St. Paul – the apostle and servant of the Lord Jesus Christ

Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more.  (2Co 11:23a NIV)

The apostle St. Paul compares himself with his enemies, the false teachers in Corinth: “Are they servants of Christ? he asks and then continues with the verdict: “I am out of my mind to talk like this,” because they do not deserve to be called that. However for himself he reckons: “I am more.” To staff this judgement he refers his readers back to the sufferings he has had to endure in the holy ministry of his apostleship and divine calling to carry out God’s mission. Considering the long list of sufferings attentively, the variety, severity and magnitude of these sufferings are striking and one can be surprised  that these stories were not taken into the Acts of the Apostles, but are only penned down by the apostle Paul himself in his own letter to the Corinthians, which was written approximately a decade before this great endurer’s death and he would be in the position to state: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race.” (2Ti 4:7 NIV) Thus St. Paul appears to us as a man of exceptional faithfulness, who has earned the honourable title of servant of Christ before God and men. Therefore he challenges the false teachers from Corinth to prove their ministry and service, their seriousness and faithfulness with similar testimonies as he is able to do. Yes, the Corinthians are challenged to compare them themselves and in the face of such faithfulness, they ought to be ashamed to have given any credence to these detractors, who are just big talk and therein pull them away from their Father of their faith in the Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.

Lord God, heavenly Father! You distribute your gifts graciously amongst us and you desire, that we recognize your goodness, laud and praise you and with them serve our neighbour. Sadly we often praise these gifts as our own and do not serve our neighbour with them as faithfully as we should. Forgive us for Christ’s sake, make us humble and faithful in service, so that your grace will be magnified in us. Go with us into this day and into the night and let us dwell and rest in peace to serve you faithfully now and forever. Amen.

It’s just a little time, then it’s done! Then the strife is over and we can enjoy God’s goodness from the very fount of love, peace and life being together with Jesus Christ in blissful eternity. (Soren Kierkegaard 1819-1855 wrote this inscription for his gravestone. The translation is a paraphrase and neither poetic nor hymnal)

(Translation of Wilhelm Löhe’s devotion for Monday after Sunday Sexagesimae (2^nd Sunday before Lent) as found on Pg. 104 in Lob sei Dir ewig, o Jesu!   (Eternal Praise to you o Jesus!) edited by A. Schuster and puplished in the Freimund Verlag, Neuendettelsau 1949.)