Authentic ministry is not simply a matter of mastering professional skills or of endlessly pouring oneself out in works of service. Rather, it springs from joyful union with the heart of Christ. The following quotes are from Michael Reeves’ Authentic Ministry: Serving from the Heart.
- “Sometimes we find ourselves tiring of Jesus, imagining that we have seen all there is to see and used up all the pleasure there is to be had in him. We get spiritually bored. But Jesus has satisfied the mind and heart of the infinite God for eternity. Our boredom is simple blindness. If the Father can be infinitely and eternally satisfied in him, then he must be overwhelmingly all-sufficient for us—in every situation, for all eternity. And that’s why the gospel is not lacking, because he is not lacking.”
- “The cross is the message that brings the dead to life, and the message that enlivens all—the spiritually sluggish as well. Christians who want to grow in holiness and Christians who have grown apathetic; unbelievers and those unsure about their spiritual state: all find change of heart at the cross. That is why the gospel we proclaim to our people, to the world—and, most of all, to ourselves—must be a cross-shaped and cross-centered gospel.”
- “For our health, our joy, and our fellowship, … we must take up arms against the insidious idea that we have any identity—any background, ability, or status—more basic or more essential than that of being crucified with Christ and sharing the Son’s own life together before the Father.”
- “Friends, let us be clear: the life-breath of Christianity, of healthy churches, is not our talent, or even our hard work. It is prayer: active dependence upon God.”
- “Every molecule in the universe moves at God’s command. There is no power, no authority, outside his control. He is not worried by a pandemic or a crisis: he has it on a chain, and he uses it for his glory. So when you come to him in prayer, come boldly to your Father, and come confidently, for he reigns over all.”
- “Warm and hearty friendship is the highest form of fellowship. It is an anticipation of what fellowship will be like in heaven. It is partnership, allying together in warm, rich, personal appreciation. This sort of fellowship testifies to a friendly, personal God and an eternal hope where all the fellowship involves true and holy delight.”
- “Friendship opens our eyes to the qualities and beauties in our friends.”
- “What we pass through will make no sense and will most assuredly incline us to despair unless the Word of God is a lamp to our feet in the darkness. Only when Scripture shapes our response to suffering can we profit from it and grow in Christian liberty and Christlikeness.”
- “If we forget that we are justified by faith through grace, every trial becomes a double trial; we increase our suffering as we wonder if God hates us. We take on burdens that we were never meant to carry.”
- “Being a good theologian is not primarily about intellectual ability or about a list of academic credentials. Christian theology is, as Anselm famously put it, faith seeking understanding, and therefore the qualification for being a good theologian is faith in Jesus Christ, the revealing Word.”
