To be mutually encouraged among you by each other’s faith
The title of this post is my translation of the first part of Romans 1:12, which the ESV translates, “…[T]hat we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith…” [I’m not sure why they decided to leave out the prepositional phrase “among/in you (plural).”]
I was reminded of this verse – part of Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome – when I read a post by Eric at “A Pilgrim’s Progress” called “Willing to be One Anothered.” In this short post, Eric exhorts us toward mutual service (that service to and from one another).
I’m not going to quote much of his post, because it is fairly short. (So, make sure you jump over to his site and read the whole post.) Here is a short excerpt:
In talking about the one anothers, most of the focus usually falls on what we should do for others. I suppose this makes sense. However, we also need to realize that we must allow others to do for us. The one anothering is a two way street…
There is a sort of reciprocal nature to all this. We all grow up together in Christ as we serve one another. We help others grow by one anothering together. This involves both giving and receiving. If we only focus on the giving, we end up inadvertently hurting both ourselves and others.
I can’t speak to other parts of the world, but I know in this area being helped by others is frowned upon. But, among the church, we must be willing to both serve others and to be served by others. Christ matures his church as we work together to help one another.
Sometimes it’s harder for me to receive from others than to give to others. But, like Eric says, both are necessary parts of God growing and maturing his people.
Would you be willing to share a time when God worked through one of his children to “give” to you?
How far does your heart extend?
We all know that God gifts his children differently through the presence and power of his Holy Spirit. We also know that God gives us all different opportunities to increase his kingdom. But, lately, I’ve had a few conversations that have stretched my thinking in other ways as well.
For one thing, several people have commented about or asked something like this: “How far does your heart extend?”
Now, I should define what this questions means, as I’ve come to understand it. And, it helps me to start with what the question doesn’t mean. For one thing, the question is not asking whether or not you love God or others. In fact, for this question, loving God and loving others is assumed. Second, the question does not assume that the farther your heart extends the more you love God or others.
Instead, this question is asking something different: To whom is God directing your love, passions, and concerns? Like with the question of spiritual gifts or opportunities to serve, no answer is better or worse than other answers. However, thinking through this question can help us understand how God wants to use us.
For example, God has given some people a very strong passion and love and concern for the people immediately around them – the people that they see every day. They are content in their spirit serving the people who live near them.
For other people, God has given them a very strong passion and love and concern for people around the world. They are content when they are serving people in a variety of locations.
Finally, I think God gives all of us strong passions and loves and concerns for people somewhere along this spectrum, from the people near us to people across the globe. Again, neither end of the spectrum is better than the other. And, having passions, loves, and concerns at one end of the spectrum does not mean that we should not display love toward others (either near or far).
Instead, if we can honestly answer the question, “How far does your heart extend?” then we may be able to better understand which direction God is leading us. Is he leading us to primarily pour our lives into the people in a certain location, or is he leading us to primarily pour our lives into people in different locations?
Also, answering this question can also help us grow in the other direction. For example, if God has extended our hearts to people around the world, we need to constantly check our attitude and service toward those near us. And, if God has extended our hearts to people nearby, we need to constantly check our love and concern for those around the world.
Finally, asking and answering this question can help us check our attitudes toward people whom God is using in a different way. If we pour our lives into people nearby, do we think less of those who have loves and concerns spread around the world (and, thus, not as “dedicated” to people near us)? Or, if we have passions for people spread around the globe, do we think less of those who spend so much time loving and caring for physical neighbors (instead of shifting their concerns toward “the nations”)?
But, in general, asking and answering that question can help us determine how and where God may be using us: How far does your heart extend?
So, I’ll ask you: How far does your heart extend?
Mutuality: Sharing Life in Christ Together
For the last few days, I’ve published a short series connecting mutuality and various forms of service for the same of the gospel: 1) itinerant (apostle) service, 2) teaching service, and 3) shepherding service. In each case, I stepped through the life of Jesus in the Gospels and the life of his followers in Acts and the various letters of the New Testament to show that these types of service were the work of all believers, not just the work of one or a few.
Now, I could have focused on any type of service. However, I picked these three because among the church people usually assume that only certain people carry out the work of itinerant service, teaching service, or shepherding service. Relegating these types of services to only one or few damages the health of the church.
Before I go much further, I want to point out that I DO believe that only some people are gifted as apostles (itinerant servants), or as shepherds, or as teachers, in the same way that only some people are gifted as encourages, or contributors, or helpers. However, just as all believers can encourage, give, or help, all believers can also serve in an itinerant fashion, or by shepherding, or by teaching. In fact, those gifted in certain ways should help all believers learn how to serve in that way. That is “equipping.”
This idea of mutual service (ministry) is carried over into the many, many “one another” passages of Scripture – some of those passages even include the same types of service as I’ve talked about here (i.e., “teaching one another”). The “one another” passages of Scripture point to a fellowship that we have with one another in the Holy Spirit. This fellowship is a sharing of life – sharing our life in Christ as we share our lives with one another.
In this kind of fellowship, “one way” service is out-of-place. Why? Because the service itself does not arise from within ourself but from the life of the Spirit within us. And, the Spirit is not ONLY in me. The Spirit is in each of us. The Spirit that gifts me and empowers me to serve in various manners is the same Spirit that gifts and empowers others to serve in various manners.
It is the Spirit in me that “qualifies” me to serve. (“Qualify” is the wrong word; but you understand what I mean.) But, in the same way, the Spirit “qualifies” others to serve as well. If I refuse to serve others as God directs me through his Spirit, then I am hindering the work of the Spirit. In the same way, if I refuse to accept the service of others as God directs them through his Spirit, then I am also hindering the work of the Spirit.
Just as Christ is my life, he is also our life together. As we share in Christ’s life, we also share in life together by the Holy Spirit. This same Spirit gifts us and empowers us and works through us to serve one another. This is the mutual life that we share in Christ together.
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Series on Mutuality and Service
Mutuality and Shepherding Service for the Gospel
For the next few days, I’m publishing a short series on the connection between mutuality and various forms of serving for the sake of the gospel. I’m sticking to commands, exhortations, and examples that we find in Scripture relating to mutual service and servants. There is a danger in sole-ministry, expert-ministry, and professional-ministry. In Scripture, service (of any kind) was performed mutually – both with others and for the sake of others.
In this post, I look at the service of shepherding. Among many in the church today, shepherding is a service that is the sole responsibility of a professional class of Christians – vocational pastors, elders, etc. But, in Scripture, shepherding is a much more of a mutual service to and for one another.
Interestingly, this is one of the types of services that is most easily recognized as mutual in the Gospel, even in the case of Jesus. It is clear that Jesus serves others – in fact, he even said that he came to serve others. However, in the Gospels, others care for and serve Jesus as well.
Here is one passage that shows how some were traveling with and caring for Jesus:
Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means. (Luke 8:1-3 ESV)
In Acts 6, we see an example of the apostles encouraging the believers in Jerusalem to care for one another. In this case, the people chose seven men to make sure that the Hellenistic widows were receiving food. Later, we see different people caring for and shepherding others, offering hospitality, providing food, etc. For example, consider Simon the Tanner (Acts 9:43), Cornelius (Acts 10), Lydia (Acts 16:14-16), and many who traveled with Paul.
Now, some may object and say that these are not officially forms of shepherding; they are simple examples of people serving one another. Instead, they might point to Acts 20:28 and 1 Peter 5:1-3 as examples of elders alone being responsible for official shepherding.
However, there is another (similar) passage that is directed toward all believers. This passage is found in the Book of Hebrews:
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy… (Hebrews 12:12-16 ESV)
This passage shows that beyond physical shepherding (through service, hospitality, etc.) even spiritual shepherding is the responsibility of all believers to be performed mutually (that is, we should shepherd one another). In fact, the verb translated “see to it” in verse 15 is the same verb that is translated “overseeing” when elders are in the context.
God provides everything that we need, and Jesus alone is our good shepherd and our overseer. However, Jesus often shepherds us through others. We must be willing to respond to Jesus’ work through others, and we also must be willing to allow Jesus to use us to shepherd others.
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Series on Mutuality and Service
Mutuality and Teaching Service for the Gospel
For the next few days, I’m publishing a short series on the connection between mutuality and various forms of serving for the sake of the gospel. I’m sticking to commands, exhortations, and examples that we find in Scripture relating to mutual service and servants. There is a danger in sole-ministry, expert-ministry, and professional-ministry. In Scripture, service (of any kind) was performed mutually – both with others and for the sake of others.
In this post, I look at the service of teaching. Among the church today, many immediately think of lecture-style or sermon-type presentations when they think of teaching. But, this was not the formats or methods of teaching used primarily in Scripture. Instead, in Scripture, teaching was much more interactive and mutual than we often see practiced today.
Of course, much of this arises from the purpose of teaching in Scripture. Teaching was not about sharing information with as many people as possible. Instead, teaching referred to helping one another following Jesus Christ, often in very practical ways.
While Jesus is certainly the teacher par excellence, even his teaching was often interactive with questions, answers, and even disagreements taking part during his teaching. Here is just one example of Jesus’ interactive teaching among crowds:
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst…” (John 6:32-35 ESV)
Jesus also used interactive forms of teaching when with his followers:
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one…” (Matthew 13:36-38 ESV)
In the Book of Acts, when Paul teaches, he also primarily uses interactive and mutual forms of teaching. For example, consider this brief passage which describes Paul’s interaction with both unbelievers in a synagogue and believers (disciples):
And he [Paul] entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. (Acts 19:8-9 ESV)
The term translated “reasoning” – which describes Paul’s teaching both in the synagogue and among believers – is the same term used later when Paul speaks among the church in Troas. (Acts 20:7-12) Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell in this passage because it’s often translated “talked” or even “preached” in some translations.
When Paul wrote to the church in Collosae, he told them that one of the indications that they were dwelling in Christ is that they would teaching and admonish one another. (Colossians 3:16) This is the kind of mutual teaching that Paul practiced and the kind of mutual teaching that he expected among the church.
God created us to need him and to need one another. God teaches us, and he often chooses to teach us through other members of his family. Thus, we must take the time to listen to and interact with one another in order to teach and learn together.
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Series on Mutuality and Service
A Family Created by Spiritual Birth
One of my favorite bloggers and commenters is John (Aussie John) from “Caesura.” He recently published a very good post called “Family of God.”
The entire post is a great examination (from Scripture) of the essence and nature of God’s family, that is, those of us who are reborn into his family by the Spirit. While I encourage you to read the entire post, I want to point out a few things.
Notice these statements:
Assemblies, or congregations of people calling themselves Christians, have been constituted by techniques of human ingenuity, all claiming to be based on the New Testament, each with its system of doctrine and practice, some in stark contrast to others.
It seems to me that God’s idea is the creation of a spiritual family; a Family marked and ordered by love for God, as revealed in Jesus Christ, whose outworking of life will express itself according to what Scripture reveals…
Mutual Family love begins by spiritual birth, which is the placing of an individual spiritual stone, in the one organic entity of God’s Family. Mutual Family love DOES NOT come by adherence to a doctrinal code, statement of beliefs, or by joining.
Its intended purpose is not determined by its size or it’s statements about what it believes, but by the outworking of spiritual life of love and service to others as a measure of the indwelling of Christ by His Spirit.
Ah, yes… what a difference to live as family among those whom God has birthed anew by his Spirit instead of picking and choosing who to treat as brothers and sisters based on our beliefs and opinions.
I have a natural brother, born to the same mother and father. I love my brother, although we haven’t and probably still don’t always agree with one another. But, I was never asked whether or not he was going to be my brother. He IS my brother.
In the same way, everyone born of the Spirit IS your brother and sister and part of the family of God with you. Period.
Mutuality and Itinerant Service for the Gospel
For the next few days, I’m going to publish a short series on the connection between mutuality and various forms of serving for the sake of the gospel. I’m planning to stick to commands, exhortations, and examples that we find in Scripture relating to mutual service and servants. There is a danger in sole-ministry, expert-ministry, and professional-ministry. In Scripture, service (of any kind) was performed mutually – both with others and for the sake of others.
In this post, I look at the service of apostles or itinerant servants. I’m defining apostles as those who travel from place to place in order to proclaim the gospel to unbelievers and in order to strengthen believers.
Yes, in Scripture, even “apostleship” was a mutual form of service. The best place to begin in Scripture is in the Gospels.
Though he would probably be the only person to not need mutuality, Jesus usually traveled with, taught with, and served with others. After Jesus surrounded himself with others, he then sent them out (i.e., as apostles) together:
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. (Luke 10:1 ESV)
When we get to Book of Acts, we often see people traveling together: Paul and Barnabas, Barnabas and Mark, Paul and Silas, Silas and Timothy, etc. In fact, though we often focus on Paul, he was not “called” to travel alone. He was sent by God and by the church in Antioch together with Barnabas as a team:
Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. (Acts 13:1-3 ESV)
And, while it is also easy to overlook, apparently Peter was traveling with others as well:
So he [Peter] invited them [the men from Cornelius’ household] in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. (Acts 10:23 ESV)
Now, certainly, there were times when people traveled alone. For example, it seems that Philip was alone when he was traveling around proclaiming the gospel in Acts 8. And, at least once, Paul was forced to travel alone to Athens. But, even in that instance, he asked for Timothy and Silas to join him as soon as possible. (Acts 17:14-15)
However, I think that Paul’s attitude when preparing to travel to Rome can help us understand that even when traveling alone (potentially), Paul still had mutuality in mind. He told the Roman believers:
For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you — that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. (Romans 1:11-12 ESV)
God created us to need him and to need one another. Even apostles need others to travel with them, to serve with them, and to encourage them even as they encourage and build up others.
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Series on Mutuality and Service
The who, what, where, when, and why of the One Anothers
Jon at “Jon’s Journey” has started what appears to be a fascinating series looking at the who, what, where, when, and why (and perhaps how?) of the “one another” passages in Scripture. His first post in the series, “Five W’s of One Another,” begins by asking “What?” verses/exhortations we are talking about.
Jon combines all these exhortations in a list, and summarizes as follows:
So what are the instructions in these one another verses? Hospitality, humility, harmony, not slandering, encouraging, teaching, admonishing (giving advice), agreeing with, forgiving, submitting, singing together, kindness, compassion, bearing with, serving, accepting, and the repeated call to love one another.
I’ll be honest… I’ve read and written about these verses many, many times. The “what” part is extremely familiar. I’m really looking forward to the follow-up posts in which Jon discusses the other W’s: Who, where, when, why, and perhaps “how?” even though it’s not exactly a “w” question.
The church is not the institution. The institution is not the church.
The title of this post came from my good friend Eric at “A Pilgrim’s Progress” and his post “Not the Same.”
In the post, Eric is making a distinction between the church and the organizations and institutions that are often created by the church. I think this is an important distinction. Why is it important? Because these organizations and institutions (in all of their varieties and flavors) tend to overshadow and even hinder the work of the church.
Eric writes:
The church is not the institution. The institution is not the church. They are not the same. In fact, they are fundamentally different. The first is God’s creation. The second is man’s. They not only differ but in many ways oppose each other.
This has become increasingly clear to me over the past few months. It has helped me in discussing the things of the church. For quite a while I’ve been frustrated with the way things at large are going within the church in this country. This was because I saw so many man-made traditions shackling the life of the church. It all seemed like one big jumbled mess to me.
Yes, it is “one big jumbled mess.” And, it is often confusing to the people involved. What part is the church? What part is the organization? What part is of God and what part is of man? It really is “one big jumbled mess.”
Please take the time to read the rest of Eric’s post. I agree with him that understanding that there is a difference between the church and the organization/institution is the first step in recognizing the church.
Then, what happens when we DO recognize the church? At this point, brothers and sisters in Christ make different decisions. Some decide to separate from the organization/institution. Some decide to continue with the organization/institution. Perhaps others make other decisions.
For me, the important part is living in Jesus Christ with the church – either with the help of or in spite of the organization/institution.
Which decision have you made, and why?
The Conditional Church
In my previous post – “Jesus, you forgot the conditional statements again” – I pointed out (in my sarcastic manner) that many (perhaps most?) of Jesus’ commands are offered with no conditional statements. So, for instance, when Jesus says, “Give to those who beg of you,” he did not tell his listeners to consider how they would use the gift before it is given. Although, of course, we often add our own conditional statements…
But, we don’t just add our own conditional statements to Jesus’ commands. We add conditional statements to commands concerning the church and descriptions of the church also. Interestingly, the conditional statements help form what we read in Scripture to what we already do or believe today. (Quite convenient, actually.)
For example, read through the following commands and/or descriptions and ask yourself this question: What “conditional statements” do I assume that author meant even though he didn’t include the condition when he wrote?
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16 ESV)
And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. (1 Thessalonians 5:14 ESV)
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV)
What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. (1 Corinthians 14:26 ESV)
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:4 ESV)
Surely there are many other passages that I could list. These passages above deal with gathering together and interacting with one another. How many conditional statements to we place on these commands and descriptions?
What kinds of conditional statements? Well, statements such ask these: “… if the leaders/elders/pastors permit it…”, “… if the size of the group gathering is not too large…”, “… if the person understand enough orthodox theology…”, “… if… if… if”.
We are good at adding conditions, especially when it comes to the church.