True Ministry
THE OBJECTIVE OF THE MINISTRY.
God has revealed over a period of time his thoughts concerning the Body of Christ, the Bride, the Church as a company of overcomers, the function and government in the House of God etc. The church is something dear to Him, a matter close to His heart; yet, God’s objective underlined in all these is a people – a people who conform to the image of His Son. God will never be satisfied with anything lesser than the fullness of His Son. He is keenly and lovingly looking at the Church to see the fullness of His Son represented and reproduced in her.
The Church is the fullness of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:20-23. CHURCH IS THE FULLNESS OF HIM THAT FILLETH ALL IN ALL; this is God’s eternal thought of the church. God has settled in His heart in eternity past, before the foundation of the world, that the church would be where the fullness of His Son is. This is not a pipe dream, a wishful thinking, and a castle in the air. It may seem so to an average Christian, who will look around him and with a wry smile point out hundreds of deficiencies, flaws and breakdowns. God is not to be faulted for the sluggishness of the church. When men turn away from God, as in the times of Moses, people begin to make graven images, structures, systems and theories, which they call church. This is what we see in abundance all around us – so far from the fullness of the Son. Nevertheless God’s word stands – The Church is the fullness of His Son.
All God’s ministries in the Body of Christ are to help the church to come into that place of fullness – a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of Christ. THERE IS NO MINISTRY OUTSIDE THIS OBJECTIVE. Let me emphatically tell my fellow brethren in leadership – you can have no ministry other than this ministry and that is God’s purpose for His Church. The responsibility and the burden of your ministry ought to be to BRING EVERY LOCAL CHURCH INTO THE FULLNESS AND FINALITY IN CHRIST. Christ ought to be the Center and the Circumference, the Alfa and the Omega. Christ in General and Christ in every Detail. Our ministry is limited to Christ and Christ alone.
THE FOUNDATION OF THE TRUE MINISTRY.
The objective of the ministry is fulfilled not with knowledge in the mind. With the natural abilities and capabilities, nothing constructive can be contributed towards this purpose or for the fulfillment of it. THE FOUNDATION OF A TRUE MINISTRY IS A REVELATION BY THE SPIRIT- A revelation of Christ and all that God has purposed in Him. Such a basis or foundation will produce an insatiable desire for exactness and definiteness. One will never be satisfied with anything lesser than what he has seen.
The Apostle Paul’s ministry stood and withstood many trials because it was based on a revelation. He came down heavily on the Corinthians and his letters to a casual reader might seem arrogant. He did this not because he had a personality clash with them or because he was sidelined by some or because of some opinion differences. On the contrary, it was because he had seen something in Christ and he could be satisfied with nothing less. "O, king Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision"- it was this heavenly vision which motivated, drove and held him and his ministry. His ministry was neither to please men nor unto men, nor again to conform to the popular doctrines, and theories of men etc. Paul beheld something which influenced and contributed such depths to his ministry. He had seen Christ. These simple words set forth the postulate of a true ministry. If we have seen, then it settles the matter of reaching God’s end. Paul could revert back to that beginning again and again and draw from those wells, treasures of life! SEEING THE LORD IS THE ALL-GOVERNING AND ALL DOMINATING VISION IN OUR LIVES. This seeing of the Lord reveals the place and the destiny of man in God’s economy.
THE IMPACT OF THE REVELATION
The name Jesus was not new to Paul. The word Messiah was too not a new word to him. He too looked forward alongwith other Jews for the Messiah. But on the road to Damascus over against such familiarity he met the living one. Paul’s understanding of Jesus was that He was a false teacher. It seemed sheer madness to him to suppose that this crucified Nazarene could be the Messiah or even that He had risen from the dead. Every time he heard the name of Jesus there was hatred, animosity and bitterness within him. When Paul thought of the death of Jesus, he felt that this man deserved it. He felt that the death on the cross was God’s judgement, a death of curse for all those pernicious sins supposedly committed by the Lord!
All that was to change. All his ideas, notions, presumptions, and concepts of Christ at that moment of encounter with Christ the Living One, everything, literally everything changed. That flash of light was the undoing of years of labor unto God. He saw in the light the true purpose of God. And we see the germ of all his teachings and impetus in his ministry in that encounter. The mystery of ages was now unveiled. Things, which hitherto remained as a sacrament, an order, a matter of tradition, like the Priesthood, the Tabernacle, the Temple, the Feasts of Israel etc. turned to be Christ Himself. All his theology and his doctrine became a person.
Ministers of God today have a lot of teaching and doctrine at the loss of the Person of Christ. God has not called His ministers merely to preach and teach, but to see the Man and show the Man. The Church undoubtedly needs the teaching of the Word. But when everything is reduced to mere teaching, it is dangerous. Believers too want the doctrine and not the person. The Pharisee of Pharisee, Paul, too was occupied with the letter of the word, the teaching and the doctrine. By the encounter, and the revelation it cleared the way for a new ministry in his life. The seeing is bound to effect the whole life. It will affect your ministry, your devotion, your occupation and even your worship. They will cease to be routine and an official work or an office. Rich knowledge of the doctrine does not translate into rich ministry. Right doctrine will not necessarily make the right ministry.
THE MEASURE OF THE CHURCH
In the visions of God, Ezekiel was taken into the land of Israel, he was set upon a high mountain and he was shown the city, the great new heavenly and spiritual house. Very full and very comprehensive and very detailed was the vision, the unveiling. The prophet was taken to every point, every angle through and through to the whole temple. This great entry was preceeded by his encounter with a Man, a Man with a measuring reed and a line of flax. The Man was all the time giving dimensions, the measurement of everything, a most exhaustive definition of the whole house. The whole house was the measure of a Man.
The Church is the measure of a Man. The Church is a Man! The Church is a Person. The Church, the Body of Christ is measured according to a Person. The Church is an institution for some, a religious center for others, a gathering of saved souls for some others and a more refined view held by a few others is that Church is where God’s chosen gather together and where there is an exercising of gifts and every member supplying to the needs of others. But Church is something infinitely more than these. THE CHURCH IS WHERE THE MEASURE OF CHRIST IS.
The Church is where the measure of Christ is. The measure of Christ in a given place determines how much of the Church there is in that place. God measures the Church in the measure of the man and only that which measures to the Man is recognized and accepted in the heavens. God is not bound to endorse or recognize and accept anything and everything that carries His name on it or even if it is done for Him.
It is in vain if a minister labors for something, which is not Christ. There are demands and pressures that are meted on the minister from disgruntled members. The Church is more than sharing and caring for the needs of the member. There has to be the exercising of Gifts in the Church, but it is still in the part realm. To remain in the realm of gifts, of its use and misuse is to remain in a part realm. But there is another realm where you and me are to be occupied with, the realm of the fullness – the fullness of the Son.
The claims of many that he is called to distribute tracts, called to preach, called to raise up churches and many such activities, seems so shallow and hollow in the light of God’s true objective. We are living in a time when the whole purpose of God in His Son is obliterated to lesser objectives. Many leaders are oblivious to God’s purpose and God’s need. God’s purpose is not the criteria of one’s ministry, the concern is more for the illiterate to make them literate, for population control, about barbarianism, and heathenism, idolatry, the plight of many on the path to hell etc. When leaders stand for God’s purpose, they are bound to be misunderstood and deemed as those with no concern for others. Beloved, the Lord Jesus came not just to save sinners and to take them to heaven but He came to unfold and unite us with God’s purpose. There was the purpose of God that the Son came to further. This purpose is far greater, intense, richer and glorious than men have conceived it to be.
THE IDENTITY OF THE VESSEL WITH THE MESSAGE
In preparation of the vessel, it is to be borne in mind, of the absolute identity of the vessel with the message. The ministry and the minister cannot be separated. For many the ministry is something that they have to do of necessity. It is a matter of sharing a message on Sundays and weekdays, of visiting members etc. There is no relation between the minister and the ministry in many leaders. The ministry is not something that one can take up but it is what he is. What you are is your Ministry! The Ministry is not about taking up things as though it is a profession. No Academy or School or Training Programme can make one a minister that, when the course is over and when he is out of the Academy, he is qualified to take up a work of God. Qualifications do no make one qualify for God’s work, but the quality of work God can do in you qualifies you for the work of God.
We see this truth in shadows in the Old Testament in the history of the prophets. On one hand there was the Levitical Priesthood who conformed to an order. They ministered to God on behalf of the people. They brought before God the needs and the offerings of the people. On the other hand there were the prophets. They were different. They came into the scene bringing to the people the heartthrob of God. They came forth with the thoughts, desires and the will of God. And this is the call for the New Testament minister. No prophet could take upon himself this responsibility
Of the prophets, there were two kinds. Samuel the prophet began the School of the Prophets in Ramah where young men gathered around him to be taught by him. He started this for two pressing reasons. Firstly, Samuel saw that those were times when there was no open vision and every one did what pleased him. There was a lack of religious knowledge. The School of the Prophet was initiated to propagate the knowledge of God. Secondly, he wanted to chronicle the religious history of Israel for future reference.
There was however, a great difference between the academic prophets and the living and anointed prophets (like Samuel, Elijah, Elisha etc.) The living prophets, they were, because it was in them that God invested life. The academicians became members of a profession who had a position and a designation. But these prophets swiftly degenerated into something unworthy of the title. History says that most of the false prophets came from the School of the Prophets! The people accepted these men on the ground that they were from a reputed college conducted by Prophet Samuel. The degree, the college, these are the grounds of today’s acceptance. One prophet, a living prophet dared to defy and defer what four hundred other prophets spoke as the counsel of God for which he was persecuted!
"Jeremiah", the Lord said " before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou comest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5) As far as God is concerned " I am from Gilgal, the place where Elijah the Tishbite taught" or "I am from Hebron" makes no difference to Him. These are not the grounds on which He commissions His ministers. He commissions and appoints by anointing. These kinds of ministries are called to represent God’s thought. Therefore, the ministry and the minister will have to be identical.
As much as such kind of ministry is not something that one can take up, the preparation of such vessels with regard to self emptying is important. We cannot be brought to the place of bearing the message and representing the thought unless and until there is an emptying work done in us. The devastating work is the work of preparation for His vessels. God has to raise vessels and no human agency can meet the demand.
THE PREPARATION OF THE VESSEL
Moses was the vessel God raised up from among the brethren. He grew up with a consciousness of God’s call upon his life. This consciousness was engraved upon him through the years when his mother nursed him. It was not just the consciousness, Moses was a man of tremendous ability (Acts 7:22). These two characteristics in him caused him to think that he was the right man, at least that is what he thought, " And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the chilren of Israel" (Acts 7:23). IT CAME TO HIS HEART to take on himself the work of God. This man, well learned, powerful in speech and deeds stepped to fulfil God’s purpose! Christians of our times would have come in droves and felicitated men of such caliber as their leader. He was very sincere, honest in approach, pure in motive, but he took up the work of God on the basis of his natural qualifications, his natural abilities and his natural zeal. God will have none of these. God caused a disaster to come upon him. God had to empty him through process of devastation. Moses has to go to the wilderness.
Moses was held in the wilderness by God. He was tremendously restricted for forty long years. God held Moses till there was nothing left of that previous confidence and ability and resources. The one who returned to Egypt was a man who had no confidence in the flesh. He was a stripped, devastated and a broken one, and he cried, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent... I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue" (Exodus 4:10). The man who was mighty in words and deeds is no longer eloquent! His reluctance to go to Egypt was not disagreement with God. Moses was not arguing with God saying, "when I wanted to go you did not allow, now I cannot." Moses was tempered having been under the disciplines and the workings of the Spirit of God. Moses had resigned himself to God and that is what Exodus2: 16,17 shows. Moses helped the daughters of the priest of Midian in filling the troughs with water. A man in bad mood would never help someone, forget about watering the flocks.
If we are to represent God’s thought and desire and declare God’s purpose, the workings, the dealings, the disciplining are essential. Many want the ministry but not the trials, how absurd! It is not easy to keep a cool head when the fires are raging within and without. Many have often questioned God; doubted Him and even rejected Him at such times. Resentment, bitterness and despair creep in to destroy the vessel. Elijah the Tishbite went through a similar rough patch in his life. His life was in danger with the enemy in hot pursuit. He came to a point of breakdown, that under the juniper tree he cried, " O Lord, take away my life for I am not better than my fathers." (I King 19:45). His cry was "Lord it is enough, it is too much for me to handle." The merciful and compassionate God came to his aid. But he was laid back in despair and frustration, yet he was revived to walk upto Mount Horeb. There God found him in the cave sleeping and when God came visiting him; the man of God was still defensive in his answer. He was evasive in his reply, so wrapped up in self-pity. He was not happy with his situation. The despair in this man of God ended his ministry then and there. After that he did no more than get ready for his departure. God raised up another man to carry on and took his servant who was in despair away! The Lord can never re-commission him who goes into despair, who has lost his faith in God.
Moses was emptied and in those hours of trials Moses touched God’s resources. Those resources provided him the strength, wisdom and forbearance to lead a stiff-necked nation.
Paul too was a man of great intellect, wisdom, zeal and potential. But these assets became liabilities for him. They were of no value in his ministry. " And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling . And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom...." (I Corinthian 2:3,4). Those things that are of value from a human point of view were things he feared, lest it flaw God’s work. "I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom" (I Corinthian 2:1). He saw the futility of all natural things. He then says, "who is sufficient for these things…not that we are sufficient of ourselves…but our sufficiency is God." (II Corinthians 3:5). When Paul came to the threshold limits, he says, "perplexed but not in despair". Such is the testimony of God’s true ministry. As a result of Paul’s subjection to these diverse trials, his ministry was spontaneous, a perpetual flow! The message was no longer his favourite theme, the things that he learnt from the Bible College, but he became the message itself! The message was constituted in him.
THE ATTESTATION OF THE VESSEL BY GOD.
God divinely attests true ministries of God whom He raises to represent His thought. There is a divine attestation of God on their lives and ministry. As Paul would say, " Paul an Apostle, not of man, neither by man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father" (Galatians1: 1). The true vessel has God’s attestation and God’s approval.
God’s attestation or approval is not necessarily apportioned on every vessel. God did not attest Moses in his early entry into the ministry. He with his strength, his power in word and deed and a life conception of his ministry was yet a man without God’s attestation. God refused to stand by him and vouch for him. Beloved, God cannot attest a vessel or a messenger unless and until he is prepared of God. There is a process by which he takes his vessel before he attests them.
Moses had a military upbringing that would have molded him into a strict disciplinarian. He would have been a very legalistic person, given to strict adherence to principles. Could be that is the reason why he confronted the brethren and said, " do not do this and do it like this". But the brethren refused to accept his leadership, his authority; they were on the contrary infuriated and rejected him! God too refused to stand by him and attest his credentials, that Moses is his chosen vessel to deliver Israel from Egypt. After God had done a work in him, it says, " Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which was on the face of the earth" (Number 12:3). Oh what an attestation of God on this man. When Aaron and Miriam rose up against Moses this meek man refused to be drawn into any contention with them. They questioned his authority and it was God who vouched for Moses and stood by him! Moses refused to defend his office or his appointment or his position, but God stood by him. Moses refused to defend his office or his appointment or his position, but God stood by him and said, " My servant Moses…" (Number 12:7). Can you imagine that – "My servant Moses." What a difference in ministry. God continued to attest him and he said, " my servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house, with him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently and not in dark speeches;... wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak to my servant Moses?". Beloved, this is God’s attestation of his true minister as to his ministry!
Beloved, you and I will be ever challenged by the accuser of the brethren, by well meaning brethren under many circumstances. The tendency is to withdraw in self-pity and collapse under the burden of accusations hurled at us. Do not quit then. If you abide in Him, under his hand, under his dealings, God will vindicate you and attest you. God will not stand by you if you resist the workings and dealings of God.
MINISTRY IS LIFE AND NOT TEACHING
God takes hold of a life and it could be a company of people or it could be an individual. He then takes them through deep workings by a process of undoing what exists within. He will take that vessel through disillusionment, work upon him and revolutionize his mentality. He will work upon him totally and completely, since this ministry is not about teaching but life. God's vessel is thus brought to a place of adjustableness, teachablness, and pliableness.
God will work on things and aspects which are merely objective and remove it from being an objective, a work, a duty, a routine and make it an integral part of us. Truly, textualism has led to the present orthodoxy. Patiently and tenaciously God will work to undo these things.
What the minister is that alone is his ministry. This is grave and serious and needs to be pondered over thoughtfully. You cannot have a ministry other than what you are. You could accept some doctrines and that could be made the material for teaching. Is this not what we see all around us? The doctrines could even be about the Body of Christ, end-time truths or even the cross. These could be accepted and sermons and books and principles could be derived from it and as a minister you may also propagate it. FOR A TRUE MINISTER IT IS NOT A MATTER OF ACCEPTING A TRUTH, TAKING UP THAT AS A DOCTRINE, ADOPTING IT AND TEACHING IT. BUT FOR HIM, HE IS MADE THAT WORD! The Lord does not want His ministries to merely take things up as a doctrine, but He wants the truth to be incorporated in the vessel through deep workings – that the word is now his very constitution!
You might be known as one who rightly interprets the scriptures, as one who can speak deep things on some particular subjects, as one who can interpret prophetic scriptures. These could be the lines of your ministry. However, ministry is more than that. It is life! As ministers you are under tremendous pressure to deliver a word, but the danger is, we may be constantly seeking materials for our sermons! More than your preaching, your availability to the Spirit to incorporate the Word in you is important. God will keep you abreast with the truth of the word by experience so that every bit of truth you proclaim will be something constituted in you.
TRUE MINISTRY IS TOLERANT BUT UNCOMPROMISING
True ministries maintain a proper balance between tolerance and non-compromise. Samuel is a good example of the proper balance. He was a man who was utterly devoted to God’s highest and fullest with no compromises. Yet we see him as one who showed a great extent of charity to Saul especially in His early years. Saul, however, did not reciprocate in the same similitude nor did he acknowledge the charity of Samuel. Saul represents the denial of the highest of all that God was offering. He denied the direct and the immediate government of God over his life. He had his own way about everything and rarely could he comply with God’s will and thought.
The carnal man brings the things of God to a human and an earthly level! The divine and immediate government of God is seen in the workings of the Holy Spirit. This rule of the Holy Spirit is often denied even by so called believers. The Holy Spirit is denied the place to govern and lead ministries. The Holy Spirits government is exchanged for committees, Board meetings and other such things! As Samuel faced, we too face today, the rampant evidence of the rejection of the highest by many in the local church. Men have set up their own government on the lines of the nations around and have irreverently rejected God’s government. As Saul, they refuse to fall in line with God’s will. They unceasingly reject the highest of all. The charities of Samuel came to an end. We ought to be tolerant but we cannot compromise. We cannot accept everything that is done in the name of the Lord. The tolerance will come to an end and we will have to draw lines like Samuel did – "I will not come with you…" Samuel had to remain within the parameters of God’s anointing. He cannot venture out of that. His tolerance was on the premise that peradventure Saul may repent and turn to the Lord. True ministries of God will be tolerant, forbearing; manifesting love and concern but they cannot be turned to compromise. You cannot compromise and accommodate the indiscipline, insensitivity and apparent unworthy behaviors of the members in the Body!
TRUE MINISTRIES ARE SPIRITUAL.
The ultimate meaning of the ministries of God is, that they are spiritual and heavenly- not earthly and natural. All things done and said are towards something spiritual, If we look at the system of the synagogues that existed then, we notice that a certain kind of ministry was prevalent, an order of ministry was in function, where in every Sabbath day people gathered and the scriptures, the law and the prophets were read. The whole Sabbath day was spent in reading and exhorting. It was on such an occasion that Paul was called to share a word of exhortation as seen in Acts 13. Paul told them, "for they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers because they knew him not nor YET THE VOICE OF THE PROPHETS WHICH ARE READ EVERY SABBATH DAY…" They read the prophets every Sabbath yet they failed to hear the prophet! They (the Pharisees) were doing some ministry but it was not spiritual. They had an appreciation for the scriptures; they were zealous about it; they did not doubt the authenticity of the scriptures, they were dead sure it was inspired. In short, they were very much like the present day fundamentalists. They are religious, they read the scriptures faithfully, and they followed it and are careful even in the outward observances of small matters . They are radical, willing to fight tooth and nail for their beliefs. BUT THE PHARISEES WERE NOT SPIRITUAL. All their apprehensions and appreciations of the scriptures was natural.
We too can be rudimental and fundamental about the scriptures. We can be given to textualism like the fundamentalists and given to certain techniques in the scriptures. All these can be merely natural. Many of the things done in Christian circles are based on the scriptures, even with scriptural authority, yet they can all be of the natural.
God wills us to be spiritual. The content that makes anything spiritual is the Holy Spirit. Beloved brethren true ministry is essentially and fundamentally spiritual and let us be found in that. Amen
He who hath an ear to hear let him hear.