Individual Work
Individual Work
Perhaps among the finest examples of the importance of individual work in ministry is this:
that God Himself—despite His care for the whole world—was concerned with individual work.
In the Old Testament
God sends His angel to the den into which Daniel was cast, to shut the mouths of the lions so that they would not harm him (Dan. 6:22). Likewise, He walks with the three young men in the fiery furnace, so that the fire has no power to burn them (Dan. 3:25–31).
He visits Elijah while he is afraid and fleeing from Queen Jezebel, and asks him, saying: “in a still small voice… ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’” (1 Kgs. 19:13). He also appears to Jacob while he is afraid and fleeing from the face of his brother Esau, in order to comfort his heart with words of love and help, saying to him: “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land” (Gen. 28:15).
With the same individual work, the Lord carried out a work of deliverance to save Sarah from King Abimelech. He appeared to him in a dream, informed him, and warned him, saying: “I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her” (Gen. 20:6).
Just as the Lord had an individual work with each of these—either to save him, to grant him peace, or to save others from him—so also the Lord had individual work in calling some to His service.
Thus God called our father Abram, the father of the patriarchs and prophets, to go to the mountain that He would show him, blessed him, and made him a blessing. He also said to him: “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3).
The Lord called Moses from the midst of the burning bush. When Moses excused himself by saying that he was slow of speech and tongue and not eloquent, He granted him his brother Aaron to be a mouth for him, and said to him: “You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do” (Exod. 3:4; 4:15).
The Lord also called Jeremiah. When he excused himself by saying that he was young, He said to him: “Behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar and bronze walls against the whole land… They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you” (Jer. 1:18–19).
The Lord called the rest of the prophets and was with them, and He had individual work with each one of them.
In the story of Jonah the prophet, the Lord had individual work with him, with the people of the ship, and another individual work with the city of Nineveh.
Thus, in that story, the individual work with Jonah was to lead him to obedience, to save him from the belly of the fish, and to persuade and deliver him from its mouth.
His work with the people of the ship was to lead them to faith and to offer a sacrifice to Him. His work with the people of Nineveh was to lead them to repentance, contrition, and faith in Him as well, considering that they were Gentiles. Here we notice an important observation:
God’s work with the city of Nineveh is considered individual work when compared to all the cities of the world.
The same situation applies to God’s work with the people of Israel in the Old Testament:
in leading this people, sending prophets, the Law, and covenants to them, as well as the signs He performed with them and the punishments He brought upon them. They are merely one people when compared with the many nations of the whole world. Without doubt, God’s work with them is considered—by comparison—individual work.
The examples of individual work in the Old Testament are very many, and it is difficult to enumerate them now.
We move to another point:
The Individual Work of the Lord Christ
The Lord Christ had a message among the crowds and the many thousands of people, as happened in the miracle of the five loaves and the two fish, where the men alone were five thousand besides women and children (Matt. 14:21). It was said in more than one place that the crowds thronged Him (Luke 8:42–45; Mark 5:24–31). The same occurred in the story of the healing of the paralytic who was carried by four men (Mark 2:2–4).
Despite all this, the Lord Christ had individual work, for He did not want the individual to be lost amid the press of the crowds.
Our example is His work with Zacchaeus the tax collector:
The crowd was pressing around the Lord Christ, and Zacchaeus could not see Him because of the crowd. So he climbed a sycamore tree. Amid all those crowds and that press, the Lord stood still and called Zacchaeus by name, entered his house, and “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham” (Luke 19:9). Zacchaeus repented, confessed his sins, and restored fourfold whatever he had wrongfully taken from others.
The Lord Christ also had individual work with Nicodemus. Nicodemus met Him at night, and Christ spoke to him about being born of water and the Spirit, about the Son of Man who is in heaven, and about salvation (John 3:1–21). This encounter bore fruit: Nicodemus believed, and he even participated with Joseph of Arimathea in wrapping the body of Christ (John 19:38–40). History mentions that he later became a bishop.
The Lord also had individual work with the Samaritan woman. He met her at the well and spoke with her about the living water and about worshiping God in spirit and truth. He led her to confession, repentance, and faith in Him. The disciples marveled that He was speaking with a woman (John 4:27). Yet His conversation with her bore fruit not only in her personal life through her faith and repentance, but more than that: she went to preach to the people of Samaria that this is the Christ (John 4:28–30).
Chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke is entirely about individual works for the sake of repentance:
whether the lost sheep, for which the Good Shepherd went searching, leaving the ninety-nine until He found it and carried it on His shoulders rejoicing; or the search for the lost coin; or the joy over the return of the prodigal son and the feast prepared for him; or the individual work to persuade his elder brother, who was resentful of the joy at his return.
Among the individual works that also carry significance is the Lord Christ’s work with Martha, when He said to her: “You are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed” (Luke 10:41–42).
Likewise, His work with the man born blind after healing him, when the Jews cast him out of the synagogue. The Lord appeared to him, called him to faith in Him, and revealed to him that He is the Son of God. The man said: “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him (John 9:38).
Also His conversation with Nathanael, when He said to him: “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael believed and said to Him: “Rabbi, You are the Son of God!” (John 1:48–49).
How many are the individual works that the Lord Christ performed—whether with His twelve disciples, or with Peter, James, and John, or even in the story of the Transfiguration with Moses and Elijah (Mark 9:2–8), and with many other individuals.
We must not forget the individual works that the Lord Christ performed after the Resurrection.
He appeared to the two disciples of Emmaus: “Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). He also appeared to Thomas and rescued him from his doubt, giving him the opportunity to touch His wounds, and said to him: “Do not be unbelieving, but believing” (John 20:27).
In the same way, He appeared to Mary Magdalene, who three times said: “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him” (John 20:2, 13, 15). Through His words to her, she believed in His Resurrection, and He sent her to preach to the disciples, together with the other Mary (Matt. 28).
The Lord appeared after the Resurrection to the disciples and convinced them that He was not merely a spirit or a ghost, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones. He showed them His hands and His feet and ate in their presence (Luke 24:36–43). He also appeared to them and granted them the mystery of the priesthood: He breathed on them and said to them: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22–23).
He also performed an individual work with Peter, who was very sorrowful over his denial of Christ before His crucifixion. He comforted him and said to him: “Feed My lambs… Feed My sheep” (John 21:15–17).
Among the greatest individual works that the Lord performed after His Ascension is His calling of Saul of Tarsus:
He appeared to him on the road to Damascus and reproached him, saying: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). He led him to faith and sent him to Ananias, who baptized him (Acts 22:1, 6). He chose him as an apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15–18).
He appeared to him again in a vision at night while he was in Corinth and said to him: “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city” (Acts 18:9–10). He also sent him once, saying: “Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles” (Acts 22:21). He appeared to him yet another time and said: “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome” (Acts 23:11).
Saint Paul obeyed and went to Rome to establish its church: “Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him” (Acts 28:30–31).
Among the greatest individual works that the Lord Christ performed was His work with the thief on the right.
How great was His impact on that thief who was crucified with Him, until he believed and said to Him: “Remember me, O Lord, when You come into Your kingdom.” The Lord answered him: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:42–43). And He indeed brought him with Him into Paradise.
Individual Works of the Apostles
The apostles preached in all nations, made disciples, and baptized them (Matt. 28:19). They preached the Gospel to all creation (Mark 16:15). Yet they also had individual works.
An example of this is the work of Paul and Silas with the Philippian jailer in calling him to faith, where “they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house… And immediately he and all his family were baptized” (Acts 16:32–33). Also Paul’s work with Dionysius the Areopagite (Acts 17:34), who later became bishop of Athens, as well as his work with many disciples who later became his helpers in ministry.
Among the beautiful examples of individual work is Philip’s work with the Ethiopian eunuch.
He saw the man in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah and asked him: “Do you understand what you are reading?” (Acts 8:30). He then began to explain to him and preached to him Jesus. That brief encounter ended when they came upon water, he baptized him, and the eunuch went on his way rejoicing.
Likewise, the individual work performed by Paul the Apostle toward Lydia, the seller of purple, who was moved by his words, believed, and was baptized. Paul the Apostle responded to her request and entered her house (Acts 16:15), and it is said that her house became a church of the Lord in Thyatira.
Among the historical examples of individual work is the work of Saint Mark with Anianus.
He took advantage of a word about God that Anianus uttered, preached to him, baptized him, and he became the first to believe through his hands in Alexandria. His house became a church, and he became a bishop and the first successor of Saint Mark.
I hope that we may continue our discussion about individual work in a coming issue, if the grace of the Lord wills and we live.
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