Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles
13 - Paul's Testimony
I would like us to look back over Paul’s experiences as a dedicated servant of the Lord Jesus Christ and see what further valuable lessons we can gain from his godly example.
In Acts chapters 24 to 26 we find Paul under arrest by the Romans for his own safety because of false charges brought against him by the Jews. He has been brought before the Roman governor, Felix, who could find no charge to bring against him and decides to keep him under guard. Two years pass and Paul finds himself in front of the Jewish king Agrippa with a further opportunity to defend himself. Paul does this by rehearsing the story of his conversion, from one who vehemently persecuted the followers of Christ to one who had a vision of the risen Lord on the Damascus road, and who had become a follower himself.
It is Paul’s statement to Agrippa, found in verse 19, that is a challenge to us all. He said: “I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven” - “I was not disobedient.” This in itself records the governing secret of Paul’s life as a follower of Christ - as a Christian believer. This was the source of his amazing energies, so fearlessly expended in the cause of his Saviour. Paul never swerved from the path of service which his Lord had set before him. Such obedience involved him in sacrifice and loss and led him into paths from which mere human nature would have shrunk back. Behind his unquestioning obedience to Christ’s will was the all powerful dynamic of his personal devotion to the One who had loved him and given Himself for him.
We should let this truth grip each one of us: that it is not by the volume of our activity and zeal that true Christian faith is attested. It is rather by the simplicity and directness of our obedience out of love for our Master who said to his disciples, “If you love me keep my commands.”
There is another lesson to be learned from Paul’s testimony, recorded for us in Acts chapter 22 verses 12 to 16.
He recounts how Ananias, the disciple from Damascus, said to him: “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear the words of his mouth. You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.”
The knowledge of God’s will includes all that any one needs for life and godliness. Paul was not disobedient to the Lord’s will for him. We have seen in his life that the will of God embraced the three things referred to by Ananias, which are likewise vital to every believer. They are:
First: “To see the Righteous One”. Saul, as he was, had a wonderful, personal revelation of the living Lord Jesus in that blinding light on the Damascus Road. His intimate communion with the Lord Jesus Christ did not stop there but developed and grew until he could say in later years “For me to live is Christ!” This is the primary qualification for the service of the Kingdom of Christ - a living, growing relationship with the Lord. Christ must be seen, first of all in salvation, before we can be his witnesses. Then we are to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3 verse 18)
The second thing was that Paul was to “Hear the words of (Christ’s) mouth.” He was to receive direct from the Lord the instructions as to what would be required of him as God’s servant. He quoted to Agrippa the words spoken to him by Christ:
“… I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, do that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” (Acts 26 verses 15 to 18)
Third: He was to be a witness for Christ of all that he had seen and heard. And all that he would see later. A witness is someone who has actually seen and heard something happen. Paul had a personal encounter with the risen Lord Jesus that day on the road to Damascus, and he continued to experience the power and grace of God in his life throughout his journeys. Because of this he was well qualified to be a faithful witness for Christ. It is not possible for anyone who has not had a saving encounter with the Lord Jesus, who does not know Him personally, to be his witness or to speak for Him in truth.
In summary then: vision, fellowship and service together make up the life which is abiding and valuable in the cause of Christ.
When writing in his letter to the Galatians, Paul would teach us that the proofs of his devotion to Christ and his cause were to be seen in the scars in his body gained through his various stonings and beatings. He refers to them in refutation of the charges of insincerity brought against him by his enemies, and as proof of his Apostleship. The student who is devoted to his master will re-echo his voice and reproduce his spirit. So it is with the servant of Christ. Devotion to him ensures that we inevitably become like him of whom we constantly think, with whom we constantly converse, and to whom we submit every choice we make. In all this the Saviour’s disciples come to bear the marks of the Lord Jesus.
In his letter to the Ephesians, written from prison at Rome, in chapter 3 verse 1 and chapter 4 verse 1, Paul calls himself “a prisoner of Jesus Christ.” In reality he was a prisoner of the Roman authorities and yet he does not regard himself as in any sense their captive. He is there because Christ has himself appointed this experience for the discipline of his soul. The Lord has chosen this Roman prison as the sphere of Paul’s present service. This prison experience became one of the most fruitful periods in Paul’s life of service in the spread of the gospel and the building-up of the church through his writings. Writing to the Philippians about this time in prison, being chained to a prison guard, he told them: “I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.”
So, Paul’s life was drawing near to the end. Writing to Timothy, his son in the faith, he could say, in 2 Timothy chapter 4: “ .the time of my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
So we come to the end of this series looking at the life of Paul, God’s great servant whose influence on the church and the spread of the gospel goes on today through his inspired letters found in the New Testament of the Bible.