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Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2023
Marco Ambriz & "Joey" Alan Le, Ph.D.
Icebreaker: What is your favorite team sport, and why do you admire it?
Introduction
Introduction
God is already actively healing and saving the world. God’s people are privileged to join in on God’s mission as partners and co-laborers. Likewise, all believers from every tribe and tongue are partners designed for mutual service. As we go about doing the work of God, it is vital to maintain a posture of humility and learning. When we partner with fellow believers around the world, it should always be a two-way street.
Partnering with God
Partnering with God
Even though God could accomplish his ends on his own, in his wisdom, God chooses to partner with human beings.
Psalm 127:1
Psalm 127:1
127:1 UNLESS THE LORD BUILDS…THOSE WHO BUILD. The implication here is that God works through human workers. How do you see God working in the world through your hands? How does this verse make you more dependent on God?
Nehemiah
Nehemiah
4:6 HAD A MIND TO WORK. Nehemiah and his people worked hard to rebuild the wall. Tell a story of when you worked hard to achieve a challenging goal.
NEH 6:16 ACCOMPLISHED WITH THE HELP OF OUR GOD. When have you looked back on your hard-won achievement and recognized that it was accomplished with God’s help?
Partnering with Christians
Partnering with Christians
Philemon
Philemon
First, Paul holds that believers are to be joined together as partners in the gospel ministry (Pao 378).
8 COMMAND YOU TO DO YOUR DUTY. As an apostle, Paul could wield his authority to command Christians to do his bidding. When have you seen a leader pull rank? How did that make you feel?
9 APPEAL TO YOU ON THE BASIS OF LOVE. However, Paul chooses to exercise humility and ask his fellow Christians to listen to him out of love, not obligation. What is the wisdom behind humility as opposed to haughtiness?
Second, when Paul calls Philemon his “coworker” (v1), he is trying to emphasize their individual dependence on and obedience to the gospel of Christ. Philemon is not Paul’s assistant. They both serve God independently and uniquely (Pao 378).
Third, for Paul, Philemon is not primarily an active contributor to the gospel ministry. Instead, he is a witness to God’s work in history. It is a Christian’s dignity and honor to play a part in God’s saving work. With this perspective, human partners recognize the privilege of experiencing God’s grace through participating in his mission. Partnership can take the form of prayer, financial support, evangelism, counseling, mutual forgiveness and reconciliation, obedience, and submission to God’s call (Pao 378). In what other ways can you partner with fellow co-laborers in Christ around the world?
Disguising Superiority
Disguising Superiority
The temptation to disguise attitudes of superiority is strong. Which of these poses the greatest danger for you personally? Why? What might you do to avoid falling into this kind of disguise?
I need to correct their error (meaning I have superior knowledge, a corner on truth).
My education has equipped me to know what is best for you (so let me do most of the talking while you do most of the listening and changing).
I am here to help you (so do as I say).
I can be your spiritual mentor (so I am your role model).
Let me disciple you, equip you, train you (often perceived as “let me make you into a clone of myself”) (Elmer 17).
Withholding Partnership
Withholding Partnership
In the history of Western missions, the primary role for the “heathens” is to simply receive the message and the charity of their benevolent, generous, and well-educated missionaries. If they show real potential and demonstrate extraordinary ambition, they might be able to work their way up to a support role, but they will never become full partners in the gospel (Rah and Charles 26).
How does this missionary model make you feel? How should this attitude be adjusted?
Handout, Hand Up, or Hand Across?
Handout, Hand Up, or Hand Across?
First, our participation in the mission of God is not a handout. A “handout” implies that one person has more than the other and therefore the one with everything is giving to the one who has nothing. In fact, there might be an implication that the one who has nothing does not deserve this handout. This is the danger of paternalism (Rah and Charles 121). What does the word “handout” mean to you? How does it interfere with genuine partnership between Christian coworkers?
Second, a hand up implies that one party is trying to lift up another from a bad place to a good place. Often, that means taking someone out of their cultural milieu and social context to bring them to a better place—my place. Usually, that means forcing the recipient of the hand up to conform to the norms and culture of the benevolent giver (Rah and Charles 121). What would be a better way to help?
In the end, God’s people relate to one another best as a hand across. We all share equal dignity, made in the image of God. We are all equally fallen as a result of sin. We all equally reflect God's glory and fall prey to folly. We need a hand out and a hand up from Jesus Christ, not from each other.
As co-laborers, Christians are called to pursue the kingdom of God together in partnership and not under the duress of paternalism (Rah and Charles 121).
Can you share a time when you were trying to help a person find God, but they ended up showing you the way to God?
Works Cited
Works Cited
Elmer, Duane. Cross-Cultural Servanthood: Serving the World in Christlike Humility. Intervarsity, 2006.
Pao, David W. Colossians and Philemon. Zondervan, 2012. Zondervan Exegetical Commentary Series on the New Testament.
Rah, Soong-Chan and Mark Charles. Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery. IVP, 2019.
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