3:8
Paul knew who he was. Elsewhere he describes himself as the chief of sinners (1 Tim 1:14), here he describes himself as “less than the least of all God’s people”. Paul definitely did not have an exaggerated view of himself, yet this did not lead him to become less of a person. For he also knew the grace that God had given to him. This grace was the source of his strength. Rather than a self-confidence he had a God-confidence. There is a lot of talk about self-esteem these days. We need to be very careful with this as we can fall into error in two ways. On the one hand it can go off into fantasy and untruth, saying we are wonderful and can be and do anything. This is complete nonsense, is unbiblical, and leads only to disillusionment. On the other hand we can we are worthless and completely useless. This is equal nonsense, and equally unbiblical. The Biblical truth is that we were created in God’s image, but we find our true worth only in Him. This then will lead to us doing amazing things. In Paul’s case this focused on preaching the “boundless riches of Christ” to the Gentiles.
3:9
Paul knew the God-given task that was his, to make known the “administration of this mystery”, ie how things work out! How all the promises and plans revealed in the Old Testament were going to be realised was hidden for many years. How could the problem of man’s sin and God’s blessing be resolved? But note that it is making known God’s plan. Evangelism can easily descend into presenting a mere human message. I may sound very nice, “your best life now”, or “let’s be nice and loving to everyone”, “let’s do our best”, but these sorts of messages are not the gospel and are completely lacking in power. The gospel is the message of calling sinners to repentance and faith in Christ, receiving the Holy Spirit and becoming a new creation.
No comments:
Post a Comment