pramsay posted on July 10, 2008 08:30 1910 views

Is Obscurity and Anonymity an Indignity?

Do you think there’s a brother up in Heaven giving the Apostle Paul a real chewing out over the obvious omission of his name in one of Paul’s letters? Do you think his enjoyment of Christ and Heaven is being hampered because his work but not his name is mentioned in 2Corinthians? Do you think he’s wagging his finger in Paul’s face just now saying:

Yes, but you still haven’t given me a good explanation for omitting my name. You mentioned the names of others. I worked just as hard to promote the Gospel as they did and yet people don’t know that it was me to whom you were referring. Do you think that’s fair? Theologians down through the centuries have been trying to figure out who that great brother was. Why didn’t you tell them it was me? When they come to writing about me they all say: ‘We’re not told who this brother was so there’s no use conjecturing.’ But then they all do their fair share of it. Some guess it was this brother or that brother; some may even think it was me. But the point is: why didn’t you give me credit for my commitment to the Gospel?”

Paul was writing the Corinthian believers regarding financial assistance for the poverty stricken Christians in Jerusalem. Others churches had made their contributions but Corinth hadn’t yet done so. Paul advises them that Titus, along with two other brothers, would soon be visiting Corinth to pick up their collection for Jerusalem. Here’s what Paul said about one of the men who would accompany Titus:

“And we have sent with him the brother,

whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches;

And not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches

 to travel with us with this grace…”

2 Corinthians 8:18-19

So who was this brother? We don’t know. He was well-known for his consistent love and commitment to the Gospel. Some assert that his preaching was well-known but how do we know that? There’s more to the Gospel than what goes on behind a platform. Perhaps he was well-known for spending his spare time going door to door sharing the good news about Christ. Maybe he had a proven track record of telling the market merchants, police officers, school teachers, house-servants and others about Christ – just in his daily conversations. Perhaps his fame in the Gospel was the result of his ability to draw people out to hear others preach. Maybe he consistently picked up a chariot load of villagers to transport them to gospel efforts. Or it could have been that he was well-known for his support as an ‘enabler’ in helping finance the spread of the Gospel.

This brother wasn’t worried about his own fame but rather the fame of Christ and making Him better known to sinners. He wasn’t just in high gear for the Gospel when Paul was around. The Gospel was the love of his life.  Everybody knew it!

Perhaps you are consistently and tirelessly spreading the Gospel in your own unique way but your name is not flashed abroad in email messages or in Christian news columns. Your contemporaries may know that you live for one thing – but how will your name be remembered in the future? Shouldn’t your self-sacrificing efforts get more attention and be recorded in history?

May the Lord encourage you today in knowing that most of what is being done for the Lord today on Planet Earth is being done in obscurity. Our flesh finds obscurity difficult to deal with. It whispers: “Your obscurity is an insult and an indignity to what you are really doing. You deserve the headlines just as much as others.”  Such thoughts have to be confessed and abandoned. What counts isn’t our own name – but His Name. Not our fame but His. Not whether we are well-known or not – but whether we have done our part in making Him well-known.

Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today.

Warmly in Christ

Peter Ramsay

peter@heaven4sure.com

Translate