Seeing ministry as grace (repost from 5/08 from Estonia blog)

-
I was looking through my Estonia short term trip preparation thoughts the other day, and ran into this blog that I wrote back in 2008... I hope you are encouraged and challenged by it.
----------------


This morning as I am sitting down to have my quiet time (and) to also prepare for my small group discussion on Ephesians, God showed me something really cool.   I thought I would share :).  We are, this week, in Ephesians 4:1-16, where Paul is transitioning from (in my honest opinion) one of the best descriptors of our high calling, position, and value in Christ into the practical "how do you apply this in your world?" section.  This should be a cool section, because we as guys are into action even though I love the "look at who you really are" stuff :).

So, I'm reading through this section and I get to verse 7, which says:  "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it..."

And then describes our calling to be unified and to reflect Him through our gifts. 

Earlier in this letter, Paul uses the word "grace" in a very similar way:

"Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you..." 3:2, 

"I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power." 3:7

Same word.  Same meaning.  Not grace = salvation and I get a cool relationship with Jesus and go to Heaven when I die... but something else... I get to participate in what He's doing in the world today.  I get to partner with God in eternally significant ministry.    

Here's my thought... or at least how I felt God speaking to me... God has given me (and you if you know Him and are called according to His purpose) the grace (gift) of getting to participate in what He's doing in the world.  That, in fact, the ministry (aka - work) that He's got you doing is in fact a gift of grace and not a "job."  That was the context that Paul used the word grace to mean in chapter 3 and by all context is the purpose of the word that he uses to spur us on in chapter 4.  Furthermore, the focus of this letter is not on how to be saved (he was writing this to a persecuted church), but the manifestation of this great salvation in the life of the believer.  

What does that mean?  Well for starters, that going on an amazing short-term mission trip to serve people in need, volunteering in your church, and showcasing Christ through my life is not a "job" but is instead a privilege that God has given me, which He has already empowered me to do.  It is as much a part of my joy in Christ as the cool, warm-and-fuzzy stuff I get to do like sing and hang out with my friends.  Thinking out loud, it also has to be a cure for ministry burnout... because generally I get burned out by what I "have" to do, and when ministry becomes a "job" or something that I am "volunteering" for, then my attitude tends to reflect that.  However, if I see it for what it really is... God's grace that's been given to me... I can do all of these things with joy because I am living out my calling and participating with Him in reflecting who He is to the world.  

That's my epiphany for the day.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The B(C)S Strikes Again

-
I'm laughing, again.  Somehow, some big conference elites somewhere are trying to sell college football fans that the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) is a flawless way to determine who should play for a national college football championship.  Every year, the "system" flirts with controversy, and manages to bring up some really good points over the years.   One of the classic arguments that they like to bring up is... "Every game counts" Hmmmmm .... what about Texas 45, Oklahoma 35?   In the BCS standings now, guess who's #2?   OU ... who's #3?  t.u.  ....Every game counts, eh?   Apparently , "what have you done for me lately" and a bunch of computers spitting stats count a lot more now than the results on the field.... too funny.   In a twist of fate, the Big XII South, arguably the best division in college football, has a three way tie for first place with three teams at 7-1 (11-1 overall) and all ranked in the top 7 in the BCS standings.  ...
Read more

A twist on a familiar parable.

-
Back from Labor Day Retreat, managing to keep from being sunburned and bowled over by Hurricane Gustav, I am enjoying a quiet evening relaxing and mulling over some of the happenings and ways that God had been speaking to me over the weekend.  This weekend has been great in that regard... God has used Brennan Manning (our speaker, author of The Ragamuffin Gospel) to really speak into my life and has obviously left me with a lot to noodle over.   I'll share with you one of those things... something that I thought was really interesting. In one of his talks, Brennan turned around and talked about Jesus's famous parable of the prodigal son as if when He was talking about the character of the prodigal, think about it as if Jesus was characterizing himself as the "prodigal."  This is, in my mind, very scandalous... considering that Jesus IS the perfect Son of God and I'm not really thinking at all that the parable's character was necessarily intended to be Jesus.....
Read more

Top Ten Signs You've been going to NorthPoint too long

-
Image
I've had this on the brain for a while... I need a mental candy break though. For myself, or for any of my friends who are members of one of the NorthPoint Ministries campuses (that means Buckhead, Browns Bridge... you know who you are), there are (admit it) signs that you've been going to this church for way too long.  And now, like any person that needs to get out of their denial, I'm going to point out a few :-) Top Ten Signs You've Been at NorthPoint for Quite Some Time 1.) You commonly use any of the following words in your daily conversation: Margin Life-giving Give, Save, Spend Environment CG Big Idea Virtue Bottom Line Safe 2.) Something that Andy Stanley said in a sermon inevitably makes it into your Bible study discussion. 3.) You don't see anything wrong with wearing the same T-shirt every Sunday for 30 Sundays in a row (a shout out to all of us UpStreeters!), and in case you haven't washed "this year's" shirt, you have...
Read more