The Turnstile

Two women I know are each going on a mission trip.
One will be going to China with her son.
The other to Guatemala with her husband.
Far-away trips doing practical work, helping the people there.

The mission trips are also an opportunity to share the Gospel.

The woman going to China is a home-school mom.
She will be teaching English to the Chinese students while she is there.
She has seven children of her own, but only her oldest is going with her on this trip.
She is gifted to teach and will use her God-given talents well.

The other woman has been on a mission trip with her husband before.
They have two school-age children who like to spend that time with their grandparents.
The husband and wife team minister to the people each in their own giftedness.
The husband likes to do construction and the wife enjoys being with the people.

It is a beautiful thing to use your gifts to further the Kingdom far away.
It is a beautiful thing to use your gifts to further the Kingdom nearby.

Further the Kingdom in your own neighborhood.
Further the Kingdom on your own doorstep.
Further the Kingdom as you talk to your neighbors.
Further the Kingdom as you take care of your own family.

Furthering the Kingdom one person at a time whether near or far.

Did you ever go into a train station and walk through a turnstile?
Many people are waiting to board their train, yet one by one they walk through.
One by one; no rushing is even possible.
Turnstiles, or baffle gates as they are sometimes called, turn only in one direction.

Turnstiles are often used in amusement parks, stadiums, and museums.
They are helpful in counting the number of people that pass through them.
They are not conducive to speedy evacuations.
Usually one has to pay to go through the turnstile with a coin or a token.

I often thought about the one-by-one aspect of the turnstile.
Effective ministry is simply that.
Reaching one person at a time for the Lord Jesus.
This is not to dismiss ministering to large gatherings of people.

But discipleship happens one person at a time.
The pouring into another life; the peripatetic teaching; the walking alongside.
The conversations: the questions asked and answered as you walk along together.
Going through the turnstile with the other person and meeting Jesus.

Don’t ever dismiss one-by-one discipleship.
It is not programmatic.
It is relational.
If we really search the Gospels, it is Jesus’ preferred way of discipling.

We often find Jesus getting away from the crowds.
We often find Jesus talking to His disciples as He walked along with them.
We often find Jesus suggesting a time of rest.
Jesus seemed to enjoy the one-by-one time as He spoke the words His Father gave to Him.

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with Him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified Him, along with the criminals – one on His right, the other on His left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up His clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at Him. They said, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked Him. They offered Him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was a written notice above Him, which read, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Him: “Aren’t You the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into Your Kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise.”
(Luke 23:32-43)

One-by-one, even on the cross.
Ministering to the one nearby as Jesus hung on the cross dying for our sin.
The criminal walked through the Turnstile and met Jesus.
The Turnstile only goes ONE WAY.

The other criminal did not go through the Turnstile.
Save Yourself and us, he said condemning.
The turnstile doesn’t go both ways.
He was right next to Jesus, as close as he could possibly get, and He missed Him.

He only wanted what Jesus could do for him; he didn’t want Jesus.
He could not see that Jesus was the only way through the Turnstile.
The criminal held anger, bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness in his heart.
That would all have been forgiven if he met Jesus at the Turnstile.

But the criminal turned the other way; he never went through.
Jesus furthered the Kingdom nearby on a cross.
Jesus furthered the Kingdom far away, as witnesses saw the way He died.
Witnesses, some who went through the Turnstile themselves, one-by-one.

Jesus shed His blood on the cross.
That blood covering happens one-by-one.
His people are a sprinkled people.
Sprinkled with the blood of the Lamb.

The Turnstile only goes ONE WAY.
That ONE WAY is the only way through.
The way through the Turnstile is Jesus.

Have you met Him there?