Less than the Least

Less than the Least

Words of Faith 2-10-2021

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2021

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

www.faithfellowshipweb.com

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Ephesians 3

[7] I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. [8] Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, [9] and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.

      How do we understand our relationship to the Gospel?  Is the Gospel of grace something we receive and enjoy?  Is it something we take on and then promote?  Is it something that gives us status or recognition?  Do we use the Gospel to lord over others to control them or make us feel powerful about ourselves?

      Paul's relationship to the Gospel of grace was stunning.  He was absolutely nothing but a servant of this Gospel of grace. The Greek word is diakonos, meaning literally a table waiter.  He did not see himself so much a servant to the Gospel as a servant of the Gospel.  He understood himself as one available simply to wait on the table of those who might come to dine upon the truth of the Gospel and the wonder of God's grace.

      And lest we start to think of Paul as superior in his humble stature, he clarified that he became a servant of God's grace through the power of God.  Any power observed in this humility he carried was itself only the empowered by God.  

      Paul came to regard himself to be less than the least of all God's people, yet he was entrusted with this message of the unsearchable riches of Christ.  He was charged with the privilege of making plain this economy of grace.  

      In an age where people are prone to put on all sorts of false authority and feigned importance, how very powerful it is to hear Paul's humble perspective and view of himself.  As the most prominent writer in the New Testament and arguably the greatest among the Apostles, if anyone might have claimed pride or position, it would have been Paul.  But there was no such arrogance.  He claimed only to be the less than the least.

     There is a modern hymn written by Stuart Townsend that expresses something of the overwhelming humility we come to when faced with the genuine Gospel of Christ.  "How deep the Fathers love for us" concludes with this simple phrase:

I will not boast in anything

No gifts, no power, no wisdom

But I will boast in Jesus Christ

His death and resurrection.

      That was the heart of Paul after encountering Christ and being impacted by His grace and mercy. 

How deep the Father's love for us,

How vast beyond all measure

That He should give His only Son

To make a wretch His treasure.

      Father God, humble me as needed.  Fashion me after Your Spirit and cause me to walk after You in servanthood of the Gospel.  I am, indeed, less than the least of all Your people.  Use me by Your grace to share the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make plain the mystery of Your amazing grace.  In Jesus' Name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2010, 2021

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)       

2820 Business Center Blvd.

Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.