MY PERSPECTIVE, Gary Damron
Several years back, we were involved in church activities to help people determine their gifts, talents, passions and personality traits, and how to use those in Christian life. Some people are either extroverts or introverts while others are somewhere in between. Some individuals are task-oriented while others gravitate toward a people-orientation approach. As we study the life of Jesus, we can learn much about our call to live in His image, through studying His dealings with others.
Jesus' ministry on earth began as a result of the Father's will. His task was to bring many to God - so His task was to be a people person. He said, "'I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent me.
...that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life...'" (John 6:38-40). That fits with the story in Matthew chapter 18, of a shepherd who left ninety-nine safe sheep and went out on the hillsides to find the one that was lost. Jesus ended with, "'Thus it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish'" (verses 12-14). And He told Philip, "'Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father'" (John 14:9).
Centuries before Jesus was born, Old Testament patriarchs knew that God was constantly intervening to bring people to Himself. In Jesus' life, especially in the Gospel of Mark, we observe that He moved from one need to the next. Chapter 5 shows Him surrounded by crowds, yet He healed a demonic man. He was surrounded by people again, but was pulled aside to minister to Jairus' daughter who was gravely ill. Even as He was on His way to Jairus' home, a woman interrupted, and He stopped to heal her. Though the crowds were often present, He took time for individual people.
From that day's activities, we might infer that Jesus was an extrovert. Yet God uses all personality types and, if we're willing, He forms each of us into the likeness of Christ. The Holy Spirit modifies an extrovert, who could otherwise be annoying, to make him or her more sensitive. And He uses the traits of an introvert to help calm those around. Either way, we can all become more people focused.
Following in Jesus' footsteps in Mark 4:19, we see that He called a bunch of fishermen. He was a man on a mission, bringing others into that mission. One of those, Peter, wrote later, "The Lord is not slow about His promise...but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
Jesus said, "'For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst'" (Matthew 18:20). And Hebrews 10:24-25 reads, "Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together..., but encouraging one another and exhorting one another'" (Matthew 18:20).
This is part of the beauty of church. The word we translate church, ekklesia means "those who are the called-out ones," not only outwardly by God, but inwardly by the Holy Spirit. When Jesus calls someone to discipleship, He invites us to belong to Him - to follow Him - and to learn from Him.
The obvious problem with not being in church on Sunday morning is that we miss out on the benefits of being with people, because the Christian life is communal. R C Sproul said, “Christ places His redeemed people in the church to learn together, grow together, serve together, and worship together.”
God saw man as the highest of His creation; He said in Genesis that man was "very good". The New Testament begins with a family record, a genealogy, that centers around Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (chapter 1). Matthew, the meticulous former tax collector, named forty-six people, some Jewish, some foreigners and outcasts, who prepared the way for Jesus.
Jesus came, incarnate, when the Word become flesh and dwelled among people (John 1:14). His physical, historical life and His teachings provide humanity with practical, feasible, best practices for life. Further, He told the disciples, "'This is My commandment, that you love one another...'" and "'Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends'" (John 15:12-13). Then Paul wrote in Romans 5:6-8, "While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly...God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
We were made in the likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27) and that image was corrupted by sin. But in Jesus, we can be:
- restored to His image (Romans 8:29);
- adopted as sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:15);
- heirs of His kingdom (Romans 8:17);
- holy and pure as He is (1 Peter 1:16 and 1 John 3:3).
May we seek the Spirit's help to love other people as we are loved.
