Picking back up in 2 Corinthians 11:25
II Corinthians 11:25a
"Thrice (three times) was I beaten with rods, (and that is despicable. We can’t comprehend what it was like to be beaten with rods.) once was I stoned, …"
And we picked that up of course outside of Derby and Lystra, back there in the book of Acts as they dragged him out of the city like a dead horse. That’s what the Greek implies. They tied a rope around his foot and drug him out and left him for dead. All for the sake of the true Gospel. Not the gospel that many are spreading now but rather what we're sharing as best we can to those who will listen with an open and receptive heart.
II Corinthians 11:25b
"…thrice (three time) I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;"
In other words for 24 hours straight he was in the ocean. Now verse 26. You want to remember, his ministry covered a period of about 25 years.
II Corinthians 11:26a
"In journeyings often,…"
Now we can just get a little inkling of what Paul meant here. Why was he constantly traveling? For the sake of the Gospel. That’s all. It wasn’t that he enjoyed living out of a suitcase. He did it for the sake of the Gospel. He was driven by the essence of Christ within him to be about His Fathers business just as those who have willfully surrendered their lives (natural life) to death of the evil essence of Satan within them. To receive His resurrected Life. For they now function by way of receptivity of God's activity just as Jesus did, because the ontological Life of Christ is now active within them. They take on the character of God through Christ's essence restored (John 17).
II Corinthians 11:26-28
"In journeyings often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, (that’s why the Hebrews had beaten him and had scourged him those five times) in perils by the heathen, (the non-Hebrew world) in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches."
In addition to all those hardships, he was concerned for all those little congregations that he had started throughout the Roman Empire. Now that’s what it means to "run the race." That’s what he meant when he said, "I have finished my course." And that’s what he meant when he said, "Through it all his faith never wavered." He kept the faith, he keep the receptivity of God's activity through him. For he know that his strength was receptivity of Grace, the strength of Christ restored within him is Grace.
That is good instruction for us. All right, back to Hebrews chapter 12. Using himself as an example, I’m sure, he admonishes his fellow believers to "run the race with patience that is set before us." Now move on to verse 2, as we run the race, as we fight the battles of the spiritual life, we are to be:
Hebrews 12:2a
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;…"
In another place in Hebrews it’s referred to as the "file leader." If you’ll remember we made the analogy of the words "file leader" and we went back to some of the old movies of the western cavalry and I’m sure you’ve all seen pictures of how that line of horse cavalry would just wind down the mountainside. You’ve seen them. Who was at the head? Not the private, but the top-ranking officer. He led his troops. Even in our war moves the captain or major is at the head of the charge. Well, that’s the picture that we’re to get here of Christ. He is our "file leader." As we wind on into eternity, He is the Author, He is the finisher of our faith, He is the Leader. Now, of course, Paul says, that he’s right behind Him, and then we follow behind Paul. That’s the picture he leaves. When we are faced with a crisis and chose either to be a receptive being of God's activity, instead of Satan's activity, the very nature that we're born into by way of natural birth. Some place along life's road we're faced with a crisis of choice and its how we respond to that choice that will determine our course. We can choose redemption or remain responsible to our natural course. We then have chosen to be response-able for our own action, of choice. We choose either God or to remain under Satan. We shoulder the responsibility of that choice, we alone are responsible. Just as Adam was for all mankind.
Lets turn to Philippians and look at “the finisher of our faith” found in chapter 1 and verse 6
Philippians 1:6
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"
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