Paul’s Detour

Tim Keller opens a sermon on Ephesians 3 by noting a stylistic oddity: the apostle Paul starts a sentence, breaks off, and does not return to it for twelve verses. This is not a grammatical error but a pastoral move. Paul mentions that he is a prisoner, realizes his readers might be discouraged by his suffering, and immediately detours to address that discouragement head-on. The detour, Keller argues, is not about Paul’s job description but about how to suffer for Christ without being destroyed by it.

The problem of suffering because of obedience

Keller frames the central problem: the Bible contains sweeping promises of God’s protection, yet Paul is in prison precisely because he obeyed Christ. “It’s one thing to say I’m a Christian, I did something wrong so I’m in prison,” Keller says. “It’s another thing to say, I’m a Christian and I was trying to obey God, and now I’m in prison because I was trying to obey God.” The more consistent a Christian life a person lives, the more likely they are to suffer for it. Keller illustrates this with a story about a waiter who, after conversion, began reporting all his tips honestly. He lost his job and friends. “Jesus fired him,” Keller says bluntly. The question is not whether suffering will come, but how to face it without bitterness.

Three wrong responses to suffering