Paul to the Churches

As Christ followers we have so much to be grateful for. Paul, the greatest missionary and church planter who ever lived, spent the last several years of his life traveling around the Middle East planting churches and training pastors. He was so unbelievably overcome by what God had done for him through Jesus Christ, that he couldn’t think of doing anything else.

Paul didn’t just plant churches though. He followed up, he kept up, he cared for each church as though it were one of his own children. I imagine he lost sleep and shed many tears upon hearing bad news from these churches. I also imagine he celebrated greatly upon hearing good news from these churches. Paul was so concerned with each of these churches, that he wrote a series of letters, called the epistles, to the churches throughout the region. The cool thing about these epistles is that they still apply to our church today as well!

I love the progression in our reading from the past several days. Paul begins talking about our being more than conquerors. We have overcome, because Jesus Christ has overcome. No matter what we face, we are more than conquerors. Because of the power of the Holy Spirit living in us, we can overcome. Paul continues by encouraging with the basics of living the Christian life. As Christ followers we will display the fruit of the Spirit. Sometimes we get this backwards–we think that we need to display the fruit of Spirit in order to prove that we are believers. But that’s not how it works at all. If you are a true believer, the fruit of the Spirit will be evident in you. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control. And against such things there is no law.” I love that! You cannot be put in jail for doing any one of these.

Paul encourages us in Ephesians to put on the full armor of God. He uses the illustration of armor because he understands that our lives are a battle. We are in a battle, not with flesh and blood, but with a spiritual realm that we cannot see. We wouldn’t think of going into battle unprepared. What are you doing to prepare for your daily battle. Put on the full armor of God.

“Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say: rejoice!” Paul talked a lot about joy. If anyone had reason to complain, it was Paul. The guy was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, left for dead, robbed–go read about it in 2 Corinthians 11:16-29. Paul underwent more suffering than you or I will probably ever come close to experiencing. Yet one of the things he seemed to push the most was joy “Rejoice in the Lord always.”

The only reason Paul could respond to his circumstances in this way was because he understood one thing clearly: Jesus Christ is supreme. He is above all things. He is in control of all things. He created all things. There is nothing that can stand against Him. He will win in the end. Our suffering is nothing in the big scheme of things. We may not understand (or enjoy) the pain we face in this life, but if we can learn, as Paul did, to do everything we do for the glory of God, we too will rejoice, always, no matter what the circumstance.

I truly hope you are keeping up with the reading. We are getting close to the end of the 100 Day Challenge. Get ready though, Pastor Rob has an even more radical challenge waiting for us in 2011. Finish strong!

 Pastor Geoffrey

P.S. Parents, follow along with your kids here

Geoffrey is the campus pastor for our Monroe Campus and oversees Adult Ministries / LifeGroups at Southbrook. When he’s not out riding his bicycle, you’ll find him counseling, working with LifeGroup leaders, preparing for Wednesday classes, and most importantly serving and loving the community of Monroe.