Villagersonline : blogs : eric : Ministers of Rec

From: eric
Date: Tue May  4 09:34:52 MST 2004
Subject: Ministers of Rec - a review

Responses
GaryG: But I don't wanna work! (5/11/04)

Karen: Blockbuster good works = a good show :-) (5/11/04)

Responses (sorted by date)
Karen: Blockbuster good works = a good show :-) (5/11/04)
GaryG: But I don't wanna work! (5/11/04)

2 Cor. 5:18
We are all ministers of reconciliation. I grew up in the church and it seemed that everyone had a life verse. I could never really figure that out. I mean I had chapters that I didn’t like. For example, Romans chapter 9 was one that I wished to tear out, and I found good company with Martin Luther when it came to James. So I feel like 2 Corinthians 5 has become what I am. It represents some theological ideas and some doctrinal ideas that resonate with me in a very deep way. In verse 18 and following it says that we are ministers of reconciliation and the reason that we are that is that we are reconciled to God through Christ death on the cross and his resurrection three days later. Our jobs then are to be ministers of reconciliation . . . we are to become people who point to the reconciler. In the church, especially when a bunch of church folk get together they will ask each other how many ministers do you have at your church. The common answer is often; well we have senior pastor and few associates. That is the wrong answer. The right one is . . . as many followers of Jesus as attend the church that’s how many ministers we have. In 2 Corinthians 5 says we are ministers of reconciliation. The word for minister is inter-changeable with the word for servant in the New Testament. So we are all servants of reconciliation. What is reconciliation? It is the job of making things right. Through Christ work on the cross you and I can go before God and worship him. From the throne room we are literally sent out to the world to offer the reconciling power of Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5 goes on to say that we are ambassadors to the world - that our entire identity as followers of Jesus is wrapped up in going to the world and to our fellow believers and saying here is Jesus. Try this on for size. The next time you are asked what you do for a living. Tell them you are a minister. You will get some great questions and probably be given some opportunity for the Gospel. This is a great identity to take on if you are a woman. In our culture, women are rarely ministers and so you will have immediately opened doors that are not often open to you.
If you are able to get around to believing that your vocation as a Christian is to a minister of reconciliation, you will probably think that you don’t have the gifting needed to be a minister and it is a wonderful thought but not much of a reality. Ephesians 2.10 says that we are God’s workmanship and that he has prepared good works for us to do. We are God’s workmanship. The only other time the Greek word for workmanship is use it is in Romans 1:20. When Paul says we are God’s workmanship, it means that he physically made us formed us took time to create with our good work in mind. Our job is to do good works. So, if you are a follower of Jesus, a minister of reconciliation, your good works are already prepared for you to do. You have something to do. You can’t tell me that you have nothing to do. You have something to do, and God created you to do it. You don’t have an excuse.
Life in the church so often feels abstract. We live in abstraction because it protects. We refuse to tease them out into practical ways of living. So what is practical? John 13 gives us many clues into the practical ways to be ministers of reconciliation. Jesus has just finished washing the feet of the disciples and asks them – do you understand what I’ve done for you? You call me teacher and Lord, and I’m your teacher and Lord. But now your teacher and Lord has washed your feet - you should also wash one another’s feet. This is the example that I’m giving you to follow. No servant is greater than his master - nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, if you do them you will be blessed. You and I have been created to be servants of one another. These works given to us do involve service. Jesus is not saying that we should wash each others feet, thought that might be a good idea for some of us. He is laying the foundation for a very strange Kingdom. Disciples did not wash the feet of their masters. When John the Baptist says that he is not worth to untie Jesus’ sandals, he is making a very powerful statement that he is lower than even a servant of Jesus’. In John 13, Jesus washes the disciple’s feet, which is such a taboo thing for a teacher to do.
Fundamentally, what do servants do? They ask what does my master need? So often we in America we are so egocentric. We often yell at the world that it is all about me. And Jesus is saying, No . . . no it isn’t. It is about an upside-down kingdom. We live in a kingdom that is upside-down. Our very identity is servant ministers.

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From: GaryG
Date: Tue May 11 12:48:48 MST 2004
Subject: But I don't wanna work!

It's funny, but because of my legalistic, works-oriented background, whenever I hear the phrase "good works" in relation to walking in Christ, I feel rebellion, discouragement and condemnation welling up inside of me. I feel the judgement of others upon me: "Where are your works, Mr Goodlow?", sort of like a little kid in school being asked to produce the homework that he doesn't have. I guess when I think of "good works" I think of grand, earth-shattering events that are perceptable by those who know you, for after all, if you can't get "credit" for it and get "lifted up" for it, is it really worth doing? :-) I so often fail to see the opportunities for good works all around me, the little things that God sees but perhaps no one else does. I'm trying to learn to relax, yet be aware of people's needs around me, to be motivated but not intimidated. Ah yes, the ongoing battle between works righteousness and grace...so complicated, but so stupidly simple.
Gary G

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From: Karen
Date: Tue May 11 16:28:20 MST 2004
Subject: Blockbuster good works = a good show :-)

Jesus talked about those earth-shattering religious types ;-) He uses "watch out/beware" to warn those who practice those good-lookin' good works... I think it's the same word he used to warn people against the "religious" folks who ended up putting him to death.
Matthew 6 (Also from Eugene Peterson's translation)
1 Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding. 2 When you do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself. You've seen them in action, I'm sure - 'playactors' I call them - treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that's all they get. 3 When you help someone out, don't think about how it looks. 4 Just do it - quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.
K's note: the Greek word "hypocrite" actually referred to a stage actor.
Colossians 3:12
12 So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. 13 Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. 14 And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. 15 Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness.
Here, he's talking about good works. Notice that hollering about the 10 Commandments is not on the list :-) Frankly, Gary, I could give you at least five examples of when I've seen this type of thing in you in the last several weeks. Of course, it doesn't matter whether I noticed it or not, except that it's encouraging--certainly much more comfortable--to see other people "dressed for the occasion." Hmm, why do I get the feeling that God's wardrobe is at times less practical and much more revealing than my old yuckky clothes??
OK, last passage.
Ephesians 2:8 Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! 9 We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! 10 No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Hmmm, forgot your homework? Maybe you didn't do it 'cause you didn't know how. Maybe you didn't do it because you were tired. Or bored. Or it wasn't fun enough. Maybe you didn't do it 'cause you want to flip the bird to the One who "assigned" it to you. (Or maybe your little sister just happened to throw up on it? Yes, I've gotten that one.) Well, sorry, there's no half-credit late work. There's no extra credit to make up for the 0. Actually (and I hate to break it to those of you that actually TRIED the advanced calculus problems) there's no credit, period. There's no progress report, no GPA, no Honor Society, no nada, only GRACE and whole lot of learning to happen in this weird, upside-down classroom from which there is no summer vacation.
OK, back to my "secular life" now!!

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