Sermon Tone Analysis

“I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.

But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.

Amen.” [1]

How gracious is Christ Jesus our Lord!

Not only is He Ruler over all that He has created, but He receives sinners though they have rebelled against Him; He pardons them and appoints them to His glorious service.

How unlike our own experiences in life!

How unlike our own actions!

When we have surrendered to those against whom we have waged battle, we do not anticipate promotion to positions of trust and service.

When we best an opponent, we are wary, cautious, hesitating to have anything to do with that one we have bested even after they have yielded to us and ceased their opposition against us.

It took Paul many years to realise the value in John Mark because the young man had proven timid and consequently failed to continue with the missionaries throughout the first tour.

The Apostle was not so terribly different from the most of us.

We may accept one who fails, but we want time; and though they are restored by the Lord, we often err on the side of being overly cautious.

However, the Master moves relatively swiftly in appointing those whom He redeems.

I’m not suggesting that we should immediately accept into positions of responsibility those who surrender to the Faith—even the Master allowed time for a Saul of Tarsus to mature.

However, it is the Master Himself Who is watching the maturation process and urging those who have submitted to His reign to grow up so that He can employ them in His service.

God will never be satisfied with mediocrity; but God will train us and use us powerfully to His glory.

I am struck by the fact that God does not merely suggest that His people serve Him.

Speaking with the disciples, Jesus spoke of the urgency of the need for labourers.

Listen to Jesus, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” [LUKE 10:2].

The Master’s language was strong.

The word translated “send out” [Greek, ekbállō] is a strong word that conveys the primary meaning of “to throw,” or “to drive out.”

Thus, the Master is saying that we are not merely to ask for workers, but we are to plead with Him to compel them to go out into His harvest fields.

Underscore in your mind that the Master does not merely save people and then leave them alone; He actively works to equip each one and then works to compel them to labour for His cause.

Christians are saved to serve!

The process leading to appointment begins with redemption.

Join me in recalling all that God has done for us.

Then, when we have an appreciation of His effective work in our lives, let’s consider what He would do through us to the praise of His glory.

OUR CONDITION — Paul writes as one who is awed in the knowledge of God’s grace and mercy.

Truly, each believer should be both humbled and awed at the thought of God’s grace revealed in His great salvation.

I am struck at the seemingly ubiquitous arrogance witnessed in the lives of far too many who are called by the Name of the Son of God.

The tendency is to wear redemption almost as a badge of merit.

We often project an air of superiority among the faithful, imagining that God was exceptionally lucky when He redeemed us.

The reality is far different, however.

We will do well to recall a statement the Master gave His disciples in the days of his flesh.

“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’?

Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’?

Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?

So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty’” [LUKE 17:7-10].

Focus on Jesus’ final summary statement: “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

The disciples, most of whom would have been able to assert that they had done all that they were commanded, would be able only to say, “We are slaves undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was out duty.” [2]

In order to comprehend what God has done, we need to remember what we were when we were saved.

The Apostle to the Gentiles looks back, recalling what he was when he was called.

“I was a blasphemer, persecutor and insolent opponent,” he says.

As a summation of his past life, his assessment is comprehensive, though not exhaustive.

In order to ensure precision, let’s review his own statement delivered before the Jewish people.

“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.

I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness.

From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished” [ACTS 22:3-5].

As the Apostle related these details of his past, I have no doubt that he recalled a day when he participated in the execution of a man of God.

“When [the Jews] heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at [Stephen].

But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

And he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’

But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.

Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.

And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’

And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’

And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”

Doctor Luke undoubtedly received this information first-hand from Saul.

Awful though this recitation may be, the opening words of the following verse are more horrific still.

“And Saul approved of his execution.”

The words translated “execution,” conveys the concept of murder.

The opening words could be translated, “Saul agreed completely with murdering him.”

Now, pick up in the middle of the first verse of the eighth chapter.

“And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.

But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison” [ACTS 7:54-8:3].

Pay special attention to the final statement: “Saul was ravaging the church.”

Saul of Tarsus was as a mad boar in the vineyard of the Lord, doing all he could to destroy the people of God.

In fact, in the ninth chapter we again meet this enraged rabbi, and he is becoming more virulent still in his pursuit of believers.

He has hounded them out of Jerusalem; now he wants to ensure that they are extirpated from the earth.

“Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem” [ACTS 9:1, 2].

Clearly, in his own estimate, Paul had reached the nadir of wickedness at this point.

Remembering his baptism and subsequent appointment to divine service, he provided this assessment, “When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’

And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you.

And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’

And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles’” [ACTS 22:17-21].

Perhaps you imagine that you are not a terrible sinner.

“I’ve never caused innocent people to be jailed,” you may say.

“I never murdered anyone, nor have I approved of anyone being murdered,” you may argue.

You may contend, “I never arrogantly placed myself in opposition to God!” Are you quite sure of this?

Is that contention correct?

Consider this: are you now sinless?

Can you state with certainty that you do not sin?

Are you prepared to testify that you have never sinned?

“Well,” you may demure, “everyone sins.”

Of course, that is true; everyone sins; but you are only trying to justify yourself.

We know that just as was true of the Psalmist, we also were born in iniquity and conceived in sin [PSALM 51:5].

We know we sin; we need no one to convince us.

The Qoheleth spoke a significant truth when he said, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins” [ECCLESIASTES 7:20].

In his prayer of dedication for the first Temple, Solomon voiced this identical truth.

He prayed, “If [Your people] sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin…” [2 CHRONICLES 6:36].

Indeed, the Wise Man raised a dark question when he wrote:

“Who can say, ‘I have made my heart pure;

I am clean from my sin?’”

[PROVERBS 20:9]