What a treasure for those looking for a passage to build their life upon or to start a church upon!
First, as a result of the New Covenant which was inaugurated by Jesus and finds life daily through the Holy Spirit; we “renounce disgraceful, underhanded ways” (v2). Based upon the grace of God we should not act disgracefully, pretty straight forward. Rather, we should act graciously and above board with everyone, especially those in need. This is what community is all about.
Second, we should “refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word” (v3). Ministry is should not be about the latest trend nor built upon creativity for creativities sake. We should also never be deceitful. Instead we should be about faithfulness to God’s Word. It doesn’t need our tampering or our creativity or our deceitfulness to make it life-changing; it simply needs our faithfulness. This is what a ministry of the Word is all about.
Third, JESUS. Paul was simply about Jesus. Jesus “is the image of God” (v4), the one we are to “proclaim” (v5) not ourselves in any way, Jesus is the one who is the “light” (v6) which is shining in the darkness, this light is what has revolutionized and restored and renewed and reconciled our broken sinful hearts.
John Brickner is one of the treasures of Bethel Church. John is one of my heroes, I want to be like him. He is “retired” but is up a Bethel all week providing wise Biblical counsel to those in need in our community. I never want to really retire. In fact, what John does is so life-changing that we are trying to build a whole ministry around what he does, we are trying to reproduce little John’s. In the famous words of John Brickner, “its all about Jesus, baby!”
