Paul's Concern

For His Own People

What makes a good preacher? As a young man and a proclaimer of the Gospel of Christ, I am told, on a regular basis, that I am going to make a good preacher some day. I don’t know if I am being told this in a hopeful manner like, “Boy we hope you’ll make a good preacher someday because you sure aren’t now,” or if my audience can truly see the ability I have now and that someday far, far into the future, if I don’t give up and the planets align just right, then there’s about a fifty/fifty chance that I will make a good preacher. I don’t guess it really matters because an older preacher told me once, “Folks always used to say that I was going to make a good preacher someday until that day finally came, then some lady told me that I must have been a good preacher back in the day.” It seems that there truly is no rest for the weary. What is it that makes a man a good, effective Gospel preacher, someone like Paul? I believe that it is the very reason that men go out to spread the word of God. I am not talking about the large salary, great benefits, adoring fans, or only having to do any real work for three hours a week. I am talking about the love and concern for the salvation for our fellow man. Paul showed this continually throughout his life, not only in word but in deed as well.

Throughout Paul’s ministry, one of the things that is always on his heart is the state that his fellow countrymen, the Jews, are in, regarding their relationship with God and their rejection of Christ. “I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart” (Rom. 9:2). There is no doubt that Paul feels deeply for those to whom he is preaching, Jew and Gentile alike. This feeling is what makes him such a productive preacher. His heart is continually grieved and therefore pushes him on in his work, for he wants to see that as many as can hear the Gospel do. We are told in Second Peter 3:9 that the Lord “is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”  If our hearts, like Paul’s, are following after the Lord’s own, how then can we not feel a deep pang for those outside of Christ, who live out their days without the knowledge of the truth and will pass on from this life into eternal destruction? “Speaking the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15) is not merely saying, “Jesus loves you” as nicely as possible. It means that if we truly love our neighbors as ourselves, which sounds oddly like a command, then we will speak to them of the Gospel truth.

“For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren” (Rom. 9:3). To be Christ-like should be the goal of all Christians. One might say that I am Christ-like in that I give without thought of what I might get in return. Another might say I am Christ-like in that I care for those that cannot care for themselves. Paul could say that I am Christ-like in that I would give myself for those that hate me, and reject what I say, so that they might have everlasting life. Christ said in John 15:1, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.” Paul is willing to do more in that he is willing to not only give up his physical life but his everlasting life as well. Coffman, in his commentary on Romans, says that the word “accursed” (anathema, ASV), “implies eternal death as well as physical death.” This emotion is also expressed by Moses in Exodus 32:32, where he says, on behalf of the Israelites, to God, “Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” What love is it that a parent would lay down his or her life for a child? How much more would it be for one to lay down his life for those that despise him? This is truly a Christ-like statement, by Paul, of the love that he had for his fellow man. Paul knows that there is no sacrifice that he could ever make that would accomplish what he desires. Christ crucified was the only sacrifice that could wipe away our sins and restore us once again to God (Heb. 9:11-15). The reason why he says this, is to let the readers of his letter know that he was willing to do whatever it took so that they could come to the knowledge of the truth. Paul, one of the greatest preachers that ever lived, was effective because he cared more for those he preached to than himself. 

Out of all of the preachers that came after Christ, Paul was truly one of the greatest. He was not the most eloquent or physically impressive of preachers (2 Cor. 10:10). He was not always loved by those to whom he preached (Acts 14:19), nor was he always supported by them (2 Cor. 11:8, 9). He suffered more than most can even imagine (2 Cor. 11:24-27), but continued on to the very end (2 Tim. 4:7). How was it, that he was able to stay the course through so much hardship and still convert so many? What was it that made Paul, like Moses, so willing to sacrifice all to save his people? Christ said in John 14:15, “If you love Me, keep My commandments,” and when asked what the greatest commandment was, He said, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 22:37-39). Paul loved God more than all, more than himself. Because of this, he loved his fellow man with a selfless, self-sacrificing kind of love. A love that helped him to endure all so that he could do the only thing that he ever knew to do, fear God and keep His commands. What is it that we are we willing to sacrifice?