neither count I my life dear unto myself,
so that I might finish my course with joy....
Acts 20:24
And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. BUT NONE OF THESE THINGS MOVE ME, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:22-24.
Paul had been preaching in the synagogues in Damascus (there were many Jews there, and thus, many synagogues). A great act of holy boldness, as he had once been an official agent of the Sanhedrin: As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. Acts 8:3. Paul did NOT take the easy way out (our way). He COULD HAVE started his ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in another city which KNEW NOT HIS PAST, but he didn't. By the very great courage he showed, he was already proclaiming, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded...!" Glory to God, there is only ONE Who can make such changes in a life, and it is none other than God by salvation through His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ! Hallelujah, Hallelujah!
This U-Turn in Paul's life made the Jewish leaders so angry that scripture tells us the Jews took counsel to kill him, even to watching the gates day and night to kill him. They didn't want to merely eject him from the city, they were determined to kill him! Paul knew what had happened to Stephen; it was at Paul's feet those who stoned Stephen to death had laid down their clothes. Paul's life was in mortal danger because he was preaching real, genuine Christianity! Understand this:
but real, genuine Christianity carries the price of peril.
There WILL be opposition to it!
Paul had once been a fanatic for Jewish LAW; NOW the ruling factor of his life was GRACE. The difference in Paul and us is, we MISUSE Grace as a license to live in sin. Paul did not: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? GOD FORBID. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Romans 6:1,2. Folks try tointerpret this as meaning that once we are saved, no matter what we do, we are "OK", or "safe".
How many ways can I spell W-R-O-N-G? God's Grace means when we are saved, we are made a NEW CREATURE IN CHRIST. We take on the likeness of Jesus Christ, and through the power of the Holy Ghost, we live our lives to GLORIFY GOD! To receive the Grace of God through salvation means we TURN LOOSE of the world and the things of the world! We STOP sinning! It does NOT mean that nothing is sin to us anymore! It means we stop willfully, knowingly, purposely committing sin. Instead, we become WITNESSES and EXAMPLES of the Saving Grace of God (Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matthew 5:16.) It does NOT mean we can live any old way we want to!
Glory to God, Paul no longer had a problem with SELF-ESTEEM, trying to glory in what he could do for himself. He now gloried in what God had done for him and was DETERMINED to share it with those he had once devastated.
Paul knew he had been chosen for a task--for service, not for honor. He knew it wasn't going to be easy; he knew there would be battles. Yet it is for the hardest battles that generals choose their best soldiers. God knew what He was doing that day on the road to Damascus and Paul knew in Whom he had believed! He had been saved to serve God and his fellow mankind through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul had only ONE AGENDA for the rest of his life: to show himself a sincere, profitable minister of Jesus Christ.
Against his will, Paul was forced to produce his "credentials" as an apostle. (I urge you to read the entire 11th Chapter of II Corinthians.) Paul told the Corinthians, But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have NOT preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. II Corinthians 11:3,4. Did you see it there? Read it again: "But I fear...your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."
I hope you got that part: "...the simplicity that is in Christ." You know, my friends, it was true in Paul's day and it's still true today--the way of Christ, God's Plan of Salvation, is so simple that we cannot accept it as such, can we? No, as humans, with our devious nature and ability to make mountains out of molehills, so many of us have trouble accepting that Salvation is as simple as it is. We think, "Oh, there HAS to be more to it than that. It can't be THAT easy!" But it is! Isaiah 35:8 tells us, And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
Paul said to them, "You are so foolish as to fall for it!" They couldn't accept the plain, simple way of Christ, but if someone showed up with a twisted, complicated set of rules for them to follow, why they could fall for that!
Paul reminded the Corinthians that they were foolish to return to slavery--submitting to circumcision and the thousand petty rules and regulations of Jewish law--when they had been set free, at liberty in Christ under Grace! They were in jeopardy of returning to their own selfish nature, instead of keeping the Nature of Christ which they had taken on through salvation. Those of the church at Corinth were seeing in the pomposity and arrogance of the Jewish teachers their own guarantee of apostolic authority. Let me tell you: the ONLY authority by/through/in we as followers of Christ can operate is God's, not our own!
In II Corinthians 6, we find: We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain....Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings... (verses 3-5). Paul spoke from personal experience!
He went on to list more of what he had already been through: By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. II Corinthians 6:7-10. It's no wonder at the close of his life Paul could say, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness... II Timothy 4:7,8. Paul never once resigned himself to sit passively with folded hands while trouble engulfed and defeated him, like we do!
Let me tell you: Paul served the same God we [profess to] do: God never changes! Our God is just as willing to give US the same endurance, to make the same way out of any perils we may face today as He was for Paul! But are WE willing to endure unto the end? Are WE willing to, as it were, lay down our very lives for the gospel? NO! WE lay down the gospel for our own selfish desires in life! (As usual, we've got it all backwards.)
There may be those who think it was "easier" in "Paul's day". Know this:
"Through a window in a basket was I let down."
In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands. II Corinthians 11:32,33. The ancient cities had walls, often wide enough to drive chariots around on the city on them. Many walls had houses on top of the walls; the windows often projected beyond the walls. In the dead of night, Paul was taken to such a house and let down in a basket, thus escaping Damascus and the clutches of those who would kill him. It must have truly rankled that he had to leave in such a way, that he could not look his enemies in the face.
"Five times received I forty stripes save one."
This was a Jewish punishment. Jewish law (Deuteronomy 25:1-3) dictated the regulations for "scourging": the penalty was forty stripes and on no account was that number to be exceeded, thus they always stopped at thirty-nine. The hands were bound to a pillar on either side and a minister of the synagogue stood with a strap of calf-hide, doubled and re-doubled, the length of which had to strike the one being punished across his shoulders and around to his navel; 2/3 of the strap on his back and 1/3 on his front. The blows were administered with one hand, "with all their might". This is what Paul suffered FIVE times: a vicious scourging that could have killed him.
"Thrice was I beaten with rods."
This was a Roman punishment and administered with birch rods. THREE times Paul was beaten, even though it was against Roman law as Paul was a citizen of Rome. However, when the mob was violent and the magistrate weak....... Thus Paul endured three beatings with rods.
"Once was I stoned."
And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up... Acts 14:19,20. Stoned and left for dead! Yes, danger was ever present in Paul's life; the prospect of death at the hands of his enemies was a constant with him, yet by the Grace of God he triumphed over every foe.
In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. II Corinthians 11:26,27. In addition to all the physical perils he faced and the spiritual battles he encountered, Paul carried a great burden for all the souls in the churches.
BUT NONE OF THESE THINGS MOVE ME, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:22-24.
Yet even all that is not a complete record of everything Paul endured. So what's our excuse again? Why are we not living triumphant, victorious lives in Christ? Do we serve a "different" Jesus than Paul did? Has Jesus changed? Nope, the world has tried to "change" Him. The double-minded, jelly-backboned and dummied down have TRIED to mold Him into THEIR image, their framework of jealousy, greed, laciviousness (and sadly, countless numbers have fallen for it!). However, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever! Mankind cannot change Him, but He could sure change them into Who they ought to be for Him if they would let Him!! God is NOT the problem: WE are!
WE have grown lukewarm. WE have moved away from God. WE have denied the power of God. WE have set our own agendas in direct opposition to that which God has called us to do. WE have put our trust and confidence in mankind. WE have refused to study the Word of God. WE have time for everything in our lives but fervent prayer. WE are blown about by every wind of doctrine. WE have convinced ourselves that it's our name on the roster of a certain church building that is going to gain heaven for us. WE have decided that our "good works" will win us favor with God. WE have a form of godliness, but DENY the power thereof!
Then we whine, "God doesn't answer my prayers. God isn't there for me." Is it any wonder??? So many have turned from God--they want to be men-pleasers instead of God-pleasers! Many who stand behind pulpits refuse to preach the TRUTH of the Gospel of Christ for fear of displeasing their listeners! They are on a "Grace kick". Let me tell you--it is NOT the GRACE OF MAN (and that IS what they are preaching). It is the GRACE OF GOD by which we live and breathe, NOT MAN'S misapplication of the PERFECT GRACE OF GOD! Now, when there is more evil than ever before and more people to perpetrate it, at a time when we should be MORE determined to serve the Lord Jesus Christ with all our heart, soul, mind and body, we have relegated Him to the distant corners of our thoughts (if at all). He's our "spare tire" instead of our "steering wheel"!
"My life is just being pulled apart!" Here's the BLUNT truth: that can happen ONLY if there are OPPOSING FORCES at work in your life! Tighten your grip on Jesus and turn loose of the world! Turn loose of that which binds you to sin, to things of the world. Let them go! They are holding you back from what you COULD BE for God! Quit looking with longing at the decadence of this world and get your eyes on Jesus. You can NOT have both: No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other... Matthew 6:24.
Paul was victorious, Paul was strong in the Lord and in the power of His might because he lived his life, he committed his ministry to the Glory of God.
How much is what we say or do for God's glory? How much glory does God get out of us today? When was the last time God got any glory out of our words or deeds?
Paul's life was lived Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed. II Corinthians 6:3. If we want to have the power in our lives that Paul had in his, are we willing to make the commitment to God that Paul did?
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