Who's in Charge?

Questions continue to be asked about the security arrangements for the Olympics. 

The boss of G4S will get a roasting later today, but the key questions is 'Who's in Charge?' of the security arrangements. 

The same questions will be asked of the senior staff of HSBC today, as US authorities accuse them of lax monitoring, allowing Mexican drug cartel money to be laundered through HSBC.

And so we could go on. 

When life and systems get complex, we need to know Who's in Charge?

St. Paul addressed this question when writing to his friends in Ephesus. 

Ephesus was a vibrant and complex place, and Paul himself had spent a fair amount of time in that city. It was a multi-cultural mix, with magic cults, idol worship, the magnificent Temple to Artemis, and a successful trade in silver artefacts fed by the religious options available to all and sundry. Everyone wanted a memento from one Temple or idol or whatever - a bit the tourist trash available in the modern world.

So in the new Christian community, drawing together people from every background and culture, the same question occurred. Who's in Charge?

Reminding followers of Christ that we all take our place in the Body of Christ, all with different gifts and opportunities, Paul sums up how that works out in practice. 

First, Paul shows how Jesus has set up the Christian community to function. 'Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ' (Ephesians 4.11-13) Jesus trusts us at a local level to help one another to find our place and style of ministry. That way we grow towards maturity. 

'We will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.' (Ephesians 4.15-16)

Under the overall responsibility of Jesus, we have responsibilities to one another - to speak the truth in love - with the intention that we grow together in love and effectiveness. It is wonderful to know that what we do is part of a much bigger plan. 

So today, as i go about the various things which are planned or unplanned, i shall be looking to ask Jesus, as the day progresses, what exactly he wants me to be doing. When I ask the question, Who's in Charge?, the simple answer is JESUS!

Best wishes,

Richard