Paul – An Encouragement to Believers

Introduction: Do you remember the last time you felt discouraged, misunderstood, helpless, hopeless and wondering what is happening in your life? Or are you going through some struggle today?

So what to do when you are down? Let’s look at the life of the apostle Paul who had all circumstances to be down and low but yet lived a very purposeful life.

Paul – An Encouragement to believers

Apostle Paul is such a character in the NT that his historical footprints will never be erased as long as our planet endures.

The renowned German scholar, Adolf Deissmann, in his book Paul: A study in Social and Religious History, 1957 said: “There is no single person since Nero’s days who has left such permanent marks on the souls of men as Paul the New Man.” He noted that the grand apostle of Christ, “rising from the mass of the insignificant many” is “still molding the world at the present moment.”

So what are some of the characteristics of Paul out of many that encourage me when I am down?

Brief Background: Paul was a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia which was one of the top cities of his time. He studied under Gamaliel and was persecuting the churches because for him Christianity was blasphemy. But then God brought him a very dramatic transformation on the road to Damascus when he was going to persecute the church. This brought him an absolute change of life, change of mind, and change of action. Now he started working for Christ and his church where he faced persecution, yet he fished his race, fulfilled his purpose and he starts out as a great example for us.

So what are some of the troubles Paul faced?

Acts 20-28 mention the sufferings Paul faced.

Acts 20:23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. He knows that trouble is ahead of him at every point.

Sufferings of Paul in Acts

Beaten (Acts 21:30-31; 23:3)

Threatened (Acts 22:22; 27:42)

Arrested many times (Acts 21:33; 22:24, 31; 23:35; 28:16)

Accused in lawsuits (Acts 21:34; 22:30; 24:1-2; 25:2, 7; 28:4)

Interrogated (Acts 25:24-27)

Ridiculed (Acts 26:24)

Ignored (Acts 27:11)

Shipwrecked (Acts 27:41)

Bitten by a viper (Acts 28:3).

Tradition says that Paul eventually was beheaded in Rome.

In spite of facing all these troubles, Paul never gave up. He faced everything that he came across in life and fulfilled his call.

See how Luke ends Acts: Acts 28:30-31 ³⁰For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. ³¹He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!

So, what to do when you are down as a Christian? What would have motivated Paul?

I want to give you a couple of characteristics of Apostle Paul out of the many others that kept Paul going.

1. CONVERSION

Paul’s conversion experience

Paul could never forget his conversion experience on the road to Damascus as he was going to persecute the church. That scene and experience kept him going through his difficult times. We all should have one or two incidents of encounter with the Lord wherein we can look back and take encouragement by the way God has called us and dealt with us in the past.

Now, in Acts 22, Paul is recalling his salvation experience after almost 16 years of speaking to the crowd as he was arrested. His conversion experience was an unforgettable experience in his life. After three days, his blindness was taken away. God later used Paul to preach. Luke when he wrote Acts mentions this Damascus experience in 3 places, Acts 9, Acts 22, Acts 26

Paul writing his epistles is again writing about this experience:

1 Corinthians 9:1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord?

1 Corinthians 15:8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

Paul’s salvation experience, the encounter he had with God was a very vital point in Paul’s life. That was what he could always look back to and gain encouragement from.

This experience brought Paul a total transformation:

Faith in Jesus.

New Creation.

Fervor in supplication.

Filling of the Spirit.

Faithful in Service.

Fellowship with the saints.

He could always relate back to this incident that transformed him. Friends, your encounter with God is a vital point of your life. There must be a reflection back on those experiences, especially in our tough times.

So when you are down, one of the first things that must come to your mind is that Jesus saved you. You are a child of God. He did not save you to stay down, but he saved you so that no matter what you are going through in life you can get up and keep going. Apostle Paul is the perfect example of that.

Firstly, conversion or experience of with the Lord that you had.

2. COURAGE

Now, what type of courage am I talking about? Courage in the Lord.

Paul’s courage cannot be passed over in silence. When we read about his life and ministry, his courage, and his boldness in the Lord just stand out.

It is unrealistic to imagine that Paul was never afraid. In Corinth, Paul was having a great time in ministry. Crispus, the synagogue leader and his entire household believed in the Lord and many Corinthians believed and were baptized. In spite of their great success in ministry, Paul was afraid. The Lord spoke to Paul in a night vision, cautioning: Acts 18:9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you…”

You are saying, pastor Paul was afraid. Friends, courage is not the absence of fear; it is doing what is right even when you are afraid! It is trusting God when things are against you. It is moving forward when you feel you are down.

Paul stoned in Lystra

In Acts 14, on the first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas came to the city of Lystra in Asia Minor. There they encountered a man who had been crippled all his life. By God’s power, Paul healed the man, and the crowds that witnessed the event were enthralled, attempting even to worship the apostle and his companion. They called Paul Hermes and Barnabas Zeus. Paul and Barnabas tore their own clothes and rushed out saying, “We are men like you. We have come to tell you about the living God.” But they brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates and their priests started killing those animals to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas which they did not want.

Some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and stoned Paul: Acts 14:19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.

Paul was stoned, dragged outside the city, and left for dead.

According to the Jewish Mishnah or their oral tradition, a stoning victim was substantially stripped of his clothes, thrown from an elevated place twice the height of a human person, positioned with his heart upward, and huge rocks were then dropped (or thrown) upon him until he was dead. The vicious mob at Lystra “supposed” Paul was dead and obviously left the site. This was just what they did to Stephen. Stephen died but Paul did not die.

Acts 14:20-21 ²⁰But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe. ²¹They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch.

Apparently, they worked in Derbe for some time, for “many disciples” were won for the Lord. they determined they would return to Antioch of Syria, from where they had begun their gospel adventure. They might well have taken a more direct route, thus avoiding the dangerous cities visited earlier. But no, they would revisit the churches previously established—even the deadly Lystra—in order to confirm the disciples and exhort them to continue in the faith. Look at the courage of Paul to do the right thing.

When our life is in danger, when you and I get down, count on the courage that God has given us.

Some of you may wonder what if Paul had died? Well, do you know what Paul said? Absent in the body is what? Present with the Lord, 2 Corinthians 5:8. Look at his confidence, no matter what happened to him, he will never give up on doing what God called him to do.

What is the basis of our courage?

The basis of our confidence is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit who is the power of God. Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

2 Corinthians 5:5 says God has given us the Spirit as a deposit.

Ephesians 1:13 When you believed you were marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit.

It is to empower you, Holy Spirit will always be with you, to give you direction for your life. So you have the Holy Spirit in you. Do you consider yourself a courageous person or do things frighten you easily?

We live in a fearful age. Fear comes suddenly and calamity comes suddenly but because of who we are we are to live on the basis of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit who will encourage us in every single situation of life.

3. COMPANIONS

The third aspect which kept Paul going is his good Christian companions. When he was dragged out of the Lystra after being stoned, his friends did not abandon him but came and stood around him until he got up.

Friends, you need to have somebody or a group of people who you can really count on in the Lord. For that to happen you need to develop good friendships in the Christian circle. Friendship is a two-way process. It is something that we take time to develop, it does not happen automatically.

We all need the encouragement of fellow believers who will help us get on our feet again so we can finish carrying out the work God has planned for us.

Paul’s TeamWork

Friends, do you know that Paul was a team person. Paul was a church person. Paul was a people person. Luke lists in Acts more than a dozen people as his associates. Even Luke who wrote this book is a companion. The “We” passages in this book state that Luke was a travelling companion with Paul. In Romans 16 Paul mentions more than 30 names of his associates.

Paul never did ministry alone. He always travelled with people. On the flip side, Christian companions also come with their own challenges. Working with people is not easy.

Working with others is not easy

Barnabas and John Mark were Paul’s travel companions on the first missionary journey. When Paul wanted to start his second journey, he did not want to take John Mark.

Acts 15:36-41 ³⁶Sometime later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” ³⁷Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, ³⁸but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. ³⁹They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, ⁴⁰but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. ⁴¹He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Acts 16:1-3 ¹Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. ²The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. ³Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

I am sure it is not easy to work with people.

Tips from Paul’s life working with Companions:

1. Working with people can sometimes be painful.
2. When one leaves, God brings another into our life.
3. Those who leave us are not our enemies.

Paul parted ways with John Mark but see Paul’s writing one of his last letters and how he mentions John Mark: 1 Timothy 4:11 Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. Paul took time to reconcile with Mark. Paul also worked on reconciliation with Barnabas because in 1 Corinthians 9:6 he mentions Barnabas in the passing in a respectful way.

On the other hand, Paul had some good companions that refreshed him.

Develop godly friendships.

Conclusion: “It doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down. All that matters is you get up one more time than you were knocked down.” ― Roy T. Bennett

Whatever has you down, can’t keep you down if you respond the way apostle Paul did. You have the same Holy Spirit to pick yourself up and move on like the apostle Paul.

If you are not saved, you cannot have this assurance without receiving the Lord Jesus Christ into your life. You can have forgiveness of sins and also get up from where you are down. If you are down this morning and are a churchgoer, give those down feelings to God this morning, receive his strength, confidence, assurance, boldness, and courage so that when you walk out of the church today, you will be ready to face life and the world.