1130. Paul's Privations–What He Gave Up
Paul's Privations–What He Gave Up
"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ" (Php_3:7).
We may discuss the privations of Paul as threefold.
1. Paul gave up his prospects. Paul recounts some of the things which were his in the flesh. He was circumcised the eighth day; he was of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews: he was, as touching the Law, a Pharisee; as concerning zeal, persecuting the Church; as touching the righteousness which is in the Law, blameless.
The young man Saul had many things which he could place on the debit side of his ledger, assets which were not to be despised. Positionally he was great. Religiously he was great. Membership in the Sanhedrin lay at his door. He stood close to the high priest and was a favorite with the scribes and elders. They confided in him. They sent him forth in their behalf. They gave him religious and political preferment. All of these Paul counted loss for Christ–he gladly gave them up.
Yet, God made good to Paul. He who left all to follow Christ, could say: "There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." His Heavenly prospects were blessed, in spite of the fact that he had thrown his earthly prospects to the winds.
Illustration: We remember a young man who had great prospects in the political world. He was already a solicitor of the court; he was an acknowledged champion for the governorship; he had chances, second to none, as a possible senator of the United States, and yet he counted it all but loss. His mother bemoaned the day that we placed our hands upon his head and set him aside as a minister of the Cross, as the bitterest day of her life. That man left all. Then God made it all up to him. God graciously blessed his ministry, placed him in one of our great Southern pulpits and then took him to be with Him in His Glory. Yes, God much more than makes up our loss.
2. Paul gave up his possessions. We do not know that Paul was wealthy, or anything of that kind. We know that he must have come from a splendid family. We know that he did have the possibilities of accumulating worldly goods. All of this he gave up for Christ. In after years he wrote to the Corinthians, "I think that God hath set forth us the Apostles last, as it were appointed to death; for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools * * we are weak * * we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace and labour, working with our own hands * * we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day."
Surely the Apostle Paul had yielded earthly possessions, and in so doing he had felt the sting of temporal needs. Still Paul rejoiced. He wrote to the Philippians: "I have suffered the loss of all," and yet, said he, "I have all and abound, I am full." And then Paul assured others, thus: "And my God shall supply all your need, according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Thus God made up to Paul, down here, and above all He made him heir to the untold riches of His Heavenly Kingdom.
3. Paul gave up his people. It is far easier to give up prospects and possessions than your kith and kin. However, Paul laid them all aside. He was willing to leave father or mother, brother or sister, just as he was willing to leave honor and position, houses and lands. Paul's privations, however, not only deprived him of his own people, but also of many friends, who once had loved and been beloved by him. We may recount some of those who left Paul, from the record in II Timothy:
"All they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes."
"Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world."
"Alexander, the coppersmith, did me much evil."
"At my first answer no man stood with me."
Yet, God made up to Paul. He verified that wonderful promise: "If any man shall leave father, or mother, etc., he shall have a hundredfold in this life, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters," etc. The Apostle Paul was tenderly loved and was beloved of many saints of God.
When we turn to the Book of Romans we find how the man who had been greatly maligned and mistreated by the people, was loved of the saints.
He wrote to the saints at Rome: "I long to see you, * * that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith of you and me" (Rom_1:11-12).
He wrote to the Philippians, "My brethren dear-ly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown" (Php_4:1).
He said to the Thessalonians, "Brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith: for now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. * * Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face" (1Th_3:7-10).
He said to the Corinthians, "That ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you."
In after days when so many turned from Paul, he could not help but praise God for the many who remained true.
In the 16th chapter of Romans he recounts how God made up to him in the loss of his people. He wrote how Phebe had been his succorer; how Priscilla and Aquila had been his helpers in Christ Jesus, and had laid down their own necks for his life; how Mary had bestowed much labor on him; how Andronicus and Junia, two of his kinsman, who were of note among the Apostles, had been fellow-prisoners with him; how Urbane had been a fellow-worker in Christ; how Stachys had been his beloved; how he called the mother of Rufus his own mother.
Added to the fact that, amid his loss of his people, God had given him the love of many saints; there stood, before Paul, one other thing–the most precious of all. Paul thus expressed it: "But the Lord stood by me." We have now seen Paul's privations as a part of the ministry of his sufferings; we have seen also how he had yielded prospects, possessions and people, and how, through it all, God had stood with him, and had more than made up to Paul all that he lost.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR