January Week 1 — Mission Cleveland Parish

Virtue: Diligence
Resolution: I choose to work as unto the Lord in all areas of my life.

Human Story: Millard Fuller (1935-2009)

Millard Fuller, born in 1935, grew up in a working-class family in rural Alabama. By the time he was 25, he had a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Auburn University and a law degree from the University of Alabama. Over the next 4 years, with his wife Linda, Fuller become a very successful banker and a “self-made millionaire” at the young age of 29.

Despite the rapid rise to prominence, Millard and Linda were both unhappy. Their marriage was on the brink of disaster, and they knew something needed to change. Money and a very “successful” life were unsatisfying. So, in 1968 they sold everything and moved to Koinonia Farms near Americus, GA. Koinonia (Greek for “fellowship”) was founded in 1942 by Clarence & Florence Jordan and Martin & Mabel England to be a radical, inclusive, Christian community aimed at being a “demonstration plot for the Kingdom of God.” The Jordan’s and England’s had committed themselves to:

1.     Treat all human beings with dignity and justice
2.     Choose love over violence
3.     Share all possessions and live simply
4.     Be stewards of the land and its natural resources

Clarence Jordan became a mentor to the Fullers once they arrived. He had earned a PhD in Biblical Greek and passionately believed that good theology (right thinking) must lead to good work (right action). He and those at Koinonia were profoundly countercultural within their surrounding context of conservative, segregated South Georgia.

While at Koinonia Fuller helped pioneer a project called “Partnership Housing” based on the principle that the poor need more capital instead of more charity. With a “sweat equity” model, the beneficiaries/partners of this endeavor help both themselves and others ultimately earn a low-cost, 0% interest loan against their own house.

After five years at Koinonia, the Fullers took this concept to Africa’s Democratic Republic of Congo where they helped build 100 homes in three years. They came home for sabbatical in 1976 and officially founded Habitat for Humanity using these same principles. Since then, Habitat has grown to become one of the world’s most successful nonprofit organizations, helping build over 1 million homes with the help of the low-income families they serve.

In 1994, Fuller wrote a book about this approach to ministry called Theology of the Hammer in which he described how a living and active faith is much more than head knowledge. He never claimed to be a theologian, but instead a practitioner, making the title of the book all the more poignant. Once when asked where he went to seminary, he replied, “I packed pecans and milked an old cow with Clarence Jordan…He taught me obedience to Christ and authentic participation in God’s work in the world.”

References:
Fuller, Millard. Theology of the Hammer. Smyth & Helwys Publishing Inc. 1994
Habitat for Humanity: www.habitat.org/about/history/habitat-for-humanity-co-founder-millard-fuller, accessed 12/2017
Koinonia Farm: https://www.koinoniafarm.org/about-koinonia-farm/, accessed 12/2017.

Lesson: Colossians 3:23-25 (NIV)

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.

During one of Paul’s imprisonments, he was met by Epaphras who informed him of philosophical issues facing the new church of Colossae which prompted him to write a letter to help these believers carry out genuine spiritual maturity. Located in the Lycus Valley in Asia Minor, Colossae had substantial Jewish and polytheistic populations whose beliefs were influencing the theology of the young church.

The centerpiece of this epistle is Paul’s appeal for Christian maturity (2:6-4:6), where he contrasts their old way of life (distorted sexuality and destructive speech) and challenges them to live a new way of life characterized by mercy, generosity, forgiveness, and grace. In verses 3:18-4:1, Paul unpacks what this might look like in a first century Roman household, which was an extremely authoritarian and patriarchal institution. Paul does not affirm the institution of slavery nor the subjugation of women, but rather contrasts it by instructing the Christians in Colossae that in whatever they do, do it unto the Lord. With Christ positioned as the true master, Paul instructs wives to submit to their husbands (3:18), husbands to love their wives (3:19), children to obey their parents (3:20), fathers not to embitter their children (3:21), and slaves to obey their earthly masters as work to the Lord.

Paul challenges them to shift their perception beyond the limitations and privileges of power in their current context, and to fix their hearts, minds, and work on Christ. Paul helps us understand the promise and the good news of a heavenly inheritance and the justice that awaits Christians. For it is Christ that rewards and Christ that repays wrongdoing without favoritism. A part of Christian maturity is not only making sense of this truth but allowing it to inform our attitudes about work and decision-making.

This is certainly no easy task. However, we are all called to live and diligently work as new creations in Christ Jesus. Although there is a sizable time gap between the church of Colossae and the present day, we too need to carry out Christian maturity in all facets of our lives and pray for the Spirit’s guidance as to how it is translated into our present situation.

Reference: The Epistles of Paul to the Colossians and to Philemon by N.T. Wright

Remembrance: “Your labor is Not in Vain”

The Porter’s Gate Worship Project (Click to listen.)

Your labor is not in vain
Though the ground underneath you is cursed and stained
Your planting and reaping are never the same
Your labor is not in vain

Your labor is not unknown
Though the rocks they cry out and the sea it may groan
The place of your toil may not seem like a home
But Your labor is not unknown

The vineyards you plant will bear fruit
The fields will sing out and rejoice with the truth
For all that is old will at last be made new
The vineyards you plant will bear fruit

The houses you labored to build
Will finally with laughter and joy be filled
The serpent that hurts and destroys will be killed
And all that is broken be healed

I am with you, I am with you
I am with you, I am with you
For I have called you, called you by name
Your labor is not in vain

Challenge

Choose a task to give your all to complete. It might be an everyday task or a special project. Consider the ways you can do more than just do the work but complete it with diligence and the attitude of doing this work for the Lord. Practice inviting God’s presence into this activity. After completing this task, evaluate your attitude and feelings about this work.

Reflection

In what ways can the work of our hands be an expression of worship to Christ?

Further Growth

Human Story: Millard Fuller (1935-2009)

Lesson: Colossians 3:23-25 (NIV)

Remembrance: “Your labor is Not in Vain”

Challenge

Reflection

Further Growth

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