And so much of life is a matter of perspective. We’re warning people about the snow here, and it makes me chuckle because two weeks from now we’re going to be in Toronto. They don’t even call this snow yet. This hasn’t even qualified.
We were sitting there one morning at a breakfast table. We had a flight later on in the day, and it only snowed about five or six inches that night. I said, “Do you think the flight will be delayed?” And they said, “Why?” I said, “Okay.” It’s all a different perspective. Of course, they have a few more resources than we do too.
All right. Let’s turn again to Acts 9. This is the story of Paul’s conversion.
Now Saul, yet breathing threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
and asked of him letters to Damascus unto the synagogues, that if he found any that were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
And as he journeyed, it came to pass that he drew nigh unto Damascus: and suddenly there shone round about him a light out of heaven:
and he fell upon the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?
And he said, Who art Thou, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
And then over in Acts 26, Paul has shared his testimony with King Agrippa. He concludes this in verse 19:
Wherefore, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.
Let’s pray.
Lord, we would continue in a spirit of rejoicing in You because of the wonderful provision that You have given unto us. Lord, we’re thankful that we can rejoice because You have given us Your living Word. As we come to Your Word, we would really break that bread of life and feed upon it this morning.
We rejoice in You, Lord, because You have given us Thy Holy Spirit, the enabling power to receive from You that which is upon Your heart. We rejoice in You, Lord, that we can say no to ourselves and yes to You.
And we can rejoice, having a heart, just as we sung, that as You work in our lives, Lord, there would be a greater and greater love for You—a love that never runs dry, but is always, even to our last breath, desiring to love You more and more.
We know it’s only by Your grace. It’s only by the power of Your life that You touch, You change, and You can form us to Your image. So we offer ourselves to You today, Lord, that You could do all that is upon Your heart during this time. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Last week we shared about Paul’s conversion. We talked about how, as Paul was on that road to Damascus, his total life was revolutionized. He ended up becoming a captured man.
If you look at Paul on that road as he was heading out, there was a zeal to him, but it was a misplaced zeal. He thought he was a worshiper of God. He thought he was serving God. And no matter what any man would say to him, nothing would change his mind.
Even though he saw these disciples, and he saw Stephen being stoned, there was nothing changing his mind. Nothing could adjust the course that he was on. But praise God, there was one thing in the universe that could change Paul, and that was our Lord Jesus Christ.
When Paul had an encounter with Him, it revolutionized his life. And that’s what changes us. It’s when we see the Lord. We might be in utter deception, have our false concepts, and think we’re doing the right thing. People are even telling us that. But somehow we have it in our hearts that we’re serving God.
But once we see Him in a clear way, it’s like everything else falls aside, and we see, “Yes, Thou art the Lord.” Paul had this experience, and it revolutionized him.
It’s interesting how, as he was on this road to Damascus, going out and persecuting the believers, Paul encountered the Lord in a very living way. As he was persecuting them, he looked up and said, “Who art Thou, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.”
That opened Paul’s eyes to see the beautiful body of Christ. Paul saw in a living way that when he touched one of the members of the body, he was touching the Head.
As we shared last week, this heavenly vision is not a thing. This heavenly vision is not a teaching. This heavenly vision is a Person. That’s what Paul saw. Paul saw Christ.
When he testified before Agrippa as he was on trial, he basically said, “I was not disobedient to Christ. I saw Him. I saw Him in His fullness, and I was able not to be disobedient to that.”
This is what the Lord is after in our days, because we can somehow, as we hear so much teaching related to Christ and the church, end up separating them. We can separate Christ from His body.
But praise God, as it says in 1 Corinthians 12, where it talks about there being many members in the body, we would think it would say “the body,” as in the church. But it says, “the Christ.” There is a fullness of Christ that Paul saw, and the Lord is wanting the reality of that to be recovered in these last days in our hearts and our lives.
We’re so thankful for all the teaching we have. But what the Lord is looking for in our lives is what He saw and captured in Paul’s heart and life. Paul saw a fullness to Christ. He saw not only Christ, but he saw the body.
As I mentioned last week, I’m even hesitant to use the word church because so often we separate that. We have Christ and the church. Brothers and sisters, they’re one. Christ is the church. Once we separate it, we just develop a cult and false teaching, and everything gets all out of order.
When we use words like the body of Christ, the church, or the family of God, we’re talking about Christ Himself—His life expressed among brothers and sisters. This is what revolutionized Paul’s life.
There was a simplicity to it. Paul didn’t get changed by teaching. He didn’t get changed by doctrine. He got changed by seeing the living God, and he saw Him in a fullness.
We’re so thankful for how the Lord is wanting to recover the reality of this in our hearts in this day—not just the teaching of the church, not just the doctrine of the church and being able to talk about it, but recovering the very life, the essence there. This is what God is after.
Praise God, when Paul saw this, it totally revolutionized his life. He was able to say that all the things that were of value to him, he counted as rubbish.
We went over the things that Paul had last week. Paul literally was in a place to gain the whole world. He had the utmost, the highest upbringing, whether it was in Roman society, Greek culture, or Jewish tradition. Paul had the best. Paul was the cream of the crop. He was a man of his age. He literally had the whole world before him.
But when he saw Christ, he said, “I count all things as rubbish.” Not just the bad things. Whatever was of interest to him before, whatever he was pursuing before, he counted it all as rubbish for the sake of knowing the Lord.
Has the Lord captured us in this way? Has He captured us so that, no matter what is in our life—our work, our school, our career, family, entertainment, sports, recreation, on and on and on—we count it all rubbish?
Or are we still saving a few of them because we don’t think they’re bad things? We don’t think they’re really hurting us. But, brothers and sisters, anything that competes with Christ, anything that takes our affection from Christ—there’s a jealousy in Him. He wants us coming to Him with a fullness.
Paul, as he first encountered the Lord, had a full life. In no way do we want to say these are the only three lessons in his life, but there were three that I was impressed with.
The first lesson that we touched on last week was that Paul saw the absolute necessity of having an intimate relationship with the Lord—not just knowing about Him, but knowing Him.
It was the foundational lesson that governed his whole life. He never got away from this: that daily, abiding, intimate, personal—we can go on and on trying to describe it—the secret life, the hidden life, that knowing Him in a very real way. Not just about Him, not His teaching, not this or that, but knowing Him.
We see how essential this is for us, particularly in these last days that we’re living in. There are so many things out there trying to lead us astray. The Lord warns us about these things.
On one hand, our love can grow cold. It grows cold because we’re losing that intimate relationship, that place of first love. We can be subject to false prophets and false teachers. We can be led astray. How can we distinguish between the things that are of Him and the things that are not of Him if we don’t know Him?
This is what Paul had a yearning for within his heart, and he had a yearning that brothers and sisters would know this also. He was jealous for the brethren. He laid down his life so that not only he would come through, but he saw how God desired this among every brother and sister: to come into this intimate, personal relationship.
Today we’d like to move on to the second lesson. Paul was one who was captured, and Paul was one who had an insatiable desire for Christ.
Now, this insatiable desire means a desire that can never be satisfied. The more Paul saw of Christ, the more he wanted of Christ.
We can become so easily satisfied. Stella and I, as you know, go to Brazil quite often. In Brazil, they’re a lot more polite than us. When you finish a meal here at anybody’s home, somebody says, “Have you had enough?” You say, “Yeah, I’m full,” or, “I’m stuffed.” That’s not really too polite.
But they have this very polite way at the end of a meal of saying, “I’m satisfied.” That’s the word. Any meal they go to, that’s how the Brazilians say, “I’ve had enough. I’m satisfied.”
It doesn’t work among the Chinese because they never want you to be satisfied. They always give you more food. But in Brazil, it works. The Chinese say, “We want you to be more than satisfied.”
Well, that’s kind of how Paul was with the Lord. He was never satisfied. He was always wanting more and more of Him. He touched the riches of Him.
We know of Paul’s testimony of being caught up into paradise and the third heaven, and we could say, “Wow, that’s great.” But Paul still yearned for more, because it was something of Christ that had captured him.
A verse that really is a testimony of Paul’s life is found in 2 Corinthians 5. If we look at 2 Corinthians 5, verses 14 and 15, Paul testifies of what controls his life.
For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that One died for all, therefore all died;
and He died for all, that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who for their sakes died and rose again.
When Paul had this encounter with the Lord, he was captured by that love of Christ. He was no longer living for himself, but he was living for the One who had loved him, died for him, and risen again.
This insatiable desire that Paul had carried him through no matter what he faced in life.
One of the things I do want to say is that these lessons are interrelated. Out of this intimate relationship that Paul had with the Lord, the fruit of that was an insatiable desire. The more he had this insatiable desire, the more he desired to have an intimate relationship. They were feeding on one another. They were interrelated with one another.
They’re not separate. We can separate things so easily: lesson one, lesson two. No, these are really very integrated. We’ll distinguish these matters, but whether you’re talking about that insatiable desire or the intimate relationship, it was all leading him to know more and more of Christ. That’s what was pressing him on.
Paul came into this desire because the love of Christ captured Paul—not Paul’s love for Christ. Paul had a great love for Christ, but the love of Christ captured Paul.
If you just stop and consider for a moment the love of Christ, we do that every Lord’s Day when we take this table and see the many aspects of it. But when you stop and think of the love of Christ, think of One who left the splendor of heaven to come to this place of humility, being born in Bethlehem. He endured the humility there.
He went from Bethlehem, and we know He had that hidden time in Nazareth—all those years, just being set aside.
Sometimes, brothers and sisters, if we find ourselves in a place of humility, being humiliated, being humbled, or being set aside in a hidden way, how do we respond? What keeps us going on?
What kept the Lord going on? Jesus had a love for His Father. He knew God’s heart. He knew what His Father’s heart was and His Father’s desire. It enabled Him to go through these times.
As He grew up in Nazareth, He wasn’t appreciated by His brothers. I’m sure there were some tough days—days of misunderstanding. If He hadn’t had that joy set before Him, if He hadn’t had that will and love for the Father and the Father’s heart and purpose within Him, what would have kept Him going?
Sometimes we forget the humanity of Jesus. As we’ve been looking at the Gospel of John, when our Lord came into His public ministry in Judea, He came to His own, and His own received Him not. He was rejected. And that hurt Him.
At times He was despised. It says at times His soul was in distress. There was a humanity in Christ. What kept Him going on was that He had that love for the Father. He was captured.
We could say, in a reverential way, that our Lord Jesus was captured. He was controlled by the love of His Father. Paul was captured by the love of Christ. Our Lord Jesus, in a similar way, was captured. He had that purpose and that goal in view, and it enabled Him to go on.
In the days we’re living in, as we live with one another, offend one another, fail to appreciate one another, and reject one another, if we don’t have that set before us—if we don’t have Christ, if we don’t see the fullness of Him and His heart’s love for us—we’ll faint.
We’ll just quit and go somewhere else where we think we’ll be appreciated. That’s only a lie, because we’ll get used and abused there, and then go somewhere else. It’s Christ that keeps us going through.
Then we know how our Lord came to that place of Gethsemane. At times, brothers and sisters, I feel Gethsemane has become too familiar to us. When our Lord was there wrestling and prayed, “Not My will be done,” there was an agony that He was going through that I’ve just been convicted of recently.
There was an agony of His soul. He was wrestling as He went through that. I was convicted because so often in prayer I can flippantly say, “I know I need to end my prayer with, ‘Not my will, but Thy will be done.’”
I’m afraid that has become a nice little safe prayer for believers. When our Lord prayed that prayer, “Not My will, but Thy will be done,” He prayed that in agony and wrestling. There was a battle going on.
Because He saw what was before Him, He knew that the Father’s will was preeminent, and He had to come through. He was willing to go through that agony for that.
As we find ourselves in situations—maybe we’re going to choose a job, choose a school, or do this or that—at the end of the prayer we know we need to pray, “Lord, not my will, but Thy will be done.”
But in our hearts, what we’re saying is, “Boy, I sure hope Thy will is this. Lord, not my will, but this is what I want over here.” Are we really wrestling?
Paul wrestled through on things. The Lord Jesus wrestled through into the Father’s will. There is a wrestling through that we need to enter into to know the fullness of God’s will at certain times in our lives. That is a denying of ourselves.
Then our Lord went on to Calvary—that great triumph there, the victory that He won there, that cross where He came to that place of death, and it brought life to us. But praise God, it doesn’t end there. Then He ends up on the throne in victory.
We love to talk about and share about the victory of our Lord. But when we look at the Lord and the path that He had to walk, and see the love that He displayed, when we talk about the love of Christ, it’s not just upon the throne. It is in every aspect of life.
Our Lord Jesus lived the cross every day He was on earth. He was able to press through. There was a joy set before Him.
Do we have a joy set before us? Have we seen the Lord in such a way? Paul had a joy set before him, and he kept pressing on. There was a fullness of Christ that had captured Paul, and it created within him this insatiable desire. This governed Paul’s life. It governed every aspect of his life.
Let’s turn again to Philippians. We read some verses from Philippians last week, and we’ll continue on in Philippians 3 as we see a little more of Paul’s testimony here.
This is the testimony of a man with an insatiable desire. We’ll read Philippians 3:12-14.
Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,
I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
That’s the joy before him. He was pressing on. He wanted to lay hold of that.
Here we see Paul captured in such a way that he’s pressing on. He says, “I’m forgetting all the things that lie behind.” Now, I want to clarify and distinguish this from what we shared last week.
Paul mentioned in the earlier verses, in verses 7 and 8, how he counted all things as loss and rubbish. Those were the things of the world, the things outside of Christ. He put all of that behind him and said that was rubbish.
But what he is talking about here are the things that he has experienced in the Lord. He is putting those behind him. He is not focusing upon them. He is living in the present. He is not living in the past.
At this time, Paul had been used of the Lord in a great way. He had the three missionary trips. He had written various epistles—Romans, Corinthians, Thessalonians—and we see Paul. But he says, “I’m not focusing upon that. I’m pressing on. There’s something ahead. I’m living in the future.”
That’s one of the things I appreciate about Paul. He lives current in the Lord. Because of that intimate relationship, he is fresh with Him every day. He is not dwelling in the past.
As we read earlier about the testimony before King Agrippa, it’s interesting: when Paul shares his testimony about that Damascus Road experience, he only shares that as a gospel message to unbelievers. He shared it with the Jews. He shared it with King Agrippa.
But when he comes to believers, he is encouraging them to press on. Yes, we have this heritage, but it almost says, “So what? Where are you today? Let’s go on and come to know more and more of the riches of Christ.”
There is a richness there He wants us to enter into. Paul said, “I haven’t attained it yet.” There’s a prize. There’s that love of Christ that is controlling me, that’s pressing me on.
We see how he is such a captured man that his testimony is now, “For me to live is Christ.” That’s what he is saying. My life—for me to live is Christ. It’s not I, but it’s Christ, and that’s what I’m pressing on for.
Once Paul was captured, he didn’t care where he served. He didn’t care how he served. He didn’t care who he served. He didn’t care when he served. He was just interested in serving the Lord and being obedient unto Him.
Whatever circumstances he found himself in, the circumstances did not matter either. Sometimes they were big circumstances, what we would call big. Sometimes they were small. Sometimes they were very good; he was received well. Other times he was received badly—pretty badly. There were peaceful times; there were suffering times. But his one desire was to honor the Lord, and he kept pressing on in this.
Because that vision of seeing Christ, the fullness of who Christ was and what was upon His heart, guided and captured him in a very wonderful way.
We had the blessing of being out in Concord last September. We were having dinner one night at one young sister’s house. She and her husband had been looking around for a house, and they have four kids.
One of the conversations that came up was that they said, “Mac, we’ve really seen in recent months how very practical God’s call upon our lives is—God’s purpose.”
They said, “In the past, we often thought of it as a teaching, a theory, something ethereal. But we’re seeing how it impacts our life—what God is after for testimony.”
As we talked on, she said, “As we were outgrowing our house and maybe thinking of another house, all of a sudden, as we started looking at houses, we said, ‘Will this house accommodate the brethren when we have Bible studies? Will this house be close to the brothers and sisters so that we can continue in fellowship?’”
They said, “Many of our friends, many of our Christian friends, just buy a house here and buy a house there, and they can switch churches and do all this. But all of a sudden, we found our hearts wouldn’t let us do that. We were captured.”
It’s wonderful how practical this is. We talk about God’s eternal purpose or this heavenly vision. It’s all Christ, but it became real to them in a very practical way in their life. There was rejoicing in that.
As we mentioned, sometimes as the Lord led Paul, it was in the so-called small things. As you look in Acts 16—we’re going to look through Acts a little bit. We’re not going to read verses; I’m basically going to refer to some chapters here because we would spend too much time reading all the verses.
In Acts 16, Paul was called by the Lord to go to Philippi. Again, let me clarify one thing: Why did Paul go to Philippi? Paul did not go to Philippi to start a church.
The Lord never sent any of His apostles out to start a church. The Lord sent the apostles out to declare Christ. As they declared Christ, as they went to Philippi and shared the gospel, and as they went to other cities and shared the gospel, all of a sudden these ones came to know the Lord in a living way.
Then there was this life within them that brought them together. They saw, “You’re of Christ; I’m of Christ.” They came together, and there was this testimony of the church there in Philippi.
That’s the way it was on the day of Pentecost. Peter did not preach the church. They preached Christ, His Lord and Savior, and ones got saved.
We’ve gotten away today from what the Lord is after. So often we hear, “They’re going there to start a church,” or, “They’re going there to start a church.” The Lord is jealous for His Son. He wants Christ.
When Paul went to Philippi—wherever he went, wherever Peter went, wherever these ones went—they proclaimed Christ. Then, as ones were saved, the life of Christ drew them together in a living way as a marvelous testimony of Himself.
Praise God, that’s what happened in Philippi. The Lord brought Paul over to Philippi, the first time anyone had been into Europe.
I wonder at times if Paul thought, “Wow, the Lord wouldn’t let me preach anymore in Asia. He’s sending me to Europe now. He must have big plans for me. This is going to be a great ministry.” Now, that’s the way I would think. Paul was a lot more humble. I’m a proud Scotsman, so excuse me.
But when Paul got there, he didn’t even find enough Jews for a synagogue. There were just a few of them there. I shouldn’t say he didn’t find any; there weren’t enough for a synagogue.
They went out by the river, and they found a few women there praying. But praise God, in what naturally seemed to be a small thing, Paul was faithful. He declared Christ to Lydia, then to that slave girl, and then to that jailer.
As they came together, there was that testimony of Christ that really brought forth that church there. Paul was faithful to proclaim Christ right there to Lydia and those sisters by that river. He shared Christ with them.
He didn’t say, “Well, there’s not enough here. I’m not going to fool with it. I’m going to go look for a bigger audience.” No. That’s where the Lord had called him, and he was faithful.
Brothers and sisters, we sit here today because many years ago there was a brother who was faithful to come visit a few sisters in this city when there was nothing around.
There were a few sisters who happened to be at a conference and heard about this brother. He came willingly just to meet in a home and share the gospel, share the fullness of Christ, with a few sisters. We are greatly indebted to that today.
So often we look around at the big things, the glamorous things, and we confuse, particularly in this day and time, glamour and glitz with glory. We think bigness is greatness.
If you think back in the Gospel, you had Herod’s temple. It was full of glamour and all the glitz, but what was not there? There was no glory.
The Lord is after the glory of His Son in the midst of His people—the glory of His life. That’s what He is jealous for, and that’s what Paul was jealous for. He was captured by that.
At times Paul was faithful in this small thing of Philippi. In Acts 13, he was in another Antioch, and they had the whole city there. He and Barnabas shared the gospel with the whole city. Praise God, they had a freedom there, and he stepped up and shared with everybody.
So there were times he was faithful in the small and faithful in the large. That is from our perspective, because we would look upon Philippi as a small thing. In the economy of God, it was a great work. He was doing a great work, and we’re rejoicing in that.
Sometimes the circumstances that Paul found himself in were pretty bad. If he hadn’t had this relationship with the Lord, this intimate relationship and this insatiable desire, he would have given up. He would have quit.
If you look at Acts 14, we know that when Paul had gone to Lystra, he was sharing there about the Lord. All of a sudden they turned on him. Some came from other cities, and Paul was stoned. They literally dragged him out of the city. They thought he was dead.
But after he was out of the city and the disciples were standing around him, he stood up. He got up, and he went back into the city. This is a marvelous testimony of one who has an insatiable desire for Christ in spite of any circumstance.
Acts 14:20-22 says:
But as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up and entered into the city: and on the morrow he went forth with Barnabas to Derbe.
And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, and to Iconium, and to Antioch,
confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.
After being stoned almost to death for the gospel, look what he did. After they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, he returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch—the very places where ones had come to stone him and stirred everything up.
“For me to live is Christ,” and he was pressing on, whatever was there. He encouraged the saints there, strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith, saying, “Through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.”
Paul had touched the kingdom of God. He had touched Christ. He said, “Through the tribulations, through the things in this life, there’s something more that we need to press on to.” This is what Paul was pressing on to. In spite of this, he had this desire.
Then in Acts 16, we already shared about Philippi and how he ended up in jail—a horrible situation. But what is he doing in jail? There they are, singing hymns and worshiping the Lord.
Even in the earthquake that came, it didn’t rattle him. He kept his senses. Out of the earthquake, when the jailer was about ready to kill himself, Paul shared the gospel. That is one captured by the love of Christ, controlled in whatever he found himself in.
Paul—it’s all about God’s grace. It is the life of Christ in Paul. As he had this intimate relationship, and the Lord said, “Go this way; go that way,” Paul could respond.
As you go into Acts 18, he goes to Corinth. As he is sharing, the Jews reject him, but he says, “Okay, I’ll just go to the Gentiles.” He shares with the Gentiles there.
In Acts 19, he goes to Ephesus. The same thing: the Jews reject him. He goes and shares with those in Ephesus for those few years, and he was able to see that all Asia heard the Word of God. All Asia heard of Christ.
When he later met with those Ephesian elders, he said, “I didn’t hold back anything from you. I was able to declare to you the whole counsel of God. I was able to share with you all of Christ.”
That’s what Paul was preaching. This is what kept him, and it was capturing many during that time.
When he returned to Jerusalem, Paul was arrested and put in prison. We know that he had to testify before the Jews and the Sanhedrin. When he came before King Agrippa, as he was testifying to them, we see that he did not shrink back. He kept pressing on and declaring Christ.
He was declaring Christ so much that, if you look over in Acts 26:24, there was one there with Agrippa named Festus. He said, “Paul, you’ve lost your mind. You’ve gone crazy.”
Paul, to the world’s eyes, looked like a madman. But Paul was willing to be a fool for Christ.
That’s why, when Paul wrote these various letters, he was able to do this because he had experienced this. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, encouraging them to be fools for Christ because he was a fool for Christ. He wasn’t out there doing something different. It was his very life that he was sharing with them—the way the Lord had met him.
We’re thankful how, as we see Paul, the Lord had used him in a wonderful way. He was sharing Christ, and he had this desire to live for Christ no matter what anybody thought.
What if ones mock us? What if ones call us fools? Does that derail us? Or have we seen something of the Lord that keeps us going on, keeps us going on through this?
Even as Paul ends up in prison, he is there chained to the Praetorian Guard. He shares the gospel with them.
We’ve already seen how, even in prison, Paul was a free man. His spirit was soaring. He wrote that letter to the church in Ephesus, to the church in Colossae, and he wrote this Philippian letter from the jail cell there.
He said, “Rejoice, and again I say, rejoice.” Praise God. That was his spirit. He was free.
It reminded me of a Madame Guyon poem about a little bird in a cage. Outwardly, it looked like this bird was all caged up. But Madame Guyon, when she was in prison, referred to herself as this captive, like a bird in a cage.
As you read this poem—I’m not going to look at it this morning—it’s called “A Little Bird Am I,” and you can Google it. The bird is there singing, and she says, “Even though my wings are confined within this cage, and even though I’m captured here, my soul, my spirit is free.”
“I can sing and enjoy the glorious freedom and liberty that there is in Christ.” This is what Paul was. Paul was a free man even though he was in prison. His spirit was free.
So often somebody will say, “How are you doing under the circumstances?” And the answer is, “What are you doing under the circumstances? You’re supposed to be above them.”
But we see how in Christ there is a great freedom. Joseph was in a pit, yet he was free. Joseph was in prison, yet he was free.
What prison, what bondage, do we have in our life that we think somehow is limiting us? Paul is saying to each and every one of us, “You might think those are bars and chains that are upon you and holding you back, but let me tell you of the glorious liberty of the sons of God that we have in Christ.”
The work He has done means that regardless of where we are, regardless of what we’re going through, Christ is the Victor. He can allow us to soar and be above those situations.
Oh, there is a reality there that doesn’t come from reading a book. That comes from knowing Christ—knowing Him every day and allowing Him to become very real within our hearts and lives. Paul was faithful regardless of the circumstances that he found himself in.
But Paul not only had this insatiable desire within his own heart; he desired that the brethren would have this also. He saw God’s heart to have a people who would be that testimony unto Him, that the life of His Son would be impressed within each and every one.
We see Paul just jealous for the brothers and sisters. We see this expressed in 1 Thessalonians 2, another one of these assemblies where Paul had this special relationship.
First Thessalonians 2:8 says:
So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were well pleased to impart unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were become very dear to us.
Paul preached the gospel, but he didn’t stop there. He shared his very life with them.
Today we can focus so much upon a message, upon a ministry, and that’s important. But what validates the ministry is the life of the messenger. It’s not just the message; it’s the life of the messenger.
When Paul was sharing with these dear ones in Thessalonica, there was a life within him. When he wrote to them various things, they said, “Amen,” because they saw it. They saw Paul’s life and Paul’s sharing as the same. He shared Christ, and he lived Christ.
There wasn’t a dichotomy there, but there was a unity. What he was encouraging them with was that pressing on. This is what God is so jealous for in these days.
We talked last week about how we have this desire for knowledge, and these last days are characterized by an increase of knowledge. Praise God for all of that. But the purpose of that is bringing us to Christ.
Paul imparted his life with these dear ones in Thessalonica. He established relationships with them. He was among them. He was caring for them.
We see how he cared for them in a couple of very descriptive ways in this chapter. If we look at verse 7, Paul describes himself this way:
But we were gentle in the midst of you, as when a nurse cherisheth her own children.
Some translations just say “a nurse,” but the spirit of it is that you have a nursing mother. At times, this Paul—this one who was fierce, this one who would want to run into a mob and save his fellow workers—knew when he needed to be gentle, loving, and caring.
There was that coming alongside, putting his arm around one, caring for one through difficult times. He knew when to do that.
But at the same time, he also knew that there would be times when he was a father. We see down in verse 11:
As ye know how we dealt with each one of you, as a father with his own children, exhorting you, and encouraging you, and testifying, to the end that ye should walk worthily of God, who calleth you into His own kingdom and glory.
It’s a wonder Paul is referring to these as his children—not in a possessive way, but in a relational way. He was saying, “Yes, there were times when I was a mother. There was gentle caring. But there were times when I needed to be a father and say, ‘That’s enough. Straighten up. Get your act together and go on.’”
Now, if you’re one who always says, “Straighten up and go on,” you’ll crush some people. But Paul had this relationship with the Lord in such a way, this intimate relationship, that the Spirit within him would say, “You need to be gentle to this one. This is a fragile one. They’ve been through a lot. They’re fragile.”
To another, He would say, “You need to wake them up. You need to shake them.” When Paul encountered Peter, when Peter had kind of backslidden into some of the Jewish traditions, Paul went over and basically got in his face and said, “Straighten up, Peter. You’re acting like a hypocrite.”
But other times Paul was so gentle with little Timothy. “Oh, come on, Timothy. Remember all these things that have been done for you?” He had to be a little tender with Timothy.
That is the life of Christ. If you look back through the Gospels, you see the same thing with our Lord. This is what is needed in this day: the life of Christ through the brothers and sisters.
We will know and have this relationship with Him in such a way that, when we need to be tender, His life comes out in tenderness. When we need to be firm, there would be that firmness coming out. But it is all out of love. It is all with a desire that ones would come and see Christ.
Paul could address these ones in Thessalonica in such a way because he had this relationship with them. He had spent time with them. He got to know them. His desire was that they would really come to see Christ in a greater and greater way.
We see his same desire for those in Galatia. As he wrote in Galatians 4:19, he says:
My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you.
He says, “My children,” expressing that intimate relationship with them. He has concern for them. His heart’s desire is that he is agonizing and in travail for them. What is his desire for them? That they would be conformed to the image of Christ.
That was his simple desire: that they would give themselves in such a way that they would be conformed to the image of Christ.
Throughout Paul’s letters, whether you look at the end of Romans or some of the other letters, over and over we see these relationships expressed. This is how Paul was so jealous that Christ would be seen and known among all the brethren.
As Paul himself had this desire, he wanted others to enter into it also. Over in 1 Thessalonians 4, he is encouraging them to excel still more.
First Thessalonians 4:9-10 says:
But concerning love of the brethren ye have no need that one write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another;
for indeed ye do it toward all the brethren that are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brethren, that ye abound more and more.
Praise God, these ones were loving one another. Thank the Lord for that testimony. The love of Christ had worked in their hearts and their lives. But he doesn’t stop there. They practiced it toward all the brethren in Macedonia, but he urged them to excel still more.
That is the insatiable desire: pressing on, excelling still more.
Paul, as he was pressing on, also had this desire that after his departure, the testimony would continue—that this life would continue on. As he visited various assemblies, he saw ones like Timothy and Titus and others, and he was encouraging them.
But what was it that Paul imparted to these? Was it a teaching? Was it a doctrine? What did Paul impart to Timothy?
Turn over to 2 Timothy 3. As Paul is writing this concluding letter of his life, we see what he shared with Timothy. Second Timothy 3:10 says:
But thou didst follow my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, patience.
It says, “You followed,” or, “You were discipled.” This is the word for a disciple here. If you could make disciple a verb, you were discipled. You learned my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance.
But what was Paul passing on? Was he just talking about a teaching? No. What was Paul’s teaching? “I preach Christ. I declare Christ and Him crucified.” What was Paul’s conduct? To walk as Christ walked. Paul was passing on Christ to Timothy.
What was Paul’s purpose? To know Him. You can go on and on throughout this verse. In each one of those, we see how Paul was passing on Christ in a living way.
That was, as we said earlier, Paul’s testimony: “For me to live is Christ.” Paul passed on Christ and all of Christ’s heart to Timothy.
When we talk about passing on the torch of the testimony, it is not passing on a teaching. It is not passing on a doctrine. It is not passing on a form, pattern, or how you meet, or how you do this or that. It is passing on the life of Christ.
That life of Christ will capture ones and will continue on until the Lord returns. May the Lord awaken us to return to this place of simply desiring Christ and more of Him.
He is not so much interested in all of the peripheral stuff—the form of this or the form of that, the pattern of this or the pattern of that. He wants the life of His Son expressed in His people. This is what He is jealous for.
May we come into even learning this, and would we be jealous for this also?
Praise God, Timothy got it. Timothy was teachable. He responded to Paul. Timothy saw Christ.
As he looked at Paul, Timothy had a great respect for Paul. But Paul never allowed the relationship to get in a wrong way. Paul never came between Timothy and Christ. Paul’s main goal was to point Timothy to Christ.
That is a true disciple. One who is discipling another is one who really enables that one to see and know the fullness of Christ.
This is what we see in Paul as he passed on the oneness, the wonderful testimony that he had seen. This insatiable desire captured Paul. This was being faithful to the heavenly vision—being faithful to Christ and His church.
Again, I’m careful how we separate Christ and the church there. It is all one. But because of this intimate relationship and because of this insatiable desire, Paul was able to be faithful. He was faithful during his time, and he was faithful to pass it on.
How do we maintain this? How do we maintain an insatiable desire?
Actually, I’m going to get us back into this loop. It comes from that intimate, daily, personal relationship with Him.
The wonderful thing about it is that the Lord is not asking us to walk a sinless, perfect life. We blow it pretty much most days.
As we wake up the next morning, what hope do we have? His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. So we get back in the race. Praise God for that.
There is that grace. There is that freshness in Him. There is a freshness of His mercies that meets us every morning as we have this desire for Him.
We confess our sins. He is faithful to wash us and cleanse us from all of them. We get up that next morning and just press on. We abide.
Lord, I’m prone to wander. Do we know ourselves? We’re prone to wander. We’re prone to leave the One we love. But praise God, He is always there, ever faithful to keep us and to hold us.
If we wake up and we’ve had a bad day, we start that day: “Great is Thy faithfulness. Thy mercies are new every morning.”
As I said earlier, the way we keep it fresh is that these two are so interrelated. If we have that relationship with Him, we’ll have this insatiable desire. If we have this insatiable desire, we’ll have this relationship.
This is what God is jealous for. He is jealous for the life of His Son to be seen and worked out among those that He has loved and died for.
We remember the Lord at this table every Lord’s Day, and we’re thankful for all that it speaks of. There was a desire. There was something that led our Lord to come to this table. He saw God’s heart. He saw His Father’s heart.
Brothers and sisters, would we be reminded of that? Would that be made new and fresh to us every day?
Paul didn’t live in the past. We don’t live off yesterday’s manna. Lord, today there is a fresh Word from You. Today there is a freshness in You.
This is why, even as we sang that little song to start with, we want more love to Thee, O Lord—more love. We know there is this drawing, this yearning.
Would we be those that respond as a testimony unto Him? We’ll see that the more we come to know Him and have this desire, it will lead us into knowing Him as the infallible One. This is what we’ll look at next week, Lord willing.
Let’s pray.
Lord, sometimes our familiarity with You really takes away from the power of Your resurrection life and the victory that we’ve been brought into.
Lord, I thank You so much for how You have loved us, how You’ve called us unto Yourself.
Lord, we’re thankful that, as we look to You, we see One who was captured. As we are encouraged by Paul, we see one who was captured.
Lord, we want to respond and continue to offer ourselves unto You in a living way.
Lord, as we look at this whole matter of an intimate relationship and insatiable desire, we say, “I can’t do that.” And praise God, we can’t. But You can.
Lord, there’s no way we can do it in ourselves. But we pray that, as we see You, there would be that greater increase of Your life and that continuing decrease of ourselves. In Jesus’ name, amen.