Christians Are Part of Something Much Bigger
Our lives as believers matter more than we might think:
Something caught my attention moments ago, and as is often the case, it is now being spun into a whole new article! In his 1988 book Confessions of a Twentieth-Century Pilgrim, at one point Malcolm Muggeridge is discussing Mother Teresa and the impact she had on him. What really stood out to me is this:
“I could go on and on enumerating the saintly qualities in Mother Teresa. Jean Pierre de Caussade writes of how, all the time, the sequel to the New Testament is being written by saintly souls in the succession of the prophets and apostles, not in canonical books, but by continuing the history of divine purpose with their lives.”
I quite liked that idea of a sequel to the New Testament. Not of course as further inspired and inerrant writings: the biblical canon is now closed. But in the sense that all believers play a part in the ongoing story of God’s work in the world. That is something we all need to keep in mind.
It is not just little old me, but God working throughout history, using little old me – and you. We are all part of a much bigger and much grander story. As such, there are no people of no consequence in God’s Kingdom. We all have a role to play. We all have a job to do which we need to get on with.
I have said similar things before. For example, I have often pointed out the start of the book of Acts. Luke wrote Acts, and it continues on from his gospel. In Acts 1:1 we read this: “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach.”
The implication seems to be that the rest of this book will deal with what Jesus continues to do and teach. Yet in verses 9-11 we read about Jesus being taken up into heaven. So what gives? Actually, all that we read about in the rest of the book IS the continuation of the ministry of Jesus. But it is Christians who carry on the work that Christ began.
Sure, we contribute nothing to the work of Christ at Calvary to deal with our sin and alienation from God. But proclaiming that good news, and sharing in the other works of Christ, is something all believers can and should do. So in that sense we do indeed continue not only the story of the gospels but the story of the New Testament.
So we can say that your story and mine are a sort of sequel to what is found in the New Testament. It is a follow-up to what we read about there, and by God’s grace we can also do great things for God, just as the early disciples did. Our stories contribute to what is still the continuing great work of God on planet earth.
I often tell my students that if we put Christ first in all things and seek to faithfully serve him in whatever way he calls us, that if the Lord should tarry, and in the years ahead historians – or at least church historians – write about our times, we may find ourselves being written up.
Just as a handful of young college kids of a few centuries ago who loved God supremely went on to change the world and are now the subject of countless books by secular and Christian historians (I refer to George Whitefield and John and Charles Wesley), perhaps our stories as well will one day be told. I discuss these three here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/1998/03/02/%e2%80%9cnormal%e2%80%9d-christianity/
And this is not some ego trip or matter of pride. Our aim in life should be to please Christ. And if we seek to do that with the Spirit’s enabling, we will be making waves: we will be influencing our culture; we will be making a difference for the Kingdom.
Sure, for every Augustine or Luther or Whitefield or Spurgeon or Lewis or Billy Graham that are known and loved by millions, there may be a hundred or a thousand believers that also contribute greatly to the Kingdom – that become part of the sequel to the New Testament – but who are never known by the masses. They have quietly and in an unassuming fashion been faithful to Christ and left a mark. That is what counts.
Indeed, just moments ago I was reflecting on the issue of fame. I was looking at some recent posts on my website, including one in which I featured a picture of Paul McCartney – the legendary – if now aging – Beatle. I thought that millions of people the world over would recognise his face and know at least something about him.
I thought of others who would be known worldwide – for good or ill. Past figures would include a Plato or a Shakespeare or a Hitler or a Mother Teresa. Obviously cultural icons of recent times would be known to millions of people as well, whether Muhammad Ali or Kim Kardashian or Princess Diana or Donald Trump or Lady GaGa or Tom Cruise.
Some of these folks would be known by millions, if not billions, of people. And of course there are various ‘celebrities’ or very famous people in the Christian world as well. I mentioned Billy Graham, but today we would have a Rick Warren or a Tim Keller or a Tim Tebow or a Joel Osteen in the US, or a Brian Houston or a Fred Nile in Australia.
All would be fairly well-known, and all would be in the spotlight for various reasons. But my point here is that there are millions of faithful, committed, and sold-out Christians all over the world who are NOT well-known and are not in the spotlight. But they are doing just as much for Christ as some of these more well-known Christians are – maybe more.
Indeed, we will never know until we get to the next life just how much good we did and how much influence we had. So in one sense it is a bit of a waste to try to gauge your influence and outreach now. And it often would be very hard to do anyway.
I often pray and ask God if what I am doing is worthwhile and having much of an impact. In terms of human measurement, it would seem not. Yes, I have had a very minor outreach into the broader community; some have seen or heard of me online or in the media; my website has some sort of reach; and my books and articles have been of some use to some folks.
But if there was a fame-o-metre or some such thing to measure how well-known I might be, what would I end up with? Perhaps something like 0.000001 per cent of the world’s population would have ever heard of me. By the world’s standards I am a nobody, and maybe even by Christian standards!
I sometimes joke about whether anyone would even think of turning up to my funeral one day, and I mention the cartoon about a very sparsely attended funeral service with a person saying, “He had over 2000 Facebook friends. I was expecting a bigger turnout.”
But of course the point is this: if we are doing what God has called us to do, if we are being obedient to our Lord, if we seek to be faithful in what God has given us, we ARE having an impact. Sure, it may not be measurable today by any fleshly standard, but when we get to heaven we will learn just what we have done that is of eternal worth.
And more importantly, we will then hear those words which all true Christians long to hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord” (Matthew 25:23).
So we keep pressing on. Don’t worry if nobody knows about you. Don’t worry if your ministry seems to be slim pickings. Don’t worry if your web traffic is quite low. Don’t worry that you are never invited to speak or share your story. Don’t worry if hardly anyone seems to know that you even exist.
Worry instead about things like this: Am I pleasing my Lord? Am I being faithful in what he has called me to do? Am I in the centre of God’s will? Am I bringing a smile to God’s face as he thinks about me? Are the angels in heaven excited when they consider my dedication and zeal for Christ?
Those are the only things that really matter. As such there are no small Christians. There are no insignificant believers. There are no ‘little people’ as Schaeffer put it. We are all a part of God’s great redemptive story. We are all part of the sequel to the New Testament.
We must never forget that fact.
[1497 words]
Amen. God relies on us being not only Jesus’ hands and feet but also as more hidden things such as bones, sinews, muscles, nerves, feeding and waste disposal systems, etc, all unseen inside the skin and hair that protect and shade the body of Christ – all of which is necessary.
Thanks Peter.
We are privileged to live in Australia – a nation in which Christian men and women have contributed so much.
The stories of some of those Christians: https://atributetoaustralianchristians.wordpress.com/the-list/
Thanks for that John.
A really great perspective on the Christian life, thank you Bill for these words of encouragement, blessings!!
Many thanks Duncan.
Years ago, as a baby Christian who still had a swollen ego, as I sat at a breakout table with a bunch of other men at a Christian men’s breakfast, one man said something that zinged me then and has never left me. He said it very quietly and humbly. It was (paraphrasing) “I live to go to Heaven because I imagine how wonderful it would be to get there and have perfect strangers walk up and say ‘thank you’ because of some unknown thing I said or did that changed the direction of their life.”
As my Christian life has matured over the years, I’ve found that something to lean into because, to me, it speaks into Jesus’ command to love others. So I try to remember that, especially when I am not around people I know, but rather all those whose paths cross mine here on earth.
Great stuff Joe.
Incredible fact: God has given to us humans the role of who enters Heaven and who does not. Not only do we humans decide who shall obtain life and who does not, through deciding how many children we will create, but also, by our daily actions, influencing others towards God or away from Him. It’s awesome and terrifying.
Hi Bill
It’s Theresa Lokan here. I have been trying to contact you on Facebook to no avail. Have you left Facebook?
Your hippy day photo is not on there. I miss all your posts and blogs. Could you please send friend request. Sorry to post on this site but could not get a message to you any other way. Thanks
Regards Theresa
Thanks Theresa. You are a bit behind the times! It has been nearly two months now since Fakebook kicked me off their pages. I wrote plenty of pieces about this at the time, eg: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2021/05/27/erased/
But you can find me at Gab, MeWe, Parler, Rumble, and Minds!
Regarding David Forster’s comments (first sentence),,,
Jul 19, 2021 at 8:40 pm
“Incredible fact: God has given to us humans the role of who enters Heaven and who does not. ,,”
Our role????
Thanks Peter. Yes I was going to comment on that as well, but feared it would take us off topic. But since we are now discussing it, it seems a much better way to express this would be to say that Christians play a role in the salvation of others, in the sense that we can share the gospel with others and pray for others. But of course it is God who saves people, not us.
Off topic but have you heard of Alta Fixsler??? Any comments??
Thanks Paul. Here is one piece on her: https://thechesedfund.com/savingalta/fundraiser?aff=6
As with other similar such cases in the past, I have opposed the role of state as executioner. See this one for example: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2018/04/27/alfie-evans-and-the-totalist-state/
I remember Charlie Gard but this is worse because the parents aren’t UK citizens but foreign citizens and being told you don’t have the right to take your daughter back to your country. It is bad enough to kidnap and murder their own citizens children but to do so to a child of a foreigner is a whole new level!
“Will you decide what men shall live what men shall die?? It may be the in the sight of heaven you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man’s child” A Christmas Carol
Bill, what you have done for so many will only be revealed the other side of this life. I have no doubt that there are many like me who don’t comment or communicate with you but read your post & have been reassured by you, strengthened by you, upheld by you when tempted to lose heart or worse & at the very time when it’s obvious you might be struggling yourself. You’re a brave man & a good man & I thank you for your service to us. I couldn’t write when I read this article yesterday because I was so overcome with emotion, so touching was your article to me……but today I want to thank you & encourage YOU. I’m reminded of AW Pink who became so discouraged as subscribers to his newsletters dropped off over time & pulpit opportunities closed, little knowing as history has revealed, that it was Pastors who were his mainstay & were preaching to their congregations from his works. What a wonderful surprise that will be to him. Thanks again.
Many thanks indeed Rick for your very kind and encouraging words. Very much appreciated! And I will have to pull out my copy of Murray’s bio of Pink and reread it.
Bless you.
Cogratulations Bill you are on the list of influential Australian Christians that John Miller so kindly forwarded above. Well done faithful servant.
Thanks Lynette.
Well Bill you are important to me and everyone here. I check your site everyday I am able, my eyes don’t always let me come too much pain, and read every article you post.
I think the Histories of the Saints will be a multi volume set in heaven that will require it’s own massive wing of the heavenly library. Still phraseology wise I can NOT support calling it either the sequel to the new testament or, as he called it in anther book, the newest testament. That phraseology puts it on par with the new testament and by extension the Bible. A lot of books will be valuable from a historic perspective but we need to be careful with wording. While I don’t think we need be over eloquent in our speech the wrong word, or phrase, can be the difference between a good idea being accepted or rejected. Some people will accept the idea an offer different phrasing others simply reject it outright because they can’t get passed the word or phase. I have met many of the latter but try to be the former. Histories of the Saints has a nice ring to it no??
Thanks for the kind words Paul. As to what we call God’s ongoing work, I did make it clear that whatever term we use, it is NOT on a par with the canon of the NT which is now closed. But the idea is still good – we continue in one way or another all that Jesus began to do and teach.
Your post reminded me of this :
“The Romero Prayer
It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts; it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water the seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something and to do it well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.”
This prayer was composed by the late Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw.
Many thanks for that Lois.