Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hi, this is Russ Walden with Father's Heart Ministry, and I want to bring.
[00:00:04] Speaker B: A message to you.
[00:00:06] Speaker A: Humility, God's secret weapon and your greatest asset unpacking Ephesians 3:7. In a world that absolutely prioritizes self promotion, ambition, the relentless pursuit of power, the concept of humility can feel counterintuitive, even weak.
But for the Christian, humility isn't merely a virtue, it's a strategic, supernatural weapon. And we're going to look at Ephesians 3:7 to uncover this profound truth. We'll explore how Paul, a man divinely.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: Chosen to pen the majority of the.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: New Testament, he just saw himself as an errand boy.
And how that very humility became the conduit for God's extraordinary power in his life, a power that completely baffles the adversary, the devil.
Ephesians 3:7 says, Paul makes a statement.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: He said he was made a minister.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: And we're going to look at that word minister according to the gift of.
[00:01:14] Speaker B: The grace of God given to him.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: By the effectual working of his power. Not Paul's power, but God's power.
Paul is speaking then here in Ephesians 3:7, of being made a minister.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: That word made is like Jesus said.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: There's something in every red blooded American.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: That says, nobody's going to make me do anything. And the word actually means stand, follow me. Jesus is saying, and I will spend you.
Are you willing to be change in his pocket?
[00:01:54] Speaker B: And the Greek word there Paul uses.
[00:01:56] Speaker A: To describe himself translated as minister. It's the Greek word diakonos.
And we think of a minister like.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: A minister of justice in a government position.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: That the word diakonos is, is far more of a humble, humbling term. It literally means a servant, one who waits on tables, an attendant, or even an errand boy. Someone who performs menial tasks carrying out the will of another.
So here's a man, Saul of Tarsus.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: Once a persecutor of Christians, dramatically converted on the road to Damascus.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: And then God chose Paul to be the primary human author of Christian doctrine. Paul was the theological architect of the early church. He wrote 13 epistles, foundational texts that.
[00:02:59] Speaker B: Continue to shape our understanding of God, salvation and Christian living 2,000 years later. But when he describes his role again.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: He uses a term that speaks of abject servanthood.
[00:03:12] Speaker B: He doesn't say, I was made an.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: Apostle of great renown, or I was.
[00:03:17] Speaker B: Elevated to a position of profound spiritual authority.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: No, he said he was made a diakonos, an Errand boy. I get this from people all the time. They have this call on their life and they're super frustrated that they're not getting any acknowledgment because they're looking for something that is antithetical to the ministry, to the character, to the personality, that God can get behind, elevate and cause the destiny to come to pass from a posture not of elevation and being God's man of faith and power, but being in a position of a servant, a willing servant. Now again, when we talk about humility, we're not talking about false modesty. We're talking about an abiding understanding of our place as servants in God's kingdom. Paul recognized that his ability, his wisdom, his calling originated not from himself, but.
[00:04:29] Speaker B: As he said in our verse, but according to the gift of the grace of God given to me, Paul said.
[00:04:35] Speaker A: By the effectual working again of his power, not Paul's qualifications. See, Paul's ministry was not a testament to his brilliance, but to God's consistent.
[00:04:47] Speaker B: Behavior with respect to not choosing the.
[00:04:50] Speaker A: Qualified, the strong, the natural achievers, but.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: Rather choosing the least and the least.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: Capable to carry out his greatest works. So again, why is this emphasis on humility so crucial?
Because it's the Christian's secret weapon, a force that the enemy cannot comprehend. The enemy can't comprehend humility and he can't counter humility.
Satan is the epitome of pride, cast.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: Out of heaven because of his rebellion against God's authority.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: Satan's very essence is self exaltation.
Satan understands power.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: He understands ambition, manipulation and control.
[00:05:34] Speaker A: But humility, true God given humility, is utterly foreign to Satan. He has no framework for it, no experience with it, no capacity to embrace it.
[00:05:47] Speaker B: James 4, 6 says that God resists.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: The proud but gives grace to the humble.
[00:05:53] Speaker B: That word resist in this verse means that God sets his forces in array against the proud.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: And you might be thinking, yeah, and I know who that is.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: Somebody who's given you a hard time in life.
[00:06:05] Speaker A: But even if you are doing exactly what God called you to do, if you get over into pride, God will.
[00:06:14] Speaker B: Resist you with all the resources at his disposal.
[00:06:18] Speaker A: Now how do you know that you're in pride?
One common way pride manifests is we get into strife.
[00:06:26] Speaker B: Proverbs 13:10 reads, Contention only comes by pride.
[00:06:31] Speaker A: And it doesn't qualify the statement with unless you're in the right, right or wrong, according to the word of God, when you are in contention, you are in pride.
And if there's something in you that grapples with that maybe doesn't even agree with. That's pride.
See victim or perpetrator.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: To enter into contention is to enter.
[00:06:55] Speaker A: Into pride and find yourself not just fighting against some perceived enemy, but actually fighting against God himself.
This is why Jesus said Matthew 5:25.
[00:07:07] Speaker B: He said, Agree with your adversary while.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: You'Re in the way with him, or.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: Else the adversary will deliver you to the judge. Who's the judge? God. And the judge will deliver you to.
[00:07:18] Speaker A: The officer, the consequences of your pride.
[00:07:22] Speaker B: And you'll be cast into prison. In other words, into limitation and constraint.
[00:07:27] Speaker A: This is a difficult proposition because our.
[00:07:30] Speaker B: Adversaries that Jesus is saying we need to agree with.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: And quite frankly, if we're in pride.
[00:07:36] Speaker B: God sets his forces against the proud.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: Sometimes God is resisting us and we're saying, I rebuke you, devil. But because we're in pride, the problem lies with us.
[00:07:49] Speaker B: But why would Jesus want us to agree with our adversary?
Think about how Jesus never answered his enemies.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: He even allowed them to crucify him when he could have called 10,000 angels to set him free and destroy his enemies with one breath.
What was the result of this counterintuitive strategy of Jesus?
[00:08:11] Speaker B: The enemy did what he was capable.
[00:08:13] Speaker A: Of doing, crucifying Jesus. And then hallelujah. God did what he could do and.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: Raised Jesus from the dead and set him at his own right hand in glory.
[00:08:23] Speaker A: When you find a place of humility.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: In your response to problem situations, God.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: Gives grace to the humble and you will have victory that will not manifest any other way.
When we as Christians embrace humility, we operate in a realm that confounds. When we willingly decrease so that Christ might increase, we become vessels through which God's power can flow unhindered.
[00:08:54] Speaker B: Pride, on the other hand, is a barrier.
[00:08:56] Speaker A: It chokes off the flow of God's grace. It makes us reliant on our own limited abilities rather than his infinite strength. Think about Paul. Had he been puffed up in pride.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: With his intellectual prowess or his spiritual.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: Experiences, he would have been unusable to God. His willingness to be an errand boy, a diakonos, as our verse says it allowed God's effectual working power to manifest through Paul in unprecedented ways.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: Listen, God doesn't need your strength.
[00:09:30] Speaker A: He doesn't think you're practically perfect in every way.
[00:09:33] Speaker B: He needs your availability and your humble submission.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: So Ephesians 3:7, I encourage you to look at it reveals the Apostle Paul's profound understanding of his calling.
[00:09:47] Speaker B: He saw himself not as a spiritual giant elevated by his own merit.
But as a humble minister, an errand.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: Boy dependent entirely on God's grace and power, this deep seated humility wasn't a weakness. It was the very conduit through which God worked, through him, through Paul, to.
[00:10:06] Speaker B: Write the majority of the New Testament.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: The underlying truth is that humility is your secret weapon in the kingdom.
Humility is a virtue that completely baffles Satan because it's antithetical to his nature. When we walk in humility, we open.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: Ourselves to the limitless power of God to become instruments for his glory in.
[00:10:33] Speaker A: Ways that our own abilities could never achieve.
Embrace the errand boy mindset. I want you to take a moment.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: And just reflect in areas of your.
[00:10:43] Speaker A: Life where you seek recognition, control or praise.
How can you intentionally adopt a more errand boy mindset focusing on serving God and others without expectation of personal recognition?
Ask God to reveal any hidden pride in your heart.
Pray for humility daily. Humility isn't something we can manufacture on our own.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: It's a fruit of the Spirit.
Make it a daily prayer to ask.
[00:11:15] Speaker A: God to cultivate genuine humility in your heart, aligning your desires with his and.
[00:11:23] Speaker B: Lessening your focus on yourself.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: Be willing to serve in obscurity.
[00:11:29] Speaker B: Look for ways to serve others where.
[00:11:32] Speaker A: You'Ll get no credit and no recognition. It can be anything from helping a neighbor or volunteering to do something that nobody else wants to do. These acts of hidden service are a powerful expression of humility and they will root out attitudes that are counter to this powerful secret weapon that God wants you adopt and adapt to. Acknowledge God's grace when you achieve something.
[00:12:01] Speaker B: When you succeed, when you experience a.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: Blessing, make a conscious choice to attribute it to God's grace and power, not your own abilities.
Cultivate a heart of gratitude that continually points back to Him. Study humble figures in Scripture beyond Paul. Explore other biblical figures who exemplified humility, such as Moses, David or even Jesus himself. When they would come against Moses, he didn't contend, he fell on his face and the earth opened up and swallowed his enemies. That would have never happened if Moses.
[00:12:38] Speaker B: Had sat there shaking his fist in.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: Their face saying, you don't know how spiritual I am. Or King David when Absalom sought to overthrow him and he packed up and.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: Left Jerusalem and just gave the kingdom.
[00:12:49] Speaker A: Over to Absalom and God brought him back. He even Jesus himself says Philippians 2:7 says he made himself nothing by taking.
[00:12:59] Speaker B: On the very nature of a serpent.
[00:13:01] Speaker A: Learn from these examples and seek to copy to emulate their behaviors inwardly and outwardly. So Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you. We thank you for the powerful truth.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: Found in your word respect of humility, especially Ephesians 3.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: 7.
Thank you for the example of your servant Paul who embraced being just an errand boy.
Lord, it's like somebody said they just wanted to be the ass that the Lord rides in on to be a vessel for your supernatural power.
[00:13:33] Speaker B: Lord, we confess we have a tendency.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: To pride and self reliance.
[00:13:37] Speaker B: Forgive us. Transform our hearts. Help us to truly understand that our.
[00:13:42] Speaker A: Strength comes from you alone.
Cultivate in us a spirit of genuine humility so that we may decrease that you may increase in our lives.
Empower us to serve others without seeking our own glory to be instruments of your grace and love to a world that desperately needs you. May our lives reflect the quiet power of humility, confounding the enemy and bringing glory to your name in Jesus name.
If you'd like to know more about Father's Heart ministry, go to fathersheartministry.net and there are many resources there.
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[00:14:38] Speaker B: My mandate is to see you get.
[00:14:41] Speaker A: Your version of the breakthrough that I walk in that God has brought into my life.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: I want to see that reproduce in.
[00:14:47] Speaker A: Your life because you'd be blessed if it did. Have a great day.
