The Community | Trinity Sermons

Today's reading is from the book of Acts, chapter

Acts 9:10–19

9, verses 10 to 19. In Damascus, there was a

disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him

in a vision, Ananias. Yes, Lord, he answered.

The Lord told him, go to the house of Judas on

Straight Street. and ask for a man from Tarsus

named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision, he

has seen a man named Ananias come and place his

hands on him to restore his sight. Lord, Ananias

answered, I have heard many reports about this

man and all the harm he has done to your holy

people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with

authority. from the chief priests to arrest all

who call on your name. But the Lord said to Ananias,

Go, this man is my chosen instrument to proclaim

my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to

the people of Israel. I will show him how much

he must suffer for my name. Then Ananias went

to the house and entered it. Placing his hands

on Saul, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus,

who appeared to you on the road as you were coming

here, has sent me so that you may see again and

be filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately something

like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he could

see again. He got up and was baptized and after

taking some food, He regained his strength. The

word of the Lord. is a phrase that I'm sure you've

heard. You do hear it a lot in Christian circles,

and the phrase goes something like this. It says

that you need to have a personal relationship

with God, or you need to have a personal relationship

with Jesus. And you probably heard a preacher

maybe say that, or somebody on TV say it, or

somebody on the street yelled it at you while

you were trying to get a subway in downtown Toronto,

or something like that. And the idea is that

Christianity It's not supposed to just be about

like this religion, but it's supposed to be about

a relationship. It's supposed to be about a real

personal relationship with God. And I would say

that is absolutely true. You cannot inherit faith

from someone else. It has to be personal. It

has to be something you kind of grab hold of

yourself. And so I think there's absolutely nothing

wrong with saying that we need to have a personal

relationship with God. It should be noted that

that phrase does not appear anywhere in the Bible

or in the New Testament. And I should also say

the phrase can get a little dicey because here's

why. If all I need is a personal relationship

with Jesus, then why do I need you? And why do

you need me? And why do we even need to be here?

Why should we come to worship? Why should we

come to church? Why should we join a life group

or something like that if it's just me and Jesus?

And our culture loves individual kind of like

attitudes, right? It's my choices. It's my life.

So why not my? faith, right? I don't need anybody

else really getting involved in this. I can pray

on my own. I can come to church on my own. So

you see what I mean, how that phrase personal

relationship sometimes If we're not careful,

it gets turned into a private relationship with

Jesus. And that is not good. That is not good.

Personal relationship, good. Private relationship,

not good. Because actually, the New Testament

and the Bible, whenever it talks about people

following Jesus, it talks about following Jesus

together. It talks about following Jesus as a

family, as a community, as a body. Jesus' followers

were always people who worshiped with one another,

who served with one another, who prayed with

one another, and yes, occasionally got annoyed

with one another. And that is really important

because we're doing this teaching series called

180. Where we're looking at the life of a guy

named Saul, his life was completely turned around.

And the reason it was turned around is he had

what you could argue was the most personal, personal

encounter anyone has ever had with the Lord Jesus.

He was traveling along the road to what city?

Damascus, yes. And all of a sudden, there was

a bright blinding light. It was the light of

Jesus. He was blinded from it. And then he heard

the voice of Jesus. See how personal this is?

And the voice of Jesus actually says to him,

it says, Saul, he knows him by name. Very, very

personal. Saul, it's me, Jesus, talking to you.

And you're persecuting me, right? So this moment

he had was deeply, deeply. Personal. And that

begins this 180 degree turnaround in Saul's life.

Because eventually, because he's blind, he has

to get led all the way into town. And he ends

up in a house. And I love this. This is too good.

He ends up in a house located on Straight Street.

which Paul has just had his whole life turned

around, and now he's in a house on Straight Street.

But actually, it's true. Straight Street was

a real street. In fact, it still is a real street

in Damascus. And there we find Saul. What's he

doing? Well, we could say he's having a private

moment with Jesus. He's praying, right? Oh, he's

continuing to build this. personal, private relationship

with Jesus. And maybe what was he praying? I

don't know. Maybe it was a prayer of confession.

God, forgive me for these horrible things I've

done. Maybe it was a prayer of bewilderment.

God, how did I get it so wrong? Or maybe it was

just one of those prayers like, Jesus, what do

I do now? I don't know. We don't know what he

was praying. We can only imagine. But the point

is this. Many people would look at this situation

and see, ah, see, here's Paul. He's having a

private moment with Jesus. He's developing his

personal relationship with Jesus. Him and Jesus,

mano y mano, man to man, they're going to sort

everything out together. But, actually, that

is not how this story is going to go at all.

This is not going to be a story about Saul's

private relationship with Jesus. Because Jesus

is talking, at the very same time he's talking

to Paul here, or praying, Paul's praying, Jesus

is talking to another Christian in the city.

A Christian by the name of Ananias. And he says

to Ananias, Ananias, I want you to go to Saul.

Now, why is that? Why does Ananias have to go?

Why couldn't Jesus just speak directly to Saul

like he did before? Why send a middleman like

Ananias? Even Ananias is like, um, are you sure

I got to go to visit this guy? And Jesus says,

yes, yes. Though Saul was directly confronted

by Jesus, he is going to be restored through

another person or through a community. And over

these next few verses, Saul is actually going

to be given everything that he needs for his

new life. With Jesus. But it is not going to

come. Through more private time with God. It

is actually going to come. When a whole bunch

of other Christians. Kind of get into his life.

Beginning with Ananias. It's just. It's a crazy

thing. that the christian community that he came

to destroy is going to be the community that

enables this 180 turnaround so i want to just

i've written down five things that saul is going

to get and there's no other way he can kind of

get them except through this community so let's

follow along and let's just track those five

things together the first thing that saul is

given is a new family This is so powerful. If

you look at the first word, what is the first

word that Saul hears when Ananias, this Christian

that he came to destroy, is coming through the

door? What is the very first word? Brother. Brother

Saul. That is shocking. Ananias knew why Saul

had come to town. This isn't just some visitor

who walked into church one Sunday and say, hey,

brother, nice to have you here. No, Saul came

to Damascus to attack them, arrest them, maybe

even have them killed. And he still calls him

brother. It is pretty astonishing. But it's also

very true to say that from the very beginning

of the Jesus movement, the church had this idea

that they were a new family. Jesus once said,

well, who is my mother and my brothers? Well,

whoever does the will of my Father in heaven

is a brother and a sister and my mother. Jesus

was creating a family. As a new family, not based

around bloodlines or ethnicity or not based around,

you know, your social standing or anything like

that. It was a family that was centered on him.

And apparently it's a family where even enemies

could somehow end up being brothers and sisters

together. Now, 15 years later, fast forward,

15 years later, Paul is going to write these

words. There's no longer Jew or Greek. There's

no longer slave or free. There's no longer male

or female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Paul did not develop that theology by spending

private time with Jesus. He experienced it. Someone

walked into that room in Damascus, crossed the

room, laid a hand on Saul's shoulder, and called

him brother. And that's actually still what God

is doing here in churches like Trinity Streetsville.

We come from different countries. We come from

different cultures. We come with different generations.

But in Jesus, we are one. Jesus isn't calling

us to a private faith. He is calling us into

God's family. And I am not pretending that this

family is somehow a perfect family. It is not.

Just like your human family, church families

can be pretty. Messy at times. But this is what

God gives to Saul and what God gives to us. Not

a private faith, but a family of faith. So that's

the first thing that is given to him. But the

second thing that Saul is given via another person

again, mind you, right? Not on his own, is healing.

healing ananias you know enters the house he

places his hands on saul and immediately something

like scales fell from saul's eyes gross uh but

anyways he could see again now i want you to

note i'm going to keep coming back to this saul

was not healed of his blindness by himself But

someone else had to give it to him. Could Jesus

have from a distance just healed Saul directly?

I have to believe the answer is yes. But no,

Jesus sends another person. In fact, the Bible

has very, very few stories of people who get

healed all alone, self -healing. It doesn't really

happen a lot. Healing is almost always relational.

Now, maybe you're a skeptic when it comes to

healing. Fair enough. But just remember, a good

part of Jesus' ministry was spent healing people,

right? He'd go around, he'd pray for people,

he'd lay hands on them, and blind people could

see, and lame people could walk. And, get this,

the early Christians seemed to have no problem

believing that Jesus' healing ministry was being

carried on in their own ministry through them.

In fact, there is this moment in Matthew 10 when

Jesus says, you know, I give you authority to

go and heal every disease. Now, that sounds crazy.

We're given authority to heal every disease.

It doesn't work that simply, right? They couldn't

control this healing. It didn't always work.

You know, the healing didn't happen the way they

wanted every single time. But they still believed

that God's healing power had been given to them.

To give to others. Now look at what happens.

Again, years later, Saul himself is going to

become a conduit for the healing of others. In

Acts 14, he encounters someone who cannot walk.

And this same Saul, who once received healing

through the hands of this Christian Ananias,

now becomes the someone who brings healing to

somebody else. And again, not everybody was healed.

Even Saul himself would complain that his whole

life, there was an ailment that he struggled

with that never was healed. Some prayers are

answered. Other prayers are not answered. But

that never stopped the church from praying or

believing that healing prayers were important.

In fact, James writes, if any of you are sick,

Let them call the leaders of the church and pray

over them and anoint with them oil in the name

of the Lord. James does not say, if you're sick,

go off by yourself and deal with it. He says,

call the church and let other Christians come

around you and let them pray with you. Heaven's

healing often comes through human hands. So don't

be embarrassed to ask. for healing prayers. Don't

be shy to visit the prayer flag during our communion

time and ask for prayer because as Saul learned,

our healing may come from that person standing

right in front of you or the person who is sitting

right beside you this morning. The third thing

that Saul receives from this community is a brand

new identity. These are six words that seem so

small, but I tell you, these are revolutionary.

He got up and was baptized. That's an enormous

change that's happening right there in Saul's

life. He's not saying, you know what, I'm going

to get baptized because I find Jesus to be pretty

interesting. No, he's saying, I want a brand

new identity. I want to start over again. I want

to belong to Jesus. This is a complete 180. Again,

I keep fast -forwarding, but if you were to fast

-forward years later when Paul is writing about

baptism, I have to believe he's thinking about

his own baptism when he writes that we were buried

with Jesus through baptism into death in order

that just as Christ was raised from the dead

to the glory of the Father, we too may live a

new life. Baptism is death and resurrection.

That's as 180 as you can get. Old life gone,

new life here. Yesterday, I was an enemy of Jesus.

Today, I want to identify with Jesus. I want

to switch sides completely. But here's the thing

again. I keep hammering this. Nobody goes home

and fills up the bathtub and says, well, I guess

I'll just take care of this myself. You don't

baptize yourself. The church does. Somebody else

gets to say to you, you belong to Christ. A church

gets to say to you, you belong with us. Right?

Are you starting to see how much of this 180

moment in Saul's life depends and comes through

others? You know, I just want to say again, before

we move on from this one, that maybe there's

some of you here today, and you're ready to switch

sides and do that 180 like Saul did, and yet

you've never been baptized. And you're hearing,

maybe even as I'm speaking to you, you're hearing

a voice say to you, like, I think it's time.

I want to belong to Jesus. I want to identify

with Jesus. So I would just say, please do not

ignore that feeling. Come and talk to me and

let this community celebrate baptism with you.

It's a community thing. It's all a community

thing. Fourth thing that Saul receives via this

community. is the Holy Spirit. Ananias tells

him, Jesus has sent me so that you may see again

and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And again,

I believe Jesus could have sent that spirit directly.

No intermediary necessary. But Jesus says, that's

not how I like to do things. Jesus sends another

Christian, Ananias, who puts his hands on Saul

and prays for him. And Saul is filled with the

Holy Spirit. Some of you may say, well, what

does that even mean? What does it mean to be

filled with the Holy Spirit? That's a really,

really good question. We could probably do a

whole bunch of sermons just on that. But I just

want to note that it does not tell us that Saul

immediately started speaking in tongues. And

it does not tell us that he started prophesying.

It does not tell us that he fell to the ground

and started shaking or anything like that. Maybe

there are places in the Bible where that happens

or you've seen that kind of thing happen in other

people's lives. No comment. But when people receive

the Holy Spirit, it is not the same. Every time.

There isn't one sign that proves that you've

really received the Holy Spirit. But what is

consistent, I would say, is that the Spirit connects

you to a people. The Holy Spirit does not...

create a collection of isolated spiritual individuals

who each go and have their private connection

with god no the spirit creates a body that's

why again paul as he thought about this years

and years later he would say for in the one spirit

we were all baptized into one body different

people different backgrounds different gifts

but we're joined by that one spirit think about

Think about Pentecost. Think about the day when

the Holy Spirit was first poured out on the church.

Where are the believers? Are they all in their

own homes? Are they all scattered throughout

the city? No, they're together. And the Spirit

comes when they're together. And they stay together.

They keep worshiping together and praying together

and eating together and sharing their resources

together. The Spirit doesn't descend at Pentecost

so 3 ,000 people can have 3 ,000 individual spiritual

experiences. No, the Spirit creates a church.

And again, for some reason, I just want to say

that there's not many examples of the Spirit

coming on somebody when they're just alone by

themselves. The Bible seems to give us picture

after picture after picture of the Holy Spirit

coming upon someone through and with other people.

Like, for example, there was this time when Peter

and John. Another time in the Bible, they placed

their hands on these Samaritans who were believers,

and they received the Holy Spirit. It's not a

formula. I wouldn't say it's a formula, but it

is pretty consistent that the Spirit is given

through other people, and the Spirit draws us

to other people. So I think the question that

you should be thinking about is not, oh, does...

The Holy Spirit live in me. It's an important

question. And not just what has the Holy Spirit

said to me? Or what gift has the Holy Spirit

given to me? But what is the Holy Spirit doing

among us? The Spirit isn't merely like to make

you more spiritual, right? He's moving us. as

a people, moving us. The Spirit unites us as

a people, but then it sends us as a people. Isn't

it amazing how ordinary people who are filled

with the Spirit can do extraordinary things?

People like Ananias. Who would have thought that

he would be the conduit through which the Apostle

Paul would be converted? Ordinary human beings.

Let's just look at Saul himself. How on earth

is it possible he went on to be the author of

most of the books in the New Testament and the

greatest evangelist who ever lived? It's the

Holy Spirit, right? So we shouldn't just ask,

do I have the Holy Spirit? Ask, Holy Spirit,

what have you given me for the sake of these

people, for the sake of this world? So do you

see how much of Saul's transformation depends

on people? Through community, he receives a family.

He receives healing. He receives a new identity.

He receives the Holy Spirit. And I want to end

with the one that might seem actually the most

insignificant compared to all that I've shared

with you right now. But actually, it's not. And

that is through community. He receives hospitality.

We read, after taking some food, he regained

his strength. Saul spent several days with the

disciples in Damascus. I love how understated

this is, right? It's just like he's been welcomed.

He's been healed. He's been baptized. He's been

filled with the Holy Spirit. And then somebody

makes him a sandwich. After the light of heaven

has blinded him and the voice of Jesus, three

days of blindness, what does he need? He needs

dinner. He needs a place to sleep. Sometimes

the work of God looks spectacular and sometimes

it just looks like a casserole. Sometimes it

might mean that you are called to pray for healing

for someone and sometimes you might just be...

call to pick up the phone and say, why don't

you come on over? I'll put the kettle on and

we'll have a cup of tea. Those things feel small,

but hospitality is truly transformative. Think

about it. A few days earlier, Saul was ready

to kill these people. Now he's eating their food,

sleeping in their home. I think it's so cool

that the people that Saul came to take in end

up taking Saul in. They become the ones who get

him, right? The Christian community doesn't just

receive Saul on that day of his conversion and

then send him on his way. No, we're told they

spend several days with him. And they create

this environment where he's going to sort all

of this stuff out. Never underestimate what God

can do through ordinary hospitality. So I would

just challenge you the week ahead, in the month

ahead, why not invite somebody to lunch? Stay

for coffee after church and talk to someone maybe

you've never spoken to before. Make room at your

table at home. Learn somebody's name. Listen

to somebody's story. And you may think, oh gosh,

I'm only making dinner. But listen, somebody

in Damascus once made dinner for Saul of Tarsus.

And it changed the world. That's how Saul's 180

happens. Yes. Jesus meets him very personally

on the road. And yes, Saul had many a private

moment with God, but Jesus forms him through

people, right? A brother who welcomes him, hands

that pray for him, a church that baptizes him,

a spirit that connects him and a table that feeds

him. When Jesus takes hold of your life. He also

places you among people. And I would dare say

that actually maybe one of the clearest signs

that Jesus has taken hold of your life is that

you're not just simply getting closer to Jesus.

You're getting closer to one another. So yeah,

we do need a personal relationship with Jesus.

Saul had one. Jesus knew Saul's name. Jesus knows

your name too. But may we all discover what Saul

discovered, that personal relationship was never

meant to be a private relationship, and that

true transformation happens in community. Thanks

be to God.