Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Acts chapter 9 as we look at Saul’s conversion and his zeal in his actions before his conversion.  Now as you are turning there listen to this story, you may have heard it before. It goes like this:

            There was this famous Italian scientist, maybe you heard of him, Guglielmo Macaroni!  Anyway, he was doing these experiments with frogs.  He placed this frog with four legs on the ground and said “Frog-a-jump!”  And the frog jumped and the scientist did the measurements and wrote in his notes, “Frog with four legs jumped four feet!”

            He took that same frog, cut off one of his legs and repeated the experiment saying, “Frog-a-jump!”  Again he did the calculations and wrote in his notes, “Frog with three legs jumped three feet!”

            Once again he took this frog, cut off another leg and said “Frog-a-jump!” And in his notes he said, “Frog with two legs jumped two feet!”

            Well, you know what comes next, he cuts off another leg of this frog, and once again he says to this frog, “Frog-a-jump!”  And, believe it or not the frog jumped one foot with one leg and the Italian scientist, Guglielmo Macaroni marked this in his notes.

            One last experiment to do, the scientist cuts off the last leg of this frog and places this frog back on the ground and says “Frog-a-jump!  Frog-a-jump!  Frog-a-jump!”  Nothing happened so this Italian Scientist, Guglielmo Macaroni took out his notes and wrote in them, “Frog with no legs goes deaf!”

            Now as corny as that may have been, the reality is that is how many serve the Lord or think they are serving the Lord.  Paul said in Romans 10:2, “For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.”  You see, sincerity, zeal does not mean what you are doing is right as we are going to see in our study this morning in the life of Saul who would become Paul the Apostle!  With that said, let’s begin reading in Acts chapter 9 starting in verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us this morning.

            Saul was a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin.  He was from the city of Tarsus and a Roman citizen by birth.  He was schooled by the famous Rabbi, Gamaliel.  He was a Pharisee of Pharisees and a member of the Sanhedrin, or the Jewish religious Supreme Court you might say.  Thus, he was very conservative, a very legalistic man, he was a keeper of the Law or so he thought in his own mind.

            Thus, when this Jesus came around he and his other religious buddies were outraged.  This man ate and fellowshipped with sinners, the unclean, He forgave sins and only God could do that.  He had joy and brought joy to those around Him, something these religious men, including Saul didn’t have!  Thus, to do away with this movement, they put to death Jesus and they must have thought that this was the end of this movement.  Once their leader is dead, they will fade away.  But that was not what happened, it was just the start, not the end of this movement!

            You see, the followers of Jesus now were reflecting the nature of Jesus. Thus, Jesus wasn’t dead but alive in His followers.  Stephen, the first Christian martyr was stoned by the religious leaders for his faith in Christ. As Stephen shared his faith with the Sanhedrin they were mad at Stephen, growling at Stephen, it got ugly to say the least, and yet, there sat Stephen with the face of an angel, at peace! 

            Then, as they put him to death Stephen responded to their wickedness, their evil, their anger, their hatred, by saying “. . . ‘Lord, do not charge them with this sin.’ . . .”  Acts 7:60.  Saul was there, he consented to the death of Stephen, he watched over the clothes of those who were stoning Stephen, and he watched this man and how he died and it must have ate at Saul because he thought he was serving God, he thought he was doing what God wanted him to do and yet, there was no joy, no peace, no love in Saul, but Stephen had it all!

            Now here in Acts chapter 9 Saul is still on a mission to stamp-out these Jesus followers. He is going to try and put an end to this, trying to get the face, that angelic face of Stephen out of his mind, so he gets permission from Caiaphas, the High Priest, to go to Damascus and arrest the followers of Jesus and bring them back to Jerusalem where they would be tried by the Sanhedrin and they could be put to death as Stephen was!

            So on his way, at noon time, a bright light shines down upon him causing him to fall to his knees. You know how looking into the sun hurts your eyes, this was worse, it was stronger, brighter than the sun.  This is the light of God, the presence of God, the Shekinah glory of God that shinned down upon Saul on the road to Damascus!  Then, all of a sudden Saul hears this voice saying “. . . ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’”  Acts 9:4.

            Now Saul is not sure who is speaking, or maybe he knows and he doesn’t want to hear this, the truth of the matter.  Like Jack Nicholson said in the movie A Few Good Men, “You can’t handle the truth!”  That was Saul, up to this point, he couldn’t handle the truth, he didn’t want to handle the truth!  I think Saul must have had an ache in his stomach at this point and he just asked who this was that was speaking to him and then he heard these words, “. . . ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’”  Acts 9:5.

            A goad was a long, sharp stick that was used to get an ox moving in the direction you wanted it to go.  Thus, Jesus is telling Saul that he is fighting against God, like an ox kicking against the goad, he was fighting against Jesus by his actions and even when the Lord uses a goad upon him, he is still kicking and fighting not to go, not to move, not to listen to what his Master is saying.

            I think it is at this point that Saul cries “Uncle!” and he gives his life to Jesus, he asks Jesus to be his Lord and Savior, he is saved!  Now the thing I want to focus on this morning is Saul’s zeal without knowledge, which is empty, it is worthless, it is dangerous and it is not honoring to God but it is fighting, kicking against Him!

            Was Saul sincere in his actions?   Very much so, he just was sincerely wrong!  I shared with you from Romans 10 already this morning, but let’s look at a few more verses from that section.  Paul said in Romans 10:2-4, “For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.  For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” 

            You can have a zeal for God and not know Him. You can be a very religious person and not be saved.  Your zeal for God must be according to knowledge and thus, it must be according to truth, the Word of God as Jesus said in John 17:17, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” 

            Also, people have set their own righteous standards and are ignorant of God’s righteousness which is perfection and that is the standard!  Impossible for us to keep?  You bet it is, that is the point!  The Law can’t save us, it can only show us how far short from perfection we are and it points us to our Savior, it points us to Jesus.  It is as Paul said in Galatians 3:21-26, “Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.  But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.  But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.  Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.  For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”  

            Now we can look at various cults and see how they have a zeal for God but without knowledge. We can see their Jesus is not our Jesus, He is not the brother of Lucifer, He is not a lesser god, He is not just a prophet, He is not just a good teacher, he is not the God-consciousness, He is God Almighty, the second person of the Holy Trinity!

            Instead of looking at the cults I want to spend some time this morning looking at how Christians and at times those who call themselves Christians view Jesus and His call for their life. You see, I think there is much zeal for God today, but it is without knowledge many times.  Then, next time in part 2 of our study we will look at who Jesus is, what His ministry was all about and then our calling, what we are to do, or, as our title next time states, What Would Jesus Do?

            There are five areas or concepts of Jesus and His call for us that some people are following after and I would like to focus on these because they are popular and they are wrong!  They are: JESUS THE ENVIRONMENTALIST, THE SOCIAL JESUS, THE POLITICAL JESUS, JESUS THE INVESTMENT BANKER, and lastly, JESUS THE CEO!  In all of these groups there is a zeal for God, but as we are going to see, without knowledge and thus, they miss the bigger picture of who Jesus is and what He is all about, which leads to what they end up doing, which is not what the Lord desires.

1.  JESUS THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

            There is a growing movement in Christianity, Jesus the environmentalist, a member of Green Peace you might say!  Can you hear Jesus ministering in Galilee and saying “Give a hoot, don’t pollute!”  I don’t think so!  Now let me say this before I offend someone, I don’t think we should abuse this world we live in, we are to be good stewards of it but now we are moving to the extreme of worshiping the creature instead of the creator!  Folks, God is going to restore this earth when He returns to what it was like in the Garden of Eden and then, after His 1,000 year reign, He is going to create a new heavens and a new earth where we will spend eternity with Him.

            Some of you know the slogan WWJD or What Would Jesus Do, but recently those letters have changed to mean something completely different, What Would Jesus Drive?  Now why have a slogan like that, the Bible tells us “They all continued with one accord . . .” so it looks like a Honda Accord is what the apostles and Jesus drove of course!  Now I am serious about this, not the accord, but this slogan What Would Jesus Drive!  Late last year a Pennsylvania-based environmental group started a television campaign in North Carolina, Iowa, Indiana and Missouri that is urging consumers to put away their SUV’s and drive what Jesus would drive, a smaller and a more fuel efficient car!

            In a U. S. News & World Report article, dated December 16, 2002, we are told:  “If you own a sports utility vehicle, you live in sin.  At least that’s what the Rev. Jim Ball and his group, the Evangelical Environmental Network, would have you believe. And they’ve set out to make sure people become aware of this little-known sin through some controversial ads, which ask, ‘What Would Jesus Drive?’”

            Now let me say this, do your really think it is a sin to drive a certain car?  Well, maybe if you drive a Renault, which in French means “Le Lemon.”  Obviously that is silly, but some would argue that driving a SUV will keep you from heaven?  They are spending all kinds of money to get people to drive fuel efficient cars and they are driving these people to Hell in these cars! That is not the issue!

            Yes, we should take care of this earth, as I have said, as good stewards, but don’t lose the perspective of things.  Jesus said in John 8:24, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”  Notice, in the English and the Greek there is nothing about dying in your sins because you are driving a SUV, but because you have rejected Jesus, that He is God, the Savior of the world. You see, the only sin that will send you to Hell is your rejection of Jesus, not what car you drive.  In John 16:8-11 we are told “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”  The sin of rejecting Jesus as your Lord and Savior condemns you; your sins only determine the degree of punishment in Hell!

            Thus, I think we can safely say that Jesus is not a member of Green Peace, He is not Jesus the environmentalist, but He is Almighty God, the Savior of the world.  This movement is nothing more than nature worship covered over with a shallow form of Christianity!  This is not what Jesus would do!

2.  THE SOCIAL JESUS

            Now the social Jesus is a Jesus who stands up for all kinds of social causes but that is as far is He goes.  The Jesus Seminar is one group that has created a social Jesus and there are others. This group is made up of people who meet twice a year to decide on the things that Jesus said and didn’t say in the Bible.

            According to U. S. News & World Report, August 4, 1997, we are told: “. . . the seminar scholars eventually concluded that no more than 20 percent of the sayings – and even fewer of the deeds – attributed to Jesus in the New Testament Gospels are authentic.  Among the castoffs are the Lord’s Prayer, the sayings of Jesus on the cross and his claims to divinity, the virgin birth, most of Jesus’s miracles, and his bodily resurrection.  More recently, the seminar has turned its attention to revising the Christian creeds and canon and evaluating the authenticity of the writings of St. Paul. . . .”

            Then what do they believe if they reject all those things of Jesus, even the judgment of God upon man? They believe in a social Jesus who tells us to love each other, to be kind to each other, treat people fairly, which God says we should do, but they then negate all that deals with sin, with judgment, with Hell, and thus, you don’t need a Savior, just be good!

            Isn’t it interesting that Jesus spoke more of Hell and the coming judgment of man in the Bible than anyone else!  Why did He do that?  Because it is real and judgment is coming for all those who reject Him.  The social Jesus is not our Jesus, for our Jesus not only cares for the less fortunate, but He also will deal with sin, there is a coming judgment!  In Matthew 25:41, 46 Jesus tells us, “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels’ . . . And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”  Another doctrine they want us to follow, in their zeal, but this social Jesus is not our Jesus!  That doesn’t mean we don’t care for those in need, but that is not the primary purpose of what we are to do.

3.  THE POLITICAL JESUS

            Now the political Jesus is a Jesus who takes over a nation, gets into every political position, and as that is done, through Christians, as we make this nation and the world ready for Jesus, He will then return to set-up His kingdom. That is wrong, and it is called Kingdom Now Theology. In fact, we know that the opposite is true, the world will get more and more wicked and once the church is removed, the restraining force as the Holy Spirit works in us and through us, there will be nothing to preserve this world, and it will rot, it will become even more wicked!  It is then, at the end of the 7 year tribulation period, the Lord will return and then He will set up His kingdom, the knowledge of the Lord will fill this earth and He will reign in righteousness as He puts away wickedness!

            Now, another view of the political Jesus is that we are to make all kinds of laws, we are to legislate morality, and force people to become Christians, and that is obviously wrong, that is Islam, not Christianity!  Asa, king of Israel tried to do this.  We are told in II Chronicles 15:12-13, “Then they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; and whoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.”  Think about that, if you were told to accept Jesus or die, what are you going to do?  You will say yes to Jesus, but your heart won’t be in it!  It won’t be real.  God doesn’t want a shot-gun marriage with Him!  You can’t legislate morality or Christianity, it comes from the heart. So this view of the political Jesus, even though it is done in zeal, is wrong, it is not what God wants us to do.  It doesn’t mean Christians shouldn’t be involved in the government, but that is not our savior, Jesus is!

4.  JESUS THE INVESTMENT BANKER

            When you talk to some Christians, as you listen to some televangelists, you would come to the conclusion that Jesus is some kind of investment banker for us.  Many years ago Oral Roberts promised prosperity to those who would “plant a seed” or give money to God and then they would receive back 10 fold or more in return.  Now how many of you are getting a 10 fold back with your IRA’s?  Not many if any of you are.  Thus, for many, as they hear that their flesh is tickled and why not give it a try and see the return!  Now, this false doctrine has grown over the years, it has truly prospered you might say, it has multiplied!

            Gloria Copeland in her book God’s Will Is Prosperity, said: “Give $10 and receive $1,000; give $1,000 and receive $100,000.  I know that you can multiply, but I want you to see in black and white how tremendous the hundred-fold return is.”  She goes on to say, just so you don’t miss her point, “Give one house and receive one hundred houses or one house worth one hundred times as much. Give one airplane and receive one hundred times the value of the airplane.  Give one car and the return would furnish you a lifetime of cars. In short, Mark 10:30 is a very good deal.”

                                                            - Gloria Copeland, God’s Will Is Prosperity, p. 54 

            Is that really what Jesus and the Bible is teaching us? And we can get 100 houses and 100 cars but why not 100 airplanes?  Why with airplanes do you just get the money?  Because who needs that, so she is just feeding the flesh with this garbage, and I am sorry, but that is what this is!

            Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” 

            Thus, if your treasure is feeding your flesh, building up things, treasures in this world, seeing how much money you can make off of God, than that is where your heart is at.  Are these people sincere about this?  I believe they are but again, just because you are sincere that doesn’t mean you are right.  Jesus is not some kind of investment banker for us, that is wrong!  His only investment that is truly important is in your soul, that is the most important issue, not your physical wealth!

            Paul put it this way in I Timothy 6:6-12, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.  And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.  But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.  But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” 

            Don’t get me wrong, God does bless us, but if that is the motive of your heart, to use God has an investment banker to make money off of Him, you are wrong.  Give from a cheerful heart and the Lord will bless you, not necessarily with money, but there are many other blessings He gives to us.  Jesus the investment banker is not the Jesus of the Bible!

5.  JESUS THE CEO

            The last one, and there may be more, is Jesus the CEO or the Chief Executive Officer, where the church is run like some kind of big business, looking to the world to see how to run the church, the way it is to function, and thus, the church becomes an organization. Obviously that is wrong. Jesus is not the CEO in regards to the church the way they are doing it.  Yes, He is the head of the church, the Holy Spirit is the central nervous system directing us and the body is made up of many believers with various gifts. You see, the church is not an organization; it is a living organism that has organization. 

            Now God has given to us how the church is to be run, how it is to function in Acts chapter 2 where we read, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.  Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. . . . So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”  Acts 2:42-43, 46-47.

            Many of the Seeker-Friendly churches today are going to the world and looking at how big business functions to pattern their church after.  There is a fairly large church in the suburbs of Chicago that has its leaders read the latest business books, it is a requirement!  Hey, what about the Bible?  Paul tells us in Colossians 2:8-10, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” 

            You see, why let the world’s ways rip us off when we can follow Jesus and His Word?  Jesus is not the CEO where we run the church like some kind of organization; it is a living organism that has organization, as I have said!  Again, I don’t care how much zeal you have in this, if you can’t trust Christ on how to run the church, how can you trust Him to run your life?

            Next time we are going to look at the real Jesus and what He wants us to do. Now let me give you a sneak preview because I don’t want to leave you like this.  In Mark 1:14-15 we are told, “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’”  That is the real Jesus and there is the message He wants us to proclaim.

            Listen to this story before I close this morning that will set the stage for our message next time.  The story goes like this:

            D. M. Stearns was preaching in Philadelphia. At the close of the service a stranger came up to him and said, “I don’t like the way you spoke about the cross.  I think instead of emphasizing the death of Christ, it would be far better to preach Jesus, the teacher and example.”  Stearns replied, “If I presented Christ in that way, would you be willing to follow Him?”  “I certainly would,” said the stranger without hesitation.  “All right then,” said the preacher, “let’s take the first step.  He did no sin. Can you claim that for yourself?” The man looked confused and somewhat surprised.  “Why, no,” he said.  “I acknowledge that I do sin.”  Stearns replied, “Then your greatest need is to have a Savior, not an example!”

            Paul had much zeal for God before he got saved, but without knowledge. He thought he was serving God but the reality was he was fighting against God.  All that conviction in his life he was fighting against, he didn’t want to accept the truth he was fighting against.  But now, on the road to Damascus Saul gets saved and he has encounter with the risen Lord, Jesus!  It is out of this that his life is radically changed and now, as we will see next time, he is going to proclaim the Good News, the real Jesus!  What about you?  Is Jesus to you an environmentalist, is He a social Jesus, a political Jesus, is He Jesus the investment banker or Jesus the CEO or is He Jesus, the Son of God who came to cleanse you of your sins and give you abundant life?  Who is Jesus to you?