Biblical Leaders: Paul

Paul, formerly known as Saul, is known in most church circles as a great leader, a powerful church planter, a bold evangelist, and of course a great disciple maker. I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel those things about myself very often, if at all. He preached the gospel to the gentiles he was called to with boldness and with a sense of purpose and certainty. We see guys like Paul and others that lead out with that kind of boldness and wonder if we could ever be like that.

One of the things that has always intrigued me about Paul was his physical stature. According to church history, Paul was short, stocky, and balding. Think more George Costanza and less Dominic Toretto. So what makes a guy like that so emboldened in his faith and beliefs?

The first time we see Paul he’s still known as Saul, and he’s holding the coats of the men that stone Stephen (Acts 7). We then see him ravaging the church and dragging Christians off to prison and eventually getting permission from the high priest to head to Damascus to do more of the same. Maybe Saul had a Napoleon Complex, or maybe he was just zealous for what he believed, but Jesus had other plans and even stopped him on his way to Damascus (Acts 9). In that instant, Saul was a different man. There’s a little more to the story, but Paul was now given a new mission.

Acts 13:47 (ESV) says, "For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Paul began his mission of preaching the gospel and planting churches now emboldened with the power of the Holy Spirit. While the mission of guys like Peter was to preach to his own, the Jews, Paul was called beyond and all over to preach to the Gentiles. Thank God he did!

So what was it that made Paul so brave, so bold? I think it’s because he believed in something bigger than himself.

Philippians 3:8-10 (ESV) says, “8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,”

Paul knew Christ and wanted to make Him known! As leaders, we too have to believe in something bigger than ourselves; that we’re dedicating ourselves to a big picture. Paul had courage amidst many challenges but also a limitless horizon and even until his death was writing, planting, discipling, and leading. May we give ourselves to something greater; for our organizations, for our people, for ourselves, and for our God.

Photo by Liviu Florescu on Unsplash