Ministry

So what is ministry?…I mean REALLY.

The word “ministry” is one that we throw around so flippantly… “That organization is just such a great ministry!”… “I’m trying to figure out what kind of ministry God is calling me to.”… “That church’s’ ministries are reaching so many people!”… “Do you serve with any ministries?”… “I think God is calling me into fulltime ministry.”

When we say things like this, do we actually know what we mean? And even if we do know what we mean, is our meaning the same as God’s? Is our idea of ministry actually based on God’s definition, or is it simply an IDEA?…a man-made IDEA.

Although the meaning of the word “minister” has slowly morphed over time (as most definitions do), if you trace it back to its Latin roots and look at its definitions in other languages throughout history, you will find that it meant the following things:

-“Less” or “Subordinate”
-“Servant”
-“One who acts upon the authority of another”

Keep that in mind, as you continue to read…

The church today is filled with two types of people: those who have no real desire to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth, and those who do. Those of us who are desperate to see the world radically altered by the love of Jesus Christ are quick to reprimand apathetic Christians for their ignorance and selfishness. But I want to take a minute to caution all the “great commission enthusiasts” to examine ourselves…are we really as untouched by ignorance and selfishness as we think we are??? In our excitement to share the gospel and to use our gifts to meet the world’s greatest needs, how often do we make our ministry just that: OURS???

We look around and we see so much brokenness, and then we turn to God and cry out: “Use me!”…But we don’t usually stop after those two words. We often continue with something like this: “I have all these amazing gifts, God, and I know just how to use them for your glory! I have a plan, and I just know it’s going to work!” And then we expect Him to bless it.

DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT WE HAVE ANYTHING TO OFFER GOD THAT HE DOESN’T ALREADY HAVE?...ANY PLAN THAT IS SUPERIOR TO THE ONE THAT HE HAS ALREADY THOUGHT OF AND SET IN PLACE???

Newsflash: GOD DOESN’T USE GIFTED PEOPLE…HE USES OBEDIENT PEOPLE.

We get so caught up in the “spirit of adventure” on our quest to “save the world” that we lose sight of the Creator of the mission…And in losing sight of Him, we lose sight of the mission…for we cannot know what God is calling us to, if we do not know Him.

Do we evangelize because we genuinely want people to experience the same saving grace that we know?...Or do we do it for an adrenaline rush? Do we pray for healing because we genuinely want the power of God to invade people’s bodies?...Or are we just obsessed with the excitement of being the instrument of that healing? Do we perform acts of service because we genuinely believe that the needs of others are more important than our own?...Or are we just narcissistic heroes who want to have yet one more reason to praise ourselves?

Why is it that we are constantly trying to make ministry what we want it to be?...this glamorous, self-exalting, territory-expanding activity that we do when our schedules allow for it? I feel like we often have this “I came, I saw, I conquered!” mentality when it comes to ministry…We throw ourselves out into the streets, seek out people who in our opinion appear to need Jesus in some way, say a quick prayer or perform a quick act of service, and then go on our way thinking, “Wow, I just did something great! I just made a big difference in that person/neighborhood/city/country/etc.! I just brought the kingdom of heaven to earth!”

But what if it didn’t end there??? What if, after praying the “prayer of salvation” with someone, we were called to disciple that person for a year or two…or the rest of our lives?...long after the adrenaline rush has gone! Kinda loses a bit of the excitement, doesn’t it?...All that commitment and everything! Seems like that would be a lot of time and energy that could be “better” spent saving more lives and increasing our realm of influence, eh?...Or so we think…

And when we’re not attempting to PROMOTE ourselves in “ministry,” we’re often attempting to PROTECT ourselves. For example…

It’s easy to tell complete strangers about God…if they reject the message, no big deal!…you’ll probably never see them again, and even if they think you’re completely crazy, it will most likely have no effect on your life whatsoever! It’s a little bit harder to share your faith in your workplace…where your reputation, credibility, and even job instantly become “on the line!”

Or another example…It’s easy to tell an alcoholic that he is free from his addiction and that he has been forgiven for all the ways he has hurt his family when he’s just a stranger in a shelter…It’s a lot harder when that man is your father.

But, you see, we don’t get to pick and choose who deserves to receive the gospel message. We don’t get to decide the “what,” “where,” “when,” or “how,” either. God didn’t put us in our workplaces so that we could just work 9-5 and then go out and evangelize on the weekends. God didn’t put us in our neighborhoods so that Monday, Wednesday, and every other Friday from the hours of 2-4 we could go door to door and ask if anyone needs help with anything. God didn’t put us in our friend groups so that we could party with them every night in public and then pray for them in the privacy of our bedroom.

We have been placed in our schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, families, and friend groups to minister…and sometimes it gets messy! It’s not clean. It’s not safe. It’s not comfortable. It’s not convenient. But it IS our CALLING.

I recently heard a sermon preached on the word “ministry,” and the following example was given to illustrate what ministry should and should not look like: A man accepted a job offer, and to perform several of his job requirements he would need a laptop. So, his boss handed him the company credit card and said, “Go to the apple store and buy a laptop.”…So he did. [This is ministry: the “minister”-the man was given “power”-the credit card, by someone with greater authority-his boss, to fulfill the “mission”-purchasing a laptop.] But what if the man had refused the credit card, and not gone to the apple store to purchase a laptop? Or what if he had accepted the credit card, but chose to go to a different store to purchase a laptop? Or what if he had gone to the apple store but proceeded to purchase something other than a laptop? Or what if he had gone to the apple store and purchased a laptop, but also purchased something else in addition to the laptop? Would his ministry have been an appropriate application of the power given to him? Would it have fulfilled the mission of the one in authority over him?

Or what about a telegram deliverer? (I know, we’re going waaay back with this one!) A telegram deliver is given a message to give to someone else…a specific person…at a specific time…in a specific location…word for word, exactly what’s on the page. But what if he had chosen to deliver it to someone else (a family member of the person to which it was addressed)? Or what if he decided to wait to deliver it (deliver everyone else’s telegrams first)? Or what if he delivered it to a different location (the recipient’s home instead of present hotel room)? Or what if he decided to reword the message (give a summary or his own personal interpretation of it)? Or what if he decided to change the message altogether (leave some of it out or add something to it)?

Ministry FAIL. Mission not accomplished.

In ministry, we do not get to choose what the mission is or how to carry it out. We do not get to change it, add to it, subtract from it, reshape it, manipulate it, make it “relevant to today”…whatever that means, reword it, or give our own interpretation of it (which, by the way, there is nothing that you can say that will state something in a better way than the Bible already has).

And this is a big one…We also do not get to choose the timing.

A friend was recently sharing about his call into “ministry.” He said that he was so excited to FINALLY be headed into what he had always felt so passionate about…and then conviction set in and God humbled him…and he realized that God was not calling him to go immediately into the “mission field,” but rather, God was calling him into a time of greater knowledge and greater intimacy first…so that he may be that much more equipped to “hit the mission field” when the time came. I love what my friend said next…he shared that MINISTRY SHOULD NEVER BE OUR FOCUS…GOD SHOULD BE OUR FOCUS…GROWING IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM…AND THEN OUT OF THE GREATER KNOWLEDGE AND REVELATION THAT COMES FROM THAT INTIMACY, MINISTRY WILL BE A NATURAL OUTFLOWING!

It’s hard to understand why God would plant such heart-grabbing, gut-wrenching passions in us and then ask us to WAIT to dive head first into them. But when it comes to timing, God doesn’t ask us to know his reasoning. He asks us to know HIM. For in knowing Him, we know his heart, and it is only by knowing his heart that we are able to share it. [Which isn’t that what ministry really is?...Sharing God’s heart?]

If you don’t wanna just take my word for it [THAT EXTREME INTIMACY WITH GOD IS FOUNDATIONAL TO EXTREME MINISTRY WITH GOD], then here’s an example for you: JESUS. Okay, He was GOD, and even HE WAITED 30 YEARS before He began his ministry! (Luke 3:23)...He understood the importance of being ONE in heart and mind and spirit with GOD!

So, am I suggesting that we all go into seclusion for 2 weeks? 2 months? 2 years? and do nothing but read our Bibles and pray until we are certain that we know the heart of God??? Of course not. Because for one, we will never fully know God…it is a life-long process in which we will continue to grow in knowledge and intimacy. And two, Because God who loves to work in us and through us, out of his grace, does in fact use us, where we are at presently to bring glory to Himself and further His kingdom.

I am, however, suggesting that we BE CAREFUL NOT TO THROW OURSELVES INTO SOMETHING AND THEN ASK GOD TO BLESS IT, BUT RATHER THAT WE THROW OURSELVES INTO GOD AND THEN OBEY WHEN HE ASKS US TO DO SOMETHING ALREADY SOAKED IN BLESSING!

Ultimately, MINISTRY HAS ALWAYS BEEN AND WILL ALWAYS BE ABOUT GOD! We are simply the agent, the instrument, the medium, the messenger, the minister!

Let’s go back to our definition a minute: A minister is a lesser, subordinate, servant, who acts on the authority of another. As ministers of God and His Kingdom, we must recognize how lowly we really are, humbly submit, unconditionally serve, and then REJOICE that such an all-knowing, all-powerful God would choose to bestow His authority in us and His blessing upon us, and ask us to partner with Him in the greatest mission of all time!

May we never let our ignorant fears or selfish ambitions deter us from this cause!

When we fix our eyes on the needs of the world, we become slaves to the hopelessness and despair that we see, and are conquered by what appears to be an ever-growing evil. When we fix our eyes on our gifts, we become slaves to vanity, and are conquered by our own weaknesses when our strength has run out…and I promise you, it will. When we fix our eyes on Jesus, we become slaves to the author and perfecter of our faith, through whom, and by such faith, we have the authority to conquer all evil in the world and all weakness in ourselves, and run the race marked out for us in such a way as to win the prize!...To carry out the mission…and to live in a constant state of MINISTRY!