HUMBLE MINISTRY

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

How should someone approach Christian ministry as they answer the call of the Lord to carry our His purposes?

We find the Apostle Paul provide us three answers within the opening five verses of 1 Corinthians, chapter 2, our text for today’s message. Let’s look at these now.

1. We should approach Christian ministry humbly.

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

Paul could have boasted greatly about how Jesus had hand selected him to go on all his missionary journeys and presented data to show how greatly he succeeded in bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth. He could have arrogantly bragged about having spiritual superiority over those he ministered to, asserting that he had privileged insider knowledge since he was so close to Jesus, an intimate relationship established on the road to Damascus and then into Damascus itself, the first place where Paul proclaimed the good news about God’s Savior Son.

But he didn’t do anything like this, did he?

Instead, he made sure his Corinthian readers recalled how he exercised great humility while proclaiming “the testimony about God”. He didn’t come with eloquent words based on his own wisdom but rather was a mouthpiece that God spoke through, much like the prophets of old.

As we go about our work for the cause of Christ, we need to offer ourselves to the Lord completely, relying on Him to send us where He wants us to go...to do what He wants us to do...which includes saying the things He wants to say, the things He wants His people to hear.

2. We should keep it simple when we minister.

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Paul didn’t seek to dazzle the Corinthians with extensive theological knowledge. Rather, he showed great modesty in his ministry work, resolved to make sure his message was succinct and to the point. There was no need to use some wide sweeping exposition on the salvation offered by God to His people through His Son. No, Paul kept it fundamentally about Jesus and his life.

By his own testimony, Paul reminded the Corinthians that he spoke solely about Jesus and Him crucified while he was with them. The focus was on Christ and Christ alone as it always should be because without Jesus and His redeeming work completed on Calvary’s cross, we wouldn’t have a Gospel message to share.

We don’t need to make Christian ministry hard. We only need to make it about Jesus, about His life and death, His resurrection and ascension, and about His coming return.  

3. We need to allow the power of the Holy Spirit to work through us.

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

Jesus knew there would be times when His followers would struggle with knowing what to say in certain circumstances, especially in the heat of the moment during their labors for Him. You’ll remember Jesus told His disciples that if they were ever hauled into court due to their affiliation with Him, they would never need to worry how to testify because Jesus would give them the words to say.

Paul experienced that same intervention as Jesus gave him the words to speak through the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, when Paul spoke, he did so not by way of his might but rather the Spirit’s power.

Why?

Because he desired that the faith of the Corinthian Christians would not rest on wisdom from humans but rather on the power of God, a power surpassing anyone or anything else in heaven or on earth.

When we humbly allow the Lord to lead and guide us in our ministry work, then we will submit to carrying out the Lord’s will and not our own. We will speak with the Spirit’s power so that the strength of God might be revealed and draw people to Him in faith.

Friends, as Christians, Jesus has called us to carry on His work in making disciples. He didn’t tell us how to go about it but He did say this:

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:20b

As we answer His Great Commission, we do so knowing we never walk alone. Rather, He is walking as close to us as He did the two men on the road to Emmaus. We only need to humbly surrender control to Him, allowing Him to lead us to ministry opportunities, knowing He isn’t bringing us to something that He isn’t going to bring us through. And once we are in those ministry opportunities, all we need to do is allow the Spirit’s power to work through us, providing the words to speak or wrote.

That’s what Paul did and we would be well served to follow his example.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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