The Boast of Paul
Download MP3Last week, we looked at the conversion of Saul Paul. Probably the most important conversion of all time. Without Paul, we would not have much of our New Testament. Really without Paul, we likely would not be here in this room. But Jesus met Paul on that road to Damascus and everything changed.
Joel Brooks:As Jeff was preaching last week, I I kept thinking, I wonder I wonder what was going through Paul's mind during those 3 days. When God met him, as we heard last week, when when Jesus met him, he was instantly struck with blindness for 3 days. And I just kept thinking, what what was going through his mind during those 3 days? Don't worry, Jeff. I was listening to you as well.
Joel Brooks:It's just it's just a question and I and I wrote it down to later ponder. I mean, Paul, just just seconds earlier, was convinced he was right. Absolutely right. There were no doubts whatsoever. He knew Jesus could not be the son of God, And he knew that for a number of reasons.
Joel Brooks:One, we we just heard the Shema read, you know, that the Lord our God, the Lord is 1. Now every Jew would would say that every day. The Lord our God, the Lord is 1. Well Jesus can't be the son of God. He can't be co equal with the father that would because there's only one God.
Joel Brooks:There's not 2 gods and that had to be going through his mind. There's no way. And Jesus died, and dead people don't rise from the dead. And so how dare these Christians lead people away with their heresy and with their lies. He was convinced of that.
Joel Brooks:And this is what he is thinking, what he was certain of before he met Jesus. And then in that moment, everything that he had believed was now shattered. What was up now became down. What was white now became black. Just just just his whole world turned upside down.
Joel Brooks:Everything that he had worked for before, he now looked back at and said, that's that's rubbish. I'm sure that there were waves of maybe overwhelming joy during those 3 days, and then also waves of guilt, and then waves of joy, and then waves of guilt. I'm sure he had many as he's just thinking through these things. I'm sure he had a lot of those, how did I miss that moments. You know, as he's thinking through the Old Testament text and he's like, I mean, Jesus, obviously, it's Jesus.
Joel Brooks:How did I miss that? It's all about his death. It's all about his resurrection. It's all about the atonement. It's all pointing to Jesus.
Joel Brooks:How did I miss that? I'm sure he had so many of those moments because he knew his Bible, his his Hebrew scriptures so well, but Jesus was the missing link, and how everything was falling into place. Something else changed too for Paul during those 3 days. He realized that the entire way that he had been relating to God was wrong. Up to that point, Paul thought that if you followed the rules, that if you tried your best to keep the law, then you could build a relationship with God.
Joel Brooks:That God would be pleased with you, that you would somehow earn God's approval. So that's what he had dedicated his life to doing is to somehow become righteous by by keeping the law. You realize, yes, that you were saved, by by some degree of faith because you had to believe in God, but you had to work for it. But that had been shattered in an instant. Because how he's looking back at his works, he says, My works?
Joel Brooks:I'm a murderer. I killed innocent people. I can't be saved by works. He would go on later in 1st Timothy, like we looked at last week, to say that he is the chief of all sinners. And I want you to notice he doesn't use past tense.
Joel Brooks:He doesn't say, I was the chief of all sinners. He says, I am. He realizes that he is a flawed, sinful person that is in constant need of God's grace. God never saves by works, whether before or after his conversion. He realized that he was waging a war against God.
Joel Brooks:And this caused him to pin one of the, the most powerful words ever written in Ephesians. Ephesians 2 he says, we were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. Here's the biggest conjunction in the bible. But God, Being rich in his mercy, because of the love which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved.
Joel Brooks:And no one understood grace like Paul. Grace and mercy would become the theme of his life. And it's got to become the theme of our life as well. Now last week, on Friday, it was Veterans Day. And, so I watched Saving Private Ryan or at least a lot of it before Veterans Day, which still, I mean, after you watch it, you think, Shakespeare and Love really won best picture over Saving Private Line Saving Private Ryan.
Joel Brooks:There's no justification for that. It's, to me, it's one of the most powerful movies ever filmed. And, without any shame, I confess, I cry when I see that movie. And you know, one of the most memorable or the most memorable scene is at the end at the bridge. If you know, it's starring Tom Hanks and Matt Damon, and, Matt Damon is the private Ryan that needs to be saved.
Joel Brooks:And Tom Hanks, his commander, basically gives his life for him. And he's dying on this bridge, and he he looks at Private Ryan, and he says those famous words. He says, earn this. Earn it. Then he dies.
Joel Brooks:Saving Private Ryan always remembers that. Later in life, at the, when he goes to the tomb, he looks back in his family and says, tell me I'm a good man. Tell me I'm a good man. Tell me I've earned this. Earned this.
Joel Brooks:I mean it's it's a powerful scene but but there is a danger when Christians see something like this, that that we think this is how we now relate to God. We understand that Jesus gave his life, that Jesus sacrificed himself to give us new life, and we under understand that, and we appreciate that. But now we think it's our turn to earn it. Now it's time, since since he did his work on the cross, it's time for us to do our work and prove ourselves worthy of that sacrifice. And many Christians try to live out their lives like that.
Joel Brooks:We we have to now try to pay him back the debt we owe. And so we misunderstand some of the hymns that we've been seeing, like Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Like like we're trying to pay off a debt. When we do this, we we make a mockery of his sacrifice because Jesus was not on the cross dying saying, earn this.
Joel Brooks:Earn it. Not at all, and that is exactly what this text we read tonight is about. You might not see it at first glance, but this text is all about how we cannot and how we should not ever try to earn the favor of God. Let's unpack it. Paul is converted, and he immediately begins preaching.
Joel Brooks:You look at verse 22. It says, but Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. And so Paul is growing stronger and stronger in his knowledge, you know, now that he has all that Hebrew Bible knowledge, and now it's the missing link when Jesus is there and it's all fitting together, he becomes an extraordinary preacher. And many people are being converted and nobody can argue against him. And then we get to verse 23.
Joel Brooks:Says, when many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him. Now the many days there is 3 years. We know this from Paul's other letters. So many days is 3 entire years passed during this time of of Paul preaching. And now he he's growing and is preaching to such a point that people want to kill him.
Joel Brooks:And then the next thing that happens is a defining moment in his life. In verse 24, says, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. I know I know a number of you are probably thinking, defining moment? I mean, we just in in our home group, one of the questions we asked to get to know one another was, everybody give like a defining moment in their life.
Joel Brooks:It's all like, you know, these big, great, grand things, you know, these, these things that just really shaped who you were. And you read this, you're like, defining moment, but but yes. Yes. This is a defining moment in his life. Paul will later in life look at this and rejoice with utter joy.
Joel Brooks:He's gonna boast in it. He's not gonna boast because he is courageous here. He's a coward here. He's not gonna boast in his courage. He's gonna boast because once again, God's grace is on display.
Joel Brooks:Turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 11, if you would please. 2nd Corinthians 11. Let me, set the stage for this text. It's the church of Corinth, so you know they have problems. The church of Corinth in the second letter now has, they've become enamored with certain leaders, certain preachers that have come in, that were seen as these hyper or spiritual super spiritual people.
Joel Brooks:They were just amazing speakers. They had incredible gifts. They were having visions and doing extraordinary things. They were even called super apostles. So these super apostles had had moved in and Paul needs to address the issue because they're they're getting the people to abandon the gospel.
Joel Brooks:They're preaching a different gospel. And so Paul comes in and he he says, alright, I'm gonna compare myself to them. I'm gonna compare myself to them, and that's that's the setting for 2nd Corinthians, 11. So let's begin reading verse 21. 21 b.
Joel Brooks:How about that? But whatever anyone else dares to boast of, I'm speaking as a fool, I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites?
Joel Brooks:So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one.
Joel Brooks:I'm talking like a madman with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, With countless beatings and often near death, 5 times I received at the hands of the Jews 40 lashes less 1. 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.
Joel Brooks: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, and toil and hardship through many sleepless nights, and hunger and thirst, often without food, and cold, and exposure. And apart from other things, there's the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Stop right there. So so Paul has got a pretty impressive resume, at least to us, of, of a Christian. I mean it's safe to say that if you were to compare your resume next to Paul's, and like what you've given to Christ, how you've sacrificed for Christ, it's not even gonna be close.
Joel Brooks:No one has sacrificed like him. He's been thrown into prison countless times. He's received a 195 lashes. His entire back would have been just one huge scar. He's been beaten with rods.
Joel Brooks:He's been shipwrecked. He's gone without food and shelter, but but then listen to Paul's next words in verse 30. It says, if I must boast, I will boast the things that show my weakness. The God and the Father, the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever knows that I'm not lying. Okay, so he's saying, I'm gonna boast, I'm boast about my weakness and I'm about to tell you something that's gonna make you think I'm lying, but I'm not.
Joel Brooks:I promise you I'm not lying in what I'm about to say. Verse 32, at Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city Damascus in order to seize me. But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and I escaped his hands. Paul Paul says, you wanna know how great I am? Do you wanna know about the mighty apostle of Paul and how I I compare to you?
Joel Brooks:Do you wanna know about all I've done for Jesus, the spiritual giant that I am? The mighty Paul once was so scared. I had to be put in a little basket and I had to be lowered outside of a window so I could run away like a little girl. That's my boast. My friends, I'm nothing.
Joel Brooks:Christ is everything. I mean it's it's astounding to me that Paul chooses this as the defining moment in his life. It's the crescendo of of of all these boasts in 11. It's his boast of his boast. And he had so many other things he could have chosen from that he didn't even list here.
Joel Brooks:He could have talked about all of his missionary journeys. He could have talked about, you know, how he raised Eutychus from the dead. How he struck, Elymas the magician blind because he was annoying him. He he was once bitten by a viper and he just kind of shook it off like nothing happened. One of my favorites of Paul is, one time he was stoned and he was dragged out of the city because everybody thought he was dead.
Joel Brooks:And Paul gets up, says he shakes himself off, and he goes right back into the city and preaches. I mean like, woah. That's the image I have of Paul. Bold, courageous, fearless. He could have told how he was put in prison and he sang.
Joel Brooks:Said, You can't touch me, I sing praises. And he converted jailers. He could have told how he has been able to share the gospel boldly to entire councils, to governors, to kings, and he never backed down. So it's amazing that he does not want that to be the lasting image for these Corinthians. He says, if you want to remember me for anything that I've done, I'm not lying in this.
Joel Brooks:I'm not making it up. Once I was so scared, I had to hide in a basket, and they let me out a window and I fled like a little girl. So why why is this the boast of Paul? It's kind of hard to relate to this boast, at least it is for me. It's not, you know, Paul wouldn't have fit in at parties.
Joel Brooks:It would have been just kind of awkward. He wouldn't fit in for a lot of reasons, but, you know when you're at a party, you try to like to suddenly drop little cool things about yourself? You know, just the famous people you might know, the exotic places you've been. Things like, you know, oh, I ran a marathon this morning. Did I say?
Joel Brooks:Yes, I did. I did say that. Yes, I did. I ran a marathon this morning. You know, you you try to drop those things.
Joel Brooks:You know, I was talking with somebody, and they just casually just dropped, you know, what are you what are you doing for Christmas? Like, well I'm not really sure. And he goes, well, I'm, you know, I'm gonna have the homeless over for dinner. Wow. Just kind of casually dropped that in.
Joel Brooks:Paul would have none of that. He wouldn't know how to relate in that. At least, we wouldn't know how to relate to him because he's going around meeting people and they're like, wow, you're like the Apostle Paul. I mean, Paul. He goes, Yeah, I know.
Joel Brooks:I'm I'm the guy who got scared, who hit in the basket, fled. That's me. Awkward. Why does he do this? There's a temptation to think that he's just being humble.
Joel Brooks:Don't make that mistake. That's he he's humble, but that's not what he's trying to do here is just be humble. No. For Paul, this is all about the gospel. He is telling people where his identity is.
Joel Brooks:He's telling people where his soul rests. And it doesn't rest in what you think about him. And he's not gonna fall into that trap again of thinking that he has to start doing great things in order to win God's approval. He'll have none of it. His standing before God rests in the work of Jesus alone.
Joel Brooks:And he says, God was so great to me to me, his mercy and his grace was so great to me that he saved me when I was a murderer. And then after He converted me and He changed me, God's grace was so great and His mercy so strong to me, that even when I abandoned him, he still loved me. Even when I was a coward he still loved me. So his boast is in God. So these so called super apostles who are boasting in all the things that we like to boast in, you know, that we're we're great speakers, we have huge followings, we're, you know, we're educated, we went to these schools, or, you know, you have the spiritual boast of, yes, I have such great spiritual knowledge.
Joel Brooks:I received these visions and and all this. We like to boast in those things. Paul will have none of it. He says, I'm gonna boast in my weakness. One of the church fathers, said that, it is not your sins that keep you out of heaven.
Joel Brooks:It's your damnable good works. It's not your sins that keep you out of heaven, it's your damnable good works. And Paul knew this. He knew that this cowardly act did not somehow make God love him less. Didn't make him lose his salvation, not at all.
Joel Brooks:But he did know that if he ever thought God would love him more because of his mighty acts, then he has abandoned the gospel. Now I've known several missionaries, who have who've made this mistake. I remember talking with a friend of mine who lasted only a couple of years on the mission field. He thought he was a lifer. He was going there for life, and he burned out in really less than 2 years.
Joel Brooks:But he he he he filled out 2 years and he came back, and I met with him. And I just asked, what happened? And he said, well, I I thought I thought that if I went on the mission field, I would feel closer to Jesus. I mean, I I thought that if I did this great thing, I didn't become a missionary, that my prayer life would explode. I'd I'd feel more intimacy with God.
Joel Brooks:My worship would deepen. I thought those things, and then I got there and I realized I was the same person. And that person had a Saving Private Ryan type of faith. Although they realized that God had saved them by grace, they now thought that they could go and they could prove their worth. But when you're a missionary, you don't try to prove your worth, you declare God's worth.
Joel Brooks:That's what you do. You don't prove anything. You don't try to earn anything. So my friend didn't even know the gospel. This is how this plays out in our life that, you know, we might think that God loves us more because we get up early, and we have our little quiet time, and we read, and we pray, or we tithe.
Joel Brooks:Therefore God loves me more. So although we are saved by grace, we now are close, closer to God through our works. Let me tell you, if you believe this, this is going to drive you to 1 or one or the other extreme. 1 of 2 things. It's either gonna make you spiritually arrogant, or it's gonna drive you to despair.
Joel Brooks:Those are your options. If if you if you believe that kind of works based righteousness, it's is either gonna make you a very spiritually arrogant person or it's gonna drive you to despair. You're gonna become spiritually arrogant, you know, if you are if you're having a really good week. You're you're helping, little ladies cross the street. You're waking up early and praying.
Joel Brooks:You're serving at the soup kitchen. You haven't, lied to anybody. You haven't slept around. You, for Thanksgiving, you've decided you're going to fast and pray, and you've let everybody know that. And and so you you do that, and you if that's you and you are just man, you're clicking.
Joel Brooks:Everything's clicking, you are going to feel spiritually superior to other people around you. You're gonna feel like you got your life together. You're gonna feel superior to all those people who are not as moral as you. Moms and dads, this is how this plays out. You know, when you've done a really good job disciplining your child and and training them in the way of the Lord and you're feeling good and publicly in front of everybody they obey you the first time, you're like, that's right.
Joel Brooks:That's right. And then when the other parent there has a child going through a tantrum, you might not smirk outwardly, but you are smirking inwardly and you're feeling superior. Bad parenting. Just feels so spiritually smug. So I would imagine.
Joel Brooks:But when you fail in these areas, and all of you will, All of you will fail in these areas. You're going to be devastated because you've lost your spiritual high ground. And you're gonna feel like this horrible person who who God no longer loves. You know, because you you didn't have your prayer time that morning, or because, you you didn't tithe, or because you had some kind of moral failure, and now all of a sudden like everything just implodes. But this is what the gospel does.
Joel Brooks:It it keeps you from either being arrogant and it keeps you from falling into despair. Keeps you from being arrogant because it humbles you and it says you think you're bad, you're actually far worse than you can ever even imagine. You don't you don't even know this much of your sin. There's no room for spiritual pride. It humbles you.
Joel Brooks:But then that that gospel keeps you from being in despair because it says, you know what? God knows that, and he loves you anyway. His mercy and his grace is so deep that he loves you despite all of that ugliness and sin. And he has dealt with that on the cross, and so it's only in the gospel that you won't be spiritually arrogant and you won't fall into despair. So you build your life on the gospel, and that is so freeing.
Joel Brooks:Paul is gonna be the most free man in the rest of acts you could possibly imagine, and you see it starting here. If if you don't understand what's going on here, there's a number of applications. Let maybe I could just hit a couple of them quickly. If you don't understand what's going on here, you're not gonna be a gracious person. You'll never be a gracious person because you're gonna relate to somebody.
Joel Brooks:Maybe give them, maybe give them initial grace. But as soon as your friend or your neighbor, your coworker does something, maybe lies to you, maybe this little back stabbing moment to you, the moment that happens, you're gonna shut them down. You're gonna say, I'm not kind anymore. I mean, sure, you might say, hey, you might say, good morning, but there's no more reaching out to them. Why?
Joel Brooks:Because you now relate to them in a workspace righteousness. Okay, I'll extend to you this initial grace, but after that, you've got to earn it. You've got to earn my friendship. And if you find that that's how you relate to people, that you become cold to people so often when they're cold to you, it might be because that's what you're building your life on. Not the gospel, but a workspace of righteousness.
Joel Brooks:Maybe, if you don't understand this, you're gonna have a hard time helping the, what I would call the unrighteous poor. You might, you know, help them a little bit, but then when some of these unrighteous poor, they're they're not grateful, they're still mean, they're still lazy, and all those things are like, well, I helped you once, but never again. Because you gave them initial grace, but now it's a workspace righteousness. Thank God he doesn't relate to us like that. Only a deep understanding of the grace of God in your life is going to set you free to actually be bold for him in a way that you cannot imagine.
Joel Brooks:When you no longer have to prove his worth, you simply declare, or prove your worth, but simply declare his worth. And now, you know, as instead of trying to work off this debt, this crushing debt, now you just work out of love. You work out of love, and love is gonna absolutely consume Paul. He loves Jesus unlike anyone you will ever see. And I pray that happens to us in this church.
Joel Brooks:Pray with me. God, we boast in all the wrong things because we build our life on the idols. God, I just ask that you would strip us of that, that you would just remind us that we are saved by grace, and we are always saved by grace. I needed grace at my conversion. I need grace when I get up in the morning.
Joel Brooks:I'm gonna need grace 10, 20, 30 years from now. And I pray that would be our boast. That we will only boast in how weak we are and how great God is to use such weakness for his glory. And I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
