The need to live the truth, love, and service
Last week, on my post “Have you signed my ‘Guest Book’,” Arlan left a comment that I would like to highlight so that more people read it and think about it.
In the comment, Arlan is actually introducing himself to me and my readers. But, I think his comment goes along well with several of posts investigating fellowship and unity among brothers and sisters in Christ in spite of various kinds of disagreements. My latest post to discuss these issues was called “Unity and Fellowship: Where do you draw the line?”
Here is Arlan’s comment:
I was raised outside of the regular (institutional) church and have spent most of my life outside of any church. I have had some Christian fellowship, particularly with my own family, but I hesitate to call all Christian contact “church” in the sense of those called out by God assembling for the purpose of mutual edification.
Your recent post on unity and fellowship really strikes a nerve. In most of my childhood my family could not find enough unity to maintain fellowship. As I have tried things out on my own I have more often found too much fellowship without unity–a circle of friends, but not of servants, and without much honesty about the real differences between members.
Church, in all its institutional and organic flavors, seems to be a contest between doctrines and good feelings. On the one side they insist on truth at all costs and forget that God loved us while we were his enemies; on the other side they insist on love at all costs and forget that love without truth is false love–treachery, really. If we neglect to admonish each other we are abandoning one another to our sins.
A year ago I went to a Baptist Sunday school that was more concerned with Being Right and also to a home fellowship that was more concerned with Joy, Peace, and Encouragement. In June I moved and I haven’t gotten with any fellowship since. It is hard to even know how to look.
I’ve been to the Searching Together conference in 2008, 2009, and 2011, which is nice to do once a year; but I feel the need to live the truth, love, and service where I am without yet knowing how.
I appreciate Arlan’s last line especially: “I feel the need to live the truth, love, and service…”
Replay: 23 Years with a Missional Wife
Three years ago, I wrote a post called “20 Years with a Missional Wife.” It was part of a series that I did called “Stories.”
Well, as of today, January 14, 2012, Margaret has now been my wife for 23 years. It’s so hard to believe that we have been married for 23 years.
God has taught me so many things through her. Primarily, he has used Margaret to help me understand how to focus on people, how to find out what they need, and then how to serve those needs. I “replay” this post so that you will understand a little bit about what a special wife I have.
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“20 Years with a Missional Wife”
This post is part of my “stories” series. In this series, I share stories of how people live their lives in response to the gospel and as a demonstration of God’s love in order to teach us and to provide an example to provoke us to love and good works. (See “stories: A New Series” for more information about this series.)
Since today is my twentieth wedding anniversary, I thought I would start my “stories” series by talking about my wife. (Yes, I know that its hard to believe that someone would stay married to me for 20 years, but I promise that its true.)
I met Margaret when we were both 10 years old, so we’ve known each other for more than 30 years. In that time, I’ve never heard her use the term “missional”, not even recently when that word seems to be everywhere. But, I have learned more about missional living from her than from anyone else.
She has always been a caring person; the type of person that is deeply affected by other people’s circumstances and emotions. She truly rejoices when others rejoice and weeps when other weep. People notice this about her too, and people love to talk to her – to share their struggles with her.
Another reason that people like to talk to Margaret is that she is very accepting and not judgmental at all. In fact, she finds it easier to accept other people’s faults than to accept her own faults.
These two traits (empathy and acceptance) work together in Margaret to drive her to action. When someone tells her their problems, she wants to serve, comfort, and help. She cannot sit idly by while other people struggle alone. She wants to be part of their struggle. But, she goes beyond “wanting” to help; she actually helps people, giving of herself over and over again.
I’ve seen her comfort someone for hours. She’s made more meals for people than I can count. She’s taken care of people’s children and houses and pets when they could not do it for themselves. She’s given money to people in need – money that she had saved to buy something for herself.
Last fall, Margaret was talking with one of the elderly ladies who lives in government assisted housing development. The lady told Margaret that the housing authority does not rake their leaves. Within a week, Margaret had asked her friends to help her rake leaves. We raked leaves for 6 housing units.
Another time, Margaret was talking with one of the elderly ladies who had been sick. The lady said that she was resting so that she could wash her dishes, because she had not felt like washing them for a few days. Without asking or being asked, Margaret immediately went into the lady’s kitchen and washed her dishes.
These are not out of the ordinary occurrences. She does these kinds of things all the time.
Little things? Yes, these are little things. But, I believe that “missional living” is found more in the little things – the everyday things – the ordinary things – than in the great things. God has taught me how to care for people, how to love them, and how to serve them by watching and imitating Margaret.
I thank God for 20 years with my missional wife. I look forward to many more years.
(Update: I wrote this article several weeks ago. After I wrote it, Margaret’s father had heart problems and underwent bypass surgery. He’s doing well, but he will have a long recovery ahead of him. Margaret once again demonstrated that she’s a servant by staying with her parents for 2-3 weeks to help them through his recovery process. I miss her greatly, but I’m so proud of her decision to serve them.)
We keep singing… as the hungry roam the streets
Joel at “The Double Edged Sword” wrote a post called “Leave the Walls Behind.” Like I told him in a comment, I still have decided if I’m glad that he wrote this post at all.
Most of the post (all except for two short sentences at the top) is the lyrics to a song by Leeland called “While We Sing.” (I don’t keep up with the music industry that much, so I don’t know if Leeland or the song “While We Sin” is or was popular.
Regardless of the popularity, I thought the lyrics were worth contemplating.
Here’s a video of the song (with lyrics):
By the way, before you point out that God desires for us to praise him – even with our singing – I want to remind you of this passage from Isaiah:
Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations – I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. (Isaiah 1:10-17 ESV)
It’s clear that God desired for the children of Israel to bring sacrifices to him, but he didn’t want them in this passage. It’s clear that God wanted his children to pray to him – but not in this passage. God had told people how to honor the Sabbath and to hold special feasts, but in this passage he said he had grown weary of them.
What was missing? Why had God grown tired of these displays of affection and worship that he hod told people to bring to him? Perhaps the reason similar to the lyrics of the Leeland song “While We Sing” above…
What if God is tired of hearing all of our songs of praise for the same reason?
Replay: Examples and Models of Ministers
Four years ago, I wrote a post called “Examples and Models.” I’ve added the phrase “of Ministers” to the title here, because that was the original point of the article. What does the term “Minister” mean to you? If you see a special type of Christian, then this article may be for you. You see, that’s what I thought a few years ago when I knew that God was leading me toward something… more? But what? “Well,” everyone told me, “you have two choices: pastor or missionary.” In fact, there are as many ways to serve (minister) as there are followers of Jesus Christ. I think the church needs more and more examples and models of these different kinds of “ministers.”
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I love the latest post by a new blogger, Trey from “One Man’s Journey“. The title of the post is “Walk Away for the Love of Christ?” I love his honest reflection and life-changing questions. I also see in his questions many of the questions that I started asking myself a few years ago. Here is an excerpt from Trey’s excellent post:
As my family and I sunk into a financial pit of despair, I began to read much in the realm of finance, investing, financial planning, and biblical financial stewardship. I grew to love this and can see many ways in which the average Christian and also the average church misuses the resources provided by God. I began to see myself as doing this sort of consultation work to families, small businesses, churches, and parachurch ministries once I gained the proper training. But what about seminary? What about my calling? What will my family think?
As previously, most issues discussed here have not been settled in my mind completely. I have been reminded in my prayer times that God certainly does not need me. He has managed eternity just fine before me and will do so long after I become one of saints on high. Also, why do I need the spotlight of an official pastor-elder of a local congregation? Can I not teach and serve in other ways just an important to the kingdom?
Several years ago, I also had this “calling”. Looking back, I think that God was calling me to a more committed life of serving himself and others – he was calling me to full-time ministry, although I don’t think he was calling me to “full-time ministry”. At the time, though, I only saw two options: 1) become a vocational pastor, or 2) become a missionary.
Why did I only see these two options? Well, those were the only two options that I saw modelled. These were the only examples that I saw of what it meant to serve God full-time. So, I picked one – vocational pastor – and did what I was supposed to do: I went to seminary. But, as my family will tell you, I struggled with the idea of being a full-time vocational pastor from day one. I did not think that this accurately reflected what God wanted from me, but I did not have any other categories, models, or examples to compare to.
I knew what God wanted from me: he wanted me to serve him and serve others in everything that I said and everything that I did. But, this couldn’t happen if I worked a regular job, right? I mean, regular people are distracted by work and commuting and co-workers and business trips and office parties. But, God didn’t want me to be distracted by these “secular” things, so I needed to give all of that up, go to seminary, get hired by a church in order that I could concentrate on “spiritual” things.
As Trey expressed in his blog post, I thought that the real work of God was done by those people who prominently stood before me each Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evening, etc. These were the people who knew God and what God wanted from me and others and how to teach the Bible and how to put on Bible studies and where to find the lost people and when to schedule the Children’s program.
A strange thing happened on the way though. As I was happily preparing myself for just this type of “spiritual” vocation, I took my professors seriously, and I read Scripture to find the answers to my questions. It began with recognizing that Scripture does not call the Sunday morning routine “worship”. I asked myself, “If that’s not worship, then what is worship?” Again, I turned to Scripture for answers. From those answers, I was forced to ask other questions and search for more answers.
In fact, the more I studied and read and asked questions, the more I realized that the type of “spotlight servants” which Trey mentions – and to which I was aspiring – was not described in Scripture at all. In fact, I would suggest that “spotlight servants” are antithetical to the teachings of Jesus, Paul, Peter – in fact, all the books of the New Testament. Instead, Jesus calls all believers to be servants – not “spotlight servants”, but servants.
And, slowly, I began to understand that “vocational pastors” may be necessary to carry out what we typically see associated with church today. However, when we examine church in Scripture, we see that “vocational pastors” seem out of place. Instead, we see people shepherding as they work, and discipling wherever they are, and teaching in any context, and caring and comforting wherever they find people who are hurting. We find leaders who lead by example, not from the spotlight. We find elders who are mature and wise and known, not hired for their education and speaking abilities. We find prophets and teachers and apostles who are willing to dialog instead of monologue. We find disciples who are constantly and consistently attempting to live for Christ with the help of other brothers and sisters. We find that there is no secular and sacred divide. Through the indwelling Spirit, all things become sacred – every place becomes a sanctuary – every believer becomes a priest and a temple.
In other words, God can use me as his full-time servant when I am selling cars, or writing code, or running a business, or seeing patients. I can pastor while I am teaching in a school or college, or taking care of the home, or packing boxes, or delivering mail, or selling clothes. I can meet with other believers as the church in a church building, or in a restaurant, or in a park, or in a home, or in a car, or in an office. God was calling me – and he is calling others – into full-time service, wherever we are and whatever we’re doing.
It is my desire to live the rest of my life as an example of following God and serving him full-time in whatever vocation he provides for me. I hope that the believers who come along after me will see my example as another option when God calls them also.
An inspirational light display
God cares about light displays. But, I’ll get back to that in another 200 words.
Last weekend, our friend Jared helped us string white icicle lights along our roof line. Many of our neighbors have decorated their houses, porches, trees, and yard ornaments with lights: white or multi-colored; twinkling, blinking, or steady.
Of course, there’s nothing in our neighborhood to compare to Mr. Grizwald’s light display. There are a few families in our town or the towns around us who seem to be attempting to give Clark a run for his money. And, then, there was the TV show about the houses around the country that have been decorated with hundreds of thounsands – even one million – lights.
So, are you thinking about a light display this Christmas? You should. Seriously.
Why? Because God enjoys a good light display. Jesus talked about this in the Sermon on the Mount:
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others… (Matthew 5:14-16 ESV)
Apparently, according to Jesus, God enjoys light displays that light up an entire hillside… and entire city. He wants a light display that cannot be hidden. Of course, this passage is not only about Christmas light displays, but certainly Christmas lights fall into this category.
I’m thinking that the early church’s emphasis on light displays (especially at Christmas-time) was one of the reasons (perhaps the main reason) that Paul told followers of Jesus let their lights shine in the world. Their light displays were so spectacular that their pagan neighbors could not help but notice.
So, we can see that light displays – including Christmas light displays – were important to Jesus, and they were important to Paul and the early church. If light displays were that important, then certainly they should be important to us as well. We’re not told whether we should choose white or multi-colored lights, or whether the lights should blink, twinkle, or remain on steadily. Perhaps that doesn’t matter as long as there is an awesome and inspirational light display.
Hold on one second… Are you sure? You really don’t think Matthew 5 is about Christmas lights? You think I should read further? Let me see…
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16 ESV)
Ah. I see. But, what about Paul telling Christians to shine their lights? That’s about light displays, including Christmas lights, right? No? We’ll see about that…
Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Philippians 2:14-16 ESV)
hmm…. hmph.
Well, readers, I apologize. Apparently, someone – who shall remain nameless, but his initials are HS – wants to ruin a perfectly good inspirational Christmas message by demanding that I consider what Jesus and Paul were actually saying. Someone thinks these passages are about living our lives in a way that demonstrates our trust in God and that they have nothing to do with Christmas lights.
But, I’ll leave that up to you – my loyal readers – to decide for yourselves. If you think Jesus and Paul are talking about Christmas light displays, then I hope your house is the brightest on the block.
But, if you think they’re talking about living your life in a way that others notice and in a way that points others toward God through Jesus Christ, well, I guess that’s fine, too.
Just don’t expect to win the best decorations or tackiest lights awards this year!
Because we feel like we’re not doing anything important
I’ve had several conversations over the last few weeks – really stretching back a few months – and, if I really tried, I could probably think of conversations over the last few years – about the difference between doing things officially as “church” and simply doing things with other brothers and sisters in Christ. From what I can tell, it boils down to this: When we do things sponsored by “the church,” it makes us feel like we’re doing something more important, more holy, more eternal, more official.
Now, don’t get me wrong… when I stop and talk to people about this, they admit that comforting a sister who is mourning over a cup of coffee is extremely important discipleship type stuff. But, it’s not quite as… something… as doing an activity or attending a meeting that is sponsored by “the church.” “Yes,” I’ve heard people say, “the friends were sisters in Christ,” and, “yes,” they would continue, “they were gathered in Jesus’ name,” and, “of course,” they insist, “they were encouraging and comforting her and helping her to respond to her problems in a godly manner,” and, “it’s true,” they might even conclude, “that time together with one another was more similar to the examples we read about in the New Testament”… but, still, that was just friends having coffee together. It wasn’t really a “church” thing.
So, what is it about having something sanctioned by the church that makes it seem more important, more holy, more official? Is it simply something that people have been brought up to think? A group of co-workers meeting for prayer during lunch is great, but it’s not quite the same thing as a prayer meeting at church. A few friends gathering to study the Bible is awesome, but wouldn’t it be even better if it was a church sponsored “Bible Fellowship Club Meeting”? You’re taking some food to a family in need? That’s amazing! But, why not take part in the church’s benevolence program? The committee meets every fourth Tuesday.
I know these questions sound sarcastic, and there is obviously tongue-in-cheek to my examples above. But, the point is serious.
I’ve talked with so many people who are loving their neighbors and serving their communities and proclaiming the gospel and discipling friends and praying for others, but they feel like their activities are somehow LESS because they are not church-sponsored activities. I’m assuming that their church leaders would be ecstatic that these people are actually living out what we read about in Scripture, and perhaps they are. But, for some reason, the people I’ve talked to are made to feel as if they are not actually loving, serving, evangelizing, or discipling people because the things they are doing are not part of the official programs of the church.
“Yes,” they have been told, “Please continue to do those things. But, you should also take part in these events that we sponsor.”
Again, I’m hoping that this is unintentional. And, thus, the point of this post. Are you a church leader, either recognized or not, either official or not, either paid or not, either professional or no? Consider what you’ve said to people. Are you encouraging them to serving God by loving him and loving others in any opportunity that God brings into their lives? Or, are you somehow – even unintentionally – communicating that it only “counts” if what they are doing is part of the officially sanctioned and recognized programs and activities of your church organization?
Trust me, these people are serving God. You’re not helping if that’s what you’re doing… even if it’s unintentional.
Replay: Submission is given, not taken
Three years ago, I wrote a post on the topic of leadership called “Submission is given, not taken.” The point of the post is simple: some things can only be given by others; those things cannot be taken from them. For example, think about love. Love can be given, but it can’t be forcibly taken by someone else. Submission is the same way. Some think that since instructions to submit to others is the same as an instruction to exercise authority. But, this is not true. Why? Because submission can only be offered freely. If it is required by someone else, then it is not submission.
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Submission is given, not taken
This post is part of a monthly synchroblog. The topic for November is “leadership”. At the bottom of this post you’ll find links to other posts about leadership.
Today is election day in the USA, and many Americans are thinking about leadership. In the church, Christians often think about leadership as well. In fact, as Hans Kung has stated, leadership defines the church to such an extent that, for many, ecclesiology is simply an exercise in hierarchiology.
Whenever we discuss church leadership, the question of submission arises. Who is supposed to submit to whom? How do those “above” get those “under” to submit to their decisions? I suggest that these questions demonstrate a flawed understanding of the leadership that Scriptures teaches the church.
Starting with Jesus, he said:
You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:25-28 ESV)
Thus, according to Jesus, leadership among Christians is to be radically different – not front and center – but among and under. Leaders who follow Jesus’ example are not in front of a group directing them, but among and under a group serving them. Jesus was not talking about “servant-leadership”, but “servants”.
However, the more important point for this post revolves around the idea of “submission”. According to Hebrews 13:17, we are to “Trust our leaders, and submit to them.” This passage, and others like it, are often used by leaders to force, encourage, persuade, even cajole people into acquiescing to the decisions made by the leaders. This practice demonstrates a misunderstanding of submissions.
Leaders cannot force people to submit to them. This is not submission, but subservience. Instead, submission can only be given.
We often take instructions given to others and apply them for ourselves. For example, husbands often feel it is there responsibility to force their wives (or at least remind them strongly) to submit. Yet, the instruction is for wives to submit, not for husbands to force their submission (which is not submission but subservience or enslavement). Instead, husbands are instructed to love their wives. What does a husband do if his wife does not submit? He loves her.
The same can be said of leaders. We are told to follow or submit to those who are leading us. In reality, our submission demonstrates who our leaders are. Leaders are never told to force or even try to persuade others to submit to them. What are leaders to do if others do not submit? Keep living as an example of a disciple of Jesus Christ. We cannot choose whether or not people submit; we can only choose to obey for ourselves.
To look at it another way, is someone a leader if no one is submitting? If someone chooses not to submit (or follow) then I am not their leader – it doesn’t matter what “position” I hold, or what they say about me being a leader.
When Jesus began to teach about leaders among Christians, he pointed his followers to the “Gentiles” and said, “It shall not be so among you.” Today, most leaders in the church model themselves after the prevailing Gentile cultures and norms. But, this is NOT the type of leadership that Jesus taught.
Its time for believers to start following servants, not those who place themselves in the front of the group because of position or education or knowledge. And, its time for leaders to stop trying to force people to submit (which is not submission), and instead simply live their lives as examples of Jesus Christ. We persuade people to follow Christ, not our decisions and our leadership and our vision.
Submission is something that can only be given; submission cannot be taken.
The Sharp Disagreement Between Paul and Barnabas
In Acts 13, God sends Paul and Barnabas out of Antioch into the wilds of the Roman empire in order to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ and to gather together and strengthen those who begin following Jesus. They took Barnabas’ cousin John Mark with them. They travel through Cyprus to the southern part of modern day Turkey and the cities of Attalia, Antioch (of Pisidia), Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. Somewhere between Cyprus and Antioch (of Pisidia), John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. When they had been in Derbe for some time, Paul and Barnabas traveled back through those same cities before sailing back to Antioch.
They remained in Antioch for “no little time.” During that time, some believers from Judea began teaching that Gentiles must keep the law and be circumcised in order to be saved. So, Paul, Barnabas, and other traveled down to Jerusalem to find out what the believers (including the apostles and elders) in Judea were teaching concerning this matter. Once that was straightened out, Paul and Barnabas along with Judas and Silas (and probably others) traveled back to Antioch, and they all worked with the church to build up the believers there.
Eventually, Paul suggested to Barnabas that they return to the places they had visited in Cyprus and Asia. (Acts 15:36) Barnabas thought it was a great idea, and wanted to take his cousin John Mark along again. (Acts 15:37) Paul disagreed.
This is how Luke describes what happens because of their disagreement:
And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. (Acts 15:36-41 ESV)
Now, I’ve heard this “sharp disagreement” described in many ways today – usually in terms of modern denominational disagreements. But, there are some clues in Paul’s letters that the disagreement was not as disastrous as we might think.
Most commentators point out that Paul mentions John Mark in later writings (that is, after this disagreement) such as Colossians 4:10, Philemon 24, and 2 Timothy 4:11. They conclude that Paul and John Mark had “made up” between the time of the disagreement and the times when Paul mentioned him in this letters.
But, what about Barnabas? Some point to Galatians 2:13 as an indication that Paul harbored some kind of resentment toward Barnabas. However, I noticed something interesting recently that may show that Paul and Barnabas remained in close communication, even though they were serving Jesus in different areas.
Consider this passage in Paul’s first letter to the believers in Corinth:
Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? (1 Corinthians 9:4-6 ESV)
In this passage, Paul associates very closely with Barnabas. He presents himself and Barnabas as examples for the Corinthians. Yet, Barnabas was not with Paul when Paul came to Corinth. Paul’s disagreement with Barnabas – and their separation – happened about 2 years before Paul traveled to Corinth, and the disagreement occurred 4-5 years before Paul wrote the letter that we call 1 Corinthians.
Yet, Paul knew Barnabas’ practices (i.e., that he worked to support himself), and he knew that the Corinthians would be familiar with Barnabas and his practices, familiar enough that Paul could use Barnabas as an example without further explanation.
While Paul and Barnabas certainly disagreed about whether or not to take John Mark with them, and they certainly began serving separately. But, I’m beginning to wonder if this “sharp disagreement” caused the same kind of break in fellowship that we often see today because of disagreement. To me, it seems more likely that Paul and Barnabas maintained fellowship and even maintained communication with one another in spite of their disagreement and in spite of deciding to continue their work separately.
What are you thoughts on this topic?
The attractive gospel of Christ’s love in action
Dave Black is back home in the farmlands of southern Virginia after spending a few days at the seminary here in North Carolina. And, since he’s back home, he’s blogging. And, since he’s blogging, he’s challenging me (and others) to follow Jesus Christ “in word and deed” (to quote Paul, James, and John).
This time, Dave is talking about his New Testament class’s discussion of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Specifically, he wrote about the “descent-ascent” (down is up) motif found in Philippians 2:5-11 (and Philippians 2:1-4?).
This is what he said (on Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 5:50 p.m.):
I obviously don’t have all the answers, but I am blown away by the patterns we find in this passage. When Jesus poured Himself out He founded a radical new community. He didn’t set up a new program but modeled a new way of living that showed us what the kingdom looks like. If you look at the early church you cannot help but be struck by the impact made by the Holy Spirit as He transformed the apostles and their followers into other-centered servants. Little wonder their churches had such an impact. Their mutual interaction showed Christian love in action, and there is nothing more attractive for the Gospel than that. Each year I have the privilege of traveling to countries where the church is truly salt in the midst of a disintegrating society, not (as in the U.S.) a pious subculture of conformity. Everything — every single thing! — we do should reflect Christ’s self-abnegating spirit.
In a nutshell, reading Philippians is downright dangerous. It can easily get you into trouble. You will no longer be able to depersonalize the poor or needy of this world or shift your responsibility for global evangelization onto someone else’s shoulders. Your lives will begin to shout the Gospel. And, as Phil. 2:5-11 shows, it’s definitely a story worth telling.
I keep being struck by the image of those early Christians, changed by the Holy Spirit and demonstrating the love of Christ in action to their family, friends, neighbors, strangers, foreigners, even their enemies. This “love in action” is what first attracted people to the gospel. This “love in action” was a demonstration that what these people were saying was true.
Our lives should be a demonstration that the gospel (we say) we believe in is, in fact, true.
Christians giving to other Christians in response to some service
This is the fifth post in my series on Christians and giving from the perspective of Scripture. (See the introduction post here.) I’ve already stated that giving directly to those in need is the most prevalent method of giving by Christians in the New Testament (either by example or instruction). There are also a few examples of Christians giving indirectly to people who are in need. Similarly, there are a few examples in Scripture of Christians giving to those who are traveling from place to place to proclaim the gospel or strengthen churches.
Finally, there are a couple of examples of Christians being encouraged to give in response to the service of some other Christians who are not traveling but are in the same city as themselves. The first example from Galatians is more broad in its context, so I’ll start with it:
One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches. (Galatians 6:6 ESV)
The other passage teaches something similar in response to the service of elders:
Let the elders who rule [lead] well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. (1 Timothy 5:17 ESV)
Similarly, Peter indicates that elders should not serve others only because they receive support, which indicates that some type of gift was often given to elders:
[S]hepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain [or, “not for monetary gain”], but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. (1 Peter 5:2-3 ESV)
In each of these instances, someone is sharing or giving something to another believer in response to some service. I think the order is important here: the service is performed (probably continually performed), then the gift is given. I think it’s also evident that the gift is not expected or promised, but is given freely and in gratitude. It’s also important that this type of giving is not limited to elders, but should be offered to any who consistently and continually serve someone or some group.
What would you add to this discussion of Christians giving to other Christians in response to some service?
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Giving and the Church in Scripture Series:
1) Introduction
2) Christians giving directly to others because of need
3) Christians giving indirectly to others because of need
4) Christians giving to other Christians who are traveling from place to place
5) Christians giving to other Christians in response to some service