We're Number One...NOT!

To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph 3:8).

"We're number one!"  

Every player on every team longs to be the best.  Every fan dreams of the day their team wins it all.  Dale Earnhardt once said, "Second place is just the first place loser."  Or in the words of the legendary Ricky Bobby, "If you're not first, you're last."  The desire to be on top drives offseason training.  It fuels the regular season.  Finally, the survival of the fittest of the playoffs.  All so one team can claim the championship.

"We're number one!"

While the winners claim trophies, raise flags and hold parades, you might not notice the guy writing from a cold jail cell in Rome.  The Apostle Paul.  He's not number one.  He's not the best.  In contrast to the proud chants of a championship, Paul humbly whispers, "I am the least."  No chest thumping.  No confetti.  No sound system blasting "We Are the Champions."  Just an honest understanding of his situation.  "To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" (v8).

"I am the very least."

Let's back up a bit for a little context.  It's easy to think that a long bid in the Roman prison system has broken our man Paul.  Could it be that this once dynamic leader of Jesus' followers has finally cracked?  Nope.  Not in the least.  The man from Tarsus knows EXACTLY who he is.  He's "an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God" (Eph 1:1).  Way back in the first century, an apostle was a handpicked representative of someone in authority who was given all the rights and privileges of the one being represented.  To speak with someone's apostle was to speak with the one sending the apostle.  

This letter to his friends back in Ephesus allows us a snapshot of Paul's spiritual growth.  Dare I say, spiritual evolution?  OK, how's this?  His spiritual devolution.  Bear with me for just a moment.  Flip back to his first letter to Corinth and back in time to 55 AD.  He told his readers, "For I am the least of the apostles" (1Cor 15:9).  He's utterly humbled that Jesus would have reached out and selected him to be one of His personal ambassadors of the Gospel.  A few years later, Paul finds himself in the joint waiting for Caesar to hear his appeal.  Around 60-62 AD, he writes this letter to the Ephesians admitting, "I am the very least of all the saints" (v8).  See the devolution?  From "least of the apostles" to "very least of all the saints."  But it doesn't stop there.  Fast forward just a couple of years to 62-64 AD.  Roman authorities have just released Paul after his appeal.  He writes to his boy Timothy (who is probably in Ephesus by the way), "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost" (1Tim 1:15).  Devolution complete.  

"The least of the apostles."

"The very least of all the saints."

"The foremost of sinners."

There's no chants of a champion here.  Paul understands that there is only one Winner.  Jesus Christ.  And he desperately needs his Savior each and every day.  He's blown away that our Lord has selected him for such an important mission.  He wonders why in the wide world of sports did Christ tab him to take the Good News to non-Jews around the world.  From Paul's perspective, Jesus has wasted his draft pick by taking him.  But it's NOT about Paul.  It's NOT about me.  And it's NOT about you.  It's about JESUS!  He continually uses an endless parade of goofballs, losers and weirdos to crazy stuff from His kingdom.  That's that whole choosing "what is foolish to in the world to shame the wise" thing (1Cor 1:27).  The Bible is full of cowards, knuckleheads and morons that God uses time and time again.  Paul is honored and humbled to be one of them.

That's why he says with great confidence, "I am the least."