The Common Ministry
Once we’ve come to repentance God brings us into responsibility
for others, in the form of influence
or direct care and interaction.
This involvement becomes the context for our growth and
development. Being responsible for others in Biblical advocacy is the
best Bible school we could ever possibly attend.
It happens in our
marriages, families, the local church and in the culture that
surrounds us. Here, the
duplication of God’s character is nurtured and cultivated. As he
leads us into personal contact with those who need his love, we all
benefit.
But one thing we have to keep in mind, we are not called to the
ministry like one would enter a specialized career.
We are called into relationship with him, then our life envelops the lives of others. It’s
easy to miss the point here.
God is not preparing us for some usefulness in the future, that's
residual of our old nature, our preparation is for something else.
Our Lord Jesus is
preparing a place for us, and the Holy Spirit is preparing us for him.
It is all about preparation, but it's not a preparation for
dramatic impact in the ministry.
God is preparing us for himself.
It’s the preparation of a bride for a bridegroom, in focus and character.
And since we are free from self-obsession
through repentance, we have the ability to
focus on him and others in the common ministry.
In this ministry we experience a rhythm of three continuous motions. First is the idea of self-denial. Though we’ve made a decision to take a new course in our life, there remains something old that hasn’t changed. Our old nature is not eliminated at repentance, we still have to deal with its influence. Neglecting the requests of our old nature is necessary. But before we can do that, it's voice must be identified. Our old nature is a master of deception, so we must become a master of detection understanding it's subtle ways. God is the best mentor in this. But, if our old nature can distract from this confrontation, it knows we will follow by habit. One it's strongest tools is logistical pressures. If it can confuse and busy a person long enough, they’ll get tired and return to the default mechanism; looking out for number one. Redundantly doing what God said he’d do. Not a real trusting habit, is it? Our old nature must deliberately be confronted with unresponsiveness.
Since by self-denial we are omitting something in our life, we must replace it with something else. Here, Jesus tells us we must ‘take up our cross’, the second in the rhythm. We lay down one thing and take up the other. We can only do one thing at a time. Our old nature encourages us to do both, that is, follow the pattern of the world and pursue God. But it can’t be done, the one neutralizes the other. But when we do take up our cross, what is it? Well, when Jesus took up his cross, he did something we couldn’t do. He paid the price to get us back in good standing with the Father, that’s done. We can’t do that. But we can sacrifice ourselves, our time and resources, so that others might connect with what Jesus has done. To engage others takes the investment of our lives. It can be a lonely thing done in a hostile environment. But at least for us we are never left truly alone.
The third is to follow him. This
'following' is the duplication of his character and methods in
the ministry of reconciliation. Two
general concepts are in involved.
First are 'acts of kindness'. These acts of kindness were
the context where he interacted with
people bringing help in their temporal problems.
And secondly, in the context of these acts of kindness he was preaching and teaching
the good news. Preaching
seems to carry with it the idea of giving information where there was
none before. His teaching,
on the other hand,
seemed to press for decisions putting people in a place where they had
to choose. He processed the
truth with them in an interactive way, so there was no option but to
face themselves. Acts of
kindness and the processing of the gospel is the ministry.
And it takes our time and resources to accomplish it.
As we’re changed, we begin to understand what he wants on a daily
basis. We begin to see
those he wants us to work with and how to work with them. In this process we begin to see the depth of what he’s
given us, the power to change inside and his ability to work through us.
Our self-sacrifice begins to be addictive and the suffering of
our old nature, freedom. This
change is not about asceticism, it’s about being unaware of self.
It’s about knowing you’re being taken care of completely, that he
will run interference for us in every situation. It’s now, about having a lifetime for
him and others. It’s a taste
of
joy itself.
Jesus didn’t come to earth to find monastic intimacy with the
Father. He wasn’t searching
for self-realization or trying to help society get back on-track
politically. He didn’t come
here to have a moving worship experience.
He personally came to reconcile people to the Father and as we
become like him we move away from these other things, following his
lead. Once we’ve come to
repentance, once we are in the rhythm of self-denial, taking up our
cross and following him, we enter into a common ministry.
There is no place for regular Christians and those who are
called to career ministry.
No, everyone who has come to repentance is to give themselves fully to the work of the Lord
in our common minsitry.