Episode 207: Very Religious, but Didn't Know the Lord | +Quigg Lawrence

Good morning, friends. I've been away for two weeks. Two weeks ago, we were at one of our church plants in Harrisonburg and got to ordain a young man to the priesthood. We had a bunch of people commit or recommit their lives to Jesus, which was awesome. Then last Sunday, we worshiped in a little home church of 30 on an island in the Pacific—Kauai—and that was awesome, but it's not home. So I'm really glad to be with you guys. We did get to watch the services online, which was cool.

If you have a Bible—which I hope you do—or if you have a Bible app, go ahead and make your way to Acts chapter 9. It's the conversion of Saul, which is really Saint Paul. The conversion of Saul to being Paul.

As you're making your way there, I'm going to tell you: there are three folks that I know of that actually helped lead me to Jesus. Three folks, and they were all Episcopalians. One of them was a guy named Mo Gill who directly shared his testimony. He'd been a Christian for a whopping three months. Another one was an Episcopal priest from Virginia Beach named John Jordan. He's gone to be with the Lord now. John was about five foot four, cross-eyed, and he was an All-American first team wrestler at VMI—I think maybe the only one they've ever had—but he was certainly proud of that. Then we had Mo Gill, we had John, and then we had John's son, Hartley. Hartley, at the time I met him, was 19 or 20 years old. He's a young man with Down syndrome, but the way that he served in the church carrying the cross and just greeting people—the love of God that was in him poured out—was so arresting to me as a non-believer, as a church person, but non-believer.

So it's really those three guys. But John actually went to seminary. He was ordained, and he was serving in a small church—I think it was in South Boston, Virginia. He was about a year and a half into ministry. His wife gets pregnant, and John suffered no lack of self-confidence. He knew that his son was going to be the greatest All-American wrestler that has ever been. John figured: if I could get All-American with one eye, imagine what my son will do with two.

Well, Hartley was born and Hartley is a beautiful baby, but Hartley had a chromosome issue and had Down syndrome. John, that wasn't on his plan. He knew what his son was going to be—perfect, tall, famous wrestler, and all that. So when this happened, John went into his small country church in South Boston. He was sitting there in a black shirt and a collar—he was a priest—and he was grumbling at the Lord, mad and crying over the fact that his son wasn't perfect. He just started weeping. And as he wept, he realized: Lord, I've been to seminary and I'm ordained, but I don't even know you. Who are you, Lord?

He said he got down on his knees in that hot country church—it was about 1962 or 1963—and he knelt down there and said, "Lord, I want you in my life." John, the pastor, the priest, admitted he was not a Christian. He was broken and he called out upon the name of the Lord and got saved that day, even though he was ordained.

There's a very similar kind of story going on with Saul. So, if you have your Bible, open it up to Acts 9. It says this:

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. — Acts 9:1-2

The first thing we want to hone in on is that it says Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples. Well, we know this is true. In Galatians, which Paul wrote, he says:

You've heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. — Galatians 1:13

So he himself admits he persecuted the church of God violently, and he was trying to destroy it. But when it says he was breathing out threats, I looked it up in Greek, and you can do the same thing. Can I tell you a little secret? There's a magic drawer. All you have to do is get to blueletterbible.com. You put in your scripture verse. Over on the left-hand side, you click on tools and it'll tell you every single word in the original Hebrew or, in this case, the original Greek, and tell you the meaning. That's really cool.

But while Saul was still breathing threats of murder, it actually says his nostrils were flaring. Not necessarily like a horse at the Kentucky Derby—though that was an awesome race—but I'm talking about somebody so incensed with rage that their nostrils are flaring, their sympathetic nervous systems in full gear, and they're ready to consume with their bitterness and hate. And so he's such a goody-two-shoes too.

You know those kids in high school who are always going to the teacher—teacher, teacher. I always went to my teacher trying to get extra credit. My grades usually weren't that great. If I could get a gentleman C, that was awesome. Usually if you do a little extra credit, that helps. That's what he was trying to do. He's trying to get extra credit. He was a very religious man trying to gain favor. So everybody goes, "Wow, Saul. Look at you. Look how zealous. Look how much fervor you have."

So he went to ask the high priest for letters. Why was he asking him for letters? He hated Jesus so much and he hated his disciples so much and he loved his own self-importance so much that he went for extra credit. He actually went to the high priest and said, "Hey, can I have letters from you that will help me gain my way even out of our country to the country of Syria where some Jews had relocated?" Because Saul knew that there were followers of Jesus in that place. So he got letters so he could just go through the checkpoints. He went out of his country to Syria, to Damascus, looking for any belonging to the way. It says as he went on, he approached Damascus—and that's a 150 miles and over a week's walk. I don't know about you, but I haven't walked that long in my life.

Now as he went on his way, it says a light from heaven flashed around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice. Where's the light coming from? I think that might be instructive. What's the difference between Judaism and Christianity on one hand and all other world religions?

In the Old Testament it says, "Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." A wandering Aramean was my father. They're just a bunch of nomads out in the desert. But God went and made Israel his people. And so the Lord's always the one who initiates relationship, not us. It's not like other religions where we study enough or work hard enough, climb the ladder, get enlightened, then maybe you can know God. No, here we're seeing what we see all through the 66 books. God is doing something. He's initiating a rescue mission.

So it says, "A light from heaven flashed around Saul and he fell to the ground and he heard a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"

I don't know about your mama, but down south, our mamas, when they're mad, will do one of two things. If they're a little mad, they'll say your name twice. "Barbara, Barbara, come here right now." Or if they're really, really mad, "Raymond Quigg Lawrence Jr., you come here right now." Anybody have that from their mom or dad?

I don't know that God's so mad at Saul, though Saul has been killing the Lord's children. But he wants Saul to pay attention. He wants to get his attention. So he calls his name twice—Saul, Saul. And he says something really weird. He goes, "Why are you persecuting me?" Well, that's weird because wait a minute—where is Jesus at this very moment? Is he on the earth? I'm confused. How could Jesus say, "Why are you persecuting me, Saul," when he's not even on the planet?

Well, Matthew's gospel tells us, Jesus said, "As you do it unto the least of these my brothers, you do it unto me."

As you do it unto the least of these my brothers, you do it unto me. — Matthew 25

If you feed someone who's hungry or give them a drink of water or take them in, or visit those in prison, Jesus said you're not just doing it to them, you're doing it to me. That shows the Lord's tender heart—how closely he identifies with us. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

I bet Saul was like, goodness gracious. Verse five, he said something. This is amazing. For a religious man who had been serving God his whole life—you know Saul, right? A Jew of Jews, a Pharisee of Pharisees from the tribe of Benjamin, and as to the law, blameless. He defends his life. He said, "No one was more zealous for God's law than me." And so in the midst of this, the only thing Saul could say is the Lord that he thought he knew spoke to him. He says, "Who are you, Lord?"

Isn't this sad? We see in one case, he was a priest, a pastor. He didn't know the Lord. He said, "Who are you, Lord?" when he got broken. But many of us could ask the same question. We know about God, but I'm not sure all of us know God. Who are you, Lord?

And then Jesus was quick to answer. I bet Saul wasn't expecting this answer. He says, "I am Jesus whom you're persecuting."

And what I love is look at verse six. Something's about ready to happen. In this awesome moment, God's doing this thing from heaven. He's being merciful. It's all grace. But friends, the gospel is this: God saves us for a purpose. You see, I think in America we're watching too much of this trash on TV. I think we think God is basically an Aladdin's lamp or concierge to satisfy—as Bob Dylan says—our every wandering desire.

But what we see in the midst of showing undeserved mercy and grace to Saul—He's also saying, "Hey, I want you to do something because we got to get this straight. I am God and you're not. I am God. I am the Lord. I am king and I have kingdom." So I'm now telling Saul, "I'm gonna tell you what to do."

He says this:

"I want you to rise and enter the city. You're gonna be told what to do." — Acts 9:6

Verse 7 says:

"The men who were traveling with Saul stood speechless hearing the voice, but seeing no one." — Acts 9:7

In verse 8:

"Saul rose from the ground and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing." — Acts 9:8

Many of us, we can see, but we can't see. They'd be ever seeing, but not seeing. Ever hearing, but not hearing. Paul's eyes were opened and yet he was blind.

It says:

"So they led him by the hand, they brought him to the place he was going anyway to Damascus." — Acts 9:8

Verse 9:

"And for three days, Saul was without sight and neither ate nor drank." — Acts 9:9

Three days, he didn't have anything to eat or drink. I'm embarrassed to tell you this story. Some of you have heard it. Our church occasionally would call a church-wide fast. "If the people who are called by my name will humble themselves and fast, right, I'm gonna answer them from heaven."

So in one particular Good Friday, we called for a church-wide fast. And I was feeling good about it at 7AM and 8AM and 9AM and 10AM and 11AM. Not so happy at 12PM. Can I be honest? By the time it was like 3, 3:30PM, I was starving to death. Well, not literally starving to death, but I felt like I was starving to death. And then I began to think, well, technically, what is a fast? Isn't a fast just like eating solid foods? So I was like, "Lord, you know I love you. You know I'm under grace. I think I'll just give me something to drink." So I slid on over to Elderberries. Now, I don't know if you all know about this special Elderberries drink, but it's called a peanut butter. God has never put more calories in one cup. So I got the large one because I was thirsty. I sucked that thing down like a Hoover vacuum cleaner. I was feeling a little bit guilty. I looked up from my straw and I saw three church members there. Friends, we're not the best fasters. We could learn that Christian gift.

I'll chase one more rabbit quickly. My friend Dave White was releasing an album. He fasted without any food for forty days. I said, "Dave, how was it?" He said, "It was miserable." I said, "Did the Lord really do amazing things in your life during those forty days?" He goes, "No. But he said the next week was amazing." He said, "God anointed us when we were doing our recording of this instrumental. Look up Dave White. If you want your soul soothed, God poured his blessing out on Dave as he played, just like David used to play for King Saul."

God's Plan for Ananias

Verse 10:

"Now there was a disciple at Damascus. His name was Ananias." — Acts 9:10

So God's working something else. There's a disciple at Damascus. His name was Ananias. That name means "gift of God." I looked that up. So you can do that on Blue Letter Bible and everybody will think, "Wow, you're smart." But the thing I love about the names in the Bible is they usually mean something. What a gift Ananias would be to Saul. You'll see in just a second.

There's a disciple named Ananias, and the Lord said to Ananias in a vision:

"Ananias."

"Here I am, Lord." — Acts 9:10

The Lord said to Ananias:

"Rise and go to the street called Straight. You ever wonder where we get the phrase 'Straight Street'? Where that name came from? Go to a street called Straight. And at the house of Judas, for a man—one man, a man of Tarsus. His name is Saul. For behold, he is praying and he is seen in a vision. I think that's really interesting. A blind man seeing. He has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay hands on him that he might regain his sight." — Acts 9:11-12

So the Holy Spirit is doing this in the heart of a believer—Ananias—telling him to go to this place because there's gonna be a man named Saul of Tarsus, who also God would have spoken to. And he's gonna know that you're gonna come and lay hands on him.

So here we pick it up. Verse 13:

"But Ananias..." — Acts 9:13

See, everybody wants a God. Everybody wants a Lord. Everybody wants a savior. But God actually calls us to do things. He has commands, and his commands are not burdensome, but he has a command here. He goes, "I want you to go do this. Lay hands on this man."

But Ananias goes, "Lord, are you sure you got the right Ananias? There might be a lot of Ananias in Syria. I'm not sure you got the right one, God. Because this guy is a tormentor of the church. He's destroying the church. He's killing people."

And God said, "Yep, that's the one alright."

You know why that's beautiful? There are a lot of folks, even in the blueness of our pews this morning. You'll sit in a pew, but you won't receive the grace of God because you've done this or that. You think, "Well, God can forgive these little sins, but he could never forgive mine."

Friends, this story, God put in the scriptures to let you know no one is outside his reach. I love seeing that awful man, Ted Bundy came to Christ. I actually heard the hour-long thing he did with James Dobson so many years ago, right before he was put to death. He goes, "I did it. I deserve to die. I've met Christ. I want all the money from this to go to the victims." He could never make atonement for his sins, but he did receive the grace of the Lord. A murderer as heinous as Ted Bundy—he'll do that for Ted Bundy or Saul. He'll certainly do that for you if you're far from him.

And he says, "Go." Verse 15: "The Lord said to him, 'Go, this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.'" — Acts 9:15

And look at verse 16:

"For I'm gonna show Saul how much he must suffer for my name." — Acts 9:16

So just because the Lord calls you to be his kid doesn't mean it's gonna be easy.

If you were to turn quickly to Second Corinthians, put that in your browser. Second Corinthians 11:23. Go there or in your bible. Second Corinthians 11:23. Paul—when the Lord says, "I'm going show you how much Saul's going to suffer," this is how much he suffered. Saul, who became Paul, says this:

"Are any of these men servants of Christ? I'm a better one. I'm talking like a madman. With far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews—that means the Jewish leaders who hated Jesus, not all Jews. I received at the hands of the Jews forty lashes minus one. They thought forty lashes would kill a man, so they laid one off. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was adrift at sea. On frequent journeys, in danger from the rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my people, my own people, danger from the Gentiles, danger in the cities, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, and toil and hardship through many a sleepless night, and in hunger and in thirst. Often without food, and cold, and exposure. And he says, 'And apart from these things, I bore the anxiety or the pressure of leading all the churches.'" — 2 Corinthians 11:23-28

Paul, when God said that Saul would suffer, he surely did. He's not a man that he should lie.

After God reveals this to Ananias, Ananias departs and does what the Lord says. Verse 17, he enters the house and then he lays hands on this murderer, this man who hates Christians and hates Jesus, Saul. And then he says the most amazing thing. I mean, this is hard to get your mind around, but it would be much like if you were Jewish and a prophet, and God says, "I want you to lay hands on Adolf Hitler." "No, Lord." "No, that's the guy. I'm gonna have mercy on him, as I had mercy on you."

As Ananias comes up, he says, "Brother Saul."

Treat him as a brother. What I want you to know is if your sin is awful, welcome to the club. We're all sinners. All like sheep have gone astray. There's no sin so bad that I, who have received mercy, cannot extend God's mercy to you.

"Brother Saul, receive your sight. Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared on the road by which you came, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." — Acts 9:17-18

Then the last two verses. Verse 18:

"And immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he regained his sight." — Acts 9:18

Some of us have literally had that experience. The Bible talks about the Jews—they're God's people, not us. Don't come with some new thing that the church has replaced the Jews. No, no, no, no, no, no. The Jews are God's people. He made a covenant with them. He calls them the natural branches. But Scripture also is very clear that he has put a veil over most of their eyes so they cannot see Jesus as Lord and Messiah. And then the gospel is going to go to the Gentiles—to the lost pagans, if you will—to the Gentiles. And then when God's people see that, they'll be provoked to jealousy. And it's only when he removes the scales that they'll be able to see and worship their Messiah, Jesus Christ, Lord of Lords, King of Kings.

The Question

So I wanna close by asking this simple question: Are you like John Jordan? Are you like Saul? Very religious. People say, "Oh, I'm very religious." I'm like, I hope I'm not. I'm very spiritual. Why bother? Do you know about God, but not know him? One day the Lord said, you know, it's like going to a birthday party of a kid you don't know. You guys ever experienced that as a child? Your mom made you dutifully go to some birthday party you don't want to go to. You don't even know the kid. How bored was that? It was worse than going to a symphony. The Lord doesn't want us to be in the body but not know him. He doesn't want any of us to say, "Who are you, Lord?" He wants us to know him.

Sometimes it starts with just the honest admission: "I don't know who you are. Would you show me?"

And so we're going to open our rails. As always, you can pray these center rails by yourself and no one will bother you. But maybe today, you need somebody to pray with you. It could be for salvation. It could be that you're having illness. We have people with serious things going on. Could be something you want to give thanks for.

Would you come and receive the gift of prayer in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.