Bottom of the Ninth #87 - Well Coached, Ministry
by Keith Wahl
“See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.” (Colossians 4:17 ESV)
Modern situation comedies on television make light of a growing social phobia - the fear of commitment. We are presented with so many options in every facet of our lives and those choices paralyze us.In sport, there are different levels of commitment. We often see an athlete who straddles the fence - he’s not sure if he’s ready to make the commitment for fear of being wrong. Sometimes the athlete makes a choice, but keeps looking over the fence believing the grass might be greener on the other side. In some cases, seemingly more rare in this day and age, we see an athlete fully commit.Joe Torre once said this about Derek Jeter, “He would literally commit to it. I wouldn’t say buy-in. He would commit to doing something.” Notice the difference Torre makes in the quote. “Buy-in” is referred to as a lesser example of commitment. To commit, in Torre’s mind, seems to be the highest level possible for an athlete.
In the final installment of the “Well Coached” series, the highest level of commitment is acceptance to the call to Ministry - the ministry of reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul outlines this ministry in 2 Corinthians 5:18-21:
“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Paul appeals to us saying that we have been “entrusted” with this message and giving us an important title as “ambassadors” for Christ. There is no choice left for us but to commit fully to this ministry through our very lives.
Now that you have been entrusted with the knowledge of being "well coached," you have been called to show that you are indeed "well-coached" by our Lord, Jesus Christ, and by those who coach and teach you. This is not for your sake - it is in fact all for the sake of the ministry of reconciliation to God, the almighty Father, and for the generations of people who must hear of that reconciliation after we are long forgotten.