself in a revelation of Christ. And Christ's action was sovereign. Saul was not seeking Christ; he was persecuting Christ. Yet Christ was seeking Saul. He likened Himself to a farmer and Saul to a lively and stubborn young mule whom He was seeking to break. But Saul was kicking against the farmer's efforts.

It is the same today. In every crusade and mission, and in the continuing evangelism of the Church, we need to humble ourselves and recognize that conversion is essentially a work of God. Neither organization, nor publicity, nor argument, nor eloquence (important as they are in their place) can, by themselves, bring light or life to one who is blind and dead. True, the preaching of the Gospel is the chief means God employs, but only He can do it in and through Christ.

2. THE SURRENDER OF MAN

This emphasis on the sovereignty of God does not imply that man has no responsibility. It is not clear how much Saul understood at the moment of his conversion. Perhaps he grasped more than appears, but the essence of his response was surrender. His action symbolized it, in that he fell to the ground. His words also expressed it. As soon as he knew who it was who was speaking to him, he submitted. Jesus issued two or three crisp orders 'rise, stand, go', and Saul did what he was told. He neither argued nor hesitated. He asked no terms, and made no conditions. He now meekly obeyed the One who he had been savagely persecuting. The stiff neck of the self righteous Pharisee bowed: the mule had been broken.

As the sovereignty of God crystallizes in a revelation of Christ, so the surrender of man crystallizes in submission to Christ. No one dares claim to be converted who has not bent the knee to Christ and called Him Lord. Conversion involves what Paul later called 'the obedience of faith'.

3. THE SYMPATHY OF THE CHURCH

God's plan for Paul was to draw him into the Church, build him up and use him as a chosen instrument. For this second stage he used Ananias, and it is well known that Ananias was very reluctant to do any followup! Christ called him by name, as He had called Saul by name. He issued to him the same orders 'rise and go'. Saul had obeyed. Would Ananias? Would this mature Christian give to Christ a lesser obedience than the new convert? At first he argued, but at last he obeyed.

Although Ananias was weak in faith, he was strong in love. His love triumphed over his prejudices.

First, his love was welcoming. He found Saul praying. The mouth which had been breathing out threats and murder was now uttering prayers and praises to Jesus. Ananias then laid his hands on Saul. He could not convey his love by a smile. Saul could not see! But he could feel and hear. So Ananias laid hands on him and called him 'Brother Saul'. The words must have sounded like music in his ears. What? Was the arch enemy of the Christian Church to be welcomed into its fellowship as a brother? Was this dreaded outsider to be received as a member of the family? Then Ananias baptized him, thus boldly receiving him into the visible Church. He later introduced him to the Christian group in Damascus.

There is a great need for this welcoming love in the church today. So often we hear of people being put off. Instead of being attracted, they are repelled. They find the church hard and cold, and their whole spirit is chilled.

Secondly, his love was practical. Immediately after his baptism he 'received food and was strengthened'. Who prepared the meal? Perhaps it was Judas, who owned the house, or one of the servants. More likely, it was Ananias himself. He recognized that Saul had a body to be fed as well as a soul.

New Christians have many practical as well as spiritual problems. They are faced with putting wrongs to right and reorienting their whole manner of life. They need our practical help.

There are many Sauls of Tarsus in our circle of acquaintances today, men and women richly endowed with natural gifts of intellect and character, personality and drive. They have the courage of their non-Christian convictions, being utterly sincere but sincerely mistaken. They are not beyond the sovereign grace of God in Christ, but are there Ananiases enough to love and draw them into the Church?

The principal lessons of the story of Saul's conversion are that for effective evangelism we need faith to believe in the sovereignty of God, love to care for new Christians and sympathy to welcome into the church those who surrender to the sovereignty of God in Christ.

In His love,


Floyd McPhee