MINISTRY BASICS SERIES Lesson 2
In our last lesson we said that the beginning point of ministry is in the Holy Spirit who empowers us and teaches us the things of Jesus. The Holy Spirit administrates all things that belong to Jesus. All ministry points to Jesus “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. . .” (Romans 11:36 NASB)
Everything requires a reference point. The reference point establishes a place to begin and a place to which you can refer when you get off course. Where we place our reference point in the purposes of God is determined by where we have our viewpoint. Our viewpoint is how we perceive spiritual reality, which was twisted when Adam and Eve disobeyed and their perception of reality changed.
[For further study of how our perspective changed see the Sept. 2006 issue of Present Truth, “With Open Eyes” and for a deeper understanding of spiritual reality see Lesson 7 of the Spiritual Reality Series, “Three Dimensional Reality”]
We can set our viewpoint in a number of places. Some are better than others but the only true viewpoint is that of the Father. Jesus came to do the will of the Father and He only did what He saw His Father doing. All that Jesus did was from the viewpoint of the Father and His purpose.
If we are to minister in the Name of Jesus then we must have the same viewpoint as Jesus. Anything less than that will not produce the desired results nor accomplish the purpose of the Father. We begin our work based on where we set our viewpoint.
Those who begin with the creation of Adam emphasize the “dominion of man” because man was created to “rule over” the rest of creation. The emphasis of their work is on man regaining his dominion.
Those who begin with the fall of man emphasize man's sin and depravity. Their emphasis is man's need of redemption. Their work is closely related to those who begin with Jesus' death on the cross, emphasizing man's need for a savior and His provision by His death.
Wrong viewpoints present ongoing problems. If we start at the wrong place, our progress is off course and it is impossible to correct because we have no proper reference point for coordination.
Starting at the wrong viewpoint results in these three critical ministry problems:
Developing a false reference point because of a wrong beginning point. Our coordination point becomes something less than the primary purpose of the Father.
Replacing the big picture with a lesser picture—taking the part for the whole. We develop nearsightedness and a narrow view of the purposes of God.
Procedures become wrong because we started at a wrong point. Our progress is off course and we have no correct point of coordination to correct our course.
Our viewpoint, our beginning point can be
1. with creation
2. with man
3. with the fall, or
4. with the Eternal Purpose of God.
To realize God's purpose we must correct our viewpoint problem.
By establishing our understanding of the true point of reference in Jesus
By seeing the whole of God's intended purpose that was in Him before the foundation of the world
By discovering the point of coordination in the eternal purpose of God.
We have to start with God's purpose in order to understand His ways. It is God's desire that we understand His ways because He desires for us to cooperate with Him in His work. Some of our problems today are because the Church is more interested in His acts than in His ways. That is the mark of the immature.
He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. (Psalms 103:7 NASB)
Our starting point in God determines all basic concepts of our understanding of the ways of God. Since the present viewpoint of the Church is centered in Man, his need and God's provision, we produce man-centered basic concepts.
1. Liberal concept—emphasizes work that needs to be done by man
2. Fundamentalist concept—understanding what God has done for man
3. Holiness concept—emphasis on what God must do in man.
Each of these concepts is good and can produce some good things in our lives. However, each is only a part of the whole. We need to get a grasp on the whole.
How do we do that? We must begin in God and His Eternal purpose.
He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him (Ephesians 1:9-10 NASB)
For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. (Hebrews 2:10 NASB)
It is God's intention to bring many sons to glory, summing them up in Christ. Christ is to become the center of all things in Heaven and earth. The many sons become His body, revealing the glory of God to all things.
We have a paternal theme presented as the motivating factor for the works of God. This is the revelation of the New Covenant. Under the Old Covenant, the people of God saw Him as God but were so afraid of Him that they would not speak His name in case they would use it incorrectly. However, Jesus came to show us the Father—to reveal the paternal nature of God.
"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him." Philip *said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus *said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. (John 14:7-11 NASB)
"These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. "In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. "I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father." (John 16:25-28 NASB)
Our beginning point has to be the paternal theme, the Father heart of God, or we will misrepresent the intention of God to men. As Jesus showed, the Father's heart is directly tied to His work.
Because it was the Father's intention to bring many sons to glory, He made a way for us to become sons of God.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, (John 1:12 NASB)
This is the very meaning of “being born again”. We are born of the Spirit and thus become children of God.
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, (Romans 8:14-16 NASB)
Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. (Galatians 4:6-7 NASB)
And because we are His Sons we must present to the world the same characteristics of the Father that Jesus presented.
so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, (Philippians 2:15 NASB)
The love of the Father is revealed to us in that we should be called the sons of God. That love works in us to produce the family characteristics of the Father. We participate in a form of Divine Genetics so that when He appears we will be like Him. In other words, we should be recognized by the Family resemblance.
See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. (1 John 3:1-2 NASB)
Therefore, our starting point, our reference point, is with the paternal theme—God as our Father and His intention to bring many sons to glory and sum them up in Christ Jesus. Because of that, He has a father's heart toward us.
So, from Him we have the revelation of the Father and the Father's heart. It is our point of reference. Through Him we have the rectification, the restitution, of all things. This is the whole of God's purpose. To Him we have the realization of God's eternal purpose. This is our point of coordination.
We must have a revelation of the Father in order to do the work of the Lord in order to bring rectification of all things to His purpose for the realization of all that God intends.
© 2002, 2009 Art Nelson www.lifestreamteaching.com