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For me it is a fruitful effort at this time to ponder the inward ministry and the outward ministry of the church. New insights arise.
For starters, let us amuse ourselves by following the analogy of the natures of Christ, and think of the inward and outward ministries of the church this way: The two ministries differ in their natures, but cannot be separated.
In other words we can neither be ministry "eutychians" (eliminating the distinction in ministry between the church and the world), nor ministry "nestorians" (overly distinguishing the ministries within the church and to the world). We can neither conflate the inward and outward ministries to be the same (like "liberals"), nor put such distance between them that one is not vitally connected to the other (like "separatists"). We must maintain our "separation" from the world, without being "separatists."
In other words we can neither be ministry "eutychians" (eliminating the distinction in ministry between the church and the world), nor ministry "nestorians" (overly distinguishing the ministries within the church and to the world). We can neither conflate the inward and outward ministries to be the same (like "liberals"), nor put such distance between them that one is not vitally connected to the other (like "separatists"). We must maintain our "separation" from the world, without being "separatists."
Jesus presented an apologetic for this:
John 13:34-35 34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 "By this all [Gk. everyone] will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
One way to look at this passage, framing it with our hypothetical paradigm, would be to say that the inward ministry of the church must exist, separate from the world, but also must be witnessed by the world, and that this witness is the effective apologetic that Jesus has come and that the church is carrying out his will.
Turning this into propositions, we might say:
1) There is to be an inward ministry of love and meekness, from the heart, exercised within the body of Christ the church. The church cannot maintain her internal integrity and solidarity without this mutual ministry.
2) This internal ministry, which is visible to the world, will be the church's prime external testimony. The church cannot achieve her external witness without this internal ministry. There can be no effective, evangelical or culture-changing external ministry without this internal ministry of love.
3) External ministry by itself may provide help to the world, but it will neither be evangelical nor truly culture-changing, without the visible testimony of the internal ministry of the church.
4) This internal ministry is separate from the ministry to the world.
5) This inward ministry of love and meekness within the body is, and must be, visible to the world. It isn't "walled off" from the world. The church must neither hide nor boast about this internal ministry.
6) This display of love in meekness, witnessed by the world, is a powerful evangelical testimony to Christ's power in the church.
7) This is not only an evangelical testimony to the gospel, but is also culture changing, because "everyone" comes to know the testimony of the church, and that Christian motivations and ethics succeed! Special grace will affect common grace.
Turning this into propositions, we might say:
1) There is to be an inward ministry of love and meekness, from the heart, exercised within the body of Christ the church. The church cannot maintain her internal integrity and solidarity without this mutual ministry.
2) This internal ministry, which is visible to the world, will be the church's prime external testimony. The church cannot achieve her external witness without this internal ministry. There can be no effective, evangelical or culture-changing external ministry without this internal ministry of love.
3) External ministry by itself may provide help to the world, but it will neither be evangelical nor truly culture-changing, without the visible testimony of the internal ministry of the church.
4) This internal ministry is separate from the ministry to the world.
5) This inward ministry of love and meekness within the body is, and must be, visible to the world. It isn't "walled off" from the world. The church must neither hide nor boast about this internal ministry.
6) This display of love in meekness, witnessed by the world, is a powerful evangelical testimony to Christ's power in the church.
7) This is not only an evangelical testimony to the gospel, but is also culture changing, because "everyone" comes to know the testimony of the church, and that Christian motivations and ethics succeed! Special grace will affect common grace.
Reviewed and retained.
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