In The Ministry?

Last Saturday I did a wedding for a very close friend of mine. We met while I was a youth pastor at a church. He was a youth leader with the High School ministry at the time I was pastoring the group. We made a good connection in that context and it carried over into a more personal and ongoing friendship even after we both were no longer leading in that particular youth group. We spent a lot of time surfing together and always stayed in touch over the phone. We would meet for lunch or coffee and talk about life together. We were always encouraged by our friendship and the time we spent together.

He wanted to pursue ministry for some years. Now he is pursuing teaching and working with youth and in so doing being "in" their world and ministering to them through it. As my wife and I sat at the table with friends he had worked with, both in ministry and in the market-place the common thread kept reappearing; he is such a good guy, with character, strong work ethic, a good friend and a great follower of Christ. It was obvious not only at our table but with many others that his life had impacted everyone for Christ. Just the caliber of those who were called his friends made that apparent.

But I want to actually tell you about a person who wasn't so obvious at the wedding that night. After the ceremony the wedding party was inside waiting to be announced with the bride and groom to be announced last before moving into the dinner. As we were all standing inside the community center the on-site security guard, who was standing near me, asked if I was a "pastor of a church"? I said "yes" and explained to him the kind of "church" I pastor and "pastor" I am..

It came time to "bless" the meal and for me to go and do my "priestly duties" (said with my best Nacho Libre impression). So I said we would talk more later. In that brief exchange I learned that he had gone to Seminary and had even gone to Russia for several years to "do ministry". He spoke and taught Russian. He also told me that he had been in a "Job" for over the last 10 years and wanted so badly to "get back into ministry".

Later that night as I went back in to get a drink he was standing near the bar. We picked up in conversation again from where we left off. As he explained to me the circumstances that led to and are associated with the "Job" season, and how he longed to be married some day, I heard the Spirit say that getting into the ministry was not necessarily what he needed or even wanted. He needed the acceptance and approval that can only come from the Father.

More specifically that he needed to know that God doesn't look at His children as "those in the ministry" and "those not in the ministry". But that God sees "ministry" IN us instead. So when I felt it was right to share that with him I did. The scriptures came flowing out of me. I had not prepared for this but could tell the Word and the Spirit had. The opportunity presented itself and because "it" is in me it flowed supernaturally out of me.

That reminds me of a truth Jesus taught; that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and that out of the abundance of the heart a person will bring forth good treasure. This was one of the scriptures that flowed out in the conversation. That ministry is something that is IN us, not something we're in.

Now in the OT is was. You were either of the Son's of Aaron and therefore part of the Levitical Priesthood or you were not. But in the NT Peter tells us that we are ALL a royal priesthood. That we are part of a Kingdom of Priests. I like what I see in Paul's life too. When Saul was called by God he actually was "in" the ministry...the ministry of death(law). But God by His grace called him out of that ministry and put the Gospel of the Kingdom, the Gospel of Jesus inside of him. God made him (Paul) a minister of the Gospel. God's grace and the power of His salvation became the outward work of Paul.

Paul didn't then go and seek out the official members of the official ministry of the day and seek for a position on staff. He didn't get a 501 C 3 organization started, funded and developed in order to begin ministering. Instead he actually disappears from the "scene" for nearly a dozen years and then comes to Jerusalem. Even then he wasn't looking for acceptance into some organized form of a ministry. No, he sought out "brotherhood" and the "Kingdom". Paul realized that the only thing that matters is if God has called you.

So it is with this conviction that Paul ministered with or without the approval of man. Because he had the approval of God. He ministered with or without the acceptance of man. because he had been accepted by the only One that matters if we're accepted by; God. I'm not going to do your homework for you. Read Acts and the Epistles Paul wrote and see this for yourself.

And it is with this in mind that I said to "Joe" the security guard. "Each of us called by God are in the ministry to the extent that we believe the ministry is IN us." You can't give something that you don't have. Or, like Nike, "Is it in you"?

Paul says "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it s encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord." -Romans 12: 3-11

There are so many followers of Christ that have this wrong perception of what it means to "be in the ministry". Take a close look at Ephesians 4. Jesus gave "some" to be Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists and Pastors (each office to teach from their giftings, callings, anointings) in order that the "saints", for the sake of this reading, "all of us" to DO the work of "the ministry". If this is the case, and it is, the emphasis on the gifts of the "some" is that they exist to serve (equip) the "many" to DO the ministry. It seems that there is more emphasis placed on the "some" in church today and not on the "many" the way it is in the Bible. And we claim to strive for "Biblical" Church?

Did Jesus ever look to be accepted into a ministry? Did He even establish a new or better ministry than the one already in place? Was that why He came? Hebrews does say He did have a ministry, but it was carried in what He did, not because He was a "part" of a ministry. Hebrews 8:6 "But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises." The "ministry" Jesus received and administered was that of the LOVE and GRACE of the Father to provide a sacrifice once and for all for all, for all time for all sin. And Jesus is the ONLY One who could have ministered this. No mere man would have been able too. The only ministry I am in is the ministering of Jesus' love and grace to me from the Father. And it is this love and grace that so fills me to abundance that out of the overflow of my heart and the treasure of His love and life in me...that I have anything of any value to "minister" to others.

One of my friends told me that the definition of "ministry" is meeting the needs of others in love. Jesus did this for us. You my friend, called of God, saints of the Most High, are in the ministry because the ministry is in you.

Just do it.

Tim

*PS - if you're wondering what happened between me and the guard he asked me to pray for him so we prayed together in the room were the food and drink was served. I prayed God show him the "ministry that is within him and then release him into the doing of it by Your Spirit and Your power wherever he goes. Reveal to him the extent of acceptance and approval we have received from You through Jesus Christ so that we are confident in our ministering to others."