God-Honoring Ministry Part 2

My favorite sections of scripture,
Acts chapter 20, because from the earliest days I gravitated
towards this passage as being deeply instructive to anyone
who aspires to really any kind of ministry. I think what Paul
sets forth here, as I’ve indicated even by way of the title, is
marks of a God-honoring ministry. And we talked about this last
Lord’s Day that there are 20 I statements in this. And for
some, we might even find that a little disturbing that Paul
seems to talk so much about himself. But I believe wholeheartedly
that what Paul was doing here, and even in those I statements,
was essentially setting forth an example, setting himself forth
an example. And he wasn’t afraid to do so.
We closed last Lord’s Day with that question. How willing are we to be an example? How eager are we to stand before
others and say, do as I do? I think we’re often very reticent
to have people watch us. We take umbrage sometimes when
people watch us too closely. We don’t like that. We don’t
want to be scrutinized. In a sense, we don’t want to
be examples. But Paul takes this passage, and as we began to look
last week, he drew to himself brothers in Christ, friends,
elders who had not only come to Christ, but who God had appointed
to shepherd the church there in Ephesus. And by church, There’s
no doubt that there were likely a number of churches, a number
of house churches at minimum, and perhaps on occasion they
would gather together at one. But Paul was instrumental, if
not in bringing them to Christ, in grounding them in the faith
and in instructing them. And here, that’s Paul’s purpose
once more, is to draw them near. to proclaim Christ and to really
elevate their perspective of ministry, to elevate their service
to Christ. I told you last Lord’s Day there
were eight marks. We’re not even going to begin
to touch them. But I want to have you look at Paul’s example. See what the Lord lays on your
heart as far as Paul’s example. Just to set the scene. Paul had tried to get into Ephesus.
You may remember that scene early in Acts where Paul on his missionary
journey essentially tried to take a left turn and was forbidden
to go into Ephesus at that time. Then he tries to take a right
turn and as God would have it, through a vision he was drafted
over into Europe. But he eventually got to Ephesus. We know he served almost three
years there in Ephesus and had a very fruitful ministry. As
I said last Lord’s Day, it’s almost as if when he interacts
with the saints at Ephesus, there isn’t that passionate, warm,
fuzzy that you get from reading his epistle to the Philippians.
There isn’t that passionate hurrah kind of look what God’s doing
through you kind of a thing that we get from reading the Thessalonians.
I think he was absolutely astounded at what God had done in their
hearts and lives. great disappointment that he
had with the Galatians. With the Ephesians, they just
got down to business. They got down to business, and
maybe they didn’t have a great and broad ministry, but they
had a sound ministry. And in that sense, Paul talks
to them very matter-of-fact. If he would, let’s pick up again,
all the way back to verse 17 in Acts chapter 20. See what
the Lord lays on your heart with regards to Paul’s example. Eight
marks of a God honoring ministry. From Miletus he sent to Ephesus
and called to him the elders of the church. And when he had
come to him, when they had come to him, he said to them, you
yourselves know from the first day that I set foot in Asia how
I was with you the whole time serving the Lord with all humility,
and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the
plots of the Jews. How I did not shrink from declaring
to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and
from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks
of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
And now, behold, bound in spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem,
not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the
Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that
bonds and afflictions await me. But I do not consider my life
of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course
in the ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus, to testify
solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. Behold, I know
that all of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom will
no longer see my face. Therefore, I testify to you this
day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not
shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. Be
on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the
Holy Spirit has made you overseers. to shepherd the church of God
which he purchased with his own blood. I know that after my departure,
savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the fly. And
from among your own selves, men will arise speaking perverse
things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be on
the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three
years, I did not cease to admonish each one Now, I commend you to God and
to the word of His grace which is able to build you up and to
give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. You yourselves
know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men
who were with me. In everything I showed you that
by working hard in this manner, you must help the weak. Remember
the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, it is more blessed
to give than to receive. When he had said these things,
he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they began to weep
aloud and embraced Paul and repeatedly kissed him, grieving especially
over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face
again. And they were accompanying him to the ship. just by way of reminder, Paul
didn’t go to Ephesus for this meeting. Perhaps it was the near
riot that had transpired the last time that he was in Ephesus.
Perhaps it was the fact that he had set his face like Flint
to get to Jerusalem. He knew what lie ahead. He knew
the difficulty and even perhaps his own martyrdom lie in Jerusalem,
but he was absolutely dedicated to the task at hand, which in
part was to bring that large gift from the saints, from the
Gentile church to the struggling Jerusalem church in the midst
of a great famine. Paul was dedicated to that task,
and he was dedicated to proclaiming the gospel, and I believe that
he didn’t want to be sidelined by going into Ephesus and being
drawn into some skirmish, no matter how slight. And so, he
sails past Ephesus and lands in Miletus, and perhaps some
emissary, perhaps even someone that they dropped off in Ephesus,
went and rallied the troops, as it were, and drew them drew
the elders to my leaders for this somewhat impromptu meeting. And he draws them to himself,
but we noted last week who it was that he drew. It was the
elders, and it’s a beautiful scene. The leaders of the church,
he calls them to himself, and we were reminded that in that
passage, we have in this section of Acts, Those three terms are
referred to that enduring office in the Christian church. Elder,
overseer, and shepherd. All three are interchangeable.
In fact, we have them even in one verse. Or rather, we have
the other two in this verse directed to the elders. When Paul says,
be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which
the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church
of God. He said that to the elders. Elders,
overseers, shepherd, it’s all interchangeable. What Paul basically
says to them is shepherd the flock. We’ll get to that point
here in the next couple of weeks. The other part that we noticed
though, and it caught us off guard, but as we began to look
at it, we saw that Paul was not being improper in using that
personal pronoun some 20 times, referring to himself. He wasn’t
being arrogant. He wasn’t being egotistical.
What he was doing was essentially taking the courage to stand himself
up in front of other people, commending himself to every man’s
conscience, as he says in 2 Corinthians 4. He wasn’t afraid to stand
up and say, here, by God’s grace, is your example. That’s not egotistical. There need to be more people
do that. There need to be more people that say, you know what,
I’m going to do what God’s called me to do. Watch and be likewise. I’ve drawn on the grace of God,
and I’m going to be what God has called me to be. Paul wasn’t
afraid to do that, as we saw last Lord’s Day. Paul wasn’t
afraid to be an example, and he does that here, as I said,
in eight remarkable ways. Glance back if you would at verse
17. With that, essentially that little foundation. As you look
back to Acts 17, we see there that Luke records that from Miletus
he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. Now Paul landed in Miletus, the
ship docked there, and Paul summoned the leaders of the Ephesian church,
the elders, the shepherds, the overseers. And that word that
is used there is a really remarkable word. The verb is really found
only in the Book of Acts, that word called to him the elders
of the church. We might even, if we just read
it as it’s written in the New American Standard, you might
not even glean the intensity of that word. I think the word
summons would fit well. In fact, that’s exactly how it’s
translated in Acts 24-25. There it’s used by Felix, or
used of Felix, who sent Paul away and then he became frightened
and said, go away from the president and when I find time, I will
summon you. And when Felix summoned you,
you were obligated to go. And I see here In the use of
that word, there’s a kind of an obligation. He called the
elders and it wasn’t just an invitation. One that you could
RSVP, sorry Paul, I’m busy today. This was a demand that he placed
on their lives. This was a very crucial meeting. As we read through the book of
Acts, I mean Acts chapter 20, you can begin to see how important
this meeting is. So it’s Miletus, Paul, and whatever
company of saints Paul had with him, they stayed behind. And
some have wondered, they almost seem to think that this was done
in an afternoon. That Paul, merely some of the
elders, the elders showed up magically, and they had this
meeting, and Paul gets back on the boat, and they all wave goodbye.
Well, it’s a little unrealistic. Let me just give you some geography
here. Miletus is about 33 miles away from Ephesus. So if an individual
were able to make it all the way to Ephesus in one day, just
the fact of rallying those elders in the city, finding them, drawing
them out from whatever particular duty they were doing, having
them wrap up whatever particular duty in which they were engaged,
doubling back, making the trek back to Miletus. You’re talking
about much more than just a few days. Paul probably settled in. His intention was to get you
to Jerusalem, but right now there is a more important thing. And even this, even this, Imagine
that that’s all there was. Paul summoned them to himself
and I believe they had a council. They likely spent time in prayer
together. He probably explained a lot of
these things. So they came to Paul. Three days
minimum, at the very minimum. And Paul settles in. to detail
his ministry. The first thing he tells these
men, it’s even a non-verbal when he
calls only the elders to himself. He tasks them with a great responsibility. Even in just calling themselves
to Him, He reminds them that the service of leading the church
is not a casual undertaking. It is the highest and most noble
work on the earth. Because of that, it requires
a large, liberal measure of God’s grace. And so Paul focuses on
the elders. He knows that in their hands
the future of the church rests. One commentator, just in sensing
the solemnity of this moment and calling the elders to himself,
he said this, when a man enters the eldership, It is no small
honor conferred upon him, for he is entering the oldest religious
office in the world, an office whose history can be traced through
Christianity and Judaism for 4,000 years. When a man enters
the eldership, no small responsibility falls upon him, for he has been
ordained as a shepherd of the flock of God, a defender of the
faith.” See, Paul wanted to give these leaders such encouragement,
the encouragement that they needed to really put the church into
overdrive in Asia. And so in a very real sense,
this is not just a farewell speech. This is not just a cordial greeting
goodbye. One even suggested that this
is Paul’s last will and testament personally delivered to his friends. One said it this way. The farewell
address of Paul to the Ephesian elders, more than any other passage
in Acts, reveals the heart of the great apostle. His tenderness,
his sympathy, his affection, his tears, no other paragraph
contains more direct and practical advice for Christian ministers.
Furthermore, its guidance and inspiration are such as to aid
every follower of Christ in the conduct of life and in the fulfillment
of duty. I may have lost you there. So I’ll repeat in my own words. He says this is a great passage
for elders. This is a great passage to consider
for Christian leadership. This passage ought to be studied. It ought to be one of the paramount
passages in any elders system of study. This ought to be reviewed
and mulled over, over and over again. But we would make a huge
mistake to cede over this passage and to keep it only in the hands
of the pastors, the shepherds of the church. This passage is
for you. This passage is for anyone who
does any kind of ministry, any kind of service to God himself.
And I believe that Paul’s example us to consider and to mull over
our own faithfulness in light of the example that Paul lays
down. That’s why I was so dismayed
to read 1 this past week. He said you can’t look at Acts
chapter 20, it’s too full of emotion. You can’t look at Acts
chapter 20 and glean any kind of systematic lesson from it. I think it’s absolutely clear
what Paul was doing here. He’s standing himself before
his friends, these Ephesian elders, as an example. And he said, look,
I want you to see this, I want you to mark it, and I want you
to do it. Another said it this way. No
discourse is recorded in Acts so full of living, personal interest,
It is so essentially Pauline in all its turns and touches
of thought, in all its tenderness and sympathy, its tremulous anxieties,
its frank assertions of the fullness of his teaching, of the self-denying
labors of his life, its sense of the infinite responsibility
of the ministerial office for himself and others, its apprehension
of coming dangers from without and from within the Church. I wanted to begin to look at
the marks of a God honoring ministry. What does God look for with regards
to faithfulness? Sometimes we grade on a curve.
We’re really good at grading on a curve for ourselves. Sometimes we’re good at pleasing
mankind. People have an elevated perspective
of us many times. But how does God see us? And
what does God look for with regards to ministry? What does God look
for with regards to faithfulness? What does God consider to be
honoring ministry? As I’ve suggested, I think there
are eight, at least eight here, of Paul’s personal testimony
of his life and ministry. Number one, a ministry that honors
God, any ministry that honors God, is characterized by undaunted
service. Undaunted service. Look at verse
17 again, from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus, called to him the
elders of the church, and when they had come to him, he said
to them, you yourselves know, from the first day I set foot
in Asia, how I was with you the whole time. serving the Lord
with all humility, and with tears, and with trials, which came upon
me through the plots of the Jews.” He basically says, I want you
to go to your memory bank, think back with me, perhaps even before
you met me. Because he says, in all of Asia,
from the first time I set foot in Asia, not just in Ephesus,
you heard of me. You knew of my reputation. You
knew that it was impeccable. as you yourselves know. You know
this. And once you heard of my reputation,
then I came into Ephesus. You saw it at work. You know
exactly. Paul reminds his hearers of what
his life was like. That he had spent time with them,
serving, ministering to them, in this faithful service, in
the midst of great sorrow many times. in the midst of even danger,
in the face of the hostility of the Jews and others, and still
Paul carried on. I want you to know, first of all,
verses 18 and 19, they talk about service, that’s what he says.
But it’s a minor point, it’s a sub-point, if you will. I was
with you the whole time, serving the Lord. That’s what I was doing
with you. I wasn’t just visiting. It wasn’t
just a social call that I was there. I was there with you,
and the whole time I was with you, I was serving the Lord.
That’s Paul’s whole calling. His whole life was wrapped up
in serving the Lord. To the Corinthians, he said this,
Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ, as stewards
of the mysteries of God. And as such, he goes on to say
in verse 2, in this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that
one be found trustworthy. He said, you know what? I came
to serve the Lord, and if you remember, look back at my life
in ministry, and you found it to be absolutely impeccable. I was faithful. Faithful to God. I did my job. But look at the context. Look
at the context. That’s what makes it really remarkable. It was undaunted service. And
it was like the gates of hell had opened up and everything
was against Paul. Everything! And still he served
the Lord. You yourselves know from the
first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the
whole time serving the Lord with all humility. Paul didn’t come
with titles. Paul didn’t come with flashiness.
Paul didn’t come with expectations on how he was to be treated.
Paul didn’t come with pomp and circumstance. Paul came with
humility. I imagine the first day that
he walked into Ephesus, nobody even knew who he was. He was
a nobody in the world’s eyes. He was with you the whole time
with humility, with tears. We don’t know. Were they tears
of joy? We don’t know. Were they tears
of agony? I’d say that’s more likely as you course through
Paul’s list of experiences, his resume, if you will. Were they
tears of grief for those who did not respond to Christ? Were
there tears of remorse for those who abandoned him in the midst
of his own ministry? of pain as he watched people
ruin their lives with the choices they made, that’s probably the
hardest part of ministry, is watching what people do to their
lives. We had just seen in our brief
recounting the near riot in Ephesus. The Jews didn’t come to Paul’s
aid in that particular setting. They didn’t really empathize
with Paul. In fact, they couldn’t wait for
Paul to get what they felt was coming to him. They didn’t love
or care for Paul. And it’s not just this occasion. It’s not just what happened in
Ephesus. Paul says, look, I want you to
know that I was with you the whole time, serving in humility,
with tears, in the midst of these trials that largely, but not
exclusively, came through the plots of the Jews. Let me take
you on a tour, if I may. Would you turn to 1 Thessalonians?
This may seem a little bit out of order. What I’m trying to
do is take it in its historical context, what happened first.
We know that the epistles that Paul likely wrote first were
the Thessalonian epistles. And I just want to take you there
for a brief glimpse. What was Paul’s experience? What
did he experience? 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. This is what he reminds the Thessalonians
was his experience in Thessalonica. For you yourselves know, brethren,
that our coming to you was not in vain, but after we had already
suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, which is really
remarkable, that he He brings that forward. We think of Paul’s
ministry as he wins wherever he goes. But if you think back
to Philippi, it was chaos. The church was planted there,
but it was chaos from the very word go. You yourselves know
that our coming to you was not in vain, but after we had already
suffered and been mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we
have the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of
God in the midst of much opposition.” You know what he says here? Undaunted
truth. Because if there was ever a time
to quit, you go through Philippi, and you know, you’re arrested,
and there’s all this, you know, they basically run you out of
town. If there was ever a time to quit, you know what? There
it is. I’m done. Now Paul, and he marches
to the next town and does the same thing. Turn if you would to 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians chapter 4, we have
another testimony of Paul. What was ministry like? Was it
all frills? Was it just a bed of roses that
Paul introduced us all to this adventure? Not at all. Look at
verse 10. We are fools, for Christ’s sake.
That’s how he summarizes it. The world thinks that we’re foolish. You are prudent in Christ. We
are weak, but you are strong. You are distinguished, but we
are without honor. He said, we’re treated as nobodies
wherever we go. To this present hour, we are
both hungry and thirsty and poorly clothed and roughly treated.
We are homeless. We toil, working with our own
hands. When we are reviled, we bless.
When we are persecuted, we endure. You know what? You know what
most people would say to that? I quit. If this is ministry,
God, I quit. Not Paul. Undaunted service. This is part of it. And even
though he’s experiencing all of these things, he’s not going
to quit. He perseveres. Turn, if you would, to 2 Corinthians. In chapter 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. And essentially
what you have here all the way through the sixth chapter is
another great section on the ministry. But I would say ministry
with a small n because this pertains to all of us. These calls to
faithfulness pertain to all of us. Look at verse eight. For
we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which
came upon us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively beyond
our strength, so that we despaired even of life.” He’s talking about
what he experienced in Ephesus, or right near Ephesus in Asia,
that it was so bad that, at least on occasion, they wanted to die.
Indeed, look at verse 9, we have the sentence of death within
ourselves, so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God
who raises the dead. In other words, they basically
are tracking along saying, God, if you wipe me out, you’re going
to have to raise me up if you want this work done. I’m going.
Undaunted service. Look at verse 10. God who raises
the dead, who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and
will deliver us, he on whom we have set our hope, He will yet
deliver us, you also joining and helping us through your prayer
so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for
the favor bestowed upon us through the prayers of many.” In other
words, he said, it’s almost like, remember, Moses had to have his
arms held up. Paul said, I wouldn’t have made
it without the prayers of the saints, without God sustaining
me. But he persevered. Turn over to chapter 4. Now we’re in the heart of this
section where Paul’s dealing with serving Christ. What it
costs to serve Christ. Paul issues that statement. Of any statement that’s ever
made in scripture, probably no one has been more of a help to
me than this one. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. When we preach this, we talk
about, you know, cracked pots. That’s what he’s talking about.
We’re just pots. We’re just a clay pot cracked at that. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. Why? So that the surpassing greatness
of the power will be of God and not from ourselves. We are afflicted
in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed. absolutely bewildered
at what God’s doing. We sometimes, we throw up our
hands, we just don’t get it. What’s God doing? But we don’t
despair, we trust Him. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Men are doing this to me. God
is allowing it, but God has a design in it. Struck down, but not destroyed. Paul just kept getting up. kept getting up. Look at verse
4 of chapter 6. This is the one where we quoted
last Lord’s statement talking about examples. Paul was an example.
Look at his example here. In everything, commending ourselves
as servants of God. Stop right there. I mean, if
you had to, in everything? I mean, that’s almost, that’s
overwhelming to our In the way that we go about our conduct
with our neighbor, in the way that we drive, in the way that
we talk with others, in the way that we deal with customer service,
right? In everything, commending ourselves
as servants of God. I’m his representative. Watch,
watch me. That’s what Paul’s saying. In
everything, commending ourselves as servants of God in much endurance,
in affliction, in hardship, in distress. It wasn’t an easy road,
ever, for Paul. Undaunted service. Turn over
to chapter 7, verse 5. Chapter 7, Paul says here, you know, what
every pastor, every elder ever knows. You have these concerns,
these grave concerns with what’s happening in our world. How long
is it gonna be before they walk in and arrest us for preaching
the word? But you not only have that, but you have even troubles
within the church. In verse five, even when we came
into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted
on every side, conflicts without and fears within. He had these
internal anxieties, but he also had these outward attacks. Turn,
if you would, one last tour to 2 Timothy. Second Timothy, you have a couple
of really sad commentaries. Things that really have caused
lesser men to quit. And that is just the insincerity of people,
lack of honor, a lack of dedication. Look at verse 10 of chapter four.
Demas, having loved the present world, had deserted me and gone
to Thessalonica. There’s nothing more troubling
in ministry than to lose one of Christ’s sheep, especially
as a fellow servant. To have somebody come alongside
and serve with you for years, and then all of a sudden go astray.
Paul’s heart was broken. I’m certain it was broken by
Demas. How could it not be? How could
Paul not love the gospel so greatly, and see one of God’s own wander
away, and not be just devastated over it? Look at verse 14. It gets worse, heap upon heap. Alexander the coppersmith did
me much harm. We don’t know exactly what transpired
here, but Paul basically says, you know what, it was bad, I’m
gonna let the Lord deal with him. The Lord’s perfectly capable. I’m not going to file a lawsuit.
I’m not going to seek retribution. The Lord will repay him according
to his deeds. That’s not Paul being vindictive.
That’s Paul knowing God’s divine justice system. Be on guard for him himself pretty
vigorously opposed our teaching. It’s difficult. It’s difficult.
Ministry’s difficult to be opposed. To have people make fun of what
you believe and what you teach. It’s fascinating though. When Paul was commissioned into
ministry, God said, I will show him how
much he must suffer for my name’s sake. If you want to serve Christ,
you’re going to suffer. If you want to serve Christ in
any capacity, you’re going to pay the price to do it. As we
draw near the Lord’s table, I just want to ask you a couple of questions
about service. And perhaps issue forth a couple
of reminders. Who do you serve? I get so weary
of hearing from Christian people, not necessarily these saints,
but from Christian people who are tired of serving Sunday school,
tired of the particular role that they have in their various
churches, tired of the way that their people treat them, Tired
of the difficulties that have come their way, or the lack of
pay, or whatever the case may be. Who do we serve? We don’t serve our Sunday school
class. We don’t serve our church, not necessarily. Not ultimately. We serve Christ. We serve the
Lord Jesus Christ, if we serve at all. And if we serve, no matter
what capacity, no difficulty can ever come that should ever
make us hate the service that we render to Him. First of all, it’s the Lord Jesus
Christ. He paid for your penalty on the
cross. So when we say, who do you serve, it isn’t the people.
It isn’t a building. It’s the Lord Jesus Christ. Second,
I would ask you, how do you serve? Is it with drudgery? Is it with
a sense of obligation and duty that you go through your emotions,
shuffling your feet, just trying to get this thing done? Or is it with a sense of passion?
That this is a ministry that God and His goodness is bestowed
upon you. It’s a privilege. It’s a privilege
to serve Christ in any capacity. Who do you serve? How do you
serve? Why do you serve? Is it to get some kind of recognition? Is it to get some kind of remuneration?
Is it out of some sense of obligation? It’s a good question to pose
to ourselves. Why am I doing what I’m doing? I’m certain that
Paul asked himself on countless occasions, why am I doing this
again? Oh yeah, it’s the Lord Jesus
Christ that I’m serving. And I’m serving in order to bring
Him glory. I’m serving in order to enlarge
His kingdom. I’m serving in order to care
for His flock. We get our eyes off on the wrong
focus a lot of times. Asking ourselves these simple
questions will help. Who do you serve? How do you
serve? Why do you serve? When do you serve? For a lot
of people, it’s always out there. It’s almost like a cloud. You
drive near to the cloud, and it just kind of seems to dissipate.
You see the light of the full sun. It’s always out there in
the future. They always intend to get to
it. First, I’ve got to get more training. First, I’ve got to
get this. As soon as I get this taken care
of, then who do you serve? How do you serve?
Why do you serve? And when do you serve? What great
questions to pose to ourselves. For Lord Jesus Christ, we humble
ourselves in your glorious presence. Lord, we thank you and praise
you for this example of Paul, whom you graced, whom you called
into service. You called him and you equipped
him. You gave to him the grace to
serve as he ought to serve. Lord, we thank you that We can
glance at these things and examine our own hearts. How do we serve? Why do we serve? And most important of all, whom
do we serve? Lord, we thank you. We look forward
with great anticipation to examining our hearts in the light of the
other examples that Paul lays before us here in this passage. Thank you and we praise you in
Jesus’ name.