mission

A Wide Open Door.

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I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers. Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.– 1 Corinthians 16:5-12 ESV

Paul was a man on the move, because he was a man on a mission for God. He wrote this letter from Ephesus where he would spend three years ministering, one of his longest stops in any particular place. He was constantly looking for opportunities to share the gospel and to help believers grow in their knowledge of God and their faith in Christ. Paul had a deep love for the churches he helped establish and saw the members of the congregations as his children in the faith. He felt a special bond with them and had a strong sense of responsibility for their spiritual well-being. In the case of Ephesus, there were “many adversaries” who were opposing his work and making life difficult for the believers there. Like a mother hen protecting her chicks, Paul was not about to leave the Ephesian believers alone and defenseless. Plus, he saw a “wide door for effective work” opened to him. And as long as there were unbelievers with whom to share the gospel and new believers who needed to grow, Paul would see himself as a man with work to do. His job was never done. And even in spite of pain and suffering, rejection and times of apparent failure, Paul was prone to soldier on, giving everything he had to accomplish the mission given to him by Christ.

When Paul wrote his letter to the believers in Philippi, he did so while in prison in Rome. For a man like Paul, the real pain of imprisonment was not the conditions, but the fact that he was kept from visiting the churches he loved so much. And while he knew that he might very well die for his faith, he was not quite ready to give up his mission.

For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live. – Philippians 1:20-24 NLT

You get a glimpse into Paul’s heart in this passage. He longed to be bold and unashamed, even while under Roman guard. He desired for his life to honor Christ – either in life or death. And he was torn between those two options, because in a way, he knew it would be better if he could die and go to be with Christ. But he also knew that there was work yet to be done. Notice that he puts the needs of the Philippians ahead of his own. “But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.”

Paul longed to see the Corinthians again, but he did not want it to be “in passing.” In other words, he wanted to have an extended stay with them, probably because he saw the spiritual needs there as great. His entire letter has reflected the many concerns he had for their spiritual well-being. But while Paul had to delay his visit because of the open doors in Ephesus, he had made plans to send Timothy, his young protegé and disciple in the faith, to Corinth. And because Paul knew that the Corinthians were prone to judge by appearances and were already struggling with divisions over leadership (1 Corinthians 3:4), he had to remind them to “see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. So let no one despise him” (1 Corinthians 16:10-11 ESV). Timothy was young and easily intimidated. Which is why Paul had told him, “Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity” (1 Timothy 4:12 NLT).

In verse 12, we have Paul’s sixth and final use of the phrase, “now concerning…” In each and every case that he has used it, he was referring to a question or concern raised by the Corinthians. In this instance, we are not sure what the issue was concerning Apollos, but we know that there was a group in the church in Corinth who considered him their leader. They may have been wondering when Apollos was going to return to them. In fact, they may have preferred his presence over that of Paul. But rather than be offended, Paul simply stated that he had urged Apollos to visit them, but for some reason he had chosen not to do so. Paul didn’t throw Apollos under the bus or malign him in any way. For Paul, it was not a competition. It was about sharing the gospel and building up the body of Christ. As he stated earlier in this letter, “I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6 NLT). Paul assured them that Apollos would come when he had the opportunity.

In the meantime, Paul longed to return himself. He saw much work that needed to be done in Corinth. The church was divided. The people were immature and misusing their their spiritual gifts. Selfishness and pride were evident in the church. The influence of paganism and Hellenistic dualism was having a negative impact on the fellowship there. And all of this would result in Paul’s eventual return. As long as there were immature believers needing to grow and lost individuals needing to hear about the gospel, Paul had work to do. The door was wide open, and he was more than willing to walk through it. No rest for the weary. No retirement plans. No extended vacation. Open doors are meant to be walked through. Opportunities need to be taken advantage of. Pressing needs require immediate attention. And Paul was always reading, willing and able.

 

 

A One-Track Mind.

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This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you.  I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.  – Romans 15:22-33 ESV

Paul had just said, “I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation” (Romans 15:20 ESV). Now he tells them that he hopes to see them, but only in passing as he makes his way to Spain. Paul was a starter, not a builder. Yet his many letters, that comprise most of the New Testament canon, prove that he cared deeply about the ongoing maturity of the body of Christ. He wanted to see believers grow, but more than anything else, he wanted to see the lost come to faith in Christ. So he was always looking for fertile fields in which to sow the seeds of the gospel. Paul took the charge of Jesus seriously: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields” (Luke 10:2 NLT). Paul knew that there were those who would do the sowing and those who would reap the harvest, and his job was to plant so that others might come along and water the new seeds of faith so that they would grow into full maturity. That is exactly what he told the Corinthian believers when he heard that they were dividing themselves between those who claimed to be his followers and those who claimed to follow of Apollos.

After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building. – 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 NLT

Paul wasn’t looking for glory or trying to establish a name for himself. He simply wanted to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to as many people in as many places as he possibly could. But he also cared deeply about the discipleship of those who came to faith in Christ. He had a passion for the reputation of the body of Christ and all the congregations he had helped to plant. He was concerned about the unity of the body and the acceptance of his Gentile brothers and sisters in Christ by the church in Jerusalem. He wanted them to be one. When he discovered the division taking place in Corinth, he wrote, “I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose” (1 Corinthians 1:10 NLT). Paul wanted to see the body of Christ prove its love by ministering to itself selflessly and lovingly, regardless of location. So he told the believers in Rome that he would try to come to them as soon as he finished his task of taking an offering collected from all the churches to “the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.” He reminded his Gentile readers that since they “have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings” (Romans 15:27 NLT). The Jewish believers in Jerusalem were suffering and Paul wanted to see the Gentile believers play a part in ministering to them. Paul’s goal was unity and impartiality.

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.” – 2 Corinthians 8:13-15 NLT

Paul’s mission was not just to make converts, but to establish a strong and vibrant church, made up of those who understood the grace of God and were willing to extend that grace to others. For Paul, being saved was not the end. He was concerned that those who were saved lived in keeping with their salvation. They were to be new creations, exhibiting the characteristics of Christ, living in submission to the Spirit and expressing the love of God to all those around them. And as verse 31 indicates, he was under constant attack for his unfailing commitment to the cause of Christ. His mission was not an easy one. His ministry was far from trouble-free. He traveled far, suffered much, failed often, but never lost sight of his mission: “to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard” (Romans 15:20 NLT). 

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

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Job Number One.

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” – 2 Corinthians 5:20 NLT

Paul was a man on a mission. Ever since his call by Jesus Christ on the Damascus road, he had been like a man possessed. He had received a commission from the very lips of Jesus Himself and he took it quite seriously. “I am Jesus, the on you are persecuting. Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. You are to tell the world what you have seen and what I will show you in the future. And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who re set apart by faith in me” (Acts 26:15-18 NLT).

One of the problems Paul faced on a recurring basis was that the people to whom he was called to minister did not always received him or his message well. There were those who doubted his call and so, as a result, they refused to listen to what he had to say. Evidently, Paul was not the flamboyant or charismatic type. He wasn’t impressive in his speech or appearance. But he was sincere in heart and motivated by his love for Christ. He firmly believed the message he had been given by Christ, because he had been personally and radically changed by it himself. So when he wrote that Christ had “died for everyone so that those who receive this new life will no longer live for themselves” (2 Corinthians 5:15 NLT), he meant it and believed it. Paul wasn’t just preaching and teaching, he was sharing the life-saving message of new life through Jesus Christ. Paul was on a mission to reconcile the world to God, to restore a lost and dying generation to a right relationship with their Creator. And there was only one way for that to happen: Through belief in Jesus Christ as their Savior and sin substitute. Paul was calling people back to God, and there was only one path that could lead them there: Jesus Christ.

When you think about it, there is no more worthy cause in life than to lead people back to God by pointing them to Christ. What other endeavor could compare in value or worth? There is no doubt that we must help meet the humanitarian needs of those around us. To feed the hungry, minister to the sick, bring release to the captives and care for widows and orphans are non-negotiable expressions of love for those whom God has made. We are instructed by God to do these things out of love for Him and in order to show our love for others. But if we do all these things, but fail to reconcile those to whom we minister to God, what good had we really done? To relieve someone’s physical or emotional suffering, but fail to introduce them to Christ, the answer to their spiritual suffering, would be cruel and, ultimately, unhelpful. Paul understood well the idea “that God has given us this task of reconciling people to him” (2 Corinthians 5:18b NLT). He knew that people needed to be fed, clothed, cared for and loved on. That’s why he was constantly reminding those to whom he wrote about the collection of funds for the saints who were suffering in Judea because of their faith. But Paul’s real mission was to help free people from the oppression of sin and the penalty of death by pointing them to Christ, the only hope for their condition. When all was said and done, Paul’s mission in life was to help everyone he met be made right with God through Jesus Christ. No amount of human effort can restore or repair the sin-damaged relationship between God and man. Only God can reconcile what sin has destroyed. Only Christ can lead lost men and women back to God. And we have the job of sharing this message of reconciliation and restoration to everyone we meet. To those who are starving from lack of food as well as to those who are satiated and stuffed on the things of this world. Like Paul, we have been commissioned to share the message of reconciliation to the haves and the have-nots, the famished and the full, the helpless and the self-sufficient, the powerless and the powerful. For ALL have sinned and fallen short of God’s righteous standard. ALL are condemned and face eternal separation from God as a result of their sin. But they can be made right with God through Jesus Christ – if only we will do our job and tell them the Good News.

Father, I sometimes lose sight of my real responsibility on this earth. I tend to forget that I have been saved, not to live for myself, but to love others. I have one job and one job only: To share the Good News of Jesus Christ with anyone and everyone I meet. I have the message of the hope of the world and I need to share it. I am Your ambassador and I have a responsibility to help others understand how they can be made right with You. Give me a passion to do my job well. Help me take my job seriously and to do it eagerly. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org