August 22, 2018
“Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ.” – Ephesians 3:8
We have a very high view of the Apostle Paul, and there is no doubt that he played a pivotal role in the spread of the newly minted Gospel and the growth of the fledgling Church. So how can Paul say, in Ephesians 3:8, that he is “less than the least of all the Lord’s people”? Well, we quickly forget the Paul that existed before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. You see, Paul tells us in Acts chapter 22 that when the first Christian martyr, Stephen, was stoned to death he stood there guarding the possessions of the murders and giving his approval to the death of the young man. Not only that, but Paul then made it his mission to travel all over the land to continue this persecution of Christians wherever they could be found. So I’m sure, at least from Paul’s point of view, you would be hard pressed to find someone so undeserving of God’s grace through Christ. But the important thing to remember about Ephesians 3:8 is not how horrible Paul was, but how good Jesus is.
Paul was not traveling through the land of the Gentiles in some sort of campaign to exalt himself. Quite the opposite; he knew that he had absolutely nothing to brag about. He knew he was the worst of the worst when it comes to those Christ had saved. And so his message was all about the boundless riches of Christ. We often live afraid of talking about Jesus because our life is not the shining example of what a Christian should be and our history is ugly at best. However, brothers and sisters, we are not preaching our righteousness or our merit. No! Quite the opposite; our message is the message of Christ’s boundless riches. Despite our ugliness, despite our failures, despite our sinfulness; the goodness of Jesus Christ knows no limit, no boundary. So preach proudly of the boundless riches of Jesus Christ in your undeserving life. For I am soundly convinced that neither death nor life, angels nor demons, anything in the present or anything in the future, or any power that exists in all the universe can separate us from the boundless love of God that is in Christ Jesus.
Lord, I confess that I am less than the least of all Your people. And I confess that I stand here today in Your presence only because of the boundless riches of Jesus Christ which has been applied to my wretched account. Father, let this be the Gospel I preach to a lost and dying world.
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Shane Cannon
