To all the saints, the faithful in Christ Jesus.

What I've learned by becoming the Apostle Paul

I first began my efforts to take on the personality of the Apostle Paul in 2008. I started by working to memorize Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and soon realized that even in the English translation (I was using NIV), his words were personal as well as relational. His thinking was spontaneous, and his train of thought was shaped by what I imagined to be his physical context at the time (living under house arrest in Rome) and by what he remembered about his audience back in Ephesus. My immersion into Paul’s heart and mind eventually evolved into a one-man play which I have been able to present numerous times and in various venues.

     A few years later, I developed a similar, but simpler presentation of Paul’s letter to the Philippians (though somewhat abridged) which is much easier to take on the road and to present in Sunday worship services. I have performed “Philippians” many times to gatherings both large and small.

     More recently since the COVID pandemic I have been experimenting with video portrayals of various letters of the Apostle and writing paraphrased versions that are faithful to the essence of Paul’s thought and heart, using more colloquial language suitable for modern video interpretations.

     All along I have had two aims: First to help people hear the flow of Paul’s thought from beginning to end without dicing it up into tiny snippets and without commentary and exposition interrupting it. And second, to help people imagine Paul as a real person, with real struggles and real emotions in real time.

     But what have I learned from all of this? What is my primary take away? After all my efforts to capture the essence of the Apostle Paul and all this time and energy spent memorizing his words and trying to figure out his personality, I think I have a nugget of the man.

     Of course, I am astounded by Paul’s love and devotion to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Certainly, his zeal for his mission to take the gospel to the Gentiles stands out clearly. Yes, he had a keen mind and was an excellent teacher explaining the meaning and the ramifications of the crucifixion and resurrection and how they apply to our lives. On and on, in so many ways Paul amazes me and anyone who takes the time to read and study his life and letters.

     But there is one aspect of his character that significantly stands out to me, which I believe made him so impressively effective in his ministry. It is the reason why he was able to plant so many churches and productively shepherd them in absentia through his correspondence and coworkers. It is this: he genuinely loved his people. In his letters, it is blatantly obvious that Paul loved and cared about the believers to whom he was writing. He always addressed them from a standpoint of obvious deep affection for them and concern for them. And he made sure they knew the certainty of his love just as much as they knew the certainty of God’s love.

     As I look back over my own years spent laboring as a local church pastor, I wish I would have emulated Paul better in this aspect of my ministry. And this would be my advice to any pastor or missionary still working today: tell your people that you love them. Convince them of your love and commitment to them.

     People in the pews already assume that their pastors love the Lord, otherwise why did they enter the ministry? Parishioners already believe their pastors love the Bible since they constantly study it, read it, and reference it. The church members already appreciate their pastors’ enthusiasm for the church programs and ministries, because of all the attention given to announcements and upcoming events. They may even sense the caring presence of their pastors now and then in a critical moment in their own lives or even in a casual moment of conversation at the coffee station after worship.

     But I am urging pastors go a step further. I want them to occasionally, from the pulpit, in public, in authentic ways, communicate their affection and love for the people of their church. Let your heart show. Paul did. I believe this was key to opening a positive response to him in his letters, both the encouraging ones and the admonishing ones. Both in Philippians and in Galatians.

     I was thinking about this advice recently and how I would like to find a way to share it with pastors when this past Sunday, surprise. I heard my own pastor pause in his sermon and do exactly what I am recommending.

     After speaking about the dark and difficult moments many of us can find ourselves in, when life is not following the path we had hoped for, he told his congregation, “It’s ok to not be ok.” And then a few seconds later he paused and spoke from his heart, “Church, you know I deeply love you. You know I deeply care for you. I often work myself to exhaustion for you. And I want you to know this. You do not have to waste your seasons of struggle.” He said this so authentically. It was not meant to win our sympathy for him and his hard work. But his words, genuinely conveyed his pastoral heart for all of us who sat in his hearing that morning. Immediately I was reminded of the Apostle Paul and how this young pastor was communicating love in the same spirit.

      I am convinced that church members need to hear their pastors speak these kinds of words out loud at least occasionally. It is just as important as a husband speaking words of affection to his wife, even after decades of faithful marriage. They will be just as memorable as that hug a father gave his son every day before he left for school.

     Paul was not averse to letting people know the sacrifices he made. He did so not to impress, but to demonstrate how much he cared. If he scolded them, his readers knew it was because Paul regarded them as his own children. He told them so. And it was plain in so many of his letters that he longed to return to each church if for no other reason than to encourage and be encouraged by one another’s faith. And he was known to tell them plainly, “I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.”

     If I were a pastor once again, I would work not only on loving the Lord and on loving his Word and on loving his Church. I would make sure that I also worked on loving the people in his church. Genuinely. Earnestly. Authentically. Humanly. As much as I possibly could. And I would try to tell them so. Not in mushy, insincere ways. I would wear my heart on my sleeve. And if necessary, I would put it into words. Even from the pulpit now and then.

--Rev. Duffy Roberts, paulinchains.com