As believers, one of our prime privileges is to minister Christ, but what is it to minister Christ?

To effectively minister Jesus to a dying and sickened world, I think we can do a lot worse than consider Jesus statement about himself.

“I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father apart by me”

Our Jesus is not a divided soul, sometimes being way, sometimes being truth and sometimes being life. He is wholly the way, the truth and the life and as we minister the whole Jesus I trust we will see the fruit of the lost coming back to the Father.

The world is fallen and cruel, infecting, wounding and destroying in many ways. The truth diagnoses the malady, the way dresses the wound and the life heals and restores. If in an attempt to minister Jesus we only minister truth in isolation we leave our victim alone and acutely aware of their condition. If we minister the way in isolation we establish dependants who are care hungry but lack the ability to leave the ministry nest and fly for themselves. If we minister the life in isolation we tend to powerfully impact the obvious shortcomings but never really fully disciple out of the nature of sin and into the nature of Christ.

Ministering Christ in the order he has revealed himself on the other hand is a wholly different thing. Front-ending ministry with the way builds trust and a firm relational foundation for all that Jesus has. This was how Jesus ministered. He was led by the spirit we know but he unpacked this broad statement further. He only did what he saw the Father doing. If we ask the question “Lord what are you doing with…?” then we are in a position to move out on the way Jesus is operating. We need to restrain our religious inclinations to defend truth. Truth needs no defence. It stands tall and secure amidst a world of lies. We are ministers of truth not defenders of truth. It is a twisting of scripture to justify this course with “be prepared to give an account for what you believe”. To be prepared is to know what you believe, inside out and to be sure of it. The man prepared may never need to give an account but he is prepared. If the need arises he is prepared and if the spirit leads he may minister some of that which is prepared. Knee jerk defence is reactionary. This sort of person is prone to the enemy’s snares. Many tried to trap Jesus with words but He didn’t dance to their tune. Instead He created his own symphony that amazed every listener with a tender heart. When Jesus was faced with the woman caught in adultery He didn’t preach a message on what the bible teaches about adultery. He took time to see what Father was doing and what Father was doing was removing accusers. This is what He spoke into-“let he who is without sin cast the first stone” . Once the society’s accusation had been banished he started ministering Truth, starting with truth that ministered to the core of her condition. ”Neither do I condemn”addressed the weight of her alienation and further cements the relationship. Then Jesus addresses the most obvious manifestation of her condition, the outward sin. The statement“go and sin no more” is more than an instruction. It is a declaration of life and impartation of power as He sets the woman free to live in victorious resurrection life.

Any methodology breaks down eventually but to think on Jesus the way the truth and the life cannot be a bad thing as we endeavour to minister Him to a lost and dying world.