I have been reading a book recently by a great Chinese pastor named Watchman Nee. The book is called Christ the Sum of All Spiritual Things. It is a small unassuming book that you can read in one or two sittings, but it is packed with some earth shaking thoughts about what it means to be in relationship with Christ. I want to quote a few short paragraphs that led me to think about the way I minister to kids and families. I’ve been considering how I revolve my life and ministry around Jesus more and more over the last several years and this just helped me to move my thinking to a different level.
Living Christianity (as opposed to Dead Christianity) Has Only One Person
Probably you will ask me, Why do you lay such stress on this point? Because here lies the difference between living Christianity and dead Christianity. The distance between these two ways is incalculable. One is spiritual, while the other is not spiritual. One is of God, but the other is of man’s invention. Let me say this: that when you have studied God’s word carefully, you will discover that in the Bible there is only a Person, not a thing. And that Person is the Lord Jesus. You cannot find anything except that Person.
A colossal problem exists among God’s children today. The Christianity which they know is quite fragmentary. You obtain a little grace, I receive a little gift, and he speaks a little tongue. This man experiences some change in his conduct, that man possesses some measure of love; this one has patience, that one has humility. This is what is commonly known as Christianity. But is this Christianity? It is not, for Christianity is Christ. Christianity is not reward, neither is it what Christ gives to me. Christianity is none other than Christ himself.
Do you perceive the difference? These are two totally divergent ways. Christianity is not any one thing which Christ gives to me; Christianity is Christ giving himself to me. Here is the problem, that people consider today’s Christianity to be the endowment of Christ. When I was a sinner, Christ endowed me with grace and mercy. Now that I have become a Christian, He endows me with patience and humility and gentleness and whatever. But this is just not so.
So let me pose a few questions to all of you ministry leaders out there:
- First of all, are you giving your people Jesus? Is he the centerpiece of your ministry?
- Are you teaching people to do better, thereby seeking to grow in their own righteousness, or leading them to grow in their relationship to the person of Jesus Christ.
- Are you focusing more on the “gifts” Christ provides rather than Christ being the gift Himself?
- Is your Bible teaching thoroughly Christ-centered? Do the people under your teaching know that the end of Scripture is the supremacy of Christ?
I’d love to hear your thoughts, convictions and testimonies on this one. Please leave a comment and let the discussion roll!
