Once upon a time in Israel there lived a family of two sisters and one brother: Martha and Maria were the sisters and the brother's name was Lazarus. Lazarus fell ill. The sisters asked Jesus their Lord to come and heal the brother. It appeared that Jesus dragged his feet, so by the time Jesus arrived home Lazarus had already died.
Compare Jesus with the two sisters. Jesus came to the house with the 'task' (or mission) to resolve the problems the sisters had. The two sisters strove to get their problems (the death of Lazarus, the so to speak pillar of the house, and the life security of their future) resolved. So you can say Jesus is tasked oriented whereas the two sisters were problem oriented.
By himself, Jesus has no problem at all. Being God he is problem-free. But two sisters were not like Jesus. That is why in the first place the sisters asked Jesus to come and help.
Christians are then task-oriented in the sense that they've got "all" of their problems "resolved", so they dedicate their lives to serving the interests of their master, Jesus Christ who in turn looks to the interests of others. Non-Christians are different. Inasmuch as Jesus came as the Savior, the one who saves his people from their sins, unlike Christians (or "Christ's persons"), those who do do not belong to Jesus Christ, remain "problem-ridden", whereas those who belong to Christ and therefore are owned by their Savior remain "problem-free". After all Christians no longer live for themselves but for their Lord. Their old persons died with Jesus Christ, and rose with Jesus Christ as new persons. Since they live as Jesus' witnesses, their life has become 'task-oriented', called to go out and represent Jesus Christ their master, to the people who are still problem ridden.
The Apostle Paul explained this concept when he said, "We received grace and apostleship to call people from among all Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith." Romans 1:5 In another place he said, "your life is hidden in Jesus Christ". Col 3
Similarly the Apostle Peter said in effect that through faith in the Lord God the Father of our Lord Jesus "has given us new birth into the living hope...and into an inheritance...kept in heaven...", so "live your lives as strangers in this world."
For the same reason Jesus said to his followers, "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Here "his" stands in contrast with "my". On other occasion he said to them, "You are the salt of the world".
Are you still struggling to solve "your" own problem or the problem of someone else? Do you still live a life that is 'problem-oriented' or 'task-oriented'?
This morning while seated on the couch at the living room, I fell asleep and had a dream. In the dream I met an African American guy. He represented himself as a "Christian". In introducing himself he said, "I am a football player." Although I did not know much about American football, I asked him, "What is your position?" He kept silent. The position 'line backer' came to mind, so I said, "A line backer"? He said, "No. I am a sweeper." "What does sweeper do?" I asked. He paused for a while and said, "I am interested in others getting goals so they could make their name." Then I woke up. On my iPhone I googled and learned that basically standing before the goal keeper a sweeper 'sweeps' up the ball keeping the defense line. It reminded me of a street sweeper for every thursday Downey City sends a sweeper, to clean De Palma Street. I thought the position of a Christian as a "task master" is not that much different than a street sweeper. It is not glamorous but much needed.
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