Broken
On Sundays, we’ve started studying through Genesis together. Yesterday, I taught and led a discussion on Genesis chapters 3 and 4. While the first two chapters of Genesis focused on creation (and specifically the creation of mankind and the special relationship between mankind and God and between man and woman), by the time we get to chapters 3 and 4, we find out why our world is broken.
The brokenness that begins in chapter 3 affects everything in our life. In fact, apart from Adam and Eve and Jesus, no one else in Scripture (or history) knows what it means to live without sin. But, in the cases of Adam and Eve, they were affected by sin. And, even Jesus had to live within a world that was broken by sin.
In fact, the brokenness of this world not only affects our life, but affects the way that we see everything else (much like looking through a shattered window). Even when we read chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis (and the last few chapters of Revelation), our understanding is limited by our own brokenness and our perspective which is clouded by sin.
Of course, in spite of the brokenness of this world, we have been re-created by Christ and we have been reconciled to God and to one another. This is the great plan and mission of God that also begins to be unfolded in Genesis 3. Now that we have been reconciled to God by Christ, we have also been given the service of reconciliation.
We cannot reconcile other people to God, nor can we reconcile other people to one another. But, God has chosen to work through us to present his message of reconciliation.
Yes, the world is broken, but God has reconciled and is reconciling the world to himself through Christ. As his ambassadors, we should always consider how we are representing God and presenting his reconciliation to the world.
Minister of Web Development
Recently, I was having breakfast with a friend of mine, when he started talking about recent opportunities that he’s had to minister to people because of his work as a web developer.
(Paraphrasing) He said that he once envied people who were paid by a church to serve others. He thought they had it made because they could spend all of their time serving people and didn’t have to worry about supporting their family.
But, now, he says, he’s learning that he has opportunities to serve people every day through his work as a web developer – people who would never seek counsel from someone who was paid by a church. But, these people are willing to talk with him because they know him and have worked with him and trust him and don’t think he’s just trying to make another convert.
Sure, the people who would say that are wrong about the vast number of paid professional ministers who truly care about people and want to help them. But, the perspective is there. My friend does not have to deal with that because they respect him as a web developer and friend, and he’s able to serve them and introduce them to Jesus Christ.
Of course, this “minister of web development” isn’t the first or only person who has told me recently about opportunities that God has given them to serve others within their spheres of influence that are outside the normal “church” spheres. The exciting thing (to me) is that more and more people are recognizing that God has called them, ordained them, and gifted them as ministers wherever they live, work, shop, play, etc. And, more and more people are taking this calling serious and are beginning to serve people in their neighborhoods and workplaces and schools etc.
Now, my web developing friend says that those who are paid by a church should envy him. He gets to serve others while doing what he likes, and he doesn’t have to deal with being paid by a church. (I think that last part was said in jest… sorta.)
So, what about you? Where has God placed you to serve others? How are you taking advantage of those opportunities?
Servant of the Gospel
A couple of times, Paul calls himself a “servant” of the gospel:
Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. (Ephesians 3:7 ESV)
He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. (Colossians 1:22-23)
Now, in these passages, the ESV translates the word for “servant” as “minister.” But, the words mean the same thing.
Paul saw himself as a servant of the good news of Jesus Christ.
What does it mean for Paul to be a servant of the gospel? Is this service specific to Paul? Is it specific to a certain sub-group of Christ’s followers (i.e. apostles, evangelists)? Or, are all believers to be servants of the gospel?
Which one is the minister? Which one is the missionary?
In a few days, two of my friends will be graduation from Southeastern, one from the college and one from the seminary.
One of the graduates plans to move (with his wife) to Switzerland to learn French, then to Africa. Once they reach Africa, they will work with an organization to help translate Scriptures into local languages and dialects.
The other graduate (with his wife) plans to move to Florida and look for a job teaching history in a local public high school.
So, which graduate is the minister? Which graduate is the missionary?
Answer: Both graduates (and their wives) are ministers, and both graduates (and their wives) are missionaries.
More unhypocritical love
A few days ago, I pointed out that unhypocritical (or sincere) love (Romans 12:9) includes the practice of “showing more honor” to one another (Romans 12:10).
But, Paul described “unhypocritical love” in other ways as well. He says unhypocritical love (Romans 12:11-13):
- is not idle in eagerness
- is burning for the Spirit
- is a slave to the Lord
- is rejoicing in hope
- is enduring troubles
- is persisting in prayer
- is contributing to the needs of the saints (God’s children)
- is pursuing hospitality.
I’ve translated these in a way that indicates a sense of continual action. What do you think?
Permission to Serve
This post is the final post in my series on “women in ministry,” or, as I like to say, “women serving others.” (see “Spiritual Gifts and Women,” “Spiritually Gifted Women,” and “Women Serving in Context“) However, this post is not about women specifically. Instead, it’s about all of us, including women.
Originally, this post was titled “Serving for the Rest of Us.” But, my friend Wes from “a mission-driven life” left a comment on facebook about some of the previous points in this series. His comment gets to the point of this post, so I took the title from his comment, and even changed a few things in the post to go along with his comment. This is what Wes said:
[W]hat I really liked about the post is that you distinguish between gifts and offices. I agree with you. And while your post is about women, its also about other people, like me, who isn’t serving in an office, like elder or deacon, but who believes that I can still serve the church with the gifts God has granted me, without feeling like I need “permission” to serve.
Women and men are gifted by God through the Holy Spirit in various ways for various types of service and various opportunities to serve. God gives these spiritual gifts according to his will so that we can serve one another. When we serve one another, we bring glory to God.
When we use terms like “ministry” instead of “service,” we often make service into something that only certain people can do. If this perception hinders us from serving others, then we’ve missed something very important – important to ourselves and to others. In fact, not only are we missing something important to ourselves and others, but we are hindering the growth of the church, because the church grows with EACH believer is serving one another.
Thus, someone who is a child of God has been gifted by the Holy Spirit of God. That person has been ordained by God as a minister of God to serve other people. Failure to serve others would be similar to any other act of disobedience.
Certainly, there are contexts for service. I’ve briefly mentioned some of the passages of Scripture that could (and I think do) limit the contexts of women serving. However, there are other passages that limit the context of anyone serving. Women are not lesser servants because of certain passages any more than others are lesser servants because of other passages. The church NEEDS the service of all believers.
So, as a child of God, we are ministers together, and each of us is a minster separately. We have permission to serve. We have license to serve.
Those of us who are leaders in the church must make sure that we encourage everyone to serve, not just other leaders. Similarly, we should give opportunity for others to serve. This would include both speaking and non-speaking acts of service.
We also must realize that we are not perfect. None of us individually is perfect and we are not perfect as a group – whatever group we’re talking about. We must give each other grace and offer each other mercy as we attempt to serve one another. We will get it wrong on occasion.
Eventually, as we attempt to serve one another, someone is going to serve someone else in a manner that is considered to be incorrect. While we can help one another learn through these times (and, remember, we both need help, not just the one that we think is wrong), let’s also recognize the intent and purpose. If they purpose is trying to serve in love for the purpose of building up the body of Christ, then let’s glorify God for it!
If we only allow perfect service… then we’re in big trouble. Thank God that he is merciful and works through broken vessels. (And, before someone says it, yes, we should never be satisfied with our current level of imperfection, but should instead continue to disciple one another.)
So, to end this post where Wes began it: We have permission to serve.
Wednesday Night Worship Service: Yeah, Of Course There’s Food Involved
God has placed me among some awesome people – brothers and sisters in Christ. For example, whenever someone is hurting or in need or had a baby or had been in the hospital or had been sick, someone begins to organize meals. The elders don’t tell them to do it. There is no benevolence committee or ministry director to control it. Instead, whenever someone is in need, someone else sends out an email and begins organizing meals.
Tonight, Margaret (my wife) had volunteered to prepare a meal for some friends of ours who recently had a baby. The husband and wife are both vegetarians, so she made a vegetarian pizza, something she normally doesn’t do. I got home just in time to help put the finishing touches on the pizza and salad. Then we delivered the meal to our friends.
Others have taken meals to our friends, and still others will take meals later. Why? Because we love them, and we want to help them while they adjusting to have a new baby. I can’t think of a better way to serve (worship) on a Wednesday evening!
Steve Timmis interview about gospel word and gospel community
A friend on facebook sent me a link to this interview with Steve Timmis, one of the authors of Total Church, a book that I’ve recommended before. Here is part of the interview:
“We take seriously the Gospel word — we are confessional evangelicals. We have a number of values and a statement of faith that reflects that,†said Timmis, who also serves as Western Europe Director for the Acts 29 church planting network. “We believe the Gospel word is a word to be spoken: we try and argue that very clearly in church (life). So, you can’t talk about living a life without speaking the Word. If you do, then whatever you are doing, you are not evangelizing; you are selling the Gospel short. So, the Gospel word is very important to us and it is a word that focuses upon what God has done in Christ in redeeming a people for Himself who will enjoy Him for eternity.
“We also take seriously Gospel community in a way that, traditionally, confessional evangelicals haven’t. Gospel community is a group of people who are being rescued by King Jesus and who live as His subjects together to demonstrate to the world what a great King He is. So, Gospel community is a demonstrating community: it demonstrates the nature of the Kingdom of God, the nature of Jesus’s rule.â€
This parallel emphasis on the gospel proclaimed and the gospel lived out in community is one of the reasons that I appreciated Total Church and that I recommend it often.
By the way, later in the interview Timmis discusses their use of the term “church,” which he defines as “gospel community.” They use the term “church” to describe both a larger gathering and smaller gatherings, which others would call “small groups” or “Bible studies” or “Sunday School classes” but not “church.”
Charismatics
About 18 months ago, I wrote a post called “Charismatics.” This post was not about charismatic or pentecostal denominations. All children of God are charismatics, meaning all believers are indwelled by the Spirit and gifted by Him. Those gifts are given so that we can serve one another. And… perhaps most importantly… and gifts and all people serving is important to the growth of the church!
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This post is not about charismatic or pentecostal denominations. Instead, its about all of those who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit – that is, all Christians. You see, when the Spirit indwells and fills, He also gives gifts – the charismata.
In my recent reading of modern ecclesiologies, I ran into a couple of interesting quotes about believers serving through their spiritual gifts, meaning “charismatics”. First, in The Church in the Power of the Spirit: A Contribution to Messianic Ecclesiology (trans. by Margaret Kohl, New York: Harper & Row, 1977), Jürgen Moltmann writes:
The New Testament knows no technical term for what we call ‘the church’s ministry’. Paul talks about charismata, meaning the energies of the new life (I Cor. 12.6, 11), which is to say the powers of the Spirit. These are designations of what is, not of what ought to be. They are the gifts of grace springing from the creative grace of God. When he talks about the use of these new living energies, on the other hand, he evidently avoids all the words expressing conditions of rule. He does not talk about ‘holy rule’ (hierarchy) but chooses the expression diakonia [service].
There are a couple of interesting and important points in Moltmann’s statements. In Paul’s descriptions of the working of spiritual gifts, the apostle does not talk about hierarchy, or a rule associated with those gifts. Perhaps a case can be made that some gifts are more important than others (although an equal case can be made that we usually place importance on the wrong gifts), importance of gifts does not equate with importance of the individual, nor does it equate with a certain leadership. Instead, the Spirit works his gifts according to his own will – that is, through whom he desires and for the purpose he desires.
Also, instead of focusing on rule or control, Paul focuses on service. Thus, exercising spiritual gifts is not a function of leadership but of service – to service to other brothers and sisters in Christ and service to the world. These gifts exist (in reality, not in potential) for the benefit of other people, not primarily for the benefit of the ones exercising the gifts – although there may be some personal benefit as well.
This leads me to the second quote by Hans Küng in his book The Church (trans. by Ray and Rosaleen Ockenden, New York: Sheed and Ward, 1967). (I discusses another part of this book earlier in my post “Küng on the Church in Corinth“.) Again concerning the charismata, Küng says:
By linking his teaching about charismata with that about the body of Christ Paul at all events made clear that the Church is never – as some people in Corinth seem to have supposed – a gathering of charismatics enjoying their own private relationship with Christ independently of the community. According to Paul, all charismatics are part of the body of Christ, of the community. The fact that all charismatics are members of one body does not of course mean uniformity, but on the contrary a variety of gifts and callings. But fundamentally all individual members, having been baptized, are equal. But, by contrast with this fundamental equality all differences are ultimately without importance.
Here, Küng makes another couple of important distinctions about spiritual gifts which follow nicely from Moltmann’s observations. The body of Christ is not made of individuals who gather and exercise their gifts for the sake of the individuals and “their own private relationship with Christ”. Instead, because of the work of the Spirit, the individuals become part of the body of Christ together. Thus, the gifts are to be exercised for the good of the community, not primarily for the good of the individual.
But, this does not mean that there is uniformity within the community. On the contrary, as Paul points out, the Spirit works in many different way within the community. The variety works to strengthen the body in a way that uniformity could not. The teachers need the prophets who need the helpers who need the exhorters, etc. The difficulty comes when the individual must deny himself and the importance of his own gift and service in order to receive help from someone who is gifted in a different way.
When we gather together with other believers, we should be gathering with people who are different from us. We should expect and encourage people who are different from us to exercise their spiritual gifts. We should recognize that our gifts and giftedness (even teaching!) is neither less important nor more important than the gifts and giftedness of the other people around us. Why? Because the community benefits through the variety of gifts that the Spirit offers.
But, when some people or some gifts are considered more important, or when some people or gifts are not allowed to operate during the meeting of the church, or when we make the church about hierarchies instead of service, then the spiritual health of the community is weakened.
He washed their stinkin’ feet
On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus had a nice meal with his closest friends and followers. He tried to explain to them the significance about what was going to happen. He used the bread at the start of the meal to represent his body that was about to be broken on their behalf and on behalf of all who would follow him. He pointed to the cup at the end of the meal and used it to represent his blood that would soon spill as the sign of the new covenant.
The people sitting around him didn’t get it. I’m not sure we get it today. Their relationship with Jesus was not dependent upon whether or not they “got it”. Today, our relationship with God through Jesus is not dependent upon whether or not we understand everything perfectly either.
Then, after dinner, after explaining once again that he was the one who would take away the sins of the world, after the apostles had already recognized him as the Son of God, after he had calmed storms and healed leprosy and cast our demons and raised the dead, after he all this… he washed their stinkin’ feet.
He dressed himself as a servant, knelt in the position of a servant, and wiped feed (at most) sandaled feet that had trod through dust, dirt, mud, trash… skubala. (How’s that usage, Bro. Dave? 🙂 ) That’s right… he scraped the “unspeakable filth” off their feet and between their toes. He lathered them up and scrubbed them with the cloth that was wrapped around him. He rinsed them off and dried them.
He did this one by one. He washed the feet of the sons of thunder who wanted to sit in places of prominence. He washed the feet of Thomas who would soon doubt his resurrection (as did the others, by the way). He washed the feet of Nathanael who had once said that nothing good could come out of Nazareth. He washed the feet of Philip who had been with him for so long but still didn’t know him. He washed the feet of Peter who would soon deny him twice. In fact, every pair of feet that he scrubbed and scraped would soon run away from him.
He washed Judas’ feet. He washed Judas’ stinkin’ feet!
Then, he did something completely, utterly, amazingly ridiculous. He said:
Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. (John 13:12-17 ESV)
Did you catch what he said? He said, “I am your Lord (and he is) and I served you (and he did). How much more then should you serve one another.” WHAT?
Serve one another by doing things like that? He washed their stinkin’ feet!
Have you looked around lately? There are some filthy feet out there… some dirty lives… some filthy hands… some foul breath… some crooked teeth… some broken hearts… some wounded spirits… some dark souls. He wants me to wash those?
Who does he think he is?