Today I would like to talk about the life of the great apostle and missionary Paul, who wrote much of what we call the New Testament in the Bible.  At the time of writing his letter to the Philippian church, he had been arrested in Rome, and yet this letter was full of encouragement and even joy.

In fact he uses the word “rejoice” 10 times in this small letter! In chapter 3 of Philippians, he begins with:

“Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. “

Then he follows with a warning:

“Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship God in the Spirit, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh —  though I myself have reasons for such confidence.”

Here he was referring to the teachers who were trying to impose Jewish laws upon gentile Christians.  After that he explains how he was once one of the them!

“If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.”

You may have heard the story of Paul. Soon after the resurrection Jesus ascended into heaven and poured out the Holy Spirit upon the disciples in Jerusalem. This led to thousands of people repenting and believing in Christ.  Paul, who was then known as Saul of Tarsus, was among those who sought to crush the movement which they considered heretical. He believed that he was actually doing service to God as he sought out, and imprisoned the followers of Jesus!

But God had other plans. Saul was on his way to Damascus, to find and arrest Christians, when the Ascended Christ appeared to him in a great and blinding light. He fell to the ground and  heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” When he asked, “Who are you Lord?” The answer came, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.”

Finally Saul asked, “Lord, what would you have me to do?”  Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told to you what you must do.”

This was the great turning point in his life. He would soon meet with those whom he sought to harm, and become filled with the Spirit of God. Eventually Saul become known as Paul, a greater advocate for the Gospel of Jesus Christ than he ever was for the teachings of the Pharisees, and faith in his own good works.

Listen to these powerful words in Philippians 3:7-11:

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

If you want to know what motivated Paul, and what motivates great evangelists, missionaries, and the most devoted believers in Christ, here it is. They want to know Jesus more…..

Verse 12:

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”

Paul did not consider himself a prisoner of Rome, but a prisoner of Jesus Christ. He was not really apprehended by Caesar, but by Jesus. He knew God had a purpose for his life, and was single-mindedly focu[...]