The “GOD” Question

The “GOD” Question Acts 9:1-19

Beginning today, and for three Sundays, we’re as= king “questions that demand answers.” T= hese questions won’t go away because God expects all of us to settle them = in our own hearts and minds. Now= , we can choose to ignore them—many do—but this doesn’t get us= off the hook. It’s still essential that we answer them.

The first question, which we’re considering this morning, is “The GOD Question.” Next Sunday, Mother’s Day, we’ll ask “The JESUS Question”—one that not only mu= st we all answer, but we must then try to help our children answer it as well.

Finally, we’ll consider “The I Question.” Ultimately, = no one can answer any of these questions FOR US.&= nbsp; These are answers we all must arrive at ourselves.

So, today: “The GOD Question.” We’re looking at this questi= on by considering someone who believed very strongly in God.= He describes himself as being zealous for God, in fact. Yet his understanding of God was a= bout to greatly expand!

Acts 9:1-19 &= nbsp; Saul's Conversion

¹Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing = out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest = ²and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. ³As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a lig= ht from heaven flashed around him. ⁴He fell to the ground and heard= a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"

⁵"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. ⁶"Now= get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." = ;⁷The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. ⁸Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened= his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. ⁹For three days he= was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

¹⁰In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, "Ana= nias!" "Yes, Lord," he answered.

¹¹The Lord told him, "Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man f= rom Tarsus named Saul= , for he is praying. ¹²In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come a= nd place his hands on him to restore his sight."

¹³"Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. ¹⁴And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name."

¹⁵But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to car= ry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.= ¹⁶I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."

¹⁷Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he sai= d, "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 fil= led with the Holy Spirit." ¹⁸Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, = ¹⁹and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Okay, I’m going with the assumption that most of= us believe in God—perhaps all of us do, or we wouldn’t be here. Oh, it could be that someone force= d you to come--but probably not.

Maybe you heard about the fellow whose wife woke him o= n a Sunday morning saying, “Hurry and get up.&n= bsp; Didn’t you hear the alarm?&nb= sp; You’re gonna’ make us late for church.”

“But I don’t wanna’ go,” he says. “Those people dow= n there at that church don’t like me. They’ll hardly even speak to me. Besides, this bed is so warm and c= omfortable…I think I’m just gonna’ to sleep in today.”

“No you’re not,” his wife says. “It’s not that bad, honey. I think most of them l= ike you; and there’s really only a few who won’t speak to you. Besides, you’ve gotta’= go—you’re the preacher!”

Well, I mentioned before that Saul believed in God, bu= t the God he believed in was too limited. Now, what does that mean--a “limited god?” That’s a god that we desire,= maybe even one that we design for ourselves, based on our needs or misunderstandi= ng of God’s nature.

In the Bible, we find many attributes of God; but at t= imes we’re tempted to choose just ONE of these characteristics, trying to = make THIS into our whole God. We t= ry to force God into our limited mold.

J. B. Phillips wrote a book years ago called Your G= od is Too Small. In this book, he describes some of our limited notions of God.

1) He talks, for instance, about what he calls “= the resident policeman god”--who is basically an overactive and very puni= shing conscience. The main purpose = of this partial god is to make us feel bad when we’ve done wrong.

2) Then, on the opposite extreme, there’s “= ;the grand old man god.” He’s a grandfatherly type who’s just as sweet as he can = be. He’s someone we can say nice things about, even though he’s really not entirely “with it,” if you know what I mean.

Now, notice that both of these limited gods are not completely false gods, they’re just not whole. They pick up on one aspect of God&#= 8217;s character and take that to the extreme--to the point that it distorts God a= nd limits our understanding of Him.

When we impose these kinds of limits on God, on His pe= rson and power, He must remain a distant God--something less than who He truly is and who He wants to be for each one of us.

Before his encounter with the Lord, Saul had that kind= of god--a limited god—a god that might be labeled “absolute perfec= tion.” For Saul’s god, there was no= real emphasis on love, forgiveness or compassion; and there was no room for anyb= ody but his own kind. In other wo= rds, Saul had created a god in HIS own image.

Now, we should note here that nobody has served his go= d any better than Saul. He was a ve= ry religious man with an impeccable background—a Jerusalem-raised Jew--h= ighly educated in the law, devout and zealous for god--at least, for the tiny, limited god of the Pharisees.

All of us are shaped by our experiences in life, and t= his was true for Saul. His life-l= ong exposure to the legalistic religion of the Pharisees left him thinking that he knew = all there was to know about God. = He was convinced that he had God down pat. But all Saul really knew was a “partial” god.

No whole God would have asked Saul to do what he did &= #8211; to persecute everyone who practiced religion differently than him. Saul had great zeal for this god of absolute perfection; yet, something was missing.= A whole lot was missing!

This limited god that Saul had created--or who really = had been created for him by those who valued their legalisms more highly than a real relationship with God--this limited god must have seemed distant for S= aul. It’s no wonder. God can= not be forced into some narrow mold of our own creation.

Long before, God had made it clear through his prophet= s that He was to be the God of all people; but the people whom God chose and set a= part for the purpose of proclaiming His message to the world had decided instead= to try to hang onto God for themselves; and in doing that, they tried to force= God to conform to their notions about Him.

That’ll never work, but I have to wonder if we e= ver attempt the same kind of thing today? The early church did. You may recall in the book of Acts how at first they resi= sted Paul’s call to share the Gospel with the Gentiles. Could it be that we, at times, cre= ate partial gods instead of worshiping and serving the whole God?

Are we ever guilty of trying to force God into, say, an American mold? Or a Baptist m= old? Or a liberal or conservative mold?= How about a white or black mold? Maybe a rich or poor mold?

Some have tried to limit God to pronouncements made by= their church hierarchies. And this = is not just a problem for churches with Popes and Bishops, friends. It has happened even in Baptist lif= e--concerning slavery in an earlier day, and women and their role in the life of the chur= ch today.

Any time we seek to limit God, we are at the same time= limiting our knowledge of God and our experience with Him. We settle for something less than w= hat God intends for our relationship with Him to be.

So how can we know the whole God, all that God wants u= s to know as opposed to some limited god? Well, as I mentioned last Sunday, w= ith these finite minds of ours, we are really not capable of knowing everything about= God. But we can know a great deal.= In fact we can know everything that God chooses to make known about Himself through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

This is foundational to Christian faith: if you want t= o know what God is like, look to Jesus. The fullness of God, everything He chooses= to make known about Himself, is revealed to us in His Son.

Yes, there is always more to God that what we can see = and understand—even in Jesus. But everything the Father wants us to know about Him, we discover in the life, = the teachings, the ministry, the sacrifice, and resurrection of Jesus.

On his way to Damascus, Saul is knocked to the ground by the powerful, overwhelming Presence of God= . He hears a voice asking him, “= ;Why are you persecuting Me, Saul? Why are you limiting Me? Why are = you trying to set boundaries on My love?”

Saul doesn’t know what to say, so he asks, ̶= 0;Who are you, Lord? You sound so m= uch bigger than I had imagined.” <= /span>“I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.”

Now, Saul knew about this Jesus already. He was the One some called the Chri= st. He was the One who said He was sent= from God, and that whoever had seen Him had seen the Father. He knew enough to fear Christ, and= oppose Him.

Saul knew about Jesus; but for the very first time, Sa= ul was being encountered by the whole revelation of God. He was meeting Jesus personally. <= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> He was coming face to face with God’s Word— Word with a capital “W”--and Saul’= ;s life was about to be changed forever.

It’s an amazing realization for Saul. In this incredible moment, he comes= to understand that he has been serving a limited god. Maybe this had been dawn= ing on him for a while.

I mean, he had already had so many encounters with Christians. Their God seemed so near, while his was distant. Saul’s relationship with God = had to be propped up with lots of rules and regulations, but theirs was dynamic and joyful and free.

Saul had been there when these Christians were being p= ersecuted. They would not back down from= what they believed--not even in the face of torture and death. It was Saul who held the coats for= the stoners of Stephen, and he watched this young deacon die rather than deny h= is faith in the Lord Jesus.

Saul couldn’t find that kind of strength in his = own relationship with God. God se= emed so near to them, but so distant for him. Maybe he knew something was missing= in his relationship with God—he could sense it.

All of this set the stage for Saul’s encounter w= ith Christ, and led to his dramatic conversion. “I am Jesus of Nazareth, Saul. Know me.” And Saul did.

And in this powerful, life–changing moment of ge= tting to know Jesus, he comes to know the whole God, or at least, as much of God = as Saul could handle. In his own experience, Saul finds God to be a loving, forgiving, transforming Presence= in his life.

How many people in our world, and maybe even in our ch= urches--perhaps some of us--settle for some partial god: a god that won’t change us m= uch, or require too much of us, or get in our way?

Only problem is a partial god will not DO much for us = it either. A small, limited god = will not bring purpose and meaning to our lives. He will not supply that wholene= ss and joy that makes life good. He = will not be for us that ever–present help in time of trouble--for He will = always seem far away. A small god wi= ll never challenge us and enable us to live life to the fullest.

Friends, there is more to God that we can experience i= n a lifetime, perhaps even in all eternity. But in Jesus Christ, we meet God as= He is and we understand who He wants us to be.

For years, Saul struggled with a partial view of God&#= 8212;one which could not bring him peace. Then he met Jesus, and the change in Saul’s life was so momentous that eve= n Saul’s name was changed--to Paul. Pa= ul found true faith, an abiding hope, a love for all people, and peace that surpasses all understanding.

Do you know these blessings in your life today? Maybe you’re still struggling= with “the God question.” Your God= is still too small. God wants yo= u to know Him fully. He wants you to come to Him and embrace Him and know Him fu= lly through his Son, Jesus Christ—today. This can be your Damascan road—right now!