Radical lives for all People

I love radical stories of change and transformation.

Whether it's people changing their lives or rebuilding a house

or someone taking an old rusty tool and fixing it up.

TV shows that have these things are always really popular.

I don't necessarily like the drama of them,

but I love the before and after shots.

One thing is central to these TV shows.

They take something that was not fit for purpose

and they change it so it is fit for purpose.

The dad who can't run and play with his kids,

he goes on Biggest Loser and he drops all this weight

and now he can play with the kids.

The house that's falling apart, it's derelict,

it's due to be destroyed,

but then the team comes in and they transform it,

they rebuild it,

and then the family can move in and it's now fit for purpose.

I wonder if it's possible that we don't think that real and radical change

can happen in our lives.

Is it possible that we doubt the impact of God on our lives?

Maybe if I went on a Christian TV show,

then God could do something.

Maybe if I had 10 weeks on The Biggest Christian,

I was going to say Loser, but that doesn't sound right,

just The Biggest Christian TV show,

maybe then God could do something in my life.

But do we actually expect God to bring any real change

or to do anything in our lives?

It's incredibly hard in this season

because it just feels like we're treading water.

I want to see change in my heart.

I want to see change in the way I relate to people.

I want to love people more than myself.

I want to sin less.

I want to bring more glory to God.

But all of this seems really hard at the moment.

Today, we're going to see the best transformation story.

We're going to see a radical story of change

and how it is on offer for all of us.

A change that has a purpose that makes us fit for purpose.

We've been going through the book of Acts in this season,

and we've seen that the gospel is for all people.

It's also been wonderful to be celebrating and praying

for what our missionaries are doing overseas,

and it was good to see what the clean sauces are doing.

Even though they are struggling, seeing radical change.

In the book of Acts, in what we're up to,

we've seen that Paul has moved across different regions.

He has preached.

He has trained and taught leaders.

He has planted churches.

And now, God is calling him to go back to Jerusalem,

back to his home,

and we're going to see how God has radically transformed Paul

and called him, how he has made Paul fit for purpose.

And the challenge for us today will be to see if God has made any change in our lives.

Has God changed our lives, and how is he changing us

so that we are fit for purpose of responding to his call to love other people?

So there'll be two points today.

Firstly, radical change.

Secondly, radical call as we go through Acts 22.

But let's pray before we jump in.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word to us here from Acts 22.

Lord, help us to listen well to your word.

Change us that we would be like you,

and let us respond to your call to love people like you love us.

Amen.

In Acts 22, Paul has come back to the city of Jerusalem,

and he has accidentally caused an uproar.

Jews from across Asia, which we saw in chapter 19,

had all heard the gospel.

They see Paul going into the temple and assume, wrongly,

that he is taking a Gentile with him.

They get angry.

You don't take Gentiles into the temple.

The temple was only for Jews, only for those who were ceremonially clean.

And so they assume Paul is doing this terrible thing,

taking a Gentile in, and they get angry.

They want to rip him apart.

And so the people riot.

Paul is grabbed by Roman soldiers just before he is killed,

and he talks to this unruly crowd.

He speaks to them, those who are intent on shedding his blood,

and he gives a defense, and he preaches.

And this is our first point today.

He preaches of the change in his life, the radical change.

Now, Paul is very mindful of the crowd here.

He speaks to them so that they can hear him.

He speaks to them in Aramaic.

He explains how much he is like them before he gets to the change.

So please, have Acts 22, verse 1 open,

Acts 22:1

so we can be looking at God's word together.

From verse 1,

Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.

When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic,

they became very quiet.

Then Paul said,

I am a Jew born in Tarsus of Cilicia,

but brought up in this city.

I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors.

I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.

I persecuted the followers of this way to their death,

arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison,

as the high priest and all the council can themselves testify.

Now there are three key parts to how Paul is describing himself.

He describes his ethnic identity,

his education and his job or his mission.

Firstly, his ethnic identity.

He says that while he was born outside of Jerusalem,

he is a child of this city.

This is where he grew up.

He is central to this town.

He knows this city.

He is a Jerusalemite,

just like the rest of the people here.

He's saying,

I'm just like you all.

He speaks of his education.

He was trained by Gamaliel.

He was the most prominent of the teachers of the law.

Paul took the law seriously.

He had the best education.

It's like saying that he studied law at Harvard University.

Paul had the very best education that could be offered at Jerusalem.

And not only was he of the city,

not only was he educated,

but he was zealous.

He was passionate.

He was passionate about the law,

so much so that he persecuted Christians,

persecuted the people of Jesus, the way.

That was his mission.

That was the job that he set out to do.

He had his work approved by the elders.

His job in his eyes was to get rid of Christianity.

If Paul stopped speaking here,

you know what?

This crowd probably would have applauded him.

Oh, yes, very well said.

This boy, he's one of ours.

Yes, isn't he great?

He's just like us.

We're very proud of him.

But Paul no longer found his identity in his former life.

It wasn't his ethnic identity,

his education or his work that shaped who he was.

Something had changed.

Something powerful and radical must have grabbed him by the neck

and given him a good shake.

Something massive must have happened to change him so drastically.

Paul identifies with this crowd firstly

so that he can show how great the change is.

How did Paul's life change?

How did his life get turned upside down?

He met Jesus.

Have a look with me.

Verse 6.

Now, this isn't just a vision or a prophecy.

Jesus actually appears to him.

His companions could see the light,

but they couldn't understand the voice of Jesus.

This is just like the rest of the crowd

that Paul is preaching to at this point.

They could hear what he was saying,

but they couldn't understand it.

Jesus interrupts Paul's life,

interrupts his mission.

He was the perfect Jewish man,

the ideal son.

He had the best education.

He had the ethnicity like everybody else.

He was on a passionate path,

but Jesus steps into his way

because he was going down the wrong path.

Jesus says,

I am the one you were persecuting.

And so Jesus sends him on to Damascus

to find out what Jesus was going to send him to do.

And there he meets Ananias,

who gives him a message from the Lord.

Verse 14,

Then he said,

that's Ananias,

the God of our ancestors

has chosen you to know his will

and to see the righteous one,

to hear words from his mouth.

You will be his witnesses

to all people of what you have seen and heard.

And now,

what are you waiting for?

Get up,

be baptized,

and wash your sins away,

calling on his name.

Ananias makes it very clear.

Paul has seen the righteous one,

God himself,

the same God he worshipped,

has actually interrupted his life

to bring change,

to call him to something new,

to call him to be his witness,

just like the apostles,

to all that he had seen and heard.

And at that,

he's baptized.

He sets aside his former identity,

Jewish,

well-educated,

passionate to persecute Christians,

and he takes on the identity

of a Christ follower.

But can you imagine how Paul would have felt

on the way to Ananias?

He was there,

partially responsible for Stephen's death.

He was on his way to arrest and kill more Christians.

And he meets Jesus,

who points out that Paul is in the wrong.

Can you imagine the depth of shame

and guilt he would have felt?

Everything that I was passionate about,

everything I thought I knew,

it was all wrong.

But Jesus sends him to Ananias,

who preaches God's good news.

The gospel is for you,

even this enemy.

Your sins are forgiven.

They are washed away

because of Jesus' death and resurrection.

In Paul's baptism,

he sets aside his former way of life.

As he went to arrest Christians,

Paul was arrested by Jesus.

And his life would be forever changed.

There's a quick note here,

that Paul's name actually doesn't change.

The name Paul and Saul are the same name.

They're just different languages saying the same name.

It is much like how a person moving to Australia

from another country will pick a name in English

that sounds similar to their name.

Or if I'm introducing myself in Chinese,

I would say my name is Jan Wuxi.

It is the same thing.

Whilst everything in Paul's life is radically changed,

his name is actually not one of them.

But his life is changed by meeting Jesus.

God took Paul from being his enemy

and has saved him.

He's dealt with his sin and shame

and brought him into his family.

Paul has put aside his ethnic identity,

his education and his work,

all because Jesus offers something better.

His new identity is better.

My testimony is the same as Paul's.

I was his enemy until Jesus stepped into my path

and said, come and follow me.

If you're following Jesus,

your story is the same as Paul's.

Sure, Paul is one of the most influential

Christian leaders of all time,

but our stories are actually the same.

Our stories are just as amazing and awesome as Paul's.

That God would forgive.

That he would deal with our pain and our shame.

Sure, we may not go from being a radical terrorist

to a missionary leader,

but the heart of the change is still the same.

God takes us from enemy to family,

from shamed to saved,

from forsaken to forgiven.

If you don't know Jesus yet,

you might be feeling in the same position

that Paul may have before he met Ananias,

feeling the weight of sin.

Hearing about the love of Jesus might be hard

because maybe you feel like you are not worth God dying for you.

Not good enough.

Stuffed up too many times.

I've made too many mistakes.

I've hurt too many people.

My heart is too rotten for God to even love me.

The wonderful reminder of this part of the Bible

is that God would love even someone like Paul,

a radical terrorist who was his enemy.

And he would bring in someone far worse than us.

The gospel is for all people,

even us who are like Paul,

to be part of God's family.

God radically changed Paul's life,

brought him into his family.

And now Paul has been given a new identity.

He's now a Christian.

He's been given a new education.

He has seen Jesus and heard from him.

And now God gives him a new job.

This is our second point today, radical call.

Paul is given a radical call.

Be on mission.

Go and be a witness to all people.

On Paul's first visit back to Jerusalem,

Paul raised doubts about his fitness to do this.

Chapter 22, verse 19, have a look.

Lord, I replied,

these people know that I went from one synagogue to another

to imprison and beat those who believe in you.

God, you have got the wrong guy.

It's not gonna work.

How can I do this?

They know who I am.

But God confirms his mission.

Verse 21.

Go.

I will send you far away to the Gentiles.

And that's what Paul did.

God sent him far away.

And Paul spread the gospel,

preached for years and saw the gospel spread all across Asia

as we saw in chapter 19.

Paul obeyed God's call,

even when it was difficult,

even when he wasn't sure about it,

because his life had been captured by Jesus

and changed to follow him.

In Paul's speech to this rioting crowd,

he appealed to them.

He identified with them.

I am just like you.

I speak your language.

I'm zealous for the Lord,

just like you are.

Spoke of his own hatred for Christians

before he met Jesus.

But his language started to change.

He met Jesus, the righteous one.

God himself commissioned him

and sent him out to the rest of the world.

All of this,

the crowd listened to,

it says,

right up until this last point.

Now,

they get violently aggressive again.

They've turned back into that mob,

trying to rip Paul apart.

What's so offensive about what he said?

Well,

Paul is saying that

God not only wanted the Jews,

but God also wanted to bring

all of the Gentiles

in to God's family.

The Gentiles were the enemies of the Jews.

They were unclean.

They couldn't get into the temple.

They were the bad guys

who were in control.

Paul,

and the Jews

couldn't stomach this.

They reviled.

They hated the Gentiles.

And anyone like the tax collectors

who worked with them,

the Gentiles would ruin the temple.

They were their harsh overlords.

And Paul is saying

that the Holy God

wants to bring them in.

It would be as if Joe Biden,

the President of the United States,

got up and said

that he was going to welcome

all members of the Taliban

into the US.

People would riot.

They were the hated enemies.

And it's no wonder

the Jews get angry at this point.

Because Jesus is doing something radical.

If he can bring in

an enemy like Paul

into God's family,

he is going to bring in

all of those

who are far away from God.

That is the mission

that God sent Paul to,

to bring people

into God's family.

And God has so radically

changed Paul

that he would follow his call

even to go back to Jerusalem,

to preach this,

even if he would end up

in chains.

In chapter 21,

whilst Paul was still

heading to Jerusalem,

Christians,

through the Spirit,

knew what was going

to happen to Paul,

knew that he would be bound

and arrested,

and they tried to stop him.

But Paul's response

is really awesome.

In chapter 21,

verse 13,

Paul says,

I am not only ready

to be bound,

but also to die

in Jerusalem

for the name

of the Lord Jesus.

Paul has gone

from someone

who was ready

and willing to kill

people who follow Jesus,

and now he is ready

to die for Jesus.

Paul knew his call

to follow God

and to be a witness,

and he was going

to do that.

Paul had all

that he had in life

interrupted.

Jesus turned him around

and called him

to follow him,

and Paul follows him,

even if for the rest

of his life

he is going to be bound

and in chains.

When we meet Jesus,

like Paul did face to face,

or when we meet Jesus

in the pages

of the Bible

as we do,

he totally changes

our lives.

but he also calls us

to be on his team.

We are also

to be witnesses

to what we have seen.

We are to be witnesses

to who Jesus is

in the Bible.

God doesn't just save us

and then go,

great,

now you're part of the team,

you go sit

and warm the bench

for the rest of your life.

He sends us out

to be part of his team,

to be on his mission.

Paul didn't think

it was going to work,

there was too much baggage

to who he was,

but that didn't matter.

God used him

and he wants us

to be on his mission too.

We are all called

to be on God's mission.

He has taken us

from being his enemy

to being his emissary,

from sinner

to sharer

of the gospel.

Now it's lockdown,

I hear you saying.

How is God going

to use me

to be his witness?

I'm not legally allowed

to really go out

of my house.

I can't go to work,

I can't see people.

It's really hard

to share the gospel

over a team meeting

at Zoom

because there's no chit-chat.

How am I supposed

to witness?

I can't go out

like Paul did.

That's fine,

I'm not going to tell you

to break the law,

trust me,

I'm definitely not going

to tell you

to break the law.

But how are we going

to follow God's call,

not only to follow him

but also to witness

to other people

in this season?

Well there's four things

that we can do.

We can pray,

we can give,

we can look out

for our neighbours

and look out

for our family.

First of all,

pray.

Be praying.

God is the one

who saves lives.

God is not in lockdown.

There is no border closure

that can stop

the gospel spreading.

Get the mission booklet

in the links below,

open that up,

be praying for our missionaries,

be praying for our

cleansosers

that we heard about today,

be praying for

Sam and Sally Lowe

in the Gold Coast

who we're raising money for,

be praying for

the Nepali theological students

who are training

to be pastors.

Pray that God

would use them

to impact those nations.

that not only

South Africa

would be impacted

by the work

of the cleansosers,

but all of Africa.

Be praying for our

mission partners

in Germany

and in Japan.

Next week,

come to our prayer afternoon

as we bring these

partners

and our desire

for God

to change

people's lives

to Him

in prayer.

Pray for your neighbours,

pray for your colleagues,

and pray,

God,

what do you want of me?

Where do you want me

to be, Lord?

Do you want me

to stay here

and be the best witness

I can be

to my family,

to my friends,

to my colleagues?

Or are you calling me

to do something like Paul

to go on mission?

God,

where do you want me?

Do you actually want me

to uproot my life

like Sam and Sally

for the benefit

of your kingdom?

We need to be willing

to not just

tell our family,

but do something radical

like Paul did.

Change his identity

and make the priority

Christian

to follow his call

in our lives.

Secondly,

give.

Give to the mission account.

You can find the mission account

details on our website.

While it is difficult

for us to do mission,

it is not impossible.

Right now,

we can be supporting

the ongoing mission work

of the Lowe's

in the Gold Coast.

We're seeking to raise

20 grand.

We're seeking to do

something radical

to impact the Gold Coast.

We're raising money

to do that,

and this is something

wonderful.

Last time I checked,

seven and a half grand

from about 20

different households.

This is wonderful.

Thank you, church.

Thank you so much

for your generosity.

But I know

there are about

50 households

watching this stream

right now.

Imagine

if we all

did something radical.

If we all gave

out of what God

has given us

to continue

to support

the work of ministry.

Give to Sam

and Sally.

The money we give

does make

a difference

to the people's lives

in the Gold Coast

and to our hearts

to be growing

more generous

like a Heavenly Father.

So be praying.

Be giving.

And thirdly,

care for your neighbours.

Get to know

your neighbours.

I have been living

in my house

for three and a bit years.

I don't know

my neighbours that well.

But in the last couple of weeks

I had a chance

to go and pick up

some medicine

for a neighbour

which was wonderful.

Got to go into the shops.

They were a bit

cautious about that.

And then after

when I dropped it off

I had a half an hour

conversation

with one of my neighbours

and got to talk

about church

and Jesus

and all kinds

of wonderful things.

These opportunities

don't come up too often.

Take this chance

right now

to get to know

the people around you

because people

all around us

are doing it tough.

people need

Jesus

right now.

More so

almost than

any other time

in life

where we are

anxious about

the future,

where we are

considering

death and disease

when we can

share with them

the good news

that Jesus

is more powerful

than them.

Lastly,

be on the lookout

for your family.

Family members

are one of the

hardest groups

to convert.

I'm aware

of that

but there are

a number

of things

you can do.

Share this

YouTube link

with them.

You can say

this is the

church service

that I was

part of

this morning

I found

this really

encouraging

why don't

you watch

it as well?

Tell them

hey look

this is what

I've been

watching

this is what

I do

I go and hide

away in my

bedroom

and watch

church

I just want

to share

this with

you because

you're such

an important

part of my

life

watch this

as well.

Maybe

you could do

something a

little bit

scary

if you're

up for a

radical challenge

do something

scary

and ask

hey family

member

brother

sister

mum

dad

what was

I like

before

I became

a Christian

have you

seen any

change

in my

life?

Don't know

what they

will respond

with

have they

seen any

change?

You might

be scared

at their

response

but this

is a

wonderful

opportunity

to get

the people

around you

to reflect

on what

God is

doing

in your

life

so that

you can

share

how great

Jesus

is.

Pray

give

look out

for your

neighbours

look out

for your

family

there is

much we

can do

to respond

to God's

call

because

he has

changed

the direction

of our

lives.

Now at

this point

I could

tell you

all kinds

of stories

and motivate

you about

the change

in people's

lives

I could

tell you

about the

African

terrorist

who became

a missionary

I could

tell you

about the

devout

Chinese

atheist

who

became

a pastor

despite

much

persecution

there are

so many

wonderful

stories

of amazing

conversions

but they

can make

us think

that God

does

amazing

things

but not

really for

little old

me

my story

your story

is just

as amazing

and radical

as his

God

God

through

his

love

for us

sent

his

son

Jesus

to die

on the

cross

for me

and for

you

meeting

him

we would

be

radically

changed

to no

longer

identify

with the

former

things

of our

lives

with

work

and

education

and

our

chosen

fields

but

now

the most

important

thing

in our

lives

is

Christian

because

he has

taken away

our

sin

he's

taking

away

my

love

for

that

sin

and

he is

replacing

it

with

a

love

for

him

and

a

love

to

be

on

his

mission

God

in

his

love

for

you

is

making

him

more

like

you

every

day

fit

for

the

purpose

of

knowing

him

and

loving

other

people

let

us

pray

that

God

would

do

that

heavenly

father

I

thank

you

for

your

love

for

us

that

while

we

were

still

far

off

you

sent

your

son

to

die

for

us

heavenly

father

make

us

fit

to be

part

of

your

family

change

us

make

us

generous

make

us

love

other

people

like

you

love

us

and

heavenly

father

be

with

us

in

the

coming

weeks

as

we

seek

to

love

those

around

us

so

that

we

can

respond

to

your

radical

call

on

our

lives

we

ask

this

in

your

son's

name

amen