Today’s Scripture

Psalm28:1-2, 6-9        Acts 9:1-20      Revelation 5:11-14      John 21:1-14

 

 Acts 9:15 But 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.

 

            Many have had an experience as this.  You are remodeling or building an addition.  In the middle of things, the carpenter explains that due to whatever, you cannot continue as you originally planned.  You must make a major change.  “It can’t be,” you might have said and wondered how things would turn out.  When all was done you wondered, “Why didn’t I think of this to begin with?”

 

            How many times has that happened in your life’s plans?  You set off in one direction, only to find a door closed on one side and another open on the other.  It is not always easy to see or to accept the way things are going.  Sometimes you get pretty bitter, anxious, hesitant, or angry about those abrupt changes.  How many times have you later found the blessings that were at first disguised to you?  You could not see them in advance, or even as they were sitting in your lap.  Your best-laid plans turned somewhere completely different.  It is like you get in the car for a short ride to find out it is a long journey in another direction.  You exclaim, “We’re going where?”

 

            In today’s reading in Acts, that certainly is the case with both Saul and Ananias.  Saul is a most astute scholar of Scripture.  He is a Pharisee of renown.  This Jesus, and now his followers are nothing but trouble.  And Saul is nothing but trouble to the rapidly growing community of followers of “the Way,” the followers of Jesus.  These Jesus people must be wiped out.  King Herod gave the OK to the temple leaders in Jerusalem to seek out and capture followers of “The Way.”  Saul was confident he was doing God’s will going the direction he was going.

 

            Ananias was a faithful disciple, a follower of Jesus.  We do not know anything else of him except that term, disciple.  We know he feared Saul and did not trust the first call to see Saul.  His conversation with God is a, “You’ve got to be kidding!  This Saul is nothing but trouble.  There is no way we are going to survive any contact with him.  He is out to destroy this little church here in Damascus. 

 

It is at this moment that God reveals directly to Ananias the purpose of all of this.  “Go!  This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel.”  [v. 9]  We know today that is exactly what God had in mind for Saul, now known as Paul. 

 

            Two men that week took far different steps than they thought they would ever do before.  Two men that week, found that God had a plan that neither imagined was his plan before.  Two men that week, began the next step of mission as commanded by Jesus just before he ascended, “Go and teach all nations, baptizing them…” 

 

            Today’s baptism is simple to us.  It is easy.  Dan and Elisabeth and their family are life-long Christians and Lutherans.  Both attended and Dan is a graduate of one of our Concordia’s.  He is a teacher in our congregation’s school.  Of course their son is going to be baptized.  And yes, we all rejoice in welcoming Joshua David into the family of believers, not just here at Immanuel, but the family of all saints who throughout all time trust God for his saving grace in Jesus Christ. 

 

            But tomorrow’s baptisms may not be so simple.  How many people within walking distance of this church walk by every day, sometimes not even noticing Immanuel is here?  How many people on your block brush off any opening you might make that they need a Savior as badly as you know you do?  How many people do you encounter each day that you are scared to death to mention the name “Jesus” or to discuss “faith?”

 

            Saul did not realize what journey he was beginning as he took his entourage of soldiers to Damascus.   He still did not have a clue when he was taken blind as a bat and literally by the hand the remaining steps into Damascus as he cowered in fright and bewilderment those three days.  Not one of the believers in Damascus or anywhere else could imagine how rapidly the congregations of new Christians would spring up throughout the entire Mediterranean world because of this murderous zealot, Saul.  Isn’t it strange how God takes the most unsuspecting person somewhere he does not want to go?

 

            You, as members here at Immanuel Lutheran are about to go somewhere that today you do not want to go.  So many times we think of mission work being somewhere in an underprivileged area of the world or a newly developed and bustling community. 

 

q       Mission work begins when one of us parks across the street to allow a visitor to park closer to the door. 

q       Mission work begins when one of us moves to the center of the pew to make room for the person we do not know to easily find a place to sit. 

q       Mission work begins when you look over the back fence at a neighbor doing daily tasks on a Sunday morning and quietly but fervently pray for strength to open your own heart in witness of faith to his household. 

q       Mission work begins when you take a visitor by the hand to meet another member of the congregation, include him in conversation with others, and walk him to the Information counter to receive a simple gift from you. 

q       Mission work begins when you attend a Bible Study group, even though you are not a “Bible Study” person. 

q       Mission work begins when you thoughtfully and prayerfully look at what you are doing and not doing with your time, with your talents, with your resources, to continue the mission at Immanuel in Des Plaines and throughout the world.

 

The mission may not be and in most cases is not what you and I imagine and have experienced before.  There are Saul’s around here that we are afraid of.  There are Ananias’ around here who are afraid to go to the Saul’s.  There is a God who, through his word alone, will break down those barriers so that his will is accomplished.  God’s will is no different than it was to Ananias and to Saul.  God’s will is for you and me, his people, to carry his name before Gentiles, their kings, and the people of Israel.  To you and me today, to carry his name before unbelievers, leaders throughout the world, and to our fellow Lutherans who like us today, are afraid of mission as it really is.

 

      We’re going where?  As God’s people we’re going to every nook and cranny of this congregation.  As God’s people, we’re going to every nook and cranny of the neighborhood around Immanuel.  As God’s people, we’re going to every nook and cranny in the City of Des Plaines.  As God’s people, we’re going to carry God’s name everywhere our bodies go.  As God’s people, we’re going to carry God’s name everywhere our prayers go.  As God’s people, we’re going to carry God’s name everywhere local communication goes.  As God’s people, we’re going to carry God’s name everywhere our feet and our dollars and pennies carry it in our community, the Chicago metropolitan area, the nation, and the world.

 

Yes, like Saul we might need to be struck blind and have to be taken humbly by the hand.  Yes, like Ananias, God is going to have to spell it out very plainly to us.  Yes, like Paul and Ananias, we are God’s chosen instruments to carry his name.  Yes, like Saul and Ananias, God’s not giving us any choice.  And yes, by God’s grace in Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and equipped with his word, “We’re going there!”            

 

Amen.