Christian Ministry

Key areas of Christian Ministry

By Rev. Rodney Swansborough

PART ONE

SONSHIP MINISTRY

I have prepared these series of notes upon the request of the Education Committee of the Diocese of Grafton. They examine the nature and character of Christian Ministry under four headings: Sonship Ministry; Servant Ministry; Spirit Anointed Ministry; and Shared Ministry.

The notes are provided as resource material. I have also included ‘Study Group Material’ which could be used for Bible Studies or Small Group Meetings.

It is hoped the thematic approach I have adopted will bring together a number of important perspectives on Christian Ministry and provide our people with a better understanding of the distinctive nature of the MINISTRY we all are called to share through the Head of the Church, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rodney H. Swansborough.

The true nature and character of Christian Ministry has been revealed to us through the SONSHIP MINISTRY of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the model and pattern of all Christian service. As the eternal Son of God, Jesus lived in a filial relationship with God expressed most vividly in his abba-address of God as “Father, My Father”. This relationship formed the basis of his ministry, where the experience of God’s love in his life enabled him to enter into his mission with assurance and confidence. At every point in his ministry Jesus knew himself to be in continual fellowship with his Father and always felt the full force of affirming love in his life.

Jesus understood the purpose of his SONSHIP MINISTRY was to reveal the Father, to make him known so people would enter into the same filial relationship with God which he enjoyed. Everything he did was a revelation of the loving Father to people. He understood himself to be in a unique relationship with God as “Father”; a relationship which revealed the reality of his SONSHIP and which would provide the means by which others could enter into a Filial relationship with him. Jesus, in declaring his uniqueness as the Son of God, also revealed the distinctive nature of His message and ministry: “I am the way and the truth and the life, No one comes to the Father but by me”.

Our entry into this filial relationship and access to the Father has been accomplished through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. His death became the means by which we come to the Father. Our Lord’s resurrection released into our relationship with the Father, “the Spirit of his Son”, through whom we are able to cry “Abba! My Father!”. Our Filial status has been secured by Christ in his death and is made a living event by the affirming ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit breathes into our lives the sweet fragrance of our Filial relationship and assures us we are Children of God.

Both the historical basis and the experiential dimension of our Filial status are essential for our understanding of the Filial relationship established for us IN CHRIST.

Our mission to the world is based upon our Filial relationship, for in that loving affirming relationship with our Heavenly Father, we know ourselves forgiven and accepted into God’s presence where we become partakers of the very life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.

FILIAL MINISTRY is based upon “who we are”; it arises out of our being a child of God. Secure in our Filial status, our entire MINISTRY is filled with the profound sense of being embraced by our loving Father whose good pleasure is to release us into joyful service for him.

The areas of MINISTRY we each move into will be varied; the circumstances and demands different. The experiences and abilities we bring to our MINISTRY will not be the same; the tasks our Lord calls us to undertake will differ. But our shared Filial relationship with the Father will season all our “ministries” of service with the fragrance of his love, which having reached into the depths of our being, will move us into a loving response to the world.

Whatever form of FILIAL MINISTRY is ours to share, it will always be the outcome of the Father’s love for us as revealed IN CHRIST and made our own BY MEANS OF the indwelling HOLY SPIRIT. God’s empowering presence in our lives transforms our feeble efforts into His Heavenly embrace of love to the world. Know who we are IN CHRIST so that we can be what we are IN CHRIST, children of our Heavenly Father who share in FILIAL MINISTRY together.

SECTION ONE

THE MINISTRY OF JESUS

(A) Jesus’ Filial Relationship

Jesus’ understanding of his ministry and mission came from his awareness of God. He understood himself to be in a unique relationship with God. This was a relationship of ‘father and son’, a filial relationship, which gave him his consciousness of sonship. His consciousness of sonship had great significance in his understanding of himself and his ministry. His experience of sonship determined the nature, the direction and the character of his ministry.

Jesus’ ministry sprang from his relationship with God, a relationship which was central and decisive at every point in his life. The importance of this experienced relationship cannot be over emphasised. Without it, Jesus would have not received any revelation, commission or mandate for his ministry. But with it, Jesus was able to undertake the greatest ministry ever known to mankind.

Jesus’ filial relationship with God as a son to a father, provided the basis of his whole ministry. He entered his ministry knowing that God was with him, not as a distant heavenly Being, but as a gracious loving Father who would provide him with everything necessary to accomplish his mission. Jesus ministered as a SON, God’s Son who lived within a relationship with God as Father (Abba).

Abba as a form of address to God expresses the ultimate mystery of the mission of Jesus. He was conscious of being authorized to communicate God’s revelation because God had made himself known to him as ‘Father’. (Mt. 11:27)

(Jeremias, 1975, p.68)

Jesus entered into his ministry as the eternal Son of God. SONSHIP was an eternal fact out of which was borne his MINISTRY. The nature of this eternal filial relationship with his Father formed, directed and determined his ministry.

“In this consciousness of his filial relation to God lies the basis of his mission, which is formulated in terms of uniqueness.”

(Marshall, 1976, p.117)

Sonship in being primary in his ministry meant everything else he did would be the outcome of this filial relationship. It was Jesus’ consciousness of God as “Father” throughout his life which provided the perspective, pattern and purpose of his mission.

“…out of this confidence that he stood in a specifically intimate relationship with God arose Jesus’ sense of mission. Sonship means to Jesus not a dignity to be claimed, but a responsibility to be fulfilled.”

As a son he had been commissioned by God. In other words, Jesus’ consciousness of sonship was possibly a fundamental element in his self-consciousness, out of which his other basic convictions about himself and mission arose. To put it another way, this experience of intimacy and prayer gave Jesus a deep insight into both the character and the will of God.

(Dunn, 1978, p.39)

At his baptism Jesus received affirmation of his SONSHIP. Luke records the event:

“Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove and a voice came from heaven, ‘Thou art my beloved son, with thee I am well pleased’.”

(Luke 3:21–22)

This baptismal affirmation of Jesus’ sonship as the public introduction into ministry and mission, was instrumental in setting the framework of all that followed.

“…from the moment of his baptism the consciousness of the closest oneness with the Father always accompanies Jesus.”

(Cullmann, 1975, p.284)

The temptation which immediately followed his baptism illustrates most vividly the importance of the reality of sonship in Jesus’ own life as the basis of his ministry and mission. Twice Jesus’ sonship was tested and questioned, “If you are the Son of God…” (Luke 4:3–9). His sonship as the revelation of his filial relationship with God was to determine our Lord’s own attitudes to his entire ministry. SONSHIP MINISTRY was uniquely his because of his relation to God as Father. Through his SONSHIP MINISTRY in relation to God, Jesus was able to fulfill his mission in relation to men.

At every point in Jesus’ ministry among men, the abiding awareness of God as “Father” brought into his life the deep sense of the mandate and mission God had given him.

(B) Jesus’ Sonship Ministry

There are three areas of particular relevance to us as we explore the nature of Jesus’ SONSHIP MINISTRY:

(a) His Intimacy and Oneness with the Father.
(b) His Dependence upon the Father.
(c) His Obedience to the Father.

(a) His Intimacy and Oneness with the Father

Jesus’ intimate knowledge and awareness of the “Father’s” presence and approval arising out of his filial relationship with God, provided Jesus with the basis of his ministry. This oneness with the Father is both crucial and central in Jesus’ own understanding of his SONSHIP MINISTRY.

From this we learn:—

(i) Jesus was aware of a living and vital relationship with God.

“He who sent me is with me, he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him”. (John 8:29)

“I and the Father are one” (John 10:30) “The Father is in me, and I am in the Father”. (John 10:38)

The ‘abba’ address of God by Jesus reveals the personal intimacy of this relationship. Jesus experienced the fatherliness of God in his own life. He was aware of being loved by God. This relationship remained the most essential element throughout his ministry.

“…it is clear that the relation described in the words ‘I in the Father and the Father in me’, is conceived as a dynamic and not a static relation; it consists in an activity originating with the Father and manifested in the Son. It may be described as obedience to the word of the Father, or an imitation of his works, but at bottom it is nothing so external as mere obedience and imitation, it is the sharing of one life which is of course life eternal and absolute.”

(Dodd, 1978, p.194)

How unimaginable it would be to think that Jesus could have undertaken his ministry without such an intimate sense of God’s ‘oneness’ with him. His filial relationship with God as ‘father’ encouraged and sustained him at every level. This was no mere casual acquaintance, rather it was an eternal relationship which nothing could sever. The ‘oneness’ Jesus experienced with the Father throughout his ministry was the same eternal ‘oneness’ of the glorious Trinity.

(ii) Jesus was aware of the Divine Approval of God

At his baptism in the Jordan, God declares: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased”. Again the Mount Transfiguration words echo in his ears, “This is my Son, My Beloved, listen to him” (Lk. 9:35). The divine approval and affirmation of Jesus occurs at decisive periods in his life. His baptism signifies the commencement of his public ministry. He will now be exposed to the scrutiny and censure of men. However, the divine approval of his Father remains with him throughout his SONSHIP MINISTRY. Jesus lived in a positive and affirming relationship with God. God’s blessing rested upon his Son, and in his deepest moments of need he could rest in the knowledge that God loved him and was with him.

(iii) Jesus was aware of the Inseparability of his oneness with God

“The Father is in me and I am in the Father” (John 10:38)

“Do you believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me”. (John 14:10)

So deep and intimate was this filial relationship of Father and Son that no separation could ever exist between them. Whatever the Father was doing, the Son also was doing. Jesus’ SONSHIP MINISTRY was inseparable from the purpose and work of God. There was complete harmony in all that was accomplished. To see the Son ministering was to witness the Father at work. “He who has seen me has seen the Father”. Jesus was not going ‘his own way’ or doing his own ‘thing’. His absolute and total obedience to the revealed will of his Father made his ministry inseparable from the eternal purposes of God.

Satan had attempted to cause Jesus to deviate from his SONSHIP MINISTRY and so sever this eternal filial relationship. But he did not succeed. Jesus knew that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mat. 4:4). Through his obedience, Jesus demonstrated that the revealed will of God was inseparable from His SONSHIP MINISTRY.

(iv) Jesus was aware of a Personal & Unique Knowledge of God

The intimacy of his relationship with God gave Jesus his unique and personal knowledge of God. From this knowledge of God as ‘Father’ came the uniqueness of his SONSHIP ministry.

Jesus claims to have been so specially set apart by God that he can speak of “all things” having been handed over by God; he has been made a unique recipient of divine revelation and a channel of divine wisdom. Even most striking, his knowledge of God is unique; he knows God as no man ever has; the mutual relation he experiences with God is without parallel.

(Dunn, 1978, p.34)

Jesus’ knowledge of the Father is expressed in terms of his hearing the Father’s Word and communicating it to the world. His knowledge of God is ‘first hand’. It is personal knowledge gained through an experiential relationship with God as “Father” and revealed to him through this filial relationship. God chose to make known his revelation through his Son. The knowledge given to Christ by God becomes God’s Word of revelation to men.

The meaning of knowledge in the relationship is complementary. For Jesus it means his complete obedience to the Father’s will. In the Father, it means that he commissions and empowers Jesus. In this way Jesus is the complete revelation of the Father and yet subject to him. (Jn 3:35; 5:20–26)

(Painter, 1979, p.88)

(b) His Dependence upon the Father

Our Lord throughout his SONSHIP MINISTRY did not live in a casual dependence upon the Father. His dependence was at the heart of his SONSHIP MINISTRY — supreme. Jesus recognized God’s will to be infinitely ‘good, acceptable and perfect’. Through his obedience to the will of God, Jesus chose to be dependent upon God on every occasion for determining what his SONSHIP MINISTRY would be. In surrendering his will to the purposes of God, he lived in continual dependence upon the sovereignty of God in his life.

It is not simply that he does not attain independence of the Father. He cannot act in independence of the Father. He can do only the things he sees the Father doing. There is a continual contemplation of the Father by the Son, an uninterrupted communion.

(Morris, 1977, p.312–313)

Through the surrender of his will to the sovereign purposes of God, Jesus reveals to us the nature of his dependence upon God throughout his SONSHIP MINISTRY.

(i) Jesus declared his dependence to be Absolute and Total

“Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing, for whatsoever he does, that the Son does likewise”. (John 5:19)

‘Nothing’ we may well ask. ‘Nothing of his own accord’? Doesn’t this take away our Lord’s free will and initiative to act. Isn’t he able to act responsibly without having to do everything the Father does? We must remember that our Lord’s SONSHIP MINISTRY is based upon a filial relationship with the loving Father. Our Lord humbly reveals to us that “nothing” else is worth doing, except what God is doing. Not only that, but the Son chooses not to do anything else. His dependence resides in what God is doing, his obedience enables it to occur within his SONSHIP MINISTRY.

Jesus’ mission, one could say his apostleship, emphasises that he has come from the Father to do the Father’s will. He did not come as an inspired man. He came as the incarnate Word. His dignity and greatness were not expressed in independence but in total dependence on the Father. Jesus as the one sent, as the Word of the Father, is the full expression of the Father because of his total dependence upon him. It was his life to do the Father’s will.

(Painter, 1979, p.28)

His dependence upon the Father to accomplish his SONSHIP MINISTRY was not a sign of weakness or of slavery. It is a recognition that whatever God does is full of wisdom and goodness and when obeyed brings salvation and hope.

Jesus’ obedience and total dependence upon the Father enabled God to accomplish his perfect will through Jesus’ SONSHIP MINISTRY.

(ii) Jesus declared his SONSHIP MINISTRY was Not His Own

Jesus revealed his ministry was “not his own”; it was the Father working in and through him. “Whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise”. This remained the abiding principle throughout his SONSHIP MINISTRY. Jesus as a SON was sent by the Father, and was given his ministry by the Father. Once again his filial relationship with God as “a Son” determined everything about his ministry; Jesus knew every good and perfect gift came from God and that only God’s will and way could bring about the Father’s purposes.

In revealing his ministry was “not his own”, he made known the source of his ministry. Jesus constantly revealed that God was working through him. He was wanting people to recognize “the Father’s” work in him. He was not seeking self glory, rather he was desiring to reveal God’s glory.

(iii) Jesus declared his SONSHIP MINISTRY was given to him

Jesus was deeply conscious of being “sent by the Father”. He had been appointed and anointed by God. Everything he had was given to him by the Father. Because the Father “raises the dead and gives life”, the Son could do likewise (John 5:21); because the Father is judge the Son could also be judge (John 5:22); the Father who has life in himself “granted” Jesus to “have life in himself” (John 5:26). Through this Jesus is drawing our attention to two truths: God is the source of origin of everything Jesus did throughout his SONSHIP MINISTRY. This in itself makes Jesus’ SONSHIP MINISTRY distinctive. Secondly, the Father’s intention was to “give” Jesus this ministry. Jesus “works the work of him who sent me” because God intended him to do so. Jesus’ SONSHIP MINISTRY was no accident of history, nor the outcome of pious expectations. His ministry was a deliberate act of God to bring about his eternal purposes through his Divine Son’s SONSHIP MINISTRY.

“the works which the Father has granted me to accomplish, the very works which I am doing, bear witness that the Father has sent me”

(John 5:36)

Because Jesus’ ministry was given by God it was a divine ministry. Anything else would have been deficient. Jesus in revealing its origin focuses our attention on its nature.

Even those who were to come to Christ and receive him as the one sent by God, were to be given to him by the Father. “All that the Father gives me will come to me” (John 6:38); “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (Jn 6:44). Jesus was aware of his Father’s sovereign generosity. He was aware that the awakening of faith and response to his ministry rested in his Father’s Sovereign authority and purposes and although our Lord by himself could do “nothing”, he was deeply conscious that through his Father he could do “everything”. Whatever the Father gave him to do would become his SONSHIP MINISTRY.

(iv) Jesus declared he had No Authority in His Own Right

Jesus could do nothing on his own authority. “For I have not spoken on my own authority; the Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has bidden me”. (John 12:49) In making this declaration, Jesus was revealing once again the origin and source of his SONSHIP MINISTRY. It didn’t reside in him but in the one who had sent him. And although his authority was ‘his own’ nevertheless he had been given commandment what to say and what to speak. Therefore what Jesus did speak, he spoke with absolute and total authority because he said only those things the Father had bidden him to say.

“My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me” (John 7:16); “I do nothing on my own authority but speak thus as the Father taught me”! (John 8:28)

He was completely dependent upon his Father for his authority, but through his filial relationship, lived in an ‘authoritative relationship’ with God which gave his SONSHIP MINISTRY its authoritative nature.

God’s sovereignty was never questioned by Jesus. He was commissioned, sent and anointed by the Father to accomplish in his SONSHIP MINISTRY everything the Father had given him to do. The authority of our Lord’s SONSHIP MINISTRY resided in the Father’s will to accomplish all things through his Son.

(c) His Obedience to the Father

Jesus revealed throughout his life how his obedience to God was directly related to the revealed will of the Father for his life. In the SONSHIP MINISTRY to which he had been appointed, he did only those things that pleased the Father. The Lord said “I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me”. (John 5:30)

In the Fourth Gospel the historical character of Sonship as obedience is strongly in evidence. Sonship connotes the perfect unity of Christ with the Father which is established upon the basis of the perfect obedience of the Son, whose meat and drink is to do the Father’s will. (John 4:34)

(Richardson, 1977, p.152)

The Father’s will ruled his heart. His total desire was to do the Father’s will. His love of God was reflected in his obedience to the will of the Father. He surrendered himself completely to these purposes. His whole SONSHIP MINISTRY was based upon doing God’s will. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). Our Lord wasn’t coerced into obeying but voluntarily surrendered himself to his Father, so that God could accomplish in his SONSHIP MINISTRY whatever He purposed. This was voluntary submission, based upon trust in God. His Sonship relationship with God was not based on fear, it was based on love.

Jesus was deeply aware of God’s love for him and from this knowledge came his deep trust and faith in God. Obedience for Christ was submission in love. His greatest pleasure and deepest desire was to obey his Father because his Father’s love guaranteed him that such submission would bring about our Lord’s greatest joy.

SECTION TWO

CHRISTIAN MINISTRY

(A) The Christians’ Filial Relationship

Whatever we do in life as a service to our Lord and to one another, if it is to truly reflect the distinctive nature of Christian ministry, should arise from our awareness of being in a deep and intimate relationship with God as our heavenly Father. We may do many good works, serve on many church committees, be involved in home visitation programmes, but if we lack within our experience a consciousness of being in deep fellowship with God as “Father”, then we will never be truly able to enter fully into FILIAL MINISTRY as God intends, nor communicate to others the uniqueness of Christian filial relationship.

This is saying something very serious. To be a Christian, presupposes we are “children of God”. But this truth is not to remain a theological or biblical doctrine; it needs to become a living reality, a deep experience within us, otherwise we are missing out on that vital contact and relationship with God as “Father” which is the basis for everything else we do. God intends us to have such a relationship, for it is that relationship alone which gives us our FILIAL MINISTRY. People in our churches need to enter into the experiential dimensions of their relationship with God as “Father”, so that the joy and delight of this fellowship with him will produce within them the character and nature of their FILIAL MINISTRY and Christian service.

If our people don’t enter into this vital filial relationship with God, if they don’t experience the depths of God’s love as “Father”, then they will have no ministry — for Christian ministry is FILIAL MINISTRY. Our task is to help our people realize their unique position in Christ and allow them to enter into experiential encounters with the Holy Spirit so that through Him they embrace God as their Heavenly Father. This is fundamental to the equipping of our people for Ministry. This filial relationship with God, as understood in our heart-felt consciousness and awareness of the heavenly Father’s presence, will give our people the commitment, the courage, the consistency and the care which are all so necessary for their ministry within the body of Christ.

Our knowledge of God as Father, and our experience of ‘Filial relationship’ moves us into areas of service for him. This relationship with God forms everything else we do.

“The most important characteristic of the new life, more important than anything else is the new relationship to God.”

(Jeremias, 1975, p.178)

When we experience in our lives the deep upsurge of divine love, and know within ourselves that we are a child of God, we find ourselves almost unconsciously, but very naturally, moving into areas of commitment and service for our Lord.

(B) The Christians’ Filial Ministry

This is based upon our relationship:—

(a) In Christ
(b) By Means of the Holy Spirit
(c) With the Father

(a) Filial Ministry — our relationship In Christ

Our FILIAL MINISTRY exists because God in his eternal purposes of love took hold of us in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are children of God because God destined us to be his very own. “He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purposes of his will” (Eph 1:5). The Apostle Paul perceives that our Filial status resides in the mind of God from eternity, and its security is based upon God’s divine initiative as revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us IN CHRIST with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us IN HIM before the foundation of the world.”

(Eph 1:3–4)

As we enter into Christ, we enter into the eternal purposes of Filial relationship which God has ordained. Our Filial relationship is inseparably linked with our position IN CHRIST.

“But to all who receive him, who believe in his name, he gave power to become children of God (sons of God, K.J.) who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of men, but of God.”

(John 1:12)

A new birth has taken place, we are born into the family of God IN CHRIST. We have received a new status, we are children of God, “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17)

Our Lord Jesus himself taught that our new Filial status was determined by our relationship with him.

“All things have been delivered to me by my Father and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him”

(Mt. 11:27)

Jesus’ own SONSHIP MINISTRY was to reveal and make known to us God as “Father”.

“The meaning is that the Father has handed over to the Son the full revelation; ‘just as only a father really knows his son, so only a son really knows his father’. The son alone is in the position to mediate this knowledge to others.”

(Brown, 1978, p.640)

For us to enter into any service for God our Father, we must see as vital the necessity for our MINISTRY to be based upon our SONSHIP (and our SONSHIP is based upon our relationship to the Father as revealed and established IN CHRIST). No sonship, no ministry. Jesus himself said: “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6)

Thus in Jesus’ eyes being a child of God is not a gift of creation, but an eschatological gift of salvation. Only the one who belongs under the kingly rule of God may call God “Abba”, already has God as his Father, is even now a child of God. For the disciples, being children means sharing Jesus’ Sonship.

(Jeremias, 1975, p.181)

IN CHRIST JESUS alone we have our Filial relationship. This is the decisive relationship we all must enter. If we as God’s people are going to enter upon our FILIAL MINISTRY to the world, then our own ministry must be founded upon our Lord’s SONSHIP MINISTRY. IN CHRIST we become God’s very own children, where we share in his eternal SONSHIP, and enter into his eternal SONSHIP MINISTRY. Our FILIAL MINISTRY is to bring the knowledge of Jesus Christ to others, so that others may also enter into this filial relationship we have with God. The FILIAL MINISTRY we have IN CHRIST is based upon who we are in our filial relationship with God as “our Father”. It is not a relationship enjoyed by everyone born into the world. It is a relationship that is found only IN CHRIST.

Once IN CHRIST, every activity of service is based upon our relationship with God as Father. The Father intends his good pleasure to be worked out in our lives. This is beautifully expressed through the words of benediction recorded in Hebrews 13:20–21.

“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good, that you may do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

As we enter INTO CHRIST, we find ourselves not only moving into our Filial status, but also into the nature and character of our MINISTRY. Our Lord’s own SONSHIP MINISTRY on earth is the revelation of the character and nature of the FILIAL MINISTRY God brings us into. (Refer back to Section One for the nature and character of our Lord’s ministry.)

Our FILIAL MINISTRY, like our Lord’s, is based upon a vital living relationship with our Heavenly Father where we experience intimate fellowship; where we discover our total dependence upon him; where we are called to absolute surrender and total obedience to his will. Jesus has revealed to us the quality, character and nature of SONSHIP MINISTRY and now calls us as his disciples to fulfill it IN HIM within our own lives.

The concept “sonship” was the category with which Paul expressed the universal human significance of Jesus’ personality. As the new man who brings the destiny of man in general to a fulfillment superior to the first creation, Jesus is the Son of God. Precisely in his Sonship, in his relation to the Father, all others shall receive a share through him. God has sent his Son that we may receive through him. Because we are sons of God through Jesus, God has also sent the spirit of sonship into our hearts through which we say “Abba Father”. The new man lives on the basis of the new relation to God, on the basis of the communion with God as the Father that was opened up through Jesus. Thus Christians share Jesus’ divine personality as Son through Jesus and this distinguishes them (at the same time) from Jesus himself. Through him they share this relation of dedication to the Father.

(Pannenberg, 1976, p.345–6)

(b) Filial Ministry — a relationship By Means of the Holy Spirit

The apostle Paul firmly establishes in his writings how the Holy Spirit is vital in ensuring we experience within our lives the relationship which has been established for us with the Father IN CHRIST. The apostle writes that “through him (Christ Jesus) we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Eph 2:18). Our Lord Jesus, through his shed blood “has reconciled us to God in one body through the cross” (Eph 2:16), thereby establishing us in him, and giving us our new Filial status. This Filial status is transformed into a living reality, a conscious experience, a vital relationship, BY MEANS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us”. (Rom 5:5) Through the Holy Spirit’s indwelling and abiding presence we experience and become conscious of our Filial relationship. The Apostle Paul puts it like this:—

“…but you have received the Spirit of sonship. When we cry ‘Abba! Father!’ it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” (Rom 8:15,16)

“And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’. So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir.” (Gal 4:6,7)

The blessed eternal work of the Holy Spirit, makes available to us, with full assurance and deep conviction, the living reality of our Filial relationship. And how is this most aptly expressed, and what are the words which so sweetly and meaningfully become our Filial utterance — the cry “Abba! Father!”. With that heart-felt acclamation to God, the work of Christ is fulfilled in us and we cry, “Daddy! My Father!”.

“The Spirit is that power which operates in the heart of man — ‘the heart’ being the centre of thought, feeling and willing, the centre of personal consciousness, what we might call ‘the experiencing I’. The Spirit is that power of inner life which leaves far behind all the merely ritual and outward and makes a faith in God and worship of God existentially real. (Rom 8:28; 2 Cor 3; Gal 4:6; Phil 3:3; Eph 1:17). The Spirit is that power which transforms a man from the inside out, so that metaphors of cleansing and consecration become matters of active experience and daily living (1 Cor 6:9–11). The Spirit is the source of that wave of love and upsurge of joy which overwhelms the forces that oppose from without (Rom 5:5; 1 Thes 1:5). The Spirit is the power that liberates from a rule-book mentality of casuistry and fear (Rom 8:2,15; 2 Cor 3:17), so that ethical decisions become a matter of inward conviction and spontaneous love, of walking by the Spirit, rather than of unquestioning obedience to a law (Rom 7:6; 2 Cor 3:3; Gal 5:25; Col 2:11)”

(James Dunn, 1978, p.201)

Our Lord Jesus as he ascended from the baptismal waters in the Jordan River heard the Father’s voice, “You are my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased”, and also received a wonderful experience of the Holy Spirit’s presence. The voice from heaven through the indwelling Holy Spirit became the living reality of the eternal presence of “the Father” within our Lord. The same heavenly voice of our Father speaks to us, ‘You are my Sons’, and the same Holy Spirit transforms this truth into a dynamic, living reality within our hearts. Through the divine Spirit we receive affirmation of God’s love and confirmation of our Filial relationship.

The living, pulsating, dynamic movement of the Holy Spirit within us moves us into our FILIAL MINISTRY. Through him we are convicted, convinced, encouraged and directed. He gives us the tangible evidence in our experience of the relationship we have with our Father, which fosters and forms our FILIAL MINISTRY. By means of his operation and movement within us, we are able to translate into service the Filial relationship established for us IN CHRIST. The Holy Spirit becomes the living expression of our Filial relationship and transforms our lowly acts of service into FILIAL MINISTRY. The fragrant presence of the Holy Spirit enables our menial and feeble efforts to be seasoned with divine grace and love, and as we reach to others in service, he takes our actions and transforms them into the Father’s heavenly touch. As Christ has established our Filial relationship in himself, so in turn the Holy Spirit manifests CHRIST’S MINISTRY through our service. Our entire FILIAL MINISTRY is totally dependent upon the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. He makes our Filial relationship IN CHRIST with the Father a living reality and transforms our service to others into “manifestations of divine grace”.

(c) Filial Ministry — a relationship With the Father

We have been granted Filial status IN CHRIST and been given FILIAL MINISTRY BY MEANS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, all of which are ultimately based upon our relationship WITH THE FATHER. Each of these aspects of our FILIAL MINISTRY are vital and necessary as they are all interrelated and mutually dependent on one another. However, FILIAL MINISTRY presupposes and depends upon our filial relationship with God as “Father”. Without this our FILIAL MINISTRY would not exist. It exists because our Heavenly Father eternally exists, and IN CHRIST we come to God no other way but as “a son”. Our only eternal status before our “Father” is that of Filial relationship.

“See what love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God (sons of God, K.J.) and so we are. Beloved we are God’s children now.”

(1 John 3:1,2)

Any person who is IN CHRIST receives Filial status. There is no one IN CHRIST who has not received this status. IN CHRIST we are placed into a filial relationship with God; this is the only relationship that exists IN CHRIST. Jesus Christ himself has eternally existed in this filial relationship as SON and through him the nature of this relationship is understood and experienced.

IN CHRIST we all share in the same relationship with God as “our Father”, a relationship unique to Christian experience.

“…according to the earliest tradition, Jesus addressed the designation of God as ‘Our Father’ only to his disciples and never to outsiders. That indicates that Jesus did not see the Fatherhood of God as something to be taken for granted, a common possession to all men, but as a privilege enjoyed by his disciples of which he spoke only when teaching them, and then only on special occasions. Only in the sphere of the basileia (kingdom) is God the Father.”

(Jeremias, 1975, p.180)

In our FILIAL MINISTRY we are to ensure that our Father’s will is being fulfilled in and through us. This will happen when the living reality of our filial relationship IN CHRIST becomes ours through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Yes God does require of us to respond to him in absolute surrender and total obedience to his purposes, but our FILIAL MINISTRY finds its truest expression not through our efforts to bring it about, but rather through the grace and empowering provided for us by means of the Holy Spirit: “for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure”. (Phil 2:13)

Not only do we receive our Filial status from God, IN CHRIST, but we also receive our FILIAL MINISTRY from God by means of the Holy Spirit. The ministry or service we are called to undertake in love, is the ministry given to us by God, through Christ, by means of the Holy Spirit. It is not our ministry in that sense. It is our Father’s ministry of love being accomplished through our lives. We have no ministry apart from our Father’s ministry to the world. We are called to do his will, and through CHRIST, we enter into our filial relationship with God, and fulfill our FILIAL MINISTRY by means of the Holy Spirit.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, E., Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 3, The Paternoster Press, Great Britain, 1975

Cullmann, C., The Christology of the New Testament, S.C.M. Press, London, 1975

Dodd, C.H., The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, Cambridge University Press, London, 1978

Dunn, J.D., Jesus and the Spirit, S.C.M. Press, London, 1975

Jeremias, J., New Testament Theology, Vol. 1, S.C.M. Press, London, 1975

Marshall, The Origins of New Testament Christology, I.V.P., England, 1976

Morris, L., The Gospel According to St. John, Eerdmans, U.S.A., 1977

Painter, J., John: Witness and Theologian, S.P.C.K., London, 1979

Pannenberg, W., Jesus, God and Man, S.C.M. Press, London, 1973

Richardson, A., An Introduction to the Theology of the New Testament, S.C.M. Press, London, 1977

SUGGESTED READING

James Dunn, Jesus and the Spirit, Pt. 1, “Jesus’ Experience of God — Sonship” p.11 and “Jesus’ Experience of God — Spirit” p.41.

Joachim Jeremias, New Testament Theology, Vol. 1, “Abba as an Address to God”, p.101 and “…being a child” p.178.

Michael Harper, You Are My Sons, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1975.

APPENDIX A

SERMON OUTLINE

1. Introduction.

2.

3.

4.

Christian Ministry is not so much WHAT WE DO, but WHO WE ARE.

‘Who we are’ will determine ‘what we do’. We will examine ‘who we are’ so we understand the ‘MINISTRY’ of service God calls us all to enter.

Jesus is our model and pattern for MINISTRY. He has revealed the nature and character of Christian service. We will focus this week on Jesus as the SON OF GOD — his SONSHIP. We will see how his SONSHIP determined his MINISTRY. We will also look at ourselves as SONS OF GOD — Christian Filial relationship — and see how it determines the nature and character of our MINISTRY.

A. Jesus “SONSHIP” was based upon his RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD — filial relationship — father to son — he knew himself to be God’s Son — and lived his whole life in that knowledge — “Abba Father” — expressed the intimacy of this relationship.

B. Jesus’ SONSHIP MINISTRY was based upon:— (expand each point).

(a) His intimacy and oneness with the Father.
(b) His dependence upon the Father.
(c) His obedience to the Father.

A. The Christian’s Filial relationship. Our ministry is also based on ‘who we are’ — “children of God”. We also are meant to live in a deep relationship with God. This relationship is vital as it determines the nature and character of everything we do.

B. The Christian’s FILIAL MINISTRY is based on: (expand each point)

(a) Our relationship in Christ
(b) By means of the Holy Spirit
(c) With the Father.

Conclusion. Re-emphasise the points you feel are particularly important about SONSHIP, who we are, and show how being God’s children is at the heart of everything else. You may wish to read or use the last 4 paragraphs of the “Introduction” as your conclusion.

APPENDIX 2

STUDY GROUP MATERIAL

Suggested Outline:—

1. Open with prayer:

Let us pray (that we may grow in the love of God.)

Almighty and ever-living God,
your Spirit made us your children,
confident to call you Father.
Increase your Spirit within us
and bring us to our promised inheritance.
Grant this through Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

2. The Leader reads the following:— (A.A.P.B. p.245)

FILIAL MINISTRY

FILIAL MINISTRY is based upon “who we are”; it arises out of our being a child of God. Secure in our Filial status, our entire MINISTRY is filled with the profound sense of being embraced by our loving Father whose good pleasure is to release us into joyful service for him.

The areas of MINISTRY we each move into will be varied; the circumstances and demands different. The experiences and abilities we bring to our MINISTRY will not be the same; the tasks our Lord calls us to undertake will differ. But our shared Filial relationship with the Father will season all our “ministries” of service with the fragrance of his love, which having reached into the depths of our own being, will move us into a loving response to the world.

This is the privilege of our Filial relationship. We enter into the Father’s heart of love so that the Father’s love may enter into the world through our hearts. As children of God we are the recipients and bearers of His love to the world. Our Filial relationship guarantees we receive this love, our MINISTRY releases it into the lives of others.

Whatever form of FILIAL MINISTRY is ours to share, it will always be the outcome of the Father’s love for us as revealed in CHRIST and made our own BY MEANS OF the indwelling HOLY SPIRIT. God’s empowering presence in our lives transforms our feeble efforts into His Heavenly embrace of love to the world. Know who we are in CHRIST so that we can be what we are in CHRIST, children of our Heavenly Father who share in FILIAL MINISTRY together.

3. GROUP DISCUSSION EXERCISES

The study group may choose to move into small groups of 4 to 6 at this point to consider the following questions. It will be necessary to appoint a small group leader and a scribe for each group.

EXERCISE ONE: (Allow about 45 minutes for this exercise)

We will examine the biblical basis of our FILIAL MINISTRY under three headings.

OUR FILIAL MINISTRY is based upon our relationship:—
(a) IN CHRIST
(b) BY MEANS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
(c) WITH THE FATHER.

(a) Filial Ministry — a relationship IN CHRIST: (approx. 15 mins.)

(i) Read Ephesians 1:3–10. When did God decide to choose us? What has God done for us? Who did he destine us to become IN CHRIST?

(ii) Read Matthew 11:27 and John 14:6. Can we know God without knowing Jesus? Is it possible to enter into a relationship with God as “Father” without coming to Jesus?

(iii) Read John 1:12. Is there a difference between believing in Jesus and receiving Jesus? What happens to us when we believe and receive Jesus? How can we do this? Can we do it now?

(b) Filial Ministry — a relationship BY MEANS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: (approx. 15 mins.)

(i) Read Romans 10:9 and 1 Corinthians 12:3. Is it possible to be a Christian without the Holy Spirit? How do we know if the Holy Spirit lives within us? Why does the Holy Spirit have us say “Jesus is Lord”? What does it mean?

(ii) Read Romans 8:15,16 and Galatians 4:6,7. Who tells us that we are “children of God”? Why are the words “Abba! Father!” important? Are we meant to experience God as our Father? Is it possible to experience “our Father” without the Holy Spirit? How can we experience God more in our lives?

(c) Filial Ministry — a relationship WITH THE FATHER. (approx. 15 mins.)

(i) Read 1 John 3:1,2 and 1 John 4:7–12. How do we know that God loves us? When does God want us to become his children? How do we know if we are born of God? What is the basis of our relationship with one another? What is the character of all Christian Ministry?

EXERCISE TWO: (Spend approx. 20–30 minutes discussing the following statement and questions.)

(i) It has been said that it is not WHAT WE DO but WHO WE ARE which is the most important thing for us to realize as a Christian. Do you agree?

If MINISTRY is “what we do” and Filial relationship is “who we are”, is it more important to know “who we are” as SONS than “what we do” as MINISTERS?

(ii) How does “who we are” affect “what we do”? Re-read “FILIAL MINISTRY”. Now think about this in relation to our Filial relationship and the MINISTRY of service our Heavenly Father gives us.

EXERCISE THREE: (Spend approx. 20–30 minutes on this exercise).

Read aloud together the Lord’s Prayer and discuss what it teaches us about our FILIAL MINISTRY. Decide as a group what are the most important points learnt from the Lord’s Prayer about Filial relationship and Ministry. Take each line at a time and explore its teaching. Record your insights. List your findings under two headings: Filial relationship and Ministry.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name,
your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and forever. Amen.

SUMMING UP:

If the study group divided into small groups, form back into one group. You may wish to report back the major findings of each group, or you might like to discuss more fully one or two issues that arose from the Group Discussion Exercises.

5. CLOSING PRAYER:

(i) Allow yourselves to be still. As you close your eyes think on these words which the Lord says to you:

“You are my child, I love you”

Let the Lord repeat them over in your mind, think what they mean, allow them to enter into the depths of your heart, use them to speak to you personally.

(ii) Give yourselves time for shared, spontaneous prayer.

(iii) Say this prayer together:—

Lord Jesus
I give you my HANDS to do your work.
I give you my FEET to go your way.
I give you my EYES to see as you do.
I give you my TONGUE to speak your words.
I give you my MIND that you may think in me.
I give you my SPIRIT that you may pray in me.
Above all, I give you my HEART that you may love in me your Father and all mankind.
I give you my WHOLE SELF that you may grow in me, so it is you, Lord Jesus, who live and work and pray in me.

Grail Prayer.