Editorial: Finish the Work? No, Just Do the Work!
All my life I’ve heard this phrase: “Finish the work, so Jesus can come!”
I confess, I find it problematic.
The Gospel Commission, you’ll recall, is “Preach the good news everywhere!” But what is the good news? Is it lecturing people about a bunch of doctrinal abstractions, and then recording their names on the church books?
Jesus did some teaching, but it wasn’t especially doctrinal. It was about living a righteous life and godly behavior.
Mostly, he did good things for people. He didn’t, as far as I know, keep a list of members.
Furthermore, Jesus didn’t say “Preach the Seventh-day Adventist church doctrines.” He said, “Preach the good news.” That’s a pretty simple message: Jesus loves you, and wants to you to live with him for eternity.
Do you think that’s a work you and I can finish? I don’t. Which is why I opt for a different formulation: “Do the work!”
“The work” is helping people. Making people happier. Making their lives better. Bringing them “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17).
Adventist congregations, I regret to say, aren’t especially good at that. Some of us are so busy checking out one another’s dinner plates and earlobes that we have little time for helping people.
No, I’m pretty sure it’s not up to us to finish the work. That’s God’s job. Once we start just doing the work of telling people how much Jesus loves all of us, and showing them by our actions, we might see something significant happen.
But until we quit trying to finish a work we apparently don’t know how to do, we’re wasting our time.
Loren Seibold
Executive Editor, Adventist Today
29 June 2024
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