Essays in Ephesians #20—part 2
Ephesians 3: 7-8
Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Ephesians 3: 7–8
God’s love changed Saul of Tarsus, a monster-in-the-making into Paul, a man of mercy. At a real moment in time, somewhere along the road between Jerusalem and Damascus, God’s light turned a hard-hearted, murderous, prejudiced, Pharisee—a legalistic zealot—a pawn of the anti-Christ spirit—into a Godly, humble, tenderhearted servant of Jesus—a minister. As Paul’s eyes opened to the light of the truth of the crucified and risen Christ, he turned his back on all his self-effort—all his successful, proud religious legalism—and humbly turned toward Jesus of Nazareth—his own crucified, risen and living Lord.
A few years later, after a hidden season of preparation, God called Paul (the man once known as Saul) and sent him out to tell the Gentiles about Jesus.
Meeting Jesus changed Paul. Instead of being Jesus’ foe, he became His minister. He later wrote,
Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power.
God has power to change anyone—if they will ask and let Him. He has grace enough to turn any stubborn ungodly man or woman into a willing, humble, loving servant of His truth. With amazing grace, He loves to transform seeking souls by the working of His power. He calls all who will come to Himself. Paul knew that his ministry was by the gift of God’s grace. That, Jesus’ words were true: apart from God he could do nothing.
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5
After calling us to Himself, God calls all of us to salt this earth with His truth and love. But apart from Him, we can do nothing. Whatever our call might be, we need Him. Some calls are highly specific.The Holy Spirit called and equipped Paul to tell Gentile unbelievers that His Son had come to earth to save them from the satanic darkness of sin—to deliver them from guilt, shame, fear, deception, hatred, violence, despair and death. God’s Son had come to give humankind hope, peace, righteousness, joy, life, light and love.
Although our message about Jesus is the same as Paul’s, God calls very few of us to be apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers or evangelists. We can only do what God calls us to. God usually calls us to work with others. Most often we can’t do all God wants us on our own. He calls us to function together as a body. In truth, Paul could not have done all that he did without his traveling companions and the women whom he thanks for laboring with him to spread the good news of Jesus’ salvation.
We all have good works to do—works assigned to us from before the beginning of time. As we are cleansed from sin and filled with the Holy Spirit, the Lord gives us the assignments that are tailor made for our personalities, talents, gifts, spiritual maturity and seasons of human life. And, He gives us everything we need to do all that He calls us to do.
I know this from experience. I’m eighty-six now, but once, in my thirties, the only job I could find was as nurses’s aide in an assisted living facility. It was a God-given assignment, impossible to fulfill on my own. But the Lord did it. He filled me with such love for the residents that when He wanted me to move on, I wouldn’t quit; I had to be fired. So, I was fired—ostensibly for praying with the residents. (You can read about it at https://givenwordnow.com/the-nursing-home/)
In my forties, God changed assignments another “Without me you can do nothing” task. This time, the only job I could find was as teacher’s aide in a small classroom of Severe-Profound Behavior Disordered junior high students. The classroom was often unstable, the chance of violence was real. More than once the Holy Spirit gave me specific directions about where to walk, where to stand and what to say or not to say. I double tasked—in silent prayer through the day.
Pained by the link between the youngsters social problems and poor reading, I took night classes for an MAT in reading, an easy degree at an Evanston teacher’s college. I planned to be a reading specialist in special ed—until the Holy Spirit told me to move back home and care for my aging mother. Four nights a week I taught ESL at the Elgin YWCA.
After my mother died, I turned to the arts, especially writing and pottery. I immersed myself in homemaking and sought the Lord intensely by going to conferences and attending prayer meetings,
Then, in 1993, at the age of fifty three, one Sunday morning at a Vineyard altar call, Jesus stood before me and said, “I want you to go back to school.” I cried. It was a jolt—another “Without me you can do nothing” hurdle. He did not tell me where, when or how—but when He speaks, it happens. Within less than a year I was grad student at the U of I in Urbana—my first degree had qualified me for the second. It was all God’s plan—but Me?
Yes, me! Despite teaching night classes in ESL, it was a humanly impossible stretch for me, an aging, spacey, middle-aged, right-brained, housewifely, random-thinker-artist-writer-type to succeed in a master’s degree program designed for brainy, young, focused, left brain thinkers. The cultural shock of moving from a WASP Suburb to a liberal Big Ten University was jarring. I went from from unstructured days of housework, historical novels, gardening, painting pictures and church meetings into the intellectual challenge of researching and writing papers, tests, deadlines, and study groups in a competitive top ranked TESOL/Linguistics program.
But, the Lord had sent me. He sustained me. I even earned another MA. More than once I wanted to quit—in a desperate moment I called a father in the faith who said, “Never make a major decision in the darkness.”
I’m glad I listened—for God had far, far more than a degree in mind. Through friendships made at the U of I, I ended up taking an Albanian Bible to a 90 year old Christian in Tirana; praying in Japan for men who wept uncontrollably and unashamedly in the presence of God’s accepting love; speaking at a retreat in Russia where an alcoholic wife-beating man met Jesus and instantly stopped drinking and abusing; encouraging former prostitutes in Japan—the list goes on. Back then, only two of us at the Elgin Vineyard had email—me and a teacher with a work account. My personal U of I email address in Urbana became the Elgin Vineyard’s contact for updates from a dear sister in Christ (Karen) who’d left Elgin to teach ESL with a YWAM team in Azerbaijan. Once again, in hindsight, I did nothing—every kingdom expanding encounter was God-given and God fulfilled.
By the time my season of school and travel as one of God’s errand girls ended, I’d enough new braincells to follow the Holy Spirit’s next leading into writing, editing and publishing. That’s another chapter. The point is—God equips ordinary folks like me for His small purposes—not only giants like Paul—and, if God could equip and use me, He can do the same for you.
It is important to know (and trust) that God not only equips us, but also sustains us. Paul’s testimony of Jesus led to beatings, riots, imprisonment and eventually martyrdom. God sustained Paul thorough it all. If we are ever called to face persecution, He will be with us. Do you know that if someone harasses us, downgrades us, or treats us meanly or unfairly because of our faith in Jesus, it is not abut us. They are persecuting Jesus—as Paul once did—and Jesus takes it personally.
Paul admitted being weak—of being the least of the saints—of choosing to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
What sustained Him in His world changing ministry? Only the gift of God’s grace, given by the working of His power.
Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Ephesians 3: 7–8
As I write, I pray, Lord, may one reader, someone like me who knows they have nothing of their own to give, at least one, find faith in these words to receive the gift of Your grace by the working of Your mighty power to follow as You lead.
Lord, give us grace to surrender—not to our fears, not to our enemies, but to Your Holy Spirit. May He rise up within us, sustain us and fill us with the power of Jesus Christ to do our Heavenly Father’s will and to love His enemies. Help us receive Your grace to speak Your words of truth and to overcome evil with good.
