Paul's guys

Whenever we talk about the Apostle Paul, we often focus on his miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9) or that he wrote 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament.  Paul was radically changed by his encounter with Jesus, which led to a life-long mission of sharing the gospel across the known world.  Paul’s missionary trips weren’t all full of happy responses and community building projects – he encountered many dangerous situations, from both people and nature.  He gave a brief listing of them in one of his letters to the believers in Corinth:

2 Corinthians 11:24-28
Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews.  Three times I was beaten with rods.  Once I received a stoning.  Three times I was shipwrecked.  I have spent a night and a day in the open sea.  On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers among false brothers; toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and without clothing.  Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my concern for all the churches.

For all the things we do see Paul going through as we track his journeys in the Scriptures, do you know what we don’t often see?  Very rarely do we see him going anywhere alone.  During some of his various imprisonments, he was alone – but even then, friends sought him out to give him encouragement, delivering news to and from the churches he planted.  But most of the time, Paul traveled with companions like Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, Titus, and many others. 

Twelve of his thirteen letters contain a reference to other people with him – either in the beginning greeting of the letter or in the ending salutations (the one exception is his highly personal letter to his protégé in 1 Timothy).

I’ve heard many sermons about Paul being an example for us modern-day believers to be bold for Christ, to share our faith, and to “follow Paul as he followed Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1) which usually means to think through the truths that God revealed to Paul which he then revealed in his letters to the churches.  But I’ve never been told to follow his example when it comes to surrounding myself with a community of people who are also on-mission for God.

The truth of the matter is we can’t go at this life alone.  We can’t show up to church for one hour on a Sunday and expect God to make the other 167 hours in the week go smoothly.  We need community so we can encourage each other, but we also get a lot more done when we’re working together as the body of Christ. 

I love my group of guys that show up weekly for a zoom call, and then we are the first ones to volunteer to help each other when a situation arises.  When our church consistently shows up to community service events, others take notice…and are curious about what brings us together like that.

There’s no way Paul would have had the impact he made if he had been traveling the known world by himself.  Because of those who also served with him, even through those extremely difficult times, God’s impact through Paul still echoes into today.  God can use our local churches working together in our communities to bring more people to Him.  Despite any opposition or trials we face as we point others to Jesus, only God knows how far into the future our efforts will echo, too.

Keep Pressing,
Ken