Redefining “Ministry” and “Mission” takes more than a Sermon Series

            Every Christian is called by God to advance the Kingdom of God as we support human flourishing. Our support of individual and community flourishing may take “spiritual” forms such as preaching, prayer, mercy ministry, etc. but it may also take “secular” forms such as nursing, home repair, gardening, feeding your family, etc. In the work of bringing order to our sphere of influence in this world, there is no sacred – secular dichotomy as we labor “as unto the Lord”. (Col 3:23)

I’ve been tackling these themes over the last 3 months in my ministry. But a conversation last week convinced me that this sacred-secular dichotomy is deeply ingrained and will not be uprooted in a sermon series or even in a season. I was visiting with long-standing members of our congregation, folks who grew up in the Church and have been following Jesus personally for decades. They are gifted, articulate, balanced, conscientious servant-hearted and intelligent. So I was taken aback when one person mentioned that increased hours for a large employer in Madison was causing them to step back from.

“I am so busy right now at work that I don’t have the time to do ministry.”

“Why? What has led to the increase work load for you? A promotion with more responsibility?,” I probed.

“No. My coworkers have so many needs. Now that my kids are married I have more flexibility and time than I had previously. I often volunteer to cover for coworkers who need time for themselves and with their families.”

From this point I explained to my dear friend that this was ministry! In serving their coworkers in this tangible and practical way they were serving Christ and advancing the Kingdom of God. They were not stepping back from ministry, they were stepping into greater ministry and opportunity – albeit not within the four walls of our local church.

This conversation has convinced me that linking my parishioner’s current labors in the “secular” workforce to the purposes of God will take diligence. But the effort to persuade every lay person that they are a missionary is worthwhile. I think that when this dear saint saw that their current sacrifices and energies beyond the organization of our church were labors unto the Lord it unloaded a truckload of self-imposed guilt and gave new purpose and meaning to their efforts.

In her book Kingdom Callings Amy Sherman quotes a relevant statement from G. K. Chesterton: “You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.”

May we understand that every Christian is a missionary right now where we are planted and may we say grace as those who are dependent on it for the discharge of our duties – to the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord!

Do you Preach Too-Narrow of a Gospel?

I’ve been reading Amy Sherman’s book Kingdom Calling and have come across a provocative question: Do you preach “the too-narrow gospel”? The question is not, “do you preach the gospel too narrowly?” as in do you exclude some group of people from the gospel – racial minorities, Jews, gays, the rich, etc. The question is do we preach a gospel that is too narrow, too small? Ms. Sherman suggests in her book that the evangelical church has often been guilty of reducing the gospel to simply “having a personal relationship with Jesus”. As a Christian trying to live a Christ-centered, gospel-centered life, it would be easy to shrug off such a question and check the box for “got the gospel”. But let’s not be hasty.

            What is the gospel? “Gospel” means “good news”. The good news isn’t that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. The good news isn’t that God has a purpose for your life, or that you can have your best life now, or that God loves you and you should start thinking more positively, or that God wants you to be healthy, wealthy & comfortable. The health & wealth “gospel”, social justice gospel, works righteousness, Christianity as therapy, Jesus as an example / noble teacher to follow are not the gospel. The gospel isn’t strictly a truth to believe, it is NEWS to proclaim. The gospel at its core is that God has provided a substitute for sinners, His Son Jesus, to restore our relationship with Him. John 3:16 says it succinctly:

^ESV John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”

The proper response to the gospel is also quite clear:

^ESV Mark 1:14-15 “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, ¹⁵ and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

So the good news isn’t that Jesus is a wise teacher who can help me get my life back on track if I listen to Him. The good news is that Jesus has died on the cross for my sins. And when I repent and believe I’m trading my sins for His righteousness.

So the core of the gospel is that through Christ you can have a personal relationship with God. So in that sense we do preach a “narrow gospel”. There is only one way (John 14:6) of salvation, one way to get right with your Creator: to stop trying to earn salvation by your own efforts and trust in the work of Jesus Christ. No other gospel will save. Belief in God isn’t sufficient (James 2:19). Even believing true things about Jesus isn’t sufficient. You and I must believe in Jesus, i.e. trust ourselves to Him. The Apostle Peter is blunt:

^ESV Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

So evangelicals are right to proclaim the good news that you can have a relationship with Jesus and to proclaim it ‘narrowly’ in the sense of justification by faith (vs. works).

            However if in proclaiming the gospel “narrowly” we teach only about the individual restoration of my relationship with the Creator we DO teach a “too-narrow gospel”. The gospel is not just a “me and Jesus” thing, a private personal individualistic spiritual thing. The personal restoration of relationship with the Creator IS good news, but the good news is better / greater / broader than that! For the gospel is not only that Christ restores your relationship with God, it is that Christ also restores your relationship with yourself, your relationships with others and your relationship with creation itself. If the gospel we preach only impacts the vertical dimension between me and Jesus we are preaching “too-narrow” of a gospel. The power of the true gospel is more comprehensive than that. What Jesus accomplished on the cross restores four fundamental human relationships: my relationship with God, the inward relationship with myself, the relationships I have with others and my relationship with creation.

            Personal forgiveness of sins IS part of the gospel, but it is only part of it. Ms. Sherman is on to something. Evangelicals (myself included) have stressed what the gospel saves us from (sin and death) but have not adequately stressed what the gospel saves us for. Perhaps that is why evangelical churches have excelled at gaining converts but not making followers of Jesus. Let us embrace the wholeness of the gospel and let us follow the Prince of Peace in working toward restoration in every dimension – horizontal and vertical.

The Only Inflation Proof Investment

I don’t know very much about economics. I studied micro and macro economics in college but it was a simple middle school text book Whatever Happened to Penny Candy by Richard J. Maybury that has caused me to think differently about inflation. Everyone knows by experience that their dollars don’t stretch as far as they used to. I used to think that rising prices are inflation. Gas cost a $1.15 / gallon when I started driving 20 years ago and this past Labor Day weekend I spent $3.55 / gallon. But Maybury writes, “Rising prices are not inflation. They are a result of inflation.” (emphasis mine) What then is inflation? He argues that inflation is an increase in the number of dollars. Maybury says that “money responds to the law of supply and demand just as everything else does. As the number of dollars increases, the value of each individual dollar falls. Prices rise to make up for this fall.” I’ve read enough to know that not every economist agrees with Mr. Maybury’s definitions. I’m pretty ignorant about all this, but his logic makes sense to me.

            Regardless of all the causes & definitions of terms, I’ve lived long enough in America to be trained to expect that my money will be worth less in the future than it is today. That presents me with a challenge: What does a person invest in that will retain its value over time? Stuffing greenbacks in a mattress or depositing it in a CD that yields a flea’s hair more than 0% doesn’t seem prudent. Stocks? Real estate? Camels? Continued Education? Everything has risk attached to it. Bubbles could pop at any time.

            We live in a world of uncertainty. How then should we invest? Is there an inflation-proof investment? Jesus said,

^ESV Matthew 6:19-21 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust¹ destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

A superficial pastor would say, “See, you should invest your money in the Church. That is the best use of your resources!” Perhaps. But I do not think that Jesus was so much giving financial advice on where to put our dollars. Rather, Jesus is giving us 1) a recalibration of our priorities and 2) hope in an uncertain world.

            The bottom line is that there are no guaranteed investments. Nothing in this life that is impervious to thieves, rust and moths. Even a congregation can waste resources in the name of God. There is only one sure thing, one inflation proof investment: the Lord Jesus Christ. Give to Christ all that you have – including your investments, possessions & plans. Trust Him with your future. Trust Him with your resources. Put your confidence and hope in Him.