Our goal in our sermon time, this year, is to study through the book of Acts.  Currently we are in an exciting section. The Holy Spirit is moving in an amazing way. In Acts 8 were introduced to a man named Saul who is filled with some kind of fervent zeal against the church.  Surprisingly, his attempts to destroy the church only spread it everywhere; like attempting to put out a gas fire my throwing water on it.  We have seen the Gospel go out of Jerusalem through Judea to even the Samaritans. We have seen a magician baptized and last week we saw a guy come all the way from Ethiopia for an encounter with Jesus.

The Holy Spirit continues to move as we come to Acts chapter 9. 

Acts 9:1-2  Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

Saul, the church-destroyer/spreader, realizes his mistake.  So, he attempts to contain the spread.  He plans to go all the way to Damascus and bring those who belong to the way back to Jerusalem.  Perhaps he can keep it under control if he can keep it in Jerusalem.

Look on the map at the geographic spread.  Look how far it has spread; Jerusalem – Judea – Samaria and now all the way to Damascus; 135 miles.  The march continues on its way to the ends of the earth in ever widening circles.  That is the first progression of the Spirit – Geographical.  We have noted the second progression of the Spirit – Ethically. But there is a third progression of the Spirit we haven’t talked about yet. Let’s keep reading.

Acts 9:3-9  As he neared Damascus on his journey, 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," he 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.  For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.    

Luke is continuing to show the amazing agenda of the Spirit.  No one in their right mind would have anticipated Jesus going after Saul of Tarsus.  This is such an amazing story Luke repeats in 3 times in Acts.  As I was studying this week on this section I read N. T. Wright’s commentary “Acts for Everyone.”  He has a fascinating description of what might have happened to Saul on the road to Damascus.  Let me just read a page or so from Wright’s book.   

There was a type of Jewish meditation which had became famous during this time.  It involved sustained contemplation of the great vision of the first chapter of the book of the prophet Ezekiel, the vision in which Ezekiel sees something like a great chariot, with whirling wheels and flashing lights. He describes, first, the four-faced angels who are carrying the chariot: they move this way and that, sparkling and glowing. Then he describes the wheels of the chariot, whirling and flashing, their rims full of eyes. Finally, he describes the larger scene, with a dome above, a rainbow all around, and a throne, like a great jewel. And the point of meditating on this throne-chariot, for some Jews of Jesus' day who used this technique, was to see if, by devout prayer and fasting, holiness, devotion and contemplation, one might come even in this life to share in the climax of the vision:

Ezekiel 1:26-28   Above the expanse over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man.  I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him.  Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

(Wright continues)
Notice how cautious Ezekiel is. He doesn't say he saw God himself, merely that he saw 'the appearance of the likeness of the glory' of yhwh, Israel's God. But it isn't surprising, with such an astonishing passage, that people who studied the scriptures deeply, and longed to share the vision of the God they loved and trusted, would come to use the first chapter of Ezekiel in prayer, hoping that somehow they might be allowed to glimpse the same glory, to see God face to face on his throne, even if the sight of such glory would hurl them flat on their own faces on the ground.

What I'm going to suggest now is only a guess. But it's one which several serious scholars have proposed; and, whether or not it's exactly right, it introduces us to the world of thought and experience which we need to understand if we are to grasp the full impact of the story.

We know from Paul's writings that he was, from his earliest days, a deeply devout Jew, for whom prayer and meditation would have been a daily reality, and the study of the scriptures a life-long passion. What's more, he came from that part of Judaism - the deep, out-and-out devotion to God and his law that characterized the strictest of the Pharisees - where meditation of the kind I have been describing was taught, at least in some circles. So it is quite possible that he knew, and sometimes tried to practice, the throne-chariot meditation.  Allow yourself to imagine that that is what Saul of Tarsus - not yet called Paul - was doing, on the long, slow road from Jerusalem to Damascus. (A journey might be an ideal time for such a thing, with the steady plod of the horse, and the quiet countryside around.)

You might then be able to grasp the impact of what happened to him. He was on his way to Damascus to act for the glory of God, the glory which he believed was being besmirched by these crazy followers of Jesus. He needed to keep that glory firmly before his eyes, to make sure his zeal was properly fired up and rightly directed. To that end, shall we suppose, he had been in prayer and meditation, trying to envisage the divine throne-chariot.

He had gazed with the eyes of his heart on the angels. He had stared at the wheels as they flashed to and fro. He had longed to be able to raise his eyes from the angels and the wheels to the chariot itself, and then (would it be possible? he must have wondered; would he be allowed?) to the figure which sat on the chariot, flaming with fire, surrounded by brilliant light. Imagine his excitement as, in the depth of devout meditation, he saw with the eyes of his heart, so real that it seemed as though he was seeing it with his ordinary physical eyes, and then so real that he realized he was seeing it with his physical eyes, the form, the fire, the blazing light, and - the face!

And the face was the face of Jesus of Nazareth.

And Saul sank to the ground, blinded by the light, with the words ringing in his head. 'I am Jesus, and you are persecuting me.' Me? Somehow, these men and women Saul was dragging off to prison were Jesus' people; Jesus’ family; Jesus’ extended self. It was all too much. They led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. It was three days before he could do anything except, simultaneously, recoil from the horror of what had happened and gasp at its glory. We call this event a 'conversion', but it was more like a volcanic eruption, thunderstorm and tidal wave all coming together.

If the death and resurrection of Jesus is the hinge on which the great door of history swung open at last, the conversion of Saul of Tarsus was the moment when all the ancient promises of God gathered themselves up, rolled themselves into a ball, and came hurtling through that open door and out into the wide world beyond.

Wow! I thought that was an amazing reading.  I don’t know if Wright is; right in his speculation about Ezekiel. But, regardless, Saul’s conversion was indeed stunning. It was more stunning than Samaritans or magicians or Ethiopians.  The Spirit has the power to touch anyone.  We need to keep that in our brains because that is significant to the point of the sermon. I haven’t even got to what we need to get out of this sermon. It is what happens in the next few verses that, to me, have more impact on who I am than the stunning conversion of Saul.

Luke introduces us to another man; without any background. This will show the third progression of the Spirit.  Without knowing where he came from or where he went.  He is this insignificant person who intersects glory. 

Acts 9:10-19  In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, "Ananias!" "Yes, Lord," he answered.  ("Here I am, Lord.")  The Lord told him, "Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.  In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight." (double vision) "Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.  And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name."  (understandable…)  But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles (note this) and their kings and before the people of Israel.  I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."  Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. 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, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.

Here is the lesson I think we should get this morning. The Lord rarely works like he did with Saul; knock them down and give them no choice.  “You will be my instrument! I will show you how much you are to suffer for me.”  He may occasionally operate this way, but not typically. But what he does with Ananias is what he does with us!  Here is the point. We can be Ananias! We are called to be Ananias!

Let’s look at him:
-He was not any kind of official.  This is a first in Acts. This is the third progression. We start with Jesus: the Son of God.  Then the Spirit worked with the apostles. Peter & John did miracles and spoke boldly. And then it was the chosen seven; Stephen and Philip.  Now just ordinary Joe Christian is called upon to speak for God.  That’s us!  You don’t have to be anything but a follower of Jesus to share the word! 
-I like the “Here I am, Lord” – echoes of; Abraham & Jacob & Moses & Samuel & Isaiah.  Ananias joins the Old Testament Heroes by being ready.  He was ready.  Perhaps, he was expecting to be used by God.
-He was responsive to the ridiculous.  “Go talk to Saul.”  “Wait a second. You mean the Saul who is coming here to throw us in jail?  That Saul?  Is that really a good idea?”  The Lord said, “Go!”  And he did.  And he intersected with the future Apostle Paul! He intersects glory.   God used this ordinary guy to heal and teach the one who would take the Gospel to the Gentile world! Wow!  We never hear of this Ananias again in Scripture, but don’t you think he would have told his grandkids, “Hey, kids do you know who baptized the Apostle Paul?”  “Yes, grandpa, you did.  You’ve told us that story a thousand times!”

When we listen to God we can be Ananias.  God is not always going to use a vision.  He might, but he is the God of infinite variety.
-More typically God puts people in our thoughts.  Do you know what I’m saying?  Out of the blue we think of someone we haven’t talked to in years.  Perhaps, it is time for a call. 
-Occasionally it is going to Starbucks and running into someone God wants you to intersect.  That little nudge to go engage may be the Spirit.
-The Spirit uses opportunities to do something that are completely unexpected.  When we accept we find a world of people to teach. 
-It is running across something someone wrote, or a picture or something else that says we need to contact the other.
-It may even be something as startling as a dream that wakes us up it the middle of the night and our heart burns to talk to someone. 

That is when we can be Ananias.  That is when we step up with his courage and respond to the ridiculous.  That is when we too are instruments in the hand of God.  That is when we intersect glory.   It is all about the dancing thing. Our prayer is for God to lead.  “Lord, lead me today.  Let me be your instrument.  Let me intersect glory.  Let me be the third progression of the Spirit.”  We let God lead. We are always listening. We continuously say, “Here I am, Lord.”  Wow. Isn’t it great that God still uses us as his Ananias!