“11 God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands, 12 so that even facecloths or work aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.

13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches!” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 The evil spirit answered them, “I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul — but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded. 17 This became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. Then fear fell on all of them, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. 18 And many who had become believers came confessing and disclosing their practices, 19 while many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. So they calculated their value and found it to be 50,000 pieces of silver. 20 In this way the Lord’s message flourished and prevailed.”

Acts 19:11-20

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And here we have an excellent example of what it means to be a servant of Christ. In all these examples of wonderful things being done, we have only one question to ask, “Who is being glorified?” And the answer lets us see that Paul’s ministry was legitimate. The Name of Jesus was magnified and recognized more highly than Paul’s. Paul wasn’t able to do this anonymously, but he certainally wasn’t doing it to self-promote. His humility pointed toward his legitimacy as an evangelist. Someone who is truly concerned for the things of Christ is also going to seek out glory for Christ alone. 

I am always skeptical of people who enjoy the limelight too much, and as a preacher, I understand the temptations and struggles that go along with the office. So I joke with the congregation sometimes  about them never seeing my face on the church bus or my name on the sign out front because it isn’t my pulpit and it most certainally isn’t my church. In John 3:30, and Luke 17:10 we are reminded that “He must become greater, I must become less.” and “In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are good-for-nothing slaves; we’ve only done our duty.'” Because it’s not about us for even a moment. The Gospel is something that we have been entrusted with, but it isn’t about any individual but Christ. 

Paul’s Christ-centered humility was a marker of the legitmacy of His teaching and work. He wasn’t trying to draw crowds because he had a new book to sell. He wasn’t doing an “Apostle Paul’s Miracles & Holy Hands Healing Tour” either. Every moment was laser focused on Jesus, pinpointed on what He had done and was meant for His glory. Paul saw himself simply as the vehicle for delivering the message and doing whatever work God has designed for him to accomplish in His Name.

And so, like Paul, we don’t need to worry or consider our own reputation when we are telling others about Jesus because it isn’t about us for a moment. We shouldn’t be concerned with what they might think of us, for good or for ill, we simply need to be faithful servants who are accomplishing the tasks the Master has set before us. Our faithfulness to Him is shown through our dedication to seeing His Name glorified and lifted up. He is our focus and that focus should be obvious to anyone that encounters us as we GoLove others in His Name. Jesus first. Period.