Wisdom 21 Have You Got Coverage?

[HKHaugan]

Wisdom 21 Have You Got Coverage?

 When I bought my car, I got a bumper-to-bumper coverage that covers me for 100,000 miles. For those of you who drive that means a lot, especially if you do much driving. There are all kinds of things that can happen to a car. But if you maintain it properly and drive carefully, your car will last a long time. I’m sure you also have home insurance that covers storm, fire damage, appliances and air conditioners. You buy insurance to have coverage.

 When we received Jesus as Savior He immediately gave us the coverage of His Holy Spirit. And, by the way, that coverage is eternal. But there’s more to that coverage than first meets the eye. It is a new kind of shared coverage. We get to share its benefits spiritually and relationally. Every day He is covering us with blessings like His gifts, His love, His grace and the ability to discern His way as opposed to my way of being right with God and others. It’s the ability to minister and share His coverage with other believers and those who have yet to know Him.

 The basic concept behind ministry is the Holy Spirit freeing us to do ministry, to help one another in the Body to grow the kind of heart that reaches out to people around us which is our mission. All ministry in the Body eventually is aimed at disciples finding their mission. Our mission is to share Christ with the people around us who have no spiritual grounding, no belief, or are disillusioned with where they are.

 The Spirit frees us to be the Lord’s new instrument where we are. As the world changes, the way we present the Gospel to meet people’s needs, is going to change. While the world may change we don’t. It will be the same Father whose will is clear, the same Lord that frees us to serve Him, the same Word to build our minds, the same Spirit to lead us to discern what the world we live in needs. Those remain constant.  Why? “Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb.13:8).” He is always the same ‘I AM.”

 A disciple’s first concern is loving God with all their heart, mind and strength. This means we have to know Him, who He is, what He did, what and how He taught, the impression He left, His attitude, His emotion, the way He thought. After this we need to be among disciples who meet regularly to discuss Him, share Him, pray for one another, worship together and support one another in the day-to-day world of relationships. Our attitude is one of spiritual hunger for His presence and inspiration, so we can grow in our relationship with Him. All this is the work of the Spirit and why Jesus gave us His Spirit.

 Ministry is the work of the Holy Spirit. It’s disciples ministering to one another. This work is spiritual, personal and relational. He is exact in how he operates through us. Three things the Spirit does:

First, He focuses us on Jesus. He begins with our mind by reminding us what Jesus wants us to know about Him (Jn.14:26).

Second, He will come into your heart as a Counselor (14:17) and dole out His fruit to set the atmosphere for ministry (Gal.5:22-23).

Third, He provides the gifts necessary to do the specific work the Lord wants done in the cushion of His fruit (Rom.12, 1Cor.12. Eph.4).

Ministry is practiced in the Body of Christ to build one another as disciples (1Cor.12:24-31).

 Those who have received Jesus as Savior let Him rule as Lord and, through the Holy Spirit, taps our uniqueness to give us the specific gifts necessary for a ministry we can each best perform in the Body. The goal of spiritual gifts is the ministry they perform in the Body which is 50% of their calling. The other 50% is their mission, to share Jesus with those who don’t know Him. As they are spiritually strengthened through ministry in the Body, they become missionaries in their communities.

 Having zeroed in on the fruit and gifts of the Spirit it might be good to see Jesus’ reference to gifts, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him (Mt.7:11).” Therefore, let’s start with the Father giving gifts.

First, He gave His Son, then the Son gives the Spirit and the Spirit gives us the atmosphere in which we function. In giving us His Son, He gave Himself, His mind and heart, His Spirit.

Second, He gave us the promise of salvation through His Son, a restored relationship with Him. He gave us His plan of restoration from sin and its aloneness to His love and togetherness in an eternal relational family.

Third, He gave us His Word, His Scripture, which the Spirit uses to work that plan of restoration in us.

 We’re covered, really covered. In the vault we call our heart lies coverage, real coverage. As they used to say, “You can put that in the bank” which is really His bank, “where thieves cannot break in and steal and neither rust nor moth can destroy (Mt.6:19).”