It was almost a year ago now that I was at the Gospel Coalition conference, in Chicago, attending a workshop entitled The Gospel and Social Action. It was then that I heard something that would help solidify my understanding of both good works and miracles. The leader of the workshop said to us, “Ministry should be an eschatological sign of a kingdom that is yet to come.” This means that the things we do, as Christians, should show the world what the Kingdom of heaven will be like after the second coming of Jesus.
A Christian’s job in doing ministry is not to perfect the world; such an effort would be an exercise in futility. Rather, the Christian’s job in doing ministry is to show the heart of the Father, and the Kingdom of heaven, to people who are in a world that is fallen—and will remain fallen—until Jesus returns.
Let us remember that every person Jesus healed died a bodily death at some point. Lazarus even died twice. Let us also remember that God is not interested in band-aids, but is infinitely purposeful in all that he does. So then, we ask: why does he heal when the healings never stick? Why does he raise people from the dead when they will only die a second death? It is because these miracles are an eschatological sign of a Kingdom that is still yet to come. Therefore, healing does not exist for the sake of healing. Feeding does not exist for the sake of feeding. The point of miracles is not miracles. The point of good works is not good works. God uses the miraculous, as well as practical ministry, to show the truth of our present spiritual reality, and the promise of the physical future.
That true present spiritual reality is death.
The promise of the physical future is in Jesus Christ.
God grants healing because we have full spiritual healing through Jesus, and we will have full bodily healing in heaven. We give food and water to the needy because God has met our every spiritual need and he will meet our every physical need in heaven. The dead are brought back to life because we have been given eternal life through Christ, and will live forever in heaven with him.
In short, miracles, as well as practical ministry, exist to give us a tangible sign of the heart of the Father so that we might know the truth. This does not diminish the importance of ministry, but rather, it amplifies it. With this view of ministry, we see that we are not merely accomplishing a worldly goal, but that our efforts are a means by which people might see the Divine, and praise the one and only God.
Let us do ministry with this in mind: that we are not perfecting a broken world, but that we are showing the truth of God’s nature, and his promises, by the way we live and by our interactions with others. This world is not our home. But while we are here, as pilgrims traveling through this world and onto the next, we must be ambassadors for the Kingdom of heaven showing the world a glimpse into the heart of the Father.
Let our work in this world be evidence of the next.
2 Comments on "A Glimpse Into the Heart of the Father"
“This world is not our home. But while we are here, as pilgrims traveling through this world and onto the next, we must be ambassadors for the Kingdom of heaven showing the world a glimpse into the heart of the Father.”
I love that!!!
You make a few good points. I get frustrated with these social causes that lead to nothing. Its great to be reminded why we do the service that we do. I fail at remembering this all the time though :(