In what I hope to be a quick comeback to my absence here, I want to investigate a simplictic receipe to missional living, maybe just simply a reminder for one who follows Jesus (as to the ‘why’). I want to call it the triads of a missional life.
Paul often writes about these triads in his letters. They almost always appear to be the main ingredients (maybe the only ingredients) that make up of our following Jesus. Faith, Love, & Hope. These 3 themes resonnate with Jesus life, they ressonate with the birth of the church, they ressonate today with those who dare follow Jesus. I do not want to get into all of intricacies of them. But, I do want to get into a certain passage were Paul brings them up in a unique fashion. It is in this verse were one can find the ingredients to living a missional life.
“We continually remember before our God and Father your WORK produced by FAITH, your LABOR prompted by LOVE, and your ENDURANCE inspired by the HOPE in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:3).
Each triad is paired up with an action. It almost goes to show that each triad (more likely) produces that specific action, simply because it is in its exact nature to do so. Faith produces work, Love produces labor, hope produces endurance. So in a quick glance, let’s ponder the triads in action.
Work produced by Faith…We do what we do because of what we believe. A person follows Jesus because he/she believes something about Him. Following Jesus should never be produced by guilt, need, to receive affirmation by others, just because mindset, or out of selfish ambition. No. It should be motivated, inspired, and launched out of faith. Faith in Jesus and who He is and what He has done and does. What He says of us to do & to follow. We are compelled by that simple fact. We live the way we do because of faith. We do what we do and say what we say because of faith. But, it is imperative to always be grounded in the source of our faith, lest we work out of guilt, compulsion, just because menatality, or out of fear. Work produced by faith, this is the why we do what we do isn’t it? What other reason is there to live such a life? We need to be reminded of the why we do what we do. We need to be reminded of the who, who inspires us to follow or to work.
I would love to arrive at a place in my life where I am conciously aware of the “why” I do what I do. So often I forget. I just do it, I just go through the motions. Or even at times, I work because of an idea, not a fact. When I pray for another or a circumstance, is it motivated out of faith or an obligation or as a spiritual practice? When I meet with students on campus, do I talk to them about Scripture because I like to (which I do) or is it spawned out of faith knowing that they are encountering the living Messiah? You feeling me here? I want to be fully aware of why & what I am doing rather than simply doing it. I want to be able to say that all of my work is a product of my faith (i am sure at some levels I could), being fully aware of God in it. Wouldn’t that be beautiful?
Labor prompted by Love…This wording is perfect. The word labor surely defers from work. Labor makes me think of toil, sweat, sore muscles, being angry or annoyed at my task, but yet forced to continue. Labor and work both have the same end, but motivation in work and motivation in labor are surely different. That is the point. Labor prompted by love. Diligent, persistent, long hours, little rest, a selfless pursuit. The motivation for missional labor is love. God’s love. In fact Paul writes about this same in idea in Corinthians speaking how “God’s love compels us…”. We are convinced that Jesus labored (yet with joy set before Him) in love and so we do too. Why? Because people matter to God so people should matter to us who follow.
Have you ever had a person in your life whom it was difficult to love, difficult to spend time with? For one reason or another? We all have a person like that at least once in our lives. Parents? Children? Roommates? Spouse? Friends in a funk and all you want to say is “Get over it!” Someone who calls you at 3am because of some issue. Someone who interrupts your day with some unexpected stuff that to you seems simple but to them complex? (maybe it is just me being a jerk…ha) To love is labor. Imagine, reaching to homeless or to the poor, abused children, juvenile delinquents…The time and energy it takes. The selfless it takes. Our labor must be prompted by love, but also beyond that, the root is important to have also. God’s love compels us. God has been patient with us. God labors out of love.
Endurance inspired by the Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ…There is a reason for folllowing Jesus! There is a point! The work gets tough, when we feel like we can’t love anymore, a quick glance at Jesus inspires us to endure. But there is more than simple endurance in this ingredient. The word Hope. What is the point of that? Well, what is the point of work produced by faith? What is the point of laboring in Love? Isn’t it to inspire change, a new way of life, a renewed center? Isn’t Jesus the only way to do that? When we glance at Jesus, we are reminded that He endured to the end because He believed that His death and resurrection was the only way to reconcile humans to God, to build His kingdom of earth, to re-establish what has been lost. When it got hard, he endured because of this hope. When we glance at Jesus we are reminded of the work and labor that has been poured into us and we remember how we have been changed. When we glance at Jesus, we remember the why we do what do. When we glance at Jesus, we remember how He lived, how He talked, and how He believed in us against all hope. So, hope gives us the strength to endure, but its constant source is Jesus. We love because of Jesus. We work because of Jesus. We toil because of Jesus. We endure because of Jesus, even with those people who it seems to be taking forever to change.
Faith…Love…Hope….Work…Labor…Endure
Ingredients to a missional life.
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