I have a friend who likes to go street preaching for fun. The amazing thing is that he’s good at it. When he’s in a good mood, or he’s having a bad day and wants to make the devil angry, or he just doesn’t have anything to do on some afternoon, he goes and talks to strangers about Jesus. He calls it soul-winning.
Just about every time my friend goes out soul-winning, he ends up leading a weeping stranger in the sinner’s prayer. It’s amazing. I went with him a few times. Not one time did I fail to see some unlikely person I had never met crumble at the story of Jesus, and sincerely ask what they must do to be saved.
They’d pray, they’d cry, they’d laugh, they’d dance.
And then we never saw them again.
My friend wasn’t in a church. He used to be in a church, but he was kicked out. He’d grown the church youth group from ten reluctant churched teenagers into over 100 brand new messy, enthusiastic, uncultured, excited new Jesus Followers. There were more brand new Jesus People coming to church on Sunday morning than regular church folk. People complained. My friend had to leave. Before long, the unwelcome newbies left as well. Now my friend was offended at church. He was content to continue making converts, but he sure wasn’t interested in introducing them to any other Christians.
This story is a tragic one. The solution is God’s humble community. The gospel is a story of community. We are reached by a community, invited into community, grow in community, and minister from community. God takes the lonely and puts them into families. God gives gifts, like my friend’s gift of evangelism, to be developed and used in the church, by the church, for the benefit of the whole church.
Matthew 28:16-20 - 16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
We often think of this commission in terms of the lone missionary out preaching on a street corner or in a hut in the jungles of Africa. We think of people like my friend, and those he led in a prayer to convert to a new religion. But Jesus’ words say that we are to go and make disciples, not converts.
If we want an example of what Jesus means by making disciples, we should look at the people to whom he’s speaking. These are Jesus’ disciples. They were not made in a moment, with a single prayer, or a moment’s decision. These disciples spent time with Jesus and each other for three years. They ate together. They knew one another’s families. They watched Jesus minister. They ministered together. They learned to pray together. They abandoned Jesus together. They were forgiven together.
It takes a community, God’s local church, to make a disciple.
It takes a community to teach everything that Jesus said.
God established his community on earth for a purpose. He has a mission to bless the entire world through his covenant community through their prayers, their mercy, their justice, and their bold proclamation of the gospel. When Jesus began his ministry, he called for people to “Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is here” (Matthew 4:17). We get to participate in the kingdom here and now.
This is good news! The gospel allows us to live in the full satisfaction of the community of God while here on Earth. While the rest of the world is busy trying to find satisfaction in temporary things, we are already satisfied in the joy of our salvation.
But in that satisfaction, we do not rest. We are on mission. We have been commissioned. And it is a joy to participate in God’s work in the world.
Like children, those outside of the kingdom endlessly organize the stuff of earth into sandcastles and dirty themselves digging through dirt and manure and dead rot for a treasure they will never find. But those of us who are in the kingdom have been given seeds from heaven. We spend our lives tilling the manure and rot, pulling weeds, planting seeds, and harvesting new life for the kingdom to come.
We live for something greater than the temporary life we now live. All of this will give birth to a new life, a new kingdom. Most of us will never see the completion of our work in our lifetime. Until Jesus returns, his mission of mercy and grace and love continues, through us. We are participating in a mission much greater than ourselves. God is bringing redemption to the world. We each get to do our part in the short time we are here.
ROMANS 12
The book of Romans tells us the story of God’s redemptive work on earth through Jesus Christ. The first eleven chapters are a theology of salvation and regeneration, everything God does in each of us because of his gift of Jesus, and our faith in him. In chapter twelve, the writer takes us past the theology and to the application.
We’re saved, so what do we do now? Romans 12 begins to describe how we as Christians live out God’s mission on Earth.
.........................../
..........................| vv 1-2 – Relationship to God in our contrary culture
Inner Life . . . . . . |
..........................| vv 3-5 - Relationship to God in Christian community
...........................\
.........................../
..........................| vv 6-8 – Personal relationships within the church
Active Expression|
..........................| vv 9-21 – The community’s relationship to everyone
...........................\
(Romans 12 is strongly paralleled in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4:4-16)
1. LIVING SACRIFICES IN A CONTRARY CULTURE (vv1-2)
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
We are living sacrifices.
Our lives are given entirely over.
In view of God’s mercy, this is entirely reasonable to expect.
In Christ, we are legally dead to sin, and better than that, we are alive to God (Romans 6:5-7, 8-10). Through faith, we have experienced Jesus’ cross and resurrection (Rom 6:11).
Our old life, with all its’ ungodly passions and desires, died on the cross with Jesus, and with Jesus, we were raised in new life, God’s life, Holy Spirit filled life.
Therefore, the life we live now should be lived in that freedom, not continuing in slavery to our old lusts (Rom 6:12-13 – a parallel of 12:1-2).
We are not under the law, bound by outside rules that try and fail to stop us from indulging our flesh (Colossians 2:23). We are under grace, the power of God that renews us from the inside out (Romans 6:14).
Our offering of our lives is an active response of faith to an inner supernatural reality.
Because of this inner spiritual reality, we are l i v i n g sacrifices in both a natural and spiritual sense.
Renewing our Mind: A change in our thoughts, attitudes, and will when it comes to life and morality.
This is a counter-cultural reality.
CONFORMITY indicates a change of the outward actions and practical life based on an outward influence.
TRANSFORMATION is a change on the outside that comes from a manifestation of what is happening inside.
We live differently than the world. This is m o r e than just “regular Canadian, but nicer”.
It is good and right that we learn to preach the gospel in the language of the culture around us. BUT, let us not deceive ourselves that true gospel following, Holy Spirit filled life will fit nicely into the culture around us.
The gospel blows the mind of our culture, and all cultures. It is entirely different.
2. SOBER HUMILITY IN INTERDEPENDENT COMMUNITY (vv3-5)
3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
Four verses into the practical description of Spirit-filled life, the writer is applying the gospel to life in community. Life shared and even submitted (vv4,5) to others is an assumed application of the life changed by the gospel and filled with the Spirit.
In Christ: This is the basis for our unity. No matter how different we may be, every one of us is part of the same resurrection life of Jesus, together.
Sober Humility (as we see ourselves in Christ)
If we realize what we have received IN CHRIST and remember always that it is entirely by grace that we live legally and practically free from sin, we will be humble.
The gifts of the Spirit are manifested by faith (vv3,6). They are gifts (v6), so they come from God. They are gifts of grace (v6).
Ephesians 2:8,9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
Just as our salvation is a gift, and God’s work in our life daily to make us like him is a gift, so also are these gifts given by God as he wills. We cannot boast in them as though we perform them in our own strength or ability.
Also, because these are supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit inside us, they may not necessarily be as apparent as a natural talent. They are manifested in faith, not in our own strength.
Interdependent Community
Each person in the body belongs to all the others (v5). Now that’s a countercultural reality.
God chose to build his church with a diverse people with a diversity of gifts, and it is together that we truly reflect him as he is. He didn’t n e e d to do this, but it is right and good that he did. It reflects the gospel message that we should go from a place of independent self-sufficiency to complete dependent faith in Christ to interdependent unity in Christ’s body, the church.
From the very beginning of creation, God has shared his community with us both relationally and practically. Genesis 2:15 says that God put Adam in the garden, and then told him to work and keep it. In verse 19, he parades all the animals before Adam to see what Adam will name them. God didn’t need a gardener! God was sharing the responsibility of creation with humanity. When he sees that man is alone, he recognizes that he needs a helper.
It is a miracle of the gospel that God should condescend to invite his creation to participate in his work on earth. He made a covenant with Abram. He gave his people directions for justice and peace in the earth. He gave us the Bible through the hands and minds of imperfect people. He gave us the local church through which he continues his work of making us more like Jesus through discipleship and teaching of the word when we submit to one another in faith.
(1 Corinthians 12:14-27
14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.)
God continues to share his work on earth with humanity in the church. We still need helpers.
God has given us pastors and evangelists, administrators and missionaries, helpers and deacons and church planters, dishwashers and miracle workers, through which his mission is accomplished on earth. Not one of us can do it alone. Neither can we do it in an unbalanced community. A church of deacons would be only a mission with no gospel. A church of elders would be a cloistered seminary. We submit to the diverse structure of the local church, respecting and enabling and submitting to every part.
We need each other. We share together. We live together. We laugh and cry together. We submit to each other. We correct each other. We share each other’s burdens. We grow in Christ together.
I need you and you need me.
This goes even further than “Love your neighbour as yourself”.
This reflects Philippians 2:3 that encourages believers to “consider others more important than yourself”. (COMITY)
ONLY a community of people who have been transformed by the Holy Spirit and are living by faith in Christ could ever truly live this way.
3. FAITH FILLED EXPRESSION OF GOD’S DIVERSITY OF GIFTS (vv6-8)
6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
PROPHESY
This list of God’s gifts begins with prophesy. Our examination of New Testament prophesy in scripture as a gift will help us understand all the others.
Prophesy is a supernatural revelation from the Holy Spirit given to a person to be spoken to someone else.
We would never foolishly assume that someone is able to prophesy because of some natural born talent or ability. (ie – wizards and elves in the Lord of the Rings are able to do magic because of a natural ability built into their DNA).
If someone prophesies, they can only do so by faith, because of a gift given to them by the Holy Spirit. They can’t boast in it, and we can’t give them credit for it.
This applies exactly the same way to every other gift on the list. Even though leadership or teaching may (unlike prophesy) be something that people can be naturally gifted in, or develop in a natural sense, these gifts are supernatural, and manifested by faith.
So the gift of leadership (v8) may be given by God to someone unlikely (ie. Moses stuttered, David, Gideon, and many others were not necessarily people’s first choice for leaders), and the manifestation of the leadership gift in the church may look very different to leadership in the world. (1 Peter 5:2-4)
The gift of giving generously (v8) may be given to a poor person, supernaturally graced to give in faith.
If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it . . .(v6)
It is not unusual for prophesy to be treated with a great deal of hesitancy and even fear by many churches. There are so many questions attached to prophesy, most notably what the consequences could be of someone acting in faith and being wrong.
In many ways, it may be easier just to stick with the gifts that look and sound like things more familiar to our natural minds.
1 Thess 5:20-21- Do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good.
In Acts 17 (right before Paul’s sermon at Mars Hill in Athens), we see an example of the Bereans, who search the scripture diligently to see if what Paul preached to them is true.
We don’t need less prophesy. We need more scripture. We need to learn how to test prophesy according to scripture. If our minds are renewed, and we are living in humility and faith, we will allow prophesy to be practiced, and we will allow prophesy to be tested, according to scripture. We will not be afraid. In the same way, we should not have contempt for any gift, like evangelism, whatever the consequences.
Prophesy is necessary for the health and the life of the church. It is as essential to the body of Christ as your eyes are to you, and we are similarly disabled without it.
1 Corinthians 14:3 - But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.
v4b - he who prophesies edifies the church.
Another test - Is it strengthening? encouraging? comforting? edifying the church?
1 Corinthians 14:5, as well as many other places in the NT show that we should value prophesy and it’s essential role in the church very highly. (see 1Cor11:2-5; 12:28-29; 13:2, 8-9; 14:1-40; Ax2:17-18; 11:27-28; 19:6; 21:9-11; Rom12:6; 1Th5:19-21; 1Ti1:18; 4:14; 1Jn4:1)
We should humbly value, allow, and encourage the expression of every one of Holy Spirit’s gifts as the essential gifts to the body that they are.
Prophesy, serving, teaching, correcting, giving, leadership, and mercy ministries are all gifts given to the church by the Holy Spirit through individuals. They are received by faith by those individuals, whether they seem like likely candidates or not. Every single one is essential. God has invited us to participate in his mission on earth. It is in and through local churches that humbly submit and live together in faithful community that he accomplishes this.
4. THE CHURCH IN LOVE SHARING CHRIST IN THE WORLD (vv9-21)
God’s mission is to bless the world through his covenant community through INTERCESSION, MERCY, AND JUSTICE.
As his church demonstrates his love, the world is drawn to Jesus, and his kingdom grows on earth.
God’s mission for his church on earth is a mission of love. We carry seeds of God’s kingdom in the world.
Verses 9 to 13 show how as the church, we live our lives honestly together, and we let the world see us sharing in faith as God intends. Our radical and humble submission to one another looks like Jesus. When we are persecuted, we turn our cheek, as Jesus taught. When someone needs a home, we take them in among us, serving them as though they are Jesus. This is how we are salt and light in the world. 1 John 2:6 says that anyone who lives in Jesus walks as he did. When the world sees us, they see Jesus.
In the verses beyond this, we enter the world and live among them as transformed people, counterculturally, loving as radically as Jesus does. We pray for and bless those who curse us for living so differently and proclaiming the gospel.
INTERCESSION - Verse 14 shows us that like Abraham, or Moses, or Jesus forgiving his tormentors from the cross, Christians pray and intercede on behalf of the lost and hurting in the world.
MERCY - Verses 15 to 18 tell us that God’s community is generous and merciful. We are a city on a hill, and we will not be hidden. Though, like Jesus we will find ourselves among the least of the whole world, the despised and the rejected, the darkest corners of our culture, the light of the gospel will still shine brightly.
JUSTICE – The last verses of chapter 12 show the church living justly and promoting God’s justice in the world. The church boldly proclaims the judgment and grace of the gospel in the world. The church trusts God for the final judgment, radically forgiving even those who oppress and persecute them. When given the opportunity, God’s community feeds and clothes those who need it, even those who have persecuted them.
God loved us while we were his enemies. We have our best opportunity to demonstrate God’s kingdom and the nature of Jesus when we forgive and serve our enemies.
v16 - Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
In John 3 Jesus shares the gospel of the kingdom with a Pharisee, clandestinely by night. In John 4 Jesus shares the gospel of the kingdom with an immoral Samaritan woman, drawing water during the middle of the heat of the day. In both cases, Jesus found himself in an unlikely place and unlikely time, speaking to someone very unlike himself.
You don’t need to be homeless to share Jesus with a homeless person. You don’t need to be rich to share Jesus with the rich. You don’t need to be German to share Jesus in Germany, or Vietnamese to share Jesus in Vietnam.
You don’t need to be a punk to share Jesus with punks, or an anarchist to share with anarchists. The gospel was spread because people like you were willing to go and share Jesus with other people who were entirely strange to them. If you are only willing to share Jesus with people just like you, you are looking to your own strength, and not obedient to God’s commission. Don’t be conceited.
Acts 1:8 - But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
God’s love for us brought him from heaven to earth to die and rise again so we can be forgiven and walk in the mighty power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s love in us will bring us to the farthest reaches of the world, even the most unlikely corners and loneliest streets. You aren’t alone. We minister together, and with the power of God. It is his transforming power in us that causes us to live the life on mission in the world as he intends. And the world will never be the same.
Romans 9:12-21
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
No comments:
Post a Comment