THE CENTRAL IDEA

Over the past two weeks I have introduced you to the approach that I am taking in my study (integrating doctrine, experience and practice) and its underlying concern (the spiritual character of Christian ministry). This week I want to share with you its central idea.

Stated briefly it is this: We need a real communication of life from Jesus to accomplish the work he has for us to do.

The first thing to note in this is the idea that there is a communication of life from Jesus to his followers. This is implied in the allegory of the branches and the vine discussed briefly last week (John 15:1-17). Cut off from the vine, Jesus told his disciples, branches perish. That’s because they derive their life from the rest of the vine – from the sap that rises from the roots and flows on upwards through the stock to the rest of the plant. Branches need to remain in the vine because they get their life from the vine.

Jesus used the image of food and drink to teach the same thing. “I tell you the truth,” he said to a stunned audience on one occasion, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you... For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink” (John 6:53, 55). To drive his point home he continued, “Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me” (v. 57). The thrust of what he is saying is clear even if some of his terms (“eating”, “drinking”, “flesh”, and “blood”) raise questions in our minds. He is the source of his disciples’ life (nothing less than eternal life), and they can only receive this from him.

Second, the life we receive from Jesus is real in the sense of being substantial and not simply an idea. Something happens in us as a result of receiving this life; we are changed people, able to do things that we couldn’t on our own. Indeed, there is a whole new realm of existence that opens to us as a result of this “life from above” (see John 3:5, 7; 1 Corinthians 2:14, 15).

I suspect that many of us know little about this in our experience, and that therein is a great part of our problem in Christian life and ministry. To most of us, this “life from Jesus” belongs solely to the “spiritual” domain, a realm of mystery beyond our comprehension and intelligent experience. In effect, it is little more than a concept, a highly appealing concept, but one that isn’t part of our everyday existence. And as long as that is the case, it is unlikely to influence the way we approach Christian life and ministry.

Not only is this life from Jesus real, it is also necessary. That’s the point Jesus made so emphatically when he told his disciples, “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). In saying this he wasn’t denying that they could eat and drink and perform routine daily tasks – or even attempt gospel activities – without his “life”. But he was saying that they wouldn’t be able to bear the fruit he intended them to bear without it. Put another way, they wouldn’t be able to accomplish the work of God, or be channels of his power among men (1 Corinthians 3:5-9). Without his life in them they would simply be working in the strength of human flesh.

Interestingly, the Westminster Confession of Faith contains a definitive statement of this idea in its chapter on Good Works (Chapter XVI). The ability of believers to do such works, the Confession states, “is not at all of themselves, but wholly from the Spirit of Christ. And that they may be enabled thereunto, beside the graces they have already received, there is required an actual influence of the Holy Spirit, to work in them to will, and to do, of His good pleasure” (XVI: 3, emphasis added). It goes on to add that this doesn’t give us reason to grow “negligent”, or to refuse to perform clear duties “unless upon some special motion of the Spirit.” But the point remains that all truly “good works” (the very stuff of Christian ministry) are the result of the life of Christ in us through his Spirit.

Here, then, is the central idea in my study. In developing it we will explore a range of connected topics, but at heart, this is where we are going. We will try to understand more of the nature of the life that Christ imparts to us, how we receive it, and how we respond to it. In doing so it is my hope that we will come to a better appreciation of the spiritual dynamics of the Christian life, and in doing so, be able more consistently to engage in genuinely spiritual ministry.