Hard-knock life

“It's the hard-knock life for us! It's the hard-knock life for us! 'Steada treated,We get tricked! 'Steada kisses, We get kicked! It's the hard-knock life! Got no folks to speak of, so, It's the hard-knock row we hoe!” ~ Little Orphan Annie

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” ~ Romans 8:18

It would be hard to argue that beyond the Lord Jesus Christ, the most influential character in the 1st Century church was the Apostle Paul. If you do not include the book of Hebrews, Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament. That is over 30% of the text. Without a doubt, Paul is one of my heroes and I have many books on my shelves that are devoted to the first missionary of Christianity. As an aside; one of my favorite books about Paul is “Paul the Apostle: An Illustrated Handbook of His Life & Travels” by Robert T. Boyd.

Paul should give hope for all that the long suffering, grace and mercy of God can be extended and is available to everyone no matter how heinous and troubling our past may be. Before his conversion on the road to Damascus as recorded in Acts chapter 9, Paul was an accessory to murder. In Acts 7:58 as Stephen was being stoned for preaching about the resurrection of Jesus Christ those participating brought his belongings and laid them at the feet of Paul, then known as Saul.

By his own testimony in Galatians 1:13-14 as well as before King Agrippa in Acts 26:10-19 he persecuted the church and tried to destroy it. This was not just a simple verbal harassment or tongue lashing that we might experience for identification with Jesus Christ. Paul and his cronies invaded homes, dragged entire families off to prison, tortured and killed people in an effort to make them recant or blaspheme Jesus Christ and make them rue the day that they became professing Christians. How this pales in comparison to any hardship or “trials” we face today within the modern church.

After Saul became Paul on the road to Damascus his life was hardly a bowl of cherries. He was completely ostracized by his former collegeagues and actually they sought to kill him. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-33 he shares the hard-knocks he endured to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. On five separate occasions he was given 39 lashes with a whip. This was not just the whip you see in an Indiana Jones movie; this was a cat of nine tails or Roman flagrum that included glass, bone and nails in the tips. He was beaten with rods five times and stoned and left for dead. In the 1st Century stoning was not as simple as picking up a baseball sized rock and pitching at someone, although that would be painful and could cause major damage. The process of stoning entailed taking someone to the edge of some high place, pushing them off and then have two people pick up a large boulder and try to crush the victim. If that did not kill them the mob would then pick up any available stone and throw them until the victim was dead.

If these hardships were not enough to discourage someone from practicing their faith consider that Paul was also put in prison, shipwrecked, stranded on an island, bit by a snake and adrift at sea for a day and night. Paul’s courage and hope in Jesus Christ in the face of real trials and persecution served as a great source of encouragement to these early converts who also were martyred for their faith. Robert Boyd states; “It is not only doubtful but asinine to suppose that all these believers would have experienced such deaths just to promote a hoax. These people were for real.”

Paul invested his life in the church and into his protégé Timothy for the cause of Christ no matter what. In 2 Timothy 4:2 he told Timothy to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” When Paul is talking about in or out of season he is not talking about the time of the year but whether we feel like it or not we need to share the good news of Jesus Christ. If anyone had ever had a bad day or earned the right to take some time off, it would be the Apostle Paul.

Oswald Chambers puts it this way; “If we do only what we feel inclined to do, some of us would never do anything. There are some people who are totally unemployable in the spiritual realm. They are spiritually feeble and weak, and they refuse to do anything unless they are supernaturally inspired. The proof that our relationship is right with God is that we do our best whether we feel inspired or not.”

Chambers continues; “One of the worst traps a Christian worker can fall into is to become obsessed with his own exceptional moments of inspiration. When the Spirit of God gives you a time of inspiration and insight, you tend to say, “Now that I’ve experienced this moment, I will always be like this for God.” No, you will not, and God will make sure of that. Those times are entirely the gift of God. You cannot give them to yourself when you choose. If you say you will only be at your best for God, as during those exceptional times, you actually become an intolerable burden on Him. You will never do anything unless God keeps you consciously aware of His inspiration to you at all times.”

In Philippians chapter 3 Paul can truthfully and boldly say that he suffered loss of all things to know the surpassing worth of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. The tenth verse can be read like a prayer; “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” Paul found his complete identity and worth in his risen Savior and any hardship he endured on His behalf paled in comparison to the future glory that awaits.

“Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.” ~ Titus 2:13-15