Paraphrase: (3/23/03)
12 I will be sending either Artemas or Tychicus to relieve you soon. When whichever of them arrives, come quickly to join me in Nicopolis, where I will winter.
Key Verse: (3/23/03)
3:12 - When your relief is come, join me at my camp.
New Thoughts (3/24/03)
When your relief is come, join me at my camp. Isn't this what every child of God awaits? While we remain here on this earth, we must labor in the fields of harvest, we must see to the care of those whom God has put in our charge. Indeed, even we to whom the least has been entrusted have been entrusted with great responsibilities. Even if the only charge we have is that of our immediate family, what a precious charge it is! And here, perhaps more than any other place, we have the responsibility of ensuring that there is no void in the spiritual leadership.
We have become used to the concept that we should care for the physical wellbeing of our families, should some event call us to God's camp a bit earlier than anticipated, but what are we doing about their spiritual preparedness? Would such a call leave them scattered like sheep without a shepherd? Are we doing what we must to train our helpmates up in the understanding of the whole of God's message? Do we indeed walk together in one flesh, with a united view of God's high calling? This should be of greater concern to us than fleeting matters of finance. Never have we seen God's children out begging, and never will we!
When your relief is come, join me at my camp. But, don't depart for His camp without the relief in place and prepared to continue the work. There is a message here for ministry in general. If we believe that God makes divine appointments (and He does), if we understand that He arranges these good works for us to do - specifically for us, not to be left for some other to do, we must also see that we are being entrusted with those He has arranged for us to touch. They have become sheep under our care at the moment we do that which God has called upon us to do. They have become our responsibility.
This is the beginning of discipleship, of mentoring. Here is one newly reborn, and shall we then leave him to fend for himself? This is not the way of human rearing. Why would we expect it to be the way of spiritual rearing? No, we are given a responsibility to look after this spiritual newborn, to ensure that he is fed good food, protected in his childhood, and nurtured into his adulthood. This is not a call for us to become puppet masters over our charges, any more than human parenting is. It is a call to look after the well-being of those just come to Christ, to ensure that they are given every opportunity to grow in understanding, to keep them well watered with the Word of God.
Doubtless, there will be those who will fall away in spite of the best care we can provide. There will be those for whom profession was no more than an emotional outburst. This is not our concern. God knows those who are His, and has not lost a one of them. Indeed, we can be certain that if we fail in our duty of raising up these spiritual youth, God will appoint another to replace us in our failed task. But, what shame must come to us on the day when we stand before Him, and the record of our lives is opened! Where will be the 'well done, good and faithful servant,' if we have failed to diligently pursue the mission given us?
The role of the Christian is quite like that of any parent. We are to go forth and multiply, but we are not to leave our children undefended and uninformed of their family heritage. We are to care for those children that our fruitfulness produces, raising them with all attentiveness, training them up in the way they should go, and producing a rich harvest of young men and women filled with the Word and the Spirit, ready to continue the labor we have begun. When your relief is come, join me at my camp. In business, they have come to understand that a good leader trains his replacement. It's time we come to understand that in the work of the Gospel!
The Christian could also be seen as a farmer, an image quite common to Scripture. The farmer plants, but he doesn't stop there. Certainly, there will be that in the growth of the seed, the timing of that growth, that the farmer does not control, nor does he necessarily understand. But, he doesn't simply throw seed, and wait for the harvest to put itself in the barn. No! He is attentive to the fields, to make sure that weeds do not choke out his crop. He is careful to remove any pests that might eat away his harvest before it has reached its fullness. He comes to water the young plants, he provides nutrients to ensure strong growth. He provides all the care that is necessary until that crop has fully matured. Even then, he knows the crop will not harvest itself. It remains for him to cut the matured crop free of its firm grip on the earth, so that it may be put in the place of usefulness. He must shake the seed from that matured crop, so that the process may continue. Yet, unlike the farmer, he does not go through this labor only to provide himself sustenance so as to be about the same task again. But in the crop he has raised, he has raised farmers like himself, a planting that can tend to its own seed in the next season. He has, indeed, planted and raised his relief. With the harvest of that planting, his relief is come. In the fullness of time, he will indeed hear the call to "Come. Join Me at My camp."
Lord, may it be so in my life. In this household, make me a faithful servant, a spiritual leader as You have intended. Help me, Holy Spirit, to set a true course for the growth of this family, both my wife and helpmate, and the daughter You have entrusted to our care. Show me how to lead and train them. As You reveal to me the wonders of Your word, give me the wisdom to impart to these charges all that You have revealed.
May You also find a fruitful harvest in my life, God. I confess that my labor has not been as great as it ought be. I am at a loss as to how to bring about such change as You may desire. There is nothing within this flesh that could bring that change. Yet, I know that You are with me, in me, bringing both the will to work, and the ability to work. Would You show me, then, a bit of the fruit of Your working in me, that I might be the more assured of Your life in me?
God, You continue to increase my understanding, yet I fear to have come only to knowledge. It needs both knowledge and wisdom, the understanding of Truth alongside the sense to implement what is understood. It requires Your work in me to make this at all worthwhile. I confess that there is much happening in my spiritual life right now that is not making a great deal of sense to me. There are frustrations and concerns, as You know. There are questions which seem to be answered, only to arise once more. Oh, Holy Spirit! You know the struggles I deal with of late, and I know You have come to lead me into all truth, to teach me of all that the Father has declared. Give me to know, dearest God, with certainty the state of this walk we share.
