"Remind" (2 Timothy 2:14-19)

“Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers…”

Not only are we to remember Christ and His sacrifice as a motivation for our efforts and even suffering for the cause of the mission, a large part of that mission is to remind others of the same thing. This seems like such a simple task, and it is. However, it is hard to get people—especially vocational ministers—to do it.

Most people look upon the Gospel ministry as a complex and complicated task. They think it requires tremendous amounts of education and training to be done correctly. At the very least one must have a college degree and several years of post-graduate theological training. We think you have to have read the Bible through several times and be well versed in all the nuances of various theories of minute doctrines before you can lead a community or disciple someone in the faith.

The fact is that, at its most basic and therefore most effective, the Gospel ministry is remembering and reminding others of one story. All of the rest, the growth in knowledge and obedience, the understanding of God’s will and His heart, are laid out as clearly as God wished it to be and clarified for the believer by God Himself.

The reasons this has been lost are many. Church leadership tend to lack a trust in God to build His church, they lack a trust in believers to actually exercise their faith, we want to control the church and make sure it fits into our limited even if growing understanding of what God wants. Beyond that we have made the church much more complex structurally (but much too simple effectively) to be what it should be naturally (or perhaps supernaturally.)

Let’s have a little less talking that breeds structure and a little more reflection that spurs action.