Ok I haven’t.  But the title should give us pause as a very odd statement.

But that is the essence of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:10.  Paul says that he is the least of the apostles and shouldn’t even be called an apostle because he persecuted the church of God.  But because of grace he is an apostle.  And then he lets it fly: “I worked harder than any of them.”

Why is Paul saying that? I mean we name our kids after the apostles.  Why is Paul making this weird statement about working harder than any other apostle?

He is not comparing his work ethic to the other apostles to somehow make him look more important, but to highlight the crazy grace of God.  When it came to being an apostle Paul had no resume.

When Paul traveled around the Mediterranean I’m sure people would ask him why he had any right to teach them about Jesus.  What could Paul say?  There was no good reason he was an apostle except the grace of God.  He didn’t have anything to prove, because he already proved to be a failure when it came to Jesus.

But when Jesus rescued Paul he now had Jesus to give, without all the shackles and burdens of having to qualify himself for what he was doing.  All he could say was “by the grace of God, I am what I am.”  And that grace was so magnificent that it compelled Paul to work hard; not because he qualified himself, but because of God’s favor after he was disqualified.

Do you think its any different for us?