SPENT AND SUSTAINED BY THE LORD
Romans 12:1 "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."
2 Timothy 4:6-7 "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
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After nearly 25 years serving the Lord’s church and in the midst of a difficult tenure in Corinth, Paul writes Romans and includes the appeal above. His appeal reflects a continued commitment to serving the Lord, as worship. Three arrests, a shipwreck later, and his martyrdom impending, Paul writes Timothy confident that the Lord has spent him completely. Ministry fulfilled; he is looking forward to his awaiting “crown of righteousness”.
The arch of the Christian life that Paul describes and lives is hardly relaxing. Ideally, church is a nurturing environment, one that provides love, fellowship, and separation from the noise of the world to focus on the teaching of God’s word. That is partly why it is so distressing, if that nurturing environment is disturbed. As the faithful, we are a resource, made holy through Christ, being spent by the Lord; a resource that we willingly provide with the hope that, as John MacArthur says, “time is short and eternity long, [we are] willing to spend and be spent.” Therefore, the nurturing environment of a church should prepare, rejuvenate, and sustain the believers who are being spent in service to the Lord.
Ultimately, the church is in support of the Christian life, but is often mistaken for being the main concern of the Christian life. The Christian life is a personal relationship with our Lord and creator made possible through our living High Priest, Jesus Christ. Church, in its way, can distract us from this fact. Church is a vital piece to our journey, but it is not the destination. Misapplication of these principles can lead to great distress and discouragement, reducing our capacity to serve the Lord. Proper alignment will keep your compass focused on serving the hope and instrument of our salvation.
As we prepare to celebrate Christ’s victory this month, let us not forget that he was spent for us. Let us pray that we have the strength and courage to be spent in turn. As our relationship with him grows, so will our capacity to be spent. Lean into it. And if that capacity feels at its limit, then in the church, may you find the rejuvenation and understanding to assist with fulfilling your own ministry. For instance, no less than three people laid their hands on me in the 15 minutes between Sunday School and the beginning of the service to pray for the Spirit’s presence in my sermon. And despite not having stood in the pulpit in two years, their prayers and support swept away any notions of anxiety; in that moment, the church leaned into me, as I leaned into it, and together we worshiped our savior.
In Christ,
Thomas Goodrich