{"id":25406,"date":"2020-04-27T15:58:49","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T21:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/?p=25406"},"modified":"2023-08-29T11:28:02","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T17:28:02","slug":"watherfalls-of-righteousness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/watherfalls-of-righteousness\/","title":{"rendered":"Watherfalls of Righteousness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Editor&#8217;s Note: This was my original First Word for the May-June BA, written in February before the COVD-19 outbreak. It was replaced with a more timely editorial just prior to publication. Written with &#8220;The Ministry&#8221; theme in mind, the original is offered to you here as an online exclusive.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;..<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We have another beautiful cover for this issue, courtesy of Wendy Gedack. When I saw this waterfall, I knew it was the right photograph to illustrate this BA. What better image to capture the essence of the ministry that<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">God has given His church! Look at it again. What does it evoke in your mind? <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Swift, fresh, living, pure, powerful. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How does that compare to the ministry of your life and church?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here in the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas, where I live and minister, waterfalls are abundant. All of them are beautiful, but no two of them are alike. The local terrain shapes each one uniquely. Height, volume, and form may vary, but all tumble, flowing crystal clear from their higher source.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We are like this \u2014 all \u201cministers of God\u201d (2 Corinthians 6:4) in different contexts, but workers together in the singular ministry of reconciliation (5:18; 6:1). Each one of us plays an important part in watering and nourishing new creation life in a barren land. I am reminded of the prophet Amos\u2019 waterfall image of the ministry: <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cBut let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream\u201d (5:24).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is the ministry of reconciliation vividly foreseen. Before Paul called it that, he named it the \u201cministry of the Spirit\u201d and \u201cministry of righteousness,\u201d and us \u201cministers of the new covenant\u201d (2 Corinthians 3:6-9). These are one and the same ministry in Christ and through Christ: \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water\u201d (John 7:38).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But why does Paul focus so much on the ministry with the Corinthians? Have they lost sight of it? A close read reveals that Paul is not only defending <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">his<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> ministry in Corinth but also renewing <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">theirs<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. He urges integrity, lest pure waters turn putrid: <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWe give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed. . . . For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? . . . what communion has light with darkness?\u201d (6:3, 14).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">With Corinth, we are called to minister \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left\u201d (vv. 6, 7). It sounds like a waterfall. It sounds like righteousness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014 Jason Overman<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editor&#8217;s Note: This was my original First Word for the May-June BA, written in February before the COVD-19 outbreak. It was replaced with a more timely editorial just prior to publication. Written with &#8220;The Ministry&#8221; theme in mind, the original is offered to you here as an online exclusive. &#8230;.. We have another beautiful cover [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":25368,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,36],"tags":[87,528,123,137,707,252,920],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Watherfalls of Righteousness - Bible Advocate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Waterfalls of righteousness. Paul is not only defending his ministry in Corinth but also renewing theirs. 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