Is it OK to be "An Agent of God?"

Photo: Greg K. Dueker

I was recently having a conversation with a young person over coffee and a breakfast sandwich (you know who you are) about the missional life of Christians. As I have written in previous posts, as followers of Christ, we are commissioned as ministers of reconciliation. This is the term used in 2 Corinthians 5, but it seems a little tricky to explain to someone outside informed theological circles. So I tried to say it differently. I made the comment that, as a Christian and a pastor, “I am an agent of God.” Their reaction was surprisingly swift and negative. “That’s a scary thought! That people think they can get away with doing whatever they want because they claim to be ‘agents of God’!” I agreed with him, laughing, “That is a scary thought! But that is not what being an agent of God is about. If we are agents for God, we aren’t free to do whatever we want, nor are we above accountability, but are to represent God well. So the question we need to be asking is not "what can I get away with" but "what is it that God wants to do on earth?” Being an agent of God, or a minister of reconciliation is not a carte blanche but a higher calling to represent a loving and holy God well amid an imperfect world. Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (John 20:21) And we know that Jesus didn’t come to serve himself...but to do the will of the Father.

It isn’t like the Blues Brothers, who thought they couldn’t be caught or stopped because they were “on a mission from God.” Even if our goal is altruistic and just, the end doesn’t justify the means. It is time for God’s judgment to begin in the house of the Lord (1 Peter 4:17). It is a biblical pattern. We should let God’s work of reconciliation begin in our own hearts and then overflow in love, forgiveness, and relational justice to all we encounter instead of tainting them through unregenerate hearts. Jesus said that we can be defiled by what comes out of us. Why would we want to splash any of this on those we meet?

And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” (Mark 7:20-23).

We are not Agent Smith

It should be clear that we can’t do the work of God using the pride-based, bandwidth-consuming, coercive operating systems of the world. We are all fallible and dependent upon God’s grace daily. The closer we get to God the more we realize our own need to repent, which is one reason that some people try to keep God at a distance. Sadly there are too many pretenders—people who do not truly love and serve Jesus but try to objectify others to satisfy their own desires. They pretend to have drawn near to God, but their pride and sense of entitlement have not been killed. It seems that there are too few authentic agents of God, who by responding to the humble glory of Christ, having been reconciled to God, choose to die to any self-seeking agenda. Instead, they seek to lead others to the place of healing, wholeness, and peace in Christ that God provides. They serve others often without recognition…which is probably why there seem to be so few.

When the opportunity for worldly power comes into play, it will corrupt almost anyone and our ideas and ideals can become twisted. Such selfish thinking leads to abuse, oppression, fights, and even wars. If it is about getting what we want, we will fight against anyone who hinders our desires (James 4:1-3). In God’s plan, we are given a different kind of power, “power from on high” through the coming of the Holy Spirit. Our demonstration of such power will be for the cause of drawing people to the exalted Jesus Christ not to ourselves, our own pet causes, or our own desires. Such works if done in the power of the Holy Spirit will be characterized by what the Bible calls the fruit of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

What is it that God wants to do in the world? He wants to reconcile the world to himself in Christ, forgiving sin, adopting all who will believe into his family, and giving them eternal life. He desires to bring healing, wholeness, peace, justice, and hope to all mankind. Agents of God are committed to this mission…bringing about heaven on earth—by humble faith, not by force. There should be nothing scary about true agents of God working in the world. I say, “The more the better” for everyone except those who make a living oppressing the weak.

Yet the warning for all who have been commissioned and sent into the world is that we are not immune from personal blind spots and failures only made worse by earthly power and control. Jesus’ brother James wrote to the early Christians,

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:13-18)

They followed his instructions so well that they had turned the world upside-down within a couple of centuries. I long to engage my culture with such wisdom from above because the wisdom from below just doesn’t work!