Should I give up when my leader is humiliated? Christian ministry is weak and humiliating. And Christian leaders are often weak and humiliated.
That was clearly the problem Paul is addressing for the church in Ephesus in our reading today. Just look again at v. 13:
I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you
It fits with the wider theme of everything else the church thinks about on Trinity 16: The widow in Nain had no earthly hope when her son died. In the verses we read from Psalm 86, we threw ourselves purely on God’s mercy alone. The collect we prayed before the readings asks God’s grace to go before and after us just like the pillar of cloud and fire did for Israel.
As we heard from Psalms 103 and 62 in the last two weeks, this part of the church year is focused on trusting God even in the face of negative circumstances. The distinctive angle on that Paul talks about in this reading is the circumstances of when our leaders are weak, rejected, unimpressive and mocked.
And it makes sense that you would lose heart when that happens. You all have so many difficulties in your lives. I talk to you about them. I come to your house, sit with you, pray with you, give you absolution, open the Bible, and point you to Jesus. So when, like Paul, I’m rejected by men, accused of a crime, and put into prison—how would you feel?
Wouldn’t you doubt whether every encouragement was legitimate? Wouldn’t you become unsure about everything that’s been said from this pulpit and altar? Wouldn’t you fear that perhaps in reality, God isn’t in a good mood with you, and you need to do something to somehow win him over?
In reality: many of you have seen me humiliated and rejected, and you’ve felt exactly that pressure and discouragement. That’s what Paul’s addressing in Ephesus. As he sits in chains, rejected, despised, shamed, accused, slandered, gossiped about widely, he’s concerned that this will pull the Ephesians eyes away from Christ and his Word of unconditional grace and toward trusting something more visible. So he writes:
I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you
Should I give up when my leader is humiliated? Paul says “no” and gives us three reasons: 1) True glory is hidden in earthly humiliation 2) Christ’s love for you is bigger than what you can see 3) God’s power for you is bigger than what you can imagine
Let’s think about the first of those: 1) True glory is hidden in earthly humiliation Please look at v. 13:
13 So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.
I can’t begin to tell you how personally comforting I find this verse. Because—and there’s no point hiding it—I’ve been shamed, humiliated, embarrassed, accused, and belittled. You know what that feels like, because these same things happen to you. You spend months, entire days, long hours working on a new business, a contract, job applications, finishing a project, school work, applying to unis… only for people to just ghost you with no warning, receive repeated rejections, watch others succeed with seemingly no reason, and to face criticism, hostility and accusation.
Much of what Paul suffered throughout his life and ministry was shame. Shame eats at you, bites at you, is always present with you. It must have been always at the back of Paul’s thoughts, when he sat there with nothing much else to do.
And now, as he writes this letter, he’s in prison. There is a formal, legal, civil accusation against him: You’re a bad person, a problem, something the rest of us need to solve. And even if the final judgment from Caesar was not in yet, think about how humiliating and soul-destroying that situation was to be in? How did the Ephesians feel? If official institutions can’t trust Paul to speak freely to people, then how can they trust anything Paul says?
Paul preached a gospel of unconditional grace. The good news that in Christ, God wasn’t just positive toward Jewish people, or circumcised people, or people who believed the right things. In Christ God is freely positive toward everyone, and he freely gives faith to receive it as people hear it. It’s that unconditional gospel Paul has just summarised again in the immediately preceding verses:
v. 7: God’s gift v. 8: the unsearchable riches of Christ for even the Gentiles v. 9: to bring to light for everyone v. 10: now be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly the places
This sounds incredible, amazing, glorious… …and yet Paul sits in prison, rejected and accused by all the authorities the Ephesians can see.
Does that mean everyone Paul said was wrong? Is the shame, humiliation, and rejection of our leader in the world a sign that his message is shameful, humiliating and to rightly be rejected?
True glory is hidden in earthly humiliation That is Paul’s answer. And listen carefully to the pronoun, to whose glory:
So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.
You see, Paul had read the prophet Isaiah, 45 verse 15:
Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.
Paul knows that God will not be seen until Christ returns; and therefore Christian glory is hidden now beneath things the world calls weak and shameful. But Paul’s suffering wasn’t pointless: it benefitted others, even if he’s unable to tell them the details about how. Paul was suffering because he had confessed God’s unconditional love in Christ, and refused to make it conditional. And the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places —the demons and spiritual powers— had taken notice: and they didn’t like it.
Have you noticed that everyone who has joined our church has faced some kind of calamity? As a result, several people have just walked away; some have become extremely hostile; but others have heard these words of life and we can see in each other it’s bearing fruit.
That is the power, the glory, of holding tight to our confession, and not compromising God’s grace. In the letter to the Galatians, Paul says that many avoid suffering by watering down this gospel and making it conditional. He refused to do that. And now he’s in prison. So yes, he’s suffering now, but it is for the Ephesians’ glory.
The challenge for you, though, is this: where do you compromise God’s unconditional grace to try and gain visible glory now? We want our Christianity to be respected. We want our church to look successful. We want our pastor to be admired, and so share that with us. We want the people who reject us to admit that we were right. We don’t merely want Christ. We want Christ and vindication; Christ and respect; Christ and success; Christ and everyone finally seeing. That’s why suffering and humiliation hurts us so deeply; that’s why challenges and problems feel personal. That’s why when we or our leader is humiliated, it feels like condemnation from God against us as people.
That’s the context for Paul’s famous prayer here at the end of chapter 3; a prayer that brings two amazing comforts. The first comfort is point 2: 2) Christ’s love for you is bigger than what you can see
Please look with me at vv. 14-19:
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
Paul doesn’t bow his knees before the people bullying him. You do not need to get your enemies’ approval; you already have the Father’s ear: .
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
People can accuse Paul, and even imprison him, but neither his nor the Ephesians’ identities are defined by other people’s opinions —even institutional opinions. The people who shame you do not get to tell you who you are.
16 that according to the riches of his glory
Paul doesn’t appeal to God because he’s such a victim, or because he deserves anything, but according to God’s riches—which are free in Christ. God’s generosity toward you is measured by what Christ has done for you, not by how people view you.
he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
Paul doesn’t pray first for their circumstances to become easier. God will strengthen you to endure outward suffering.
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith
Christ does not dwell with the Ephesians visibly. Humiliation, suffering, problems are not signs he’s absent. So, when I’m weak, humiliated, accused or absent, and your struggling; Christ himself has not left you; what you’ve heard from me about him is still true.
—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Not rooted and grounded in reputation, success, academic degrees vindication, or in God’s commands. —But rooted and grounded in Christ’s love. Your stability comes from being loved by Christ, not from seeing Christianity succeed; nor from telling each other we need to perform better.
18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints
You can’t even understand Christ’s love without God’s power. Pray for yourself, for your family, your friends: pray he will make his promises bigger to us than our circumstances.
what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
Christ’s love is not measured by Paul’s prison cell. It is not measured by how narrow your life currently feels.
19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Paul doesn’t promise an explanation for all the details. You don’t need to understand why everything is happening to know that God is good to you in the midst of it. It is that knowledge—that God is good even while things are bad— that is being filled with the fullness of God. You’re not missing out on anything. So, Christ’s love for you is bigger than what you can see
And finally, God’s power for you is bigger than what you can imagine Please look at v. 20:
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
As Paul sits in prison it appears as though those oppose him have power over him and power over the Ephesians. They can accuse him, humiliate him, lock the door of his cell, decide where he is allowed to go, and who he is allowed to speak to. Looking at them, they appear to hold all the power.
Paul says that is nothing in comparison to power of the God who is in a good mood with you because of Christ. Yes—you can’t see his power: you cannot even imagine it. The people against Paul can only do what God permits them. Their power has boundaries. God’s power is more than you can ask or think. And God always exercises that power in Christ, for your benefit, his church. So that it will be seen by everyone on the last day that he was only good to you and powerful for you, even as you and your leaders had faced weakness and shame in the world we live in. That’s why, v. 21:
21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.