THE AMAZING THING THAT GOD WANTS TO DO THROUGH YOU

"I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” Acts 26:18

Have you ever thought about what Jesus wants to do in this world through you? It is a most wonderful and amazing thing He aims to do and we find it in Acts 26.

In Acts 26, Paul is telling King Agrippa about his conversion and his call to the ministry. He reports the spectacular encounter with Christ he had on the Damascus Road. Then he reports the commission that Christ gave him. It’s the words of the commission that are so amazing and relevant for us this morning. Paul tells us tells us in verses 15-17 what Jesus told him: ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you.” Now listen carefully to what Jesus says he is sending Paul to do in his ministry: “I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Verse 18)

Jesus told Paul that He was sending him. When Paul thought about being sent by God and the task of proclaiming the gospel he writes in 2 Corinthians 4:7, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” Paul describes himself as a jar of clay with a powerful gospel inside. Paul wants us to realize that we all are clay pots when it comes to containing and sharing the gospel. The glory of God shines brightest through the lives of flawed saints. This means that if you feel average or less than average in your sense of your ability to tell the gospel, you are the person God is looking for; a flawed, weak, clay pot, who simply shares the treasure of the gospel. Be encouraged, ordinary Christian. You are appointed, precisely in your ordinariness, for the greatest work in the world: proclaiming the greatest news in the world: the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The second thing we need to see is that Christ aims for us to go and tell, not just wait or others to come and see. From the first coming of Christ to the second coming of Christ the strategy of our mission is incarnation. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. He left one place and went to another place. He gave up the glories and comforts of his heavenly home in order to go where the people were and tell them about the Father. And he said, "As the Father has sent me so send I you…Go Make disciples of all nations” (John 20:21; Matthew 28:19).

The third thing Christ aims to accomplish in our witness is the opening of the eyes of unbelievers. Now this is a radical call isn’t it? God is calling you and sending you out to do an utterly impossible task! Opening the eyes of the blind? Spiritually blind? At first glance it seems as if He is sending us out into certain failure and defeat. Yet Christ says it with such certainty, “I send you to open their eyes”. Especially when we see the impossible task set before us that Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 4:4, "The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God." People who don’t believe in Christ are blind. That is why they don’t believe. Lostness is blindness to spiritual light, the light that really shines out from the gospel of Christ crucified and risen. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:3: “Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.” We all know people like this. It is like trying to describe a sunset to a man who has been blind his entire life. We pour out our heart to them and tell them about their sin and how Christ is the only person in the world who has died for sin and risen from the dead. We tell them about how beautiful and great is His love and wisdom and power and justice and meekness and humility and sovereignty. And they listen, and they hear the facts. They may even believe the facts of history. But they see no glory, no beauty, and no treasure. They can’t see Christ as supremely valuable; they see Him as offensive, foolish, boring, irrelevant, and worthless.

That is why this is no empty commission. The fact is that the eyes of the nations are blind and need to be opened; they need to turn from darkness to the light; they need to escape the power of Satan and come to God; and they need the forgiveness of sins. Conversion to Christ is at stake! Eternity is at stake! The souls of men and women are at stake.

Christ tells us in this text that He aims for this blindness to be healed and the deception broken. He aims to give sight. That's the goal of evangelism and missions. But we ask; how can you and I open the eyes of the blind? The answer of course is that in ourselves we can't. A work of God is needed in their lives to open their eyes and give them life so they can see and receive Christ as Savior and Lord and Treasure of their lives. 2 Corinthians 4:6 says, "It is God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." It is God who created light in the beginning with an omnipotent, "Let there be light!" And it is God who now can open the eyes of the spiritually blind.

The God who created light in the beginning does the same thing in the human heart. Only the light this time is not physical light, but “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Or as verse 4 calls it “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.” God does a divine supernatural call, just the same as in the beginning of the world when his call to the light created the light and it is powerful and effective. He causes the human heart to see the truth and beauty and worth of Christ—the glory of Christ. And when we see him for who he really is, we receive him for who he is Savior and Lord. This is what salvation is—having our eyes opened so that the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ shines into our hearts, and we see it and savor it and treasure it. This is the work of God.

So how does God accomplish this amazing work of opening the eyes of the spiritually blind? He uses means In Acts 26:18 says that Christ sends Paul to do it: "I send you to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God." “So the exact reversal of satanic blindness and spiritual darkness comes from Christ’s messengers. So just when we feel most helpless—and who has not felt helpless before the spiritual deadness of those we love?—just when you felt most helpless you must hear this word: go, for I am sending you to be the agent of what only I can do, AND THROUGH YOU, AND THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL, I WILL DO IT!

God alone says to the dead and dark human heart: Let there be light! And there is light. God alone can raise the dead. God alone gives spiritual light. God alone makes Christ appear true and beautiful and desirable. So go dear reader. Be his agent. He promises to use you. Open your mouth wide the Psalmist says; and He will fill it! (Psalm 81:10). Do you remember how Paul talked about this? He said it is like sowing seed and harvesting life. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6). Seed must be planted, cultivated, watered, and protected. But the miracle of life is God’s alone to give. In the moment of your greatest sense of helplessness, remember: God sends messengers “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.” God does not look at your city and wring His hands in defeat. He sends us to do what only he can do and He intends to do it. Jesus said in John 10:16, "I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice".

This is a very high and a very humbling calling. What are we to do that will cause people to see and be born again?” Tell them the good news of Christ. Proclaim the gospel. When you do that, God does a divine supernatural call, just the same as in the beginning of the world when his call to the light created the light. Just as when He called Lazarus to rise out of the tomb. He causes the human heart to see the truth and beauty and worth of Christ—the glory of Christ through the proclamation of the gospel.

People see and are born again through hearing that news, and never born again without it. “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? …Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:14-15, 17). The preaching of the gospel is God’s the work of missions for all of you. It is the means that God uses through each one of you to penetrate the kingdom of darkness and give sight to the spiritually blind.

All the Father wants are clay pots like you and me who will believe in God's aim to save, who are willing to proclaim the gospel, and who trust that by the working of the Holy Spirit when they share that God will open the eyes of the blind. I hope this gets you excited about God, excited about the gospel, and excited about what God wants to do through you in your community.

Expecting great things from God while attempting great things for God,
Bill