" 'Serving the Lord with all humility of mind,’ as Paul calls it, comes by hearing and how do you hear? Look at Romans 10:14: [14] How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
“There’s a process, see? There’s a sending and a preaching and a hearing and a believing--because you heard, because it was preached, because someone was sent! Faith comes by hearing," says Richard Jordan.
“It starts with the possession of His Word, but then it starts with taking that Word and preaching it, being a minister, putting it out there. The heralding of it and the hearing of it creates faith in what’s said.
“Paul says, ‘[8] Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
“Look at all the privileges you and I have at our disposal that we didn’t do anything to produce. The Body of Christ has produced them for us, put them into our hands. We call this the ‘Information Era’ and it really is, but you see it’s that information that people need to hear.
“That ‘humility of mind’ Paul talks about comes from just appreciating what God has provided for us. The Body of Christ produced truth and made it available. There ought to be no other course for your life or for mine than to proclaim God’s truth so that others can hear it.
“How can we just sit on it?! That humbleness is about being overwhelmed with the privilege you and I have of possessing God’s Word in our own hands, and the tools to study it, investigate it, examine it, analyze it, think deeply and reflect upon it.
“Paul says, ‘Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.’ God help us not to just leave it on the table. ‘To whom much is given much is required.’
"The thing that changed Paul’s attitude was seeing all the abundance of what God had given for him in Christ.
“The thing that can give you the humility of mind that grace produces is to take a moment and think about all the wonderful privileges God’s given you in your life. I’m not talking about just in Christ; I’m talking about how it’s impacted your LIFE and then let that motivate you.”
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"Paul says in Ephesians 3, 'Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.'
“Think about how in the time of the Apostle Paul in the Greco-Roman world, the literacy rate had reached a pinnacle in ancient history. The Greek world, the Greek philosophers, the Roman world . . . Historians say that the Roman civilization was based on ‘the book and the register.’
“No one, either free or a slave, could afford to be illiterate. The written word was all around them, both in public and private life, through the law, calendars, regulations on shrines, etc. Funeral epitaphs were engraved in stone or bronze. The republic amassed huge archives of reports on every aspect of public life. So people were literate, but when the Roman Empire fell, literacy became a fleeting thing.
“You go into a period called the Dark Ages, and during that age only about 30 percent of the population in Europe could read, and they would be the clergy or the wealthy who had time to do it and teach their kids.
“Now you imagine if you lived in, say, 1,000 A.D. and you couldn’t read that verse in Ephesians because you didn’t have a bible, because bibles back then were all handwritten, and if you had one, you wouldn’t be able to read anyway.
“II Timothy 2:15 says, 'Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.'
“The word ‘study’ means ‘the application of the mind to the acquisition of knowledge as by reading, investigation or reflection. To research or a detailed examination and analysis of a subject. To endeavor, to think deeply, to reflect, to consider what God says.’
“Paul says ‘Study!’ and you think, ‘Oh, geez, I need to apply my mind to the acquisition of knowledge by reading, but I can’t read by investigation! I got to go find somebody to read it for me by reflection and thinking deeply.’
“What would you do? Look at you this morning. How many of you don’t have a Bible in your lap? I’ve got the Bible on my phone, my tablet, my IPad, my laptop, my desktop.
“If I told you today, ‘I’m going to send you to a remote island all by yourself and you’re not going to see anybody for 10 years, and I want you to study God’s Word,’ what books would you take with you as study aids?
“First thing I would do is take a King James Bible, an English dictionary, a concordance, Treasure of Scripture Knowledge. Maybe you’d take a bible dictionary, take a commentary or two. Take a 1611 Bible. Take a Strong’s Concordance.
“Do you realize a Strong’s Concordance was first published in 1890? It was the first English concordance. In 1885, if you wanted to find a verse, you had to remember where it was. You ever do that? ‘I know that verse’s in there somewhere; where’s it at?’
“Now you don’t even own a concordance anymore because the Bible app you got on your stupid phone is hooked into it. Do you understand you are a privileged group of people that in church history didn’t exist?!
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“The printing press was introduced by Guttenberg in 1445. By the way, Guttenberg’s said to have invented the printing press and that’s not true. In 1437, there was a fleet of Chinese vessels that went up into the Mediterranean and delivered to Pope Edmond information from the Chinese emperor, part of which was printed books. The Chinese had developed the printing press long before. They had mapped the circumference of the planet. They developed latitude and longitude.
“That’s the reason the Venetian mapmaker everybody talks about that Columbus might have saw—did he see or didn’t he see?—the map that he got . . . what he did was introduce the printing press.
“In the 14th century when Wycliffe first translated the bible, 80 percent of English adults couldn’t spell their name. In the 15th century, when Gutenberg introduced the printing press, only about 30 percent of European adults were literate.
“By the 17th century, the number went up to 60 percent. By the 18th century it was ubiquitous. Did you know in Sweden in the 17th century, the 1660s along in there, there was 100 percent literacy rate because the church required people to be able to read. Do you understand you could have lived in an era where you couldn’t read? A lot of us wouldn’t have been able to.
“I wear glasses because I can’t read without them. Did you know the first eyeglasses were introduced in the 1200s? Nero, Seneca, the 1st century; they were the first people in recorded history talking about magnification, but it wasn’t until the glass-blowing industry got going in the 11th and 12th centuries that they made ‘looking stones,’ as they called them. The first glass put into frames was in Italy in 1286.
“So if you could get a bible and you could read, but you couldn’t see . . . Paul says in Galatians 6, ‘You see what a large letter I’ve written you.’ He’s not talking about how long it is; Galatians is a short little book. He’s talking about, ‘I wrote this with my own hands and I put it in big letters because I need that to see.’ You see, if you write letters big enough, blind as I am in one eye, you can still see them.
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“Several years ago, a guy in New York handwrote the King James Bible; he wanted to figure out how long it would take him. It took him four years. Now, if you were in Wycliffe’s day in the 14th century, and you got a Lombard bible that Wycliffe translated into what was English at the time (English just began in the 1300s), you know how he did it? He didn’t have a nice fountain pen with a big reservoir. He had a quill tip and he dipped.
“Before that, they first started writing with chalk. Then they figured out how to add wax and graphite together. Then they had wax and color together—crayons. Before that, they chiseled it into rock. Can you imagine toting a bible like that around?! Well, you couldn’t do it.
“Now, that guy with a felt-tip pen writes that Bible and it takes him four years. How many quills do you think he went through? Lots. I got this nice pen with a gold tip on it and it will write forever. If it doesn’t, they’ll put me a new one in it. But when you use those bible marking pens, how long do they last? 2-3 months. Why? Because you wear them out. If you had to have a quill, you would have to have a bunch and that’s just to get one copy.
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From the 6th century to the 12th century, there were followers of the Apostle Paul, i.e., preachers of Paul’s truth, who were completely unplugged from the religious system and dubbed by their enemies as “Pauliceans.”
“They accused them of pretty much the exact same things they accuse us of, but the wonderful thing is it’s not about us; it’s His inheritance and we get to participate in what God’s has for Himself."
"If you just relax and see that, it will blow your mind. We’re ‘fellowheirs,’ equal participants in this inheritance in which God’s forming a spiritual body of Believers through whom the Lord Jesus Christ MANIFESTS Himself.
“We’re fellow partakers of His promise, meaning ALL that He’s planned to do in His Son, it’s ALL by the gospel, and that’s why Paul says in Romans 16:25, ‘Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.’
“Everything God does today is based upon the Crosswork of the Lord Jesus Christ and Paul says in Ephesians 3, ‘Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.’
“Paul says, ‘That’s what I’M made a minister of.’ Kind of an odd thing when you read through the passage is how Paul keeps returning to this PERSONAL issue.
“He talked about it back in verses 1 and 2. He addresses HIS place in this ministry, and how he’s been placed INTO the ministry of this great truth.
“Verses 7 and 8 are sort of like a personal moment for Paul. He’s talking about this great stuff and then he says, ‘And you know what He did? He made ME the one to tell people about it!’
“Paul writes, [8] Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.
“When I read that, I go, ‘Wow, God took a proud, religious, scholarly, rabbinical rabbi and turned Him into a servant! You talk about a change of mind!’
“By the way, he didn’t say, ‘Unto me who am less than the least of all apostles.' He would never say that! In II Corinthians 12 Paul states, ‘I don’t come one whit behind the very chiefest of the apostles.’
“Paul would NEVER say that about his office. He said, ‘I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my office,’ meaning this POSITION Christ gave him to proclaim this new message. Paul never minimized that. Whenever he thought about himself, he had what he calls that ‘humility of mind,’ because he knew it wasn’t anything about him.
“In Philippians 3:4, Paul says, ‘[4] Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: [5] Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
[6] Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. [7] But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
[6] Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. [7] But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
“Paul’s saying, ‘Listen, I can strut my stuff. I can be a high-minded rabbinical scholar and tell you all of my pedigree.’ But, he says, ‘I counted loss all those things that I could brag about--that I spent my life pursuing so that I could have status.’
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“He tells you in Galatians 1:14 that he ‘profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.’
“ ‘They were gain,’ he said, ‘but I counted them loss for Christ. I found something in the Lord Jesus Christ that was far more to be treasured than all those things.’ He says in Philippians 3:8, ‘Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.’
“When he says, ‘Yea, doubtless, and I COUNT,’ he’s saying, ‘I didn’t just meet Christ on the Road to Damascus and realize, There’s reality! I’ve learned day by day to count all those things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffer the loss of all things.’
“When I read verse 8, I’m conscious of the fact we’re getting to look into the heart of the Apostle Paul here. That’s the only time he ever uses that terminology.
"The Lord Jesus Christ had captivated his heart, and when Paul got a good look at Him, it gave him a good look at himself, and he realized he had someone, not in himself, but in Christ, to treasure. He came away from there with a ‘humility of mind,’ as he calls it--a thinking process that could only say, ‘It’s not I, it’s Him.’
"The Lord Jesus Christ had captivated his heart, and when Paul got a good look at Him, it gave him a good look at himself, and he realized he had someone, not in himself, but in Christ, to treasure. He came away from there with a ‘humility of mind,’ as he calls it--a thinking process that could only say, ‘It’s not I, it’s Him.’
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“When he talks about being a minister, look at what he writes in I Corinthians 4: ‘1] Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
“Paul says, ‘When you think about me, don’t think about my pedigree, all my standing. Don’t go around telling people I got my Ph.D. at the feet of Gamaliel; tell them I’m a minister of Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God.’
“The he writes, ‘Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.’ You see it doesn’t say ‘successful’? Doesn’t say ‘popular.’ It doesn’t say ‘the crowd’s hanging on my words.’ It says ‘faithful.’
“The ministry of Christ and the ‘steward of the mystery’ are two ways of describing the same thing. So, what’s a steward?
"In Luke 12:42 Jesus told a parable about a steward. It says, [42] And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?’
"In Luke 12:42 Jesus told a parable about a steward. It says, [42] And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?’
“Notice what a steward is. They don’t own anything. A steward is a servant of his master and he takes his master’s goods and gives it out to others. He’s not the owner, he’s not the boss. He takes the orders from the boss, the master, and goes and gives that . . . he doesn’t decide, ‘I think I’ll give you this, I like you better; I’ll give you that.’
“He says, ‘The master says you get this, and the master says you get that.’ He’s saying, ‘I’m just the guy handing out the stuff.’ That’s why he’s got to be faithful. He’s got to be faithful to what the master said.
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“I Thessalonians 2:4 says, [4] But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.
“He says, ‘I’ve been allowed of God.’ Grace is an underserved favor. Paul’s saying, ‘I’ve been given by God this undeserved privilege to preach this. I’ve been allowed of God to be put in trust; He’s taken His goods and entrusted them to me, and then I give them out as a wise steward. I’m just a minister. I’m just a servant. I’m just the pipeline. I’m not the issue; HE’S the issue! The message is the issue.’
“Ephesians 4: 7-8 says, [7] But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
[8] Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
[8] Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
“Paul’s not talking about salvation; he’s talking about his ministry that was given to him as a gift of grace. He’s saying there’s a ministry privilege that’s given to YOU and ME! Every one of us has this grace! We have the privilege of being part of a ministry of the truth of God.
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“In Galatians 2:9 Paul reports, [9] And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
“These men saw the special privilege given to Paul to preach this special message to the Gentiles. That’s what Galatians 2 is all about, by the way.
“Paul went to Jerusalem and communicated the gospel, which he was preaching among the Gentiles to the Jerusalem saints who didn’t know it. He brought them up-to-date and they PERCEIVED that unto Paul ‘who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.’
“There’s two ways to take the word ‘unsearchable.’ The word means ‘untraceable.’ When you can’t trace something, you can’t search it out. Jesus said, ‘Search the scriptures for they are they which testify of me.’
“Here’s a truth you can’t search the Scriptures and find. That’s interesting. But when it’s unsearchable, it means you can’t find it; it’s too wide, too deep; it’s too broad. You go on down in chapter 3 and it says it ‘passes understanding.’ You can’t get your mind around . . . He prays that you’d comprehend it because it’s just so big. It’s as big as God.
“Paul says, ‘I’ve got this message and I’ve been given the privilege of preaching it,’ and that changed his whole thinking process.’ ”
(new article tomorrow)
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