In both the Old and New Testaments, God's servants were generally obscure, unimportant (to the world at large), and laboured without seeking to be prominent. The world did not think much of them; they cared little about that, precisely because they cared much about God.
Do we secretly believe that a new age has begun, in which that state of things has been ended? Today, God's choice servants have long strings of letters after their names, large ministries centred around themselves with conferences, publications, colleges, long lists of accomplishments and followers by the thousand and ten-or-hundred-thousand?
We probably wouldn't say that we do believe that. Hence, I say, "secretly"? What is our actual mental model of what faithful, God-honouring service looks like? Is there a ladder, a hierarchy, to be climbed, one which is essentially a (lightly) Christian-coated version of worldly success and achievement? What sort of thing do we think, in our heads, ministry under the New Covenant looks like, and how it relates to what the unconverted world thinks of as impressive?
A new age has not now begun. The last day (when one will begin!) will certainly reveal that. Surely we would do well to let our thinking be transformed by the Scriptures in how we view God-pleasing service today - not conformed by the world.
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