Walking Together

“And He gave some…for the equipping of the Saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ…according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”

Recently, I was on a 2-day work trip. Part of my time included meeting a condo association board and some of the community members. Their community is in poor condition, their reserve account funds are low, and they’re an older community with aging buildings and an average homeowner age of 65. (I work with a brother in the Lord creating long-term budget plans for communities.) I offered to meet with the board and community to provide information and answer their questions, and I had been praying for the Lord’s purpose to be accomplished in our meeting, for His heart to be evident, and for the grace to handle any opposition in love.

As I was setting up my computer and connecting it to the big screen for all to see, they were conversing. Then, the property manager gave me the thumbs up that I could begin. I was seated at the front of the room, a position I always take when I deliver bad news. I wasn’t there to take an authoritative stance: “Here are the facts. You are in a bad spot. BAM! Here’s the truth!” I was there to provide information and then deliver a message, some bad news yes, but in love, with real empathy for what they were facing, and to provide hope in crafting a plan to move forward.

When I lowered my laptop so I could see everyone in the room unobstructed, a wave of emotion hit me and the scripture “Behold, I and the children whom God has given me” ran through my head in an instant! That set the tone for our time together. They were my “older-than-I” children, and God’s heart of compassion for them was evident.

I began by saying that we’re all in this together: the board, the community, the property manager, and our team. We form one team, to develop a plan and work through this difficult situation TOGETHER. What a difference there is between a transactional relationship, where a service is simply provided to a client, and one that is truly relational! These folks are, in a sense, my family. My “family” is going through a hard time, and I have the opportunity to help them. Not as a lord over them: “Here’s the plan. You must obey it!” No! “We’re walking through this together. This is a collaborative effort, where everyone’s input and contributions are very weighty, needed, and meaningful.” The truth is, we can provide them a budget plan largely without their contributions with a great degree of accuracy, but there’s potential for the sense of “because we said so.” It would still serve its purpose. With their contributions though, it is leaps and bounds better, and they had their part in creating it. There’s a sense of ownership among all.

Isn’t that the heart of God for His Body? As “partakers of a heavenly calling,”1 we are truly walking through life together in the Lord. And that was in the opening lines of the recent post (“Full of Sap and Very Green”). Our walk together with our Lord is as partakers of His sufferings, fellow-sufferers together, enduring hardships individually and corporately by and through the Holy Spirit. What depth of meaning and reality this gives to “He is able to come to the aid of those who are suffering because He Himself has been tempted.”2 And “Come boldly to the throne of grace that you may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”3 We are one Body by the Holy Spirit, under the headship of the Head, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The opening lines of Hebrews chapter 5 speak of the earthly priest and how they could sympathize with the weaknesses of men because they themselves were “beset with weakness.” Yet, they could never do more than appease the guilt of sin through offerings ”year after year.”4 But Christ is the perfect “once for all” offering. The One who shared in all of our hardships and sufferings, having endured them perfectly, offered the perfect sacrifice, not only for sins, but is the One who perfectly provides HIS LIFE as the glorious and full “answer!”

After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. – Hebrews 10:8-10

This loving and obedient sacrifice began “when Christ came into the world,”5 it encompassed every day of His life, was beautifully expressed in John 17, and found its consummation in “It is finished.”6 It is not only complete, loving dependence and obedience we see and hear when our Lord said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”7 This is the crucified life in reality!

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:5-11

His invitation to take up our cross, deny ourselves, and follow Him includes active and loving participation with Him in His comprehensive and eternal plan. Shall a child be miraculously conceived only to remain in embryonic form? Miraculous? Yes! Complete? No!

May God grant us His eyes to see and His ears to hear, “all that God has prepared for those who love Him!”8

At the end of the presentation and Q&A, one of the community members (whom I had noticed by his body language at the beginning was negative) said, “I came here tonight to oppose this and give you and everyone a hard time. But after hearing everything, I think this is great, and we need this so badly.” With this, a couple of ladies simultaneously said, “Aww.”

There is a picture of the heart of Jacob (and of us all apart from God’s grace): conniving and resisting, but gloriously coming out of that fight walking with a limp and bearing a new name (”God prevails”). In other words, there’s good surrendered ground God can work with! Though death once reigned, we now “reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”9

Hallelujah!

So, whatever we do, may it all be done in the name of the Lord, “to the glory of God the Father.” How utterly thankful we are that the “ministry of life”10 isn’t formal or something taught in a classroom or at a convention. Even the “prayer room” must translate into everyday life, by “the surpassing riches of His grace.” The ministry of life is the life of Christ alive in our hearts by an active and living faith through the power and Person of the Holy Spirit. It is the overflow of the One Who is alive in our hearts Who forms this ministry (His ministry) in daily life. “It is Him we proclaim” by the Spirit, with or without words, to our friends and family, our coworkers and clients, or to the cashier at the grocery store.

Lord, we know it. Now help us to live it by Your grace.

Walking with you.

Much love,
Eric

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
– Jude 1:24-25