The title to our message tonight is: “God’s Perfect Servant.”
Let me begin by saying that no such creature exists – outside the Lord Jesus Christ
A perfect servant demands perfect strength and insight, will & ability; none of which any of us possess.
We realize that only part of their biographies are recorded for our edification and blessing;
we’d quickly see that even our highest human ideals fall infinitely short of our Saviour.
I ran across a couple of good illustrations that I could use to introduce this man.
Someone pointed out that he was like the little tug boat pushing the mammoth ship out into the harbor.
Ananias is the almost insignificant little tug helping that carrier get out of port.
The mouse was the only creature whom the Lord had commissioned to help him.
He was afraid that the lion was hungry and would eat him, but such was not the case.
The mouse pulled out the thorn and the lion went on to become the leader of the pride.
Tonight I will try to correct that oversight.
Let’s think about this man’s character, commission and compliance.
For this particular work, he was God’s perfect servant.
Earlier he had mentioned Gamaliel.
Gamaliel was one of the greatest teachers in the history of Pharisaism.
Some of those people had been students in Gamaliel’s school before and after Paul.
Isn’t there some sort of bond between alumni?
“And after five days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders, and with a certain orator named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul.”
There was even an infamous member of the Jerusalem church, married to a woman named Sapphira, who bore that name.
But for a moment the name “Ananias” might have caught the attention of his attackers.
As I have said, Paul was trying to explain to these people how and why he had become a Christian.
And he was trying to put his conversion in the best possible light, so that other might join him.
The fact that he mentioned the name of Ananias might mean that he had once been known in Jerusalem.
How was it that this Christian man was up there in Damascus?
In other words, we are not told that Jesus went to Syria to preach, and neither did the Apostles.
Isn’t it probable that he had been saved while visiting or living in Jerusalem?
Or perhaps he had been saved as a resident of Jerusalem and been driven out of Judea by Saul’s persecution.
Paul might have mentioned Ananias’ name because some of the people listening to him had known the man.
Although, as I pointed out this morning, that Paul didn’t mention it at this time,
In Acts 9, Luke told us that Ananias was a “disciple.”
At some point he had become a follower and a learner, a student of Christ.
Before anyone can be an outstanding servant of the Lord, he has to be a student of the Lord.
In fact an outstanding servant probably has to be an outstanding student as well.
I think that it’s safe to say that Ananias was.
And if anyone had been willing to admit it, Ananias was “a devout man according to the law.”
The word “eusebes” (yoo-seb-ace’) means that he was godly.
In other words, here was a man who took the subject of sin very seriously.
He had learned the meaning of Proverbs 1:10 – “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.”
He had taken Leviticus 20:7 to heart: “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.”
The Pharisaic experts in the Word of God had to admit that Ananias obeyed the Law to the letter.
He was also a man who had a good reputation even among the Jewish unbelievers.
To have a “good report” is something which the Bible highly commends.
Acts 10:22 – “And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee.”
I Timothy 3:7 in speaking about potential pastors – ” Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”
The people who were honored in Hebrews 11 had all “obtained a good report through faith.”
And John commended one of his friends, saying: “Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true.”
Ananias was a devout man and had an unblemished reputation – even among the lost.
This is something which all saints need to have and should be able to have.
But if you are the one known to always have an off-colored joke or story to tell….
If you cut corners and choose to do a poor job at your place of employment….
If you are a cheat… If you are seen renting questionable videos and DVDs…
If your car radio blares out rap and hard rock music…
And you won’t be as useful to the Lord either.
The Lord has work for every one of us to do, but many are unfit to serve the Lord because of sin and a bad reputation before the lost.
Acts 9 tells us that Lord spoke to Ananias in a vision.
Without a doubt this was something special, and today it would be very unusual.
I can’t say whether Ananias had ever been visited by the Lord in that way before.
But whether he had or hadn’t his response was Biblical and full of faith.
“And to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.”
This was the same sort of response that Samuel had been taught to give the Lord.
Ananias knew his Bible and knew his Lord.
And yet we also learn from Acts 9 that Ananias was very cautious.
It doesn’t hurt to try the spirits, whether they be of God.
Satan is just as capable of sending a vision to a man as God is.
And many people, mostly unbelievers have been deceived thereby.
That isn’t as stupid as the people who bought that sandwich for $28,000.)
how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.”
Under the circumstances, this could have been a satanic trap.
A little caution was very appropriate.
He was also an obedient man.
The Lord told him to get on his way to the Street called Straight, and Ananias went on his way.
And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.
Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.
And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.”
God’s servant had his orders as to where he should go: to the house of Judas on the street called Straight.
The Lord knows the street and house where the sinner lives to whom we are supposed to be a blessing.
You may have to knock on a hundred doors before you come to the house where your witness will be received, but the Lord knows and directs.
And not only does the Lord know the house, he knows the one person inside that house to whom you are to minister: “enquire in that house for one called Saul, of Tarsus.”
Saul had also been blessed with a vision from the Lord.
Do you suppose that he responded the same sort of way as Ananias; or was it entirely different?
“But Lord, Ananias was on my hit list; he will have probably heard about me; he probably hates me.
Don’t let the eyes of this man whom I came to arrest fall upon me.”
Or was it: “Lord bless me or I die.”
A part of Ananias’ commission was to restore Saul’s sight.
Do you suppose that Ananias had been used to working miracles before?
My guess would be that he was.
He was concerned about Saul, not about the power of God to heal Saul.
I have noticed that most commentaries suggest that Ananias was a layman, a common saint of God.
They assume that since we aren’t told that he was a pastor or evangelist that he wasn’t.
While I agree that we aren’t suppose to make assumptions about the people of the Bible,
I think that we ought to assume that he was not just one of the members of the church in Damascus.
The Lord said, “Go thy way,” and Ananias “went his way.”
I noticed that Spurgeon thought that the vision came in the night – apparently by way of a dream.
He believed that the preacher immediately got out of bed, put his clothes, kissed his sleeping wife, and went out the door in obedience to the Lord.
The Bible doesn’t say that this was a night vision, but I certainly agree with Spurgeon’s opinion that his obedience was immediate.
Ananias obedience immediate and it was also precise.
He did exactly what the Lord distinctly told him to do.
He also apparently followed the leadership of the Holy Spirit when he got there.
He announced that the Lord Jesus, whom Saul had met on the highway had sent him to restore his sight and to confer upon him the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Immediately the blindness fell from his eyes as if it was nothing but scales over them.
And then Ananias immersed him in either the well of the house or in the pool which was there.
It is also interesting to notice that Ananias’ obedience was with some degree of tenderness.
He didn’t come in with a lot of pomp and ceremony, declaring that he was the bishop of Damascus.
And he didn’t reproach Paul for his previous sins and murders.
In fact he called the poor, terrified blind man his “brother.”
In my brief survey of the word, the only place were I found an example of that was right here in verse 5:
“The high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren…”
“Brethren” is not a word common to the tongue of the Jew, but it was very common to the Christian.
In other words, through the revelation that the Lord gave to Ananias, before he ever met Saul, he considered him a brother in Christ.
And remember that just a short time before, he was saying that Saul was a murderous, hater of the Christians.
Ananias greeted Saul as if they were old friends who hadn’t seen each other in years.
He made Saul feel accepted.
And such was the case with Ananias and Saul.
but what the Lord revealed to us about this man could, and should, be raised up as an example to us all.
He may not have been perfect, but he was a pretty good servant of God.