...Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations... (Romans 1:4-5)
The goal of apostolic ministry is not to make people live in obedience to "The Faith" but to produce faith in people which creates of itself, quite naturally and without any external compulsion, obedience to Jesus Christ.
So one mark of true apostolic ministry is that it produces faith-filled people who freely and instinctively live the life of Christ and so bring honour to his name: this is the obedience of faith. Apostolic ministry does not first and foremost say "this is what you should do," but rather says "here is Jesus Christ." It is not a revelation to law, but a revelation from grace.
Apostolic authority is not primarily a right to command, but an entrustment to make known the mysteries of Christ. An encounter with true apostolic ministry will leave you full of faith and knowing Jesus better.
I love this. It reminds me of hearing Steve Ottolini speak on 'Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus' a few years ago at Bible Week.
Posted by: James Aubrey | 24 June 2011 at 01:32 PM