Finish Well

Intro

Good Morning how is everyone doing. (answers) i’m so excited to be teaching for you guys today in the final lesson of the Paul series. can someone tell me what you talked about last week? (answers).

Lets Pray as we start our time PRAY

Me

Have you guys ever been hurt really badly… so badly that it left a scar or mark on you. if so your just like me because I have had my fair share of cuts and bruises and scars to go with them. let me tell you about what I think is the worst injuries I had was the result of a fusbol table. that's right a fusbol table.

this story starts out after church when i was about 7 or 8 and me and some of my friends decided to be cool and play fusbol after church however what I didn't know was that this table had screw sticking through the leg of the one side. as we played we got more and more into it until i went to Jump and the screw cut my leg from my knee to the ankle. immediately I was in tears and ran to find help the cut bled and bled until i was able to patch it up. even after the scab went away this left a nasty scar on my leg to which i still have faint one today.

now you may say to yourself why is he talking about a cut and scar that he has what does that have to do with the lesson. but I assure you that it relates to our topic of today.

now I might be speaking for the guys here but how many of you when you get a scar or cut you like to show it off the your friends (guys I know that you guys do this because I've done it).

Well today we will be talking about how Paul used his own cuts and bruises to the glory of the kingdom of God.

God

Before we dive into the passages that we are going to talk about today we have to first see what were the injuries Paul faced while he was traveling and sharing the gospel.

For starters Paul was verbally attacked in almost every place that he visited. on top of that he was shipwrecked 4 times! bitten by a poisonous snake, and on top of all of that five times he received the 40 lashes minus one, was stoned and left for dead and to top it off he was arrested many times.

I think that all of us can say after hearing this that Paul had been through a lot. yet theirs one thing that stands out and that is that Paul delighted in all of these things because through these punishments he knew that God was in control and that he was doing something right.

as James states in James 1:2

James 1:2 ESV

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

Paul lived out this verse to the fullest. i know that if I was hurt and almost killed that many times that i would not be full of joy.

But I think that we can use Paul's experiences and attitude to help us realize how we are to react to situations of hurting and persecution and ultimately how we are supposed to live our lives.

we are going to look at examples of how Paul says we are to live in the face suffering and what they say about facing and enduring trials.

First we are going to look at 1 Peter 4:14

1 Peter 4:14 ESV

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

This passage is so powerful in what it is saying. Paul here is saying that to be insulted means that you are blessed. this is probably not what you think of when you are insulted for your faith. Paul firsthand has experienced this and has dealt with this and he says here that it is not something that is bad but rather good.

now that we see that being hurt for your faith is a good thing we can dive into our other passages

Open up to 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 ESV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul here is making a statement that is so counter cultural and not at all what any of us think of when we think of weakness. Paul quite literally is saying that in our weakness Christ is lifted up. you see when we talk about something being made perfect we think of being strong sturdy unhurt. but no this is not how we should think we should think like Paul and realize it is only when we are weak that Gods power is made perfect. I think the reason for this is simple when we are strong and unhurt we tend to not lean on God when in reality we should boast in that weakness because we are made to lean on God and he uses that weakness to grow us to become closer to him.

we can also see that Christ is glorified in our suffering which is revealed to us in Philippians 3:10

Philippians 3:10 ESV

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

This passages is so influential and Paul here is really digging deep into the reality that he desires to experience suffering just as Christ so that he can grow closer and ultimately become more humble toward what he went through. you see in our suffering we grow closer to Christ and encounter him in the same way as Paul say he did. this is such a hard thing to accept because we dread suffering which I don't think is wrong don't take what I'm saying as I want you to suffer but I think their is something to be said about when you face suffering you can grow closer to Christ. To bring this into perspective its like if you were to run a race that you say is easy but once you so it you gain more of a appreciation for what people that complete it went through. this is very similar to what Paul is saying when he says that through his suffering he has a new perspective on Christs sufferings on the cross.

This brings us to the next thing that Paul explains which is that suffering brings glory to Christ

Philippians 1:20–21 ESV

as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

These couple verses are actually some of my favorite and to me some of the most influential verses i have read. Paul here is stating that through all of his sufferings he still belongs to Christ and nothing can waiver that he wants to live a life in which he is not ashamed of the gospel as we see stated in Romans 1:16

Romans 1:16 ESV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

but further I think that verse 21 is really a reality check for us because of what Paul says the translation from Greek to English literally stated is To live, Christ To Die, Gain. but what does this mean. This statement sums up Paul's faith because he is saying that while he is living the only thing that matters is Christ (Paul states multiple times that he is a prisoner to christ) but the death part is that he realizes that when he passes from the earth he will be in the presence of God which is ultimately gain. this is something that again is so counter cultural no one wants to die we don't think of it as gain but why? Paul is probably using this to urge the church in Philipi to check themselves on whether they have fully surrendered to the reign of Christ or whether they were still living for themselves.

I think that in Colossians Paul really builds off of this concept that surrendering our lives no matter the consequences

Colossians 1:24 ESV

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

I want to focus on this first part of the verse for a bit. that Paul rejoices in the suffering and i know that it is starting to sound repetitive but through this repetition we can see how much this matters and how important this is for us to take in and put into action. this second part of the verse can be summed up into a simple phrase and that is that Christs work is completed when we suffer. Ultimately when we suffer in joy we are pouring out our faith to the point where people will begin to ask what is different about him/her why are they happy life has really been rough for them but their still full of joy.

Application

So we have walked through these passages and have seen how Paul dealt with the sufferings that came his way. So now the question is how can we apply this to our lives but first i want to pose a question [if we were to put our lives up against how Paul says we are to live how would we score, high,low, in the middle] how do you think Paul would react to seeing us complain about little things in life? be honest we all do maybe its your busy schedule or maybe a teacher you don't like.

Have we ever faced real suffering for our faith? is this a result of us being shielded by God or is it a lack of risk taking when it comes to sharing our faith

I think that this is a question we all have to individually wrestle with and that is between you and God. I know that this is something that i wrestled with recently while writing this lesson.

So how do we truly start to take more risks to share the gospel? First I think that it starts with knowing what the Gospel is. if you were asked to give a 1 minute gospel presentation could you do it? Second we need to reevaluate our attitude towards suffering is it something dreaded or is it something we can in confidence say we rejoice in. and finally we need to give up control to Christ just as Paul stated he is a prisoner to christ. Let God guide you through life let him use you and let him be the place where you run to in times of suffering.

I want to leave you guys with these verses from 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 ESV

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Run the race its not an easy one you may stumble and fall but if you get back up and finish the race you will receive the ultimate reward of eternal life and standing in Christs presence as he says well done good and faithful servant. the choice is yours will you run the race with Christ or without.

Lets Pray