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I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God\u2019s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all the Lord\u2019s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things (Ephesians 3:7-9).

This passage undermines a common misunderstanding of grace in the Christian church. In fact, it reveals, that we have shrunk grace down to something that we can manage. But it does not belong to us. Since, it belongs to God, we must allow him to define what grace is and means and does.

For many Christians, we understand grace simply and only as something that we receive from God. It is limited to the forgiveness of sins and the \u2018get out of jail\u2019 free card, that is, escape from this world into heaven. Its like there is a hole inside of us which God fills with his grace and by it we eventually float away into heaven. Or its like a beautiful plate we get at Christmas. We love it but not wanting to damage it, we hang it on the wall. Occasionally, we stop to admire it and think to ourselves, some day I should eat from it.

God\u2019s grace is much more than that. The revelation of the gospel is not only that we will understand it and receive it, but it enlists us in the service of the Revealer. Paul was made a servant because of \u201cthe gift of God\u2019s grace.\u201d The gift obligates. Grace in this verse does not relate to Paul\u2019s salvation, but to his ministry. Through grace he became a servant of the gospel. Grace connects us to God and Christ and to each other, and it also enlists and empowers us.

The gift always comes as a task. Grace always brings responsibility. Paul alluded to this earlier, \u201cFor [God] chose us in [Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight\u201d (1:4). In our text, we are told how it worked in Paul\u2019s life. Paul viewed himself as a manager of grace. His ministry to the Gentiles was unique, but all Christians are to be managers of grace. All who have received grace should extend it to others.

This becomes the main theme in chapter 4, where Paul writes, \u201cBut to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it\u201d (7). Peter puts it rather bluntly, \u201cEach of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God\u2019s grace in its various forms\u201d (1 Peter 4:10). To receive grace is to be taken into its service. Grace connects, enlists, and empowers. It will not allow us to be passive, for it is God\u2019s power at work in us.

This is the theology of grace Christians must recover, which means that preachers must preach it. This is by no means a salvation by works theology. It is a much fuller, richer, more Biblical understanding of grace. If we can get past the militaristic overtones of the hymn, \u201cOnward Christian Soldiers\u201d, we must admit that the poet had a more robust understanding of grace than many of us today have. Grace enlists in the service of the gospel. There is just no other way to read the Bible.

By now, you are likely objecting, \u201cBut who am I\u201d? What can I possible do in service to the gospel? Paul anticipates the objection. \u201cAlthough I am less than the least of all the Lord\u2019s people\u201d, I was entrusted as the first to bring the gospel to the gentiles. For all his sense of the privilege of being an apostle, Paul had no great sense of his ability or of a high rank. He felt he should have been rejected because he persecuted the church, but he was chosen\u2014a choice not based on his ability, but on God\u2019s grace. Anything he accomplished was a result of the power of God at work in him.

Not everyone is called to the public proclamation of the gospel. But as Eugene Peterson keeps reminding us, we are all called to \u201cpractice resurrection.\u201d We put off the old self and put on the new self. We let go of the practices of sin and selfishness and actively engage in the practices of grace and love. We stop drawing attention to ourselves and point people to Christ. So, as you head off into a new day, whether now or tomorrow morning, take time to ask God to reveal how you should steward his grace.

Because of this understanding of grace, Paul ends his prayer with this doxology:

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:17-21).