Let me ask you a question this morning: What would you say is your life work? While you’re thinking about the answer to that question, let me share with you how several people answered that question:
Bruce Wagman, a San Francisco attorney:
I think the animals in society deserve a level of protection that they’re clearly not getting yet. That’s why I’ve made it my life’s work. I don’t think they should be allowed to freely run down the street and vote and drive cars. But they should be free from abuse.
Larry John:
If money weren’t an issue…if all jobs paid the same…if I could choose to "work" at anything I wanted…what would my "life’s work" be? I think I would want to be a drummer in a Rock group that played only in ONE small bar, so we never had to “tote” equipment, working as many nights a week as I wanted, playing as many hours a night as I wanted, playing with incredibly talented musicians … who were friends first, playing any kind of music we wanted, as loud and as long as we wanted, working for bar managers who loved our music, playing in a band with incredible vocal harmonies, where anyone of the vocalists could sing lead, where the crowd were all my closest friends who would dance, scream, yell, and always be extremely high, but never drunk…
Someone identified only as Harry:
In May of 1998, traveling through the Nevada desert, I discovered my life’s work, namely to enjoy a fine meal at a Taco Bell in each of the 50 US states. Unfortunately, my progress towards this goal has been higher in recent years than I had anticipated, with completion of my life’s work occurring [sic] in Anchorage on September 10, 2005. By most accounts, I still have somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 or so years of life expectancy to fill up somehow. I’m open to suggestions...
Perhaps Harry could find the answer to his quest in the words of Paul in his letter to the church at Ephesus. We’re going to continue our journey through our basic training manual this morning beginning in chapter 3, verse. For some reasons that will become a little more obvious as we continue, I’m going to read that passage from the ESV translation:
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, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things,
Ephesians 3:7-9 (ESV)
The ESV translation of this particular passage is a little better literal translation of these verses, and that is going to be important as we look at the passage in more detail in just a moment. But before we do that, I’d like for all of us to read this same passage from the Message. Although Eugene Peterson takes some liberty with his paraphrase of the passage, I think he, as he often does, really captures the essence of what Paul is writing here:
This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God’s way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities. And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along.
Ephesians 3:7-9 (Message)
This morning we’re going to deal with this whole concept of my life work. Paul obviously had a pretty good grasp on what his life’s work was. We clearly see that in this passage from Ephesians, but before we dig into this section of Scripture this morning, I’d like us to read from another of Paul’s letters. One of the most important principles of Bible study is that the Bible is the best commentary on the Bible. And this is certainly one of those times where another passage gives us some good insight into what Paul is writing here in Ephesians. As Paul wrote to a young pastor named Timothy, he described his life work in some detail:
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
1 Timothy 1:12-16 (NIV)
Probably the one thing that really stands out about this passage is the fact that my life work is totally and completely dependent on God. That’s a concept that we’ve seen from the very beginning of the Book of Ephesians. All the spiritual blessings that we have in our lives are totally and completely a result of God’s work in our lives. There is nothing of value that we can accomplish on our own. So we shouldn’t be surprised that accomplishing our life work can only be done with God’s work in our lives.
HOW GOD HELPS ME WITH MY LIFE WORK
1. God has given me a unique ministry
Of this gospel I was made a minister…
…to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things
The first thing we see in this passage is that Paul’s ministry of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles was not something he thought up on his own, or even something to which he had aspired. It was a ministry that had been given to him by God. It was God who had made him to be a minister, or a servant, of the gospel. The word translated “minister” here is the word from which we get our English word “deacon”. It is a word that originally meant to run errands and outside the Bible it referred to one who waited on tables, or a servant.
Paul’s ministry, or service, of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles was unique to him. It was a ministry that had been specifically assigned to him by Jesus. But Paul is not the only one to whom God has assigned a unique ministry. I’m convinced, based on the Scriptures, that God has given every one of His children a unique ministry.
I know what some of you are thinking right now – “ministry” is just for the pastors and the paid staff. I may have a job, but I’m not really a minister. Our problem is that we just have the wrong idea of what a minister is. As we’ve already seen, the word “minister” just means a servant. A Christian minister is someone who serves the kingdom of God. We’ve already seen in Ephesians 2:10 that all of God’s children are created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do. That’s ministry. When we get to Ephesians 4, we’re going to see this even more clearly. We’ll find there that all of God’s people are to be engaged in works of service – that’s ministry.
You don’t have to quit your job to become a minister. You can be a minister right where you are. When you serve the needs of other people, you’re being a minister.
When he adopts us into his family, God provides each of us with a unique spiritual DNA that equips us for a unique ministry. And those ministries are as varied and different as our fingerprints and DNA. Some of you minister in your jobs. Some of you do that as a stay at home mom. Some of you do that when you volunteer. But there is no such thing as a Christian without a ministry.
A person identified only as “daydreamer” has a pretty good handle on this principle:
I have known since I was a young child that I was meant to become a teacher. It is a career that runs through my family. About eight years ago I thought that I should try something other than teaching. That pursuit did not fulfill me the way teaching did and I learned from the experience that God designed me to be a teacher. I get the most joy from teaching those students that most adults shrink from: pre-teens and teenagers. When I was a beginning teacher with my first class, I could scarcely believe the trust society, parents and the students had in me. I am still humbled by it, and rely on the fear that I may lead someone astray to keep me on track as an educator. I want to give back to the system that gave me such a hunger for knowledge. And I want to live out the lesson that I most hope to teach my students: we each make a profound difference in the lives of each other.
God has designed each one of us to be a minister for Him in some unique way that is consistent with how God created us.
2. God has given me grace to overcome my failures
…according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me…
…though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given…
Paul is not the person that anyone would have expected for God to chose to be the primary communicator of the gospel to the Gentiles and to future generations through the letters he wrote. Paul certainly didn’t feel like he was worthy of that distinction. He knew how completely he had failed God in the past. In fact, Paul is so sure of his unworthiness that he once again creates a new word to express that idea. When he writes that he is the “very least” of all God’s saints, he uses a compound word that emphasizes his unworthiness. Literally, it would be translated something like “leastest”. The NIV translation “less than the least” seems to come closest to expressing Paul’s thoughts.
As Paul shared in his letter to Timothy, he had once been a blasphemer, a persecutor and a violent man – not the kind of person we would expect for God to use in such a mighty way. But, God, completely apart from any merit on Paul’s part, gifted Paul with His grace in order to overcome those past failures.
I think that there are a lot of us who are paralyzed by our past failures, especially when it comes to being a minister for God. We know just how much we have failed God. We’ve turned away from Him, maybe even made fun of Him or persecuted His people. But the great thing about God’s grace is that it is more than sufficient to overcome those failures.
Thomas Edison’s manufacturing facilities in West Orange, N.J., were heavily damaged by fire one night in December, 1914. Edison lost almost $1 million worth of equipment and the record of much of his work. The next morning, walking about the charred embers of his hopes and dreams, the 67-year-old inventor said: "There is value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Now we can start anew." Three weeks after the fire, Edison delivered his first phonograph.
God’s grace effectively burns up all our past mistakes so we can start anew. That’s why Paul could write these words in another one of his letters:
…But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13, 14 (NIV)
No matter what you have done in the past, no matter how bad you may have failed God, He gifts you with His grace so that you can be effective in the unique ministry that he had given to you.
3. God has given me power to overcome my weaknesses
…by the working of his power…
We make so many excuses for not serving God:
• I’m too old
• I’m too young
• I’m too tired
• I’m not smart enough
• I don’t know enough
• I don’t have enough money
• I don’t have enough time
• I don’t have the abilities I need
Paul certainly had all kinds of excuses he could have used when God called him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles:
• I’m a Jew, what do I know about the Gentiles?
• I don’t know enough about Jesus – why don’t you use one of the people who spent more time with Him?
• I’m too old – send someone younger.
• No one will listen to me
• I have this thorn in the flesh
But Paul made it really clear that in spite of all his weaknesses God had equipped him with God’s power in order to carry out God’s plan for his life. Paul’s weaknesses became a platform for God to demonstrate His strength. That is a lesson that Paul had learned earlier in his life when he had to deal with the “thorn in his flesh” that God brought into his life in order to teach him to rely upon God’s strength rather than his own. After Paul had prayed remove that obstacle, whatever it was, God taught Paul an important lesson about relying upon his own strength:
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
Isn’t it amazing how often God calls His people to do something that they are seemingly unequipped to accomplish? He picked a murderer with a speech impediment to lead His people out of Egypt. He picked a young, small boy who wasn’t even big enough to wear armor to slay a giant and to later become the greatest king of Israel. He picked a young, unmarried teenager to become the mother of His Son. And He entrusted the entire future of the gospel to a group of uneducated, common fisherman and tax collectors.
God can even take someone with very little religious background, who can’t seem to keep the same job for very long, with no seminary degree and who lacks a full head of hair and equip him to be the pastor of this church. I’m still amazed at that! The only reason that I can stand before you this morning and share this message is because God has equipped me. There is certainly nothing in my own life that makes me worthy to do what I’m doing right now.
God actually delights in equipping us with His power in those areas of our greatest weakness because then He is the one who gets the glory. Rather than viewing our weaknesses as something that can keep us from serving God, we need to look at them as opportunities for God to pour His power into our lives.
4. God has given me revelation so I can search deeper
…the unsearchable riches of Christ…
Notice that Paul writes that he has been called to preach the “unsearchable riches of Christ.” The word translated “unsearchable” indicates something that is impossible of being understood by the human mind. That’s a pretty good description of everything we’ve read in Ephesians so far. As we saw all the way back at the beginning of Chapter 1, we have a hard time reconciling the idea that the Bible teaches both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. We can’t fully understand the fact that God elects those who are saved and those who perish do so without any help from God.
There are two ways that we can react to the concept that the riches of Christ are unsearchable. Some people have a fatalistic attitude. They reason that since we can never fully understand the things of God they might as well just give up and not try to dig any deeper. Paul took a different approach, however. We can see that even more clearly if we go to another of his letters. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul wrote about knowing Christ:
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…
Philippians 3:8 (NIV)
Paul rejoiced in the fact that Jesus had revealed Himself to Paul on the road to Damascus one day. He considered the revelation of Jesus Christ to be of greater worth than anything else in his life. But just a couple verses later, Paul gives us some insight into how he dealt with these unsearchable, incomprehensible riches of Christ:
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection…
Philippians 3:10 (NIV)
Even though Paul had just written about the greatness of knowing Christ, there is a sense in which his life work is to seek to know Him even more. When I put those verses together with our passage from Ephesians what Paul seems to be saying is that the fact that his knowledge of Jesus is limited is his motivation to dig deeper and to learn everything he can. Paul acknowledges that the riches of Christ are not fully understandable to us as humans, but he is going to use all the tools he has available to learn and understand all that he possibly can.
Last week, Dana Yentzer shared with me a verse that reinforces this principle:
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.
Proverbs 25:2 (NIV)
On one hand, God gets glory because he chooses to conceal some things about Himself, His purposes and His ways. Essentially that’s what makes Him God. If we could figure out everything about god, he would no longer be God. In his commentary on Ephesians, M. Barth cites the words of E. Gaugler:
“Revelation creates rather than annihilates wonder, awe and respect.”
And then he added his own commentary:
“The god who has been comprehended…is always an idol.”
On the other hand, there is a sense in which man gets glory through the process of seeking to better understand those unsearchable riches. God uses that process of seeking to know Him better to enrich our relationship with Him.
So what is your life work? It’s probably not protecting the rights of animals or being a drummer in a rock band and I’m pretty sure it’s not visiting a Taco Bell in each of the 50 states. But God has given each of His children a unique ministry and he gifts us with His grace so we can overcome our failures and He equips us with His power to overcome our weaknesses. And then He reveals Himself to me so I can search even deeper into who He is.
