Grace before Truth. Ministry must be kind.

 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jn 8:12 NIV

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his disciples, that if we live in his light, we too will be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, not because of our own goodness, but if we allow Jesus to live in us and work through us.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? …
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Mt 5:13–14 NIV

Jesus appoints and empowers his followers to minister his goodness, but we must do this in the right spirit.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Jn 1:14 NIV

Grace comes before truth. If we judge, accuse and attack people with truth, we are not ministering grace. We are not living in the love of God. Our ministry is worse than useless.

Warm salt water is an effective antiseptic and medicine, but if a doctor rubs salt into your wounds, it is harmful and cruel.

If you approach a drug addicted prostitute aggressively by preaching judgement, you only add to the torments of a suffering human being.

As a young man in my twenties, I saw a psychiatrist to help with my depression and anxiety. Then I became a converted Christian believer. I joined a church where nearly every sermon was an aggressive lecture pressuring me to repent, obey and submit, over and over again.

I experienced the love of God when I prayed and worshipped but the preaching progressively increased my suffering and anxiety, until I spoke out angrily and I was excommunicated, leading to a severe mental illness.

If a doctor performs major surgery on his patients over and over again, he will kill them. Surgery is sometimes necessary, but if it is a routine medical treatment, it is life destroying

In the same way, an evangelist who confronts people with their sinfulness can save lives but a pastor who preaches this way every week is dangerous monster.

Jesus confronted self righteous religious leaders with the judgement of God for their sins, but He did not minister to other people like this. Jesus was known as the friend of sinners.

Jesus is still calling us to come to Him to receive mercy.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Mt 11:28 NASB95

Faith and Love belong together

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 1 Cor 13:2 NKJV

If we share bible truth, God can use the power of His own words to turn some people from confusion to faith, but that is only the first step. Many believe at first, but they fall away.

People in this broken world are desperate for love. Faith without a deep ongoing experience of love leads many converts down a blind alley.

Either they become fanatically religious without love, or they become disillusioned with false promises of love and walk away from church, or even from God.

Prophetic gifts can be powerful in helping people to believe in God. A Christian may receive a revelation from the Holy Spirit and tell a person something about him or herself which no one else knows.

On the other hand, Christians can prophesy over people to control them and keep them in bondage to manipulative religion. A preacher can tell a person, supposedly from God, that God has planted him or her in this church and he or she should not leave.

Spiritual gifts and bible teaching can help people grow in love, but they must never be a substitute for love and respect for each person.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 Jn 4:7–8 NIV

We must not think we are spiritual because of our bible knowledge or spiritual gifts. The mark of a true Christian is a character motivated by the love of God.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 Jn 4:9–11 NIV

• Love means we must not blame or judge people if they are not healed when we pray for them.

• Love means we must not try to manipulate people to grow our church or our ministry.

• Love means we must respect Christians with different doctrines or in different traditions.

If we genuinely and patiently continue to love people, we will see more people attracted to Jesus and more people continuing in faith after conversion.

In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Thessalonica, he sums up the essence of Christian faith, in which believing is essential, but faith is more than just believing.

We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Th 1:3 NIV

In his letter to the Galatians, he also teaches the true nature of faith.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Gal 5:6 NIV