It has long been on record, and has been perpetually illustrated in all the generations that have run since it was written, that-

The truth embodied in this divine saying has an intimate bearing on our position as obedient believers on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us occupy our minds this morning with one particular application of it, which we shall find to be very profitable. The application concerns the apostle Paul.

You are well aware that it is customary in our day, among what are considered the educated people of society, to estimate the apostle Paul very lightly. People will admit that he was an able, energetic and conscientious man, and that he did a great work and left a great example; but their commendation is always qualified in a way that takes away all practical meaning or usefulness from it. They say Paul “all very well for his day,” which is as much as to say that in our day, he and his work are obsolete, and that he cannot be made useful in the circumstances of the nineteenth century; that, in fact, he is pretty much in the position of an early inventor, whose productions have been superseded by later contrivances, built, it may be, upon the foundation laid by him. Paul, they say, was able, but bigoted; energetic, but enlightened; conscientious, but mistaken and narrow-minded in his views of truth-in which case, of course, he would sink in the estimation of all intelligent men to the position he occupies with the class in question, namely, to the position of an interesting historical character, but of no more practical utility to us than an Egyptian mummy.

Now we, brethren, are acquainted with many and unanswerable reasons for taking a very different view of the case. We know that Paul and his work are of as vital consequence to us as to those on whom they were brought to bear in the first century; that through the invitation and instruction sent from God by his hand, we may attain to life everlasting; and that, apart from them, we have no hope whatever, however fine our philosophical or literary notions may be, or however high our conceptions may be of nineteenth century attainments. It is not my purpose, however, to speak of those reasons, which belong to another time. My object is to use the conviction we have acquired, and to bring Paul to bear upon us in such a way as will enable us to measure ourselves, and to see ourselves as we appear in the light of the divine standard.

Nothing is plainer in the whole course of the apostolic testimony than that Paul is a Christ-appointed model for us to copy. We have first Christ’s own declaration concerning Paul to Ananias of Damascus:

“He is a chosen vessel unto me” (Acts 9:15).

A man chosen by Christ must needs be a safe example for all the servants of Christ to follow. Paul commands-and what he wrote were the commandments of the Lord (1 Cor. 14:37).

“Be ye followers of ME, as I also am of Christ”(1 Cor. 11:1).

The sense in which he means this is made abundantly evident in many places. He tells us expressly, for instance, that he, though a persecutor, received mercy that “in him first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, FOR A PATTERN to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting” (1 Tim. 1:16). Accordingly, to the Philippians, he says (4:9):

And, again (3:17):

“Mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example.”

To the Corinthians he speaks thus plainly:

“Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers . . . wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every ecclesia”(1 Cor. 4:15).

To Timothy he commends his own example in saying:

“Thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience”(2 Tim. 3:10);

And to the Thessalonians he says:

“Yourselves know how ye ought to follow us . . . We made ourselves an example unto you to follow us”(1 Thess. 3:7, 9).

“Stand fast,” he tells them, “and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle.”

“Ye are witnesses,” he also said, “and God also, how holily and justly and unblamably we behaved ourselves among you that believe.”

It is customary in polite society to consider those sayings egotistical. The polite, however, judge by a false standard in the matter. It is not egotistical, according to the scriptural standard, for a man devoid of self-love to declare the truth concerning himself when that declaration is necessary. Paul was no self -lover; but if he was the appointed example from Christ of the sort of man Christ would choose from mankind for association with himself in glory, it was kind and necessary that Paul should testify this and hold the fact well in the front. The fact stands so, and Paul has acted in accordance with the fact; and our wisdom is to study the pattern, that we may copy it, and stand with Paul in the day of resurrection, which is at the door.

It is our lot to live long after Paul’s day; consequently, we have not the privilege of personal intercourse with him. It is in our power, notwithstanding, to study his character and realise our model. Perhaps it is more in our power to do this than if he were alive. A man’s life can always be more accurately judged when looked at as a whole, and seen against the background of death, than when contemplated amid the bustle and the prejudices and the limited information of the contemporary generation. Let us look at a few of the points in the portrait of our beloved brother Paul, always remembering that we look at it for the purpose of copying a model, and that we act inconsistently with our profession as brethren if we ever yield to the temptation of saying, “I am not Paul.”

At the first rough glance, what do we see? Why, that, as a brother has well remarked, Paul did not belong to the church of Laodicea. You remember the character of that ecclesia as sketched by Christ to John in Patmos. It was lukewarm-neither cold nor hot, and yet on very good terms with itself. It said,

It was not aware that its spiritual attainments, so highly estimated in its own self-complacency, were of a very sickly and meagre aspect in the eyes of the Spirit of God-so much so as to lead Jesus to declare that they were “wretched, and poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17). Paul had no such high estimate of himself. He says to the Philippians:

“I count not myself to have apprehended (not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect); but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling”(Phil. 3:13).

To the Corinthians he said:

“I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Cor. 9:27).

Nevertheless, though thinking thus modestly of himself, he was not afraid to declare before the Jewish Council:

“I have lived before God in all good conscience unto this day” (Acts 23:1);

And to the brethren in Corinth:

“Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward” (2 Cor. 1:12).

Finally, at the end of his probation, his last words were words of self-confidence-truthful but not vainglorious:

From this, it results that a man may be characterised by sentiments of self-depreciation, and yet consistently indulge in self-assertion, if a good conscience warrant it, and the occasion require.

Paul was as unlike the brethren of Laodicea as possible in their lukewarmness. If there is one thing about him that stands out more strikingly than another, it is his earnest, ardent, thorough-going, uncompromising and warm-hearted identification with all things pertaining to Christ. His was no yea-and-nay, half-and-half addiction to the service. His earnest enthusiasm was such that he was reputed “beside himself.” His answer is,

“Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God . . .. For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead (that is, all died with the one) . . . that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them, and rose again . . . Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh” (2 Cor. 5:13).

Again, he declares:

“I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (Phil. 3:8).

Again: “For me to live is Christ”; and again: “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).

The general aspect of his case is vigorously drawn in the following words:

“We are fools for Christ’s sake; but ye”-Corinthians, of whom he had just said, “are ye not carnal, and walk as men?”-“ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place; and labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, as the offscouring of all things unto this day” (1 Cor. 4:10).

In the declaration to the Philippians already quoted, for Christ he had “suffered the loss of all things, and counted them but dung, that he might win Christ” (Phil. 3:8).

It is profitable to ask, What was the nature of this extraordinary devotion on the part of Paul to Christ! Was it merely the result of an ardent temperament? Was it mere peculiarity of Paul’s natural man? We should err greatly, and weaken much the power of his example, if we were to answer these questions in the affirmative. There can be no doubt that Paul was a man of a warm nature-the fitting soil for the good seed of the kingdom-but even a man of a warm nature cannot be warm without something to be warm about. Enthusiasm, however strongly it may exist in a man’s breast, requires something to stir it. It is in the nature of the facts before Paul’s mind that we are to find the true explanation of the zeal that led him to abjure the ordinary objects of human life, and to throw himself entirely into a matter that appeared bootless and without reason to the ordinary run of men. The importance of recognising this lies in the fact that what stirred Paul’s enthusiasm will stir ours. We only require to believe the same things to experience the same results. A man’s enthusiasm always runs in the channel of his practical convictions. The children of the present world are in earnest about present matters whenever they believe there is good in them. Let a promising commercial enterprise be brought under a man’s notice-an opportunity of promotion-an avenue to honour-a way to certain wealth-and you will see the most sluggish man wake up and manifest enthusiasm in pursuing it. Paul’s was no irrational enterprise. On the contrary, it was highly enlightened and essentially logical and consistent. He had a risen Christ before his mind; he recognised Christ’s present existence and controlling presence in heaven; he looked forward to the certainty of standing before his judgment seat at his coming, and of receiving at his hands the unspeakable gift of immortality, and a place in the endless kingdom of God, if his present ways were acceptable to Christ. He had constantly before his face the Eternal Creator of heaven and earth, who, in the unity of universal presence, is near to every one of us, from whom no creature is hid, to whose eyes all things are naked and open. With this mental picture of facts before his mind, it was impossible that he should be otherwise than earnest and enthusiastic. Any man with similar assured convictions must feel the stirring of a similar ardour of purpose. It is a question of faith. Every man has a faith of some sort; and his works are generally-nay, invariably-in accordance with it. If his professed faith and his works are out of harmony, it is because his professed faith is not a living faith. He professes confidence in a man, but will not trust him, because he secretly doubts him. If he had real confidence, he would show it. Another man really has confidence in him, and shows it by putting himself, perhaps, entirely in his hands. So with commercial enterprises or private affairs in general. A man shows his faith by his works. James may well say,

“Show me thy faith by thy works.”

A faith that does not express itself in acts accordant with it, is no faith. It is dead. Paul’s faith was real, therefore his enthusiasm was strong, and his works in harmony. It is simply disgusting to hear it set down to temperament. Such a suggestion can only emanate from those who are strangers to Paul’s faith. If they had Paul’s faith, they would understand Paul’s fervour. All men have faith in money, and they show it, whatever their temperament may be. If all men had faith in Christ, they would show it, irrespective of peculiarities of temperament. This faith is conviction indeed, by acquaintance with the facts. The scarcity of it is due to the smallness of this acquaintance. “Faith cometh by hearing”; but people will not take the trouble to hear, which, in our day, means read. They turn wholly aside after pleasure or business, which monopolises the mind and leaves the facts of God’s truth no opportunity of obtaining power with them.

The point to realise is that in Paul’s non-Laodicean “heat” of mind towards the things that are Christ’s, he is our appointed example, and that we tread on very unsafe ground, if we excuse ourselves on the ground that we are not Paul. If we are to stand with Paul in the day of approbation, we must stand with him now in this particular-that we must be in earnest in our admiration and love, and service and obedience of Christ.

The next feature of the pattern is that Paul was a fender-hearted, sympathising, self-sacrificing man, mindful of others, interested in the brethren, solicitous of their welfare, and compassionate of the poor. This comes out in a variety of ways. His letters abound with illustrations of it. When James, Peter, and John countenanced, in a special way, the mission of Paul and Barnabas to the Gentiles, they exhorted them to be mindful of the poor, “the same,” says Paul, “which I also was forward to do” (Gal. 2:10). Accordingly, we find him prominently co-operating in works of almsgiving. He tells the Corinthians (2 Cor. 9:1) that it is “superfluous” for him to write to them “touching the ministering to the saints.” They already recognised that matter-of-course branch of service in Christ.

“I know the forwardness of your mind,” he says, “for which I boasted to them of Macedonia.”

Nevertheless, lest his boasting should be in vain-lest some of Macedonia should come with him and find the Corinthians unready, and he and they be ashamed together, he sent a deputation of brethren in advance of himself, to make up a certain bounty beforehand, of which they had had previous notice. He tells them that such a ministration as he was arranging for, not only supplied the wants of the saints, but the “liberal distribution” was fruitful in the production of much thanksgiving, and practically useful in the manifestation of their subjection to Christ. Personally, as he told the Ephesian elders, he coveted no man’s silver or gold (Acts 20:33). His own hands had provided for the necessities of himself and those that were with him. Yet, in frequent need, the brethren sent unto him “once and again unto his necessity” (Phil. 4:16). If in such case, he appeared to desire it of them, it was not in the spirit of covetousness, but as a matter of service merely, and that “fruit might abound to their account” (verse 17). His exhortation was that “so labouring, they ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35), reminding them that those who in these things served God sparingly, would reap sparingly, while a bountiful service would have a bountiful reward (2 Cor. 9:6). There were some from whom he was careful not to receive anything, probably because he observed a want of enlightened appreciation and an upbraiding spirit in the case. He tells the Corinthians that when he was present with them, and wanted, he was chargeable to none of them; that that which he required, the brethren visiting from Macedonia supplied. In all things, he says, he had kept himself from being burdensome to that particular ecclesia, and intended so to do; adding, with emphasis, that no man should stop his boasting on that point. So that Paul, while practising and inculcating the duty of giving, “made a difference,” according to circumstances. He only accepted fellowship in the matter where it was done in the spirit of true service to Christ. He had, likewise, a strong objection to helping those who leant upon the kindness of the brethren. He had heard that in Thessalonica there were some of this sort “working not at all.” He had even found it necessary, while personally among them, to lay down this doctrine: that “if any would not work, neither should he eat.” From this it follows that Paul did not favour indiscriminate almsgiving, but practised and enjoined a robust-minded discernment as to the fitness of cases. This, however, was only a minor shade in his character-necessary, certainly, but not the all-distinguishing feature, as with some when invited to be merciful. Though prudent, he was no parish relieving officer. The principal feature was a benevolent concern for those who had been less favoured in the distribution of God’s bounties. In this he was unlike the false shepherds of Israel, to whom God said by Ezekiel (34: 2-10):

Paul, himself a true shepherd, exhorted the leading brethren in Ephesus to feed the flock with true kindness and care. Peter does the same thing, adding that “when the chief shepherd shall appear,” all such faithful shepherds shall receive a royal trust of larger dimensions. We are not all in the formal position of shepherds, but all of us have an appointed care of one another. The shepherd spirit applies to the whole, because of Christ; and though wolves sometimes array themselves in fleece, for the sake of the attention that belongs to the sheep, we must take care not to be betrayed into a neglect of the precept and examples given for our development, in preparation for the unspeakable exaltation that awaits us, if Christ approve.

There are other points in the model which Christ has given us in Paul, which there will be no time to consider on the present occasion.

Taken from: - “Seasons of Comfort” Vol. 1

Pages 363-369

By Bro. Robert Roberts

Berean Home Page