Thoughts on Change / Based on Actis 9:-20 / Delivered on April 17, 2016

Thoughts on Change

Based on Acts 9:1-6, (7-20)
Delivered on April 17, 2016
Delivered to Christian Community Home, Hudson, WI

Acts 9:1-6, (7-20) Easter 3C
 9:1 the Lord, went to the high priest
 9:2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
 9:3 Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.
 9:4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
 9:5 He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
 9:6 But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do."
 9:7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one.
 9:8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
 9:9 For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
 9:10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." He answered, "Here I am, Lord."
 9:11 The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying,
 9:12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight."
 9:13 But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem;
 9:14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name."
 9:15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel;
 9:16 I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name."
 9:17 So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
 9:18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized,
 9:19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus,
 9:20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God."

This is a pretty well-known story to many of us.  The person called Saul here is renamed Paul and that is how I know him so forgive me for using his second name here.  I’m going to put this story in a nutshell.

Sometimes when you are protecting old ways that you think are right you are actually blind to what has changed and need to be knocked off your high horse and set straight.  I don’t know if those terms came from this passage of scripture, but they sure could have.  Paul still called Saul at this point, was blind literally but also figuratively.  My assumption is he was riding and was knocked off his horse, and he was on Straight Street.  Rather poetic to me.

Today I want to explore these three topics:

Accept changes in your world
Accept change in other people
Humbly be willing to change yourself

Accept changes in your world
Paul was a strong believer in the Jewish faith.  He was a Pharisee himself.  Jesus had said he would show the disciples “the way” so the movement was often called “The Way”.

Paul’s life was his faith.  Their belief about what God wanted in worship had been built over generations.  He had the commandments from Moses that spelled it out and then years of wise people that had interpreted them by adding more laws to keep people safe from God’s anger.  You were Jewish by birth as well as belief.  This was a very strong faith.  This new Way was causing people to question the old ways.  It was causing families to break apart.  Jesus warned it would set brother against brother and it was.  Plus, it caused danger from the current political leaders.  Paul wasn’t fighting a personal battle.  He felt he was fighting for his people.  Plus, he had letters from the high priest to support him.  He wasn’t alone in his beliefs.

Yet Paul was blind to who Jesus was.  Those years of refining scripture into hundreds of laws had missed the mark.  Through Jesus God was setting them straight again.  Jesus taught it was about love, not law.  Some of the wise people that added to what God had said had caused the commandment to love one another to be lost.  Paul was so attached to what he believed to be true that he was attempting to kill off what was actually true.  It took a fall from a horse, blindness, and a booming voice in the dark to help him rethink his version of truth.

Accept change in other people

Ananias had a different sort of struggle when he heard the voice of the Lord. He first protests as if he needs to tell God what the real situation is:

9:13 But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name."

The voice explains patiently that he’s not calling Ananias to heal someone that will then continue to hunt down and hurt the Christians.  Paul will be changed.  He will be a servant of God and be willing to suffer for the cause of Christ.  Even more amazing for such a strong willed and powerful Pharisee, he will be the one to bring the Way to the Gentiles.

This was describing a radically changed life.  Ananias was asked to accept this man who had stood by approvingly when Stephen was stoned, and was still breathing threats of murder.  Going close to him could put Ananias in physical danger if the change wasn’t true.  Ananias believed that change was possible and he did as he was told.  The disciples in Damascus took the risk to support this changed man as well.  They taught and cared for him for multiple days.  The man who had wanted them stopped was now their partner.

Humbly be willing to change yourself

Paul had a lot invested in his beliefs.  They were his whole life and he seemed to be living a good life.  Granted it took a lot to show him he was wrong, but once he knew the truth he immediately changed.

9:20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God."

He had used all his intellect and powerful connections to persecute the followers of Jesus.  He now uses all his intellect and connections to convert others to become followers.  It is an amazing transformation.  It isn’t truly a 180 degree turn.  His love of God was unwavering from the beginning and remained.  It was his understanding of Jesus relationship to God that had changed.  Paul had to humbly admit he was wrong.  Jesus wasn’t a danger to the faith, he was actually a fulfillment of the prophesies of the faith.  Jesus didn’t come to pull people away from God.  By his sacrifice he restored the relationship to God.

No doubt Paul lost most, if not all, of his former friends.  He lost his place of power.  He lost his original purpose.  Yet he regained friends, purpose, and more by changing his direction.

It is a fascinating story, and being a non-Jewish person myself, I have the ministry of Paul to thank for spreading the Way Jesus taught to the Gentiles far and wide.  Beyond that, I believe there are lessons for us from this scripture too.

Accept changes in your world

Change is hard.  The self-help books abound on the subject of coping with change.  Companies either succeed or fail based on their ability to recognize and adapt to change.  Change often means our comfortable way of life has become disrupted.  Change can be frightening and upsetting. 

Change is often a reminder that I’m not fully in control of what happens to me.  Sometimes I choose change and even that is hard.  But it is much harder when it is beyond my control.  I’m pretty confident most of you feel the same.  Change can bring feelings of fear and anger which was what drove Paul’s desire to stamp out the newly forming Christian movement.  It can cause us to act out of fear and anger.  Fear and anger are not emotions that result in acts of love.

The only constant in our world is change.  Recognizing it and learning to embrace it takes away those feelings of fear and anger.  The unknown becomes the known over time if you accept the change and work with it. 

Accept change in other people
People change too.  I can look inside myself and see amazing changes in attitude and behavior over the years.  I’m sure you can look inside yourself and see this as well.  Now turn that outward and realize the same thing is happening to other people too.

I didn’t go to a High School class reunion until 25 years had passed.  I went thinking I would have the same one or two people I could talk to.  Much to my amazement I had a great time.  Some classmates had faced similar challenges in life and we connected with each other because of it.  I stayed up late in the night chatting with people that I hardly knew in High School.  We had all grown and changed.  Being open to those new relationships gave me the gift of new friends out of old classmates.

Humbly be willing to change yourself

Very often we deny change, or try to wish it away, or argue it away.  It takes humility to move from a state of anger to a state of acceptance.  It isn’t easy to admit you are wrong.  If you have acted out of fear and anger, you may also have to ask for forgiveness from others.  That also isn’t very comfortable.  Humbly allow yourself to recognize when you are wrong and know that is part of growing as a person.  Think about the change of attitude and behavior Paul went through.  We can do this.

A popular book from the 90’s on change was called “Who Moved My Cheese”.  It is a short book about mice and men in a maze.  They enjoy a spot in the maze with cheese, but then the cheese is gone.  The book explores the different ways to deal with this change.  Do you accept the fact the cheese is gone and start looking for a new spot, or do you starve to death because it isn’t fair that it is gone?  The book leaves us with a few clear points.

Change Happens, we must Anticipate Change, Monitor for Change, Adapt to Change Quickly, Change ourselves, learn to Enjoy Change, and finally Be Ready To Change Quickly And Enjoy It Again.

Because…

They Keep Moving the Cheese.

Granted, there are some changes that need to be fought back, but I have learned in my life that the majority of changes that happen around me require acceptance so I can adapt and move forward.  That forces me to change and also helps me grow.

If you recognize a situation that causes you to be stuck in anger pause and realize it may be out of fear of change.  Let Paul’s experience guide you.  Sometimes you aren’t as “right” as you think you are, and sometimes change is a good thing.  One final thought; through all the changes thrown at us remember we are not alone.  Paul had God’s unchanging love.  We do too.  We can face the changes ahead tomorrow with God by our side.

Amen