After the teaching on Sunday by Anson McMahon, (one of the finest talks sermons that I’ve heard on Romans), I’ve decided to revisit the Epistle to the church @Rome.

My plan was to go deep into the letter, but I’ve got a confession to make, Paul punched me in the nose on the third word and I haven’t been able to get past:

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God^”

What is a servant? Simply someone who serves. One who listens and obeys. A servant waits for the Master to speak and then fulfills the Master’s desires.

Here’s the thought that has me hung up…Paul identifies himself as a servant of first. His primary identity in this verse is “I’m a servant of Jesus.” He establishes that before he brings clarity to what he’s called to. Right out of the gate he is a servant of Christ Jesus. It would be real easy to establish his credibility by leading with apostle, leader, point man, but he doesn’t do that – he begins with “Paul, a servant.”

How do you introduce yourself? What title do you want to give? What position are you scrambling for? We wonder about and wander around in the conversation about calling, but sometimes that dialogue, is just a smoke break that keeps us from what we are here to do…be servants of Christ. Never putting on the apron to serve because we are busy looking for the outfit we are going to wear when we “make it.”

Paul’s greatness is not found in the “apostle,” that’s just something he was called to…his great ambition was not to be a great apostle, his ambition was servanthood. There is no room in the Kingdom for great apostles who don’t do aprons.

Jesus said that his Kingdom is not like the way of this world, the greatest is the least, in his economy the last is the first. His Kingdom is the one where the King wears an apron and cleans feet.

See, everyone is not called to be an apostle, leader, corner office king, but everyone is called to serve.

So let’s not get tangled up in conversations about what God might do with us tomorrow instead let’s listen and obey today. By serving we subvert the kingdoms of this world and reveal true greatness.

It’s apron time,

Kevin, a servant of Christ Jesus.