A Fork in the Road – Part Four

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Paul the apostle had a life-changing encounter with the Lord while on his way to persecute believers. It was such a dramatic encounter that his name changed from Saul to Paul. Paul served the Lord from that day forward with his whole heart. With passion. He recorded his new approach to life in Colossians, chapter three and we call it “The Passion Principle.” It reads, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (verses 23-24 ESV).

Paul serves as a pattern for this passion in at least three areas. 

1> He shows us what it means to be sold-out, no-holds-barred servant of Christ

2> He is a model of the character of a passionate servant of Christ

3> He is a model or example of the ultimate goal of life – sharing Christ with others

When you reach the fork in the road and decide to make Jesus Lord of your life … then Paul’s words become our mandate. “Whatever you do …” This means that Jesus is Lord of all of your life and every aspect of your daily life. We have looked at two of the three examples for how to live life that Paul the apostle left us. Let’s continue with the third.

For every true believer the ultimate goal is sharing Jesus with others. If we truly love someone — and we are called to love everyone — then we would want them to know Jesus and receive all that He has accomplished for them on the Cross of Calvary.

Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, then to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). Great passion (Paul’s “Passion Principle” – ‘doing things heartily’) … great passion requires the ultimate in compassion. That’s what makes Paul’s desire to reach the lost so profound: He was one of only three people in the Bible who offered to exchange his life for the salvation of others. Paul declared, “I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites” (Romans 9:3-4).

Moses shared Paul’s self-sacrificing passion for others. He asked God to blot him out of His book if the Lord did not forgive the idolatrous Israelites in the Sinai desert (see Exodus 32:32). God responded by forgiving the people. And Jesus, of course, not only offered His life but “gave Himself a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:6).

What did Paul mean by wishing to be accursed that Israel may be saved? He knew it wasn’t possible for him to be cursed in Israel’s place. But his heartfelt plea demonstrated his deep passion for those outside of Christ. He was willing to give up everything to reach his wayward countrymen. So he lived his entire life passionately in the face of painful opposition (from the same people he was wanting to see born again) to share the gospel. Eventually Paul did give up his life for his faith, but not before bending every effort to bring unbelievers to the Saviour to whom he owed everything.

Henry Thoreau, the rugged New England nonconformist of the nineteenth century, once went to jail instead of paying a poll tax in his state, for he knew the tax supported slavery. Thoreau’s good friend Ralph Waldo Emerson heard Thoreau was in jail and went immediately to visit him. Peering through the iron bars into the cell, Emerson exclaimed, “Why, Henry, what are you doing in there?”

The unperturbed Thoreau shot back, “Nay, Ralph. The questions is, What are you doing out there?”

Paul was in prison numerous times for preaching the gospel. I can imagine a friend coming to visit him and posing Emerson’s questions: “Paul, what are you doing in there? Why did you allow yourself to get arrested for preaching the gospel?” And I can hear the apostle’s bold response: “The question is, Why aren’t you in here too? Where is your passion for the lost?”

That question rings true to me: What else can be more important than sharing the Good News with others? 

Now, admittedly, you and I have not been called to the Gentiles as Paul was. Referring to the Gentiles, Jesus commissioned Paul “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in [Christ]” (Acts 26:18).

But just as surely as Paul was sent to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, you, too, have an assignment from God. As a Christian, you have been sent by God to share the good news with the people in your circle of relationships: family members, friends, coworkers, and neighbours. Paul wrote that God “has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18).

Think of it. God came into the darkness at a great price — the price of His only Son — to rescue us and bring us back into His arms. Now He gives us the same task. We are to stride into the darkness and rescue as we were first rescued. Personally, I cannot imagine anyone who fully understands what Christ has done yet doesn’t have a powerful passion to pass on that gift to others.

Paul’s passion was great enough to land him in prison. And as you read this, there are Christians suffering all across the world because they dare to share their faith. Living with passion requires that we share the love of God as found only in Jesus with others. So those who fully understand the depth and power of God’s love for them march onward without hesitation. They know His power and grace will go with them — and be manifest most abundantly — when they dare to step into the darkness. 

Passion is not cheap. But it is real; it is priceless. It may cost your life, but it will save your soul. Generations of believers, now passed from the earth, handed down the gospel so that you could hear it. Now it’s your turn. You stand at a fork in the road as Paul did on the Road to Damascus – which way will you turn?

A Fork in the Road – Part Three

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Paul the apostle had a life-changing encounter with the Lord while on his way to persecute believers. It was such a dramatic encounter that his name changed from Saul to Paul. Paul served the Lord from that day forward with his whole heart. With passion. He recorded his new approach to life in Colossians, chapter three and we call it “The Passion Principle.” It reads, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (verses 23-24 ESV).

Paul serves as a pattern for this passion in at least three areas. 

1> He shows us what it means to be sold-out, no-holds-barred servant of Christ

2> He is a model of the character of a passionate servant of Christ

3> He is a model or example of the ultimate goal of life – sharing Christ with others

We looked at the first one yesterday … let’s continue our journey into the truth of these verses and the passion with which Paul lived and we, as believers, are called to live every aspect of our daily life.

On December 1, 1955, a plainspoken African-American woman named Rose Parks boarded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, to ride home – or so she thought. She, too, came to the fork in her road and a life changing and totally life-altering encounter. In her book, Quiet Strength, she wrote: “When I sat down on the bus that day, I had no idea history was being made — I was only thinking of getting home. But I had made up my mind. … I felt the Lord would give me the strength to endure whatever I had to face. It was time for someone to stand up — or in my case, sit down. So I refused to move.”

Though ordered by the bus driver to give her seat to a white man, Rosa Parks remained in her place. One thing led to another in her town and across the nation, and the legal conflict led to a ruling by the United States Supreme Court that racial segregation is unconstitutional.

Rosa Parks didn’t seek — and never claimed — credit for launching the civil rights movement. She only wanted to do what was right. She was passionate about generations of African-Americans who had been denied their God-given and constitutional status as equals among other Americans. She did something about it. A passion for others suffering wrong triggered in Ms. Parks a passion to do her part to make it right. That’s godly character making a positive difference in the lives of others.

I believe Paul would have approved of the stand (or the seat) Rosa Park took ad the suffering she was willing to endure for it. He cared a great deal about integrity. He didn’t want his words to be devalued or rejected because he failed to practice what he preached. He lived at a high standard of character so that his actions would enhance, not detract from, his message.

For example, as an apostle, Paul had the right to be financially supported by the churches that he served. It was a common, accepted practice among first-century Christians just as it is today — the congregation pays the minister by some means. Paul built a strong case for this protocol in 1 Corinthians 9:1-11. But instead of taking what was due, Paul worked on the side as a tentmaker to earn his own support, and many of those with him took other jobs as well. He didn’t want to be burden to the those he served, and he didn’t want anyone to wrongly construe that he was in the ministry for the money, bringing reproach on the gospel he preached. Paul was passionate about maintaining godly character so that nothing would “hinder the gospel of Christ” (1 Corinthians 9:12).

Like an athlete in training, Paul knew he had to be in world-class condition and play by the rules or he would be the laughingstock of his event. If he was not passionate about developing strong, godly characters those who heard him would have every right to discount him and his message. And Paul was not about to let that happen.

Living totally committed to the Lordship of Christ includes pursuing godly character with passion. And since godly character is really the character of God forming in us, we must rely on the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit to help is become a person of righteousness and integrity who reflect Christ. As Paul explained in Galatians 5, character building is the process of saying no to the flesh while allowing the Holy Spirit to cultivate His character – pictured as fruit – in our life: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). That fruit grows from a life of passionate devotion to Christ. It grows when we do “all things as unto the Lord.” 

When the world sees that fruit, it opens its heart, suspends its disbelief, and is ready to hear our story; to hear our testimony and the Gospel of the Kingdom (Matthew 24:14 and Revelation 12:11).

A Fork in the Road – Part Two

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Paul the apostle had a life-changing encounter with the Lord while on his way to persecute believers. It was such a dramatic encounter that his name changed from Saul to Paul. Paul served the Lord from that day forward with his whole heart. With passion. He recorded his new approach to life in Colossians, chapter three and we call it “The Passion Principle.” It reads, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (verses 23-24 ESV).

Paul serves as a pattern for this passion in at least three areas. 

1> He shows us what it means to be sold-out, no-holds-barred servant of Christ

2> He is a model of the character of a passionate servant of Christ

3> He is a model or example of the ultimate goal of life – sharing Christ with others

Paul – or Saul, as he was called then – was galloping along with his fellow persecutors, salivating at the prospect of dragging more Christians off to jail and maybe even to their death. Then suddenly — bam! — he was on the ground, blinded by a powerful light. A heavenly voice asked, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4).

Saul answered the question with one of his own: “Who are you, Lord?” (Verse 5). I’ve always thought it amazing that Saul answered his own question: “Who are you? Lord.” Those from the Jewish rabbinic tradition — which was Saul’s background – understood any voice from heaven to be the voice of God Himself. I think Saul knew before he even hit the ground that his life was about to change dramatically.

Nothing reveals more about how Paul saw himself after his conversion than the way he frequently identified himself: “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:1). Not “Paul, the famous apostle to the Gentiles.” Not “Paul the author of most of the New Testament epistles.” Just “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ” — period. 

When Paul met Jesus, he didn’t merely assent to the Christian faith. He voluntarily became Jesus’s bondservant. He gave the Lord everything he was and everything he had – his life and breath; his past, present, and future; his hopes and dreams; his passion for living.

Paul’s voluntary servitude to his Lord is even more significant in light of the culture’s laws concerning slaves. In those times it was common for poor people to sell themselves to the wealthy as slaves. In exchange for their labour they received room and board, and, if the master was kind, others benefits. For these people, being enslaved and fed was more acceptable than being free and starving.

Before Paul was born, Roman law stated that no Roman citizen who had been born free could be enslaved. But some unscrupulous people were taking advantage of this law for their own profit. For example, a working-class Roman citizen (we’ll call him Marcus) sells himself as a slave into the employ of a wealthy, unwitting Roman landowner. Sometime after the deal has been done and the money exchanged, Marcus’s accomplish, Gaius, approaches the landowner with papers proving Marcus’s Roman citizenship. “Too bad, mister,” says Gaius, “but Marcus is a citizen and, by law, cannot be enslaved. If you don’t release him immediately, I’ll call the authorities.” Marcus and Gaius take the money and run, and there’s nothing the hapless landowner can do about it. The two men are free to con other wealthy Romans in some other area of the empire. 

Due to the adverse effect of this scam on the Roman economy, a new law was enacted just before Paul came on the scene. The law stated that any citizen that sold himself into slavery could no longer claim free status — not ever. This new law closed the loop-hole. Voluntary slaves became permanent, lifetime slaves with no recourse for freedom. It was with this backdrop that Paul, a Roman citizen, gave himself to Jesus as a servant for life. Paul was so passionate about serving Christ that he signed himself over once and for all. He lived what the hymn writer so eloquently declared: “The world behind me, the cross before me; no turning back, no turning back.”

Being a Jew, the apostle Paul was also keenly aware of Mosaic legislation concerning voluntary slavery. The Law allowed a slave who truly loved his master to declare upon being set free, “I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free” (Exodus 21:5). The Jewish slave who remained in voluntary submission to his master bore an identify mark: “His master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever (verse 6). Similarly, Paul, having suffered extensively in the passionate service of his master wrote, “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus” (Galatians 6:17)

The life of passion for the Christian begins with total surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, It is through presenting yourself to the Master voluntarily, unreservedly, and permanently that you unleash the power of the passionate life. This then becomes your fork in the road.

And, it is the ultimate fork in your road. You are a slave; you are a human sacrifice laid voluntarily upon the alter. You die to the old life so that you may be reborn to the new, wide-open life of Christ and all His power. You die in order to live, you become a slave in order to be free, and you give away the world in order to gain your soul.

More next time….