Acts 16:9-10: Dig In, Eyes Up

During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. - Acts 16:9-10

Sections of the Bible like this can be frustrating. Wouldn't it be nice to have dreams that gave clear directions? Three times in five verses, Paul is given direct, clear guidance: avoid Asia, avoid Bythnia, go to Macedonia. My dreams tend to be more mundane, more confusing and certainly never mention the Mediterranean.

• I wish my calling was clear. Instead I am left wondering whether my nudges from the Holy Spirit are genuine or else the result of my own wishful, selfish thinking. The upside is, I have to think about it a lot. 
• I wish my calling was dramatic. Instead I am usually guided to reconcile with my wife, support someone in need or even do a U-turn to help push a car into a parking lot.
• I wish my calling were more "spiritual". Paul got guidance to "preach the gospel to them". My calling usually brings me into tough work situations or caring about what my neighbor is telling me of his life.

I have concluded that the reason that I haven't heard God's voice or dreamed God's dream is not because I am blind or insensitive, but because-through a thousand hints and nudges-he is calling me to stay, grow, wait and watch. There seems to be this pattern: flourish where you are planted, but be ready to move when God moves. Sometimes, we are not digging in, sometimes we don't have our eyes up in expectation. There is a balance.

Jesus' parable in Luke 12 shows the foolish manager who was running the master's estate while hte master is on other business. This manager expects nothing will ever change-that the master will never return-and abuses his position of trust and "the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of." (vs. 46) The manager was not expecting anything to change, which led him (or her) to be lax in the day-to-day responsibilities.

When talking to the Thessalonian church, Paul tells believers who are caught up in God's next big move to settle down and flourish. The believers eyes were up-watchful for Christ's return-leading them to not dig in with their day-to-day calling. So Paul had to say:

...make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. - 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

So my calling is clear: I'm called to dig in and keep my eyes up. My calling is dramatic: but it is in the part of the story that occurs between chapters or after the period but before the start of the next sentence. My calling is spiritual-but I am not always the one with a speaking role. Sometimes I'm earning the respect and living God's hope and provoking questions by the way I follow Jesus.

Acts 16: The Every Member Gospel Ministry

Tim Keller, in his book Center Church, talks about what he calls "every-member gospel ministry"(p. 280). We want every member of our churches to be ministers, but we also tend to place rather severe limitations of what that ministry can look like and still be "ministry". When we think to "equip his [Jesus'] people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up" (Eph. 4:12) we imagine better Sunday services, outreach campaigns, childrens' programs or Bible studies.

But consider my 24/6 life. That's the life I spend outside of church functions. What if my ministry exists there? Is the church equipping me to extend the kingdom of God in and through my job, family and community? And what does ministry look like there?

Keller notes four characteristics typical of this every-member gospel ministry:

• Organic. It happens spontaneously, outside of the church's organized programs (even though it occasionally makes use of formal programs).
• Relational. It is done in the context of informal personal relationships.
• Word deploying. It prayerfully brings the Bible and gospel into connection with people's lives.
• Active, not passive. Each person assumes personal responsibility for being a producer rather than just a consumer of ministry; 

The church is the enabler for such gospel ministry, giving truth and direction and resources (what I call air/food/water) and networking (aka fellowship). Some of my previous blog articles have reflected on the church as a ministry incubator. These ministries are gospel-targeted, and designed to welcome people into some form of community where they have regular, sustained contacts with multiple believers so they "come to understand the character of God, sin and grace. Many of their objections are answered through this process. Because they are 'on the inside' and involved in ongoing relationships with Christians, they can imagine themselves as Christians and see how faith fleshes out in real life" (p. 281)

The book of Acts contains numerous examples of ministry sprouting gospel wings from the household (oikos) of new believers. Most of these examples have been used to justify house churches (in my experience), but Keller here uses them as a model for churches to consult in enabling every-member gospel ministry. In Acts 16, Lydia's home and the jailer's home become became a "ministry center in which the gospel was taught to all the household's members and neighbors." (p. 278) Likewise in Acts 17:5, Acts 18:7, Acts 21:8 and 1 Corinthians 1:16, 16:15.

So my 24/6 life is ministry. It is active, not passive. It is Word [truth] deploying. It is relational. And it happens mostly outside of my church's organized program.  Does it replace church? No, church is huddle, the respite where we take a breath and get our next play. Life is where we carry out that play to advance to the goal.