by Tom Johnston
So, how did Jesus minister the Gospel to the 5,000 without the appropriate background music? I mean, come on, how did He set the mood for the moving of the Spirit on people hearts and minds without a worship leader and team backing Him up? Everyone knows that you need a serious kickin’ sound system to do live events outdoors! It’s surprising that people would come such a meeting without proper seating, or donkey parking, or childcare. I wonder what the disciples did for Children’s Church? How was He able to do leadership meetings with His disciples without PowerPoint? How was He able to build community with them without e-mail, Facebook or Twitter? How did Jesus do church without all the props?
I think the key to why His ministry was so effective can be found in this passage from John 6:66-69:
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
Jesus had life, the life of the Father in Him, and that life was that which drew people to Him. Jesus didn’t need the props because He had content – eternal life from the Father. And not eternal life as a concept, or a future destination, but as a vital current reality. People experienced the life of the eternal Father when they encountered Jesus. Peter’s statement related the fact that they had been so impacted by this life that they could not leave Jesus. If Christ was so impacting us today – and others through us, we would see the churches full to overflowing. So, the question becomes, why do we need the props to “do church?”
Now, don’t get me wrong, I think we should use all the technology, etc. in our ministry environments. There are many practical things we need to put in place to facilitate ministry well, and all ministry should be done with excellence. But very often we prop our ministry up on the props, because we don’t have the vital life of Jesus flowing in us or our churches. Ouch. I know, it hurts to embrace that, like a crown of thorns, or nails in the hands, or a spear in the side. But we have to embrace this truth – it is part of our going to the Cross, part of our dying daily, part of our sharing in the sufferings of Christ.
We often use the analogy of Starbucks coffee in a paper cup – we go to Starbucks for the good coffee (and pay way too much) and not the paper cup. The cup is essential, but is not what we spend the ridiculous amount of money. It’s the content. The life of the Father brought to us by the Holy Spirit through Jesus the Son is the content we need. As we like to say, we need some serious Jesus on tap, because you can’t give away what you don’t already have.
So, what are you doing to add the content of the life of Christ to your life? How are you going deep with Jesus, personally? How are you going to add His life to your Church? Are you relying on the props to get you through, both personally and as a church?
Recently, I learned of a local Episcopal church here in New England which had one of the walls collapse of its stone building – it fell on the pastor’s car. The building inspector condemned the ancient stone building – they can never use it again. Believe it or not, the congregation was revitalized by the challenge of being flexible for worship, sharing space with other churches, being in temporary digs. They lost one of their props, but found the dynamic life of Christ. Amazing. What would you and your congregation do in a similar situation? What would happen if you lost some of the props supporting your ministry? Maybe it’s time to kick out some of the props and see if the life of Christ alone will support your ministry. Let’s see if they are coming because of His life, or the convenient donkey parking.
May your life and ministry have the true life of Jesus in abundance and may it be more than just a propped up house of cards.
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1 comment:
As I've read over this article a few times and thought about it during the day, I wonder about the "the key to why His ministry was so effective." I agree with the article's proposition (Jesus offered life), but it is also important to note what He did not offer, what He was not concerned with--and that was drawing and keeping a crowd. The same passage notes that almost all had walked away, leaving Him. He wasn't trying to keep them. He even offers the disciples the opportunity (what I think of as a "reverse call") to walk away.
Perhaps we use props in the first place because we are concerned with drawing and keeping a crowd. This is how we keep score, how we measure how good we are doing. I think that our motivations are mixed--to some degree, we convince ourselves we are seeking His glory and to build His kingdom. I think to some extent this is true. But I think we also have a mixture inside of building our own kingdom, of establishing our own glory. We want a big crowd, and a bigger crowd, and we feel the pride and the status of having built a big crowd.
This is why we are willing and eager to use "props," the newer, the flashier, the cooler, the highest tech, the biggest wow.
I think this is what kills our offer of Life. We are willing to offer less. Our focus is on visible results, so props are logical and "wise" after our own fashion and purposes. They "work" in drawing and building a crowd, and we are willing to look the other way as to whether they offer life.
My friend Tim has reminded me over and over of the model John the baptist set down--I must decrease; He must increase. How careful we need to be not to be seeking our own glory. God will not share His glory--that isn't our place, that doesn't speak well of the formerly doomed recipients of grace or of Him who bestowed such abundant grace at such a great cost.
Jesus offered life. But He was also unconcerned with building a big crowd. He had no temptation to use "props" in the first place. He knew empty followers brought no glory to His Father (although they would have added to our Lord's earthly "fame"). He was never confused that by having a bigger following than the Pharisees that He could thereby convince the world He was from God.
He offered Life; He was unwilling to offer less. He gave no weight to the world's opinion, only to His Father's.
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