An Innocent Ministry

Today was my last day serving as Assistant to the Pastor at Center Presbyterian Church, a position that I've been blessed to minister in for the last two years.  In addition to my role as Assistant to the Pastor, I've also been helping to lead the middle- and high-school youth group there for three years.  My time working with the youth group has been a stretching experience for me, as I've struggled to help them make connections between the staggering glory of the Gospel and the everyday challenges of adolescence, and to see their desperate need for the saving grace of God.

Since I started working with the youth group, my vision for youth ministry has been encapsulated in Acts 20:18-26.  In this passage, Paul addresses the leaders of the Ephesian church where he has ministered and preached for three years.  Here are selections from the passage in question:

"You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears... how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance towards God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ... Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God."

My deep desire for the past three years has been to be able to read this passage to the kids today and, because of the way I have lived and taught them, to be taken seriously.  I want to be able to say earnestly and truthfully to them and to God, "I am innocent of the blood of all of you.  You know that what I've been talking about for the last three years is a life-and-death matter, and I have proclaimed the gospel to you over and over again.  I have not shrunk from declaring to you the whole counsel of God; therefore, dear young people, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of your blood.  What you do with this is between you and God, but you have heard the truth from me.  I am innocent of your blood."

The Old Testament background on which Paul is drawing in making his claim to the Ephesian church is Ezekiel 3:17-19.  In this passage, God commissions Ezekiel to preach a message of repentance to Israel.

"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel.  Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them a warning from me.  If I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.  But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul."

I tremble when I read that passage.  Every minister and pastor and preacher and teacher of God's Word should tremble at that passage.  If we do not fulfill God's call to warn a wicked generation of the just consequences of their rebellion, they will die for their sins, but their blood will be laid at our feet.  I think of this text every time I am preparing a sermon and every time I'm working on a youth group message.  By desperate reliance on the Holy Spirit, I want to lead an innocent ministry, innocent of their blood, not shrinking from declaring the whole counsel of God which is able to save their souls.

Is your ministry innocent of blood?  I pray, by God's power, that it would be.

Through-the-Bible Thoughts

Every day that I have the privilege to be in God's Word is a blessing beyond description, but what I take away from the Word is different each day.  Some days are full of rich, deep, beautiful truth, and other days are more about the discipline of dryness-- pursuing God because of who He is, not because of what He gives me.  Today, though, was a particularly fruitful day with my Through-the-Bible reading.  Here is some of what the Holy Spirit was teaching me and reminding me of:

Psalm 34:2- "My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad."

This is a description of "humble boasting"-- a deliberate bragging that points away from oneself.  It's the same thing that God commanded in Jeremiah 9-- "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the might man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth."  Or like what Paul said in Galatians 6-- "Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."  What we are to boast about really has nothing to do with us; it's about openly celebrating the character of God and the omnipotent mercy that has been shown to sinners like us.  I want to become, in this sense, a more boastful person.

Acts 20:24- "I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus Christ, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."

Oh, how I want this passion!  I don't want to waste my life by considering it valuable, but I want to say with Paul that the most valuable truth that I must commit myself to is "the gospel of the grace of God."  Sometimes I think I've touched that passion, and other times I realize that I have not even scratched the surface of what it means to be so self-forgetful and consumed with the cause of Christ.  I'm not there, but oh how I want to be there!

Acts 20:26-27- "I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God."

This is what Paul said to the elders of the Ephesian church after spending three years with them.  God has been continually reminding me of this verse, and of the passage in Ezekiel 3 which Paul is referencing, in relation to my own three-year ministry at Center Presbyterian Church.  I'll be leaving when I graduate in May, and when I go, will I be able to say this?  I have been given the task to testify to the gospel of the grace of God, to declare the whole counsel of God in Bible study and youth group; will I complete my task?  The stakes are dangerously high; if I shrink from teaching difficult or unpopular truth and thus leave them in their sin, God will hold me accountable for their souls.  This is a frightening and sobering prospect, and it drives me to be blood-earnest with them, especially with the youth group kids.  When I leave, I want to be able to say with all seriousness that the kids understand, "I am innocent of the blood of all of you."  Will those words make sense in my ministry?  I pray they will.

The Founder of Life, Faith, and Salvation

I'm doing independent study third year Greek, which has been a lot of fun so far.  Last semester we translated 1 Peter and James, and this semester we're tackling Hebrews (which is really hard!)  Today we translated chapter 2, and verse 10 got me thinking and doing word studies.

Verse 10: "For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering."

The word "founder" is translated from the Greek "archegos."  It's a rare word, which only appears 4 times in the New Testament.  Here are the other three occurrences, with "archegos" in bold:

"You killed the Author of Life, whom God raised from the dead."  ~Acts 3:15

"God exalted Him at His right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."  ~Acts 5:31

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross..."  ~Hebrews 12:2

The word "archegos" means a leader, pioneer, source, initiator, or founder.  The only times it is used in the New Testament, it is used to describe Jesus Christ.  He is described as the Author of life, faith, and salvation.

Jesus is the Author of Life

"You killed the Author of Life," Peter accused the Jewish leaders.  A remarkable,seemingly contradictory statement-- you killed the One who invented life.  Yet this is the mystery of the Gospel.  John 1 says that "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men."  In Colossians 3, Paul writes, "When Christ who is your life appears, then you will appear with Him in glory."  The Author of Life becomes our life.  1 John 5 gives us the precious promise that, "God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  Whoever has the Son has life."  Whoever has the Son has life, because Jesus IS Life; He is the Author, the Source of Life.  St. John Chrysostom wrote, "The life that He has does not come from another; the author of life has to be Him who has life in Himself."  In Him all things live and move and have their being.  All things were created through Him and for Him.  He is the source of everything that exists, and, as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 1:30, He is also the source of our spiritual life.

Jesus is the Author of Faith

"Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith."  In the same way that our life is wrapped up in Christ, so too our spiritual life-- our faith-- flows from Him.  He is the vine, and we are the branches.  He is the Author of our faith because He is the giver of faith.  He "grants repentance," gives faith as a gift, says "Let there be light" in darkened hearts, and invades dead souls with the conquering, life-giving, omnipotent love of Yahweh.  And after giving us new life, He becomes the example of perfect faithfulness that we seek to imitate.

Jesus is the Author of Salvation

"The author of their salvation perfect through suffering..."  Jesus is the Author of Salvation because He is the conqueror of sin, the victor over the grave, and the purchaser of the Spirit.  He is the One who sovereignly elects, calls, saves, justifies, and sanctifies us.  "Those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified."

The Fear of the Lord

I'm up late tonight writing Daily Verses for next week, and I spent some time researching for help with the devotional on Acts 9:31- "So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up.  And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied."  Now there is a good recipe for church growth-- the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit!  But as I pondered on that I started to wonder, what exactly is "the fear of the Lord?"  

Fearing God is not about being afraid.  In fact, it's often associated with lack of fear.  For example, Exodus 20:20- "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin."  And Matthew 10:28- "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather, fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

Fearing God is about opening our eyes to the reality to which sin blinds us.  We are inclined to be afraid of many things-- the future, the past, enemies, insecurity, money, relationships, death.  But we are not naturally inclined to fear the One in whose hand all things fearful rest.  To fear God is to recognize Him as the holy, righteous, omnipotent, sovereign Creator and Judge before whom every knee will bow.

Fearing God, as I learned in my word study tonight, has many promised benefits.  Here is a partial list of them, just from Proverbs (I think I've stumbled across a key theme of Proverbs here):

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge."  ~1:7

"The fear of the LORD is to hate evil." ~8:13

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom."  ~9:10

"In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence." ~14:26

"The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life." ~14:27

"Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble without it."  ~15:16

"The fear of the LORD keeps one away from evil."  ~16:6

Can you see how awe of God's holiness and glory brings about all those promised results?  True wisdom and knowledge begin when the solar system of our lives is reoriented around God at the center.  A realization and love of God's holiness shows sin to be what it really is-- an affront to the character of our Creator.  To fear God is to see Him as the Sovereign One, in whose hands are all human events, and therefore we have a basis for a life of strong confidence.  Fear of the Lord, it turns out, is the fruit of faith, and therefore a fountain of eternal life.

Most importantly of all, fear of God doesn't just lead us to our Judge; it also leads us to our Savior.  The more we become aware of the great holiness and glory of God, the more we despise our sins and daily seek refuge at Calvary where the wrath of God was absorbed.  The fear of the Lord allows us to see our holy Judge as our glorious Savior.

"The fear of the LORD is Zion's treasure."  ~Isaiah 33:6