We’ve seen in this brief series on how God speaks that God has and is utilizing many different ways to communicate with humanity. These include God speaking in creation, in our personhood, in our conscience and in the Bible. All of this communication, however, is impossible for humanity to understand without one person: the Holy Spirit.
God Speaks by His Spirit
Humanity is spiritually dead and separated from God. Apart from the Spirit of God enlightening a person’s heart, none of this communication can be perceived for what it is: that of a holy and personal God reaching out to sinful people.
Those of us who are reading this and who are Christians remember the “Aa!” moment when suddenly, everything fell into place. The gospel became very clear, we understood our need, we saw why Christ had to die for us, the resurrection suddenly made sense…and we responded by putting our faith in Christ! That process was the work of the Spirit. The Apostle Paul describes what happened to us this way in 1 Corinthians 2:12-14:
What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. (Emphasis mine.)
This enlightening work of the Spirit is ongoing in our Christian lives. The Spirit helps us understand and apply God’s Word in our lives daily. In addition, the Spirit leads us to say and do things to and for people. I’ve felt this “burdening” of the Spirit many times in my Christian life and I’m sure you have too. The Spirit also makes it possible for every believer to have an ongoing conversation with God moment by moment, day by day. The Bible calls this “fellowship”: “Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:3). While there are many other things the Spirit does for the believer, the Spirit’s ministry of enlightening the believer is definitely one of the most important.
Besides the Spirit, there are, in fact, many other ways God speaks to the world and to believers. But this series is getting long and I want to get to the reason why I started it in the first place. And that reason has to do with – you got it – men’s team ministry to the widowed and single parents.
Men, did you know that when you go out and serve a widow or single mom with your team that you are being used by God to communicate to unbelievers? It’s true. Here is how God is doing it.
God Speaks in the Love Christians Have for Each Other
I want to introduce you to two people. I’m going to call them Stranger A and Stranger B. Stranger A and Stranger B have just become Christians and have joined the same church. Now God wants to do something very special with Stranger A and Stranger B. What God wants to do is teach them how to love each other. In fact, he wants to teach Stranger A and Stranger B how to love each other so well that they will be willing to lay down their lives for each other. Then God wants to show off Stranger A and Stranger B to the world. God wants to use Stranger A and Stranger B to communicate something very dramatic: that he has invaded the world with his Son, Jesus Christ. Here’s how Jesus communicated this vision to his disciples in John 13:34-35:
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (Emphasis mine.)
Any of you who have been through my seminar may remember me saying, “God has hardwired the entire human race to recognize when it is in the presence of the love of Christ.” In other words, the love we Christians have for each other is a primary way that God is communicating to the human race today.
Jesus not only communicated this vision to his disciples in John 13, he also prayed for it to his Father in John 17:
I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-23, Emphasis mine.)
Men, you are the Stranger A’s and Stranger B’s in my parable. You were put on teams with other men you may not have known. Then you were assigned to a widow or single mom you probably knew little about. And now you are serving your care receiver out in public. You are faithfully identifying with your care receiver, committing to your care receiver, and sacrificing for your care receiver month after month, year after year. And your care receiver’s neighbors, friends and relatives are taking notice. You are doing exactly what Jesus commanded us to do.
Look around you, men. God is communicating to the world in so many different ways. But the primary way God is communicating to the world now is through believers like you, believers who love each other the way Christ loved us, and loves us still.
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
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Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom
and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.
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