JUST THINKING: Ships for Followers of Christ (Part 2 of 2)
With this issue, I continue with what I was just thinking about the ships with which we believers travel in our journeys through life. In the last issue, I mentioned these four ships — Relationship, Followship, Discipleship and Hardship. In this column, I will focus on some truly important ships for believers that are essential to enjoying the blessings from the Lord as we serve Him in our churches.
• Friendship — The Bible has so much to say about the worth of having friends and being a friend. The Lord wants us to have a friendship with Him, and that relationship goes hand in hand with followship and discipleship because of our relationships. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:13-15 NIV1984).
I treasure the friendship of my high school and college classmates. But I also treasure the friendships that Karen and I have made in our ministry with wonderful pastorates over the past six decades. The journey in life that every Christian enjoys greatly is the one that includes friendship.
• Fellowship — The relationships we develop by being believers in Christ enable us to have those treasured friendships. But it also enables us to have fellowship with one another. Within days after Pentecost, the early church began to combine discipleship with not just distant friendship but also close fellowship. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching (discipleship) and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). Friendship is a great ship to be in, and fellowship makes the journey more enjoyable.
• Stewardship — One of the greatest ways to honor God and travel through life with fellow believers is through stewardship. Stewardship encompasses much more than simply making an offering in church. It involves the responsible management of the believer’s relationship with the Lord, as well as the careful handling of the various resources the Lord has provided. Stewardship involves giving our best to the Master through our time, talents, spiritual gifts and yes, our finances. True stewardship is about believers recognizing how good God is and how deserving He is of us utilizing our relationship, followship, discipleship, friendship and fellowship to His glory. It is not for us to garner attention to ourselves but to give our best to Him in gratitude.
• Worship — The “Queen Mary” of these spiritual ships is Worship. Worship is a fleet of ships coming to harbor to meet with the God of Creation, the Provider of Salvation and the Giver of Everlasting Life. Worship is more than just assembling on a Sunday morning to sing songs and hear a sermon. Worship is a time to revere the Lord, exalt Jesus Christ and submit to the Holy Spirit. Worship is a time to give thanks for the privilege of relationship, the calling to followship, the opportunity for discipleship, the present calm through hardship, the treasure of friendship, the joy of fellowship and the blessing of stewardship.
Jesus told the woman at the well: “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks” (John 4:23).
These are some of the ships about which I was just thinking!
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Dr. Tom Mitchell
Dr. Tom Mitchell pens a column titled, Just Thinking, in which he addresses many topics relative to the Baptist Missionary Association. His Trailblazers series provides biographies of many BMA trailblazers from the past.
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