Equipped!

Mark Dunagan
01/02/11 - Sunday Morning

Equipped!

Ever been told “You are not qualified”, “Leave it to the experts”, and “Don’t try this at home”? Good advice in some regards, and yet how heartening to open up the Bible and see a completely different message:

• Every Christian is a priest (1 Peter 2:9) who has been given “everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).
• When we are attentive to God’s word, we become adequately equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:17).
• “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Ephesians 2:10) and can effectively “engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs” (Titus 3:14).
• We can be involved in the grand work of “equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12) and “Teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ”(Colossians 1:28).

Who Got Stuff Done?

Look into the Bible and be inspired by the fact that ordinary members accomplished great things in the First Century church. It was members who:

• Met the pressing physical needs of their brothers and sisters in Christ: Acts 2:44; 4:34
• Evangelized the lost, spread the gospel and started new churches: Acts 8:4; 11:19-21

Competent? – Absolutely Yes!

• “Or do you not now that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, matters of this life?” (1 Corinthians 6:2-3)

In choosing Christ and eternal treasure over temporary gain, we, like Moses, have demonstrated ourselves more in touch with reality than the world (Hebrews 11:26). By laying up treasures in heaven, instead of upon the earth, we have demonstrated that we can assess and determine “true value” better than the world (Matthew 6:19-20). By choosing God’s ethics over the world’s, I have demonstrated that I can tell the difference between good and evil, truth and error, reality and a sham (Hebrews 5:14). In view of all of this, how can I ever say that I am not qualified to help someone with a spiritual or moral problem? In becoming a Christian and in remaining a faithful Christian, here is what we have all demonstrated:

• Objectivity
• Honesty
• An ability to see the big picture
• Willingness to do the hard things
• Unselfishness
• Critical Thinking
• Courage
• Moral Excellence
• Long-range thinking

• Independence

“Judge for Yourselves”:

• “I speak to wise men; you judge what I say.” (1 Corinthians 10:14)
• “Judge for yourselves.” (11:13)
• “How does it read to you?” (Luke 10:26)
• “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor?” (Luke 10:36)
• “What man shall there be among you?...” (Matthew 12:11)
• “Which is easier?...” (Mark 2:9)

In all these passages God is obviously not saying that our opinions are equal with Scripture or that He is even soliciting them. Rather, the inference is that God’s commands are always reasonable (1 John 5:3), and they will make sense to honest and fair minded people (Acts 17:11). Beyond that, God is treating us with respect, essentially communicating, “You can understand this”. “I am speaking to sensible people”. How do you like that? Rather than “Now, don’t try this at home” or “Leave Biblical interpretations to the experts”, God is encouraging us to use our intelligence. Jesus and Paul both knew that people can figure things out if they will only be humble, honest, and think over what has been revealed. Hence, we need to realize that God much higher expectations of us than we often tend to have even for ourselves. He expects us to be good interpreters, be someone that can explain eternal truths to the lost (1 Peter 3:15), restore the fallen (Galatians 6:1), to be someone who is expected to purify themselves (2 Corinthians 6:17) right down to the thoughts in our heart (James 4:8). God expects us to be someone who is able to worship and prepare ourselves to stand in the presence of a holy God (1 Peter 1:14), and be someone who is able to truly love (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

You Are A Priest

On a practical level, what this means is that if placed out in the middle of nowhere, or in a city without any faithful church, I should be able to start a congregation with the skills that God has given me in His revelation:

• I know what Scriptural worship looks like.
• I know the qualifications of elders and deacons and His practical and wise selection process.
• I know the lessons needed to convert the lost.
• I know the lessons that new converts will need.
• I know the questions to ask those wanting to place membership.
• I know how the body of Christ grows.
• I know what a healthy congregation looks like.

Take it Back!

“So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God” (1 Corinthians 3:21-23).

The Corinthians were wanting to choose between Peter, Paul or Apollos (1:10-12), and Paul explains that such choosing is completely unnecessary. All these men were merely serving the Corinthians, all of them were equally good, sound teachers. In addition, the Christian does not have to choose between life or death, for even death serves a useful purpose – it ushers us into a much better place (Philippians 1:21,23). Neither do I have to choose between the present or the future. I have great blessings in both places, and useful things to do.

Applications

• Don’t daydream your life away by always thinking about how great things will be “when...”. Look forward to the future, yet don’t miss the wonderful blessings in the present. Do not be like the world that longs for the weekend and dreads a Monday morning. Monday belongs to you to make as productive and enjoyable as possible!
• Nature belongs to you! The worldly may try to claim nature as their own, but the truth is the world is the Lord’s (Psalm 24:1), and He says it is the meek who will inherit it. Go out, Christian, and enjoy the world your God has made. Hike in the forests, raft the rivers, fish the streams, hunt the wilderness, watch His sunrises and sunsets, photograph God’s handiwork, camp with friends, smell the scents of the seasons.
• Music belongs to you! Remember the lyrics in songs that express eternal truths and share them with others (Acts 17:28), use them to teach others and show them that the truths in the gospel are readily seen even by the world. When you encounter a song with a great score, but lousy lyrics, then rewrite it yourself, make up your own words and reclaim that melody for God.
• Movies belong to you. Re-discover movies that reinforce biblical truths. Take movies lines that use them to make a biblical point. If you watched a movie in the past and it had a lousy ending, or something spoiled it, then rework it in your mind. See the actual beauty and what could have made it better, re-do the ending, fix the plot – and then learn the lesson. That is the way every human life is. Every life can change, the ending does not have to be a sad one.
• Reclaim the beauty in this world. “All beauty comes from God. Satan and his proxies in the film business twist this for their own ends, but the important thing to understand is that they are obliged to start what is good before they can create anything at all. That is to say, Satan has never had an original idea. He is not able to make lusts except by distorting true loves” (Andree Seu).
• Reclaiming so-called moral dilemmas: Look at the story again that might have tripped you up years ago and see how it was “rigged from the beginning” to get you to root for a sinful outcome. Go back mentally into that high school or college class room, and see through the deception, observing how the cards were marked in advance to instill unbelief and to glamorize sin. Realize all the onslaughts you have survived. Use your experience to give the next generation a heads up, by sharing your experience with them, expose the deception (Ephesians 5:11). Be the warrior that helps younger warriors survive the grand battle.
• Reclaim your hurts and heartaches and all your bad memories: Remember God was hurting as you were hurting. Understand how such things often moved you closer to God, and be grateful that He loved you enough to allow you to suffer for your good and the difference you can now make in other’s lives. Be there for people who are going through such things today, offer the advice that maybe you did not receive at the time, be available, and be that someone in whom people in crisis can confide.

Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net