I read an article some time ago about a woman who took her summer vacation to go back to her homeland to visit relatives. Her mother and Father, I believe had come over from Ireland, so she wanted to go back to visit relatives she had never met before. While she was there, she went to see her uncle – who was a sheep rancher.
While visiting with him, she walked into a barn and saw a young lamb with its leg in a splint. “Awwww, what happened?” she wanted to know. “Oh,” said the old shepherd, “he had a bad habit of running off, so yesterday, I broke his leg.”
Have you ever wanted to break someone’s leg? Well, there was a man who lived in during the time of the early church that a lot of people would have paid good money to be able to break his leg – perhaps both of them. His name was Saul. He was a menace to the early church. He was the young man who watched over the coats of the men who stoned Stephen in chapter 7. In chapter 8, we read; “But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.”
Then, as we open chapter 9, we are met with these words; “Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”
Saul, was a man who hated the church. He hated Jesus, he hated Christians and he hated anything that had to do with Christianity. Because of his hatred, he did everything within his power to destroy it. And that is his intent as he gets his arrest warrants and begins his trip to Damascus. Little did he know that his entire life was about to change.
This morning, for our Scripture reading, we read two stories about Paul’s encounter with Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus.
We don’t know how far out of Jerusalem Saul and his entourage had traveled, but we do know that it was around mid-day when all of a sudden, a brilliant light flashed in all around Saul. It was so bright in fact, that he would say it was brighter than the sun. Falling to the ground, he heard a voice say, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
“Kicking against the Goads.” That is what Jesus said Saul was doing. But, what does that mean? What was wrong with Saul’s life, that Jesus would tell him that he was kicking against the goads.
I think most of us know what a goad is. Today, we call them prods and use electricity. But before the advent of the battery, a goad was a long sharp pointed stick used to move cattle. That Jesus would use the analogy, tells us that Saul was resisting God’s prodding, causing God to goad him even harder.
So, what was wrong with Saul’s life that God would say he was kicking against the goad?
First of all, there was a problem with Saul’s faith. You see, Saul had a religion – but he didn’t have a relationship.
Saul was a Jew. In fact, he was a teacher of Judaism. In Acts 23:6, we read – Paul began crying out in the Council, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!” Later, in Philippians 3, Paul would describe himself this way; “circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless”.
The religion of Saul was an inherited religion. It was one he had learned from his father. He grew up in a Pharisee’s home. He was taught the life of a Pharisee as a child. As he got older, he sat under the teaching of Gamaliel, the most influential Jewish teacher of his day. It wasn’t long before Saul knew all of the laws and ordinances of Judaism. There was one problem, Saul knew Judaism, but he didn’t know God. That is the peril of an inherited religion.
A quick lesson here for us as parents. It is important that we teach our children the tenets of Christianity. It is important that we help them understand the morals and ethics that go with our faith. But it is far more important that we introduce our children to Jesus Christ. If our children grow up believing that Christianity means going to church every Sunday, learning all of the right songs, praying the right prayers and standing for the right things, then we are failing as parents. If our children equate Christianity with being against Abortion, Premarital Sex, Drugs and Alcohol, Rock music and all of the other taboos of our day, then again we have failed them. We don’t want our children to inherit our religion, we want our children to meet our Savior.
Saul had a wonderful religion, but he missed have a wonderful relationship with God. That is one reason, Jesus said “he was kicking against the goads.” He was fighting against something that was greater than his religion.
I think there was a second reason why Jesus said that. Saul was doing God’s business – but not God’s will. Because Saul didn’t know God, he was doing what he thought he should do for God. He was about God’s business, but he didn’t know God’s will. He thought, because these Christians were such a threat to his beloved religion, that he should destroy them. In the Old Testament, God had told Moses and the Joshua to destroy all of the people of the Promise Land as they moved into it. The Hittites, the Perizites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Termites and all the rest were to be utterly destroyed.
Saul thought the same thing had to happen to the Christians. In order to protect his religion, he would have to destroy Christianity. So, Saul sought permission from the High Priest to continue his policy of persecution. If the High Priest gave him permission, surely it was for God. So, Saul set out to destroy, “The Way.” What he didn’t know, was that “the way” really was the way. Quite literally, Saul wanted to destroy the body of Christ – the Messiah.
That is why, when Saul encountered Him on the road to Damascus, Jesus asked, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
Can you imagine what a shock it must have been for Saul? He believes that he is doing God’s business, only to discover that he is completely out of God’s will. The very thing that he fighting – the goad that he is kicking against – is God himself.
Some of us may know how he felt. God has been urging you, prompting you, calling you to come to him. So, you have taken on the forms of religion, but have resisted his invitation to accept his salvation. You are doing business of church, but are completely missing the will of God. Let me urge you right now, quit kicking against the goads, and step into The Grip of Grace.
In his desire to do God’s business, Saul had been blinded. He was
blinded by his zeal
blinded by his hate
blinded by his anger
On the road to Damascus, all of that was going to change. Now, instead of being blinded by his own character flaws, Saul would be blinded by the light – The light of Jesus Christ. The light of the Savior flashed before Saul so bright that words could not describe it. The best Paul could do was say, “I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me.”
God had to do something dramatic to knock him off of his feet. God is like that sometimes. God tends to knock us down so that He can pick us back up, dust us off and send us on the right way.
In an article about Asian men who train eagles for hunting, Stephen Kinzer writes:
The capture, taming, training, and keeping of eagles is highly ritualized. Most of the birds, which have a life span of about 40 years, are caught when very young—either snatched from a nest or trapped in a baited net. Once captured, the eagle is hooded and placed in a cage with a perch that sways constantly, so it cannot rest or sleep. For two or three days it is also deprived of food. During this time, the berkutchi, as an eagle hunter is called, talks, sings and chants to it for hours on end. Finally he begins to feed and stroke it. Slowly the weakened creature comes to rely on its master. When the berkutchi decides that their relationship has become strong enough, the training begins…. Not all eagles can be trained, but those who take to life with a master display intense loyalty.
Sometimes, oftentimes, God works the same way. He knocks us down – so that He can pick us up again. Often, we see being knocked down as harsh, brutal and unloving. In reality, if we could step back and look at it with a different perspective – we would see that we are really in the Grip of Grace.
Being blinded, like Saul, would seem like a tragic event in our lives. But what it did for Saul was drive him to his knees and help him discover a loving, caring and forgiving God. Being blinded and knocked down by God sent Saul from “kicking against the goads” to being in the “Grip of Grace.” And, when we find ourselves in the Grip of Grace, hopefully, we will take the next step that Saul took. That is “Grasping for God.”
When Saul is knocked down by God, he does something that reveals his broken spirit. He asks two questions. They are probably the two most important questions we can ever ask God. They are;
Who are you?
What do you want me to do?
The first question Saul asks is, “Who are you?”
First, this is a personal question. Please, God, who are you? Suddenly, Saul realized that this was not the God he knew. This was not the God that he had been serving. So he cries out, “who are you?” All of his years of training under his father and then Gamaliel and in one brilliant second, Saul realizes that he doesn’t know God at all. God to him was some distant, aloof God who had put the universe together – set it in motion and then left it to run its course. Oh sure, He had spoken to Abraham and Moses and few of the others in Israel’s past. Saul had learned that in his studies. But to Saul, He was a theory. He was a list of do’s and don’ts.
On the road to Damascus, Saul met a God he never dreamed existed and so he asked “Who are you?”
For that reason, not only is Saul’s question a personal question, it’s also a relational question.
Who are you? Who are you to me? Saul wasn’t seeking just information when he asked Jesus that question. Saul didn’t want intelligence on what the light was and who was speaking to him. Paul wanted to know what this meant for his life.
Is this it? Is this the end? Am I going to be destroyed or will you spare me? It was a question about Jesus’ character. It was a question all of us must ask.
Jesus response was, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’
We need to understand the meaning of this answer. Saul understood immediately. He had been persecuting Jesus for quite some time. He had stood watch over the coats while Stephen gave his defense before he was murdered. Saul had heard the testimony of who this Jesus was. Time and again, as he had arrested and persecuted the followers of “The Way,” they had witnessed to him about Jesus, the Nazarene. He knew immediately that everything he had heard was true.
Suddenly he understood what Stephen had said – that Jesus had died on the cross – that he had died for our sins – for his sins. He understood that he had been resurrected three days later. He understood that without Jesus Christ as his Savior, he was not going to inherit eternal life. He probably didn’t have all of the theology down right away, but he that he was dead in his sins without a relationship with this Jesus.
I believe that it was at this time that Saul surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. Why do I say that? Because of the next question he asks Jesus.
What do you want me to do?
Immediately, Saul goes from a Pharisee and a persecutor to a disciple and proclaimer of Jesus Christ. We see in his question a man who has surrendered his will to Jesus Christ. Lord, What do you want me to do?
That question is a question of Lordship.
It’s as if Saul is saying, “I have been leading my own life, doing my own thing. I thought I was doing your business, now I want to do your will.” What do you want me to do?
Really, it is a faith question. Later, in writing to the Corinthians, Paul would say, “for we walk by faith, not by sight.” Whenever I read that, I wonder if that isn’t something that he learned immediately on the road to Damascus. The Lord took away his sight for three days. In those three days, all Saul could do was walk by faith. And it is what he would do for the rest of his life.
He begins immediately. Jesus tells him, “‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.’ And even though he must be led by the hand, he goes into Damascus, where he would begin a ministry that would lead him all over the known world. He would take three missionary journeys, start an untold number of churches, lead literally thousands to a faith in Jesus Christ and eventually end up in Rome, where he would die for the faith that he discovered way back on that dirt Road to Damascus.
I began this message by telling you about a woman who took a vacation to visit family back in Ireland. While she was there, she visited an uncle who was a shepherd.
While visiting with him, she walked into a barn and saw a young lamb with its leg in a splint. “Awwww, what happened?” she wanted to know. “Oh,” said the old shepherd, “he had a bad habit of running off, so yesterday, I broke his leg.”
When the old man told her that, she was appalled. “Why on earth would you do that”, she asked.
“Well”, he said, “the little guy had a bad habit of running off. Every time he would do that, he would be in danger. He could fall off the edge of a cliff and kill himself, or a wolf or some other predator could find him, kill him and eat him.
He was a stubborn little guy, too. Every time he ran off, I would have to go find him. Then, I would set him with the rest of the flock only to have him run off again.
So, I broke his leg. But, that’s not the end of it. After I broke his leg, I also mended it. I put a splint on it, all the while, I was talking to him, comforting him, consoling him. Now, I have to carry water in to him every day. Not only that, I have to feed him by hand. As I do, I continue to talk to him and comfort him. By the time his leg heals, he will know my voice. He will know that it is I who takes care of him. He will come when I call him. He will stay with me, no matter what. Now, I will be able to lead him, and the rest of the sheep will follow him. This lamb will one day be the best sheep of the flock – why, because yesterday, I broke his leg. In order to break its will, I had to break its leg.”
Often, for God to be able to use us, He must first break us. That is exactly what God did to Saul. He broke him, then He restored him. In that process, Saul discovered the true and living God who is Jesus Christ.
He began by “Kicking against the goads,” only to find himself in the Grip of Grace, grasping for a true relationship with God. I pray that each one of us will have what Paul eventually found.
