When is an Attack Not Evil? Suffering in the Apostle Paul’s Life

Psalm 91 includes great promises concerning God’s protection of His people. Verse 10 summarizes them all: “No evil shall be allowed to befall you” (Psalm 91:10). In Sunday’s sermon (video, audio), we considered as examples of the fulfillment of these promises the miraculous deliverance of the Apostle Paul and all his shipmates from a terrible storm, as recorded in Acts 27, and Paul’s statement to Timothy shortly before his certain execution: “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom” (2 Timothy 4:18 NIV). The Apostle may well have had Psalm 91 in mind when he wrote those words. He clearly does not consider his upcoming execution as an evil attack, but rather God’s providentially bringing his earthly mission to a close, taking him to Himself.

Paul had this understanding concerning the evil acts of evil men for decades prior to his death. Consider the following quotations from the book of Acts and some of Paul’s letters, cited in chronological order (with my comments in square brackets]. The Apostle sees himself as an instrument in God’s hands to be used for His glory. This includes considerable suffering, as promised immediately upon his conversion. But in every difficult encounter, God was with him (Psalm 91:15), working out His good and wise purposes for His church, including the salvation of individuals and people groups.

I encourage you to meditate on these excerpts, and take heart (more…)

Keeping the Word Central

(This is an outline and summary of one of the talks I will be giving next week to pastors in India. Thank you for your prayers and financial support for enabling this trip – Coty]

If you are to fulfill the calling to a Gospel ministry, you must keep the Word of God central. You must depend on the Word of God in all that you do.

2 Timothy chapters 2, 3, and 4 bring out this truth in five different ways:

1) God’s Word is not bound!

Paul writes this letter from prison. He is cold. He is abandoned. He is under sentence of death. But Paul knows that though he might be in chains, the Word of God is still effecting change:”I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!” (2 Timothy 2:9).

If you are to fulfill your calling, if you are to stand before others and speak the Word, you must have this type of confidence. You may be persecuted. Your speaking may be hindered. Your preparation may be cut short. Your sleep and rest may be taken away. You may be (actually: “will be”!) inadequate for the task Indeed, you, like Paul, may be killed. But God’s Word is mighty. God’s word will run and be glorified (2 Thessalonians 3:1). God’s Word will accomplish all that He desires (Isaiah 55:10-11). No one can stand against God’s Word and hinder God’s purposes. You may be bound – but God’s Word will never be bound.

2) God’s Word is able to make you and those you teach wise unto salvation

One of the purposes God will accomplish through His Word is the salvation of those He calls to Himself: Paul writes: “From childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15).

Note carefully: What makes people wise unto salvation? Our programs? Our evangelistic techniques? Our cultural sensitivity? Our effective rhetoric? Our clever arguments?

None of these. God’s Word accomplishes His desires, and God’s Word saves His people.

So what is your role? This leads us to our next point.

3) Think hard about the Word, and pray to understand it.

Paul tells Timothy, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (2 Timothy 2:7). This verse is a great encouragement. I trust you have often found the Bible hard to understand. But Paul tells Timothy, “Sure, this is hard. But God is right there with you to help you understand! So think hard – not because you have the mental capacity on your own to figure out what I mean, but because God works through your diligent study, through your serious thinking, to give you understanding.”

Your role, first, is to study the Word. It must dwell in you richly (Colossians 3:16). You must ponder it and pray over it. Like Habakkuk, you must query it and struggle with it, bringing your lack of understanding before the Lord, crying out, “I have to teach this to Your people! So give me understanding so that I might fulfill Your calling on my life.”

4) ALL of Scripture is useful and profitable and sufficient for the ministry

Paul goes on to tell Timothy that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). That is, the entire Bible is God’s precious revelation of Himself, telling us who He is, who we are, how we can be reconciled to Him, how we can fulfill the purpose of our creation, and where the world is heading. We need the Word in order to learn God’s character and God’s path of life. We need God’s Word if we are to reprove those who err in doctrine or practice. We need God’s Word if we are to straighten out those who are deviating from God’s path. We need God’s Word if we are to train others in how to live a life worthy of our calling. The Word alone is sufficient for such training and equipping. So we must depend on it if we are to be faithful stewards of the ministry entrusted to us.

5) Preach the Word!

Paul concludes his exhortations to Timothy with the most solemn command in the entire New Testament:

In the sight of God and Christ Jesus who will certainly judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly charge you: Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and earnestly exhort, with great steadfastness teaching all doctrine. For the time will come when they will not put up with sound doctrine, but will surround themselves with teachers to satisfy their own desires, to scratch their itching ears. They will turn their ears away from the truth, and to myths they will be turned aside. But you, be clear-headed in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of a preacher of the Gospel: that is, fully accomplish your ministry (2 Timothy 4:1-5, own translation).

According to Paul, the man called to a Gospel ministry must above all else fulfill this task: Preach the Word! Preach the Word! And Preach the Word! There is nothing more important, nothing more vital for advancing God’s Kingdom.

Every man called to ministry will be tempted in other directions. Many, as Paul says, will want him to preach something else, something appealing and uplifting. Others will want him to devote much time and energy to other tasks – including many good and important tasks.

But we must keep our heads, knowing what He has called us to. This will require enduring hardship, including having many walk away from us, deserting us – as they deserted Paul. But we must do the work of a preacher of the Gospel; we must fully accomplish the ministry to which GOD has called us. And He is the One who says: Preach the Word.

My brothers, you and I have nothing to say, nothing to offer our people, nothing to offer unbelievers, apart from the Word of God. So keep the Word of God central. Depend on the Word.

And when you look at other pastors, don’t be impressed by degrees. Don’t be impressed by titles. Don’t be impressed by those who have built big churches. Many with important degrees have abandoned their faith in God’s Word. Many with fancy titles have sought their own glory, not God’s. Many with big churches have built them by human methods, not through God’s means. Instead, be impressed with those men who faithfully and fully open up God’s Word. Make them your models. Pray for them, and emulate them. Then: Become such a man yourself. In this way, you will fully accomplish your ministry.

May God be pleased to bring that about in every man gathered here.

Train Through Pain Yet with Joy for the Race of Faith

(This sermon on 2 Timothy 2:3 was preached 8/3/2008. For a version that is easier to print, click here. The audio is available here.)

Have you ever stepped out in faith? Have you ever made a hard decision, decided, “Yes I will follow God!”? What happened next?

We love stories like that which continue: “And it didn’t seem possible, but by God’s grace I was able to do it!”

Praise God for such stories. Praise God for that way of displaying His faithfulness.

But do you also love stories that proceed differently? What if the rest of the story is: “I fell flat on my face.” Or “there was a great deal of pain and suffering, and no success that I could discern.”

Think of the Apostle Paul in that regard.

Paul wrote his 2nd letter to Timothy from prison. He was cold. Several former co-laborers were now ashamed of him; they did not want to have their names associated with him. So they deserted him. At his preliminary trial, no one came to his defense. He knew his legal case was hopeless; his execution would come soon.

His is not a story that, on the face of it, inspires confidence. Indeed, Paul even reminds Timothy of his persecutions and sufferings.

But he doesn’t say, “I’ve made mistakes in being too public, in irritating religious and government officials, in inviting persecution. Be careful to avoid persecution so you can have a fruitful ministry.”

Quite the contrary. He says, “all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). And he tells him:

Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God (1:8).

Furthermore, he tells him, “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3).

Paul tells Timothy to expect pain and, in a sense, to embrace suffering.

What should we expect in our own lives?

Surely we should expect that pain and suffering are a normal part of some Christians’ lives. That much is clear. But Christians over the years have made at least two big mistakes when thinking about pain.

· Some have said: “Pain is a necessary step to becoming like Christ. So I should pursue pain! I should seek pain.” With this in mind, over the centuries, some have whipped themselves, or sat on poles, or gone to other extremes. That is NOT the biblical message.

· Much more prominent in our country today is the second mistake: That is, saying, “Of course, Paul suffered, Jesus suffered, and Timothy was going to have to suffer. The political powers of their day opposed them. But today, we don’t face such persecution by our government, and God wants us to be free from pain. He wants us to prosper. Just believe! Have faith! And He will give you good success.”

This morning, I want to approach this subject of pain via the analogy between running and living the Christian life. For pain plays an important role in running. Someone who says, “My life should be free from pain; I should avoid anything that will cause me pain,” will never succeed as a runner. However, that’s also true of the one who seeks pain. He, too, will fail as a runner. (more…)