Slave and Apostle

Romans 1:1-7

When you send a letter to people you have never met, you begin by introducing yourself.

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Elliot:
My name is Jack Wald and I am a friend of your son Franklin who is working with me at RPF International Church in Rabat, Morocco.

If you want something from the ones you are writing, say perhaps you would like to visit them, you may try to embellish the information to make sure you create a good impression.

You may have heard from Franklin that God led me to Morocco from the US where I was living and that I am particularly blessed to be pastor of this community of faith.

Such is the case with Paul in his letter to Rome. The ancient pattern for a letter was to begin with the identity of the one writing the letter followed by the identity of the one to whom the letter was being sent and then some greetings. In its simple form it goes like this, as when Paul sent a letter to the church in Thessalonica
Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you.

Paul used this form of greeting in his letters ut in Romans, the first part of his introduction is expanded, as if Paul wanted to make a particularly good impression on the Roman Church.

In the introduction there are three pairs of words that caught my eye as I read through the passage. In verse 1 the words are servant and apostle. In verse 5 they are grace and apostleship and finally in verse 7, grace and mercy.

Let’s take a look at verse 1.
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God

Servant and Apostle. The word servant is in the Greek ????? which is better translated slave. So the juxtaposition of the two words is even stronger. Slave and Apostle.

When Paul wrote this letter to the church in Rome, he wanted to let them know who he was. They had heard of Paul but he wanted them to know not what people thought of him but who he understood himself to be. So how did Paul understand himself? His view of himself, his identity was that he was a slave of Christ Jesus and an apostle set apart.

What makes those two words stand out is that they are so contradictory. To be a slave is to be in a position of utter humility while an apostle is in a position of high authority.

A slave has no life of his own. When the master tells the slave to do something, the slave has to obey. The slave cannot say, “I’m feeling kind of tired. I’ll see if I can clean up the kitchen tomorrow.” When the master gives an order, the slave must obey.

A slave has no rights. A slave cannot expect to get very far if he complains that he does not get enough free time to pursue his own interests. “You probably don’t know that I like collecting butterflies and how can I build my collection if you keep making me work so hard?” This is not something you hear a slave say.

A slave cannot refuse a task given to him. If the master says he must clean out the toilet, the toilet must be cleaned, no matter what the condition of the bathroom.

To be a slave is to be in a position of utter humility.

On the other hand, to be an apostle is to be in a position of high authority. In classical Greek, the word apostle was used to refer to the sending of a fleet or an embassy. It is also used to describe Zeus (the chief Greek god) sending a teacher of philosophy as his messenger.

An apostle comes with authority and power. A fleet of ships, the political and military weight of the one who sent the apostle stands behind him or her.

In the Old Testament, the word apostle took on the meaning of one who was sent by God as his messenger as was the case when God sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh or when Elijah was sent to Ahab or Isaiah to Israel.

When Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, they went with the power and might of God behind them. They announced plagues and what they announced came to pass.

When Elijah went to Ahab, he announced:
“As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”
And what he announced came to pass.

An apostle is not to be messed with. An apostle comes with authority and power.

An apostle is not a slave. An apostle comes to deliver a message, no take orders. An apostle announces when he will speak and if he wants to take some time off to look for butterflies in a field, he does so. He needs no ones permission.

So how is it that Paul describes himself to the Romans as a slave and an apostle? How do these two descriptions of himself fit together? Let me come at an understanding of this from two perspectives.

The first perspective is that in describing himself as an apostle set apart, Paul used the example of Jesus as his model for being an apostle.

Did you know that Jesus was an apostle? Do you think I’m confused at this point? “Jesus’ disciples were the apostles,” you might say. But in the New Testament, it is Jesus who is the supreme example of an apostle. Remember this from Hebrews?
Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.

Jesus came from God to deliver a message to the world and to be the message he delivered. He was God’s apostle. He had ll the power and might of heaven behind him.

How did Jesus come to the world? As an apostle demanding his rights and privileges? Absolutely not! The early church sang a hymn that is recorded in Paul’s letter to the Philippians:
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

The New Testament transforms the understanding of an apostle by following the example of Jesus. Jesus had power beyond our ability to conceive and chose not to use it. When he was arrested and Peter drew his sword to defend him, Jesus revealed the power at his disposal:
“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.  53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?

Jesus, although an apostle, came as a servant. Though he had the right to demand that his needs and his wants be attended to, he gave of himself, emptied himself for the needs of others.

This is how Paul could say he was a slave set apart for the gospel. Because of the way Jesus modeled apostleship, there is no contradiction between being a slave and an apostle.

The second way of understanding how slave and apostle fit together as a description of Paul concerns the word grace and this is the second of the word pairs that drew my attention. Verse 5
Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship

Grace and apostleship. Why does Paul mention those two words together? What is the connection between them?

Grace is receiving something that is undeserved, a gift you did not earn, a favor you do not deserve and I think the reason those words are linked is because Paul understood his apostleship as an act of grace.

Paul was gifted and talented, energetic and full of fervor, brilliant and zealous. All these qualities were given him by God and yet he was using these God-given qualities to work against the purposes of God. He was the enemy of God, persecuting his children.

So when Paul had his experience with Jesus on the road to Damascus and Jesus revealed himself to Paul, Paul knew he had been given a free and undeserved gift. At the moment of his encounter with the risen Christ, Paul knew immediately that he deserved to die for what he had  been doing and yet death was not the sentence imposed on him. Rather than receive from Christ what he deserved, he was given what he knew he absolutely did not deserve. He was given the privilege of being an apostle of Christ Jesus, set apart for the Gospel.

Paul understood that he was God’s apostle, not because he earned it but because he had been given a gift he did not deserve. Paul did not stand before men and women as God’s apostle because he had worked his way to get there but because God had set him in that position.

Paul had this understanding from the beginning. He had not spent three years with Jesus, following him, learning from him, assisting him, being corrected by him. In a sense the disciples had earned their position more than he had – although the disciples would also say they were apostles by the grace of God. But in a sense Paul deserved to be an apostle less than the twelve – which Paul acknowledged in his first letter to the Corinthians.
For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

Paul was a slave to Jesus Christ and an apostle set apart by God. These are not contradictory terms because Paul knew what a gift he had been given.

Let me contrast Paul with leaders of his own time and with leaders through the ages up to the present day.

In II Corinthians 11 Paul critiqued what he called the “super-apostles” who were challenging his authority. These super-apostles were taking money from the Corinthian church, taking advantage of the power and prestige of the elite in the church, taking rather than giving and Paul condemned them in no uncertain terms.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.  14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.  15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

The history of the world is that those with access to money, power and prestige take advantage of it to build themselves up, in and out of the church.

Lord Acton’s famous quote is evidence of this history. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

There are many reasons why sub-Saharan Africa has so many problems, but certainly one of them is that those who come to power take advantage of their position to enhance their own prestige, fatten their own bank accounts and increase their power.

I don’t want to comment on the potential war between Iraq and the US other than to say that in Saddam Hussein, we have a ruler like King Herod the Great who will do anything to protect his power, even killing his own family.

What is particularly disturbing is that he is not unlike many other leaders in politics, business or anywhere else. He just has more opportunity for power than many others. The world is full of Saddam Husseins who simply have not had the opportunity he has had.

When US Congressmen and Senators or those working for them come to Morocco the corruption of power become obvious. I talked with a man once who helped with logistics for a visit to Marrakech by six US Senators. I asked him how the visit had gone and he said, “No matter how much you do for them, it is never enough.” What a tragedy that these leaders have no sense of being servants of the people who elected them.

When those with power come to visit, they come with an enormous set of expectations of what must be done to satisfy them. They have egos that need to be pampered and what is so disturbing is that they actually think they deserve this special treatment.

This is disturbing but it is even more disturbing then the same behavior is seen in the church. Certainly here, with the example of Jesus, Paul and others we might hope to see a different sort of leadership. But too often that is not the case.

Corinth had its super-apostles and so does the church today. When pastors drive around in brand-new, fancy luxury cars with Rolex watches and live in mansions, I know what Paul would say to them.
such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

These modern-day super-apostles speak and thousand swoon as if God has spoken. Their egos swell and their expectation of what they deserve rises with no end in sight.

Among church leaders there are those like Billy Graham, Bill Bright and Loren Cunningham who have resisted taking advantage of the wealth and power that could have been theirs and have lived relatively simple lifestyles. That these men stand our as exceptions to the rule, is very unfortunate.

These are men who have realized that they are slaves of Christ Jesus set apart for the Gospel. They have understood that an apostle represents another, not him or herself.

For this reason the glory goes to the one who sent you. The glory goes to God, not to the apostle. When a church leader struts around on a stage with the spotlight following him in his fancy suit, to whom is the glory going?

Apostles are officers not of the Church but of the risen Lord. An apostle does not represent any human authority. An apostle represents the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

It is Jesus who proclaimed himself through the teaching of the twelve and through Paul. As the church had grown through the centuries, it is Christ who has proclaimed himself through those who have represented him. Apostles have labored but it is Christ who has built the church.

It was and is Christ himself who nourishes, sustains and directs his church through the Holy Spirit.

The church has not been pure and it is not pure. The church is authentically apostolic only when the thoughts and actions of the church are governed and guided by the head of the church, Jesus Christ. When Christ rules and teaches his church through his Spirit and Word by the ministry of men and women, then the church is alive and growing.

When church leaders are slaves to Christ Jesus and submit their ministry t him, the risen Lord is still heard proclaiming himself as the Savior of sinners.

An apostle of Jesus Christ can only be an authentic apostle when he or she is first a slave of Jesus Christ. In order for Christ to speak through an apostle, the apostle must be in a relationship of submission to Jesus.

Let me speak to those of you who are in positions of leadership. You may have one person working for you or many. You may have a lot of power or only a little. You may have a lot of prestige or only a little prestige. It does not matter.

Follow the example of Jesus who led by being a servant. We don’t have time now but read in John 13 about how Jesus demonstrated leadership by washing the feet of his disciples.

How different would the world be if leaders actually had the mind set of being servants to the people over whom they lead? Can you imagine how many of the world’s problems would be resolved if this change occurred in the hears of our leaders?

Politics is so discouraging because of the power the rich have over politicians. It doesn’t matter if the politician in the US is a Republican or a Democrat. The rich and special interests are served in either case. Imagine that these politicians would actually begin to serve the people that elected them and the policies of the country would begin to serve the interests of the people of the country and not just the privileged few.

In Africa and the Arab world when leaders come to power, it seems that the first thing they do is to set up secret bank accounts so the wealth of the country that belongs to the people of that county can be stolen and put in their accounts.

What would happen if the leaders began to use the wealth of their country to improve living conditions and stimulate the local economies? What would happen if a leader’s goal was to leave office with no more money than he took into office?

These are large scale examples, but the need for leaders as servants is present on the smaller scale as well. Can you imagine who different you workplace would be, your organization would be if the leaders were servants?

How much of the tension in your organization is about who gets to have the power? Who gets the promotion?

When you have the opportunity to lead, lead as a servant.

Make a difference in your world and be a servant to those you lead.

*************

Benediction:
Paul concludes his introduction with the third word pair that caught my attention.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ

Grace and peace. Such sweet words. Receiving from God what we do not deserve and being refreshed in the peace that passes all understanding.

We are meeting in Annie’s and my home this morning because of a demonstration by the Islamic Fundamentalists in support of Iraq and it is not safe to use the church. We live in a world of tension and unrest.

What I wish for the demonstrators is this, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

As you go out into this week, I have no greater wish for you than this: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ