But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
—Galatians 6:14
Dear Lord, we thank You for giving us another opportunity to hear Your words. We tell You that we are all here; speak to our hearts. May Your words sink deeply into our hearts, that we may grow according to Your will.
Now, Lord, we pray that You speak, and that we may hear. In the name of our Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.
By the mercy of the Lord, we would like to continue to share concerning the inner life of Paul. At the beginning, I would like to conclude the first stage of Paul’s life. Probably there are four major lessons that Paul learned in his first stage. This evening, I would like to touch on the last one: the cross versus the world.
About 150 years ago, in ancient China, there was a very inhuman practice. Some people believed that for a lady to have small feet was beautiful. Therefore, when a baby girl was very young, they would bind her feet with cloth so that they could not grow naturally. Some people described such feet as “three-inch golden lilies.”
This was very inhuman, but it happened in China. I would like to borrow this picture to show you something. Life, if you let it grow, will grow unto maturity and beauty. If you let the feet grow, they will grow to a certain size and look beautiful. But sometimes we try to bind life. We try to hinder the growth of life.
This is true in biological life, and it is also true in spiritual life. When we study the inner life of Paul, we must pay attention to the factors that hinder the growth of life. If we read Paul’s life carefully, we find that in different stages there were hindrances to his growth.
Especially in the first stage of Paul’s life, we discover that one major hindrance was the world. This was true with Paul, and it is also true with us.
If the life of Christ is allowed to grow in us, it grows naturally and finally reaches maturity. We do not need to help life grow. But on our part, we may put in hindrances that prevent its growth. The world, the flesh, and other things are hindering factors in the Christian life.
In the Word of God, the way to deal with these hindrances is always by the cross. The cross removes the things that hinder the growth of life. Therefore, let us consider this lesson that Paul learned: the cross versus the world.
Toward the end of the first stage of Paul’s life, Paul told us that he knew a man in Christ who was caught up to the third heaven and into Paradise. This was a wonderful experience, about fourteen years before he wrote 2 Corinthians.
Because the revelation was so great, Paul said:
And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations,—wherefore, that I should not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted overmuch.
—2 Corinthians 12:7
We know that the thorn in the flesh was given near the end of the first stage of Paul’s life. Bible students have tried to determine what this thorn was. Some have suggested malaria; others have proposed different physical afflictions. The Bible does not tell us clearly, and Paul himself did not explain it.
The one thing we know is that it was some kind of physical handicap that caused Paul suffering and discomfort. But our burden is not merely to identify the thorn. We want to know what lesson Paul learned through it.
Before considering the facts concerning Paul’s physical condition, let us remember one thing: Paul was a man of the world.
He belonged to the religious world of the Hebrews, the cultural world of the Greeks, and the political and military world of Rome. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews, educated in Jerusalem. He was brought up in Tarsus, a famous university city. He was also a Roman citizen, a free man, able to travel from one end of the empire to the other.
Before he was on his way to Damascus, Paul was prepared to reach the top of this world. He was ready to climb to the summit of the religious, cultural, and political world. He had not prepared to meet the risen Lord. But he was prepared to advance in the world represented by the Hebrew, Greek, and Roman realms.
On the inscription above the cross of our Lord, there were three languages: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. These represent the religious world, the cultural world, and the political world. Put together, this world crucified our Lord. This world said, “Away with Him! Away with Him!”
When I was first saved, I loved the Lord very much. But I also loved the world. I could not understand why older brothers and sisters always said, “Love not the world.” To a young person, the world is splendid and attractive.
But one day the love of Christ was poured into my heart. When I was touched by the great love of the Lord, I could pray:
Lord, it is not that the world is not lovable. It is because You are more lovable than the world. It is not that I can say goodbye to the world; it is because You are the chiefest among ten thousand. You ought to have all my heart. You ought to occupy me, and I consider You as my all.
If we know what the world is, then we understand why it is one of the main hindrances to the growth of Christian life. The world is that system which condemned our Lord, put Him on the cross, and cried, “Away with Him!”
On the way to Damascus, a strong light from heaven flashed around Paul, and he fell to the ground. His outward eyes were blinded. Yet it pleased God to reveal His Son in Paul, and his inward eyes began to open. Paul saw a new world.
Paul later testified:
And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.
—Acts 22:11
The brightness of that light caused Paul to lose his outward sight. Outwardly, he could not see; inwardly, he saw Christ as his all. The world that he had once seen so clearly was no longer the same to him.
When Paul visited the churches in Galatia, he spoke of “a trial to you in my flesh” and said:
For I testify to you that, if possible, ye would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.
—Galatians 4:15
This suggests that Paul’s bodily condition may have been connected with his eyes.
In 2 Thessalonians, Paul wrote:
The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write.
—2 Thessalonians 3:17
It seems that Paul often dictated his letters and then added a closing greeting in his own hand.
Later, in Galatians, he wrote:
See with how large letters I write unto you with mine own hand.
—Galatians 6:11
This may indicate that Paul’s eyes were becoming poorer. He had to write in large letters.
I began to understand this when I had cataracts before I was fifty years old. My eyes gradually became dimmer. I could not read my Bible or a newspaper clearly. When I preached, brothers had to write in very large letters so that I could read them.
Before that, I was very self-conscious. If someone nodded his head while I was speaking, I would think he was falling asleep, and I could not continue. But after my eyesight became poor, I learned to preach in the spirit. I could not see people’s faces clearly, so I was less occupied with them.
I later considered whether the brightness of photocopying machines had contributed to my cataracts. In those days, copying machines were not as advanced as they are today. The light was very bright. I loved books, and I often spent long hours making copies of books in libraries. A doctor told me that prolonged exposure to bright light may contribute to cataracts.
When we read Galatians 6, we find that Paul speaks first of writing with large letters and then says:
But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
—Galatians 6:14
Then, near the end, Paul says:
From henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus.
—Galatians 6:17
His eyesight may have been restored outwardly, but spiritually the world was becoming dimmer and dimmer to him. As far as Paul was concerned, the world was on the cross. As far as the world was concerned, Paul was on the cross.
The only way to deal with the world is the cross.
Paul began his missionary journeys with physical handicaps. God did not use him as a healthy, strong man according to human standards. If this eye problem was indeed related to the thorn in the flesh, then Paul could not see the world clearly.
Yet this was the man whom God used to evangelize the world.
If a king wants to send an ambassador to another nation, ordinarily he would choose someone strong and healthy. But Paul went out on three famous missionary journeys with a handicap. He wanted to win the world for Christ.
Only the one who has lost the world can bring the world to Christ.
Isaiah 33:23 says:
Then is the prey of a great spoil divided;
the lame take the prey.
A cripple like Paul could take the spoil. After years of labor, Paul had carried the gospel from one corner of the Roman Empire to another. The lame took the prey.
Paul’s name was changed from Saul to Paul. “Paul” means little. God used this little man, a man with weaknesses and handicaps, to bring the Roman Empire to the feet of Christ.
The secret was not Paul’s natural strength. The secret was that the world had been crucified to him, and he to the world.
One estimate suggests that Paul traveled approximately 12,000 miles, by land and by sea, mostly on foot. This is equivalent to about half the circumference of the earth.
His first journey involved more than 700 miles by land and over 500 miles by sea. His second journey covered approximately 2,800 miles and extended through Asia Minor and Europe. His third journey took him through extensive regions again.
We must not judge these distances by modern conditions. Today, we travel by automobile, train, and airplane. In Paul’s time, there were no comfortable hotels, no modern transportation, and no organized missionary support system. Often he had to earn his own living with his own hands while traveling.
Paul’s ministry was also accompanied by persecution, suffering, and physical weakness. Yet God used him to preach the gospel effectively. His gospel did not remain merely a message; it transformed cities.
In Ephesus, Paul taught daily in the school of Tyrannus. The Word of the Lord spread so effectively that the manufacturers of silver shrines for Diana found their business declining.
The gospel affected the whole city. People were turning from idols to the living God. This was not merely a matter of holding meetings. The gospel had become a living power.
In Corinth, when Paul was rejected in the synagogue, he moved next door to the house of Titus Justus. Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many Corinthians believed and were baptized.
Paul was dangerous as a neighbor! Wherever he went, the gospel spread.
The secret of Paul’s ministry was not merely his outward work. It was the outflow of his inner life. The Lord had dealt with him deeply. The work of the cross is not merely negative. The cross produces a harvest.
The less the world meant to Paul, the more the world was gained for Christ.
During the second stage of Paul’s life, he was busy traveling, planting churches, preaching the gospel, and caring for the saints. But he must have maintained direct contact with the Lord. This is why he could do what seemed impossible.
Many missionaries hear only the word, “Go,” and rush to the mission field. But before the Lord said, “Go,” He said, “Come and follow Me.” If we attempt to do heavenly work in our own energy, we will collapse spiritually and physically.
Paul was weak outwardly, but he could say:
Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
—2 Corinthians 12:10
The strength came from Christ. Paul learned the lesson of union with Christ. He was never alone.
A major lesson Paul learned in the second stage was the lesson of divine guidance. If we are to do the work of God, we must follow God’s program and God’s way.
First, Paul had the general Word of God:
But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
—Acts 1:8
Paul also had a personal word from the Lord. He said:
Wherefore, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.
—Acts 26:19
The Lord told him that He would send him far away to the Gentiles. Paul’s journeys were not the result of human planning alone. They proceeded from the Word of God and the heavenly vision.
At the beginning of the second journey, Paul said:
Let us return now and visit the brethren in every city wherein we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they fare.
—Acts 15:36
His initial burden was simple: to revisit the churches and strengthen the brethren. He did not begin with a detailed master plan.
As Paul and his companions traveled, they were guided by the Holy Spirit. They were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the Word in Asia. When they tried to go into Bithynia, the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.
There is a negative aspect to guidance: the Spirit may say, “Do not go this way.” We should move forward in faith, but we must listen to the inward anointing.
Then Paul received a positive direction:
And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: There was a man of Macedonia standing, beseeching him, and saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
—Acts 16:9
Paul received the general Word, the personal word, the inward restraint of the Spirit, and then a positive vision.
He also received confirmation through the environment and through fellow workers. Luke joined Paul’s company, and the narrative in Acts changes from “they” to “we.” The guidance was not merely individual; it was confirmed in the fellowship of the Body.
We need the Word of God, the inner anointing, confirmation through circumstances, and confirmation through fellow believers. In this way, we are kept on a safe track.
During the third missionary journey, Paul purposed in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem and then to Rome:
After I have been there, I must also see Rome.
—Acts 19:21
Paul remembered the Word of the Lord concerning the uttermost part of the earth. Rome represented the center of the Gentile world. What was in the heart of God became a burden in the heart of Paul.
Paul was not passive. He had emotion, will, and spiritual desire. He wrote to the Romans that he prayed continually for an opportunity to come to them. He planned to come, yet he remained subject to the will of God.
God answered that desire, though not in the way Paul expected. Paul came to Rome in chains. Yet he came to Rome, and the gospel entered the heart of the empire.
The secret is found in John 15:7:
If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
When we abide in Christ and His words abide in us, His desires become our desires. His will becomes our will. Then we ask according to His heart.
If we study the life of Paul, we learn many lessons. We learn that the world is a great hindrance to spiritual growth. We learn that the cross is the only way to deal with the world. We learn that weakness need not prevent usefulness. We learn that only the one who loses the world can win the world for Christ.
We also learn that service must come from union with Christ, and that guidance comes through the Word of God, the inward anointing of the Holy Spirit, the environment, and the fellowship of the Body.
Lord, we thank You so much. When we are before You and listen to these words, we feel ashamed. Again, we pray that even when this meeting is dismissed, Your Word may remain in us forever and do Your work in our hearts.
Dear Lord, we repent before You. We have so many wrong concepts and wrong ideas. We do not know how to receive guidance, and we do not know how to follow Your steps.
Make us teachable children, that we may learn step by step to follow You. May our lives grow into maturity and satisfy Your heart. In the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.