Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

Paul’s Sufferings as an Apostle (2 Cor. 11:16-33).

¹⁶ I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.

¹⁷ What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not with the Lord's authority but as a fool.

¹⁸ Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast.

¹⁹ For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves!

²⁰ For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face.

²¹ To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that.

²² Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I.

²³ Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.

 

²⁴ Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.

²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;

²⁶ on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;

²⁷ in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

²⁸ And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

²⁹ Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

³¹ The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

³² At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me,

³³ but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.

The Conversion of Saul

The Conversion of Saul (Acts 9:1-19).

¹ But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest

² and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

³ Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

⁴ And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"

⁵ And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

⁶ But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do."

⁷ The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.

⁸ Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

⁹ And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

 

¹⁰ Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord."

¹¹ And the Lord said to him, "Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying,

¹² and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight."

¹³ But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem.

¹⁴ And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name."

¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

¹⁶ For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name."

¹⁷ So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

¹⁸ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized;

¹⁹ and taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus.

The Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd.  One of Jesus' tenderest self-declarations, “I am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11, 14), contrasts with the lurking presence of false shepherds—unexpected predators in this very pastoral setting. In the same utterance that exposes the false shepherds in his audience (John 10:1-18), Jesus draws many parallels with false shepherds in Judah’s past (Ezek. 34:1-24).

In John 10, Jesus identifies a false shepherd as a leader who is a disguised intruder with hostile intent. “He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber” (vs. 1).  “A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers” (vs. 5).

When his audience fails to grasp the significance of the dangerous reality of illegitimate leaders preying upon God’s people, Jesus brings forward a historical perspective. “All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them” (vs. 8). Likely referring to Ezekiel 34, the Good Shepherd has nothing good to say about wicked leaders, factiously called shepherds. “Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?” (Ezek. 34:2). “The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them” (Ezek. 34:4). “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep” (Ezek. 34:10). The word play is sharp and somewhat cannibalistic, instead of feeding the flock, they are feeding themselves upon the flock.

What the Lord said in Ezekiel 34, he repeats in John 10! “Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out” (Ezek. 34:11). “I will feed them with good pasture … there they shall lie down in good grazing land” (Ezek. 34:14). “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down” (Ezek. 34:15). “I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd” (Ezek. 34:22-23). “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep” (John 10:11). “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15). “So there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16). Jesus, Son of David, is the one Shepherd whose goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our life (Psa. 23:6).

Eat With Him and Him With Me

 

Eat With Him and Him With Me.  The act of sharing a meal with someone else is far more significant than the food served, the etiquette preserved, or the venue reserved for the occasion. Even as simple as, “Hey, I’m going to take a break, would you like to split my Doritos®?” marks a milestone in any relationship. Yes, I would like that, takes the relationship one direction. No, not this time, takes the relationship another direction. Eating together (or not eating together) is the metaphor for fellowship that the whole world understands and uses. Friends make meals; meals make friends.

The Bible is peppered with many symbolic meals that convey deeply meaningful moments, especially between God and humankind. In the Old Testament, Abraham “entertained angels unawares” (Heb. 13:2), including the Lord himself, sharing with them cakes, curds and milk, and a roasted calf (Gen. 18:8). Moses and all the elders of Israel were invited up the slopes of Mt. Sinai to share a meal with God immediately after the nation of Israel agreed to enter into covenant with God. “They beheld God, and ate and drank” (Exo. 24:11). The Lord spoke of a future feast with restored Israel that will also include regenerated Gentiles, “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined” (Isa. 25:6).

In the New Testament, Jesus saved a marriage feast from disaster by turning water into wine, but only the servants knew it (John 2:9). Jesus commandeered the Passover meal, expanding its meaning around his imminent death and resurrection (Matt. 26:28). Using highly figurative language, Jesus promised to the repentant remnant of the church in Laodicea, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20). Jesus is first guest, then host.

The final meal of the Bible, open to all who repent and believe, reverses the first forbidden meal of the Bible which became a curse to all (Gen. 3:6). “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:9). Sharing a meal marks a relational milestone with God; our full restoration is accomplished by God.

Keep a Close Watch on Yourself

Keep a Close Watch on Yourself.  Self-care has become fashionable in recent years. Taking a mental health break would have been unthinkable in the 1990s, but in the 2020s it is commonly written into workplace policy. Unless someone had a fever over 100º and a doctor’s note, workers were expected to show up at work on time, every time, and work the whole time! Certainly, that ideal is still enshrined in the business sector, but there is much more recent levity given to mental load and emotional balance, largely because it yields greater productivity in the long run. Mental load and emotional balance are important factors in overall health but terrible goals for overall health; excellent servants but terrible masters.

The Bible doesn’t teach much about mental and emotional health as entities separate from relational and spiritual health. A biblical view of the human is simpler and more holistic than its component parts. Solomon writes insightfully of the necessary understanding that health flows from inside to outside. “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Prov. 4:23). “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Prov. 17:22). Perhaps Solomon channeled similar wisdom heard from his father, David—“For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long” (Psa. 32:3)—into what he wrote later in life. “I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live” (Eccles. 3:12). But the Bible remains mostly silent on the modern view of physical/mental balance, except for one key New Testament passage.

Paul was concerned as he installed his protégé, Timothy, into a contentious spiritual leadership position at Ephesus. So, Paul reminded Timothy of the objective of his appointment and gave some timely leadership advice. “Remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine” (1 Tim. 1:3). Prayer (ch. 2) and the careful selection of leaders (ch. 3) started the advice. Then in rapid succession, Paul gave Timothy a clustered To-Do List (ch. 4): “command and teach” sound doctrine (vs. 11), “set the believers an example” (vs. 12), “devote yourself to … teaching” (vs. 13), use “the gift you have” (vs. 14), “practice these things, immerse yourself in them” (vs. 15).

The last two instructions in Paul’s quick list greatly parallel our modern preoccupation with mental and emotional health. They were personal to Timothy, but they were not to remain private for Timothy alone, since they formed an important function in the group. “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Tim. 4:16). Timothy’s health was vital because it impacted others. Health was not his goal but the means to his goal. Sound teachers will teach soundly!

You Are a Mist

You Are a Mist.  The Bible, often in concert with our own hearts, assigns humanity a full spectrum of names, stretching from debasement to exaltation. “I am a worm” (Psa. 22:6). “Wretched man that I am” (Rom. 7:24). “You have … crowned him with glory and honor” (Psa. 8:5). “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1).

Yet, somewhere in the middle zone of those extremely negative or positive names rests another description that could be negative and positive at the same time. “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:13-14). You are a mist, is hardly the punchline in any valedictorian’s speech or slick advertisement campaign. It is the advice of wisdom to youth: Don’t blink! It’s gone before you know it!

Smoke, vapor, breath, mist—the imagery is vivid. Whichever translation is used, the point is clear: transience. Saying to humankind, You are a mist, is a great equalizer. Men, women, rich, poor, high, low, You are more than nothing yet less than something. A brief fog rolled off the river yesterday morning at dawn, filling the low-lying areas with a wispy veil. It was beautiful. It gave the thirsty forest a taste of moisture. It caused motorists to turn on their low beam headlights and ease off the accelerator. A few minutes later, the sun burned through the fog and the temperature started rising through the 70s and 80s into the 90s by 2:00 pm. The mist was not nothing, but it was not something. It was briefly undeniable and unavoidable, but inconsequential outside the narrow task that God designed it to complete, whether it was meant for brief beauty, slight alleviation of drought, or forcing hurried people to slow down and pay closer attention at the junction where Pecan Road meets Arrington Bridge Road.

James makes a solid point for all humans considering the transience of all humans, but he wasn’t the first. Job knew it, “My life is a breath” (Job 7:7). Moses knew it, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psa. 90:12). David knew it, “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!” (Psa. 39:4). Jesus knew it, “One's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. (Luke 12:15). James gleans practical advice from accepting his limits. Instead of making firm plans as if the future depended solely upon a master plan or work ethic, wisdom should leave margin for what is unknown. “Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:15). This instruction is not meant to be a mantra, that if we say these words formulaically, then we are in the clear. This instruction is meant to be a worldview that makes plans with baked-in reverence and pre-planned flexibility to defer to God’s pleasure.

The Sum of Your Word Is Truth

The Sum of Your Word Is Truth.  The Bible was in world news again this week. The media intake of the 21^st century is dominated by tweets, swipes, memes, and watching other people play video games, yet this ancient Book, originally written in foreign languages, is still making news. That is remarkable, especially considering the centuries of opposition to the Bible.

For instance, during the height of the Enlightenment era, French philosopher and humanist, Voltaire (1694-1778), who might have been remembered for his excellent fiction, such as Candide (1759), became more known for his disbelief in Christianity, calling it “infamous superstition.” Voltaire vehemently opposed the Scriptures in his writings. “The Bible,” he wrote in his Philosophical Dictionary (1764), “that is what fools have written, what imbeciles commend, what rogues teach and young children are made to learn by heart.” Two years before his death, Voltaire made a foolish prediction, “A hundred years from my death the Bible will be a museum piece.” However, God in his providence, within fifty years after Voltaire’s death, made Voltaire a museum piece, his house used by the Evangelical Society of Geneva, his own printing press used to print the Bible and gospel tracts. “The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever” (Psa. 119:160).

By itself, the new news that the Bible made this week is miniscule. Even still, if a pebble adds to the mountain of evidence that biblical archeology provides, then it is another net increase. A New Testament manuscript from the 6^th century, known as Codex H, was “lost to history when it was disassembled … in the 13^th century. Its pages were re-inked and reused as binding material and flyleaves for multiple other manuscripts” (biblearcheology.org). Like a sophisticated version of using Silly Putty® to pick up a reverse image of the Sunday funnies, researchers from Glasgow University used multispectral imagining to recover 42 pages of “ghost text” of Paul’s letters under layers of ink and dye of other old books.

Nothing new was gleaned about the biblical text from Codex H, but that is the most remarkable part of biblical archeology. Each new archeological finding continues to confirm and affirm what we already have is credible and complete. At Glasgow, the “ghost text” mainly showed how the biblical text has been divided into chapters and verses over the years by the scholars, functionally scribal notes in the margins of the manuscript evidence. “The recovered text provides the earliest known examples of chapters for Paul’s epistles, which differ from modern chapter divisions.” No other book has yielded such bounty while enduring such scrutiny; even its margins further marginalize its scoffers.