“If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.” – 1 Corinthians 12:26
The implication here stings. “The more attention my ministry receives the less people should notice me.” How’s that even possible? It takes God to pull this off. Only God can gift a man, raise his ministry to a prominent position and simultaneously distract attention away from the man. Only the glory of Jesus is big enough to hide the pride of a human instrument. Only the grace of God is great enough to cause a very gifted man to want to be hidden.
Normally, the personal effect of an elevated platform is anything but invisibility. Our bottom feeding flesh naturally trolls for the praise of men. We love it. But it belongs to another. The glory is God’s, but we’re glory bootleggers who smuggle it out in compliments and acclaim. But, this is not all. From the other side, our typical response to the honor of another is anything but rejoicing. We’re suspicious. We’re jealous. We’re critical. We’re discontent. Or, we’re groupies. For some it’s their duty to diminish another by pointing out their flaws. For others it is their aim to ruin them by praising their gifts. Rarely, do we estimate the man appropriately. Rarely, does the man appreciate it when we do.
What’s in view here is a disposition which shuts the mouths of critics and devotees alike. Pure servants are rare. (Like a unicorn running through your back yard kind of rare.) It’s like when a bond-servant steps forward to announces his master’s presence. The sooner he steps back the sooner his role is fulfilled. (No one recalls the name or skill of the park ranger who led them out on to the Sky Walk at the Grand Canyon. Which means… he performed flawlessly.) The more gifted he is at his role the more people look past him. When a gifted man esteems himself a slave of Christ and lives in view of his grandness – he can easily remain in the shadows even when he is the center of attention. The more attention he receives the more his life announces someone greater.
All this makes little sense in our economy of things. But, true humility has the capacity to hide the most gifted person in the wide open. Seriously, who cares about the slave when the Master is present? Before God, real giftedness is measured in how inclined the observer is to overlook you when you are done. It’s counter intuitive I know, but such is the way of God Almighty. It’s all in reverse. It’s analogous to the humility of Christ. His condescension is the reason we exalt him. His obscurity is the reason we proclaim him. His death is the reason we live. Similarly, honor is a love for obscurity. That is… if we view ourselves as slaves first.
Ministry is a bizarre turn of events. The servants of the risen Lord receive more honor on a given Sunday than their Lord did the entire time he was upon earth (of course, this won’t last.) Yet, the obscurity of our Lord is the reason we have platforms at all. And, we – in our moments of weakness – feel slighted when people rush past us to him. We’re insane. Yet, his righteous life saved me from the consequence of such stupidity. The praise Jesus deserves is a result of his selflessness. The praise we covet is a result of our selfishness. One saved us from the other. This is our message.
There are notable men among us whose gifts and ingenuity can’t be denied. They are uniquely gifted. Then there are those men (being clearly gifted above others) who announce Jesus from the shadow of their privileged position. The former you admire. With the latter you admire his admiration for Christ. It is a self-evident quality. We “rejoice” in their honor because they bring honor to Christ. We can’t quite see them and see them nonetheless. We’re grateful for them, but realize rocks are in a queue waiting to step in. Besides, Jesus needs no introduction. He is all. Our opportunities are merely an infinite redundancy built into a universe designed to praise him whether we ever exist or not.
Thank you Community Bible Church for letting me lead you out into the abyss of Christ’s glory every Sunday.
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