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Copyright © 2006-2008 Robert D. Hosken, M.Min., D.Min.
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In this course, I will attempt to rectify some "semantic shifts," i.e., how certain words in Christianity have been infused with different meanings over centuries of time. The main topic will be "ministry," and I propose to also examine more than 20 other words in its "semantic field" - used in various contexts where "ministry" occurs. Any word's semantic field helps us understand the meaning of that word. This is how little children learn a language - by hearing new words as they are used in various contexts, a child begins to understand what those new words mean. (All Scripture references are from the World English Bible unless otherwise indicated.)
Ministry is founded on the nature of God. At one time Moses was a prince of Egypt, the future pharaoh. But you know the story, how he killed an Egyptian and had to run away into the desert in order to save his hide. When he was wandering among the dunes, probably thinking to himself, "Hmm! Back then I was the prince, second only to Pharaoh! And who am I now? A shepherd-nobody. Hmm!" - suddenly a burning bush appeared in front of him, but that bush didn't burn up (Ex. 3:2-4). When a voice rang out, "Moses, Moses!" he answered, "Here I am."
Then the Voice told him to return to Egypt in order to deliver the people of Israel. Now, imagine for a moment that you are wanted for murder so you fled from Moscow to Siberia. [This was written when I was teaching in Moscow.] Then some voice from somewhere, maybe in your head, says, "Return to Moscow!" Moses said, (Ex. 3:11-14) - "Who, me? And by the way, who are you?" Then God replied, "I AM." You know, of course, what happened next: Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt, established the Passover, showing them how they must slaughter a lamb and consume all of it, and then Moses led them into the Promised Land.
Our being and purpose is defined in relationship to other people and to God, the Ground of Being who "came down" to Moses. When a person wakes from a head injury and has amnesia, he asks, "Who am I?" He then reconstructs his identity by his relationships as people close to him come to him and remind him who they are to him. When God comes down to us and we begin to have a relationship with Him, we find our true being and purpose.
Here in the phrase "I AM!" we discover a remarkable connection between grammar and philosophy: a subject + the intransitive verb "to be" but without a predicate! You doubtless learned that when you use the verb "to be," you must place a predicate in the sentence, for example: "I was a boy (or a girl), but then I became an adult." Both teachers and philosophers tell us that the predicate defines and limits the subject: "An orange is a round fruit, orange in color, juicy and sweet inside," or "An apple is also a round fruit, often not quite as round as an orange, red or yellow in color, it is harder than an orange, also sweet but not as juicy."
All of these predicates define and limit oranges and apples, the essence of which depends on their definitions. But when that Voice said, "I AM!" without a predicate, Moses immediately understood that He, this Voice, is the one unlimited Absolute, which is impossible to fully define and which does not depend on anything. He is the only self-sufficient existence. By the way, the word in Hebrew "Yahweh" or in English "I AM" is often translated "Lord" in the Bible. So when the atheist says, "Hah! What Lord? There is no God! Nobody lords it over me, I'm free!" you can ask, "And are you sure of that?" He will reply, "I'm absolutely certain that there is no God!" Then you say, "That means that you believe in some kind of absolute!" It is obviously absurd to say, "Everything is relative, and that is the absolute truth." Even if we do not consciously acknowledge it, we presuppose some kind of absolute, a fixed point of reference in order to express any intelligent statement. A person cannot even think logically without an absolute, and He is called "I AM!"
Our lord is whatever employer, commander, master or ideology we serve. Atheism, freedom, democracy or self-realization all make very insufficient lords, because none of them are self-sufficient. All of them pretend to be absolutes, but none of them fit the definition. None are the "I AM!" Therefore, none of them deserve the title "lord." Only the "I AM!" deserves our service. When we encounter the "I AM!" we discover Him to Whom we must minister or serve, and thus discover our own meaning and purpose.
Approximately one thousand five hundred years later, when Jesus appeared on earth, He announced the beginning of His ministry with the words of the prophet Isaiah (Lk. 4:16-19): "The Spirit of the Lord is on Me; because of this He has anointed Me." That is, "I am anointed by the Spirit of the Lord," which means, "I am the Messiah." Then He explained what He intended to do: "proclaim the Gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim deliverance to the captives, and new sight to the blind, to set at liberty those having been crushed." He began to gather a band of followers (Lk. 5:1-11) and showed them how this is done (Lk. 5:12-16): He touched a leper and healed him. Then He healed a paralyzed man (Lk. 5:17-26), then a centurion's servant (Lk. 7:1-10), and even raised from the dead the son of a widow (Lk. 7:11-17).
Then He sent out His disciples (Lk. 9:1-6), telling them, "Now it's your turn: go proclaim the Kingdom of God and do the same things!" Every time He sent His disciples out, He commanded them to combine proclaiming the Kingdom with healing the lame, maimed and blind. But the people didn't quite understand: who was He: a prophet, or a rabbi (teacher), or demon-possessed, or a magician (Lk. 11:14-22)? After this as He was eating supper with a certain Pharisee (Lk. 14:12-14), Jesus asked him, "When you throw a party what kind of people should you invite? The poor, the lame, the maimed and the blind." And again in the same chapter (16-21) He said to bring "the poor, the lame, the maimed and the blind" into the Kingdom of God.
Here we notice an echo of the words that Moses wrote (Lev. 19:10 and 14): care for the poor, the deaf and the blind. Why? Because "I am the Lord," that is, "I AM!" Because of the fact that God exists, we must tell people this Good News and care for "the poor, the lame, the maimed and the blind." But Jesus' disciples still thought that it would be better to evangelize the rich, the healthy, the intelligent and the good-looking people, and bring that kind of people to Christ!
How many times in the Gospel of John did the Lord Jesus Christ say "I AM"? Eleven times! See Jn. 6:35; 6:41; 6:48; 8:58; 10:9; 10:11; 10:14; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1; 15:5. The most important text, 8:58 , shows that the Jews understood when Jesus said it this time, He was making Himself equal to God, which is why "they took up stones to throw at Him."
Question:
1. Who is the "I AM" in the Old and New Testaments?
(Only one of the following answers is correct.)
The eternally existing, infinite, triune God.
A creation of human imagination, created in the image and likeness of man.
The Israelite deity, on the same level as the gods of surrounding nations.
And how many times did the Lord Jesus foretell His impending death? In Mk. 8:29-31 we read: "And He said to them, 'But who do you say that I AM?' And Peter answered and said to Him, 'You are the Christ.' And He charged them that they should tell no one of Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again." In Mk. 9:12 we read: "And how has it been written of the Son of Man that He should suffer many things and be despised?" And 31-32 states: "The Son of Man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him. And after He is killed, He shall rise the third day. But they did not understand that saying and were afraid to ask Him." It was inconceivable for them to imagine that the I AM could die!
In Mk. 10:32-34, they were in shock (amazed), they were so afraid when He talked about His death! In Lk. 18:31-34 where He tells them that He must go to Jerusalem and be put to death, "they did not understand any of these things. And this saying was hidden from them, nor did they know the things which were spoken." We believers in the twenty-first century understand quite well the reason for his coming to earth, but why didn't the disciples understand? Hadn't they already been with Him for three years? When John the Baptist saw Him, he said (Jn. 1:29) "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" and in Jn. 1:36, "Behold the Lamb of God!" The disciples must have been able to understand all of this! Why did they not understand?
It seems to me that they didn't understand not simply because they had not yet been witnesses of His resurrection from the dead: Jesus had raised a few people from the dead during His earthly ministry. Here is why they didn't understand: they were thinking like ordinary humans. In Mk. 8:33 it states: "You aren't thinking the way God thinks but the way humans think"1 (God's Word translation). When the disciples were preparing the Passover supper in Mt. 26:17-19 and participated in it 26-28, it appears to me that they were thinking Passover was the reality, and the words of Jesus: "Take, eat, this is My body" and "this is My blood of the new covenant" were for them merely symbolic, an interesting commentary on the Old Testament Passover, as all the previous rabbis had commented on it. They didn't understand that the Jewish Passover was merely a shadow of the future slaying of the Lamb of God.
When Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane, in verses 36-44 of the same chapter, what happened? Jesus understood quite well that He would soon become the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God described in Is. 53:6-7 - "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, each one to his own way; and Jehovah has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted; yet He opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth." This had been written by the prophet 700 years before Jesus, but not only did the Pharisees not understand it, even the Lord's own disciples didn't understand!
Jesus understood perfectly well what David prophesied about the Messiah in Ps. 21:15-19 - "I am poured out like water, and all My bones are spread apart; My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; and You have brought Me into the dust of death. For dogs have circled around Me; the band of spoilers have hemmed Me in, they pierce My hands and My feet. I can count all My bones; they look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them and cast lots for My clothing."
And when He fell on His face in the garden, His soul was tormented (Mt. 26:38): "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death." Although He gave His disciples the order, "Watch and pray!" they fell asleep. Three times He prayed, "If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will." Each time He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping: "We've had a good Passover feast, now it's time to take a nap." They didn't realize that before their closed eyes the real, perfect Passover Lamb was being prepared for the slaughter. They didn't know! And on the very cross Jesus shouted out (Lk. 23:34), "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." All of them were thinking the way humans think, including His disciples.
Even after His resurrection, when He appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Lk. 24:18 and 21), they said that they had been awaiting a deliverer from the Roman yoke. Finally the Lord had to rebuke them for their thick-headedness (25-27): "O fools and slow of heart to believe all things that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." The Lord had to open their minds (31-33). Then Jesus revealed Himself to the remaining disciples (44-49а). Finally they understood: "Eureka! How could we have been so dense? How long was it that we just didn't get it! All of this was laid out so clearly in the Scriptures!"
Finally, just before His ascension, He gave them their last assignment, which we call the "Great Commission" (Mt. 28:18-20): "Now it's your turn again: go, preach and teach others to observe (carry out) the same thing that I taught you to do!" - that is, to preach the Good News and heal the lame, the maimed and the blind. He did not command them to merely preach and teach theology, He gave them orders to carry out what He had shown them to do. And the apostles did this, starting in Jerusalem they preached, and from there to Judea, Samaria and even to the ends of the earth, they healed the sick, and at the same time they trained others to carry out what Jesus showed them: in Eph. 4:11-13 it states that leaders in the church should "bring the saints to perfection in doing works of ministry." In Greek, ministry is "diakonia," and such ministers are deacons and deaconesses in the New Testament.
In conclusion I would like to make these final remarks (Rom. 6:3-4) - "Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father; even so we also should walk in newness of life." Do you understand now the meaning of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ for you personally? Can you say with the Apostle Paul (Gal. 2:20): "I have been crucified with Christ, and I live; yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me." Or must it be said of you what Paul wrote (Gal. 3:1): "Foolish [non-understanding] Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth among you as crucified?" You are still celebrating the old Passover!
But now you can cease celebrating the old way: the perfect Lamb of God has been sacrificed for you! As 1 Cor. 5:7 states: "Therefore purge out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For also Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." If Jesus Christ is really the "I AM" then He is worthy of our worship and service. Where do you stand on the path of discipleship, following after Christ? Are you still observing the old Passover, or do you celebrate the slain and resurrected Lamb of God? If so, take up your own cross, crucify the old ego and follow after the crucified and resurrected Jesus!
Question:
2. Why is the "I AM" important for our ministry to the poor, lame and blind?
In the preceding part we have seen how the Pharisees and even the disciples were locked into their old paradigms of thought. In ordinary Jewish thinking, it was inconceivable for the "I AM," Yahweh, to limit Himself to the dimensions of a human body, and above all to die, to voluntarily lay down His life in the gory, ignominious form that He did: execution by means of being nailed to a Roman cross. And koinonia means that we are called to join Him in the fellowship of His suffering, in order to experience the power of His resurrection in our lives. Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries define koinonia as "partnership, that is, (literally) participation, or (social) intercourse, or (pecuniary) benefaction: - (to) communicate (-ation), communion, (contri-), distribution, fellowship."2 Thus we see the Greek word has a very wide range of meanings. In this work we will use the concept of "semantic field," exploring the wide range of meanings of a word, and the related words that are frequently used in the context of the given word.
In 1 John 1:3, 6-7 we are introduced to the central theme of the Apostle John's letter: koinonia. Four times in three verses he uses this word in a poetic chiasm, forming the Greek letter Chi (X):
That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ. ... If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and don't tell the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
These are carefully set out as a chiasm to catch the attention of the Greek-speaking audience:
L: "fellowship with us," R: "fellowship with the Father, and with his Son,"
L: "fellowship with him," R: "we have fellowship with one another,"
...so that human fellowship goes from left on the top to right on the bottom, while divine fellowship goes from right on the top to left on the bottom.
St. John begins the chapter with the bold claim that he and the other apostles had actually seen, heard and their hands had physically touched God incarnate, Life, the logos of Greek philosophy! In the first five verses he describes the offer, then in the next five verses he outlines the conditions: each of those verses starts with "if" - a condition. He states, "You can participate in this experience with us, and here's how: walk in the light, and confess your sins." Koinonia means that we can share in the divine life, which results in having intimate communion with one another. John gives two positive conditions:
1) If we walk in the light, we have fellowship with each other and forgiveness of sins (v. 7),
2) If we confess our sins, he forgives and cleanses us from all unrighteousness (v. 9).
But John also warns about possible negative pitfalls on the way to fellowship:
1) If we walk in the darkness while saying we have fellowship, we lie (v. 6),
2) If we say we have no sin, we are simply deceiving ourselves (v. 8),
3) If we say we haven't sinned, we are calling God a liar (v. 10).
So it is quite easy to destroy koinonia by consciously lying, pretending to live a holy and godly life, or by unconsciously rationalizing our wrong behavior (deceiving ourselves), which thus accuses God of being untrue, unfair and unrighteous. If God says, "All have sinned" (Rom. 3:23) and we say, "Not me! I'm OK, you're OK, everyone's OK," then we implicitly or explicitly blame God, claiming that His Word is false. We must guard against such pitfalls.
Question:
3. Explain the meaning of "chiasm" and give an example from this lesson.
St. John has much more to say about many facets of ministry in his first letter, as we shall see later, but here he lays the foundation for ministry on koinonia, fellowship with God and with one another, which can only be experienced if the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all our sins (v. 9). In order for that to take place, we must confess our sins and cease deceiving ourselves by claiming not to have sinned, or blaming God, as Adam did when he said, "the woman You gave me made me do it" and as Eve did when she said, "the serpent You created made me do it."
Now let us examine koinonia from the perspective of other Apostles: St. Paul writes in 1 Cor. 1:9, "God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship (koinonia) of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord." What is this koinonia of Jesus Christ that Paul writes of? We find the answer in 1 Cor. 10:16 (YLT) - "The cup of the blessing that we bless - is it not the fellowship (koinonia) of the blood of the Christ? The bread that we break - is it not the fellowship (koinonia) of the body of the Christ?"3 The Greek word koinonia is translated in this verse as "communion" in the King James Version and several other older translations. And St. Peter states in 2 Pet. 1:4, "he (Christ) has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature," using the word koinonos to describe this act of fellowship or communion. From these texts it appears that the Apostles believed they were partaking of the actual body and blood of Christ in the rite of communion, in some mysterious way beyond human ability to fully comprehend and explain. But, just as Peter did in Acts 5, Paul warns in 1 Cor. 11:29-30 of the dangers of abusing this koinonia: "For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he doesn't discern the Lord's body. For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep." Do modern evangelicals discern the Lord's body in communion?
From this we understand that koinonia is fundamentally a spiritual phenomenon, one that must be guarded and maintained by being honest to God, honest with one another and brutally honest with ourselves. We so easily deceive ourselves, rationalize and justify our behavior! In the next passages we will see the practical outworking of koinonia and how some early believers tried to deceive themselves and others, leading to a crisis in fellowship that took drastic measures to resolve so that the early church could continue its rapid growth. The same is needed today.
In Acts 2:42-47 we read how, on the Day of Pentecost, over 3,000 people were converted and:
"They continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship (koinonia), in the breaking of bread, and prayer. Fear came on every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. All who believed were together, and had all things in common (koinos). They sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need. Day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the church day by day those who were being saved."
Many Christian writers, including Rick Warren in The Purpose Driven Church, have pointed to the five items in this passage - fellowship, discipleship, worship, ministry and evangelism - as being the essentials of a healthy, growing church: "In Acts 2:42-47, these five facets of growth are described in the first church at Jerusalem. The first Christians fellowshiped, edified each other, worshiped, ministered, and evangelized. As a result, verse 47 says, "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."4
This is very true as far as it goes: Warren's "purpose-driven" books are excellent for inquirers and new Christians, and lead up to "turning members into ministers," the final step in The Purpose Driven Church. But as I will attempt to show, this is just the beginning. The above Bible passage is only one text out of the entire New Testament, which contains much more teaching and many more examples about what the true purpose and driving force of the church is: ministry. There are at least twenty different aspects of ministry, all contributing to the building up of the body of Christ, the church. So we shall first examine the above five aspects of ministry, and then discover the rest of them that are all related to New Testament ministry.
But before going on, I must point out two items in Acts 2:42-47 that are often overlooked. Why? Because our cultural blinders filter them out. They do not fit into our western, individualistic, materialistic paradigms of thought. First, this passage uses the word koinonia and its root twice: "the apostles' teaching and fellowship" referring to the koinonia we saw in 1 John 1. But the second usage is just as important, "All who believed were together, and had all things in common." Here the author, Luke, uses the word koinos to intentionally underscore the concept of fellowship in its tangible, material outworking. Believers are to share their material goods. Acts 4:32-35 also uses the word koinos in stating that "they had all things in common." And Luke, the author, is quick to point out, "With great power, the apostles gave their testimony of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Great grace was on them all."
This shocks the western evangelical's conservative, anti-communist mindset. What, give up my possessions? Never! That's unbiblical, or at least un-American! But if we examine this passage and other related passages carefully, we discover vast differences between New Testament koinos and twentieth-century communism. In the Book of Acts koinos was voluntary, gradual, and the owners retained stewardship over their goods. But under communism it was forced confiscation, immediate and total, and the state took control of all the means of production. This reached the point of absurdity: my first Udmurt language tutor in Russia told me how her father was considered a kulak ("fist"), a rich peasant who held on to his belongings, because he owned a cow! So the Bolsheviks confiscated not only the cow, but their house, furniture and everything except the clothing on their backs. Only the grandmother who was sick was allowed to keep one blanket. When hearing such tales, it is no wonder we have such a strong reaction to communism!
But Rick Warren, in The Purpose-Driven Life, writes -
"The first job God gave humans was to manage and take care of God's 'stuff' on earth. This role has never been rescinded. It is a part of our purpose today. Everything we enjoy is to be treated as a trust that God has placed in our hands. ...Our culture says, "If you don't own it, you won't take care of it." But Christians live by a higher standard: "Because God owns it, I must take the best care of it that I can."5"
Having lived in Russia for over 17 years, since before the fall of communism, my wife and I have personally witnessed the social disaster of the communist system. "If everybody owns everything, nobody owns anything and nobody cares for it" was an ironic saying in the Soviet era. Common facilities such as yards, stairways, elevators and hallways were almost always strewn with garbage, defaced, dirty and unkempt. If a light bulb burned out in the stairway and we replaced it, someone would usually steal it within a day or two. The production of factories and even equipment were routinely stolen by workers, and alcoholics would strip the outside telephone lines and electrical wires from the poles and sell the copper to buy vodka.
In contrast, note carefully the biblical principle of stewardship in Luke 12:22; 1 Cor. 4:2 and Titus 1:7; and faithful servanthood in Mat. 24:45; Eph. 6:21; Col. 1:7 and 4:7. God entrusts individuals, not society at large, with the care of material wealth. And in the parable of the talents in Mat. 25:21-23, the Lord promises an abundant reward if His servants invest wisely the talents entrusted to them. Material abundance is the earthly fruit of godly living, and a steward is one who must make decisions for the benefit of his master, not simply for his own pleasure. It is like a person who has power of attorney for another person who is away on an extended trip: the former has the right to make whatever decisions he deems necessary, but only for the benefit of the latter person. This makes stewardship the most responsible use of material resources, much more than under socialism, and even more than the egocentric consumerism of capitalism.
Wendell Berry, in his book Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community, points out that the Bible teaches several things about stewardship of the earth -
"We will discover that we humans do not own the world or any part of it.... There is in our human law, undeniably, the concept and right of "land ownership." But this, I think, is merely an expedient to safeguard the mutual belonging of people and places without which there can be no lasting and conserving human communities. This right of human ownership is limited by mortality and by natural constraints on human attention and responsibility; it quickly becomes abusive when used to justify large accumulations of "real estate," and perhaps for that reason such large accumulations are forbidden in the twenty-fifth chapter of Leviticus. In biblical terms, the 'landowner' is the guest and steward of God.6"
Question:
4. What are the three definitions of the Greek word koinonia from this lesson? Describe them.
The second overlooked item in Acts 2:42-47 that I must point out is one that, in The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren touches on in another context, under the heading "Churches Driven by Buildings." He writes,
"Winston Churchill once said, 'We shape our buildings, and then they shape us.' Too often a congregation is so anxious to have a nice building that the members spend more than they can afford. Paying for and maintaining the building becomes the biggest budget item. Funds needed to operate ministries must be diverted to pay the mortgage, and the actual ministry of the church suffers. The tail ends up wagging the dog.7"
The fact is that in Acts 2:42-47 the Jerusalem church first met in a huge building complete with dining and residence facilities. This fact is entirely overlooked in every commentary I have read. Although Warren uses the quotation from Churchill to downplay the vital significance of buildings, the early church clearly met and worshipped in the Jerusalem Temple, which was a multi-purpose structure that had rooms for dining, and rooms where some priests and even the prophetess Anna resided. We need only study the detailed descriptions in 1 Chron. 28:11-12 and Ezek. 41:6-7 to learn about these auxiliary rooms surrounding the Temple courts. A multipurpose ministry facility, if properly designed, can "shape us," as Churchill said, but in a positive way that enhances the ministry of the body of Christ and at the same time greatly reduces the budget outlays for building and maintenance, thus freeing up funds for mission and ministry.
This concept of multi-purpose facilities carried forward into the Early Church: clergy-physicians frequently studied medicine along with their general and spiritual education. These priest-physicians served the court and wrote textbooks on medicine. As a result of this type of education, hospices were established. The most famous of these early hospices was the Basilias established by St. Basil in Caesarea of Cappadocia. St. John Chrysostom established several of them in Constantinople. Usually, the hospices contained a house for the elderly, for disabled, for contagious disease, acute disease, and for travelers. Often a church or cathedral was part of the group of buildings where people came for healing and rest.8
But we must also beware of the potential dangers of koinonia: Acts 5:1-15 tells of Ananias and Sapphira who sold a piece of land and pretended to give all of the proceeds to the church. It is important to note Peter's explanation: "While you kept it, didn't it remain your own? After it was sold, wasn't it in your power?" (v. 4). He did not negate or in any way undermine the right to private ownership of property. But at the same time he accused them of lying to God and tempting the Spirit. Violating the rules for koinonia can bring down swift judgment.
In our first period of overseas missionary service, my wife and I lived with a team in Austria. Our son Rob had already been born in Canada, and then our daughter Tanya was born while we were living in Austria. We shared kitchen, dining, bath and toilet facilities with others on the team. One of the team rules was to take turns keeping these shared facilities clean. But one time several team members became quite sick, and it was finally diagnosed as hepatitis. As it turned out, a new mother, the wife of another teammate, had rinsed out her baby's diapers in the bathroom sink! What she thought was just a minor infraction of the rules could have been fatal for others on the team. In Deut. 29:18-19 the German Luther Bible warns -
"That there not be perhaps a man or woman or clan or tribe among you whose heart has turned from the Lord, so that he goes and serves the gods of those nations, and a root may grow up to bear gall and bitterness, and although he hears the words of this curse, he still justifies himself in his heart and says, 'It will go well with me if I do whatever my heart desires,' so that the drunken and the sober are destroyed together.9" (my translation)
A little drunkenness , a little greed, a little idolatry, a little lust, a little carelessness - and not only the sinner but innocent bystanders can be drawn in and destroyed, physically or spiritually.
How is koinonia an aspect of ministry? In 2 Cor. 8:4 Paul writes: "...beseeching us with much entreaty in regard of this grace and the fellowship in the ministering to the saints"10 (ASV). Paul is writing here about the Corinthians' sending a love-gift to the Jerusalem church experiencing material hardship, and he states that fellowship (koinonia) is a form of ministering (diakonia) to other believers, and Paul uses the verb diakoneo again in vv. 19-20 to describe this act of koinonia. Once again he underlines this concept in 9:3 - "seeing that through the proving of you by this ministration (diakonia) they glorify God for the obedience of your confession unto the gospel of Christ, and for the liberality of your contribution unto them and unto all." Sharing materially, which in 8:4 he identifies as koinonia, is thus a "proving" or a test of true diakonia. And in 13:14 Paul closes the letter with a Trinitarian benediction: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship (koinonia) of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen." Thus he links koinonia of the Holy Spirit together with the material sharing of one's wealth, alluding to the spiritual basis for the material outworking of koinonia.
Question:
5. What are the positive and negative aspects of koinonia in these paragraphs?
(Only one of the following answers is correct.)
Positive: I can live without a care on government welfare, receive free housing and be fed in the free cafeteria.
Negative: pastors and other care-providers often call on us to give a tithe, but I want to buy myself some new clothes and electronic gadgets.
Positive: I don't need to worry about the health and well-being of others, only about myself.
Negative: I don't want to get infected when others do not fulfil their responsibilities for cleaning the common areas and general hygiene.
Positive: I have the privilege of serving (diakoneo) others, and in this way have fellowship (koinonia) with God and each other.
Negative: the old nature still exists in me, I can be tempted like Ananias and Sapphira, pretending to deny myself.
Paul again ties diakonia together with koinonia in Eph. 3:7 and 9 - "Whereof I was made a minister (diakonos), according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. ...And to make all men see what is the fellowship (koinonia) of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ"11 (KJV). So Paul understands his role as a servant or minister (diakonos) to be that of sharing (koinonia) the mystery, the divine plan of God heretofore hidden but now revealed, that of sharing the Good News of God's grace with the gentiles. St. Paul writes to the Philippians, telling how he prays "for your partnership (koinonia) in furtherance of the Good News from the first day until now" (Phil. 1:5). And shortly after this he writes, "If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship (koinonia) of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind" (Phil. 2:1-2). In these two passages Paul again links the material and spiritual aspects of koinonia. But perhaps the hardest aspect to swallow is in Phil. 3:10 - "that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship (koinonia) of His sufferings, becoming conformed to His death." The threat of his impending execution in Rome made the koinonia-sharing of Christ?s sufferings very real to Paul.
The last quotation from Paul on this facet of ministry is in Phm. 1:6 when he describes how he prays for Philemon - "that the fellowship (koinonia) of your faith may become effective, in the knowledge of every good thing which is in us in Christ Jesus." Here the KJV translates it as "communication" that indicates Paul prays for Philemon to communicate his faith effectively by doing good (agathos), applying his knowledge of Christ Jesus in practical ministry.
The anonymous author of the letter to the Hebrews, perhaps Paul or Barnabas, writes: "But don't forget to be doing good and sharing (koinonia), for with such sacrifices God is well pleased" (13:16). The author writes this in the context of identifying with Christ's suffering: "Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside of the gate. Let us therefore go out to Him outside of the camp, bearing His reproach" (verses 12-13). So once again we see the material aspect of sharing (koinonia) linked together with the spiritual aspect of the fellowship of Christ's suffering. In his wonderful book, Discipleship, J. Heinrich Arnold gives some very sound advice about community -
"If we want to live in church community we must do it for the sake of God alone. Otherwise, even with the best will, we will be like parasites on the inner life of the church. Even if we work more hours than other members, even if we produce more income than others, our efforts will lie like a heavy weight on the rest of the community. We have an open door for all people, but we also expect each one who wants to stay with us to accept the challenge of full discipleship. Otherwise our community will go to pieces."12
My wife and I have visited one of the "Bruderhof" communities founded and run by Heinrich's followers. They manufacture there all kinds of equipment for rehabilitation of disabled children and adults. The lived-out community that we saw was a powerful dynamic for Christian ministry, witness and outreach.
Jean Vanier is founder of the world famous L'Arche communities for the mentally handicapped and their helpers. His book Community and Growth inspired my wife and me to launch into our present ministry, and later I had the privilege of meeting him personally when he was in Moscow a few years ago to give a series of lectures. He writes - "There is no ideal community. Community is made up of people with all their richness, but also with their weakness and poverty, of people who accept and forgive each other, who are vulnerable with each other. Humility and trust are more the foundation of community than perfection."13
We shy away from community because we fear letting people see we are less than perfect, becoming vulnerable, but then we are left to our own loneliness. In order to experience koinonia-community we need to admit our own weakness and accept others' weakness. This involves dying to the "rugged individualism" of self that says "I'm self-sufficient, I don't need you." Next we will learn more about this call to full discipleship. Get ready to take up your cross, deny self and follow Christ!
Question:
6. What risks and dangers do you see in accepting koinonia? How can they be avoided?
Endnotes:
1. God's Word (www.e-sword.net, 2004).
2. Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries (www.e-sword.net, 2004).
3. Young's Literal Translation (www.e-sword.net, 2004).
4. Warren, Rick, The Purpose Driven Church (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan Publishing House, 1995), 49.
5. Warren, Rick, The Purpose Driven Life (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan Publishing House, 2002), 57.
6. Berry, Wendell, Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community (New York, Pantheon Books, 1993), 96-97.
7. Warren, Rick, The Purpose Driven Church, op. cit., 78-79.
8. Hosken, Cheryl, "Lecture # 003: Historical and Christian Perspectives of Disability," Social Ministry of the Church,
(www.Agape-Biblia.org/index04.htm).
9. German Luther Version (www.e-sword.net, 2004).
10. American Standard Version (www.e-sword.net, 2004).
11. King James Version (www.e-sword.net, 2004).
12. Arnold, J. Heinrich, Discipleship (Farmington, Pennsylvania, Plough Publishing House, 1994), 104-105.
13. Vanier, Jean, Community and Growth (New York, Paulist Press, 1989), 47.