Ephesians 3:7-9
The Servant’s Self-Image
Introduction
Illustration: Many times in life it is important to make the right response to life’s situations. Evan and I have been playing basketball in the house the last few weeks. For Christmas he got one of those basketball hoops that hang on the door and we have been playing together this month. I’ve totally been winning – he can’t stop my drives. Well I taught him to dunk and after dunking he likes to celebrate in different ways. He will run up and say “high five” or “bump” or one of my favorites “buzzump”, which means thumbs up.
Well I thought that there was one more he needed to learn so I taught him to do what is called a “chest bump”. You probably see this done by professional athletes after touchdowns, homeruns, or slam dunks where two teammates run up to each other and bump their chest’s together. I thought, Evan has to know how to do that – it is a life skill. So the other day he runs up and dunks it – or, we’ll call it a dunk. So I say “Evan chest bump”, and, he turns around and says “no chest bump, daddy. Eskimo kiss!” Not the right response for the situation.
We are seeing in chapter 3 of Ephesians Paul’s response to God’s call on his life. God revealed the mystery of Christ to Paul. God made Paul an apostle and a prophet. God made things known to Paul that had never been made known before. God put Paul in His service. God came to Paul and Paul responded. God comes to us in our sin and when we in our sin are encountered by God through the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ it demands a response. Because of the Gospel we go from sin to salvation. And because of the Gospel we go from salvation to service. We are saved and therefore we are servants. We serve because we are saved. The right response to the Gospel is faith and that response leads us into a life that is in service to the Gospel. Paul was saved by the Gospel. Therefore he became a servant of the Gospel.
Let us look at some different things about the Servant of the Gospel.
The Servant (v7)
“I became a servant …” Paul always saw himself as a servant. In Acts 26 when Paul was retelling his testimony, Jesus told him, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of me and what I will show you.” If Christ appointed him to be a servant, then Christ saw him as a servant. And if Christ saw him as a servant, how then could Paul see himself as anything else?
From then on he saw himself the same way Christ saw him, as servant. In rebuking the Corinthians he said, “What after all is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task.” In Colossians 1:23 Paul says, “This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.” He had different titles, with Apostle certainly being the most weighty and authoritative. But even though he had authority as an Apostle he never became blind to the fact that he was one under authority. He never lost sight that he was himself a servant. And as you read his letters you will see that “servant” was how he always saw himself as he ministered and that it seemed to Paul to be the title that most reflected his heart in ministry.
The word for servant comes from the Greek word dia’-konos, and this is the word we get our English word “deacon” from. It is a very humble word. It means simply, “a servant” and it is often translated as such. But the word carries with it a great sense of humility because it was used to describe the work of waiting on tables. A diakonos is one who waits on others, who serves others. Annie and I were at Russ’ last night and I was watching the waiters and waitresses taking orders bringing food, filling up drinks, running around with the bus boys cleaning up tables and so on. I was watching diakonos, deacons, servants.
In the Bible we see diakonos pictured through Martha as she is busy in the kitchen serving Jesus and the others. It is the men in Acts 6 chosen to make sure the food was distributed to the Church in a fair manner. It is the 12 disciples distributing the bread and fish that Jesus miraculously fed 5,000 people with. It is John the Baptist saying he is not worthy enough to be the servant that unties Jesus’ sandals. It is the waiters at the wedding who served the water that Jesus turned into wine. It is Epaphroditus sent to Paul by the Philippians to take care of Paul’s needs. It is Jesus on His knees washing the disciple’s feet.
Serving is not just something I do as a Christian. Serving is a way of life. Serving is a way of life because a servant is who I have become. It is an identity. We are many things as Christians….sons of God, heirs, new creatures, but one that is often overlooked is that we are servants. It was Paul’s self-identity. It is our identity in the eyes of Christ. Is it our identity in our own eyes?
The Servant’s Privilege (v7)
To see that we need to see the Servant’s Privilege. There is something that will change our self-image so that we see ourselves as servants more appropriately. To Paul, it was a privilege to be a servant. That is a truth about being a Christian that quite frankly runs against our old nature. We think that we are privileged when we are the ones being served.
But Paul disagrees. The true privilege is to be the servant. That echoes in the words of Jesus that he reminded the Ephesians of in Acts 20 when he said to them “remember that our Lord said it is better to give than to receive.” The servant is the one who is giving. It is better to be the servant.
But how can this be? How can it be better to be the servant? Notice what Paul says in verse 7, Paul says that God by His grace made Paul a servant. Grace is a word that is one of the champions of our vocabulary as Christians. Grace is getting something good we don’t deserve. It is getting something that I did not earn. In that sense, then, Paul says becoming a servant of God is a privilege that God gave to him, not a right Paul had. God promoted Paul into the role of servant even though Paul was unfit to be elevated to such a role.
Think about this: To be God’s servant is too dignified, too privileged, too honorable of an employment for me to fill. Who among us really is worthy to serve God? Paul did not earn the role of servant to God. God gave it to him out of His abundant grace. Paul never lost sight of that. He never lost sight of that sense of unworthiness to be a servant. Years later towards the end of his life he said, “God has saved us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. Grace that was given us in Christ Jesus …And of this gospel I was appointed to be a herald and an apostle and a teacher.” Until we see that God in His grace has allowed us to serve Him we will not understand. When we serve out of a deep sense of our unearned privilege, then we are serving.
The Servant’s Society
He loved to relate to other Christians as servants. To be a co-servant seemed to bring into Paul’s heart a special bond of affection with others he saw as servants of Christ. At the end of Ephesians he says, “Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord…” To the church in Philippi he carried much affection, and began his letter to them by identifying himself not with authority by calling himself an Apostle, but, rather with humbleness “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus”.
We will do well to remember that we are servants. We will grow in Christian affection towards each other the more we see that together we are servants of Jesus Christ.
The Servant’s Perfect Example
Certainly that which most effectively shaped Paul’s self-image was that the Lord Jesus Christ saw Himself as a servant. It was the Lord who washed the disciple’s feet. It was the Lord who was a servant and provided the wine at the wedding, the fish and bread at the picnic, the healing of the impaired and diseased. The Lord was the One who said, “I have not come to be served but to serve”. And again He said, “I am among you as one who serves.” He is the One described in Philippians 2 as being equal with God but “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant…” Jesus saw Himself as a servant; He came as a Servant; He acted like a Servant. Paul saw that and so Paul saw himself as servant and Paul came as a servant, and Paul acted like a servant. When we see Christ the Servant then we too will see ourselves as servants.
This concept must be firmly planted in our minds. If we don’t get this down here in chapter 3 then there is nothing in the rest of this letter that will make sense. Paul is going to talk about the action of serving in chapters 4-6 but unless we first see our identity as servants in chapter 3 the other chapters will be lost on us. Christ served because He adopted the self-image of a servant. What do you call a Christian who serves but does not see himself/herself as a servant? We are not serving out of a sense of identity. We certainly are not serving like Christ. He saw Himself as a servant. Chapter 4:12 says, “to prepare God’s people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up”. Unless God’s people see themselves as servants like Jesus Christ then the full impact of this verse is lost. What we see we are motivates what we do. Wives, serving your husbands through submitting to them is a lost cause if you do not first see yourself as a servant the way Jesus was a servant. Husbands serve your wives by loving them as Christ served the Church with love. Jesus saw Himself as a servant to the Church - who are we to not see ourselves as servants of love to our wives? If we lose sight of Jesus Christ as the Servant of all servants, we will lose sight of the grounds for which we are servants. Don’t just serve, be a servant. Don’t just serve, be a servant just like your Servant Savior.
The Servant’s Concern (v7)
The Concern of the Servant is not himself, but, the One he serves. Paul became a servant of the Gospel, which means that like a waiter brings food to people Paul brought the Gospel to people. Paul did this because that is what Christ appointed him to do. Paul’s interests were no longer about Paul, but, about Christ. Whatever was the interest of Christ became the interest of Paul. Paul cared about what Christ cared about. Paul did what Christ did. Jesus Christ’s focus was Paul’s focus. A great description of the concern of the servant of Christ in Philippians 2 when he talks about Timothy. He paid Timothy high respect as another servant of Christ when he said in verse 19, “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son works with a father he has served with me in the work of the Gospel.”
Notice that Paul says Timothy is concerned about the well-being of the Philippian believers. And at the same time Paul, says that Timothy cares about the things Jesus cares about. That is because Jesus cares about the welfare of the Philippians, and therefore Timothy cares too. That is a servant. He concerns himself with nothing else other than what His Lord is concerned with. Timothy serves for the work of the Gospel. Paul became a servant of this gospel. The concern is the Gospel. The servant of the Gospel cares about the Gospel the way the Lord cares about the Gospel.
We are all servants of Jesus Christ. We have all been made to be His servants when we came to Him in faith. That is part of our identity. But are we good servants? A good servant is one who has made His Lord’s concern his own. Each of us do well to ask ourselves: Whose concerns am I preoccupied with? The servant of the Lord Jesus Christ will be aligning himself with the priorities of Jesus Christ. Paul says later in Ephesians 5:15-17, “Be very careful then how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Understand what His will is – what His concerns are ….and be committed to His concerns first in our life.
The Servant is Empowered (v7)
Notice that Paul serves by God’s power. “I became a servant of this Gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.” Paul was never confused about the source that powered his ability to serve. He said in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” Again in Colossians 1:28-29, “We proclaim Christ, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” And in 1 Timothy 1:12 he says, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has given me strength…”
Paul knew that what God called him to God equipped him for. What God called him to, God equipped him for.
And the same goes for us: God’s power works effectively in us as we serve Him. Philippians 2:12-13, says, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good pleasure.”
The Servant is Humble (v8)
A servant is humble. Notice in verse 8 Paul says, “Although I am less than the least of all God’s people”. And the longer you serve, the more humble you become. Paul said, “I am the least of all God’s people” in verse 8. I want to point something out here. Early on in Paul’s ministry, in 1 Corinthians 15:9 he said, “I am the least of the Apostles”. Then here in the middle of his ministry he learned more humility and said I am not only the least of the Apostles, “I am the least of all God’s people”. And finally towards the end of his ministry and his life Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:15, “I am the worst of all sinners.”
The longer Paul served Christ the more humble he became. As his life and ministry carried on his estimation of himself got lower and lower. Through serving God he saw his own inadequacies, his own weakness, his own shortcomings as a mere man. He lived constantly in dependence on God’s strength, on God’s grace, on God’s peace, and on God’s wisdom. It reminds me of what he said in 1 Corinthians when he said, “Think of what many of you were when you were called, not many of you were wise by human standards, not many of you were influential or of noble birth. God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. He chose the lowly and the despised…”
**** Millie Peck’s poem
Serving ought to bring a humility into our hearts, it should not bring pride. Serving out of Christ’s strength, wisdom and grace will teach us how unfit we really are to hold the position of serving Christ.
And the strange paradox here is that when we come to Christ and put our faith in Him we are both lowered and elevated. We are both humbled and exalted. And what I mean is that we are humbled in regards to our estimation of ourselves. We come to Christ and see we are hopeless sinners. We are not the high and mighty ones we used to think we were. But at the same time, when our estimation of ourselves lower to that point and we accept God’s gracious forgiveness we are made to be servants of God. We are elevated to the privileged position of serving God.
Paul was humbled by the honor he held as a servant of God. The context of this passage relates Paul’s humility with Paul’s position. Paul knew that the position he held as a Christian, and as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, was a position that exceeded him as a person.
That is true of us as well. We have a high position, a glorious position that we have been placed in. And it is one that carries the highest of honor, dignity, and privilege. It is that of Christian. It is that of one who is in Christ. But we as people do not measure up to the position we hold. God mismatches people on purpose: that is, He intentionally puts into the high position of Christian those people who in reality just do not measure up to the greatness of such an title. A Christian is a reflection of Christ. How could we ever adequetly reflect perfection? How could perfection ever be clearly understood in those who are in their own condition so imperfect?
Conclusion
Many people today believe that the good works they do are going to be looked favorably on by God even though they reject His Son. In essence they are trying to “serve God” with their works. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The Bible says that we only begin to serve God after we are saved. It is only afterwards we can start to serve Him by doing the good works that He has prepared for us to do. But we can’t begin to serve Him until we have first believed in the One God sent to serve us. Jesus Christ served us when He died on the cross for our sins. He died for your sins. And God won’t accept any service from you until you have first accepted what Christ did for you. Before you follow any command of God to serve Him you must first follow the command to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ.
The Servant’s Self-Image
Introduction
Illustration: Many times in life it is important to make the right response to life’s situations. Evan and I have been playing basketball in the house the last few weeks. For Christmas he got one of those basketball hoops that hang on the door and we have been playing together this month. I’ve totally been winning – he can’t stop my drives. Well I taught him to dunk and after dunking he likes to celebrate in different ways. He will run up and say “high five” or “bump” or one of my favorites “buzzump”, which means thumbs up.
Well I thought that there was one more he needed to learn so I taught him to do what is called a “chest bump”. You probably see this done by professional athletes after touchdowns, homeruns, or slam dunks where two teammates run up to each other and bump their chest’s together. I thought, Evan has to know how to do that – it is a life skill. So the other day he runs up and dunks it – or, we’ll call it a dunk. So I say “Evan chest bump”, and, he turns around and says “no chest bump, daddy. Eskimo kiss!” Not the right response for the situation.
We are seeing in chapter 3 of Ephesians Paul’s response to God’s call on his life. God revealed the mystery of Christ to Paul. God made Paul an apostle and a prophet. God made things known to Paul that had never been made known before. God put Paul in His service. God came to Paul and Paul responded. God comes to us in our sin and when we in our sin are encountered by God through the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ it demands a response. Because of the Gospel we go from sin to salvation. And because of the Gospel we go from salvation to service. We are saved and therefore we are servants. We serve because we are saved. The right response to the Gospel is faith and that response leads us into a life that is in service to the Gospel. Paul was saved by the Gospel. Therefore he became a servant of the Gospel.
Let us look at some different things about the Servant of the Gospel.
The Servant (v7)
“I became a servant …” Paul always saw himself as a servant. In Acts 26 when Paul was retelling his testimony, Jesus told him, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of me and what I will show you.” If Christ appointed him to be a servant, then Christ saw him as a servant. And if Christ saw him as a servant, how then could Paul see himself as anything else?
From then on he saw himself the same way Christ saw him, as servant. In rebuking the Corinthians he said, “What after all is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task.” In Colossians 1:23 Paul says, “This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.” He had different titles, with Apostle certainly being the most weighty and authoritative. But even though he had authority as an Apostle he never became blind to the fact that he was one under authority. He never lost sight that he was himself a servant. And as you read his letters you will see that “servant” was how he always saw himself as he ministered and that it seemed to Paul to be the title that most reflected his heart in ministry.
The word for servant comes from the Greek word dia’-konos, and this is the word we get our English word “deacon” from. It is a very humble word. It means simply, “a servant” and it is often translated as such. But the word carries with it a great sense of humility because it was used to describe the work of waiting on tables. A diakonos is one who waits on others, who serves others. Annie and I were at Russ’ last night and I was watching the waiters and waitresses taking orders bringing food, filling up drinks, running around with the bus boys cleaning up tables and so on. I was watching diakonos, deacons, servants.
In the Bible we see diakonos pictured through Martha as she is busy in the kitchen serving Jesus and the others. It is the men in Acts 6 chosen to make sure the food was distributed to the Church in a fair manner. It is the 12 disciples distributing the bread and fish that Jesus miraculously fed 5,000 people with. It is John the Baptist saying he is not worthy enough to be the servant that unties Jesus’ sandals. It is the waiters at the wedding who served the water that Jesus turned into wine. It is Epaphroditus sent to Paul by the Philippians to take care of Paul’s needs. It is Jesus on His knees washing the disciple’s feet.
Serving is not just something I do as a Christian. Serving is a way of life. Serving is a way of life because a servant is who I have become. It is an identity. We are many things as Christians….sons of God, heirs, new creatures, but one that is often overlooked is that we are servants. It was Paul’s self-identity. It is our identity in the eyes of Christ. Is it our identity in our own eyes?
The Servant’s Privilege (v7)
To see that we need to see the Servant’s Privilege. There is something that will change our self-image so that we see ourselves as servants more appropriately. To Paul, it was a privilege to be a servant. That is a truth about being a Christian that quite frankly runs against our old nature. We think that we are privileged when we are the ones being served.
But Paul disagrees. The true privilege is to be the servant. That echoes in the words of Jesus that he reminded the Ephesians of in Acts 20 when he said to them “remember that our Lord said it is better to give than to receive.” The servant is the one who is giving. It is better to be the servant.
But how can this be? How can it be better to be the servant? Notice what Paul says in verse 7, Paul says that God by His grace made Paul a servant. Grace is a word that is one of the champions of our vocabulary as Christians. Grace is getting something good we don’t deserve. It is getting something that I did not earn. In that sense, then, Paul says becoming a servant of God is a privilege that God gave to him, not a right Paul had. God promoted Paul into the role of servant even though Paul was unfit to be elevated to such a role.
Think about this: To be God’s servant is too dignified, too privileged, too honorable of an employment for me to fill. Who among us really is worthy to serve God? Paul did not earn the role of servant to God. God gave it to him out of His abundant grace. Paul never lost sight of that. He never lost sight of that sense of unworthiness to be a servant. Years later towards the end of his life he said, “God has saved us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. Grace that was given us in Christ Jesus …And of this gospel I was appointed to be a herald and an apostle and a teacher.” Until we see that God in His grace has allowed us to serve Him we will not understand. When we serve out of a deep sense of our unearned privilege, then we are serving.
The Servant’s Society
He loved to relate to other Christians as servants. To be a co-servant seemed to bring into Paul’s heart a special bond of affection with others he saw as servants of Christ. At the end of Ephesians he says, “Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord…” To the church in Philippi he carried much affection, and began his letter to them by identifying himself not with authority by calling himself an Apostle, but, rather with humbleness “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus”.
We will do well to remember that we are servants. We will grow in Christian affection towards each other the more we see that together we are servants of Jesus Christ.
The Servant’s Perfect Example
Certainly that which most effectively shaped Paul’s self-image was that the Lord Jesus Christ saw Himself as a servant. It was the Lord who washed the disciple’s feet. It was the Lord who was a servant and provided the wine at the wedding, the fish and bread at the picnic, the healing of the impaired and diseased. The Lord was the One who said, “I have not come to be served but to serve”. And again He said, “I am among you as one who serves.” He is the One described in Philippians 2 as being equal with God but “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant…” Jesus saw Himself as a servant; He came as a Servant; He acted like a Servant. Paul saw that and so Paul saw himself as servant and Paul came as a servant, and Paul acted like a servant. When we see Christ the Servant then we too will see ourselves as servants.
This concept must be firmly planted in our minds. If we don’t get this down here in chapter 3 then there is nothing in the rest of this letter that will make sense. Paul is going to talk about the action of serving in chapters 4-6 but unless we first see our identity as servants in chapter 3 the other chapters will be lost on us. Christ served because He adopted the self-image of a servant. What do you call a Christian who serves but does not see himself/herself as a servant? We are not serving out of a sense of identity. We certainly are not serving like Christ. He saw Himself as a servant. Chapter 4:12 says, “to prepare God’s people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up”. Unless God’s people see themselves as servants like Jesus Christ then the full impact of this verse is lost. What we see we are motivates what we do. Wives, serving your husbands through submitting to them is a lost cause if you do not first see yourself as a servant the way Jesus was a servant. Husbands serve your wives by loving them as Christ served the Church with love. Jesus saw Himself as a servant to the Church - who are we to not see ourselves as servants of love to our wives? If we lose sight of Jesus Christ as the Servant of all servants, we will lose sight of the grounds for which we are servants. Don’t just serve, be a servant. Don’t just serve, be a servant just like your Servant Savior.
The Servant’s Concern (v7)
The Concern of the Servant is not himself, but, the One he serves. Paul became a servant of the Gospel, which means that like a waiter brings food to people Paul brought the Gospel to people. Paul did this because that is what Christ appointed him to do. Paul’s interests were no longer about Paul, but, about Christ. Whatever was the interest of Christ became the interest of Paul. Paul cared about what Christ cared about. Paul did what Christ did. Jesus Christ’s focus was Paul’s focus. A great description of the concern of the servant of Christ in Philippians 2 when he talks about Timothy. He paid Timothy high respect as another servant of Christ when he said in verse 19, “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son works with a father he has served with me in the work of the Gospel.”
Notice that Paul says Timothy is concerned about the well-being of the Philippian believers. And at the same time Paul, says that Timothy cares about the things Jesus cares about. That is because Jesus cares about the welfare of the Philippians, and therefore Timothy cares too. That is a servant. He concerns himself with nothing else other than what His Lord is concerned with. Timothy serves for the work of the Gospel. Paul became a servant of this gospel. The concern is the Gospel. The servant of the Gospel cares about the Gospel the way the Lord cares about the Gospel.
We are all servants of Jesus Christ. We have all been made to be His servants when we came to Him in faith. That is part of our identity. But are we good servants? A good servant is one who has made His Lord’s concern his own. Each of us do well to ask ourselves: Whose concerns am I preoccupied with? The servant of the Lord Jesus Christ will be aligning himself with the priorities of Jesus Christ. Paul says later in Ephesians 5:15-17, “Be very careful then how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Understand what His will is – what His concerns are ….and be committed to His concerns first in our life.
The Servant is Empowered (v7)
Notice that Paul serves by God’s power. “I became a servant of this Gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.” Paul was never confused about the source that powered his ability to serve. He said in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” Again in Colossians 1:28-29, “We proclaim Christ, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” And in 1 Timothy 1:12 he says, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has given me strength…”
Paul knew that what God called him to God equipped him for. What God called him to, God equipped him for.
And the same goes for us: God’s power works effectively in us as we serve Him. Philippians 2:12-13, says, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good pleasure.”
The Servant is Humble (v8)
A servant is humble. Notice in verse 8 Paul says, “Although I am less than the least of all God’s people”. And the longer you serve, the more humble you become. Paul said, “I am the least of all God’s people” in verse 8. I want to point something out here. Early on in Paul’s ministry, in 1 Corinthians 15:9 he said, “I am the least of the Apostles”. Then here in the middle of his ministry he learned more humility and said I am not only the least of the Apostles, “I am the least of all God’s people”. And finally towards the end of his ministry and his life Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:15, “I am the worst of all sinners.”
The longer Paul served Christ the more humble he became. As his life and ministry carried on his estimation of himself got lower and lower. Through serving God he saw his own inadequacies, his own weakness, his own shortcomings as a mere man. He lived constantly in dependence on God’s strength, on God’s grace, on God’s peace, and on God’s wisdom. It reminds me of what he said in 1 Corinthians when he said, “Think of what many of you were when you were called, not many of you were wise by human standards, not many of you were influential or of noble birth. God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. He chose the lowly and the despised…”
**** Millie Peck’s poem
Serving ought to bring a humility into our hearts, it should not bring pride. Serving out of Christ’s strength, wisdom and grace will teach us how unfit we really are to hold the position of serving Christ.
And the strange paradox here is that when we come to Christ and put our faith in Him we are both lowered and elevated. We are both humbled and exalted. And what I mean is that we are humbled in regards to our estimation of ourselves. We come to Christ and see we are hopeless sinners. We are not the high and mighty ones we used to think we were. But at the same time, when our estimation of ourselves lower to that point and we accept God’s gracious forgiveness we are made to be servants of God. We are elevated to the privileged position of serving God.
Paul was humbled by the honor he held as a servant of God. The context of this passage relates Paul’s humility with Paul’s position. Paul knew that the position he held as a Christian, and as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, was a position that exceeded him as a person.
That is true of us as well. We have a high position, a glorious position that we have been placed in. And it is one that carries the highest of honor, dignity, and privilege. It is that of Christian. It is that of one who is in Christ. But we as people do not measure up to the position we hold. God mismatches people on purpose: that is, He intentionally puts into the high position of Christian those people who in reality just do not measure up to the greatness of such an title. A Christian is a reflection of Christ. How could we ever adequetly reflect perfection? How could perfection ever be clearly understood in those who are in their own condition so imperfect?
Conclusion
Many people today believe that the good works they do are going to be looked favorably on by God even though they reject His Son. In essence they are trying to “serve God” with their works. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The Bible says that we only begin to serve God after we are saved. It is only afterwards we can start to serve Him by doing the good works that He has prepared for us to do. But we can’t begin to serve Him until we have first believed in the One God sent to serve us. Jesus Christ served us when He died on the cross for our sins. He died for your sins. And God won’t accept any service from you until you have first accepted what Christ did for you. Before you follow any command of God to serve Him you must first follow the command to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ.
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