What’s the job of Apostle Paul?
He was commissioned to proclaim the mysteries of God. So are those who are
called in Christ Jesus the Lord. The apostle seemed to be the last person whom
God might call because he persecuted the church of Christ. But it was by God’s
foreknowledge and irrevocable plan for Paul and every Christian in Christ. Before
the time began, our God made a plan to restore the lost race through Jesus
Christ the Son of Man. That’s the mystery of Christ. Hear the Apostle how he
began his ministry at Corinth.
“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)
When he proclaimed to the
Corinthians the mystery of God, he did not deliver with eloquence or human
wisdom. Rather, he resolved to know nothing except Jesus and Him crucified. He
didn’t present the gospel of Christ Jesus with polished speech and the latest
philosophy. He is saying that he deliberately chose to keep it plain and
simple. What did he preach? He preached who was Christ Jesus and what He
did—Christ crucified. He was determined to proclaim the mystery of Christ and no
more. There was no Paul in his presentation of the gospel, absolutely nothing.
Paul’s attitude exactly reflects what John the Baptist said.
“He must become greater; I must
become less.” (John 3:30)
Paul says that he came to them
in weakness with great fear and trembling. It doesn’t mean that he was afraid
of preaching the gospel because he says that he was not ashamed of the gospel in
the Epistle of Romans.
“For I am not ashamed of the
gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes:
first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16)
What he meant is that he felt
totally inadequate to present the gospel of Jesus, even he was scared to death.
So, nothing he said was impressive to them and anyone else. It is so common
that every Christian experiences how difficult it is to witness Jesus Christ to
someone who are completely little known about Christ Jesus.
What he is saying is that he is
not the source of power in proclaiming the mystery of Christ. There is another
one who worked through Paul—Christ Jesus the Lord. God’s Spirit and God’s power
delivered the gospel of Christ to the people. Neither Paul nor some
philosophical loftiness and human wisdom did it. But the power of God let the
gospel of Christ penetrate into the dull and blind mind and heart of humanity. Thus,
their faith might not rest on human wisdom but on God’s power.
Likewise, our faith rests on
God’s power but not on anything else like scriptural knowledge, four spiritual
laws, disciple making programs, and so on. Why must such things be completely excluded?
It’s because all these things cannot penetrate the barrier of blindness and
blackness entrenched in the fallen race. Lofty ideas and thoughts and pompous
slogans and chants never reach and touch to the core of real humanity.
Philosophical wisdom and psychological intelligence never reveal the reality of
humans. Neither technological advancements nor scientific enhancements can solve
the fundamental problem of humanity.
But God is the beginning and
the end. He is the Creator who designed and made the whole universe. God made
humans in His image and in His likeness in the beginning. He knows all,
especially who we are and what we are. He knows what we need desperately. He
runs and operates the wheels in wheels—all the human events and affairs. God is
the ultimate realist and before Him everything will be laid bare as in
daylight.
“Nothing in all creation is
hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes
of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13)
God’s power is incomparably stronger
than any power, authority, and dominion in heaven and on earth and under the earth.
He made all things and nothing was made that has been made without Him. When
God made the universe He never intended to run by itself. All things are now
and forevermore under God’s total and perfect care and control. Many a wise
people see the world going mad and chaotic and uncontrollable ever and ever. Hurts,
wounds, bruises, agonies, decries, pains, distresses, pressures are ever
increasing in every corner of our lives and in all people. Is there anyone who
does not experience all these things?
Nevertheless, the universe is
the same as yesterday and will be the same tomorrow no matter how far it may be
until the Day of the Lord. It’s because in Christ Jesus all things hold
together. All things in heaven and on earth will be united under Christ
(Ephesians 1:10).
“The Son is the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were
created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones
or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him
and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
(Colossians 1:15-17)
Our God knows exactly what He
is doing. Despite of increasing disharmonies and chaotic violence in our midst,
one of these days God will move and change the hearts of the elect like He did
to Saul on the way to Damascus. God arrested the man who fervently opposed
against Him as His chosen instrument to advance the gospel to the Gentiles. So
are we in Christ. Therefore, we shall continue to rely on God’s power not at
all the wisdom and philosophy of the world.
Why does God’s power manifest
in full when His instrument like Paul becomes completely weak and inadequate,
even scared to death? This is one of the most difficult lessons for any
Christian to learn and experience. The world says constantly be confident and
strong by all means, so that you will be the top of the world. But the
Scripture says exactly the opposite. Our Lord Jesus says in the Sermon on the
Mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
(Matthew 5:3) Who are the poor in spirit? Are not those who have reached to the
point of total bankruptcy in handling their lives? Are not those who have
realized the fact that they can do nothing to fulfill their lives?
The state of the poor is so pertinently
presented by Paul in the Epistle of Romans Chapter 7. “I do not understand what
I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (Romans 7:15)
This is not a confession before Paul’s conversion. When he wrote this epistle
he was converted and mature in the faith of Jesus Christ. This is the honest
and real confession of all believers in Christ. Yes, we in Christ all want to
do good but we do not do and we hate to do bad but we do. There is something deeply
wrong in our humanity. That is called sin. We are all born in sin and death in
Adam. We simply cannot help it. Even the regenerated in Christ cannot help it.
So, Paul cries out, saying “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from
this body that is subject to death?” (Romans 7:24)
When we reach to the point of
total bankruptcy, saying “I am doomed to sin,” the immediate help is available
in Christ Jesus like SWAT storms to rescue. “Thanks be to God, who delivers me
through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s
law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now
no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 7:25-8:1) This is
the apt illustration of new life in Christ under the new covenant. “Everything
is coming from God and nothing coming from me.” God demands to obey Him in
perfection and completeness and at the same time provides power to obey Him. That
power is Jesus Christ who indwells in us.
Apostle Paul says when he was
weak then he was strong. “That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in
weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For
when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10) That’s why he was in
weakness with great fear and trembling at Corinth in order for God’s power to
manifest in full.
“All that is
gold does not glitter,
Not all
those who wander are lost;
The old that
is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by
the frost.
From the
ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from
the shadows shall spring;
Renewed
shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be
king.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The
Fellowship of the Ring
Prayer: Our heavenly Father,
Thank our Lord Jesus Christ who manifested His incomparable power in full when
Paul was in inadequate weakness with great fear and trembling at Corinth. Thank
you for teaching us when we are weak then we are strong in Christ in whom all
things hold together. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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