{"id":7636,"date":"2025-10-16T08:00:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T00:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=7636"},"modified":"2025-10-16T17:56:53","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T09:56:53","slug":"350-on-service-and-an-excruciating-dilemma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=7636","title":{"rendered":"350. On Service and an Excruciating Dilemma"},"content":{"rendered":"

28\u00a0<\/sup>It is [Jesus Christ] whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

29\u00a0<\/sup>For this I toil & struggle with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me<\/span>. [Colossians 1:28-29<\/span>, NRSV<\/em>]<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Statue of St Paul, <\/em>St Peter\u2019s Square, Vatican City.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Cross Helped Paul Overcome His Ego<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe cross stands as the test and the standard of all vital Christian ministry,\u201d declared Dr. D.A. Carson in his book, The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians<\/em> (p.9). Place this alongside what the Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen had memorably said: \u201cThe more there is of the ego, the less there is of Christ,\u201d our consciousness is at once alerted to a fundamental but commonly ignored challenge on our ego. It is the challenge of the cross of Christ to all who would be adherents of the Christian faith. So Carson continues, the message of the cross in 1 Corinthians \u201cmust be learned afresh by every generation of Christians, or the gospel will be sidelined by assorted fads\u201d (p.10).<\/span><\/p>\n

St Paul, as we have read, had felt wholly justified \u201cto do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth.\u201d Not only did he shut up many of Jesus\u2019 followers in Jerusalem, but he also punished them in all the synagogues. And \u201cin raging fury,\u201d he pursued them even to foreign cities. And, of course, he further declared at his trial before King Agrippa, when they were put to death, that he cast his vote against them (see Acts 26:9-11).<\/span><\/p>\n

After conversion, however, Paul so intensely lived in the Spirit of the Crucified and Risen Christ to the point that he could say, \u201cI have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me<\/em><\/strong>\u201d (Gal 2:20). From then on, he traveled from place to place, zealously fighting Jewish resistance and gaining converts to Christ, planting and strengthening churches. In his apostolate in the name of Christ Jesus, he laboured in \u201cteaching everyone in all wisdom<\/em><\/strong>,\u201d his singular aim being to<\/em><\/strong> \u201cpresent everyone mature in Christ<\/em><\/strong>\u201d (Col. 1:28-29).<\/span><\/p>\n

So Paul, the most ferocious enemy of the Church became its most zealous son and missionary. He transcended self, as well as his false sense of ethnic superiority. He overcame the negative aspects of the ego and, with it, the concomitant but unconscious idolatry. By idolatry, we mean the substituting of God on top of one\u2019s scale of values with other, more fashionable man-made \u201cvalues\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

What happened to Paul to cause the 180-degrees change, to become such a towering figure in Christianity? In his words, it was quite simply because: \u201cI was apprehended<\/em> by Christ Jesus\u201d (Phil 3:12), in the momentous encounter with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-22). That encounter famously sparked a monumental shift <\/em>in Paul\u2019s value system. That stunning narrative of encounter and the Pauline inversion of values which follows deserves serious reflection.<\/em> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>Three Essential Elements in Ministry<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Cutting through a massive list of commentaries on St Paul\u2019s Conversion, one arrives at the understanding as to why Paul has to make a complete change in visions and in life. In sum, he did so in order to:<\/span><\/p>\n