Rejecting Rejection Series

as a profitable servant of the Kingdom. Had he accepted the rejection of one so great as Paul we

would have lost one of the greatest servants of Christ, and would not have the Gospel of Mark that

gives us such a unique perspective of our Lord. Thank God that he rejected the rejection he

experienced. It was probably even valid rejection, because Mark was not living up to the level that he

could have been at the time, but he did not accept that as final. Instead, he went on to live on the level

that was worthy of Paul's admiration.

Paul did not hate the Jews for rejecting him. He kept on accepting them regardless of how they

rejected him. The greatest parallel of Paul's experience that I am aware of in our life time is that of

Kagawa of Japan. He was hated and despised for leaving his wealth and culture to live among the

poor, and to waste his life on worthless people. He made other Christians look bad by his sacrificial

love, and so they rejected him. After the atom bomb blasted Japan into surrender he was the only one

who cared for the down and defeated people. He wrote to General Macarthur and urged him to treat

the fallen enemy with Christian love. Macarthur met with him to plan ways to do this, and it changed

the course of history for his people. His efforts kept communism from taking over in Japan.

Kagawa started more agencies and organizations for caring than seems humanly possible. He was

elected as President of the Japanese Teachers Union, and was offered a place in Parliament, but he

refused. He wanted to continue to preach the Gospel and save people for both time and eternity. He

was greatly honored by the Emperor for all he did to save his people. None of this would have

happened had he accepted rejection as the final word. In his early days the leaders of his country did

all they could to destroy him and his ministry. Propaganda was spread that he was a traitor to his

people, and he was arrested and imprisoned. His terrible sin was that he loved Americans. He cried

out against the folly of going to war and of bombing Pearl Harbor. He fought for the acceptance of

Americans as Paul fought for the acceptance of Gentiles, and he was hated for it. He loved people

that everyone else hated, and so he was too different to be accepted. They radically rejected him, but

he refused to accept their rejection. He rejected rejection and in the end won his enemies to praise

him.

Paul could have said, "get me out of here, for I never want to see these people again," but instead

he said he wanted the chance to communicate with them. He shared his testimony of how he was

saved by Christ and called to take the good news to the Gentiles. He would not accept rejection as the

final word, and this is the reason God used him to reach out into all the future to touch the world for

Christ. Success in God's kingdom calls for people to reject rejection and press on to do what they are

called to do. Christopher Wren was the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. He is buried