Gal 1:11 I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
...I did not consult any man, nor did I go unto Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.
I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report: "The man who formally persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. And they praised God because of me.
Speaking in purely human terms, Paul should have been one of, not only the most unqualified men for God to use (steeped in legalism), but also morally unqualified (persecuting the Church of God) and practically unqualified (no long record of helpful and long-running service to a Church). However, God didn't have Paul 'consult any man' first, before he began His ministry and service of 'preaching the faith' (he had once tried to destroy). How shocking! It's almost as if God's grace was enough for Paul. Fancy that! Many Churches would be horrified if such a thing like that was happening today. They would look to his past violence and how hurtful he had been to the Church. They would point out the fact that he had never contributed to building funds, never attended 'vision' nights and never served faithfully in a practical manner (apparently this is crucial before serving spiritually in some Churches) and never gotten to know the Pastors and leadership teams around the areas he began to preach. The absolutely mind-blowing thing about this is this: while Churches very rightly place the issue of God's grace as front and centre in their places of worship, they all the while hold very man-made legalistic rules and regulations about those that THEY would accept to serve in their Churches, all the while forgetting that God is the one who has laid out the standard in His Word, and that GOD is the one, not they themselves, that equips, calls and uses for HIS work, in HIS Church, of which they are overseers of (and for which they'll need to give an account to the main Shepherd).
In the above scriptures Paul emphasises to the Galation Church that it was never by human institutions, or by human advancement or by human wisdom and human choice that Paul was chosen to preach the Word. What Paul preached was not made up by men, he didn't receive it from men, he wasn't taught it. The next truths would stun some Churches; he didn't consult men, didn't even see the apostles (leaders of the Church), but simply went where God told him to go; 'I went into Arabia and later returned to Damascus,' and he simply did what God told him to do, by preaching the Word. The Churches in his day, praised God, but I wonder if it would be the same today. Or maybe it would be the case that, very sadly, jealousy and consternation would be the order of the day by many Churches, and even criticism and outright condemnation. Maybe it would be that Paul would not pass their litmus test for a true servant of God, and that those same Churches would never benefit from the extraordinary work and service that God would have such a man contribute to the people, family and Church of God. Oftentimes many of the people of God wouldn't even know that such attitudes and practices prevail behind the scenes in their Church 'leadership teams', but sadly oftentimes they do. And so the result of this is often a service team established and encouraged according to human values and human service traits, that have nothing to do with how God establishes and calls for service.
This is not always going to be the case of course. God uses and has used to a very great degree ordinary and practical means whereby He calls, equips and sends out. God very much uses the Church today to equip His people and train them up. God has seen the tireless efforts of Godly men and Godly leaders who have poured out their lives on a daily basis for others and for those that they have recognised as called and chosen by the Lord for His service. But we must remind ourselves as a Church to do such things according to the pattern shown to us in the Word, and to always remind ourselves that we ourselves don't call men to their service, but we simply may recognise and become part of the process God uses to train His people for the work of the ministry. The calling to service and ministry must not be something facilitated by something that man has invented, but it must be according to the grace and truth that God has given His people.
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