Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. ESV

When David Watson was Rector of ‘St. Michael-le-Belfrey in York, he told his congregation, ”If anyone comes in here and asks, ‘Who is the minister?’, say, ‘We all are!’ ” He rightly upheld the Biblical vision of every member ministry (the ‘priesthood of all believers’), even though he was one of the most famous clergymen in the Christian world at that time.

Paul was speaking about his ministry of apostleship; one involving preaching, teaching and church planting. But whatever ministry we have, we don’t deserve it. It is given to us by the mercy of God.

We should never think of any church leader as a ‘superstar’. Nor should any Christian leader act like they are. We are where we are and we have what we have by the mercy of God. But for God’s mercy we would be lost and under the wrath of God. Paul was only too aware of what he’d been delivered from:

”For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.” 1 Corinthians 15:9,10.

Someone teased out the difference between mercy and grace in this way: ‘God in His mercy does not give us what we do deserve, and in His grace gives us what we do not deserve.

Every believer can wholeheartedly sing these words from an old hymn, ‘Mercy there was great and grace was free.’

‘“Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Saviour.” John Newton