“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.”  Ephesians 3:7 

We live in a culture obsessed with drawing attention to ourselves. 

We want to promote our greatness to anyone watching.

 In business, we build resumes to show what we’ve accomplished in order to get a good job. 

In sports recruiting, athletes compile highlight reels to showcase their abilities in order to get noticed and land a scholarship letter. 

And social media has put all this on steroids by allowing everyone everywhere to see who we are and what we’re doing. To be clear, I am not preaching against resume highlight reels or social media. 

I am simply saying that it is the cultural norm to draw attention to ourselves. 

This makes what we see from the apostle Paul in Ephesians 3 very challenging. You see, Paul accomplished a lot in his life. So much so that roughly 2,000 years after his death, we are still talking about him and reading his writings. He started many of the first churches. He was the original missionary and church planter. He authored 13 books in the New Testament. He has an impressive resume. In Ephesians 3:7, we see how he describes himself and what he has done as a minister of the gospel, “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.” 

When Paul talks about his work, he does not talk about himself. Paul recognizes that anything he does as a follower of Christ flows from God’s grace and power working in his life. He says, “I do what I do because of God’s grace and the working of His power in me. This is not about me at all! Everything that you see that is being accomplished in my life is because of the grace of God and the working of His power. I am who I am, and I do what I do as a minister of the gospel by God’s grace.”  (1 Corinthians 15:10)

Paul is saying I am simply a steward of God’s grace, relying on the power of God. As he says another way in 1 Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” 

In other words, Paul knows who he is, and he knows whose he is. 

Both flow from the grace of God in his life. He knows very clearly that he is nothing apart from Christ. He knows he has been made new. He has been given power for the work God gave him.  

Do you know who you are and whose you are? 

Do you try to draw attention to yourself by promoting your achievements? 

Or, do you rest in your identity as a beloved recipient of God’s grace and power? 

It’s your choice to make.

Choose wisely, my friend.

Taken from a sermon by George Wright, Senior Pastor, Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Birmingham, AL

DIG DEEPER

Read “Remember to Whom You Belong” also by George Wright