Rejecting Rejection Series

Paul is the most traveled man in the New Testament. He covered much of the known world of his

day, and his ambition was to go to the end of the world. The furthest point West that man could then

go was Spain. Spain is only mentioned twice in the New Testament, and both times by Paul in

Romans 15. He says in verse 24, "..when I go to Spain, I hope to visit you while passing through."

Then in verse 28 he writes, "I will go to Spain and visit you on the way."

Paul longed to bear the message of Christ to the frontier of civilization. There in Spain over 14

hundred years later a man with many things in common with Paul wanted to bear the message of

Christ even further West. He became the greatest traveler of his day by going where man had never

gone before. The interesting thing is that his first name means Christ-bearer. That is the literal

meaning of Christopher.

Christopher Columbus had many things in common with Paul. They both had their share of

shipwrecks and survival. They both traveled widely and longed to be used of God to fulfill His

purpose in history. But where their biographies most resemble each other is in the rejection they had

to endure and overcome to accomplish God's purpose. Columbus would have given up the dream

and settled down had he not been a stubborn man who felt called of God to discover a new way

around the world. He was as determined to sail West as Paul was to get to Jerusalem.

He proposed his plan to John II King of Portugal first. He turned it over to a royal commission

of scholars, and after long deliberation they found his scheme utterly fantastic. He then appealed to

Henry VIII of England where the repose was that he was a fool, and his ideas were madness. He then

turned to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. They also turned it over to their own royal commission,

and they studied it for 4 and one half years. Their conclusions were more kind, but the also rejected

it as an unlikely scheme.

On top of all the official rejection by the so-called experts, he had to endure the ridicule of those

who heard of his dream. They would greet him like this: "Ah, here come our vagabond again, with

his pathetic prattling about spheres and parallels. Tell us Christofaro, does the world appear any

rounder to you today?" For 8 long years he had to endure rejection and humiliation. Finally he was

granted the chance to fulfill the dream God had given him. He had plenty of rejection after that also

before the dream was realized. It seems like anyone who makes a major breakthrough in history has

to face much rejection.

Paul was no exception as the Apostle called to break down the wall between Jews and Gentiles.

This wall was like the Great Wall of China. It had been worked on for centuries, and nobody was

about to let it be demolished by some fool dreamer who had the notion that God loved all people

equally. It was even hard for many Jewish Christians to accept this radical idea, and the result was

that Paul held the record for being the most rejected man in the New Testament.

Jesus was despised and rejected of men, but he was only rejected by the leaders of Israel, and

the mob they got to support them. Paul had all this plus. He was rejected all over the world, and not

just in Jerusalem and by Jews. Paul was opposed by Gentiles who hated him for ruining their racket

in idolatry. Paul was also opposed by Christians who did not like some of his teachings. Some of his

closest companions even forsook him. Demos forsook Paul for the world, and Barnabas split up with

him over John Mark. Paul was rejected by more people in more places for more reasons than

anybody in the Bible that I can think of. There can be question about it, for the evidence is

overwhelming that Paul is the most rejected man of the New Testament. If we can't learn how to

cope with rejection from him, we just as well forget it. We want to look at his life from the point of

view of the reasons for his being rejected, and his responses which made him an over comer. First

lets look at-

I. THE REASONS FOR HIS REJECTION.

Paul was rejected primarily for the same reason that any person is rejected, and that is because

he was different. If you are different and do not conform to the majority, you are courting rejection.

That is why people are such conformists. It is the easiest way to avoid rejection. Paul was not