A Sovereign Call to Serve – Acts 9:10-31

A Sovereign Call To Serve

Text: Acts 9:10-31

A Brief Prayer (Psalm 119:36-40)

• Incline our hearts, O God to your Word & not to dishonest gain
• Turn away our eyes, from looking at worthless things
• Revive us O Lord, in your ways, Establish Your Word to us as that which produces reverence for You
• Revive us again, O God thru Your Righteousness, for we pray these things in our Lord Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Introduction:

• Christ’s Sovereign choice of His Disciple-Servants, requires a response, to Him, from each of us. How will we respond?
• Christ Sovereignly Chose his 12 disciples to be His Apostles and to continue the Mission he had begun…
  • The 12 Submitted to Him, as their Lord, Saviour & God
  • They Followed Him, and (with the exception of Judas)
  • They Went-out Preaching, Serving, Spreading gospel
  • They Suffered for Him, and…
  • All, but one, Died a violent death for Him
• Christ Sovereignly chose Saul to be His Apostle to Gentiles
• The text before us today, illustrates this great principle of Christ’s Sovereign leadership and control of His Mission.
• He chose Saul & Ananias, & He Sovereignly chooses U & I to Serve Him, on Mission, wherever He sends us, Home or Office, School-rm or Hospital-rm, Church or Job-site or Factory, wherever He sends us.
• And God’s Sovereign choice Requires a response from us.

Remember: The Sovereignty of God is His authority and power

to accomplish his will as the Supreme Ruler of all things.

• God demonstrates his sovereignty through His decrees and His actions, which are planned in complete Independence of anything outside of Himself, and enacted thru-out time-space.
• God’s sovereignty extends over all creation, & particularly His acts of predestining, calling, justifying & glorifying His people.
• Isaiah 46:9–11, the Lord says: “I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.

And God’s Sovereignty is as a source of Great Comfort to Christians

• becoz our hope rests in a God alone, Who controls all things for the glory of His name & good of His people and His creation
• God does not exercise His Sovereignty in steam-roller fashion, crushing/flattening everything to His will, rather He exercises it as Loving, Kind, Caring Father, concerned for His Children

• God’s Sovereignty certainly does not remove man’s will, rather our will must be brought into Submission to God…
  • It will bring us to Humility before God
  • It requires our Obedience to God
• Our text this morning displays these three responses from Saul to Christ’s Sovereign Call to serve, in His Mission

One. Notice: Christ’s Sovereign Call to Serve

• 4, Saul was Sovereignly chosen, by Christ, for Salvation
• 15, Saul was Sovereignly chosen by the Lord to be His instrument-tool-vessel
• He was no longer His own, He now belonged to Christ
• God’s salvat’n moves us fr slaves to sin, to slaves to Righteousn.
• Saul was chosen by the Lord to bear Christ’s name, to be His Representative-Apostle to the Gentiles & scripture shows it:
  • 1:1, Paul a bondservant, called as an apostle
  • 1:1, Paul called as: apostle of J.Chr, by: will of God
  • 1:1, Paul: Apos. not fr men, nor thru men| thru Christ
• 1:16, Eph.3:8, Saul was chosen by the Lord to preach the gospel among: Gentiles, to preach unsearchable riches: Christ
• To Represent Christ in His writing-speaking, as an apostle

• 16, Saul: Sov. chosen by Christ to suffer 4 His name’ sake
  • That suffering began as Saul began to preach
  • 23, Jews plot. ag. Saul, to put him to death – escap’d
  • 29, Hellenists attempt. to put him to death – escaped
  • 13:50, Jews incited persecution ag. Paul-Barnabas
  • Acts 14:5, Gentiles/Jews attempt. to have P&B stoned
  • Acts 14:19, Jews succeeded in stoning Paul
• Saul was Sov. chosen by God to continue Christ’s mission to spread the gospel fr Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria & end-earth
• Christ Sov called Saul to be His Servant-Apostle
• And Christ is still Sov. Calling men, women, older-younger to serve Him, in His Mission, to reach the world w/ His Gospel

• Does that mean that every believer is sovereignly called to be:
  • An Evangelist, or A Missionary?
  • A Pastor?, A Teacher, a Preacher?
  • An Elder? A Deacon?, A Sunday School Teacher
• Absolutely not! To quote my good friend Larry Page, Can :Lord use humble Bee-Keeper to spread the gospel in his area? Yes!
• Notice what Saul says in a parallel text where he is describing his calling: Galatians 1:15–16 “But when God, who had set me apart (separated me) even fr my mother’s womb & called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles”
• Saul-Paul recognised that :Lord had sovereignly set him apart 2B an apostle to Gentiles, to preach Christ, to write scripture…
• Does the Lord set us apart to certain roles, not apostles? Yes
• :Lord sets us apart to the role-vocation, in life he’s called us to
  • As a Christian Tradies sharing Christ on Jobsite
  • As a Christian Professions doctor, lawyer, businessmen
  • It may be as a pastor, elder, deacon, missionary, evang.
  • It may be as a Mum at home, as a teacher in a school
  • No calling is greater-lesser than the other
  • God uses Christ’n doctors as much/more Pastors/elders
• How does the Lord communicate his calling to us?
• For me, not long after I’d been converted, I had a desire to serve the Lord, in preaching… did that auto. mean I was called to be a pastor, to dedicate my life to it? No, not necessarily.
• Much later, as I had begun to preach, in itinerant ministry, and had several older, godly men, in my life take me aside to tell me that God had given me a gift, and that I ought to use it, to serve Him – did that mean I was called to it – Not necessarily.
• But, as I wrestled w/ Lord, striving in prayer and seeking to know :Lord’s mind, that a deep conviction settled in my heart, that this was only thing I could do, that I must do, nothing else
• God sovereignly chooses us for a ministry that he has for us
• A ministry that will be difficult, it will involve suffering & loss,
• …but will give us a joy and a dependence on the Lord, like no other role/work could do for us.

• Christ’s Sov. call demands response fr Saul – and fr. each us.

Two: Christ Sovereign Call to Serve demands Humility

• Acts 9, Saul was Humbled by the Lord, in his conversion
• 4, He was knocked off his feet, lying prostrate on ground
• 8, He was blinded, and had to be led by the hand, of those he had been leading
• 9-12, He was made to wait for Ananias (whom he’d come to arrest) – to wait for him to come & lay hands to restore sight
• 20-21, Saul amazed his listeners by proclaiming that this Jesus is the Son of God…
  • Saul, one of the greatest thinkers-philosophers of his day, had to admit: he had been wrong! – Humbling!

• And thru-out His ministry Saul-Paul displayed same Humility
• 3:5-11, He describes losing everything once valued 4 Christ,
  • 5, He was the son of Mosaic-Law-Abiding parents and…
  • He was a Benjamite, Heb. of Hebrews. – Pure Lineage
  • 22:28, He was a Roman citizen, by birth
  • 22:3, Educated at feet: Gamaliel “Jerusalem-Oxford”
• 3:5, He’s a Pharisee, & blameless reg. Law of Moses
  • 3:6, He’s Zealous 4 God, Persecuting the church
• Saul is regarded by scholars as one of the greatest minds of the ancient world… he had all he could want….
• he could’ve had anything else he wanted….

• But God intervened in 9
• Christ gently humbled this great man, 2 B His greatest servant
• Christ humbled Saul, to gently bend Saul’s will to His Own will
• He, who was once respected, trusted, listened to,
  • was now-maligned, hated, pursued & persecuted, etc.,
• He suffered the loss of these things, and counted them as rubbish, compared to the surpassing value – “the excellency of the knowledge Christ Jesus my, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, & count them but dung that I may win Christ”
• Paul could write many years after his call-conversion: in Acts 20:18–19 “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, ¹⁹ serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials
• …and in 2:2–3, Paul writes: For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ & Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear & in much trembling – Humility!
• Saul was Humbled by God to Serve in Christ’s Mission
• Saul Humbled Himself, even calling himself the chief of sinners

• But as great an Eg. of humility as Saul is, Christ is Inf. Greater

Christ is the Ultimate example of Humility in Serving

• He Humbled Himself to an extent none of us can even grasp
• Enthroned in Glory, to Swaddled in cloths, in a manger
• Unceasing Worship of Angels, to Mocking & Curses of men
• Fr Glorified with His Father to Crucified between 2 thieves
• Heaven’s Heights, to the Depths of A Borrowed Tomb
  • Christ Jesus our Lord, Humbled Himself.
• Paul writes in2:6–8, “although He (Christ) existed in the form of God, (He) ¹did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but ²emptied Himself, ³taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, He ⁴humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
• How great is the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, who calls us to humble ourselves, but first set for us: Ult. example of Humility

Application:

• Saul, Sovereignly called by God, followed Christ’s Eg. Humility
• Christ still Sovereignly calls us to Follow Him and to Serve Him
• But, Before God can use us, He must first Humble us
• Before God can truly use us, we must humble ourselves B4 Him
• The greatest danger we face, in serving the Lord…. to serving the Lord, is the Pride that so easily creeps in.
  • Pride thinks: because I serve the Lord, I’m somebody
  • Pride loves, like Diotrephes 9, to have 1st place.
  • Pride (as 11:2 says) brings disgrace-dishonour
  • Pride tears families, churches, ministries, elderships
• But it is Humility that comes with Great promises:
  • 66:2, To this one I (God) will look, He who is humble, contrite in heart and trembles at my Word
  • 15:33, 18:12, Humility comes before honour

So, How do we humble ourselves B4 Christ as His Servants-Disciples?

• Back in Phil.2:5-11, the main idea of that passage is have the same mindset, attitude of Christ, who:
• The Key to Humbling ourselves B4 God is in 2:6-8
• We Imitate Christ who

1) did not regard equality with God a thing to grasped

• Idea is to hold tightly for fear of loosing it
• Saul never expressed (to my memory) any doubt as to his salvation, by faith he accepted it as absol. secure
• Bros-Sis, Remembering and Trusting Christ, that our salvation, our place with Christ is absolutely secure, never to be lost, that sets us free to Humble ourselves…

2) Christ Emptied Himself

• For Him it was to lay aside His Visible Glory for a time
• Anyone seeing Jesus: on earth, from a distance would have thought he was just another ordinary 30yr Jew.
• For Saul it was to no longer refer to himself as
  • The Pharisee, Roman citizen, the educated man
• For Saul it was to see-refer to himself in his letters as
  • the slave, the bond-servant, the apostle
  • The least of all the apostles, the chief of sinners
• For us it means to let go of the things: bring us honour
• No longer giving our spiritual resume,
  • I preached here, I earned this-that degree
  • I’ve led 1,000’s to Christ, etc…
• It’s No longer looking for the affirmation/regard of man
• No longer making sure everybody knows who we are and what we have accomplished…. My Biggest Struggle.

3) Taking the form of a Bondservant

• For Christ, He took on the role, the heart, the attitude, the devotion, the obedience of a servant
• He being truly God is equal to the Father in deity, power, glory, omniscience, immutability, and so on.
• But, taking the form of a servant,
  • He submitted Himself to God, to be obedient to the Father, to obey all that the Father had given and told Him to do.
• For Us it means the same thing, we submit to God as servants, to be obedient to God –
• For some of us, it may mean exercising Rom.12:1-2, daily

4) He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death

• And here we see the essence of Humbling ourselves and Submission to God.
• Being willing to take the road, the path the journey thru death in obedience to God, trusting entirely in God as we do…
• To be willing to have God’s will done, rather than our own
• To submit fully to Christ for His will not our own
• To take the road of service, even if that service results in our death – that’s humbling ourselves…
• For me to Live: Christ; to Die: Gain!

Three: Christ’s Call to Serve Requires Submission

• Saul submitted to Christ, as His Lord – How do we know?
• 5, He recognised the speaker is: Lord – Kyrios, Master,
• He called Christ, ‘Lord’ and He lived in the reality of that truth
• He Submitted by obeying Christ, doing all he was told to do
  • 8, He went into Damascus,
  • 9-12, He waited where he was told
  • 17-18, He submitted h-self into hands of one whom he was plotting to arrest, have bound & taken to Jerus.
  • 20, He immediately began to proclaim Christ’s name…
• He submitted in total dependence of his life to Christ’s will
  • 1:21, “For me to live: Christ, to die: gain”
• He submitted his remaining life to Christ’s will, leading,
• Saul-Paul called himself: doulos, slave-servant to the master
• Acts 21:13 Paul said “I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
• Saul submitted himself, from 9:8-end of his life, to Christ’s Sovereign Call, to Serve Him as the Lord’s Servant
• And as good an example as Saul is – he is not the best

Our Lord Jesus Christ is our Ultimate Eg. of Godly-Submission

• Christ, in calling us to submit and to follow Him, calls us to do, what He Himself has already done, and set the example for.
• 42:1 & Matt.12:18, Christ is the Chosen Servant of God
• 2:51, Jesus lived in subjection to His parents: Mary-Joe
• 26:39, He prayed in submission to His Father’s Will,
  • “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You”
• John 18:12-13, He submitted Himself to torturers-murderers
• He submitted Himself in obedience to death, even on a cross
• He submitted Himself to the grave, in faith of His resurrection
• Christ is the Ultimate Servant of the Lord, Chosen by God

Application: Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

• The call to follow Christ our Submission to Christ, as Lord
• The call to serve the Lord requires same submission to Christ
• We learn submiss. by submit. to: Author. God placed in our life
• As Children We’re to submit to parents and to teachers
• As Citizens We’re to submit to governing auth.
• As Members in the local church we submit to Elders-Pastors
• As Elders in the church, we each submit to our Fellow-Elders
• As a Congregation together we submit to Christ, as Lord
• As Indiv. Disciples-Christians we all submit to Christ
• Ananias submitted to Christ to go and serve one, whom he understood to be his enemy, seeking his very life – but he submitted to Christ and went!

Bros & Sis, beware the mindset, the spirit of Rebellion that’s steadily

• taking hold, within wider church – It’s A Refusal to Submit.
• We hear about, and occasionally we meet men who have a desire to “serve” in the local church, and yet will not submit to the leading & governing of the elders.
• We meet men who come along, with desire to lead in church, But cannot, will not submit to what Scripture calls them to do.
• In 13:7, we’re commanded to submit to leaders in a church
  • 5:1-5, 1Tim.3, Titus.1, etc., supply the counter-pts. to submission, by instructing elders to lead, shepherd church
• But, Don’t miss the point!
• A Sovereign Call by Christ, to be on Mission with Him, in His Work requires Submission to Him, to His Word: First!

So, How do we submit?

• Look to Christ, who submitted to His Heavenly Father
• Look to the examples of Paul, Disciples, Church History
• Look to the examples of older, godly, men-women in our context
• Look to the Scripture and we bend bow in submission to it.
• Jesus words and Paul’s words are both absolutely Key:
  • Nevertheless, Not My Will, but Thine be done
  • For me to Live: Christ, to die is gain!
• Altho my will wants this, and I can justify it 1,000 dif. ways….
  • Not my will, but yours, O God be done!
• Even tho my idea is so much easier & guaranteed to be so much more successful, from my perspective than Yours….
  • Not my will, but yours, O God, be done
• For me to Live: Christ!
  • Christ: First in my worship
  • Christ: First in my living
  • Christ: First in my everything
  • Obedient Submission to Christ is… must be 1st in my life
• For me to Live: Christ and to die is gain
  • To die to self, is gain
  • To die to sin, is gain
  • To die to this world, is gain
  • To die physically (Paul’s intent), is to gain the eternal presence of Christ.

Christ Sovereignly Calls us to Serve, and His call requires:

• Humility
• Submission
• And…

Fourthly, Christ’s Sovereign Call to Serve requires Obedience

• Saul Obeyed the Commands of Christ
• He got up
• He went into Damascus
• He waited, in fasting and prayer for the Lord to act.
• He received the healing hand of God
• He was baptised, and he continued with the Disciples.
• He immediately began to preach-proclaim Jesus is Son of God
• He went where God sent Him
• He Suffered for Christ His Lord
• He Fought the good fight, Finished the race, & Kept the faith
• He Ultimately died rather than renounce Christ as Lord
• He will rec’v crown of righteousness that Christ laid up 4 him

Conclusion: what therefore is the conclusion to the matter?

• Our Lord Jesus Christ Sovereignly saves His People
• Our Lord Jesus Christ Sovereignly calls men and women into service for Him, wherever you are, wherever God has placed u
• Christ’s Sovereign call demands a response to Him from us
  • A Response of Humility
  • A Response of Submission
  • A Response of Obedience
• How do we do these things?
  • Faith in God who Sovereignly Controls EVERYTHING!
  • Humbling ourselves
  • Obeying Christ