Paul's final days

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Paul’s Final Days

Intro: Two famous people we’ve all heard of: Paul the apostle and Nero the Emperor.

In the 70AD these two famous men lived in the same city. While Nero’s name was making headlines, Paul’s wasn’t. Anderson Cooper would have wanted to interview Nero. Nero would have been invited to state dinners hosted by the President Obama. Nero was hero. Paul was zero. He was a stoop-shouldered, balding, crooked nose, cloudy-eyed old man. Paul kept talking about Jesus as if he were God. So, Paul got locked up in prison in Rome. If you asked anyone in Rome in the 70 AD, “Who will make the greatest impact on the world, Nero or Paul?” everyone would pick Nero. Nero was married to Poppaea Sabina, a blonde, head-turning beauty who bathed in donkey milk. 400 donkeys were kept on hand for just that. She would be dried by swan feathers and massaged with crocodile mucous. Nero liked soft skin, and what Nero wanted, Nero got. At age 25, Nero deified himself by erecting a 120 foot tall statue of himself. People looked up to Nero, but looked down on Paul. Paul was common, described as bald-headed, bow legged, small man with a big nose and scruffy, thick eyebrows that met in the middle, and a body covered with scars.

Text: 2 Timothy 1:8-12

Big Picture: What will be your legacy? What will be on your tombstone? What will they say at your funeral?

The New Testament records the dynamic life and deep struggles of Paul. Here are a few highlights:

Paul tells of his tumultuous life. 2 Corinthians 11:23-30

Paul walked in the major cities of the known Roman world.

Paul worked as a tent-maker in the mornings and spoke about Jesus Christ and the Gospel from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day except the Sabbath.

Paul wrote books as he traveled and as he sat in prison, and we treasure his words to this day.

“Be anxious for nothing”

“Our citizenship is in heaven”

He spoke of “the love of Christ which passes knowledge”

Paul was a spokesman for God’s grace; he was a messenger of grace; his favorite word was “grace.”

“By grace you have been saved.”

“You can earn salvation no more than you can earn a mother’s love.”

“We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Paul was both a prophet and a pastor, who never got over that the living Jesus met him, changed him and commissioned him as an apostle.

Everywhere he went Paul caused an uproar.

Acts 21:30-31

Even though Paul led a crazy life, causing trouble for Jesus, he endured to the end.

Being rejected and often left for dead, how did Paul face the severe challenges in his life?

I can tell you what he didn’t do. He didn’t dig deep within himself and rely on his “inner strength”.

He knew where his help came from and he readily admitted he needed God.

Some of you may be able to relate. Some of us are rejected by our families or friends for following Jesus.

Some may thing you are crazy for even believing in Jesus.

Some feel the isolation that comes from being devoted to Jesus.

We all have storms of some kind—relational, financial, personal.

I’m sure if I asked any of you to share we would here some amazing stories of struggle in your lives.

While in the Roman prison Paul wrote to Timothy revealing the secret of his endurance. (2 Timothy 1:8-12)

Since we can relate to Paul, let’s discover his secret.

Don’t ashamed of the testimony of our Lord

Share in the suffering (knowing many have gone before us)

We have been saved by God and called to a holy calling.

We’ve done nothing to earn this grace, what a Christmas gift!

Death (spiritual) had been abolished and we have immortality through the gospel.

Again, we don’t need to be ashamed because: “I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.”

That’s the secret! Not some silly book…

Paul anchored his life to a hope out of this world and beyond himself.

Paul entrusted his life into the hands of God.

We can identify with Paul because many times we feel like nothing in life is going right.

Paul ended his life very well; Nero did not.

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Paul’s new life began on the Damascus road and ended on a chopping block in a prison cell in Rome.

Nero at the age of 29 was lonely and paranoid.

His second wife killed his first wife and Nero kicked/stomped on his pregnant second wife and she died.

Four years after Paul’s death, Nero committed suicide.

Nero was no hero. Paul still impacts us to this day.

Think about this:

There are no Saint Nero Cathedrals or churches.

When was the last time you heard of someone naming their son Nero?

Lots of people are named Paul or Pauline or Paulina.

Who are the real difference-makers in the world?

Not the spot-light seeking, attention-craving celebrities. (ad nauseum)

It is the ordinary Pauls and Paulines, the church, who are making a difference for all eternity.

Only those who believe in Christ have received the story of grace.

Upper Story/Lower Story

In the lower story of our lives there is chaos, confusion, struggles, sickness, and imprisonments. Sometimes we feel like that is all there is. The Christian realizes though, that above all this there is an upper story. God has a plan before time that will continue after this version of earth.

Maybe you’re laboring away in relative anonymity, doing your thing for the glory of God. You’re loving your kids. Teaching first graders. Manning the fire station. Showing up at work. Hanging in there with that grumpy spouse. Taking it a day a time.

Life comes with challenges. Life comes with storms. You are a living epistle. Do not underestimate how God is going to use your life.

The real change makers are those who are quietly working under the radar, not those who are walking the red carpet.

They are touching lives and making a difference, one life at a time. Don’t be discouraged. Don’t be disheartened.

Most of us look awfully ordinary. And the church, with all of her bumps and bruises looks terribly ordinary.

Are you fighting the good fight?

Are you finishing the course?

Are you running the race?

What will be said at our funeral, in you obituary?

Communion intro…