Easter 3 (Confirmation Sunday)               May 4, 2025
Acts 9:1-22                                                Pastor Wolfe

God has a plan for you
1) He calls us out of sin
2) He calls us into service

The life of the Apostle Paul is one of the most interesting histories of all Scripture. Here was a man who set himself up as God’s enemy. A man who stood by in approval as the martyr Stephen was stoned for confessing faith in Christ. A man who hunted down Christians not only in Jerusalem, but actually travelled to other cities to get them too. Saul was Satan’s hit man. A Jew among Jews, a Pharisee so zealous that he went above and beyond. And then in one moment, in the text that we have in front of us today, everything changed. This greatest persecutor of the church came to be its greatest missionary. God’s enemy became God’s faithful servant. But it was all part of God’s plan. He had a plan for Saul, and when the time was right, God called him out of his unbelief and into a life of service.

Today I want you to look at this conversion account and see yourself in it. Confirmation gives us a chance not only to see the vows that our young people are making today, but to remember vows that we made at our own confirmations. Vows that we’ve maybe come to take for granted. Vows that we have not kept as we should. You making your vows today, but really all of us, we must recognize that God has a plan for us. Just as Jesus called Saul out of sin, so he’s called you away from sin. And just as Jesus called Saul into a life of service, God has a plan for you to serve him as well. Let’s look together at Acts 9 and see God’s plan for us.

We become so used to thinking of Paul as the apostle we sometimes forget about his life before. “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and 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.” Damascus was 150 miles northeast of Jerusalem, a journey at the time, of seven or eight days one way. Saul was no “minor” persecutor. He hated the followers of Christ, who were called “the Way.” He didn’t have to be asked to go – he went to the high priest all on his own. Apparently he had taken care of the believers in Jerusalem. Now he wanted new hunting grounds. With letters in hand, Saul set out to carry out his murderous plans.

God, though had another plan. We continue, “As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’” Saul didn’t know who “me” was and asks, “Who are you, Lord?” The Lord tells him very clearly: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Not “the God of those you are persecuting.” Not “the Savior of those you are persecuting.” The “one” you are persecuting. Saul was persecuting the Christians, not Christ but in Jesus’ eyes there was no difference. It’s a reminder that we are never separated from our Savior. When you are persecuted or harassed for your faith, don’t think that God is unaware. He’s right there with you. He knows and he cares. It’s all a part of his eternal plan.

For Saul, God’s plan became clear in a hurry. Unable to see, Saul was led by the hand to Damascus, where he didn’t eat or drink for three days. And then in the city where Saul had intended to hunt down the followers of Christ, one of those followers came to him. Now, I could preach a whole sermon on Ananias. Imagine being told by God to go seek out a man who has sworn to kill you so that you can heal him and make him well. I think we’d question God’s plan and I wonder if we’d even do it. Ananias did. In fact you’ll hear in just a second that Ananias even goes to Saul the persecutor and calls him “brother.” All because he trusts in God’s plan. Yet another example for us to follow as we think about God’s plan for us.

When Ananias came to the house God had told him about, he found Saul there and did an amazing thing. “Placing his hand 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, was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.” What was the miracle here? It’s far more than just receiving sight again. Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit. He believed. He was baptized.

It is no less of a miracle that you believe today. Maybe you haven’t been pursuing Christians with murderous threats, but Scripture shows us that we are by nature God’s enemies too. Our lives might not look as bad as Paul’s to us or to others in the world but you know the standard by which we are judged. It’s not enough to be better than other people. Not enough if our “good” deeds outweigh our bad deeds. Not enough if we manage to say the right things or do the right things and keep our sinful thoughts in our minds unspoken and unacted upon. You know we’re judged on our whole selves – words actions, and thoughts. And by that standard every one of us is as guilty as Saul the Persecutor.

But God has a plan for you. The fact that you’re here right now, or listening to this online or on television is a sign that God’s plan is at work in you. In a plan hatched before God uttered a single “Let there be…” he has called and led you out of sin. To summarize thousands of years into a couple sentences, God promised to send a Savior into the world and then he kept that promise in Jesus Christ. You know that when Jesus died on the cross it wasn’t for his sins – it was for all of ours. Jesus, the sinless one, was crucified for our sin. He was raised to show us the proof of life’s victory over death. Of his sacrifice accepted on our behalf. Now God has brought you to faith through the gospel in his Word. Through baptism. Through the Lord’s supper. By God’s grace and his plan, we are alive –God’s children – by Christ’s work. Do you know that Paul uses the word grace over 100 times in his letters in Scripture? Paul knew what he had been before, and he never took for granted the singular love of God that delivered him onto a better path to a better end. Whether you are young or old, new to Christian faith or a lifelong believer, may we never forget the grace of God’s plan for us.

May we also recognize that God’s calling us out of sin also means calling us away from sin. God’s grace changes not just our eternity but our life right now. I want you to hear this. To really hear this. Not just you confirmands, but all of us. God has called us away from sin. And I could warn you about a thousand different specific sins, but let’s talk about the most basic. The one that you will have to fight every day, no matter who you are. The one sin that Satan uses to drag more people to hell than any other. The mother of all sins is selfishness. The idea that the world, other people, the church itself all exist to benefit me. Satan uses selfishness to turn our eyes away from serving God and others to instead look out for what we want. Brothers and sisters, if your relationship with Christ and with your church is about getting and not serving, then you’re missing half the point of your calling. Because God’s plan for you is more than just to call you away from sin – he calls you to serve.

God’s call to Saul the persecutor was miraculous and incredible. The worst enemy of the church becomes its greatest missionary. God told Ananias his plans for Saul. “This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.” If you know the Bible at all then you know how true that is. Paul began preaching in the synagogues of Damascus before he even left the city. From there he would travel throughout the region bringing the good news of Jesus everywhere he went. He started churches, did miracles, and served as God’s pen man for half the books of the New Testament. God called Paul out of sin and into service. And through his service thousands came to faith and were saved.

So recognize this truth for yourself. You are “God’s instrument” too. God blinded Saul for three days to give him time to think about his new life as Christ’s servant instead of Christ’s enemy. Perhaps we should take a second this morning to ponder God’s calling to us. Out of the eight billion people in the world, God called you to faith. Out of all the men and women in children alive today God created no one else like you, with the same gifts, the same opportunities and the same purpose.

My young friends, that’s the one point I want you and the rest of us to remember from this message today. God has a plan for you. A big plan. An important plan. Not to be selfish, but to serve. To be his instrument. To look outside of yourself and see how you can show God’s love to others. To wake up in the morning and ask yourself what you will do for God today, in response to what he does for you every day. You are a critical part of God’s plan, not in some distant future, but now already. We all are. This same Apostle Paul would later describe the church as one body with many parts, each one given gifts to use together to build up the whole body of Christ.

May God bless us every day and every week to rally together under the banner of forgiveness in Christ. May we never forget that God has called us away from sin, and called us into service. Throw out the selfishness that looks to be served, and instead give yourself fully to the work God has put in front of you. In doing that, you’ll find a purpose that inspires others. You’ll know a peace that surpasses understanding. May God bless his people, young and old. And may his will always be done. Amen.