Chosen by the Holy Spirit
Acts 22:9-16
As the Lords children, we should not despair when confronted with unexpected hardships that seem insurmountable.
If you believe that God will take responsibility for you living in accordance with the Word, then you are chosen. Let us think about the Holy Spirits chosen.
First, we must get up and go into Damascus.
In verse 9, Paul explains that his companions could not understand the voice that spoke to him in chapter 9, it is described that Saul 'heard a voice' whereas his companions 'heard the sound'. That is, the chosen can receive all of the Word as being directed at them. In verse 10, Paul says he asked, 'What shall I do, Lord?' So the Lord ordered him to go to Damascus: to where, just moments ago, he was planning to persecute the Christians with great fury. Hearing the Lord does not suddenly alter our destination. Just resuming the journey, business as usual, to the place where no one will welcome you and scorn will fly both ways is what we must do. In verse 11, Paul explains, 'my companions led me by the hand into Damascus'. Paul met the Lord, yet there were only the companions who could not understand the voice to help him. We must endure the shame of receiving help from family and friends who reject the Word. Paul was blinded by the light of God and could no longer see the brilliance of the world. And so those enamored by the light of the world can never hope to see God. The believers narrow path is one traversed by people blind to the world accompanied by those who cannot see God.
Second, He grants vision once more so as to know His will, to see Him, and hear from His mouth.
Eventually, Paul was allowed to meet someone who would help him after being dragged by his companions. Ananias was one of the disciples Paul was to arrest in Damascus. However, seeing as the Jews hate Jesus, Paul introduces him not as a disciple of Jesus, but as ardently adhering to the law. Paul wants to communicate that devout followers of Gods law and Christians are not irreconcilable. In this chapter, the detail that Paul could not eat or drink for three days is missing. This is because the Jewish crowd would be uninterested and unwilling to hear about Pauls trials, so he makes no mention of it. In this way, we should also refrain from sharing our tribulations indiscriminate to time and audience. In verse 13, 'receive your sight' means 'look up', 'look beyond', 'look at the essence'. As we begin to hear the Word, our perspective changes and our faces, once full of rage, change through grace. Ananias tells the now seeing Saul, 'The God of our ancestors has chosen you'. Here, 'chosen' is a very deep word meaning that the selection was resolute and will not waver. It is a very special word and was used here to emphasize that we are chosen by the Holy Spirit so as to know the revealed will of God through Jesus, see the life of Jesus, and listen to the Word of Jesus. We may yearn to be selected for some great prize in this world, but instead we must be grateful of the Holy Spirit choosing us.
Third, it is so we may become witnesses.
The Lord does not elect Paul for some great office. Merely, Paul is to be witness to what he has come to know, see, and hear of the Lords life and Word. To become such a witness is to become a martyr. The crucial quality of an eyewitness is honesty, but testifying the truth is not easy. We seek worldly fortune when we worship, yet the witness must be prepared to incur loss. And so we hesitate to respond to the call to be a witness. Ultimately, laziness in maintaining the status quo, greed, fear of what is to come, and conceit keep us deferring. This inner conflict is in a sense a holy conflict, and the fact that we hesitate means that we know where our calling lies. The Lord prescribes, 'Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.' The Lord raises us, but we must also get up, calling His name. Being chosen, we must each rise immediately from our respective places and respond without delay to the Lords grace. Baptism is much like a marriage. It is a public announcement that, having been chosen by Jesus, we will live as chosen people. Through baptism, we notify our Christian faith to those around us, thus, shielding ourselves from temptation and strengthening our position as the Holy Spirits chosen. We see from baptisms that a family formed through marriage must not be broken. I believe this is the kind of blessing those selected by the Holy Spirit will receive.
This confession is from the community. One deputy leaders father self immolated when he was just an elementary schooler. From then on, he was flung between relatives, beaten and shunned. Sharing with leaders and other members of the community, who were around the age his father would be, he came to understand his father. He came to realize someone as lustful and evil as he was only able to believe in Jesus because of his father. His leader, much like Ananias, told him, 'At the very least, to you, your father is a martyr.' Those words had opened his eyes. All his life, he resented his father and lived in rage, but those words helped him interpret his fathers suicide and see with a new eye.
In closing,
The Holy Spirit chooses so as to make us know Jesus, see and hear him, and live our lives centered around Jesus. The worlds people have their eyes open, but cannot see their own sins. The chosen are hauled along, never abandoned, by seeing their own sins. This is the Holy Spirits choice. When the Lord offers his hands, we must place our hands and feet on them and rise up, live our lives as those chosen by the Holy Spirit.
