Loving People Just the Way They Are

One of the keys to successful ministry is the ability to love people just as they are, all the while holding out hope for a better life. We don't hold that hope because we are somehow better but because we have begun to taste what it might be and want others to share in it as well.

We can only do that as we begin seeing people through God's eyes and depending on God's strength to treat people the same way He does. Sometimes it becomes all to easy to see other people's faults and become discouraged with them for being people with faults. At the same time we have this wonderful ability to be quite oblivious to our own faults.

Thankfully that is not how God sees people, particularily Christians. Isaiah 66:18 says, "I know their works and their thoughts." O my, does that thought scare you? He knows all that I think and do. Yet he still loves me.

Listen to the words of James Montgomery Boice as he describes how God sees us:

“We get discouraged in the Christian Life, and with good cause. We take a step forward and fall a half step back. We succeed once, but then we fail twice. We overcome temptation, but we also fall in temptation, sometimes over and over again. We say, “Oh, I’m not making progress at all. I’m doing worse this year than last year. God must be discouraged with me.” But God is not discouraged with us. That is the point. God knows everything. So while it is true that he is fully aware of our failures and victories, few as the victories may be, he is also aware of far more than that. He is aware of what we will one day be when by his grace we are fully conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. It is a sure thing. So we should take confidence in that, even though the discouragements are many and real. We have a great destiny; in its light all the vaunted achievements of our age and our personal achievements fade into virtual insignificance." (Foundations of the Christian Faith, page 140)

Now listen to what God says in Romans 8:29-30 says: "For from the very beginning God decided that those who came to him (and all along he knew who would) should become like his Son, so that his Son would be the First, with many brothers. And having chosen us, he called us to come to him; and when we came, he declared us "not guilty," filled us with Christ's goodness, gave us right standing with himself, and promised us his glory." The Living Bible

Are you glad today that God knows you completely? Faults and all?

For further thought: Why do we try and hide from the God who knows all about us? Are we critical of others because of our own disappointment with ourselves? Maybe we need to first see ourselves as God sees us before we can see others the way God sees them. Read Romans 8.

Jesus, Paul and Life to Life Ministry

What is at the heart of ‘Life to Life Ministry’? These two ideas: At the heart of Christianity is relationships and Christianity is a ‘go to them’ religion. Of course we are assuming that at Christianity's very core is the person and work of Jesus Christ. But how does it work out in everyday life? How does the message of the love of God come to others? Karen and I have always used ‘Life to Life’ approach to seeing that happen. ‘Life to Life Ministry’ is simply two lives shared together with the hope of sharing Christ’s life together. Let’s look at these two components from Scripture and then bring them together.

 Christianity is a relational religion. I don't like using the word 'religion' because that causes people to think of buildings and ministries and do's and don'ts. Christianity is first and foremost about a person, Jesus Christ and the relationships we have with him and others. Listen to what Jesus said were the two most important commands, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40)

And again, when Jesus describes what eternal life is like he said, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." (John 17:3-4) Eternity is not first about a place nor is it some future event; it is first about a relationship. At the heart of any relationship is what you know and understand about a person. At the heart of eternal life is our relationship with God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. That word ‘know’ is a word with deep meaning. It includes the idea of knowledge born from experience with someone. There is an intimacy included in it. This is not some head knowledge, the ability to site correct facts about God. This is intimate personal knowledge of God born out of both our experience with God and what we learn about God from the Word.

Christianity is secondly a 'go' religion, not a 'come' religion. By that I mean we are meant to go to where the people are and minister to them there. We are not to expect people to come to us or come to our churches or ministries. We are to take the grace and love of God to them. All the encouragements from Jesus are to go: "I will make you fishers of men" (Mark 1:17), "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matt 28:19) and "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8) I don't know about you, but when I have fished, I need to go to where the fish are, they don't come to my house on their own. One time a fish did jump into the boat I was in, but even then, we had gone to where the fish where.

Jesus is the best example of this. He left Heaven's glory to come to earth where we are.
"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us." (Matt 1:23). The story of the Bible ends with this thought, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” (Rev 21:3) Life shared together. God with us, us with God. It will be awesome. If you aren’t prepared for relationships, you aren’t prepared for Christ.

Even when we see Jesus in action, he went to where the people were that He wanted to minister to. Jesus was raised as a carpenter. Do you know how many carpentry stories there are in the Gospels? Only one and that involved a hammer, some nails and a cross. But many of the stories from His ministry take place in boats. Why? Well for one thing, many of the men that Jesus was discipling were fishermen. So we see stories of Jesus walking on water, Peter trying that too with mixed results, Jesus calming the stormy seas from a boat, Jesus teaching from a boat, Jesus travelling from here to there in a boat and more. It is quite natural to expect to find Jesus in boats precisely because the lives of the people He reached out to revolved around boats.

That is not to say that Jesus does not invite people to come. He frequently does. But that is a spiritual invitation to enter into a relationship with Christ. That is an invitation to faith in Him, to unburden oneself on Him and to follow him. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." To those fishermen He said, "Come, follow me." (Mark 1:17) Yet Jesus had ‘come’ to them in order to give them an invitation to ‘come and follow’ Him.

When we look at the Apostle Paul, we see a similiar pattern. He travelled all over the Middle East, Asia and southern Europe to be with the people. When he entered a town, he searched for where the people were and went there. One day you find him in a Jewish synagogue teaching there. Another day, he's in the market place among small business owners. Another day, he's at the local intellectual society debating them there. Wherever the people are, that's where Paul wanted to be.

We read this interesting description of Paul's ministry in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23: "I have freely and happily become a servant of any and all so that I can win them to Christ. When I am with the Jews I seem as one of them so that they will listen to the Gospel and I can win them to Christ. When I am with Gentiles who follow Jewish customs and ceremonies I don't argue, even though I don't agree, because I want to help them. When with the heathen I agree with them as much as I can, except of course that I must always do what is right as a Christian. And so, by agreeing, I can win their confidence and help them too. When I am with those whose consciences bother them easily, I don't act as though I know it all and don't say they are foolish; the result is that they are willing to let me help them. Yes, whatever a person is like, I try to find common ground with him so that he will let me tell him about Christ and let Christ save him. I do this to get the Gospel to them and also for the blessing I myself receive when I see them come to Christ." (The Living Bible)

There is much to say about this passage. Let me share just a few thoughts. It's important to understand what Paul is and is not saying here. He is talking about being with people, where they are. He is also talking about fitting into their lifestyles wherever and whenever possible. In other words, he adapted himself to blend in with the people he ministered to. What Paul did not do is compromise his beliefs or practices to do that. When he blended in with those who were without any Godly morals in their life, he still lived under the Law of Christ. He never sinned in order to reach sinners. He never compromised his principles. He did adapt, he did modify his behavior and speech to the degree that he could in order to meet them in their world. He tried to ‘find common ground.’ So to the Jews he seemed like a Jew only a little different because of Christ. To those who weren't Jews, he seemed like them except a little different because of Christ. He always did this with an eye towards sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with them.

That is 'Life to Life' ministry in a nutshell. Go to where they are; don't expect them to come to you. Be a part of their lives whenever possible and let them be a part of yours as well. Always hold out the hope that together you might share Christ's life together. It's relationships with a purpose. Remember Paul's words, "I do this to get the Gospel to them and also for the blessing I myself receive when I see them come to Christ."

Life to Life Ministry: it's natural, it's organic, it's normal, and it’s God's way.

Life to Life ministry allows us to live out and example who Christ is for people. It gives a face to the Christian message. It gives credibility to that message when people see us living out Christ in our lives in normal life settings. It also creates the spiritual opportunities for us to speak to others about Christ. Life to Life ministry is not only being an example, it’s also about speaking about Christ to people. It simply allows and creates the opportunity for you and I to do both of those things: live it and speak it.

There is much more to say about doing this. My latest list of applications from our experience living out 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 is up to 25 principles. But I will save that for another day.

Further Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:19-23; 1 Peter 3:13-17