Paul’s Pleasure

The cowboy replied, “No, but I was bitten by a rattlesnake, and a horse kicked me in the ribs. That laid me up for a while.” The agent asked, “Weren’t those accidents?” The cowboy immediately replied, “No, they did it on purpose.”

Today I want to show you, from this passage of scripture, that God allows certain things to happen to us FOR a PURPOSE.

Often we do not understand the purpose and that is one reason why we call the Christian walk a walk of faith. We are thankful for the times God makes His purpose known, but often we simply have to trust in the sovereign God of heaven Who does what is best. We have to trust Him to help us in each situation.

There are things that happened to the apostle Paul that he did not fully understand, but he was convinced the sovereign God of heaven had a purpose in those things. Now we know that because of what Paul went through, God will be with us and use us to witness for Him no matter where we are.

Let me show you at least three things to consider about the difficulties of life that Paul faced. As we see how Paul faced those difficulties, may God help us learn to face our difficulties in the same way.

WHAT MADE THE APOSTLE PAUL SUCH AN OUTSTANDING CHRISTIAN?

Part of the answer can be found in this passage of scripture.

For example, we often gripe and complain about the difficulties we face, while Paul took pleasure in them. Let us look at...

I. PAUL’S PLEASURE

Look at 2 Cor. 12:10. Paul said, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses...”

If we stop there, we may wish to read this again because it seems that we may have misread it. But, once we read it again, we find we have not misread it.

WHY DOES THIS VERSE MAKE US DO A “DOUBLE TAKE?”

This verse, thus far, seems to be one of the most outlandish statements a person could make. But then we notice Paul clarifies why he takes “pleasure” in trials God sends his way.

Again, look at the list. Paul said he took “pleasure” in:

• Infirmities.

• Reproaches.

• Necessities.

• Persecutions.

• Distresses.

Those simply are not the usual kind of things people go around rejoicing in!

Illus: When was the last time you heard a Christian say, “I am getting old and feeble and I thank the Lord for this infirmity”?

This is why this verse makes us do a “double take.” We simply do not go around thanking God for misfortunes.

We do not boast in our WEAKNESSES. We boast in our STRENGTHS!

Paul sets an example for us in that he boasted in his WEAKNESS.

We can not help but ask, “Has Paul flipped?” No! It’s just that he knew something many Christians need to learn. In fact, if Paul heard some of the sermons we hear in some churches today, he would think the church had flipped for allowing such preaching.

Many so-called preachers we hear on television would tell us if we insisted on taking PLEASURE in those things, to send them a hundred dollars and they would pray for us because we have “flipped.”

They would tell us it is the will of God that we be exempt from all:

• Sickness.

• Difficulties.

• Persecutions.

• Hardships.

• Poverty.

Not only are we told we are exempt from these things, they would have us believe if we do suffer from any of these that IS A SURE SIGN THAT WE ARE OUT OF THE WILL OF GOD!

Listen, if these things are signs a Christian is out of the will of God, then Paul and all the other great Bible characters that we esteem so highly never were in the will of God. They went from one major catastrophe to the next.

We need to understand that, contrary to what many preachers would have us believe, GOD’S WORD MAKES IT ABSOLUTELY CLEAR, NO ONE IS EXEMPT FROM TRIALS OF LIFE. NO ONE!

Illus: It matters not how rich you may become, you will still have to contend with trials and problems.

Accepting the Lord as your Savior does not exempt you from life’s troubles. Again, the apostle Paul is considered to be one of the greatest Christians who has ever walked this earth, but his life was filled with persecutions, hardships, beatings, betrayals, stonings, being jailed, etc. God allowed him to face all these things.

Illus: Listen, don’t you suppose if God, the Father, would show favoritism, He surely would have favored one of His choice servants, like the apostle Paul?

But, God did not allow trials to come Paul’s way because HE DID NOT LOVE HIM. HE ALLOWED THEM BECAUSE HE DID LOVE HIM!